Scanning over the women at the table, he issued further direction. “I think each of you owes Master Jonas an apology. He is a hero, as you said Lexie, and I am disappointed to hear of him being disrespected. He saved many lives that day at the risk of his own.”
All four of them flushed with chagrin. They nodded, saying practically in unison, “We’re sorry, Master Dex.”
“Mm… I’m sure you soon will be.”
Moon stared after the intimidating man as he walked away. “Wow. I feel sorry for Elena having to deal with Dex all the time. That felt like the time I was called to the principal’s office in seventh grade.”
Megan nodded, knowing exactly how Moon felt. “Cap is the same way. I’m often left feeling like a naughty schoolgirl, and not in a good way.”
“What gives him the right to be judge and jury? We’re in the public area,” Moon complained.
Megan went on to fill in an obviously unsettled Moon and Lexie on the hierarchy at The Club. “All the owners are Masters. They have years of experience and somehow know the inner workings of a submissive’s mind. Dex isn’t just a Master here; he’s The Club’s Master Dom and outranks everyone with regard to authority when it comes to club matters. He has the most experience, except for maybe the general or Cap, and he mentors and trains the new Doms.”
Regan added, “I don’t know what they teach them in the Special Forces or if it’s simply because these men are badasses, but they command respect. I’ve even seen some of the Dommes simper and become docile in their presence. We subs don’t stand a chance.”
As they watched, Elena joined Dex, and his strict demeanor immediately changed. As he listened intently to what the little singer had to say, his expression was soft with affection. The next instant, he threw his head back, laughing delightedly as he guided his sub toward the members’ playroom, an arm wrapped around her and a large possessive hand on her ass.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Lexie asked, “What is an open spanking bench?”
Megan and Regan looked at each other in that silent way twins have of communicating. After a moment, Megan explained, “Once restrained on a spanking bench, the ropes to the scene area are opened and all the Doms in the club are allowed to take a turn if they wish with whatever the submissive’s Dom chooses.”
“On the bare ass...” Regan added with a frown.
“All of them will want to take a turn…” Meg grimaced.
“Sometimes two or three turns,” Regan concluded. “Especially if it’s a slow night.”
“You sound like you have some experience with this, Regan.” Lexie nervously rubbed her damp palms against her thighs. What had she gotten herself into?
“Regan has a lot of experience, don’t you, Sis?” Megan laughed. “A lot more. I’ve seen Rick blindfold her and let the Doms have at her with a paddle at least four times, and I’ve been a member less than a year.”
“Bite me, Meg,” Regan replied teasingly. Looking back at the other girls, she admitted with a shrug, “I can be a brat sometimes. So sue me. Usually the punishment is worth the crime, and the way Rick doles it out not always unpleasant.”
“Unless you have a sadistic Dom who won’t let you get off afterwards,” Megan grumbled.
“Hoping Cap will cut you some slack tonight, little sis? Of course, he won’t.” Tipping her head toward her sister, she said in a stage whisper, “Her man’s a stickler for the rules.”
“Cap does that to you?” Lexie asked with compassion in her voice. “He leaves you, um—wanting?”
“That’s putting it mildly. Tony knows that a spanking really trips my trigger. In fact, if he thinks I’ve been really naughty, he invokes the no-rewards-after-punishment rule.” Megan grimaced painfully as if memories were flooding her brain. “The rat bastard can be downright evil sometimes, but he does make it up to me eventually.”
“I can’t believe Cap would sacrifice his own pleasure that way,” Moon chipped in.
The three submissives looked at her in amazement, then burst out laughing.
Meg was the first to regain her composure. “Ah Moon, my naïve friend, who said Cap goes without?”
Parched from laughing, they called for another round only to find that Dex had cut them off at two because of their upcoming scene. As word got out, other subs came by their table to express sympathy, others their envy and others still to make ribald jokes about not sitting for a week. Lexie was beginning to get nervous, and it must have shown.
