by Aidy Award
Gray sat up next to me and wrapped his arms over his knees. Closing himself off. “I spent five of the last ten years trying to make it up to him. He’s never forgiven me.”
I wasn’t sure at this point whether he’d welcome my touch, but I had to try. I placed a hand on his arm. “I’m sure you’ve done more than your fair share to help him through a difficult period of his life.”
He tilted his head like he couldn’t decide whether to nod or shake his head. “I didn’t leave his side through all the physical therapy, and when he was ready to give up, on the verge of suicide, I tried to find something else for him to live for.”
“Gray, it sounds like Foster needed therapy. He shouldn’t have to be your responsibility. Especially not if he was suicidal.” I only wished Foster had been institutionalized, gotten the help he needed, and could have let Gray alone.
“That’s not how it works. There are too many guys who come home broken and if we don’t take care of our own, they’ll fall through the cracks. He needed a distraction, something to take his mind off his injuries and let him feel in control again.”
“It still makes me sad and mad that you had to take on that responsibility.”
For the first time since he’d begun the story, Gray looked at me. Really looked at me. He reached out and cupped my face, and I leaned into him.
“I don’t know what else you could have done for Foster.”
Gray smiled, but not with humor, but more like a long lost sadness tugged at his mouth. “What do guys want, need, and think about every hour of every day? Sex.”
Chingada Madre. “You took him to a club.”
He nodded. “Smart girl, my Angel.”
Domination and Submission
Gray watched me, his eyes glued to my every move. I was demonstrating predicament play, which had become my forte after the dueling orgasm scene on the night that shall not be named. Dominic and Ilario both had their cocks in their hands, and they were allowed to stroke themselves each time I gave them a swat with the riding crop.
Oh, and a very fun tingling lube drip, drip, dripped onto their cocks making them both squirm. The crowd and my guys were loving it.
These scenes were tame, more for others to learn than for either my pleasure or the guys'. We were developing a new standard, and part of that was my role at Gray’s side. I’d display my domination in the club and then give it all up when I submitted to Gray.
When we were on the floor, if we played, he’d gone back to making our scenes all about me. Only I got off. It was like a challenge to him.
In public he was the consummate Dom, using kink to excite everyone. The headspace he found in the club play domination was different. It allowed his brain to find a kind of numbness, like a drug.
Allowing him to have all the control was freeing. Finally knowing we could revel in each other. No more barriers.
But he was…distracted. Like now.
“Who’d like to see me finish getting these guys off by getting naked?” I had no intention of stripping.
“Angel.” Gray’s voice had that warning tone that turned me right the fuck on.
“Unless you want to be calling me Sir again while I spank that pretty ass of your red, you’ll finish the demo with your clothes on.”
See? What kind of a threat was that? Of course I wanted to call him Sir while he had his hands on my naughty bits. Duh.
Hawk and Lilly were up next to demonstrate some rope tricks they’d been working on. Lilly hung on Hawk’s every word and he worshipped the ground she crawled on hands and knees for him.
I’d been looking forward to seeing their demo. I was crap at rope work. Either I’d have to get an individual lesson or see if Gray wanted to teach me. He certainly knew how to tie me to a bed.
Ropes were going to have to wait. Gray needed something different from me. He got off on domination and submission, yes, but it went so far beyond simply sex. I just wasn’t sure how to give him what he needed. I’d keep trying until I figured it out though.
I did know those walls were tougher than ever when we were playing in public like this. It had me seriously reconsidering his idea that we open a club of our own. I kept telling myself it would be better when it was our club and he could be in total control of everything, not just me.
That had to be his problem. Foster Bennett’s presence hung over our heads while we were in Texas or New York.
“Mistress?” Ilario’s voice was ragged.
The riding crop dangled from hand poised of his shapely buttocks. I’d slacked off with this pleasure-pain and my lovely harem boys were suffering for it.
“Finish them, Angel.” Gray wasn’t distracted now. No. His eyes were laser focused on me, and that tic that said he was being pushed to his limit jumped in his jaw.
Normally Gray stayed out of my demos. Observing only. This was the second time he’d interjected himself into the scene.
Whoa. Realization smacked me in the face. Hard. He hadn’t been inattentive before. He was avoiding watching me play with Ilario and Dominic.
Because he was jealous?
This felt very different than that. The way he growled my name was a warning.
One I only partly understood. I was smart enough to figure out the way his eyes had gone dark and his heaving chest meant that I had about ten seconds before he came and hauled me off this stage cave man style.
While I would probably enjoy that a little too much, it wouldn’t be fair to Dominic and Ilario or the audience who’d either come to learn or get off themselves.
The woman who’d approached me not long ago asking about how to have the confidence to be her dominating self sat nearby. She had tested the waters with a few of the submissive men here, but she’d barely stuck her toe in.
I was about to throw her in the deep end.
“Corinne, can you come up here and help me, please?” I pointed to her and she turned a pretty shade of pink from head to chest, but she stood and walked to the stage.
