Fragile: Book One in The Everett Gaming Series

by Sera, Drew

  As Matt and Gina walked towards the bar, I saw Seth and Evan standing at a tall table in the bar talking and looking over in our direction. Fuck, that’s right. I needed to talk with them.

  “Anth, I’m going to go talk to Seth and Evan.”

  “Okay, sunshine and I will be fine.”

  I knew they would be. I would never worry about Sydney when she was in his presence. I joined Evan and Seth with my Coke and asked them how their evening was going. Evan was drinking a beer and Seth just had a bottle of water. I wondered how many beers Evan had had. Blake had a strict alcohol rule in the club. If you were playing, two were all you could have.

  “How does Sydney like it here?” Seth asked me.

  “She likes it so far. She liked the pictures in the foyer and commented on how she couldn’t believe she was in Irons. I wanted her to take in the atmosphere tonight.”

  “When did she get her wrist bandages off? Seth and I were noticing that they’re gone.”

  “Few days ago. Wednesday she was able to keep them off.”

  “Hopefully she’s healing up okay.”

  I nodded at Evan and then decided to cut to the chase of this conversation. I felt sweat was forming on my forehead and rolled up my sleeves. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why it bothered me so much that they were just standing here watching her. Maybe it was Paul that was still under my skin.

  “I got both of your emails and have been working with Sydney a little bit this week on some basic protocol and generalities. I was a little confused though, Evan, with what your intentions are exactly.”

  He sipped from the bottle and looked over at me.

  “Well, I want a twenty-four, seven slave. But, I’d make a concession depending upon her oral skills.”

  Instantly I was disgusted in him. He didn’t really know what he wanted. He thought he did but said he’d waiver on it if she could suck his dick well.

  “Visually she pushes all of the right buttons for me.”

  “You just said you were looking for a slave, Evan. I will be honest with you. I’m not sure Sydney is slave material.”

  “I could take on a twenty-four, seven slave and then play with Sydney on the side.”

  The more he opened his mouth, the more I wanted to shut it for him. I rubbed my eyes and looked over at Sydney. She was watching another couple and Anthony was talking quietly to her. Anthony was who I wanted Sydney with. I was sweating for sure now and downed the rest of my Coke and started chewing on the ice. I couldn’t stand this conversation.

  “I don’t know if Sydney would fit in well in the polyamory scene. She’s been through hell, Evan. She needs to be the center of attention for a Dom and she needs to be the only one for the Dom.”

  “I guess I can see that. Well, I want to see if we have a connection.” He finished his beer and set the bottle on the table. “I’m going to go talk to her.”

  Evan headed right over to them and I felt like I was watching two trains barreling down the same track towards each other. Evan wanted my fragile kitten as a toy. She wasn’t a toy. I knew he wouldn’t hurt her but I also didn’t think he could give her everything she needed.

  I realized then that I was going to be more critical of anyone who wanted to scene with Sydney and would be more protective of her than I had been with any other sub.

  I must have looked like I was about to go crazy because Matt was now in front of me and encouraged me over to the bar so I could sit. I sat down but turned my stool so I could see Sydney. I noticed Blake was a short distance away from where Anthony and Sydney were.

  “Matt,”

  “I know, Col. I heard him. Just relax, Anthony isn’t going to budge. Sit here and observe.”

  I quickly turned in my chair and flagged down the bartender and asked him how many drinks Evan had had. The bartender held up a finger indicating just one drink. Okay, that’s not bad. But I was nervous that alcohol could be a trigger for her. I didn’t know all the triggers yet and prayed alcohol wasn't one.

  “Relax, Col,” Matt kept saying to me.

  It was difficult to relax when I was so close, but so far away from her. And to make matters worse, I saw Paul out of the corner of my eye leaning on a wall watching Anthony and Sydney. He was still just looking and watching but it really bothered me. I usually go with my gut feeling on things and my gut was telling me to keep Paul in my line of sight.

