by Dakota Trace
“Don’t begin to assume you’re off the hook, Sabella.”
Ethan’s words had her eyes flying up to meet his. “I…”
“Did I ask you to speak?”
She shook her head mutely. “No, Sir.”
He growled in frustration, before tossing his dreads over one shoulder. “Once I’ve finished with this situation and have a bit more self-control, I’ll come back and deal with your punishment.” He moved away from her. “Believe me, you’d better have a valid reason other than merely wanting attention, or I won’t go easy on you.” He shut the door behind him. As soon as it was completely shut, she sank to her knees, hiding her face with her hands.
“What have I done?”
There was no answer from the now eerily silent room.
Chapter Fourteen
“Thank you, Master Ethan. I think she was going to kill me this time.” Standing in the freezing cold next to the open end of the ambulance, Ethan gave Zebadiah Pellegrino’s hand a reassuring squeeze as the paramedics got ready to load him, and the gurney he was strapped to, into it. His body was battered and splinted. The memory of walking into the bondage room and witnessing the odd angle of Zeb’s right thigh made Ethan want to beat the little sub’s Domme into a pulp. But in this instance, he was going to allow the local authorities to punish her. Either way however, her days of clubbing were over, especially if he had anything to say about. His reach was long in the Pacific coast scene. She’ll play like hell finding a club who’ll accept her after I get done.
“It was nothing,” he assured the young man. Pale beyond his normally fair skin, Ethan dearly hoped he would stay away from Allison Teleen. As a Domme, the woman was nothing more than a bully — and a sadistic one at that. Not that he would have said anything if she’d kept it to willing submissives who wanted her particular brand of dominance. Unfortunately for Zebadiah, he’d stumbled into her web as a fresh-faced newbie who wanted nothing more than to please his Mistress, never realizing there was no pleasing Allison.
“But it was. What can I do for you in return?” The words were mumbled through swollen lips, and Ethan knew exactly what the boy was trying to offer. Even if he swung that way, he could never take advantage of a young man in such a manner. Zebediah needed time to heal. Perhaps I can find him a new Domme after he’s recovered but that’s for later. First, he needs to make it through the agony of the recovery which is certain to come.
“You want to do something for me? Press charges against her, and don’t go back - no matter how much she swears she’s changed, Zebadiah. Do you understand? That’s all I want in return.” He brushed the youth’s hair off his brow. “Do this for me and I’ll consider your debt repaid.”
“Yes, Sir.” He nodded, his eyes drifting shut as the meds the paramedics had given him started to kick in.
“Good boy, rest. I’ll be up to visit you tomorrow.”
Standing next to Davis, they watched as the ambulance pulled away from the club, followed shortly by the police cruiser. In the backseat, Allison had her head tipped back against the seat, her eyes closed.
“She doesn’t even look like she’s sorry, Ethan.” Davis opened the club door, holding it for him.
“Because she’s not. She’s nothing more than a bully. What she did to Zeb is unforgivable, especially when he safeworded. No submissive needs that.” He sighed long and hard, coming to a stop just inside of the entryway. “I don’t know how I’ll ever forget the sight of it. I walked into the room - the very room where I’ve had some of my fondest memories of bondage, and saw him hanging there - from the pillory, standing on one leg while the other dangled limply and he was screaming and crying, begging with her to stop.” Ethan closed his eyes. “Dear Lord - the blood.” He opened them slowly. “I’ve closed the room off and asked one of the other DMs to guard it until the CSI team has finished.” He squeezed the bridge of his nose. “What a fucked up night and it’s not over yet. Subbie night is in full swing, and I still have a willful sub to deal with before I can even help you with the rounds.”
