by Tabatha Kiss
“It was enough to discharge me for good.”
“So…” I look at the table between us. “That scar on your leg is…?”
He fixes his jaw. “You noticed,” he says.
“Hard not to.”
His eyes go dark for a moment. “I nearly lost it,” he says. “I wish I had some amazing story of heroics to go along with it, but I don’t. A squad mate of mine panicked under pressure, hugged his rifle a little too hard, and I just happened to step in the way at the wrong time.”
I breathe out, my heart breaking. “That’s… a letdown.”
“It really was.” He taps the table. “Anyway, they sent me home and I moved back in with my mother for a while until I could walk again.”
“What does she do?” I ask, happy to shift the subject.
“She was a teacher — at our high school, actually.”
I lean forward. “Wait, what does she teach?”
“English Lit.”
“Mrs. Snow?” My jaw drops as my brain places her. “Your mom is Mrs. Snow?!”
He nods, smiling. “That’s Mom.”
“I loved Mrs. Snow!”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Wow.” I blink with nostalgia. “I haven’t thought about English Lit since… English Lit.”
Clive laughs. “I’m sure she’d understand.”
“I wonder if she remembers me.”
His eyes fall again. “She died last year.”
I lean back, my guts churning with grief. “Oh, god. I’m so sorry,” I say.
“It’s all right.” He waves a hand. “She worshiped her students. I’m sure she would have remembered you.”
Fuck.
How many times am I going to shove my foot in my mouth here?
Still, at least I feel like I know him just a little bit better now. The timeline isn’t exactly complete yet but he’s already revealed so much. And not an ounce of it is fair. I’m not about to make him tell me more. I’m not even sure I want to hear it, in case my heart rips apart.
I exhale hard. “Clive, I am so sorry,” I say again.
“Really, Nora. It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.” I drop my head. “We’ve been here five minutes and I’ve paved over the worst possible subjects in your life…”
Still, he smiles. “I guess, in your case, we can probably re-visit the concept of failure in dating.”
I breathe a laugh. “Fuck. Maybe you’re right.”
Clive extends his hand across the table and rests it on mine. “Nora, I mean it. If I didn’t want to talk to you about these things, I wouldn’t have answered. Okay?”
I nod, feeling his warmth climb up to my elbow. “Okay,” I say.
He rubs the back of my hand with his thumb and sits back. “So, you’re the expert. What do normal couples usually do after the first coffee date crashes and burns?” he asks.
“Well,” I grin, sensing opportunity, “according to my expertise, the general consensus is that the man takes the woman back to his place and… he spanks her.”
He raises a brow. “Does he?”
“He does.”
His head tilts. “Something about that just doesn’t seem right…”
I raise my hands. “Hey, you asked the expert.”
He stares across the table at me with a subtle hesitation in his blue eyes. “My place, huh?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say.
He sucks in his bottom lip, pausing for a moment before his mouth curls again. “I’ll do you one better. Come with me.”
I blink as Clive stands with his cup. “Go with you where?”
“Just come on.”
I bolt up with excitement, tossing my empty cup in the trash as he leads me outside.
Twenty-Seven
Nora
Clive takes my hand and walks me down the block. We take a right turn into the first alleyway we pass. I look back with suspicion, covering my nose over the stench of garbage while Clive’s fingers tighten around mine. Please, don’t let me step in a puddle or… worse.
We turn again and I find myself at the coffee shop’s alley exit. The next door down is bright red with white grid lines painted from top to bottom.
The Red Brick Road.
Clive reaches into his pocket and withdraws a set of keys. “Be real quiet, okay?” he says.
I bite my cheek in suspense. “Why?”
He unlocks the door and pushes it open. “After you.”
I don’t hesitate. I walk past him inside, mostly just to get out of this smelly alleyway. He closes the door behind us, plunging the room into darkness but that doesn’t seem to slow him down at all. His hand locks on mine in the dark and he leads me down a shadowed corridor cut off from the club’s floor. I hear the deep, moody music and the faint hum of voices on the other side of the wall.