  Chapter 44

  Friday, November 8th

  Anthony

  I was enjoying my evening with my sunshine until Evan sat down in the chair that Colin had previously occupied. I shifted to face him and while keeping my arm behind Sydney on the couch I dropped my other hand to my knee. I hoped that Sydney wouldn’t feel threatened by Evan’s presence and wouldn’t get nervous.

  “Evening, Sydney. Graves.”

  “Evan,” I greeted him back.

  Sydney said hello to him and Evan began making small talk. Fine, I’ll play along. I knew he was interested in Sydney but if he wanted a chance to scene with her, he needed to build a solid foundation.

  “Are you enjoying the club so far?”

  “Yes, it’s very nice. The music is the right volume too.”

  “Have you seen the rest of the club yet? If not, I can show you around,” he offered but I jumped in. I knew Sydney would be too shy to say that I was going to show her around.

  “Actually, Sydney and I were getting ready to take a walk around the club.”

  Evan nodded and returned his gaze to Sydney. He was bothering me now but I was trying to keep calm. After all, Sydney wanted to find a good Dom. Did I think Evan was the best for her? No, I didn’t. But he was a decent man and a good Dom. He wouldn’t hurt her.

  “Is this your first time in a kink club?” He asked her.

  Fuck, his questions were getting kind of personal in less than five minutes of him being here. She shook her head and then closed her eyes like she had been caught for not vocalizing. I personally didn’t give a fuck if she never spoke to Evan.

  “Um, no. I have been to one by campus.”

  Whenever Sydney uses “um” I know it’s because she’s nervous. Evan better stop pushing or I’d start pushing back.

  “Which one? There are a few.”

  “Um, Tails.”

  Evan and I looked at each other. Tails was known for attracting slime. Pure garbage went there looking for the young and inexperienced. And that’s exactly what Howard did. Fucking asshole. I should have broken his other arm too.

  “Is that where you met the jerk that gave you those burns?”

  Christ! What the hell is he doing? I shot him a look letting him know he was taking the conversation where it didn’t need to go. Sydney began to play with her fingers and as I reached for her hand, she caught herself and separated them into small fists on her knees.

  “Evan,” I said in warning to him but Sydney answered him and confirmed that’s where she met Howard.

  “Did you do any scenes there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were they all male or did you play with some females too?”

  Enough of this fucking shit. What the hell was wrong with him?

  “Yellow, Evan. Fuck,” I said.

  It finally got his attention and he softened his posture and looked down at Sydney. She was uncomfortable and wanted this conversation to be over. As did I. I glanced over at the bar and Colin was standing up looking like he was upset about something. I knew he couldn’t hear our conversation, so it wasn’t that. I couldn’t get wrapped up in that right now.

  “Apologies, Sydney. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Evan apologized to her.

  When she didn’t say anything, I looked down at her and saw her nodding but then she reached back and slyly took hold of my shirt. Now I was fucking pissed. I looked up at Evan and he knew their conversation was over. He leaned forward though and apologized again, trying to get her to re-engage in conversation. I cleared my throat.

  “Evan, I think we�
��ve been sitting for a long time and need to stretch our legs.”

  I was politely telling him to get the fuck away. He nodded and excused himself. About fucking time. Colin and Matt were looking over at me and I held my hand up letting them know to give us a few minutes.

  Sydney was vulnerable and it was too overwhelming with Evan. I determined that Evan had never played with a sub that has as painful of a recent past as Sydney. He was in over his head and I didn’t think he could provide for her. He was too interested in himself and she needed delicate, mature hands.

  I dropped my arm that was on the back of the couch and rubbed gently on her arm. It was one of the places I could touch her to comfort her without the possibility of hurting a wound. Her back was fucked up and each time Colin, Matt or I get close to her neck, she tenses up. I knew those cigarette burns on her necks caused her pain. I knew those fuckers hurt. I wanted to tell her that I understood how much they hurt. But I wasn’t going to fill her head with junk from my past.

