Fragile: Book One in The Everett Gaming Series

by Sera, Drew

  “I didn’t want too much time to pass for Sydney. I knew she’d let her mind run away with itself,” I told him as we watched Anthony lead her through the crowds.

  “Good idea. Was she okay last night after you got home?”

  “Eventually. She ended up having a bad dream and then felt guilty about waking us up with it. She tried to go off by herself for a while, but Anthony stopped her. She cried for a long time in his arms.” Blake and I stared over at my best friend and Sydney. Sydney settled on the couch and the right side of her body was touching Anthony’s left side. His arm was wrapped around her and he was looking at her while he spoke. “She responds so well to him. He’s been helping with the training. When he gives her instruction, her pupils dilate.”

  “I can see that she’s not afraid to get close to him. How is the training going?”

  “I’m working on some present posing, posture and a mix of things that Seth and Evan both have indicated are their preferences.”

  Blake nodded and Will walked up to join us.

  “She looks good, Colin. Bright eyed, shy pink coloring on her cheeks. Too bad I’m a sadist.”

  I knew Will liked what he saw with Sydney, but Will also knew that Sydney wasn’t a masochist and wouldn’t be a good fit for him. Blake laughed out loud as Will moved along.

  “Lots of Doms will want to scene with her Colin. I don’t have to tell you to be careful, but being your close friend, I will.”

  He wasn’t telling me anything that I didn’t know. I asked if he knew who was scening tonight because Anthony and I wanted her to see some good ones. Ones that were arousing and would have good play partners to where she’d be able to see aftercare.

  “Seth and a little sub are playing upstairs at 8:30 p.m. Seth always takes care of his play partner afterwards. I suggest checking them out.”

  I headed over to the bar and ordered Cokes to be sent over and went to sit in the chair next to Sydney. Noah brought over our Cokes again. I told Sydney about Blake and Cathy’s two live in subs, Noah and Kelsie. Both were older than Sydney but not by much. I thought Noah was around thirty-two and Kelsie around thirty. Blake had the two of them working at the club in the bar area.

  As it neared 8:30, the three of us headed upstairs to watch Seth’s scene. Anthony led the way with Sydney right behind him and I behind her. Just as we were getting to the top of the stairs, I heard a voice that I was hoping to have avoided tonight. Paul.

  Paul had a leash in his hands and was shirtless walking towards the stairs. He gave Anthony a disgusted look and then turned to gaze upon Sydney from head to toe. Anthony put his body between Paul and Sydney so his back was facing Paul. He reached out and took Sydney’s hand and kept walking with her. Paul watched them walk away and a creepy smile appeared on his face. He turned to face me.

  “How’s your little trainee working out, Everett?”

  “She’s fine,” I said in a cold, flat tone. Paul had a sub attached to the leash and her head was downward. I was trying to keep my tone calm with Paul but it was taking a lot of strength.

  “I didn’t think you were letting her play yet.”

  “She’s not scening, Paul.”

  “Graves had her in his arms last night and she’s in his hand now.”

  The fact that Paul knew about the incident last night and saw that she was in Anthony’s arms didn’t sit well with me. It told me that he was watching what was going on around her. And to be honest, that bothered me. Usually, sadists only looked to play with masochists or vice versa. Paul knew Sydney wasn’t a masochist, yet he still sought her out. It fucking bothered me.

  “When do I get to play with that naughty little thing? I bet she could use a firm hand. I see she’s got some nice red lines on her back through that lacy tank top. Is Graves the lucky man who put them on her? Do I have a long wait ahead of me before I get to play?”

  I stood at the top of the stairs and crossed my arms over my chest. It would help keep me from punching him.

  “You have a very, very long wait Paul. Forever, to be exact. You will never, ever play with her.” I stared hard at him and watched his body grow agitated and his face grew red. It had become incredibly quiet around us and we had drawn some stares. “Do not go near her. Anthony didn’t put those marks on her. Period.”

