by Abby Blake
“As an observer,” the receptionist said with a small sneer in her tone, “you must keep the bracelet on at all times and cannot participate in any scenes. Break either of these rules and you will be removed from the club.” Maya was still wondering how such an attractive woman could be such a bitch when Crystal turned her attention back to Derek. “How many lockers will you need?” The overly familiar purr in her voice and smile on her face tempted Maya to react. Fortunately, Maya knew from bitter experience that the best way to handle a woman like this was to ignore her.
“No need,” Derek said with a polite, friendly grin, “we’ll use mine.”
“Okay,” the woman said with a smile that surely even the men realized was faked. “Enjoy your evening.” She’d turned away and the three of them had been heading to the door at the far end of the foyer when the woman called Derek back. It was pretty obvious by the timing that the woman wanted to speak to Derek without Maya overhearing, so she felt rather justified in her jealousy when the woman leaned over the counter exposing a whole lot more cleavage than the conservative blouse should have allowed.
Maya almost cheered when Derek shook his head and the woman looked disappointed. But apparently the woman wasn’t used to hearing the word “no” because she pouted, asked another question, and then tried very hard to hide her anger when Derek said no once more. Whatever her request, Derek wasn’t interested.
For a brief moment Maya entertained the thought that it was work related, but the venomous look that came her way blew that idea way out of the water. Maya tried not to smirk at the woman’s obvious displeasure.
Derek led them into a small room off the main corridor, stopped in front of a locker, and undid the combination. The privacy form had been very clear that all recording, listening, and communication devices were to be left in the lockers at the front of the club. Maya handed over her entire handbag and stood back to let Cam hand over his stuff as well.
She’d been so annoyed at the receptionist’s predatory behavior that it wasn’t until Derek opened the door at the end of the hallway with an ID card and passcode that Maya started to feel nervous.
From the doorway she could hear the heavy, pulsing beat of music, the deep bass seeming to bounce off the walls of the long, dimly lit corridor. As they stepped into a large room, Maya squeezed Derek’s hand tighter, her fear creeping over her more quickly than she’d anticipated. Immediately he turned to look at her.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said into her ear. “I promise nothing will ever happen in this club that you don’t want to happen. Safe, sane, and consensual is Viper’s law here. I can guarantee in time you’ll grow to love this place.”
She nodded, not really convinced, her confidence from earlier fleeing as she faced the unknown. Cam pressed a kiss to her temple and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, the now-familiar, solid weight of his embrace helping to steady her nerves.
Derek smiled at Cam and then turned and led them into the main area of the club.
It was quite dark, and it took a while to realize that the only light in the place came from roped-off areas that seemed to be used for some sort of display or demonstration. Cam held her close as they wandered around the large room for a few minutes before stopping at one of the displays.
A woman wearing only a miniscule triangle of material between her legs was stretched over a wooden X shape.
“It’s called a St. Andrew’s Cross,” Derek said close to her ear. She nodded, trying to hide the smile that threatened to break free. He’d probably be happy she knew that, but since she really didn’t have a clue what was based on reality and what was pure fiction in her romance novels, it was probably better to keep her unreliable knowledge to herself. “Watch the sub’s face.”
The demonstration seemed to have only just begun. The Dom checked the sub’s restraints once more, asked a question that she answered with a nod, and then turned to a leather-clad man behind him. The leather-clad man looked truly intimidating, and Maya felt a shiver of apprehension slide down her spine. From what she understood from discussions with Bianca, the man was most likely a dungeon monitor, just like Derek when he was on duty. Maya glanced at the man beside her wearing ordinary street clothes and tried to picture him wearing leather and chains. Surprisingly, it was way too easy. Derek would look really hot in his leather Dom’s outfit. She turned her gaze to Cam and realized the same applied to him. Desperately trying to control her reaction to those amazing thoughts, Maya tried to turn her attention back to the scene in front of them.
