"How old are you? Like barely twenty-one?" the redhead chimed in.
"Why, jealous?" Amy smirked.
That's when Emily's small fist connected with Amy's jaw. It didn't hurt at first. Not until she regained her bearings did it begin to sting. "I can't believe you just hit me. Seriously bitch?"
Amy realized then that Kali had emerged from one of the stalls and was watching in disbelief. "As an off duty dungeon monitor I'm obligated to report this incident to the management. You do realize what this means, Emily?"
"She started it." Emily was visibly nervous.
"I was here the whole time and I heard every word. She didn't start anything.
You
started it." Kali started toward the door.
"Mistress Kali, no, wait, please..." Emily started.
Kali ignored Emily and stood half in and half out of the ladies room door. "I've got an unruly sub in here who hit another one," she was saying to someone just outside the door.
Emily turned toward Amy and took a step forward. "This is all your fault."
Amy took a step back, not believing the audacity of the woman. "Maybe you need to learn to take responsibility for yourself. This is no more my fault than it is that Eric no longer wants to have anything to do with you," Amy said, cupping her jaw with her right hand. Great, now she was going to have a bruise. That was going to be fun explaining to her uptight parents. She could hear the conversation now.
With a wave of her hand, Kali motioned Emily toward the door. "Master Bruce will escort you into the admin office and they'll decide if your club days are over, or if you're put on probation."
With one backward glare at Amy, Emily and her red-headed friend stomped out of the restroom leaving Amy and Kali looking at each other. "Get me an ice compress, I'll take care of Amy," Kali told whomever was outside the door.
Amy looked into the mirror. It was only a little red and the sting was slight.
Kali came up next to her and took her chin in her hand, tipping her head to where she could see her jaw and cheek better. "You may get lucky and it might not bruise, but a cold compress all the same. I can't believe that girl actually hit you."
Amy nodded. Maybe Kali wasn't so bad after all. Just a bit eccentric. "My luck I'd go out on a date with a guy who has a psycho ex."
“I wouldn’t necessarily call her psycho, just very damaged,” Kali said.
There was a knock on the restroom door. With a flourish, Kali answered it, retrieving an ice pack from the male hand belonging to whoever was out there. She brought it over to Amy. “Put this on your jaw.”
Amy looked at herself in the mirror again. She was going to have to fix her makeup – again. She noticed Kali regarding her.
“So how do you like working at the bookstore?”
“I love it. It’s a lot of fun actually,” Amy said, noticing it ached when she made the long ‘e’ sound. “Eric and Brad are fun bosses. Unless you don’t do what you’re told.”
Kali laughed and lifted the ice pack off her cheek and inspected the area. “I think you’re lucky that Emily hits like a girl.”
Amy laughed. “Yeah, maybe a little powder and no one will notice.”
“You really like Eric?” the Domme asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Eric is great. We’ve gotten along really well since day one. I’m still a bit wary about all of this, but he says I’m a sub.” She shrugged.
“Honey, do you get excited being told what to do and does the thought of him bending you over his knee to spank you get you hot? Or maybe him tying you up and having his way with you? Maybe the idea of a cane across your ass titillates you?” Kali gave her a quick smirk and opened Amy’s bag, pulling out the powder compact. She began dabbing powder on the injured area.
Blushing, Amy said, “Well, yeah, I guess.”
“Then you’re definitely a sub and that’s why Eric is into you. Eric is one of those guys who doesn’t date casually if you know what I mean. He could top half the subs in this bar with the snap of his fingers if he wanted them. Instead, he goes for the brainy girls that stimulate and interest him not only sexually, but intellectually. Evidently you got both going for you, darlin’. And right now there are about fifty women in this place who hate you.”
She couldn’t hide the mortification she felt. “You mean more women are going to attack me?”
A bright laugh escaped Kali’s red painted lips. “No, dear. Most subs will have the sense to hate you from afar, seething with jealousy. So have you and Eric ever?”
Amy’s mouth dropped open. “No! This is our first date. I’ve only known him for three weeks.”
“But he’s told you what to do and you’ve done it?” Kali pressed.
“He’s my boss, of course.”
“Not exactly what I meant, but that will do. So what have you done? You can tell me. If you don’t, Brad will.”
“Well that’s not fair,” Amy started. “If I tell you do you promise not to breathe a word?”
“Spill it girlie! Chin up!” She dabbed more powder on Amy’s cheek.
“I broke a rule at the store and I was punished.”
Kali’s eyes lit up. “A rough spanking?”
“Not exactly.”