“Don’t worry, Lex,” Regan reassured, “Jonas is required to be there to monitor. He’ll make sure no one is too, uh… enthusiastic with his own sub.”
Moon looked at the other women as if they were insane. “You are out of your minds—to willingly agree to this—you’d have to be nuts. That’s why I’m taking the Domme class. I’m going to find out at long last what this is all about, only from the other, less painful point of view.”
“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it, cuz,” Meg laughed.
“From what Dex says, she’ll be trying it with Dano next week,” Regan added.
Lexie sat in wide-eyed wonder, thinking Moon might be the only sane one in their midst.
***
“You’re two for two with punishments, baby. Not a great beginning.” Jonas spoke from behind her as he buckled her ankle restraints in place. She trembled visibly as she turned her head and saw the crowd gathering behind the ropes. She could see Regan, who was already restrained on a spanking bench a few feet away. She was speaking earnestly to Rick, who wore a stern expression as he squatted down at her level in front of the bench. Their exchange wasn’t heated. Regan looked resigned, and she had a tear tracking down her beautiful face. Lexie looked on in wonder as her big dominant husband tenderly brushed it away with his thumb. Her eyes tracked down her body, and she noticed that Regan’s position was a bit different from her own. In consideration of her early pregnancy, a section of foam had been added to protect her belly, keeping it free from contact with the bench, adding no pressure that would harm the new life growing within.
Her line of vision to her friends was suddenly cut off as Master Tony stepped into view. She watched in surprise as he restrained Megan, but not to a bench like her compatriots. Instead, her wrists were pulled high above her head and her cuffs were affixed to a chain that hung down from the ceiling. Next, her Dom stooped low and attached her ankle cuffs to a spreader bar. Lexie was shocked to see that the bar was shaped like an inverted T with a horizontal rod and cuffs keeping her feet wide apart, the perpendicular one reaching straight and tall—rising with ominous intent— toward the juncture of Megan’s thighs. She watched as Tony adjusted the special attachment that disappeared beneath the hem of Meg’s ultra-short dress. Lexie recognized the addition as an electric wand called a Hitachi. She knew, because Jonas had one at home just like it. The extremely powerful vibrator brought on intensely powerful, sometimes unbearable orgasms.
“Cap is giving Meg a different form of punishment tonight,” Jonas said, having completed attaching her restraints. He’d been watching her fascination with the other two couples. He was bent over her back, his lips brushing warm and soft over her bare shoulder as he spoke. “Do you know why?”
“It hasn’t been very long since she delivered her twins. I imagine he’s concerned she isn’t ready for a paddling, Sir.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s part of Cap’s thinking, but the primary reason is that she enjoys a paddling too much for it to be an effective punishment. It’d be like me stringing you up in my ropes and calling it a reprimand. A reward isn’t quite what he has in mind for his bad girl. Now Regan, on the other hand, likes the exhibition, not the pain. Therefore, she earned a flogging. It’s the Dom’s choice, after all, and who better to know the ultimate punishment for their sub.”
“I don’t understand. How is that a punishment? Looks more like a reward to me.”
“Ah, sweet Sunshine,” he chuckled in her ear. “Cap does indeed know his submissive. Notice he let her retain her clothes. Granted a revealing bra and short skirt, but she is still covered. Meg is a very private person, her Dom understands that, so she gets to maintain some of her modesty. Her punishment will be a very erotic display of her submission as she reaches climax, quite publicly and repeatedly, under her Dom’s watchful eye, of course.”
“Hm… thirty minutes of orgasm. I’m still not convinced that’s punishment.”
“Not for you, Lexie. That’s why you are on a spanking bench about to receive thirty minutes of creative paddling.” His lips nibbled across her cheek, finding the soft shell of her ear and latching on with a nip, followed by a soothing, teasing suckle. He nuzzled his face in her fragrant, loose curls.
In a stern tone low in her ear, he voiced his displeasure. “If you wanted to know about the rumors, you should have asked me, little subbie.”
