by Jan Springer
Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong because she just simply could not concentrate as visions of last night’s sexcapade dream kept distracting her, whipping up unwanted mind visuals of Eric and Steve and their rock-hard erections.
She’d been seconds away from squirting the wrong hair color onto ninety year old Mrs. Sanders root touch-up when thankfully Rachel had noticed Sophie’s error and had taken her aside and quietly informed her of her mistake. The elderly lady had almost been turned into a bleached blonde instead of her regular blue-gray.
Then later Sophie had shampooed another client’s hair with hair conditioner instead of shampoo. She’d rectified that problem easily enough. Unfortunately she hadn’t been able to calm another client whose ear she’d slightly burned with the curling iron. Once again Rachel had come to her aid. She’d efficiently taken over and given the lady a gorgeous style along with a gift certificate for a free haircut.
Then just a few minutes ago, Sophie had accidentally cut her finger and the sight of her blood had made another customer pass out right there in the chair.
“What in the world is wrong with you today?” Rachel whispered as she stepped into the back room where Sophie had been hiding out while nursing her fresh wound. Rachel placed the first-aid ointment and a package of bandages on the nearby countertop.
“Thanks for taking care of Mrs. Philips. I really appreciate it. I appear to be all thumbs today.”
“And cut fingers,” Rachel chuckled as she shook her head.
Despite her nervousness Sophie lifted her head and grinned at Rachel’s amused smile.
“It appears so.”
“Is it deep?” her assistant asked as she peered at the cut.
“Just a nick. I’ve had worse when I was learning how to be a hairstylist. How is my latest victim? Is she still passed out?”
She held her breath as she awaited Rachel’s answer. Thankfully she smiled with reassurance.
“She couldn’t stay. You were right when you said you remembered she has a phobia for blood. She left, but not before I gave her a free gift certificate for her next haircut.”
Sophie relaxed. “You did good. Thanks for covering for me again.”
“Hey, it’s not your fault that the lady has a phobia. When I saw her face go white and her eyeballs roll into the back of her head, I thought she was having a heart attack or something.”
“Me too. Until I remembered about the problem.”
“Speaking of problems, your mind is not here today. What have you been thinking about? Is something wrong?”
Heat whipped into Sophie’s face and Rachel’s eyebrows lifted in response.
“You’re blushing. I have never seen you blush before, boss. Who are you thinking about? Did you meet someone hot and exciting? I mean, I would be flushed if a guy looked like the two hunks that came in late afternoon yesterday for haircuts…” Her words trailed off and a bright look flashed across her face.
“Do you know them?” she asked. “I mean, they did ask for you specifically.”
More heat fused into Sophie’s cheeks. Oh crap!
“Oh,” Rachel whispered as her lips formed a perfect little O.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Sophie said quickly. She grabbed the first-aid ointment and hoped Rachel would let this topic of conversation drop. She didn’t.
“You know them, don’t you? That’s why your cheeks are so red. You know them very well. I’ve been in town for several months and this is the first I’ve seen them. Who are they?”
“Just friends,” Sophie wished her voice didn’t sound so high-pitched and excited.
“Such distracting friends.” The pleased undertone in Rachel’s voice had Sophie gazing at Rachel again. Her assistant winked and a warm feeling of a newly found friend flooded Sophie. It was nice to see Rachel being so playful. It was a huge change from her usual serious attitude.
Sophie shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
“Okay fine, the three of us used to be in a relationship.”
Rachel’s cheeks blushed pink as understanding flooded her face and curiosity brightened her green eyes.
“The three of you? Like in a ménage relationship? How does that work?”
“Well, for one, the guys have to be able to share the woman without jealousy. And I can tell you that once I went ménage I haven’t been able to go back, if you know what I mean.”
Rachel nibbled on her bottom lip and nodded her head.
“No, I don’t know, but I always wondered about ménages…so how did you meet them?”
“The Key Club. On one of their spanking ménage nights. Years ago.”
“And where have they been all this time?”
Pain speared through Sophie at the question.
“They left town because of work.”
“And they came back…for you,” she said in a wide-eyed naive whisper.
“They just dropped in to say hi and to get a haircut.” That was all there was to it. She probably would never see them again, especially after giving them a frosty reception yesterday.
If you want something, you will have to go out and fight for it because no one else will do it for you. Her late foster mother’s words echoed once again through Sophie’s mind.
Did she want Eric and Steve? Her gut twisted in agony and her answer exploded through her like a big shock wave. Yes, she did want them back. But she couldn’t tell them that. Even after being miserable without them all this time, she just couldn’t bring herself to verbally communicate her feelings to them. No, they would never get back together.
“They just dropped by so they could say hello and for you to give them a haircut? I don’t think so, Sophie. I could feel the tension zip through the air when they asked about you. They were seriously glad to discover you were here. And I mean seriously.”
Rachel had to be wrong. There was no way they had come back to town to see her. If they had missed her, they would have returned months, if not years ago. She needed to move on with her life and forget about them and she knew just how she had to do it. She would have to go back to the Club and pick up two new guys who suited her needs.
“Rachel, you still work part-time at the Key Club, right?”