The Domme put the powder compact back into Amy’s purse and handed it back to her. “He tied you up?”
Amy blushed. “No.”
“Whips?” Kali suggested, this time with a look of excitement.
“Nothing that extreme,” Amy said, her face flushing.
“Well out with it,” Kali whispered.
“He put me in a cage.” Amy shrugged as if it was no big thing.
A wide grin slid over Kali’s lips. “Clothes on or off?”
“Off.”
“He is a wicked little boy! I have to tell you, I lust after Eric completely, but all in good fun and fantasy. The problem is he won’t switch sides. I’m a Domme, he’s a Dom. Plus, I don’t think I’m his type, but it’s fun to ask him. I love that look he gets when he thinks I want to tie him up. It’s priceless. We just won’t tell him or Brad about our little conversation, no?” Kali gave her an expectant grin.
Amy shook her head. “Not a word.”
“I suppose we should turn the protocol back on. You okay?”
“Yes, Mistress,” Amy said with a shy smile.
Kali grabbed the ice pack and ushered Amy out the door. In the hallway one of the dungeon monitors stood guard.
“Is everything alright Mistress Kali?” he asked.
Kali handed him the ice pack. “Yes, thank you. She’s fine. I’ll take her back to Master Eric.”
Next thing Amy knew she was sitting back between Eric and Brad watching in fascination as the man on stage artfully wound the rope around his female partner, binding her in such a way that her sex was exposed even though she was wearing a leotard. Amy imagined herself in the woman’s position. Even clothed it would be humiliating to be bound like that. She imagined Eric binding her, being able to touch every inch of her flesh. She wondered what it would feel like to have rope binding her breasts. Her breath quickened and her heart pounded. Eric’s hand rested gently on her knee and squeezed. That’s when she realized he was watching her reaction with a great deal of pleasure.
He leaned into her and whispered gently in her ear, “You want to come home with me tonight and let me tie you up?”
Amy almost came right there. More than anything she wanted to go home with him. But she was afraid. She bit her lip. “Maybe,” she whispered back.
With a sly grin he squeezed her leg and moved his hand further up her thigh. “You torture me.”
They finished watching the demonstration, all the while Eric watching her and caressing her hand and thigh.
He leaned into her again. “So?”
She took a deep breath and decided in that second to make a huge leap. “You’re the Dom, you tell me.”
She almost regretted it the second she said it because something switched on in Eric. She saw it flicker in his eyes. It was controlled, calculated lust. It was dominance. She shuddered realizing she had just agreed to give control over to him. It was exciting.
“I think it’s time to go. Get up,” he ordered. He turned to the rest of the table. “I think Amy and I are leaving.”
Kali gave her a private smile and with that, Eric took her by the hand and led her out of the club.
He opened the door and helped her into the car, then got into the driver side. Once they had pulled out of the parking lot onto the main street he asked, “So what took you and Kali so long in the bathroom?”
“Oh, umm…” she wasn’t sure she should tell him, it could ruin the whole night.
“I asked you a question, Amy. Answer it and address me as Sir,” he told her. “We’ll work our way to Master.”
Fear and excitement pulsed through her. “Yes, Sir.” She took a deep breath. “I ran into your ex-girlfriend in the restroom and she punched me in the face.”
The car swerved to the side of the road and he threw it in park. He turned to her, red with anger. “That bitch hit you?”
“Eric, I’m fine. Really. Kali took care of it.”
He blinked and let out the breath he’d been holding. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose control like that. How did Kali take care of it?”
“She handed her over to one of the dungeon monitors and said something about her future club involvement was in question or something like that,” Amy said quietly. “Besides, Emily hit like a girl. It was barely a bump, we put some ice on it, threw some makeup over it and it’s gone. See?” She lifted her chin and pointed to her jawline where the blow struck.
He turned on the overhead lamp in the car and looked at her face, gently caressing her cheek. “Okay. Stay here for a minute.”
With that he got out of the car. Amy watched him go to the back of the car and lean against it, his cell phone poised over his ear. He talked to someone for a few minutes but she couldn’t hear what was said. Then he got back into the car and carefully pulled back into traffic.
“I’m sorry I lost my temper, it’s just that Emily had my dander up already.”
Amy stifled a giggle.
“What?”
“Well, Sir, I thought only my dad used words like
dander
.” She laughed again.
“Ah, old jokes.” He shook his head. “
That
deserves a spanking.”
The thought of a spanking caused her to pull her thighs together tightly. She was so wet. It amazed her how he could sexually arouse her with just a sentence. “Yes, Sir.”