Her hands opened and closed in light fists betraying her nervousness only to the observant. I loved that she was going for it anyway, taking my fake it till you make it advice and running with it.
I continued tapping Dominic and Ilario on the ass with the crop and asked her, “What’s your favorite kind of play so far?”
Her eyes darted from me to the guys and back. “Edging and orgasm denial, I guess.”
A girl after my own Dom’s heart. “You guess or that’s your jam? Can you take these two to the edge and then not let them come until you tell them to, even if they beg?”
She swallowed, but that flush on her face had darkened. This time it wasn’t from embarrassment. Her eyes sparkled with interest. “I’d love to hear them beg me to come.”
“Then that’s what you shall have.” I handed her the crop.
A quick glance at Gray showed his hulking had halted for the moment. He still watched me very closely. Good. I needed him to see what I did next.
I stood first in front of Dominic.
His hand dropped to the side. “Mistress?”
“I didn’t say you could let that cock go, mister.”
Dominic grinned and wrapped his hand around his cock again.
I leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “I think it would give a big boost of confidence to Corinne if you and Ilario would let her finish this scene. But only if you agree.”
He nodded and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then he turned that panty-melting smile on Corinne. She replied in kind.
One down.
“Ilario?”
“Mistress Angelina, what can I do for you?”
Sweet Ilario, always ready to serve because it pleased him as much as it did the women he subbed for. He and I had come to an understanding as soon as I’d started my training. While I would always be his first choice, he lived to play with as many dominant women as he could.
It wasn’t fair of me to keep him for my own as long as I had.
“Listen to
Mistress Corinne. She needs your submission as much as you need her domination.”
His eyes smiled and danced for me.
“Corinne. They are all yours to do with as you like as long as you stay within their boundaries. They have the standard safewords, but if you stick to the scene I doubt you’ll need them. Enjoy.”
“I will.” She slapped the crop against her hand once, creating a lovely smacking noise. “Thank you.”
I didn’t even get a chance to say you’re welcome because Gray pulled me from the stage and threw me up and over his shoulder.
I squealed, but it was mostly for show. It never failed to give me a thrill that he picked me up like I was nothing bigger than a doll. I loved the way he manhandled me.
He didn’t head for the stairs and the privacy of our room on the second floor. Nope. He headed for the Master suite. Where everyone would be able to hear everything we did.
I gave one last glance to Dominic and Ilario, who were already enjoying the fun to be had with Corinne and blew them each a kiss.
I knew this was the last time I would ever play with either of them. It was a little bit sad, but it also felt right.
Gray burst through the door and kicked it shut with his foot. He didn’t stop until we were across the room and he tossed me down on the bed.
“No more, Angelina. I cannot take watching you with any other man.” He unbuckled his belt and opened his pants as he talked. He was already hard and jutting out at me.
Steel balls sparkled from the rim of his cock. He’d put his dydoe piercings back in. I’d thought it was hot the first time I’d ever seen his cock. Knowing he was going to be inside of me with those in had me squirming.
“I—”
“Take off your dress and don’t say another word. You can whine and cry and justify why you still need those fucking puppies, but I’m not going to change my mind.”
He dropped his pants and ripped his shirt over his head. God, he was a beautiful man. Lord knows I didn’t want to share him with anyone either.
Before I even had a chance to open my mouth again and tell him I agreed, he pushed my dress up over my head and was on top of me pinning my hands down.
So fucking hot.
The look he had in his eyes was the exact same one I’d seen when he’d lost control as Sir.
No. That wasn’t right. Not exactly. There was more emotions flashing through his eyes now. Fear, need, determination, and one that I’d only recently been able to identify.
Love?
“You’re mine now, Angel. Only mine. No one will ever question that again. Not your puppies, no members of this club or any others, and never Foster Bennett ever again.”
Whoa. Where had the thought of Foster come from? He was behind us. We had plans to distance ourselves from him even more.
Once again, Gray wasn’t telling me something. Mierda.
I’d get it out of him soon. First, I was going to make sure he knew we belonged to each other. I’d do it over and over again until he understood.
In the mood he was in right now, he’d get that message best with my complete submission. To him and only him.
“Take me, Gray. Make me only yours.”
The intensity of the need in his stare, the way his breath hitched at my words told me I’d said the right thing.
“Only mine.” He murmured as if he still didn’t believe them and bent his head to my kiss the side of my neck licking and sucking his way from my pulse-point to the sensitive spot behind my ears.
“Open your legs and wrap them around me. I’m going to bury my cock so deep inside of you that you’re going to forget any other man besides me ever existed.”
He still needed more, and I was fully prepared to deliver my coup de gráce.
“Yes, Sir.”
He sucked in a breath between his teeth. “Fuck.”
He drew that one word out long and low, the same way he did when I took him in my mouth or he pushed his cock deep into me.
He finally he let go.