“Yes, mostly in the bar area doing waitressing and sometimes I get the clients to their rooms. Why?”
“Have you ever seen what goes on there during their Spank-Me Ménage Nights? I used to go years ago, when Jaxie first opened her club. It was pretty easy-going then and we just wore whatever we wanted but I hear it’s gotten hard-core.”
Rachel nodded. “Everyone wears sexy outfits. The guys and the girls. Lots of flesh showing and there’s wild dancing and drinking. They appear to have a lot of fun before they do the traditional picking of the ménage keys to see who gets which partners and then everyone goes to their assigned rooms. There’s a Spank-Me Ménage Night this weekend. I hear Jaxie is going to try something new but she’s keeping pretty quiet about it. Are you going?”
“I was thinking about it.”
Rachel clapped her hands together and held them to her chest. She seemed genuinely excited for her.
“Are those two guys going? Maybe you could hook up with them again? Oh how romantic,” she gushed.
Oh dear, there was that naive look in Rachel’s eyes again. But she dare not burst her bubble of happiness by setting her straight that there was nothing left between herself and Eric and Steve.
“They mentioned they would be there.”
“Oh wow, how exciting. Maybe you’ll get lucky and be paired with them.”
Before Sophie could respond the buzz of the ringer snapped through the back room as someone entered the salon.
“Listen, that must be your next appointment,” Rachel said. “Patch up your finger and I’ll do the shampoo and conditioning. Then she’s all yours. And try not to think about those two guys while you are working because the next time you just might cut off someone’s ear.”
Sophie nodded and Rac
hel left the room.
Her warning sharpened Sophie’s thinking. Rachel was right. Sophie had to get her act together. Keeping her mind on her clients and off her ex-hot hunks was imperative, especially if she wanted to get through the rest of the day without any more accidents.
But it was going to be hard. So unbelievably hard. Just like Eric and Steve had always been hard for her. Sophie closed her eyes and moaned softly as she remembered how huge their erections became when they saw her naked and how fevered and wild their spankings made her feel.
Oh boy, her thoughts were back on the guys again. She was in big trouble now. She needed to get in touch with her two best friends, Marley and Claire. Surely they would know what to do.
*
“Believe me Sophie, if you do as we have instructed for you to do at the Club those boys’ tongues will be hanging out of their mouths and they’ll wish they’d never left you for a rusty oil rig in the middle of a lonely ocean,” Marley giggled as she gazed at Sophie in the mirror. Happiness twinkled in her bright eyes and Sophie wished she could feel the excitement that Marley was experiencing. But she wasn’t. She was terrified.
Claire had admitted that she’d heard through the grapevine what Jaxie was trying out at the Key Club on Saturday night. Sophie admitted it was exciting but too daring for her.
“When they see you in this get up and with the sexy hairdo and makeup we’re going to do on you, they will be so jealous they won’t be able to see straight. You are absolutely gorgeous and you are a beautiful person inside and out.” Claire added as she too stared at Sophie’s reflection. She had a wide-eyed look of wonder and Sophie had the feeling Claire wasn’t quite believing that Sophie was standing here wearing such a hot dress with her ass cheeks hanging out.
Despite her daring attire, she was glad she’d decided to call Claire and Marley for help. Thankfully they’d dropped their lives and come over tonight. She’d told her two best friends she wanted to make Eric and Steve see what they’d dumped. Now she had a plan, thanks to Marley and Claire. But as she gazed at herself in the mirror and saw a sexy stranger staring back at her, her nerve collapsed.
“I can’t do it. Not dressed like this. I just can’t.”
Both Marley and Claire didn’t so much as flinch. They must have been expecting this kind of reaction.
“What have you got to lose? Except for a little payback,” Marley said in a confident matter-of- fact voice.
“And you said they deserve to see what they have been missing. Can you imagine how they will feel when you go off with two other guys, instead of with them? It will show them that you have moved on with your life. That you don’t care that they are back in town. That is the whole point of going there right?” Claire said and winked at Sophie.
“And to get your ass spanked of course. Don’t forget that. What better place to have it all happen than at Club where it all began in the first place,” Marley whispered.
“They picked you up there and now you dump them there. Seems fitting, don’t you think?” Claire said.
Yes, Claire was right.
Payback was the proper way to go. And she would get back into the swing of things again too by meeting other men who were into spanking. Revenge and her reawakening. She would kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
“You can do it,” Claire whispered.
“Yes you can,” Marley nodded.
Yes, I can. Yes, I can.
No, I can’t.
Oh dear.
Chapter Three
Steve couldn’t stop fidgeting with his beer as he sat at a small table that was way too close to the dance floor. Half-naked bodies gyrated to the loud music and people who were seated at the other tables laughed as if they didn’t have a care in the world. He wished he could be free and easy like that too. Truth was, he hadn’t been comfortable in his own skin since seeing Sophie again. Had they made a terrible mistake leaving her the way they had?