Chapter Six
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at Eric’s house. It wasn’t a small house either. It was a two story house with a three car garage, a big yard and a long driveway. Unfortunately parked in his driveway was a small gray hatchback with a woman leaning against the bumper, her hands crossed over her non-existent chest. It was Emily.
“Are you kidding me?” Eric said aloud as he pulled up next to Emily’s car in the driveway. “Amy, stay in the car. I’ll deal with this.” He mumbled some unflattering curse words under his breath and got out.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Eric asked.
“That woman you’re with got me kicked out of the club tonight. She pulled my hair so I hit her so she’d let go and then she convinced Mistress Kali that she was the victim. Thought you should know that she’s a manipulative bitch.”
“Yes, I know you don’t like my girlfriend. I also know you don’t like Kali. But I trust both of them tremendously more than I trust you. So again, what are you doing here?” Eric looked angry, but he stayed calm, controlled.
“Eric, I love you. Please give me a second chance. I made a mistake. We all make mistakes,” she started.
“No.” He said simply. “I’ve moved on from that. I don’t think you understand not only how much you hurt me but I can never trust you again. It wasn’t the first time you cheated, Emily.”
Emily looked down at her feet. “I promise I’ve changed.”
“You don’t understand. Maybe you have changed, but so have I. I’ve moved on. I no longer love you. I no longer want you. Please leave and if you harass Amy again, or attack her, we’re pressing charges.” He pointed to her car. “Now get back in your car and get off my property. You’re not welcome here and if you don’t leave I’ll call the police and have you removed.”
Emily let out an audible gasp. The shocked look on her face made Amy smile inwardly, but she kept a serious, cool expression on her face and didn’t even flinch when Emily shot her a jagged glare through the car window. With excessive speed, she backed out of the driveway and her car disappeared down the street.
Once Eric seemed sure Emily was gone, he went to the passenger door and opened it for Amy. “She’s gone. Hopefully for good this time.” He didn’t sound convinced.
Amy got out. She didn’t know what to say, if anything. She wondered then if the universe was trying to tell her something. Maybe she and Eric weren’t meant to be.
He locked the car and set the car alarm with a click of a button and started toward the front door. “Coming?”
She followed; speechless at how big the house was and how well kept the yard looked. Eric struck her as the rogue type. The kind of guy who lived in an apartment or a loft or something. Not a big house in a fancy suburb.
He unlocked the door then turned to look at her. Catching her gaze, like he always did, he said, “Let’s not let her ruin our night. I seem to recall a comment about me being old for using a word… what was it?”
A smile spread across her face and she let out a laugh. “Dander.”
He laughed. “I may have to regain my composure for a spanking, but you’re due for one. But first, maybe a cup of coffee?”
She followed him into the entryway, surprised by the high ceilings. “Wow.” Every bit of protocol was forgotten. “You live here all by yourself?”
He nodded. “I was under the crazy notion, once upon a time, that I’d get married and have kids.”
Her heart caught in her chest. Oh God. That’s what everyone meant when they said Emily had really given Eric the shaft. He had loved her enough that he had planned on marrying her. And now, Amy was probably the first woman who had been inside the house since Emily. “It could still happen,” Amy said absentmindedly.
“Yeah, maybe someday,” Eric agreed. “Kitchen is back this way.”
The entire place was impeccably decorated and clean. “You’re tidy and you have great decorating taste.”
He laughed. “Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to save your kudos for my sister because she’s an interior decorator and I hired her to do my place. I also can’t take credit for the cleanliness. I have a cleaning service come in weekly.”
“Books must make good money.”
“Wrong again. Good investment choices make a substantial amount of money. The bookstore is just something Brad and I enjoy. Don’t get me wrong,” he started with a shrug. “We aren’t operating in the red. We turn a small profit with
By the Book
, but it’s nothing compared to my investments. This house is already bought and paid for.”
“Do you even live here?”
“Busted again,” he laughed. “Mostly to eat, sleep, shower, shave and I sometimes have friends over.”
“Does Brad live around here, too?” She looked into the dining room and saw a beautiful oak dinette with a huge china cabinet. The furnishings alone looked seriously expensive.
“About four blocks from here actually. So coffee?”
“Yes, please.” She followed him into the kitchen and sat on a stool at the breakfast bar. She couldn’t help but look around. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house this big.”
“It sometimes gets a bit lonely, that’s for sure.” He started making coffee. “That’s why I’m out most of the time.”
She watched him make the coffee. He looked a little sad.
“Eric, I think we need to talk about Emily,” she said.