“Employees only area,” he whispers.
“I figured.”
“Watch your step. Going up.”
My toes tap the edge of the first step but I find the banister beside me to keep from falling. After a few steps up, I move easier but I keep my tight grip on his hand.
Clive turns a knob and pushes another door wide-open. I blink to adjust to the soft lights inside but my jaw drops as I realize where we are now.
It’s a tight corridor, barely large enough for two adults walking side-by-side, with three large windows looking out onto the club’s second floor. My head tilts in confusion, thinking that I don’t recall those windows being here on the other side, but then—
“Two-way mirrors?” I ask.
Clive pauses by the first window viewing a St. Andrew’s cross and smiles. “Yes.”
I stand beside him, taking in the view of a young girl tightly restrained to the cross. It’s that same couple from my first visits here. Her Dom stands behind her with his belt in one hand and her ponytail in the other, gently tilting back to growl something in her ear. She smiles, just like always.
My skin shifts. “Isn’t this…” I pause, feeling the beautiful ache in my neck as he tugs the girl’s hair back. “Isn’t this like, really wrong?”
“What is?” Clive asks.
“Aren’t we invading their privacy? They don’t know we’re here…”
“In here, out there.” He shrugs. “What’s the difference?”
I bite my lip, still not sure if I agree. “There are no fake mirrors on the top floor, are there?”
“Oh, no. Those rooms are one-hundred percent private. I wouldn’t have taken you up there if they weren’t.” He points at the windows. “These are just an added measure for keeping people safe. If we suspect someone of bad behavior, we can get a closer look through these.”
“Bad behavior?” I chuckle. “Isn’t all of this bad behavior?”
He winks. “I mean rule-breaking, specifically. Not honoring safe words, things like that.”
“Have you ever caught anybody doing that?”
“Once or twice,” he answers. “We have a zero-tolerance policy, and yes, it’s very satisfying to kick them out.”
I nod, feeling a little better about it. “So, why are we here now?” I ask.
Clive looks at me, his eyes dropping down to my chest. “I have a fantasy,” he says, “and I thought that maybe you’d be willing to help me fulfill it.”
“What fantasy?”
“It’s kinda naughty.”
My lips twitch. “Can we get in trouble for it?”
“Only if we get caught.”
“Will we get arrested if we get caught?”
He chuckles. “No.”
“Okay. What is it?”
Clive bites his lip and takes a quick, cautionary glance over his shoulder. “Stand in front of me,” he says.
He puts a hand on my waist and pulls me closer, guiding me in front of him to look through the window. I tense up, feeling paranoid as I look right into the eyes of the girl on the cross, but she doesn’t see me looking at her. It feels so dirty… but I like it.
Clive pushes my hair to one side and kisses my neck above my collar. “I want to fuck you while we watch,” he whispers in my ear.
I breathe a laugh. “That’s it?”
His hand crawls up my thigh, raising my skirt. “That’s it.”
“I expected something a little more complicated.”
“Oh, it might get complicated.” He bites my earlobe. “This room isn’t soundproofed… and we have no idea when another employee might walk in here.”
I shiver, feeling his erection press against me through his jeans. “We’d have to be quick,” I say.
“And quiet.” His hand crawls into the front of my panties. “What do you say?”
I look forward as the girl’s face contorts into a feeling that’s so painfully familiar by now. She wants it from her Dom but she can’t have it. He won’t let her have it. Not until he wills it.
I reach behind my back, quickly finding Clive’s belt. “Yes,” I whisper, pushing his zipper down.
He lowers my panties to my ankles as he bends me over in the corridor. I put my hands on the wall, split on either side of the window. My breath quickens and my sex aches as I watch the Dom in front of me rake his teeth along the girl’s neck. His lips move, whispering god-knows-what that brings that smile to her face. I hear her moaning softly through the glass and I bite my lip to keep from doing the same.
