by Grant, Livia
“Good luck!” Melody whisper yelled as Lisa walked away.
Shoulders back, Lisa moved toward the sexy Dom. He was setting up his station, totally focused on what he was doing. Lisa really liked the idea of having all of that focus on her. Swaying her hips, she sauntered up to him. When she was close enough, he looked up and his dark eyes nearly made her steps falter. He was more intimidating up close than when she was lusting after him from afar.
But Lisa had never been one to back down from a challenge. “Hi.” She smiled leaning her hip against the table, somewhat amused when his brow furrowed in confusion. He wouldn’t be the first Dom to wonder what the hell she was doing, walking up to him. Tilting her head flirtatiously, she leaned toward him. “I hear you’re the master of fire play for Black Light.”
Master Elliott blinked. “I’m one of the masters allowed to do fire play here, yes.”
Oooookay. Maybe flattery didn’t work on him. Most of the other Doms she’d approached had puffed up a little, pleased by her acknowledgement of their reputation.
“Are you doing a fire demo tonight? I’ve always wanted to be set on fire.” She winked.
The blank expression on his face didn’t give away any emotion, but the way he was staring at her did make her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Like she was doing something wrong. It was kind of similar to the way Kawan had looked when he’d told her to wait for the Doms to come to her, but with a lot more judgment in it.
Then he did the last thing she would have expected. Instead of answering her, he just turned away and went back to unpacking his toy bag.
Lisa froze. For several long seconds, she stood there, unsure of what to do. “Um… so is that a no?”
“I don’t play with little wannabe submissives. Especially ones who don’t know proper etiquette.” The lack of emotion in his voice for some reason just made his words even more hurtful.
Spinning on her heel, Lisa stomped off, an ugly, unhappy feeling rising in her chest. What a dickweed! Wannabe submissive. Just because she wanted to try a bunch of different things didn’t make her a wannabe. Neither did looking for what she wanted. Kawan’s advice rose in the back of her mind, reminding her that he’d warned her not all the Doms would be amused by her pushiness.
But how was she supposed to get everything she wanted if she just waited for them to come to her? Although, it didn’t look like she’d be playing with fire any time soon. There were other Doms who did fire play but… she’d wanted him dammit. Trying with someone else would feel slightly tainted.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Master Owen leaving the bar and she quickly changed course. Shibari was also on her Black Light Bucket List. If she wasn’t going to get to play with fire tonight, then she was damn well going to check off a different item instead!
Chapter 1
Elliott
Oh no... please tell me she didn't sign up for Roulette.
The blonde head bobbing her way through Black Light, heading for the side of the stage where the Roulette participants were gathering was all too familiar to him. Sometimes he felt like he couldn't move through the club anymore without tripping over Lisa. Usually looking stunning and sceneing with another Dom.
The club was packed tonight, fuller than he'd ever seen it before, so he wasn't surprised to see her there, but if he'd thought about her and Black Light's annual Roulette game, he'd assumed she would be an audience member. Not a participant. The wheel was for real submissives and dominants.
People didn't just sign up on a whim. Well. Maybe she would. His lips pressed together. For someone so smart, she was incredibly impulsive sometimes. That had been his first impression of her actually, since their very first interaction had been when she'd interrupted his prep time, trying to flirt with him so that he’d do a fire demo with her. Her pushy demeanor, her rude interruption, his physical attraction to her, and her flirting with him to get what she wanted all reminded him starkly of Peggy.
Elliott had just stared at her and then turned away. He didn't engage with little wannabe subs who didn't know proper etiquette, which was exactly what he'd told her when she'd chased after him instead of leaving him alone like she should have. The hurt expression on her face after he’d turned her down still rose up in his mind at inopportune moments. In that moment, she hadn’t reminded him of any of his exes, but the moment had been over quickly.
She'd turned up her nose at him and stomped off to find someone else to entertain her for the evening. The next time he'd seen her, she'd been asking a million questions about shibari while having a rope dress tied around her body. If someone had gagged her, he would have enjoyed watching.
He was attracted to her. He just didn't want to be. It was Peggy all over again.
Unfortunately, his dick made poor choices all the time, as witnessed by the last few women he'd dated. And every time he saw Lisa, his dick voted to make another bad choice. But that was why Elliott didn't listen to his dick anymore.
Elliott wanted a real submissive, a real relationship. It hadn't escaped his notice that a surprising number of couples came out of Roulette night, which was why he'd signed up. He'd been lucky he was picked this year. One of the dungeon monitors had privately told him it had been because Spencer was determined to ‘show’ someone in California that the government workers here at Black Light weren't stuffy. He was just a clerk for the D.C. Court of Appeals, but apparently that counted.
He didn't really care how he'd been chosen, as long as he was.
What he didn't want was to be paired with someone who just played at being submissive, who flitted from dom to dom like a butterfly visiting flowers, and who probably wouldn't be able to handle any real pain. She didn't come to Black Light that often, but when she did, all of her scenes were on the lighter side. Elliot was a sadist—none of the scenes he'd seen her do would satisfy that side of him. Although she hadn't safe worded the one time a dom had used a cane on her, she hadn't taken more than three strokes either.