  He took a step closer to me and then became aware of a few dungeon monitors in close proximity along with other Masters and Mistresses. He was breathing hard and his face was red. Paul yanked hard on the leash and the sub stumbled forward and bumped into him.

  “Fucking girl! You will learn what it means to stand obediently while I speak with another Master. You will learn tonight,” Paul addressed the sub with a harsh tone.

  He headed towards the stairs with the sub and I stepped in front of him and held my hands out in a stopping motion. He was staring at me with fury. I couldn’t let him go down to the dungeon with this sub when his mind wasn’t clear.

  “Calm down, Paul. Remember your company.” I said to him slowly and quietly. He knew better too. He closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths and then moved on with the girl. I found one of the nearby dungeon monitors and told him that Paul needed eyes on him tonight.

  Anthony was sitting on a bench in front of the room where Seth was getting started. He had Sydney sitting on his knee so that her back was to where Paul and I were. Fucking Paul. I stood against a wood pillar next to Anthony so that I could watch Sydney’s reactions to the scene. I pushed Paul out of my head and focused on Sydney.

  Seth played on the light side of BDSM and was the polar opposite of Paul. Tonight Seth was playing in the classroom. His sub was wearing a plaid school uniform with fuck me red heels. Seth wore a dress shirt and bow tie and khaki pants. Very professor like. In each of the theme rooms, Blake had a dresser that contained costumes that would compliment the theme. On the desk there were desk accessories but the containers were filled with lubes or condoms.

  The sub sat facing the desk while Seth sat behind the desk pretending to be grading papers. Sydney’s eyes were glued to the scene and Anthony had his attention on Sydney, as did I. He had a hand wrapped around her waist holding her as she sat upon his knee and then his other hand held onto hers. I knew that was so if she felt uncomfortable, she was to squeeze his hand three times.

  “Miss Randall, you know why you’re in detention, correct?” Seth asked his sub.

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “A little respect would be wise Miss Randall,” Seth warned.

  “Whatever.”

  Seth obviously wanted a mouthy student scene tonight. And he was getting that. Seth often liked to have scenes where he was in the disciplinarian role.

  He stood and called her to his desk. With a heavy attitude, the sub casually walked over to his desk. He looked at her shoes and smirked.

  “I don’t recall these shoes being a part of the uniform. If, I’m not mistaken, wasn’t a uniform violation what put you here in detention?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yeah, what?”

  “Sir.”

  “Put your hands on my desk and bend over. I’ll check and see how the rest of your uniform compares to the rules.”

  The girl made an obvious eye roll as she bent over the desk and I noticed Sydney flinched some. I wondered if it was because maybe at some point she had rolled her eyes at Howard and that hadn’t ended well. I’ll look into that.

  Seth lifted her skirt and made a tsking noise. The girl didn’t have any panties on. Seth reminded her of the white briefs panty rule and suggested that since detention wasn’t making a difference to her behavior, that perhaps something else would. He picked up a wooden ruler and rubbed it over the girls butt cheeks. I kept my eye on Sydney because I knew ultimately, Seth would be spanking the girl with it and I wasn’t sure how Sydney react.

  “You’ll get ten swats and I expect you to count or we’ll start over.”

  He began spanking the girl and with the sound ruler hitting flesh I noticed Sydney pulled h
er bottom lip into her mouth. I could tell her breathing had increased and to be honest, she looked turned on. When Seth reached the tenth swat, he ran his finger along her pussy.

  “You’re wet. You enjoyed that.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Now you’re providing me with the respect I deserve.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Seth pulled a condom from a jar on the desk, and sunk into her pussy. She moaned and he banged into her hard and fast. While all the fucking was going on, I watched the expressions on Sydney’s face. She was enjoying the scene and looked calm. The moaning in the classroom made me look up. The girl was coming and Seth was right behind her with his release.

  Seth kept his hand on her back as he pulled out of her and dropped his condom in the trash can. The girl had her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Seth pulled her upright and led her over to the couch by the dresser. This is the part I wanted Sydney to pay close attention to. Aftercare.