Clive’s cock stands on end between my thighs. He rubs his tip on my entrance, enticing me to open but I’m already so wet for him.
He thrusts inside and I gasp with pleasure.
“Shh,” he whispers behind me. He lays one strong hand on my shoulder and the other on my hip to hold me in place. “Don’t make a sound…”
It’s a struggle already. His dick slides in and out of me and my toes curl from the pressures inside. The added visual stimulation from the couple in front of us isn’t helping either.
“Ms. Payne,” Clive whispers in my ear, his breath rushing out. “I want to put you on that cross again.”
I nod, wanting it, too.
“Now that I know…” His hand moves from my shoulder to the back of my head. “That you…” He curls his fingers to grab my hair. “Are such a good girl—”
The girl through the glass yelps in pain as her Dom’s belt hits her ass.
Clive lays his other palm on my rear as my desire builds. “When you’re ready… this is what I’ll do to you.”
The Dom pulls back his arm, gearing up to slap her with the belt again. I cringe with the same anticipation as Clive’s hand hovers over my ass. The belt connects with her back, creating a loud slapping noise, and Clive slaps my ass at the same exact time.
I whimper in pleasure.
“I’ll push you until you break…” He readies his hand again. “And then, just when you think you can’t take anymore…” The belt swings down and they both strike us again. “I’ll fuck you as hard as I can.”
I cry out in painful ecstasy but Clive slaps his hand over my mouth to cut off the sound.
“Shh,” he scolds. “Bad girl.”
He quickens his thrusts, pounding harder. I moan into his hand, unable to help myself as pleasure spurs in my sex.
“Is that what you want?” he growls in my ear. “To be my bad girl? Do you want me to punish you? Is that it?”
I shake my head as my body betrays me by shoving me toward the edge.
“Don’t come,” he says. “Only good girls get to come.”
I hold back, clenching every muscle in my body to try and quell the relief begging to undo me. “Please…” I beg.
He continues with quick, steady thrusts. “Please what?”
“Please let me come, Mr. Snow,” I whisper.
“If I do…” He draws my chin back. “Then, you have to do something for me.”
I nod. “Yes.”
Clive taps my lips. “If you come, then you have to let me come in your mouth,” he says. “And you’re not allowed to swallow me until we leave this place.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “Do you understand?”
I shudder, completely taken in. “Yes, Mr. Snow.”
He holds me tighter. “After you, Ms. Payne.”
I dig my nails into the wall along the mirror. Clive moves in me, fucking and grinding me until I’m almost screaming through his hand.
I look through the glass and watch that couple. He’s released his sub from her restraints and he’s holding her the same way Clive held me after. She’s shaking but his tender touch brings warmth to her eyes. I think of that release and how good it felt to be loved in that way. To be held and respected and cared for.
I come hard in Clive’s arms. Every muscle twitches and his solid grip never loosens on me. It’s so safe and secure. I never want to leave his arms.
He kisses the edge of my mouth again. “Kneel,” he whispers.
I fall to my knees, using all of my strength to lift my head and present my tongue to him.
Clive takes hold of his cock and strokes himself. He lays his other hand beneath my chin to tilt me into place.
He comes quickly and my tongue twitches the instant his semen touches my taste buds. I catch every drop of it, forcing myself not to swallow. I wrap my lips around his tip, sucking him clean as he brushes the hair out of my face.
“Good girl,” he says.
He extends his hand to help me off my knees. I pick up my panties and quickly slide them back on as he tucks himself back into his pants. There’s a feeling of urgency. Anyone could walk in here. We’ve done the hard part. Now we just have to get out.
Clive leads me back to the stairwell. We rush down with light feet but voices coming our way bring us pause. I hold my jaw clenched, tasting more of his sweetness with every flinch of my tongue. He pulls me into a dark corner behind the stairs and we wait silently for the employees to wander by.
