by Anthology
“And smoking hot!” interjected, Amanda. “I’ve known him since college. Before anyone asks, we’ve only ever been friends. We just never had that spark, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize just what a hot guy he is.
“More important is that he’s just the nicest guy ever. He’s one of those rare guys who can be friends with women and not just see them as conquests, which makes him pretty special. I was so happy when he met Maggie, who I am also pleased to call friend.”
Maggie smiled. When Rick had first introduced the two of them, she’d been surprised that one of his best friends was female, but it was became clear rather quickly that they were more like siblings than anything else. In fact, she had a feeling that Amanda was hung up someone named Gabriel. Sadly, it appeared to be unrequited.
She always felt bad when she thought about Amanda but now was not the time to brood on how lucky she was to have found Rick and how great he was, and how it wasn’t fair about Amanda and her lack of luck with love.
Sheesh. She was getting maudlin. She had to get back in the moment.
“So, how is the book discussion going?”
“We were just discussing the popularity of BDSM books in general and planning our reading schedule for the next few months. We’re also working on an update to the Club Hades reading list for prospective new subs and Doms.”
“There’s a reading list?”
“Of course. There’s so much misinformation out there that we want to make sure they read books that portray BDSM accurately.”
“I can see that this would be important.”
Jane chimed in, “I actually first visited Club Hades while I was doing research for Arresting Love. It was important to me to get it right.”
“I wish others were as thorough,” added Amanda. “There’s so much crap written by so-called experts.”
“Well, I can’t wait for Jane’s new series. It’s going to be all BDSM, right? The Magnificent Mile?”
“Yes it is, and my husband Ben and I are spending as much time as we can at Club Hades doing our research.”
Everyone laughed. “Yes, right. That’s the only reason you go there. I do have some advice, though, Jane. You need to jazz up the series name. How about Law and Order and Bondage?” Maggie thought the speaker’s name might be Cara.
“I think she should call it Cops with Crops!” This was from a brunette Maggie didn’t recognize.
“Or Bend Over and Spread ‘Em!” All the women giggled as Ken, a male submissive, chimed in.
“All wonderful ideas, but I don’t think my publisher will go for them,” she chuckled.
* * *
It was only when Amanda stood up and the room went silent that Maggie realized that it was almost three. Time had flown by. The group was funny and insightful and just plain nice. She would look forward to and dread their weekly meetings.
“It’s almost three, and I know that’s when we all turn into pumpkins. I just want to make sure we have a chance to say thank you to Maggie for having us. The venue, the menu, and the company were all we could ask for and more. I, for one, am looking forward to many future meetings here at Day.”
There was a round of applause. Maggie found herself blushing.
“And there’s something we wanted to mention to you. Are you and Rick doing anything next Wednesday?”
Maggie thought for a moment. “Nothing special comes to mind. Why?”
“Next Wednesday is visitors’ night at Club Hades. Why don’t the two of you come by and check the place out?”
“Visitor’s night?” Maggie almost choked. Her heart started pounding so hard she was sure the others could hear it. Visit Club Hades? She wanted to say yes so badly, but she knew it wasn’t a good idea. She was trying hard not to think about living the lifestyle and seeing subs and Doms in action, which would just make it harder for her to ignore her own desires.
On the other hand, maybe a visit to the club would dispel some of her interest. Maybe… maybe she’d see it happening for real, and it would lose its fascination for her. That was possible…
“Yes. We have it once a quarter for people curious about the lifestyle,” Amanda continued. “If they like what they see, then they usually sign up for the training course. Visitors’ night starts with a short overview in the classroom that talks about what BDSM is and talks about the aims of the club. Then there’s a tour of the playroom. You can watch people doing scenes, even try out a few things, under close supervision, of course. If you like what you see, you could think about becoming a member… but you can’t become a member without taking the full training course I mentioned earlier. Remember, it’s all about safe, sane and consensual.”
“What’s safe, sane and consensual?” Maggie asked. “I gather you’re not just talking about a new book.”
Rick’s deep voice caused everyone to jump.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Darling, we’ve been invited to visitors’ night next Wednesday at their club.” Maggie looked at his handsome, smiling face, and everything she loved about him came rushing back to her. She would not risk her relationship with Rick for anything in the world. Maggie turned from Rick back to Amanda, knowing what she had to do. “That’s so kind of you to offer—”
“We’d love to come.”
Maggie went rigid with shock at Rick’s words, but she kept a smile on her face as Amanda promised to email the details. Rick made some small talk with the members as they gathered up their things and prepared to leave.
It was right at three pm when the last member headed down the stairs, and Maggie and Rick were alone. She looked at him, but he was busy clearing the tables and wiping them down. Automatically she joined in, and in a few minutes, everything was put away.
“I’ll have the bus-staff come up and clear out what’s left in the buffet, and then the team can turn Day back into Night.”
* * *
“Rick?” Her voice was tentative. He looked over at Maggie. She’d looked so happy when he came upstairs. He’d actually been watching for a few minutes before he made his presence known. He’d seen her laughing and interacting with her new friends. And then Amanda had brought up visitors’ night at Club Hades. He’d seen the warring emotions on Maggie’s face. There had been surprise and eagerness followed by alarm and wariness. And maybe a bit of wistfulness when he’d made his presence known.
