“What’s going on over here?” The sound of Master Mitch’s deep voice made her want to bang her head against the wall.
Not right now! She was still dealing with the whole “I think I’ve developed feelings” thing. It was like her thoughts had summoned him before she was ready to actually face him. Crap, crap, crapola on toast!
“Is everything okay?”
Oh, good, not just Master Mitch. They’d also attracted Master Brian’s attention. Rae must be dying.
Neither she nor Rae apparently felt up to answering, so there was a long beat of silence before Freddy finally spoke up.
“The ladies have an issue with… another member and were expressing their opinion about that member.” Freddy’s voice was clipped, although not disapproving as it had been when he’d first rounded on them. In his own way, despite what he’d overheard, he was still trying to follow the unspoken subbie rule of Stronghold and Marquis—look out for each other—a rule Rae and Domi had just broken.
That made her feel even worse.
She peeked up to see Mitch and Brian exchange looks. Yeah, they weren’t fooled. In fact, Domi wouldn’t be surprised if everyone was looking at them now—hopefully not knowing exactly what was going on.
Voices coming in made her glance over her shoulder. Tracey was leading three other women into the room. Domi was relieved to see no one in the booths on that side of the room was looking over at her and Rae, so maybe they hadn’t drawn as much attention as she’d thought. She felt even worse when Tracey led the three women over to Morgan’s table, and Morgan greeted them with complete delight.
She hadn’t been here with Mitch at all. Or Brian. Or any of the Doms. She was here to meet friends. Domi recognized two of them—Caroline, who had a reputation for being mean but who didn’t come to Stronghold very often, and Amy, who was a total sweetheart. Which meant she and Rae had been completely off base.
Although she didn’t think Freddy would have excused their words, even if they hadn’t been—and he shouldn’t—but Domi felt even worse if that was possible.
“Why don’t we go have a chat?” Master Mitch suggested, his voice deceptively mild, the kind of voice he used in a scene right before he got all bossy.
Shit.
“How bout we don’t?” Rae muttered under her breath, and Domi stifled a groan. She knew better than to sass Mitch when he used that voice, but Rae obviously had missed the threat in his tone.
“No one asked you, little girl.” Brian stepped up next to Rae, his voice harder than usual, as Mitch’s fingers wrapped around Domi’s arm. “Freddy, are any of the rooms open?”
“Everyone’s here for the show, so you have your pick for the next two hours,” Freddy said.
Fuck.
Chapter Three
Domi
“What? No, why can’t we talk together?” Rae’s voice was half angry, half horrified, and Domi started to turn to look behind her, but Mitch’s grip on her arm kept her from being able to spin all the way around.
Master Brian had the door to the Little Girls’ room—the youngest age-playroom in Marquis—open, and Rae was obviously balking.
“You and Domi feed off of each other. I think Master Mitch and I will have better luck getting to the bottom of this if you’re separated.” Master Brian’s voice was firm. “You can safe word, or you can come in.”
“But... Domi...” Rae’s head swung toward her, and Domi could see the conflict in her expression. She hated and loved that room. She wanted Master Brian, but she didn’t want to want him.
“That’s not your safe word,” Master Brian said as he crouched slightly, flipping Rae over his shoulder. Shrieking her outrage, she slapped his back, but she still didn’t say Red.
“I don’t like this room!”
“That’s why it’s a good punishment, little girl.”
As the door shut behind them, the hallway filled with silence.
Domi bit her lower lip and turned her head to look at Master Mitch. So far, tonight was not going anything like she’d thought it would, and she still didn’t know how to deal with her newly realized feelings for him. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d liked a guy enough to even consider having a relationship.
“In here,” Mitch said, opening the door to the Dungeon. It was Domi’s favorite room at Marquis, and they both knew it. Her brow furrowed, trying to figure out what he was thinking but went in obediently. Moving to the center of the room, she turned to face him but couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Do you want to tell me what you and Rae said that had Freddy so riled up?”
Heat filled her cheeks again, and she really couldn’t look at him. “Do I have to, Sir? I realize what I said was shitty, and I regret it.”
“Why don’t you want to tell me?” He walked forward, circling around her, fingers trailed over the back of her bare shoulder, making her jump. Her stomach rolled. Shit. Realizing she like liked him was messing with more than just her head.
“I don’t want you to think less of me, Sir,” she admitted, going for a hard truth. Doms liked hard truths, so if she confessed this one, hopefully, she could avoid worse.
The fingers moving over her skin paused. “All right.”
“Really?” Relief suffused her. That was so much easier than she’d thought it would be. It didn’t make the guilty shame curdling in her stomach go away, but at least she didn’t have to describe to Master Mitch how catty she’d been. “So, um, is that it?”
Smack!
His hand slapped against her ass, hard enough to sting, even through the fabric of her skirt, and Domi jumped in surprise.
“Is that it, Sir,” he corrected. “And no. You don’t have to tell me what you said, but I do feel, as your sometime-Dom, it’s my duty to correct your behavior when you step out of line.”
“That’s really not necessary, Sir,” she said, rushing the words as respectfully as she could. “I promise, I already learned my lesson... and I’d hate to make you miss tonight’s show. I know I don’t want to miss it.”
She also didn’t know if she could handle a scene with him—not without feeling things she shouldn’t.
Unfortunately, the reminder about the fire play demonstration didn’t move him. Master Mitch chuckled, moving around her again until he was in front of her, his eyes roving over the bare skin of her chest as if he was mentally undressing her.
“Then not getting to see the show sounds like a good punishment, doesn’t it?”
One last scene...
That’s what this could be. One last scene to enjoy, then she’d have to cut herself off cold turkey from him. Continuing to have sex with him when she had feelings and he didn’t was a recipe for disaster. Domi’s tongue flicked out, wetting her suddenly dry lips.
“But isn’t that a punishment for you, too, Sir?” After all, he’d come here tonight for the same thing she had.
The smile that spread across his lips matched the wickedly cruel glint in his blue eyes.
“I’m sure I can find a way for you to make it up to me.”