Once they’re gone, Clive guides me to the back exit again.
We burst out into the alleyway and he instantly holds up a finger to me.
“Wait…” he says. “Show me.”
I carefully open my mouth to prove I’ve been good.
He smiles. “You can swallow now.”
I close my mouth and force it back, feeling it tingle all the way down my throat.
“Thank you, Mr. Snow,” I say.
Clive pulls me in and kisses my wet lips. “Let’s go back to your place,” he says.
I bite my inner cheek. It’s not what I was hoping for but I can’t say no, either.
I take his hand and we rush out of the alley, quickly blending into the crowd.
Twenty-Eight
Nora
It hurts.
I thought it’d stop once we made it back to my place and I fell into his arms.
I thought it’d stop after he cuffed my hands behind my back and had his way with me.
I thought it’d stop once we fell asleep with our limbs entwined and I sure as hell didn’t expect it to still hurt when I woke up in his arms this morning.
This just fucking hurts.
I walk into Melanie’s apartment building shortly before nine. I’ll be late for work, that’s for sure, but I can’t bring myself to care about that as much this morning.
I roll my fist and tap twice on her door.
“Enter!” Melanie shouts from inside.
I turn the knob but the door doesn’t budge. “It’s locked, Mel!” I shout.
I wait for several moments until the lock finally slips free and the door swings open on Melanie in all her messy bun glory. Off the shoulder shirt. Baggy pants. The faint smell of alcohol. Yep, she’s been up all night writing.
“Hiya,” she says.
I throw a sympathetic pout. “Rough night?”
“These characters… will not fuck,” she says, stepping backward and leaving the door open for me. “Unlike you, I bet.”
I close the door behind me. “Well, you’re not wrong.”
Melanie shuffles toward her writing desk in the corner and plops onto her old desk chai
r. “Of course I’m not.” She points at me. “Hey, since your life is basically a porno now, can I start a weekly serial based on you and your erotic adventures?”
“Uh…” I toss my jacket over the back of the couch. “No.”
“Nora Payne and the Kink Club Cumshot,” she says. “Nora Payne and the Sex-Crazed Stud Muffin. I could do this all day…”
“Please don’t.”
Trix pops up on the couch behind me with a bag of cheddar popcorn in her lap. “Nora Payne and the Backseat Blowjob.”
I gasp in surprise. “Jeez, Trix—” I pause, clutching my heart. “Wait, how’d you know about that?”
“I didn’t, ya big whore.” She stuffs popcorn into her grinning mouth and crunches it between her teeth.
I roll my eyes. “What are you doing here?” I ask.
She swallows. “Still hiding.”
“From Marcus?”
“Yeah. I’ve been here all night. Mel and I might still be little wine-drunk, so if you’re here for advice, it’s gonna be awesome.”
Melanie chuckles. “What’s up, Nora?”
I exhale hard. “Well… he’s a vet. He’s a goddamn homeless vet.”
Trix beams. “Aww, I love animals.”
I glare at her.
“Oh. Never mind. You mean the other kind.” She slinks down behind the seat again in shame.
“I don’t know what to do,” I say. “My heart is bleeding. He joined the Army. He almost lost his leg. He came home and his mom died. Oh—! And I knew his mom!”
Melanie squints. “How did you know his mom?”
“She was my English Lit teacher in high school. She made me read Gatsby and now I’m fucking her son.”
“Aww, that’s cute,” Trix says behind me.
Melanie nods. “It is kinda poetic.”
I hold my face in my hands. “He’s so pretty and smart and sexy and his story is so sad and depressing but he’s so pretty and I don’t know what to do.”
“See, now,” Melanie’s face screws up, “I’d like to help you, Nor, but I don’t understand the problem…”
“Yeah.” Trix talks with her mouth full of popcorn. “It sounds like you and your patriotic vagina already got this one.”