Davis shoved his hands into the tight pockets on his leathers. “This week has been hell for you, partner, having to deal with all those rescheduled appointments on top of your regular ones. Go deal with Bella and then take the night off. The club will be fine…”
Ethan drew a harsh breath. “But it’s my responsibility to help…”
Davis rolled his eyes at him. “Don’t even go there with that responsibility shit. You do more than enough. Toby and I can handle it. If you’re worried about a personnel shortage - don’t. I’ll just recruit Kaleb and a few of the other Doms to help out.” Davis clasped his hand over Ethan’s shoulder. “You need some downtime before you explode, Ethan. So, as your partner and co-owner of the club, I’m kicking your ass out of management for tonight.” He gave his friend a wolfish grin. “Now if you want to tie a certain mouthy little sub to a St. Andrew’s cross and tan her ass…that I have no issues with.”
Despite everything: the stress of a nearly doubled work load, genuine pain of seeing one of the submissives he’d offered a safe haven to play come to harm, and his own irksome submissive, he found his cock hardening at the thought of getting his hands on Sabella once more. “Don’t remind me. I stuck her in my private playroom and told her she had better have a good reason for acting the way she did.”
Davis sighed. “In all honesty, Ethan, I don’t think she realized when she showed up here tonight what’d happen. You’ve been out of town and…after talking to her earlier…well, let’s say she was under the impression the exclusivity thing was only during your scenes, not outside of them. She seemed surprised when I flipped out about her showing up for Subbie Night.”
Ethan’s nostrils flared, irritation chipping away at his barely regained calm. “While I may have to have another discussion with her about the terms of our agreement, there’s no way she didn’t know what was going to happen tonight if she challenged me.” He tipped his head back before rolling his shoulders, then once more focused on his partner. “She wants attention, and like most kids she’ll take any she can find - even if is the result of bad behavior.”
Davis stared at him thoughtfully. “You honestly think she’s topping from the bottom?”
“Most definitely. She actually screamed at me, told me how after dealing with her father and kids all day, the last thing she wanted was to deal with a “Dom who’d canceled twice on her”. So instead she choose to blow me off in favor of hanging out with her friend.”
Davis’s eyes narrowed. “Oh really?”
“So now instead of coaxing her along the next step to the total release she’s been craving, I have to punish her and send her home.”
“Who said you have to send her home after her punishment, Ethan?”
“Like she is going to want to stay with me after…”
A gleam entered Davis’s eyes. “Do it the right way and she will. Be firm in the punishment but take care of her afterward. Reassure her you still want her. Maybe she’ll give you a full body massage. From what the other Doms have told me, she has a way with her hands…”
Ethan growled. “That’s not a good thing to remind me of, Davis. I haven’t forgotten your part in this mess…”
* * * *
Sitting on the edge of the bondage bed, Sabella jumped up at the scrape of a key turning in the lock. With her taking off her watch to give massages, and there being no clock in Ethan’s private playroom, she had no idea how long she’d actually been left alone. Kaleb hadn’t said much of anything when he’d arrived in the massage room, other than he had been instructed to take her to Ethan’s playroom, and its owner would be joining her later. Basically the same thing Ethan told me earlier. Not that it was any consolation considering even from her location in the back of the barn, she’d heard the sirens. You know I really don’t like this ‘lock away the little woman when there’s trouble’ even if the cage happens to be one of the best appointed playrooms I’ve ever had the pleasure to grace.
The door opened as Ethan pocketed his keys. Assuming the leasha high position with her hands clasped behind her back, she waited patiently for him to speak. She’d hopefully learned her lesson about speaking out of turn. She listened intently as the door shut. With her head turned to the left, she couldn’t see what he was doing. Straining her ears, she listened for the whisper of his clothing, the tread of his shoes, anything to tell her where he was, because she’s wasn’t going to bring down more trouble on her head. She’d done as he asked and tried to figure out why she’d acted the way she had, but found no answers other than the fact she’d been on edge before she’d come to the club. It wasn’t excusable and she knew it. A reasonable submissive would’ve come to a Dom, even a house Dom, and asked for a session. Please, Dear Lord, let him be in a forgiving mood.