After a few words with the intimidating man, the Dom picked up a leather flogger and, at the dungeon monitor’s urging, slapped it against his own forearm a few times. He nodded in answer to a question Maya couldn’t hear and then headed back to the woman secured to the St. Andrew’s Cross.
He trailed the soft leather over her skin, the woman’s soft moan of appreciation seeming to reach Maya’s ears even though she shouldn’t have been able to hear it over the music. Maya jumped at the first slap, a hysterical giggle threatening to rise as she tried to hide her empathetic reaction. Unfortunately, she flinched with every hit. Cam seemed concerned by her reaction, but Derek lifted a hand and brushed over the hard bud of her nipple as her traitorous body gave away her secret.
Cam must have noticed Derek’s movement, because he used the arm around her waist to pull her closer and lifted his free hand to her other breast. She heard his sigh of relief and felt the tension slowly drain from his body. Ironically, his willingness to protect her when he thought she was upset seemed to increase her desire tenfold.
She moaned again as Derek’s hand slid lower, smoothing over her stomach and gliding lightly over her crotch. Even through the thick denim the touch felt wickedly intimate. Maya dragged in a ragged breath and tried to remind herself they were standing in a public area. But a quick glimpse of the people around her proved that they weren’t the only ones touching each other. She didn’t even realize she was caressing Cam’s arm and had her other hand wrapped tightly around Derek’s bicep until the woman on the St. Andrew’s Cross released a low, keening cry and shook with orgasm. Her body undulated against her bonds, but her Dom continued to flog her with the leather strips, the blows coming harder and faster, their placement making the same parts of Maya tingle in response.
And then the Dom concentrated the blows between the woman’s legs, the leather strips hitting her again and again. She stiffened, a scream escaping her mouth as a second more violent orgasm rushed through her. Maya trembled in reaction to the woman’s obvious enjoyment. Realizing her visceral response was obvious to anyone who’d cared to look, she ducked her head wishing she could find a hole to crawl into. All this time she’d been denying her fascination with the lifestyle she’d only been lying to herself. Derek and Viper had seen what she’d tried to hide. Hell, even Cam, who probably knew less about BDSM than she did, had seen her true nature.
Cam and Derek both stroked her through her clothes, their touches obviously meant as comfort but instead keeping her desire simmering on high. She tried to turn away, surprised and maybe a little ashamed by her response. She would have been appalled at the Dom’s behavior under different circumstances.
But Cam held her tight, and Derek leaned in closer to press a soft kiss to her lips. “Watch,” he whispered as he pulled away. Unwilling to cause a scene, and maybe a little curious about what would happen next, Maya tried instead to control her own trembling.
The Dom put the flogger down and turned his attention to the woman’s bonds. He undid her arms, and they fell forward seemingly boneless. The man lifted them onto his shoulders, pressed a soft kiss to the woman’s lips, and signaled for the dungeon monitor’s assistance. The intimidating man stepped over to the cross and released the rest of the submissive’s bonds. She fell forward into her Dom’s embrace, and he lifted her into his arms. He held her close as he thanked the dungeon monitor and then took a seat in a huge leather armchair toward the back wall.
Maya wa
tched as he wrapped a blanket around the woman’s exhausted form and rocked her as he spoke.
“He’s telling her how much she’s pleased him and how proud he is of her,” Derek said as Maya tried to imagine being in the same position. In her marriage she’d learned to rely on herself—both because of her husband’s long absences with the Navy and his unpredictable mood swings later on—but she couldn’t help wonder what it would feel like to be that exhausted and be able to trust someone enough to let them take care of her.
The thought doused a little cold water over her arousal. Essentially that’s what it all came down to. Could she trust someone enough to give over control completely? She’d trusted her husband in the beginning of their marriage, and it hadn’t taken long for him to prove he hadn’t really been worthy of it. She barely knew Derek—the real Derek—and had only just met Cam. Why was she even thinking about this?