I expected him to fuck me fast and hard, making me come over and over. Instead he took my body, heart, and mind, slowly and passionately.
This wasn’t fucking.
We made love.
He claimed me soul deep.
“Don’t take your eyes off of me, love. Let me see you, see the pleasure building.” Gray shifted his hands, grasping both of my wrists in one and reaching between our bodies with the other.
Not being able to move except how he wanted me to, waiting for his touch to take me closer to the edge, and looking deep into his eyes was the most intimate moment of my life.
His spell over me was complete. If there was ever any other man in the world, I’d never know. He was the only one for me. Ever.
“I love you, Gray.”
He closed his eyes for a brief second as if his pleasure was more than he could handle. When he opened them again, there was a new clarity there. He understood.
“Angel, my Angel. I have always loved you, and I always will.”
I couldn’t help it, tears pricked my eyes. My heart was so overwhelmed with all my feelings for him they were spilling out onto my face.
Gray touched his lips to each of my cheeks, kissing away the tears. Our bodies danced together and his fingers found my clit, touching my like only he knew how. He drove into me pushing us higher and higher until my body clenched around his so close to making us one.
“Say those words again and come for me with my name on your lips.”
“I love you.” The orgasm overtook my body, sending us both rocketing into bliss but neither of us looked away. “Gray, I love you.”
He locked our bodies together and released deep inside of me. “Love you. Always.”
He wrapped me in his arms and pulled the covers up and over us. I wanted to stay cocooned in here with him as long as we could.
Gray fell asleep before I did, and I took the chance to gaze as his face. He so rarely let his guard down and he was so peaceful right now. It made my heart smile.
Even in sleep he couldn’t stay relaxed for long. I watched the crinkle between his eyebrows form. His lips tightened and narrowed too.
I knew that look. Pretty soon that tic in his jaw would start up too.
I only knew two people in the world who could take Gray from sweet dreams to Growly McCrankyPants that fast.
I was one.
The other was Foster Bennett.
Tomorrow I was going to find out what that bastard was up to. For tonight, though… I was going to do everything in my power to keep Gray in the happy place.
The best way I knew how to do that was to make him forget anyone else in the universe existed besides him and me.
Which I did. Under the covers. With my mouth.
Not All Who Wander
We woke several times throughout the night and next morning, needing each other again and again.
I loved this turn in our relationship, but I was also worried. We laid together in a tangle of sheets after a rather creative bout of Who’s-on-Top when I decided I had to say something. That damn worry wrinkle in his forehead was back. “Gray, are you all right?”
He kissed the top of my head and held me tight. “I’m always all right when I’m with you, my love.”
He was placating me. “You’re sweet and adorable, but I’m worried about you.”
He pinched my butt. “Don’t be.”
And now he was trying to distract me and dismiss me.
“I can’t help it.” I was losing him to that dark place again already. I could feel it. The alpha man who’d been by my side through my own journey to find myself was still in there, and I hoped that straight up asking him to come back to me would help him stay in this new state of being we had.
I cleared my throat, finding nerves blocking my words. He held me tighter in his arms, stroking my skin, lending me his strength.
“Gray, will you do something?” I tilted my head up and kissed his jaw in that very sp
ot that had become the Gray’s-Mad-o-meter. “Something for me?”
“Almost anything.”
“Take me away from here. Let’s make a new start far from Foster, far from these lessons of life we had to learn. We can open that club of our own and let people be themselves, have fun.”
He was quiet for longer than I wanted him to be. I counted my breaths just to keep from blurting anything more out. Seven, eight. He’d answer when he was ready and pushing him wouldn’t make that any sooner. Eleven, twelve.
He took a sharp breath and I held mine. “You’ll be a great club owner.” He sat us up and studied my face. “Are you sure that’s what you want, after you’ve seen the damage that can be done to a person at a place like the Asylum?”
Making something new and better would be as good for him as I was for me. Maybe deep inside he knew that, and it had led him to suggesting the club idea in the first place.
“I do want to create a place of our own. Gray and Angel’s. Not like The Asylum, and not like The Ranch. I’m thinking more French Boudoir and pleasure than Marquis De Sade and pain.”
I wanted a place where women, regardless of shape, size, or sexual prowess—women like me—could go to explore the kinky side of life. Where men like Cade, Dominic, and Ilario could find real partners in life. Where Gray could be master of the domain and let his guard down.
Plus, it was the perfect way to take the next step in throwing off the old world of the New York socialite and embracing my still new independence.
Thus far in life I hadn’t done anything productive with my time or money, if you didn’t count starting a harem of my own. For once a Cruz wasn’t going to put up a building or start a business for the profit, but instead for the community she could have.
“You really want to do this? Own a club?” He didn’t say it, but I heard the ‘with me?’ question in his voice.
I got up on my knees and held his face between my hands. “Only with you.”
For a brief shining moment, the worry lifted again from his face and he lit up like a kid getting a pony. “Okay, baby. Let’s open a club.”