He shook his head. "I don't have anything to say about Emily. I loved her, she didn't love me, but I was so in love with her that I was blind to her indifference."
Amy wondered then what kind of person could do that to someone else. Have a sexual relationship and live with a man without loving him, all so she had a place to stay, clothes on her back, and food on the table. Eric was quite a catch and any woman who threw that away was missing out.
"Uh oh. Deep thought?" He pushed the start button on the coffee pot.
"Just wondering what motivates a woman like Emily to treat a decent guy like you, like shit. I mean – with you she had everything."
"Brad thinks it's because I’m too nice and nice guys always finish last. I think it's because Emily had issues." He took a drink.
Amy raised an eyebrow. Kali had made a comment about Emily being damaged. "What kind of issues though? I mean daddy issues? Hell, I have daddy issues. My dad was disappointed I was born female and we don't talk much." She shrugged. It was just another one of those things about her life she'd grown to accept.
"Well I imagine we all have some issue with how we were raised. My own parents were very absent so I've always been closer to my friends than my family. Well, except my sister. I only see her five or six times a year though." He sat back and said thoughtfully, "In Emily's case it goes beyond absent parents. Her father was an abusive drunk. Her mother was a battered housewife. And the only non-violent attention Emily ever got from a male where she wasn’t being smacked around was when she was molested by an uncle when she was thirteen. Somehow she got it in her head that if a man doesn't want her sexually, she's worth nothing to him. She also equates sex with love. So if any guy wants to have sex with her, she immediately thinks he loves her and she wants that. It's like it's programmed into her. Her entire self-identity and sense of self-worth is wrapped up in her sexuality. I was trying to help her work through that along with her therapist, but clearly it didn't work."
Amy bit her lip thoughtfully. In that moment she felt a great deal of pity for Eric’s ex. “That sucks.”
“Yeah.” The coffee maker beeped and he grabbed two cups out of the cupboard. “But really, enough about that. I need to move forward with my life and I really don’t want
her
to ruin our evening.”
“I’m sorry I brought it up, I just thought maybe you’d feel better if you talked about it,” she admitted, feeling a pang of guilt.
“Nah, it’s okay. Have a look around if you want. Just don’t try to get into any locked rooms.”
From where she sat she could see into a family room. There was a big screen TV in there. She gave him a wry smile and ventured from the kitchen into the family room. From there she saw the sliding glass doors leading to a large deck. Beyond that there was an outdoor pool and a small building that looked like…
“Hot tub is out in the small building out there,” he said coming up behind her. He ran his hands over her shoulders.
She turned to him, “So how do I get upstairs?”
He grinned. Their faces were mere inches apart. “Back to the main entry, take a left, then a right.”
“Give me a tour,” she said playfully.
“Fair enough.” Taking her by the hand he led her to the staircase, but not before she noticed they were passing other rooms. “What are all the rooms down here?”
“Study-slash-library and the room with the pool table and video game systems in it. I guess you could call it the game room.” He continued up the stairs.
She hurried after him. After looking over the huge main bathroom and guest rooms, he showed her the master suite. It was four times the size of her room at home and had a walk in closet and three piece bath. Shaking her head she just knew she was out of her league here.
“Come on. Back down for coffee. Besides, we didn’t get to see my favorite room.”
“There’s more?” she asked.
“Yeah. Come on.”
She followed him back downstairs and they had a cup of coffee while he told her how after he and Emily split, his sister had used his house to build her resume when she got out of school. “She had a professional photographer come in and take pictures and everything for her portfolio,” he said.
“Did she get more jobs from it?”
Eric nodded. “Some big ones in this neighborhood actually, and a few others across town. She has her own business. Makes pretty decent money, too. It’s something she can do even with the kids.”
Smiling she said, “You have nieces and nephews?”
“One nephew, two nieces,” he corrected.
“You didn’t strike me as an uncle or a guy who owned a house,” she admitted.
“Ah, so I was…?”
“The single rebel, estranged from his family who lived in a loft,” she admitted.
He began laughing. “That’s funny.”
She felt her cheeks turn red. “You must think I’m some stupid naïve schoolgirl and you’d be right.”
“No. I don’t think that at all. Come here.” He patted his lap.
She gave him a wary look.
“Serious, come here. I’m not going to put you over my knee yet, I promise.”
Nervously she got up and went over to him, sitting on his lap with a sigh. He put his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. “For the rest of the night I want you completely in the moment. I don’t want you to worry about anyone or anything. I want you to relax and just let me take care of everything. Can you do that for me?”