He knew her every expression. She wanted to go, really wanted to. But something was holding her back. She’d seemed almost afraid to want to go. Was it because of him? Maybe he’d done too good of job at being vanilla?
Usually he knew exactly that she was feeling. From the moment they met, they’d been on the same page. Then again, he could have sworn she’d have no interest in BDSM, but he’d sampled what she was reading. He’d also read a few of her favorite books. He’d been shocked, not by the content, but by her enjoyment of the subject matter. Some of the books were pretty hard-core.
Nevertheless, real life was different from books. Without much real life experience, it was hard for either of them to be sure just where her real limits were. However, based on Saturday night, he’d say that she enjoyed being restrained and dominated, at least during sex.
Maybe that’s what she was struggling with. After her bad experiences with Philip, he would understand if she had no interest at all in the subject. In fact, he hadn’t even brought the topic up. Usually he made it clear with a woman from the first date that he was a Dom, and if they couldn’t handle it, then they shouldn’t get involved with him. But with Maggie, he’d held back, instinctively knowing that it was the wrong thing to say to her when they met. He hadn’t known the details then, but he could tell she was still too raw from a previous relationship.
Once she told him about Philip, he’d known he was right. That night, he’d made a vow to walk away from the lifestyle and to never tell Maggie about it because he knew she’d blame herself that he’d given it up.
Now, however, she wa
s showing an interest in the subject. After that one special Saturday night when he was Officer Rick, he had started to doubt his ability to live a vanilla life with her. Maybe the attempt had always been doomed? Had a part of him always known that, sooner or later, he would have to tell her?
Regardless, their dynamic would never be the same again. Could never be the same again. Now that he’d experienced what it could be like to be Maggie’s Dom, he knew he couldn’t go back to the way things had been. He’d done his best the past few weeks to act as though nothing had changed, but he knew he couldn’t go on forever, pretending to be something he was not.
The problem was that he wasn’t sure how to proceed. Until tonight. Amanda had unknowingly handed him the perfect opportunity. The only thing to figure out now was how to go about it.
He had a couple of options to consider. When they got to Club Hades, he could pretend that he was a novice, too. That would be dishonest, which made him uncomfortable. It went beyond not mentioning something to actively hiding it.
Besides, he was known at Club Hades, and he wouldn’t ask his old friends to lie.
No matter how he looked at it, he knew there was really only one option. He had to tell her he was a Dom and that he wanted her to be his submissive—if she stayed with him.
That wasn’t a given. She’d already backed away from trying submission a second time. But she’d also expressed interest in visiting Club Hades. He’d seen her face when she struggled to hide her excitement, especially once he made his presence known. For some reason, she didn’t want him to know just how much she wanted to visit the club.
Could she be doing it for him? Hiding her true feelings, that is. Did she think he’d be turned off if she expressed a serious interest in submission? Was that it?
All those thoughts slammed through his brain as he helped Maggie with the cleanup. He looked up and saw Maggie staring at him, but he refused to meet her eyes.
8
Maggie looked in the mirror, her stomach churning. “Do you think I look okay?”
She met Amanda’s eyes in the mirror. “You look great. The outfit is comfortable and just a bit revealing. For your first time, it’s perfect.”
Maggie looked and the snug yoga pants and the skimpy tank she was wearing without a bra. “Are you sure? I kind of thought I should wear something more revealing.”
Amanda shook her head. “You should be comfortable your first time. You can pack a bag with a corset and a thong, and if you feel like it, you can change before the class moves out onto the floor of the club, but only if you feel comfortable wearing them in public. When we take you around the club, you’ll see a full range of clothing, so don’t feel pressured to wear something scanty.
“Doms, when not in scenes, of course, are generally fully dressed, or at least have pants on and maybe a vest.”
“Leather pants?” She giggled.
“Yup. Wait until you see some of them. Lots of hot guys. Master Gabriel, for example, has a body to die for.”
“Gabriel, he owns the place, right?”
“Master Gabriel does own the place.”
“Master.” Maggie giggled again. “Seriously?”
“Yup. It’s not a joke. When you’re in the club, protocol requires that you address all Doms and Dommes as Sir or Ma’am. Or you call them Master or Mistress followed by their first name. Never call them just Master or Mistress without a name unless they are your Dom.”
“Okay. Um, anything else I should be aware of so I don’t put my foot in it?”
“Lots, but that’ll all be covered during the classroom session before the tour. If you are really interested in being a member, you’ll have to take a three-month training course before you can visit the club on your own.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be going on my own.” She laughed. “I’d let Rick come with me. But I guess he’ll have to take the training class, too.”
“Um, all new Doms have to be certified before they can join.”
Maggie looked at Amanda. There was something about her tone…
“I think you look great, Maggie. I think anything skimpier would make you feel self-conscious.”
Maggie took one more look in the mirror. Her stomach churned some more and made a gurgling sound.