“I did, Sir, but you brushed me off.”
“You should have respected my privacy then, Lexie. Wasn’t it obvious that I didn’t want to discuss it? I would have told you in time, but in my time, not yours. Do you understand the difference?”
She did, and the realization that she had disappointed Jonas, hurt him in a way that was surely as painful as the spanking she was about to receive. A thought occurred to her, which sparked a hint of anger.
“It’s not fair. I didn’t want to discuss my past either, but you made me. I remember a paddle being involved then, too.”
He pulled back and saw the pretty pout that encompassed her full, delicious lips.
“The difference being, that I asked for the answers directly from
you
, my sweet sub. I didn’t go around asking questions behind your back. I certainly could have asked Joanna or Peter, or your Grampa Stan if I wanted to do it that way.”
Stricken, she realized he was right. She had started it, asking the twins for information about Jonas. It didn’t matter that they seemed eager to share. She should have come right out and insisted he answer her, or respected his privacy. “I’m sorry, Jonas. You’re exactly right. I shouldn’t have pushed it. Forgive me?”
“You’re already forgiven. My biggest regret is that I’m here sharing your delectable ass with a bunch of greedy, horny Doms and Dommes rather than enjoying it upstairs in a private room all to myself.”
“I really am sorry. I don’t—” Distractedly, she saw Rick and Cap had finished securing their respective subs and stood watching her and Jonas. They both looked as eager to have this over with as she was. “I think the other Masters are waiting for you, Sir.”
“Let them wait. We’ll all begin together. Finish what you were saying.”
“Well, it’s just the story of how you got your nickname. That’s to say… It was inspiring and frightening at the same time. You are a true hero, saving your friends and all those people. You should be proud. I know I am.”
He had moved around the bench where she could see him, crouching to eye level, as Rick had with Regan. His eyes were serious as he smoothed several errant tendrils back from her cheek. Head tilted as he studied her, his handsome face now blocked out the sight of all else, allowing her again to admire the gorgeousness of her man.
“I was doing a job, like every other man that day. To be singled out amongst all of them who had volunteered to be there—just like me—risking their lives, leaving their home and loved ones behind. Those men were heroes, too, Lexie. Any one of them would have done the same in my position.”
Yes, he was confident, handsome, controlling and at times even arrogant; he was also real. He had no affectation, and despite all he had going for him, he was unassuming. When it came to the important things, his integrity and honor were unwavering. He was a man like no other, and she fell more deeply in love with him at that moment.
“I love you, Jonas, I mean, Sir. You are my hero.”
Smiling at the unexpected revelation, he leaned in and kissed her softly. “You have captivated me, Sunshine, and I have fallen in love with you, too. I do have to say, however, that this is a very odd time for our first declarations.”
He stood then. It was time to begin. Walking behind her, he lifted the hem of her short skirt and tucked it into the back of her thong. “Very convenient undies, Lex, which means you get to keep them—this time. If we have to repeat this lesson, they’re toast.” With a tug of his hand, she felt him wedge the material even further into her ass crack, pulling it tightly against her moist pussy as an added benefit. She felt his large hand pat her bottom affectionately, giving it a final caress before turning to the other two Doms and declaring, “Start the clock, gentlemen.”
Lexie immediately heard a progression of sound, a loud buzzing as the Hitachi switched on followed by a sighing whimper from Megan, a subsequent whoosh, snap and squeal as the flogger engaged with Regan’s pert ass, and after that, a loud crack and a yelp of surprise. The last bit came from her own lips as a paddle connected crisply with her bare butt.
Looking around, she saw Jonas standing near her feet, his eyes flicking from her unknown punisher, who stood just out of sight to the general area of her rear. He murmured something to the paddle wielder right before another sharp crack reverberated from the vicinity of her bottom. It was followed by a burning sting. Her eyes flew to Jonas. This time he was watching her face. He quirked a brow in question. Knowing what he was asking, she spoke her answer clearly. “Green, Sir.”