She hated that she was lying to everyone. The thing that kept her going, and fibbing about it, was that she had already lost four pounds this first week of change. She was starting the second week, and this was going to work, with only a few weeks left. Quinn would be leaving for his job again soon. If she could only keep Quinn preoccupied until then so that he didn’t notice, she would be home free. She was headachy more and getting tired much more quickly than she normally did. Moody, she was incredibly cranky these days. It was because of her crankiness that she entertained the suggestion from Ashley and Richard to go to the club with them the second weekend after Quinn left on loan to the Forest Service.
“Hey, Cheyenne, it was fun finishing your last big errand for the wedding, but I have to get home and get changed. Richard is coming over to pick me up for the club. Why don’t you come along?”
“It sounds so fantastic and believe me when I say it’s beyond tempting, but Quinn isn’t here so I’m not supposed to go without him.”
“But it’s Friday night. I know at least Master Josh will be there, and I bet Jacquie and Ace will be there. Ashley and Richard had stuck it out after the infamous open house invitation two years ago, when she had officially become Quinn’s girlfriend and submissive. Right after her first official spanking, that is. Her friends had then taken the formal classes and found that they enjoyed the play. They were regulars at the club now.
“Richard isn’t going to want to have me tag along, and I wouldn’t blame him.”
“I’ll call him and see if it’s okay just so you won’t feel like you’re imposing, all right?”
“Thanks, Ashley. I would really like to go but don’t want to take away from your enjoyment.”
Ashley made the call and then hung up with a smile. “Richard said you can stay with us, and he’ll make sure nothing happens to you. He did ask if Quinn would be okay with this. I said he would be fine with it.”
Cheyenne pretended to finish chewing her jalapeño popper before answering. She was actually trying to make a decision. The first immediate rational response was, No Way. She gave herself a quick pep talk. No way am I going when Quinn made it clear I was not to go without him. He had told her that there was protection when he was there, but she was open territory if she went alone. Nevertheless, she would not be going alone.
Even as she thought it, she knew he didn’t want other doms taking care of her, even the ones who were their friends unless she needed the help. Still, she hesitated about telling her friends no. She was lonely, cranky and so very weary with all of the wedding arrangements. She needed some relaxation.
At The Sting, the stated expectation was that a submissive would go with her dom or go alone if she had no dom. She could be considered single unless she wore his collar. If you wore your dominant’s collar, you knew your place was with your man without a doubt, exclusively. So did everyone else. No dom, no collar, no attachments.
Quinn and Cheyenne hadn’t yet agreed if she would wear his collar. It would be making a private and yet public declaration of their modified lifestyle so Quinn brought one for when they played, and she removed it when they left. Quinn was the keeper of the collar. Quinn was out of town. She could hear his admonition even now.
Her brain quoted his previously spoken clarification, “So that means you don’t go alone.”
Her conscience begged her to listen to Quinn’s admonition. The impulsive brain, the one that often got her spanked or worse, said he would never know. In eager anticipation of some camaraderie, and while Cheyenne had agreed with Quinn at the time, she reasoned no one would bother her when all the regulars knew she belonged to him. Richard said she would stay with them. Easy as pie, right?
That had been her mistake. While she had thought that the regulars would understand that she was with Quinn, any new blood would not. It was the first Friday night after a four-week orientation process, so there were a good handful of people new to the club. At least, they were new enough to understand the rules, and still not be familiar with the regulars.
The front door screener was a substitute that night and hadn’t immediately realized she wasn’t coming in with Richard and Ashley as the third in a ménage à trois. She was coming in with them and did intend to stay close, but that was not the same thing. Alarms going off in Cheyenne’s head made her hesitate but she hadn’t been to the club in more than a few weeks because of Quinn’s business trips, or they were busy with the wedding. She was stressed, and she needed to relax.