The brush of fingers over her shoulder startled her, but she forced herself to be retain her position. A good sub let’s nothing rattle her. She’s here to serve her Dom’s needs and nothing less. She repeated the mantra in her mind as the fingers left her shoulder to trail over her neck and down her back, before they climbed once more to rest on the crown of her head.
“Ignoring me is not an option, Sabella.” His voice came out gravelly, his disappointment weighing heavily on her.
She forced herself to concentrate on the sound of his breathing and not the words. If she could match it as she had in the training room, maybe he would be happy with her again.
“Look at me.” The command had her looking up and directly into his green eyes. “Better.” He sighed. “Your form is perfect, as usual. You have so many things going for you as a submissive. You have a genuine desire to serve, to care for those around you. Your body is even incredibly responsive.” He stood tall and backed away from her. “But you can’t seem to give over to what you need without fighting.”
“I….Sir…” She didn’t know how to respond. She’d never fought a day in her life, but she had a feeling that wasn’t what he was talking about. It was true she had an issue with patience when it came to her own limitations but…
“No protests. You’re impulsive and, for whatever reason, you refuse to trust. The doctor in me would like to explore the underlying issues but I’m not your doctor, nor do I want to be. And that’s the problem.”
“Sir?” Panic flooded her. Was he going to end it before she had a chance to find that “more”?
“Now don’t tear up on me. I’m not ending things - not by a long shot, but it does leave me with the quandary of what am I going to do with you.”
Chewing on her lower lip, she finally whispered a plea of forgiveness. Ethan sighed. “When I left the massage area, I told you I was going to demand an answer when I returned. Do you have one for me?”
“No excuses, Sir. Just a belly full of bad temper and frustration. I shouldn’t have made a scene nor questioned you as I did. It was very bad form, even if I do think we need to clear up a few things in our arrangement.” She held her breath as he studied her, his face expressionless.
“That’s not what I asked, Sabella. I don’t want platitudes. I want to know what exactly you thought to accomplish by acting that way.”
She cringed. He wasn’t going to be forgiving on this matter it seemed. He was demanding the words, the admission of her guilt, one which was going to end up with her on the receiving end of his palm or whatever other implement he thought was appropriate. “I…attention. I was tired of being an afterthought, a person who was good enough to call in a pinch but once out of sight, I was out of mind.”
“Even though I warned you and gave you a way out, you still persisted, knowing what the end result would be.”
She nodded, guilt building in her. “Yes, Sir.”
He exhaled loudly. “Then you leave me no other choice. If you’re going to act like a child, ’I'll treat you as one.” He moved over to a ladder back chair she hadn’t noticed before. Sinking on to it, he gestured for her to come closer. “Over my knees, Sabella.”
Scrambling to her feet, she rushed to his side before gingerly draping her body face down over his legs. Bracing her palms flat on the surface of the hardwood, she waited for the first blow.
“What’s your safeword, Sabella?” The request surprised her.
“Dobby, Sir.”
“Good.” He drew in several long breaths as his hand rubbed lightly over her elevated bottom. “Do you know what I wanted to do tonight when I saw you?”
“No, Sir.”
“I wanted to snatch you up and take you back to my training room. To guide you further down the path. We could’ve been breathing together, working together to bring you closer to your goal, but instead we’re here and I’m forced to dole out a punishment I’d hoped to avoid.”
She wanted to sob. He was speaking of the connection she’d been looking for when she’d arrived at the club. And like the impatient fool she was, she’d managed to mess it up. “I’m sorry, Sir.”
“Even if I believed you, which I do, you’d look at me with disparagement for not following through with my promise. A good Dom keeps his word even when he doesn’t want to.” His body, under her, seemed to tense. “It’ll be ten swats with a paddle on your bare ass. Five for acting like a child and five for ignoring the warnings, which not only I gave you but Davis did as well. Do you accept the consequences of your actions, Sabella?”
“Yes, Sir.” She fought the sting of tears. She deserved no less.
