“Don’t know, was just interested in it so I did some research, eventually went to a club and watched.  When I was like nineteen, I did my first scene.  I had a good Dom; he was patient with me and helped me through it.  Never came so hard in my life, it was amazing.  I just knew it was for me.”

“So it’s not something Cris got you to do?” she asked.

“No, I was into it before Cris.  We actually found out about each other at a party.  We’d actually been dating for a while and it came as a bit of a surprise.”

“Hold on, you’d been dating and neither knew the other was involved in that, yet you were at a party for that?” Mags asked her eyebrow quirked up.

“We weren’t exclusive or anything, but you can do a scene with a Dom or sub without sex being involved.”

“Then what’s the point?”  Jules asked.

“The endorphin release, it’s an amazing high.  The orgasm after all the endorphins have flooded your system is amazing, I won’t lie, but that doesn’t have to come from your Dom.”

“So what does the Dom get from this, I mean is it just being able to boss people around?”  Mags asked.

“No, well not usually, they get their own high from it, as well as it just turns them on.”

“Huh,” she murmured.

“So does Cris have a dungeon stashed someplace in his house, cause I’ve been there and I don’t remember ever seeing anything?” Jules asked.

I giggled.  “Not sure I should tell you about that, he’s your boss.”

“Ah come on, that’s not fair,” she whined.  “I won’t say anything to him.”

I stared up at the ceiling.  “His entire house is his playroom.  He has things rigged all around the place.  You’d just never know unless you know what you’re looking for and in some cases unless he showed you.”

“Seriously?” she asked gaping.

I nodded.

“Huh,” she mumbled.

“Okay, time for Pride and Prejudice, and not that long ass BBC version you like, Ash,” Devi declared effectively changing the conversation, which I appreciated.

Cris

I hung up my cell; I’d tried calling her and texting her last night and today and still nothing.  I didn’t know how to get her to talk to me, to let me explain.  I sighed and banged my head against my desk.  I needed to fix this.  I missed Ash.  I missed her random texts throughout the day, coming home on her days off to find her in shorts a tank top dancing around my kitchen.  I just missed her.

“You’re going to bruise your forehead doing that,” Devi said sitting in the chair across from me.

“When did you come in?” I mumbled against my desk.

“After the first thunk.”

“Ah.”

“You need to apologize and tell her what was going through that head of yours.”

“I would do that, if she’d answer her phone.”

“You can’t do that over the phone, you need to see her.”

“Yeah, if she won’t answer the phone, how do you expect me to see her?”

I watched as she put a card on my desk.  “She’ll be there tonight, now I am going home.”

I watched her walk out the door before pulling the card towards me.  My jaw clenched when I saw where she was going.  There was no way in hell I was going to let her do anything while there. 

Chapter 10

Ash

I was upstairs in my room holding on to the back of a chair as Jules tightened the laces on my corset.  I’d already put on my short black skirt, ripped fish net stockings, with garter belt of course.  I just had to get my boots on and I was ready to head out.

“You look hot,” Jules murmured while tying the laces at the base of my spine.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” I told her eyeing her tight white tank top so you could see the spray of stars tattooed from behind her ear down her neck and back to her shoulder.  Her schoolgirl skirt and thigh high boots were going to break some hearts tonight.

“Thanks.”

I was zipping up my knee-high boots when I heard squealing coming from downstairs.  I looked up at Jules. “What the hell?”

“Don’t know.”

We grabbed our bags and headed downstairs where Jaks was running around the house chasing something.  When it ran passed us, I nearly had a heart attack, until I realized it was a puppy.  Oh hell, and by the look on Devi’s face she was about to kill someone.

Seth reached down when it ran back and grabbed him.  “What do you think?”

I looked at the cute grey puppy.  “It’s cute.”

“Jaks picked him out.”

“Oh,” I said eyeing Devi who was glaring at Seth.  “What’s his name?”

“Stradivarius, but I talked Jaks into calling him Strad for short.”

“Uh huh,” I said still eyeing Devi.  “Well, we’re heading out.”

I grabbed Jules arm and dragged her out quickly.  I didn’t want to be in the house tonight.  We opened the door and found Sam standing there.

“Hey, Sam,” I said, “uhm, you might not want to go in there, Devi’s about to draw blood.”

I looked at him but he was busy staring at Jules.  “Uhm, Sam?”

“Oh yeah, uhm okay, where are you two heading?”

“We’re going to a club.”

“Oh,” he said sounding deflated.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just bored.  I was going to see if Seth wanted to work.”

“Well, he just sprung a puppy on Devi.”

“Okay then, I’ll check in the morning to see if I need to find a new bass player.”

“Might be a good idea.” I looked between Jules and Sam, both working really hard not to look at the other and sighed.  “Why don’t you come out with us?”

“No, I don’t want to intrude.”

“You won’t be, come on,” I said grabbing his arm and dragging him towards Jules’s car.

“We can take mine if you want, it’s got more room,” he said.

“Works for me,” I said glancing back at Jules who was steadily watching the ground.

I shook my head.

I told him where we were going and watched his eyes flick between Jules and me before nodding slowly.  I sat back in the rear seat and relaxed until we arrived at the club.

We walked up and got in the line waiting outside to be ID’d and stamped.  “You remember the rules?” I asked Jules.

“Yeah.”

“Rules?” Sam asked.

“Ash doesn’t want me wandering off.”

He nodded.  “That’s a good idea.”