She stated she didn’t come to play so being a voyeur would be okay, surely. No harm no foul, as they say, she told herself. That’s until Richard and Ashley went to play and while she could have gone, she lingered too long talking to one of the other women. Cheyenne stood at the bar drinking her ginger ale alone. Maggie came up and began a conversation.
“You’re Cheyenne, right?”
“Yes, you’re Maggie.”
“Yep.” She stood as though she were a bit confused. “I thought Quinn said he would be here tonight.”
Cheyenne turned back quickly. “When did he say that?”
“Oh, Thursday when he called,” she took a sip of her juice.
“Really? He’s been gone since Monday,” Cheyenne said hoping to jog the woman’s memory of when she spoke to him. That woman didn’t change her statement, which put Cheyenne on the alert. “I know, he said as much, but he told me he expected to be back.”
“Well, he didn’t make it.” Cheyenne was steaming. “What did he call you for, anyway?”
Maggie turned to open her mouth and stopped cold, closing her mouth quickly. “No reason; just to chat.” She had suddenly taken an interest in another person on the other side of the room and had taken off that fast.
Cheyenne looked around for a friend to help her work out the strange but upsetting conversation but didn’t see anyone. Jacquie and Ace were already playing, and Sue was waiting on Master Carter’s whims. She was Susie tonight with a cute little smile on her face. Master Josh was nowhere to be seen. Quinn didn’t allow Cheyenne to drink at the club due to the possible ill effects on their play. She decided, when the bartender brought her the standard ginger ale, she would not ask for stronger, no use alerting everyone to her lack of play partner and now lack of escort.
As she was finishing her beverage, a very nice looking gentleman tried to encourage her to speak with him. He was a local contractor, and she thought she recognized him from one of Shane’s sites. She talked to him about Shane and Andrew for a little while. Master Lars worked to help her relax and become at ease with him. It worked. She relaxed in his company. A good dom at work should always be able to allay most surface irritations and reach for those beneath the surface. This one was good.
His personality was such and her irritation at a level that she missed the signals she was sending out might and were being interpreted as encouraging deeper contact. Signals like discussing scenes she enjoyed. She meant with Quinn, not with anyone else. However, as she talked to him, they walked over to the other staged play to have a look.
After discussing her likes and dislikes and thoughts of the various scenes and hearing Cheyenne’s preferences, he negotiated a scene with her. When Cheyenne realized what was going on, she quickly said she had a dom. She didn’t nor did Quinn allow her to play with anyone else without his permission.
The man’s reaction showed mostly controlled irritation but some anger was bubbling around the edges. He said something under his breath and abruptly left the area. Cheyenne felt sorry she had apparently missed his overtures and remembered why she was not supposed to be there. She was a submissive in a sea of dominants. Her dom was up to something that might blow her submissiveness to bits. Her warrior woman might have to make an appearance. She had a man who was very possibly doing hinky things behind her back and she had to redirect one who was likely darned ticked off at her.
It did seem, though, that nothing would come of the misunderstanding until there was a tap on her shoulder. Cheyenne
turned around, worried it was the Sir again, but when she looked up, she came face to face with Master Josh. Normally he was jovial but tonight he sported a stern face and carried a phone in his hand.
“There is a phone call for you, my dear, and I would recommend you take it.”
She was positive that the tone and look were something they taught in “dominant school” for Quinlan had that same face when she was in trouble. But why would Master Josh be upset with her? Cheyenne hadn’t had anything alcoholic, she had avoided near disaster, and she was now close enough to the scene that Richard and Ashley were participating in that she would pass as being within Richard’s sight, sound, and protection. Unless it was that dom incident. What a tattletale. Cheyenne continued to have a puzzled look for a moment longer as her brain processed.
Realizing what happened, she said, “Oh, you called Quinn, didn’t you? You could have told me to go home, without bringing in Quinlan.”
The response he rewarded her with was a little shake of the phone and a set of raised eyebrows.