Chapter Three
Derek felt the exact moment they lost her. Maya had been sweet and pliant in their arms one moment, and stiff and unyielding the next. He glanced at Cam, realized he’d noticed the change too, and considered calling the whole thing off. If Maya truly didn’t want to acknowledge her submissive side, who was he to push the point?
But it was Cam’s action that surprised him. He turned Maya in his arms, threaded his hand through her hair, and kissed her almost violently. After a moment’s resistance, Maya melted into his embrace, all evidence of her tension gone in mere moments.
When she was once again shaking in reaction, Cam released her lips and smiled at her. “What would you like to see next?”
Maya turned half-closed eyes to Derek. He’d never seen her look more beautiful than she did at that moment, and he couldn’t help but lean over and take her kiss-swollen lips in a kiss of his own. She moaned into his mouth, obviously turned on, and he found himself hoping things worked out exactly as he’d imagined.
Except, he hadn’t really imagined becoming involved with anyone long term. Caroline had burned him long ago, and he’d sworn then that he’d never let another person, another sub, close enough to hurt him like that. He didn’t want to risk his heart.
But wasn’t that exactly what he was asking Maya to do? No. No he wasn’t. He was merely helping a natural submissive find her true self under the layers of societal oppression. He was assisting a friend in embracing her hidden desires. He was…trying to swallow his own bullshit, but it didn’t quite work. He’d known all along that Maya was someone special. It was why he was here with her.
He plastered on what he hoped was a confident smile, annoyed to notice the knowing look in Cam’s eyes before he turned Maya toward another display area. When Derek realized what was being demonstrated, he almost wished he could drag Cam and Maya away without looking like a complete fool.
The sub was bent over at the waist as a Dom fucked her from behind. He held her hair in his tight grip, his movements almost violent. But it was the Dom lining up his cock with her mouth that, strangely, Derek didn’t want Cam and Maya to see. He shook his head at his out-of-character reaction.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t participated in ménages before. He’d often been invited to help couples enhance their BDSM experience. He’d happily participated, pleased that he could give Doms and their subs what they needed without getting his heart involved. There was nothing quite like the sensation of being deep in a woman’s throat as her Dom fucked her from behind.
His cock swelled to uncomfortable proportions as he imagined that woman to be Maya. He could easily see Cam fucking their woman as she sucked Derek to orgasm. She’d be shaking with arousal, moaning at the sensations they forced upon her pliant body. She’d try to scream as she climaxed, the vibration from her throat dragging his orgasm ever closer. And Cam would hold her hair, pushing her harder onto Derek’s cock as her second, more violent orgasm began. She’d lick Derek clean, and he’d pull on her nipple clamps as Cam fucked her harder and harder, forcing her to climax again and again before riding her to his own orgasm.
She’d collapse into Derek’s arms, exhausted, sated, and very, very happy.
“Derek, are you okay?”
The soft words close to his ear snapped him out of his fantasy. Fuck. He spent several nights a week working as a dungeon monitor here. He’d seen and supervised more threesomes, foursomes, and moresomes than he could remember, but none of them had affected him like this.
He tried to tell himself that it was because he was off duty and could relax, but the simple truth was that it was the woman in his arms creating the problem.
“I’m fine,” he lied, grimacing when neither of his companions seemed to believe him.
“Is there a quiet place we could go to talk?” Cam asked, his deep voice barely making it across the small space between them. The dungeon was full. The deep, pounding music, the dim lighting, the echoes of orgasm bouncing off the walls, all worked together to create a surreal and sensuous atmosphere. It didn’t, however, lend itself to heart-to-heart talks.
Derek nodded, grabbed Maya’s hand, and headed to the private rooms. Dismayed to find the only room empty was the torture room, Derek briefly considered finding somewhere else but dismissed the idea. Not all of BDSM was about Domination and submission. Some of the more hard-core members were into fetishes that even Derek didn’t want to try, but if Maya was going to consider joining his world, she needed to see it all—the good, the bad, and the truly frightening.