  Seth wrapped the girl up in a throw and pulled her down to sit on his lap. She rested her head on him while he cuddled her and kissed her. He took a bottle of water from the end table and held it for her to sip from first and then her gave her a piece of candy from the candy dish.

  “Thank you, Master Seth. That was a lot of fun,” she said to him.

  “It was. I love the mouthy student in you. You were wonderful.”

  He kissed her head again and she nestled against him. Sydney was frowning and looked away from the room. She was uncomfortable about watching the intimacy of aftercare. That bothered her versus the sex. I knew what was happening. She was realizing how everything she’d experienced with Howard, was pure shit. He never once took care of her after a scene and she now realizes what she missed out on.

  I nudged Anthony’s foot to get his attention and motioned with my head for us to move on. Anthony kept Sydney’s hand in his while we walked around.

  We had just walked up on Will ending a scene with a girl on the Saint Andrew’s Cross. Thankfully, we missed the whipping. The sub’s back was red but there wasn’t any blood. Will was tenderly talking to the sub and making a lot of eye contact with her while he untied the rope around her hands and arms. I prayed Sydney wouldn’t freak out of that. She did lean against Anthony some more but otherwise was okay.

  Will also fed the girl some chocolate and made sure she drank water. He told her to stay leaning against the cross while he applied some lotion to soothe the skin where the whip hit.

  “That’s it, darling. Stay still while I finish up,” Will said softly to her.

  I had seen Will play with this girl before. She wasn’t what I’d call a full-blown masochist, but she definitely had masochistic tendencies. Will was working slowly with her and I had a feeling that by the way the girl was reacting, she may have reached subspace. Will kept talking to her and eventually moved with her to the big rocking chair in the room. Like Seth, Will covered the sub in a blanket and held her tenderly. And just like the prior scene, Sydney looked away. She wasn’t frowning this time but looked sad. Anthony picked up on the difference in her now and pulled her closer to him.

  “Sunshine, not to worry. All the Doms here practice aftercare.” He kissed her cheek and she tried to smile and nod.

  Sydney tried to let go of his hand to retreat. I’ve seen this before. She felt ashamed and to her, the thought of being held actually hurt her. She wanted to be alone to deal with these feelings, but we weren’t going to let her. Anthony knew what she was doing too. He laughed out loud at her attempt to get out of his hand and then pulled her into a hug.

  “Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine.” He kissed the top of her head and looked over at me.

  Sydney’s face was buried in his chest and her face was turned away from Will.

  “I think it’s time to go,” I said to Anthony and we headed down to the main room.

  Once we were in the main room I thought about Paul and that girl he had on a chain. I had to check on her. Being a trainer, I had a certain responsibility. I couldn’t in good conscious leave without checking. I tried to have a silent conversation with Anthony that didn’t get very far.

  “I need to check on something downstairs,” I told him as he continued to look suspiciously at me.

  “I’ll go with you.”

  I wasn’t taking Sydney down there and wasn’t leaving her alone. I caught Blake’s eye and he came over.

  “Blake, Anthony and I need to go downstairs for a quick minute. Can you stay with Sydney?”

  “Of course.” He looked at the expression on her face and could tell she was deep in thought. “Perhaps a nice ginger ale is in order.”

  I nodded at Blake and took Sydney’s face in my hands. Her eyes focused on mine, so I knew she wasn’t in shock or had let her mind run off.

  “Baby, Anth and I will be right back. You are to stay with Blake. Understand?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good girl.”

  As Anthony and I quickly make our way over to the dungeon stairs, I told him about the shit the came out of Paul’s mouth when we ran into him upstairs.

  “Fuck him. There’s something not right with him, Col. I fucking swear.”

  We made it down to the dungeon and walked quietly down the hall looking into the stalls. Paul had the girl’s arms bound above her head and were attached to the pulley system in the ceiling. She was naked and was slumped forward. The only thing keeping her upright was the chain from the ceiling.