“I’m not talking to him. I’m mad at him.” She immediately thought so very mature, Cheyenne. Way to go.
“Cheyenne, I can set it up for a little public discipline if you like.” The face and tone were sterner if that was even possible.
“Fine,” she grumbled as she grabbed the phone petulantly, earning herself another thundercloud look.
“Hello?” Cheyenne answered in an exasperated tone to which Master Josh gave her another hard warning look in response. There was a moment of quiet on the other line before she heard what she recognized to be an annoyance and some irritation of her soon to be husband brought on, she was sure, by the call, he received from his close friend. That information most assuredly included his lovely lady arriving at The Sting without him.
She had taken another deep breath before she remembered her conversation earlier with Maggie. Pulling herself up and being confident of her control of this outcome, she spoke with the authoritative tone she took with the IRS when speaking for her client.
“Hello, Quinn. And before you say anything, I have one word for you, Maggie.” Again, there was silence on the other end of the phone.
“What about Maggie?”
“What do you mean what about Maggie?” she hissed on the phone. “You called her Thursday and said you expected to be at the club this weekend. Why would you do that?”
She had Master Josh’s full attention now, as well. She heard the heavy sigh from both men almost simultaneously.
“It’s nothing. Forget it. It was just a conversation.”
“How did you get her number,” she hissed.
“I’m not going to talk about it with you.”
“Well, I can tell you it’s something you are going to talk about. Just when were you going to let me in on this secret conversation only the two of you shared?” She looked triumphantly towards Master Josh, only the look on his face told her others knew of this secret.
“Cheyenne, now isn’t the time to go into it, but it was a secret because it was a surprise. A wedding present I wanted to give you. Will you let me keep it a secret?” He sounded hopeful.
“A secret because it’s a surprise?” her authoritative voice was oozing away fast.
“Yes.”
“Oh. Well, what kind of surprise involves another woman?”
“Cheyenne, you have to trust me because I’m not going to say another word about it.”
“This isn’t over but I can’t have this type of conversation in the middle of the club.”
“Thank you, a stór. Now, back to why this phone call was made in the first place.”
She knew it was probably too late to do any type of damage control on that subject. She had defied Quinn’s expressed wishes, and that had never turned out well for her. Then she almost blew his surprise because she was in the wrong place at the worst time. She took an unsteady breath but said nothing else. She wanted to trust him, believe it was a good surprise wedding present and not something sordid and devastating, so she did. The alternative was not to be borne. There was no other tone like Quinn’s irritated calm, and it was unmistakable. Her voice shook with trepidation, not at all the exasperated woman she had been seconds ago. There was something else she heard in his voice was it amusement? It might be okay, after all.
“Piscín, where are you?” Quinn asked in that calm but menacing voice that alerted her she needed to be very careful. She knew she should be careful, her subconscious advised her conscious brain to listen, but the old Cheyenne was bubbling forth with a mind of its own. That naughty Cheyenne popped out at the most inopportune times.
“Really, Quinn? We have already established where I am. Master Josh called you so you not only know where I am but are thinking of how to punish me.”
Quinn laughed, “True. However, I’m already positive of how to punish you so I don’t have a lot of thought needed.”
“Fine, I’ll go home, okay? It’s been a rough night anyway.”
“Cheyenne,” said Quinn sharply, “you need to listen with care and be respectful of Master Josh and me. Remember, I don’t often like to do a public scene, but I think this disobedience deserves it, don’t you?”
“What?” squealed Cheyenne as she blanched with apprehension. “Quinn, no, please, I’m telling you the truth. I didn’t realize he thought I was unaccompanied. It was a mistake.”
“One you would not have made if you had minded me in the first place, and not gone without my escort. You had no escort and no collar, what was he supposed to think?”
“And whose fault is that?” Caution was thrown to the wind and was long gone.
“Excuse me?”
“The collar, you keep it hidden and haven’t given me one for me to wear all the time, like...”