  “Just you and me, sunshine.”

  She scooted closer to me and I could feel her body starting to relax. Now I needed to work on getting a smile from her.

  “Hey, wanna go see some kinky sex in the dungeon?”

  She laughed quietly, blushed and nodded.

  “Yes?” I prompted trying to stay consistent with Colin trying to get her to communicate verbally.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  I took hold of her hand and walked her over by the large picturesque windows that over looked the pools and outside grounds. I told her about the spa located on the flip side of the waterfall. Sydney likes the waterfall at work, so I wanted to point this one out to her.

  Yeah, I had balls to take her down to see the dungeon first. But my plan was for her to see the softer more tame side of Irons last. That way it’d likely be what she’d remember the most.

  At the top of the stone steps that led down to the dungeon I stopped and looked in those blue eyes.

  “Sunshine, there will be people involved in their scenes down here. So we need to be quiet. If you want to leave at any time, you squeeze my hand three times. Understand?”

  “Yes, Sir. Three squeezes.”

  I gave her hand a squeeze and led her down the stairs to the dim dungeon area. Blake took a lot a pride in his dungeon. There were eight individual stalls each with slate floors and rock walls with a stone archway entrances. Directly behind the stairs was a larger community stall with various stations. The hallway area had flickering gas lamps and stone benches for spectators. Blake made his dungeon look like, well, a dungeon.

  She was looking around with excited eyes like a kid in a toy store. She really liked it and was smiling ear to ear while she was taking it all in. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and she looked at the ambience of the place. Blake’s dungeon was a pretty fucking awesome dungeon.

  We stopped in front of a stall that had a male Dom whipping his male sub. I looked down at Sydney and she seemed okay. I bent down and whispered in her ear.

  “That’s Charles and his sub Edward. They’ve been together for a number of years.”

  We watched Charles whip Edward with a leather flogger. Edward looked like he had been painfully erect for a while and was inching closer to release. Charles stood in front of his sub, pulled his cock from his leathers and slipped it into Edward’s mouth. Charles was able to slap the flogger down Edward’s back as he was sucked off. Sydney watched quietly and didn’t look uncomfortable.

  “Come for me, Edward,” Charles instructed.

  With another few flicks of the flogger, Edward was coming while Charles unloaded down his throat. Charles was a good Dom and took excellent care of Edward and had collared him just last year.

  The dungeon monitor, Will, quietly entered the scene and set a throw and two bottles of water on the stone bench in their stall and exited. Charles opened a bottle of water and held it while Edward drank from it first while he wrapped Edward up and held him. I tugged on Sydney’s hand so we could give them some privacy.

  “What did you think of them?”

  “Wow, I really don’t know what to say. I’ve never seen a scene like that.”

  “An all male scene?”

  “No. There was something very human about it. Very loving.”

  I turned to look at her. I had temporarily forgotten that she’s used to shit from Tails.

  “Connections and bonds are an important part of a scene on top of trust. Charles is very dedicated to Edward. Later I’ll introduce you to them. Did you see Will? He is one of the dungeon monitors tonight.”

  She tugged on my hand and I stopped to look at her. At first I was afraid that something was wrong or she wanted to leave. But she just had a question.

  “What is a dungeon monitor exactly?”

  I thought it was odd for her to ask since she’d been to Tails before. Then I was hit with the realization that maybe they didn’t have dungeon monitors there. Fuck, that could be really dangerous. Not to mention the liability the place must have.

  I explained to her that dungeon monitors are the eyes and ears for a specific area. They look out for everything from restraints being too tight or not tied properly to noticing an open wound and everything regarding safety.

  We continued our walk in the dungeon and checked out a couple playing with a spreader bar and another couple playing on the Saint Andrew’s Cross. We walked to view the last stall on the left and had I known what was going on in there, I never would have proceeded to it’s entrance.