  A dungeon monitor was at the entrance to their stall and was keeping watch. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked to see the submissive’s card. Club rules said that each Dom and sub that played had to have a info card on file and all the dungeon monitors had a copy of the cards that evening.

  As Paul screamed at the girl, I scanned the sub’s card. She was a masochist. I looked up at her and saw that she was probably in subspace. Each time the whip struck her she made the same deep grunted moan.

  “Reminds me of her back,” Anthony whispered.

  I looked over questioningly at him because I thought I had missed part of a conversation. He looked very bothered by the scene taking place and his face was getting red.

  “What?”

  “Sydney’s back. Her back was whipped badly when we found her. Remember?”

  Now it was my turn to frown. How the fuck could I ever get the image of Sydney’s torn up body out of my head? I looked up at the girl in the stall with Paul and focused on her back. Her back was red and it was showing signs of use tonight. Sydney and this girl both had been whipped hard by assholes. Paul at least knew how to use the whip and didn’t break the skin. Usually. Tonight though, there were some places on the girl’s back that were bleeding.

  “I really don’t like him, Colin.”

  “I don’t either.”

  Paul was finished now and released the girl from the ceiling chains. She crumbled to the floor and Paul gave her head a pat and he set a bottle of water beside her. He picked up a towel and wiped the sweat from his chest and face as he looked out at Anthony and I. He smiled arrogantly as he tossed the towel down at the sub. I could feel the anger coming off of Anthony and I knew Paul could see it too.

  “Master Everett, you’re not doing a very good job with Graves. You need to work on your boy’s manners.”

  Anthony was pissed off now. I was too but for whatever reason, Paul really tries to get under Anthony’s skin. Often. Anthony has always been calm, cool and collected. He’s never retaliated or even given Paul an indication that he even heard anything he said. Anthony took a step forward but I put my hand on his chest to stop him. I had hoped that he wasn’t going to start now. I looked in his eyes and told him not to go in there. He’d be giving Paul what he wanted.

  “Ah, see. You can train Graves. He’s not a lost cause after all. Maybe you should restrain him more often, Master Everett,” Paul said to me.

  I looked at the dungeon monitor and told him to make sure the girl got first aid and then I pushed Anthony and I in th
e direction of the stairs. Paul’s voice got louder and closer though like he purposely left the stall to follow us.

  “Tell me, Master Everett. If you and your co-top partner Graves are down here checking up on me, who is watching your trainee? Hmm?”

  Never, ever have I allowed someone else’s words to push me so far over the edge in a matter of seconds. But something snapped in my head just then. I stopped walking and turned. Paul was standing just outside the stall he had occupied and had his hands on his hips looking at me. He was about Blake’s age and was in good shape. None of this intimidated me. I walked right up to him and chose my words back at him very carefully.

  “I thought I made myself clear upstairs, Paul. As much as you want to scene and play with Sydney, you’re going to be disappointed. You’ll never play with her. You’ll never touch her. I told you she’s getting out of a bad situation and she isn’t a masochist. You leave her the fuck alone or you and I will have words.”

  I left it at that and turned to find Anthony was right there. As always, he had my back. I heard Paul laugh while Anthony and I headed back upstairs. My heart was racing. Paul and I usually avoided one another before Sydney. He often hung out in the dungeon and was into a lot of stuff that I avoided. But just since last night, I’ve have a few conversations with him and he seems disturbingly interested in Sydney. I won’t allow him to scene with her. At the top of the stairs I stopped so I could take a few minutes to calm down before returning to Sydney.

  “I swear, that guy is wound really fucking tight. He’s one flick of the whip away from going crazy,” Anthony said.

  “Come on. Let’s go get our fragile kitten. She needs a little TLC tonight, Anth.”

  Blake was talking to Sydney at the bar and she was smiling. That was a good sign. Anthony pulled her to his side and winked at her causing Sydney to blush. Too cute. Seeing her blush made me forget Paul for the time being.

  “Blake, we’re going to head home. I need to talk to you though about something. Are you coming over tomorrow for the game?”