“Is that what this was all about? You think I don’t want to collar you permanently? Cheyenne, we have discussed this. You were hesitant, and I agreed it needed to be when you didn’t have reservations. We’ll talk about it when I get home in two days. What you will do, and listen to me very carefully, beag amháin, because, little one, if you do as I say, without interpretation or commentary, the scene I’m setting up won’t be hard for you to handle. If you keep talking, it could grow to monstrous proportions and span hours.”
“Fine, fine,” she growled into the phone, and as she looked in Master Josh’s face, she curbed her tongue. He was definitely looking like Quinn was sounding. Her bottom clenched with fear and anticipation of punishment she didn’t want to think about, but it now seemed to consume her thoughts. The sadist; this is what he wanted. He wanted her to be antsy about it.
She listened hard to Quinn’s next words and responded in her now very respectful tone. “No, I’m not… Yes, I understand, Sir. Yes, sir, I understand. I will, Sir. Please, may I drive home now? Yes, sir, I did, but I have to tell my friends I’m leaving. But… I didn’t mean… I’m sorry, sir. I will, Sir. I love you too.”
After what seemed like a very intense conversation on Quinn’s end, a much-humbled Cheyenne gave the phone back to Master Josh with eyes bright and shining with unshed tears. She stood waiting quietly and subdued, head partially down, staring at some point ahead of her. She waited for Quinn to complete his conversation with Master Josh.
When he was through speaking to Quinn, Master Josh put his arm around her and squeezed. That was all it took for the anger Cheyenne had built up to disburse and for her to burst into tears as the subdued and chastised Cheyenne. Master Josh brought her to the sofa and cuddled her while sending for her friends who quickly took over. He whispered something in Cheyenne’s ear before leaving.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but your Master Quinn is one of my best friends. Even if he wasn’t, it’s my job to make sure subs are safe. What type of friend, master, dom, would I be if I allowed his most precious possession to be handled by another man and possibly hurt in the process? Now I understand this Sir seemed very nice but he’s new, and as such, I don’t know how he plays
with anyone yet, which is why the extra eyes.
“It was important that I take care of you, little sprite. Besides, you understood the rules, no playing without Quinn here with you and I know that Quinn had been clear as a bell about that. He was even more precise in saying you may not even come without him. You’re special and you’ve done a world of good in helping your Master Quinn to mellow out, but obedience is expected.”
Then Master Josh’s stance and tone changed, and he was the dominant speaking to an errant young lady again.
“I’ll come back in a few moments when you’ve brought things under control and will escort you to your car. You’re to go home, and I won’t see you again until you’re accompanied by your Sir, understood?”
Cheyenne nodded her head but remembered she should respond with words in the club and so she said, “Yes, sir, I get it.”
Josh placed a comforting kiss on the top of her head and turned her over to her friends, but kept an eye on her for her own safety. He had always liked her spunk and was happy she and Quinn had made such a good go of it. Another narrow escape as the one earlier was more likely to happen tonight now that she was vulnerable. He needed to watch her. She was naïve but not stupid, and she would go home and stay away until Quinn came with her to accomplish her punishment.
* * *
He set a play monitor to keep watch while Josh went to find the errant Maggie. She needed a spanking of the level a budding sadist might deliver and the new dominant with whom Cheyenne had caused the irritation was probably in the mood to administer that spanking. Anyway, he needed to smooth some feathers and ruffle others. He had a message from Quinn to deliver, and if the man hadn’t found a play partner yet and Maggie was unacceptable, he would help him identify one that would suit.
* * *
That was last Friday. Cheyenne’s stomach rolled again as she climbed out of her car Sunday and locked the door before putting her keys in her bag. Finally, Quinn was returning home. He had been gone for two weeks on loan to the forest service and Cheyenne knew it had been stressful for both of them.
Accepting His Ways (Quinlan O'Connor Book 2) Page 13