“Lift.” His hand was at the waistband of her leggings, her poet’s shirt pulled up high, already exposing the small of her back. Obediently she did as he requested, shivering just a bit as the cool air hit her skin. “Relax,” he ordered as one arm came down across her back. “Count off, little one.”
She braced herself for the blow but nothing prepared her for the sting of wood against her bottom. She jerked as the first tear spilled down her cheek, but didn’t struggle. “One, Sir.”
The next came amazingly fast. She hissed as pain shot up her spine. He was right, this was punishment plain and simple. There was nothing erotic about this spanking. “Two, Sir.” She was ready to beg his forgiveness and promise to never act this way again. He had made his point.
With a flurry of movements, he delivered the last eight spanks. “Ten, Sir…” She was openly sobbing now, her bum on fire as horrible remorse filled her heart.
“Shh, it is done now.” Ethan guided her back upright, cradling her on his lap, after retrieving a blanket from somewhere. She whimpered as the soft cotton wrapped around her, the fibers rough against the hot and swollen skin of her rump. He pressed her close, murmuring soft words of comfort. The cathartic, emotional release of his punishment had her lying limp in his arms as he soothed her. His words barely registered, her active mind blank for once.
When she stirred several minutes later, she had no idea of how long she’d clung to him, tears wetting the front of his fine Japanese silk shirt. “Sabella?” His voice was once more calm, comforting, almost reassuring in its tone. She lifted her head, meeting his gaze.
“Sir?”
He brushed his thumb over her lower lip, his eyes capturing hers. “It’s done. Everything’s once again normal between us. There’ll be no more hurt feelings, and this incident is forgiven and soon to be forgotten.”
She stared at him, barely able to believe he meant what he said. “No throwing it up in my face later?”
He thumbed away a tear. “No. We’re even again - a clean slate. Agreed?” He pressed a kiss against her forehead.
She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”
He pressed a kiss to her ear. “Tomorrow we shall finish the discussion you wanted, but for tonight I merely wish to hold you.”
“Yes, Sir.” She sank back into his embrace, allowing the steady thud of his heart to lull her. Tomorrow would be soon enough to deal with their relationship, or lack of one.
Chapter Fifteen
“And that was the turning point, Mrs. D.” Sabella sipped coffee at her father’s dining room table. M
rs. Di’Angelo had come over to make supper for the older Johnston, and to give Sabella some ‘motherly’ advice. And hopefully a dose of reality to snap me out this sinking suspicion that I’m once again falling for my Dom. “It’s been nearly three weeks and six scenes later since he paddled me. The man is driving me insane with his talk of holding me to the same standards he holds himself, but never doing anything outside of our training which could even be considered Dom like.”
Mrs. D. cocked her head, a perplexed look upon her face. “Nothing Dom-like? Why? Because he’s giving you exactly what you want?”
Setting down the cup, Sabella gave a shrug. “I don’t know…maybe.” She cupped her chin in her hand. “I thought I wanted to be treated like an equal, and I’d still be able to experience the same pleasure I had the first time he bound me.”
“And now?” Looking over the rim of her glasses, Mrs. D. took a sip of her tea.
Toying with the handle of the cup, Sabella sighed. “I want the closeness I experienced during my punishment. He hasn’t changed per se, he merely seems a bit more distant, more composed than he was. That night, I pushed hard and he pushed back. Now, he just gives me a look, one which promises more of the same if I try the same stunt again, and I cave.” She pushed the cup away. “It’s like I want it but yet I don’t.”
“Hmm, it sounds like you want the connection you found with him following your…” She lowered her voice in deference to Sabella’s father, who happened to be watching a football in the next room. “…spanking, but you don’t want to experience the pain.”
“Exactly.” She grimaced. “It leaves me with quite the predicament.”
Mrs. D. sighed. “You know you could simply open your mouth and ask. Explain to him what you just told me. If he’s the Dom you say he’s supposed to be, he’ll understand. Considering what I’ve heard and read, a Dom is supposed to crave the connection the same way a submissive does.”