  The stall was dark but there was a light on a tripod that would randomly flicker. The light lit up a corner where a sub was crouched, head down, arms stretched and cuffed in front of her. They were doing a humiliation scene and a dungeon monitor was physically in the stall with them. The Dom was shirtless and stalked around her with a belt folded over. He was calling her names and would slap the belt down on her hands.

  Once Sydney’s eyes focused on the scene, she turned her head so fast that she bumped it against my arm. I looked down at her, realizing we needed to be away from here. Her eyes were tightly closed but I felt all three squeezes faintly and firmly took her by the hand and led her down the hall until we were a safe distance. I felt her hand start to go limp in my hand and noticed I wasn’t feeling the same amount of strength from her anymore. She was slipping from me and I needed to get her out of there. I turned and caught her when she stumbled and I leaned her against the wall for support.

  Even in the dim light I could see that she was pale and her eyes were tightly shut. I put both hands on her shoulders and started moving them up and down her bare arms. Fuck, fuck, fuck! She was cold and I could feel the goose bumps. Her breathing was shallow, erratic and she sounded like she was on the verge of hyperventilating but trying to keep it to herself. I put both hands on her cheeks.

  “Eyes, sunshine.” I rubbed both my hands up and down her arm rapidly, trying to infuse heat. “Open your eyes, Sydney. I need to see them open.” I tried to encourage her but she was off in her own world. Will appeared next to me and was looking Sydney over.

  “What happened, Graves?”

  “Visual trigger in the last stall,” I said while rubbing on her arms. Her hands were balled up into fists against her legs. “Come on, sunshine. I need to see your eyes.”

  Will felt her cheek with the back of his hand and commented that she was cool and clammy. He mumbled about going to get a throw but I knew that I had to warm her quickly. I unbuttoned my shirt and wrapped it around her and began rubbing on her arms again. She opened her eyes and looked up at me. I was thrilled she was responding to me. Fucking thrilled.

  Finally her breathing slowed and her eyes stayed locked on mine. I looked at her for a few minutes without breaking eye contact. There was something about the way she looked at me. It was as if she honestly believed she was safe with me and that she trusted me to take care of her. I would take care of her. Will came back and draped the throw around her. Her breathing was just about back to normal and
she had been mirroring my breathing.

  “Good girl.” I pulled her into an embrace and shut my eyes. Colin is going to fucking rip me a new asshole at first opportunity. “Good girl, sunshine.” I nodded my thanks to Will and took Sydney by the hand and led her out of the dungeon and up to the main floor. I saw our spot was empty still and made a direct path to it.

  We sat down and I wrapped my arm around her and before I could say anything to her, Colin crouched down in front of her. He reached up and felt how cool she was and didn’t bother looking at me as he addressed me.

  “What happened?” He gritted out at me.

  “Trigger. Last stall.”

  Colin and Matt headed down to the dungeon and Evan appeared. Fuck me, I didn’t need this now. His intentions were of the helpful side and he twisted a cap off a bottle of water and handed it to me.

  “Is she okay?” He asked.

  “She will be. Thank you for the water.”

  I held the bottle and thought once she got some water in her she’d be okay but when I thought she was sipping, the water just dribbled off her lips. Fuck me. I handed the water back to Evan and pulled Sydney onto my lap. I took my black tee shirt off, lifted up the side of her shirt and then pulled her against me. I wanted her to feel the warmth of my skin. It’d help. Fuck, I hoped it would help. Her eyes were closed and head was resting against my chest. I had my arms wrapped around her and she had her hand on my bicep.

  When Colin and Matt came back, I felt like I’d never be forgiven. I shouldn’t have taken her down there. Colin sat down on the coffee table in front of us and Matt brought over another throw. I was afraid to speak. We all stayed motionless for a while until Paul came over. He was his usual asshole self.

  “Did you break her already, Graves? Were you too rough with your new toy?”

  I chose not to respond but Matt walked over to him and said something that I didn’t really hear. Finally I felt Sydney’s hand open and close and I looked down at her.