As soon as they entered the room, he wanted to pull the curtains over the viewing window. They were only going to talk. They didn’t want an audience for that, but closing the curtain would have the dungeon monitors checking in on them. It was one of Viper’s most sacred rules—nobody used this room without adequate supervision.
Unfortunately the torture room didn’t really have any seats suitable for actual sitting, so Derek guided Maya and Cam over to the twin torture racks and checked that the cleaning crew had been very thorough. In most clubs it was the members’ responsibility to clean up after themselves, but Viper had long ago employed a discreet cleaning crew to monitor all of the equipment. It was one of the reasons Viper’s Dungeon was so popular. After an intense scene the last thing on the participants’ minds was cleaning the area thoroughly. At least with a cleaning crew patrons could be sure of the sanitary conditions.
Derek lifted Maya to sit on the edge of one of the torture tables and then leaned against the other. Cam leaned beside him, and it quickly became apparent he was doing it so he could watch Maya’s face. Derek couldn’t hide his smile. Cam was a natural Dom, no doubt about it, so maybe the three of them weren’t only here for Maya.
“What is this room?” Maya asked, looking around her without a hint of fear. Whether she realized it or not, she already trusted him and Cam to keep her safe.
“This is the torture room. It’s only used by a handful of members.”
“Don’t worry, sugar, we won’t be using this room for anything other than talking,” Cam said in a reassuring voice. It was quite possibly also a warning to Derek not to push his luck. Thankfully he was in total agreement on that one.
Cam was eyeing a chair with a hole cut in the seat. It was usually used for male subs, and just the thought of the type of pain that could be inflicted to such a vulnerable part of a man’s body made Derek’s eyes water. Judging by Cam’s reaction, he understood enough about torture methods to know what at least some of the equipment was for. He also looked slightly disturbed, confirming in Derek’s mind that they were thinking the same way.
Hard-core sadism and masochism weren’t for the faint of heart. Yes, it filled a need for like-minded people, but Derek sure as hell wasn’t one of them.
“Tell me about your last sexual experience,” Derek said to Maya. She blinked, perhaps shocked at such an intrusive order, or maybe at his forceful tone.
“Real or imagined?” Maya asked with an impish grin. Her attitude threw him off guard for a moment, and he fought to hide his smile. The woman truly was something
.
“Both,” Cam said before Derek could answer.
“Why?”
“Quit stalling and answer the question.”
“I’m not stalling.”
Derek glanced at Cam and realized he wore a wide smile.
“I’m predicting,” Cam said with humor in his voice, “that this is one sub who will spend a lot of time with a very sore bottom.”
“You could be right,” Derek said, giving up on trying to control his grin. “Perhaps that is something we should see to when we get back to Maya’s place.”
Maya’s smile faltered, but it didn’t hide the way her eyes darkened or how her breathing quickened. She might be a little apprehensive about a spanking, but she was also very interested.
“When was the last time you had sex, Maya?”
She reddened, the blush creeping up her neck and coloring her cheeks. She dipped her head, but Derek leaned over to lift her face with his fingers. “I…um…about two years ago…I…” She blew out a deep breath, seemingly annoyed at herself. When she spoke again, her words seemed more like the woman he knew. “About two years ago I tried the whole one-night stand thing. It didn’t go well.”
“You ended up feeling lonelier than you did before.” Cam’s words were quiet, but it was obvious that he saw into the woman’s heart, perhaps even shared her experience in some way. Ironically it also had the added effect of pulling Derek’s own dissatisfaction into sharp focus. Had his faltering concentration flogging subs on the St. Andrew’s Cross been because he wanted a sub of his own? Until this moment, he would have said no, but seeing Maya in his world, feeling the unexpected companionship with Cam, changed his answer.
“What about fantasies?” Derek struggled to ask. His own fantasies were starting to spin through his head. Ironically they were based less on sexual experience and more in matters of the heart. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to rein in his thoughts and concentrate on Maya.