“Have you been here?” I asked him.

“Yeah, opening night with X.”

“Bet that was an interesting night.”

He ran his hands through his hair.  “You have no idea.”

We were finally allowed inside and I looked around.  To the untrained eye, you would see a normal dark room, loud pulsing music, and people dancing around on the dance floor.  The only difference was the amount of leather, D-rings, cuffs, and collars on people.  I shook my head as I watched a young guy walking around with a collar and leash hanging from his neck.  It wasn’t safe to have a chain and collar hanging without someone holding the other end.

“So this is a BDSM club?” Jules yelled over the music.

I nodded.

“Huh, not that different.”

“Just don’t go upstairs,” I yelled, “unless you want an education.”

“What’s upstairs?”

“From what I was told, private and semi-private rooms.”

“Why would they…oh.” She blushed red.

Marilyn Manson’s Cake and Sodomy started playing and the place erupted in screams and the already full dance floor grew with additional bodies.  I grabbed Jules hand and joined in the mass of gyrating bodies, singing with the rest of the bodies.  Once it was over, the floor started to clear until the first notes of Korn’s A.D.I.D.A.S began to play, even more bodies joined the foray.  Jules was looking around watching the scene while I danced, singing along about dreaming of sex.

When A.D.I.D.A.S was over the DJ switched to some techno and the floor began to clear, I grabbed Jules hand and headed to the bar.  I found Sam standing there with three drinks, and I could have kissed him.

“Thanks!” I yelled.

He nodded and continued watching Jules.

Cris

I watched as she danced without a care in the world.  I wasn’t able to take my eyes off her.  I followed her to the bar where she was standing near Sam and Jules.  I snuck up behind her and took her in, she looked beautiful.

I ran my fingers across her ass and watched as she went stiff then spun around.

“Hey Ash.”

“Cris.”

“I, uh, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”

She just looked at me.

“Uhm, I wanted to talk.”

“Uh huh.”

“Fuck it,” I murmured as I watched yet another guy watch her.  I leaned down and kissed her, gently at first hoping she wouldn’t punch me in the face when I moved.

She stood there not responding then gasped and I took advantage of that and pushed my tongue through her lips, kissing her hard.

“Ashlen, we need to talk,” I told her after breaking the kiss.

“Yes, Sir,” she responded.

I nodded towards Sam grabbed Ash’s hand and took her upstairs where I had a private room reserved for the night. 

Chapter 11

Ashlen

I knew this was stupid, that I should rip my hand away and turn to go hang out with Jules.  Only I couldn’t seem to make myself do that, he’d used that voice on me and I couldn’t resist that voice.  This would be closure, I told myself, one last scene before we said goodbye.

I followed him upstairs and through a hallway until we stopped at a door.  He pulled out a key and unlocked it before pulling me inside.  He let go of my arm then relocked the door.  My brain started spinning, why did he have a private room?  Was he planning on hooking up with someone else tonight, but saw me instead?  Was I just the second option?

I skimmed the room there was a four poster bed that had chains hanging from the posts, a chest full of unknown items and a wall of paddles, floggers, and whips.  All in all it was a very interesting room that you could have fun with.  Now though I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with this.

“Stop,” he commanded.

“What?”

“Stop.  This isn’t what it looks like, Devi told me you’d be here tonight.  I reserved the room for us, so we could talk.”

“Oh.” Only I didn’t want to talk, I didn’t want to know why he didn’t trust me outside a playroom.”

“Ashlen,” he said in that voice again, “strip.”

“I need help, Sir,” I said quietly turning my back to him and pulling my long blonde hair out of the way of the laces.

I heard his feet thump across the floor then felt his breath fan across my exposed neck as he reached down and pulled the bow that held my corset together.  He slowly pulled the laces loose running a finger across the exposed skin. When it was loose, he helped pull it up over my head and dropped it to the floor.

“Need any more help, Ashlen?”

I swallowed.  “No, Sir.”

“Then strip.”

I nodded and unzipped my skirt letting it fall to my feet.  Quickly pulled my panties down and I was about to release my stockings from the garter but his hand stopped me.

“Leave those.”

I nodded again and bent over unzipping my boots and pulling them off one at a time.  When I was finally finished he circled me, taking me all in.  I stood perfectly still as he walked away and opened the chest, he pulled out a pair of leather cuffs and a spreader bar.  I fought the need to shift my feet restlessly, I wanted to know what he had planned, but I knew better than to ask.

“Hands behind your back.”

I quickly put my hands behind my back.  He pulled them back farther straightening my arms.  He secured one of the cuffs to my upper arm, quickly doing the same with the second then latching them together.  My arms were completely immobile now, with my chest bowed forward.

“Stand beside the bed, facing it.”

I did as he instructed and waited, he ran a hand from my hip, down my thigh, skimming across my calf before spreading my feet apart.  Then he attached the spreader bar to one ankle, spreading my feet farther apart before attaching the straps around my other ankle.  He walked around me once then walked away.  I heard him walk along the wall, then take something down before his steps came towards me again.

He sat on the bed and looked up at me, “I’m going to spank you for ignoring my phone calls and text messages.”  He set the black leather paddle beside him on the bed then reached over, grabbed my arm and pulled me down so my head was hanging near the floor and my ass was across his lap.  He rearranged me slightly until he had me where he wanted me.  I couldn’t move my arms or my legs to keep my balance—I was at his mercy.