Not that he'd been watching that closely.
Liar.
Whatever. The point was, she was exactly what he wasn't looking for, in any way. The chances of them actually being paired together tonight were pretty low anyway. Although, if it did happen, he could have some fun showing her what it was actually like to submit.
Unlike the other doms she played with, who kept things light because they were just doing one scene together, Elliott would be happy to push her limits. And he'd have the excuse of Roulette to do it, because that's what tonight was all about. He wondered what four hard limits she'd chosen.
Stop it. Don't borrow trouble.
And she was trouble. That was one thing Elliott was sure of.
* * *
Lisa
I am a dumbass.
It wasn't really true. She even had the PhD to prove it. In addition to common sense, which she acknowledged that some truly intelligent people didn't have, but she wasn't one of them. What she lacked was emotional intelligence. Was that a thing? Because it felt like a thing.
Her brain was smart, her heart was dumb.
Ah ha. There he is.
The cause of her emotional malfunction, the man who got her panties wet even when he was ignoring her.
"Are you sure about this?" Melody asked, following Lisa through the crowd toward the stage. Melody was the reason Lisa had come to Black Light in the first place, when Lisa had confessed her kinky fantasies. So far, unlike Melody, she hadn't really found a dom that suited her, but she loved sceneing in the club.
"Kind of late to back out now, isn't it?" Lisa responded, shrugging with a nonchalance she didn't feel. She'd be a fool not to be a little nervous. Only four hard limits and a roulette wheel full of scary possibilities. Scary, exciting possibilities.
Melody's Daddy Dom, Kawan, gave her a look. "It's not. If you want to back out, I'll make sure it happens. There's a wait list to be involved."
"No, I don't want to back out," Lisa said immediately, before Melody could speak
up again. She loved her friend, but Melody could be kind of anxious and sometimes those anxieties rubbed off on her. Lisa looked over at Master Elliott, who was across the room talking to another dom. "I'm going to make it through the whole night and I'm going to get my free month. Gotta risk it to get the biscuit!"
Because she could really use that free month to save up enough money to get another month's membership.
And she was going to spend that first month metaphorically rubbing it in Master Elliott's face that she'd faced the Roulette wheel and made it through the night.
'Not a real submissive'. I'll show you, Sir Butthead.
The lights dimmed and then flashed, lighting up DJ Elixxir onstage. Lisa grinned as anticipation and just a little bit of fear surged through her and she moved closer to the stage. She'd seen the DJ at Runway before. He was damn hot, and she cheered when he lifted up his shirt, showing off some very nice abs.
"Welcome to Black Light! I know we're all anxious to get this show on the road, and—trust me—I can't wait either. This is the fourth annual Valentine Roulette here at Black Light, and it's going to be dirtier, naughtier, and sexier than ever!"
Lisa cheered again, excitement pumping through her. She was so ready for this. Dirtier, naughtier, and sexier than ever sounded perfect for showing Master Elliott that she was a real submissive. When Jaxson, the club owner, stepped up to speak for a minute, she accidentally tuned him out as she imagined Master Elliott coming up and apologizing for casting aspersions on her and asking her to scene.
But would she tell him yes or no?
Whoops, she'd gotten so busy daydreaming she'd completely missed everything Jaxson said. Shaking off her fantasies—she had to get through tonight to even have a chance of anything like that happening—she refocused on what DJ Elixxir was saying about the rules. Not like she hadn't practically memorized them already, but still. Hearing him say them aloud, talking about the subs finding out who their dom was going to be and then spinning the wheel...
For some reason it almost hadn't felt real up until now.
Her eyes drifted over to the men lined up on the other side of the stage. One of them was going to be able to play with her tonight. Do whatever the wheel spun... Her eyes landed on Master Elliott.
He was looking back at her.
Lisa almost ducked down to try and hide but instead she made herself stare back at him. Insolently. The disapproval in his expression grew. What would he do if she stuck out her tongue at him? The thought made her smile and he glared back at her.
The world suddenly got brighter, and she jumped, her attention jerking back to DJ Elixxir who had just hopped down a couple steps to gesture to the ballot box that she was standing near.
"Whenever you've decided you've seen the hottest scene of the night, the dirtiest act, the best Dom and sub in the game, just fill out your ballot and drop it in the box here to the right of the center stairs!" DJ Elixxir turned around and sauntered back up the stairs, giving Lisa the opportunity to check out his very fine ass. Much better scenery than Elliott's glower. "The couple who receives the most votes will each win an additional free month of Black Light membership. That's right, two free months! I know I'd appreciate that in my pocket!"
Lisa applauded along with everyone else, licking her lips. Two free months of Black Light and bragging rights that her scene was the dirtiest, the best... that would show Master Elliott. She just hoped whatever Dom drew her name was up to the challenge, because she was in it to win it.
She bit her lip nervously as DJ Elixxir handed out the labeled sticks to the doms before moving back to the center of the stage. Holy crap. This was actually happening. She was actually doing this. It didn't escape her notice that Master Elliott grinned at the stick he was holding. Obviously, he liked his number.