“When did you last eat?”
“I had a bagel this morning.”
“Nothing since?”
“No. I’ve been kind of nervous. I thought I’d meet Rick beforehand, and we could calm our nerves together, but he had to work late, and said he’d meet me there.”
Maggie watched Amanda’s exaggerated sigh.
“You own your own restaurant. You need to eat, Maggie. You won’t be able to concentrate if you’re hungry.”
“But what if I throw up?”
“Are you really that nervous?”
“Nervous, uncertain, terrified. What if it’s a letdown because it doesn’t live up to my expectation? What if I love it but Rick doesn’t?” She hesitated before plunging on. “Amanda, he’s the sweetest, kindest man in the world, but he’s one hundred percent vanilla.”
“Rick’s vanilla?”
“Yeah, you’ve known him longer than I have. He’s vanilla, but he’d do anything for me, anything to make me happy.”
“You mean like coming to Club Hades tonight?”
“Yes, exactly like that. I mean, the other night…” Her voice trailed off, and she felt her cheeks heat up. “Well, he…we…anyway, we kind of did a role play a few days ago, and he played the big, bad Dom, and I loved it so much.”
“And he didn’t enjoy it? He told you this?”
“No, and that’s the problem. He would never, ever deny me anything. And he wouldn’t want me to feel bad about wanting him to do something he didn’t want to do, so he would never tell me if he didn’t enjoy it.”
“Did you ever consider that maybe he enjoyed it?”
“I…” Maggie paused, frowning. “He seemed to have fun, but he would have told me before this if he had any interest in the subject other than pleasing me. That’s what worries me, Amanda,” she confided. “If I say anything to him, he’ll say he’s interested just to please me and not because he wants to top me.”
She sighed and looked at her watch. “I guess it’s time to go.”
* * *
Rick looked at his watch and then back at his clients. The sweet elderly couple had called him in a dither this morning. They’d won twenty three million dollars in the lottery drawing Friday night, and they wanted to understand the tax implications before they visited the lottery office and had to decide between a lump sum payment and installments. If only all winners approached things so thoughtfully. And if only they hadn’t come to see him on the day he was supposed to go with Maggie to Club Hades.
The meeting should have taken an hour, ninety minutes tops. They’d been going over the numbers for nearly two hours, and he was running out of time.
“I’m very sorry Mr. and Mrs. McManus. If you have any more questions, you’ll have to make an appointment with my assistant and come back during the week.”
“We understand, Rick, and we really appreciate you taking the time to meet us on your day off. We’ll go over the numbers on Sunday so we’ll be ready on Monday to visit the lottery office. Then we’ll be back so you can help us set up some trusts.”
He checked his watch as he walked them out the door and then headed down to the parking garage. He had already packed a change of clothes, two actually. He’d packed jeans and a t-shirt like a first time visitor might wear. And he’d packed his leathers, pants and a vest along with his boots. He just didn’t know which one he was going to wear. He would decide when he arrived.
9
Maggie looked at her watch. Rick had texted her. He was running late but he would be on his way soon. She felt a stab of disappointment, but it was a fact of life that work sometimes got in the way.
She’d resolved to try to take notes on what he missed, but she became caught up in the discussio
n. She would have felt self-conscious if she was alone in the class, but there were a dozen other newbies there. She just wished Rick had been with her so they could discover BDSM together. She wanted, no, she needed to be able to see his face as he was exposed to the concepts of bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism.
Would he be revolted by it all? She had no doubt that he’d keep a polite look of interest plastered on his face. He was a gentleman, after all. Even so, she’d know. She’d be able to tell if his interest was sincere or polite.
She tried to concentrate on what Master Gabriel was saying. She could definitely see what Amanda saw in him. He was the classic tall, dark and handsome Dom with muscles on his muscles. The man was built. He was forbidding looking. And when he looked at Amanda, Maggie could see the love and tenderness in his eyes when Amanda wasn’t looking and firmness and control when she was. Damn. They were clearly in love. So why did they barely talk to each other?
She watched as Master Gabriel talked about sensation play. He had Amanda tied down on a spanking bench—a real, honest to goodness spanking bench. Maggie had read about them, but she’d never seen one in person. It actually looked pretty comfortable. The knee supports were padded as was the portion that supported her belly.
Her face was positioned on a round, padded frame much like what masseurs used. Her arms were affixed to points just above her head. In fact, she was tied down in a dozen different places with wide, padded straps. Maggie had been fascinated as Master Gabriel secured Amanda to the bench, carefully testing the tautness of the restraints so as not to impede her circulation.
Her legs were spread wide, but thank goodness she was wearing a thong. Maggie new that on the club floor body parts would be fully exposed, but here in the classroom, she was happy that Master Gabriel let Amanda maintain a little modesty.
He made a point of lecturing throughout the whole process of fastening her in place. He started with a simple feather and then worked up to a bare hand spanking, then used several different floggers and even a cane. He only gave her two swats with the cane, and Maggie was certain he was holding back with his strikes. The red stripes on Amanda’s ass faded as he massaged the areas he’d just struck.