She was pissed off at them, but why? Years ago when they told her that they were leaving, she’d appeared cold and disinterested. Her reaction had come as a shock to both of them. Up until that oil rig job offer, he’d figured she’d enjoyed their sexual relationship and he’d been under the impression she liked both of them to the point where the three of them would eventually move in together and make things permanent. He had a couple of friends in ménage relationships and they were doing well. So why hadn’t it worked with Sophie who had clearly accepted that Eric and Steve enjoyed sharing her.
He wasn’t buying the idea that she had too much baggage compliments of a rough childhood. Plenty of people had crappy beginnings in life and they coped and had great relationships. So what the hell was he missing? Why was she mad if she hadn’t cared about them leaving? Unless she had cared? That thought jolted through him like a torpedo. What if they had read her reaction the wrong way?
Suddenly his neck prickled and he got the feeling he was being watched. He peered along the edge of the dance floor to another table about twenty feet away and noticed two familiar women watching him.
Claire and Marley! Sophie’s two best friends were here. From what he could see they were not dressed up in spank gear, opting instead to wear conservative dresses, which usually meant they weren’t here for sex, but just a good time. He knew they were in ménage relationships and found it strange that he didn’t see their men here with them, unless they were off getting drinks.
When the girls caught him looking their way, they averted their gazes and pretended they were deep in conversation.
Huh, odd behavior. Why avoid his gaze? And where was Sophie? She said she’d be here tonight. He’d been keeping an eye open for her but he hadn’t seen her at all. And where the hell was Eric?
A sharp smack to his upper back had him grimacing. Eric pulled out a chair and sat down beside him. The severe frown painted on Eric’s face made Steve’s gut twist with anxiety.
“What?” he asked.
“Jaxie can’t help us to get hooked up with Sophie,” Eric growled. He spoke so loud the couple at the next table peered curiously at them.
Steve ignored them.
“Why not? Doesn’t she have that trick hat of hers anymore?” That’s how they’d hooked up with Sophie in the first place. They’d had help from a matchmaking Jaxie who, with the assistance of her trick hat, could produce the right key to the right lady for the men who wanted her. It was why she’d called her place The Key Club, because she used keys to assign people to each other. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought she wouldn’t come through for them.
His tummy sunk with dread. What the hell did they do now? They couldn’t simply go up to Sophie and ask her if she wanted to get together for a night of ménage spanking sex. Instincts told him she’d turn them down flat. Before he could ask Eric if he had any idea what to do about this latest turn of events, the music died and the lights brightened.
“Everybody off the dance floor please. Two minutes until the auction starts,” a woman’s voice boomed over a speaker.
Auction? What the fuck?
He turned toward Eric to ask him what was going on, but Eric simply shook his head and shrugged his shoulders to indicate he had no idea.
“Can I get you gentleman anything else?” a server asked. Steve lifted his head with the full intention of ordering another beer when he instantly recognized the waitress.
“Hey, you work over at the salon with Sophie,”
His comment had Eric’s head snapping up.
“Yes, that’s right. I just started my shift. Would you like to order anything else before the auction begins?”
Hmm, not much for small talk was she? She looked a bit nervous as she gazed at Eric and then at him.
“Is Sophie here?” Eric asked in a deep, controlled voice that barely concealed his anger and had her physically tensing. Eric could be a bear when he was mad. He could intimidate people who didn’t know him and this woman was scared.
“I…I don’t know. I haven’t seen
her. Was she supposed to come?” She nervously nibbled on her bottom lip as she waited for an answer.
“Get me a beer and some pretzels please,” Eric growled not bothering to answer. He was frowning again.
“I’ll have another beer too, thanks. And what exactly is this auction thing?”
“Oh it’s something new Jaxie is trying out,” she replied. Without warning she hurried away.
“Like could you expand on that?” Eric grumbled to empty air.
“Easy, bro. Getting pissed off isn’t going to help us out. What exactly did Jaxie say?”
Once again before Eric could speak, he was cut off. This time by a drum roll.
None other than Jaxie stepped onto the dance floor, microphone in hand. She hadn’t changed at all except for her red hair being a bit longer. She was dressed in a black t-shirt that said “Spank-Me Ménage Night” and a very tight pair of black jeans and black high heels.
“Good evening everyone and welcome to The Key Club!” she shouted.
An ear-splitting cheer vibrated through the large room.
“Is everybody ready for the auction?” she called out and then smiled sweetly.
More cheers and claps.
“What the hell is she talking about?” Eric grumbled.
Eric shook his head. He had no clue, and Steve wasn’t in the mood to hang around to find out. He was about to tell Eric he was going to leave when he caught Claire and Marley watching them again. Once again they quickly looked away.
Hmm, why did he get the feeling they were up to something where Sophie was concerned. Maybe he should hang around and find out.
*
Sophie wished that Claire and Marley were here in the back room of The Key Club with her instead of the twenty other women dressed in sexy spank attire. Compared to what they were wearing, Sophie’s pink lace dress with her ass cheeks showing appeared conservative. But that didn’t make her feel the least bit better.
She needed her best friends’ support because the urge to run away was ever present. How could she go out and prance around in front of a bunch of guys like she was a tasty meal for them? She’d never felt this self-conscious before at the Club. Usually she had no trouble dressing sexy and dancing up a storm in front of guys, but that was when her ass was covered.