DJ Elixxir clapped his now empty hands. "Alright everyone, who's ready to get this party started?"
Me!
Chapter 2
Elliott
Number one. He'd be the first dom to go. Which meant that his chances of spinning any one sub were very low. And if there was a little bit of disappointment tinging his relief, that was just his dick talking.
"Dominant number one, please step forward."
Every eye in the room swiveled to look at the line of doms. Although he'd grinned when he'd seen his number, Elliott kept his expression serious now, stepping forward. He didn't want any of the submissives waiting to get the idea that he was a pushover. Although he recognized quite a few of them, he didn't know all of them, so it was likely they didn't know him either.
His gaze skipped over to Lisa. Lips pressed together, she looked nervous as hell, but her chin lifted defiantly when their gazes met.
If I spin her name, then I get to play with her and it's not even my fault.
Well, that was one way to look at it.
Elixxir handed him a marble and spun the wheel. Taking just a moment to watch it spin, Elliott mentally crossed his fingers before setting the marble on the wheel. It circled the wheel several times before popping into the slot marked ‘Lovely Lisa.’
Of course, it did.
His lips twitched as he suppressed a groan. His dick cheered. To say he was conflicted was a bit of an understatement.
"Lovely Lisa!" Elixxir announced, turning around.
Not my fault. Not my choice. It's pure chance. Maybe this is fate's way of letting me get over my attraction to her. We'll play, she'll do her usual, it'll be disappointing as hell and then I won't be tempted anymore.
Elliott gave himself a quick second to compose himself before turning as well, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so.
Looking frozen, Lisa stared back at him. He raised his eyebrows at her with just a hint of exasperation. Was she seriously going to back out this early?
Apparently, his reaction was the only prod she needed. That chin went right back up again and she practically sprinted up the steps to join him and Elixxir onstage. No smile for Elliott, but she beamed at Elixxir, holding out her hand for the marble.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Elliott couldn't help asking in a low voice as the marble dropped into her hand. "I'm not going to go easy on you."
Her eyes narrowed at him, fingers closing around the marble. "I'm not asking you to."
* * *
Lisa
Back out now? Condescending dickweed. She'd show him. Doing all three scenes for Roulette and being able to rub it in Master Elliott's face would have been satisfying with any dom, but when he was the dom? Yeah, a million more times satisfying. She'd be able to show him firsthand that she could take anything he was going to dish out.
Then maybe he'd stop sending her those little judge-y looks every time they were both at Black Light.
"Oooo… I'm sensing some tension. Be careful with this one," DJ Elixxir teased, tilting his head at Master Elliott. "He doesn't have any hard limits listed on his card."
Lisa's mouth dropped open in shock and a little ripple went through the watching crowd. Seriously? Not a single one? She'd put down blood play, ABDL, anal intercourse, and water sports.
She'd spent hours deciding, because she'd definitely wanted to list more than four. In the end, she'd ended up making a list of all the ones she wished she could put down and rolling dice to decide. BDSM with a side of D&D. They both had Dungeon Masters, right? It had made sense at the time, even if her hard limits had come out a little wonky. She'd almost switched out the anal intercourse and rolled for something else, but that would have been cheating.
Besides, the whole reason she'd added anal intercourse to the options for her hard limits had been because she felt like it was too intimate to do with just anyone. Plus, she figured most of the doms wouldn't list it as a hard limit, so that would give her a better chance of her dom having a limit that she wanted but hadn't chosen.
But no hard limits?
Master Elliott smirked at her.
Anything you can do; I can do better.
She drew herself up
. "I want to remove mine also."
"I—uh..." DJ Elixxir looked down at her card and then back up at her. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I don't need any either." Liar, liar pants on fire. She didn't even know why she was being this dumb. Oh, yes, she did. Because it was Master Elliott and she had something to prove. "I only put them because I thought we had to."
DJ Elixxir blinked at her and then glanced off stage at Master Jaxson. The entire room fell silent. Master Jaxson nodded his approval and DJ Elixxir turned back to her, his expression serious and maybe just a touch concerned. "Alright. That's... up to you, of course."
Across from her, Master Elliott shook his head disapprovingly, looking unamused, but he didn't protest either. The sadistic gleam in his eye was both scary and exciting. Lisa knew he was a sadist. That was half the reason she'd been attracted to him. A lot of the scenes she'd tried at the club hadn't done enough for her. She'd wanted more, more, more... but she'd specifically wanted it with him.
Well, at least, she'd wanted it with him until he shot her down just for asking for a scene. Now she just wanted to prove that he'd been wrong to do so.
Pretending a lot more confidence than she actually felt, she spun the roulette wheel.
And almost laughed out loud when the marble landed.
Gleefully, she looked up at Master Elliott, almost tauntingly. "Looks like you're going to have to set me on fire after all, Sir."
* * *
Elliott
Fire play. Of course.
Somehow the fates had aligned, and the little brat was going to get exactly what she'd asked for—a fire play scene with him. He didn't respond to her taunt though, just moved forward, taking her by the back of the neck and using his hold on her to turn her around and direct her back off the stage.
