CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“I just want to go.” My gaze falls to the floor as my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach.
I listened to Janice and made Lucian wait on me, and this is my reward. There's a woman sitting on his lap, and she's absolutely stunning. Long black hair, big tits pushed together in a tight leather corset, and a smile that probably has his dick stiff. She's perfect, and I'm already forgotten.
“What do you mean? Aren't we looking for your boy?” Janice sways slightly to the music. I feel like we're polar opposites right now. She's having the time of her life, and I just want mine to be over. Who was I to hope that a guy like Lucian would really want to be with a girl like me? Derrick was right. Chasing after him is only going to make me wind up getting hurt time and time again.
“He's in the back.” I gesture absentmindedly.
“Which one?”
“The one with the dark-haired girl on his lap.”
“Oh wow.” Her head cocks back in surprise. “He's gorgeous.” Then she realizes why I'm so upset. “Oh wow. Amy, I'm sorry. I really thought—”
“It's okay.” I place a hand on her arm. “I just want to go home now. If you want to stay, that's fine. I can come back and pick you up later.”
She takes a deep breath, looking contemplative. I can tell she really wants to stay but is thinking that leaving with me would be the better move to make.
“Hey, I want you to have a good time.” I stoop a bit to catch her gaze. “I'm not going to be mad if you want to stay. I know this is like...your dream come true.” My eyes dance across the fog and lasers before finally landing on the entrance to the dungeon. Janice is my best friend, and I refuse to stand in the way of her happiness. This is nothing that a pint of ice cream and a good cry won't fix.
“I'll walk you back to the car.” She nods finally.
“Alright, let's go.”
I turn to start back down the stairs, but then I hear my name over the sound of the music. The voice it's coming from makes the hair stick up on the back of my neck. We've been spotted. I don't care though. I'm over Lucian. I'm over all of this.
Janice and I are about halfway down the stairs before Lucian catches up to us. He grabs my arm, nearly causing me to trip.
“Amy, where are you going?”
I bite back my anger as I turn to him. “I'm going home, Lucian. You said that if I came here and didn't like what I saw, then I didn't have to stay. Well, I definitely don't like what I saw.”
“Is this about that girl?” He points back up to the VIP area.
“What girl?” I pretend to play oblivious.
He rolls his eyes at me. “Don't do this. She's just a friend. We've known each other for a long time.”
“She doesn't look like just a friend.” I can't even meet his gaze. I hate how jealous I sound. I am jealous though. Why would he even want me when he can have someone like her?
“Come back upstairs and I'll introduce you.” He lets me go and takes a few steps upstairs. When he realizes I'm not going to follow him, he stops.
“I'd rather not.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“Alright,” he hesitates. “Then I'll come downstairs with you.” Lucian walks back down the stairs until he's by my side. It's at that point that he notices Janice.
“Hi there.” She waves at him awkwardly.
“And who might this lovely creature be?” He takes her hand in his, flashing her that smile that I naively thought was only for me.
Just looking at Janice, I can tell that her hormones are going into overdrive. Lucian could have her in the blink of an eye if he wanted her. I just hope he doesn't want her. That would be the toothpick in my shit sandwich for the night, my best friend hooking up with the guy I've been secretly pining over.
“I'm Janice,” she replies, all googly-eyed. What a pal.
“Janice.” He smirks knowingly. I used her name when I first met Lucian at Flesh. Thank God, he doesn't bring it up. That would be horrifically embarrassing.
“She's my best friend,” I say almost accusingly, hoping it will snap them both out of whatever is going on between them.
While there's no change in Lucian's lecherous expression, Janice instantly catches the hint that I think she's encroaching on my territory. She breaks Lucian's gaze and looks at me, pointing downstairs and stuttering. “I think I'm going to go take a look at those booths we missed and give you guys some time alone.”
It's not what I'd hoped she'd say. She was supposed to stand by my side and insist that we were leaving, not abandon me with my demons. Before I have a chance to argue though, she continues down the stairs, taking them two at a time as if she can't wait to be away from us. Perhaps she's afraid of the chemistry she was feeling with Lucian. I certainly was.
I sigh as I watch her go, realizing that she has the car keys, and that I'm now stuck with Lucian.
“You look nice,” he tells me, drawing my attention back to him.
It's the first time since seeing him that I allow myself to appreciate what he's wearing, tight leather pants and a mesh shirt. You can see his broad chest and chiseled abs perfectly under the flimsy fabric. No wonder Janice was nearly wetting herself over him. If I wasn't so put off by the way that they acted together, I'd be turned on too. As it is, being with him here like this is just awkward.
“No, I don't,” I insist.
I don't look as nice as the girl who was on his lap, and I definitely don't look as nice as Janice. If anything, I look like a complete amateur who picked up a quick costume from a sex shop. And that's exactly what I am and what I did.
“You're always so hard on yourself.” He presses his hand against the small of my back and urges me down the stairs the rest of the way.
I think about telling him that I know what looks good and what doesn't, but I don't. I'm being bitchy enough as it is.
“How long have you been here?” he asks once we reach the bottom of the stairs.
“Long enough to see things I wish I hadn't.”
“Amy, stop it.” Discontent is etched across his perfect face. “You're not even giving this a chance.”
I wrap my arms around myself. It feels like nothing has gone right since I got here. I don't want to give it a chance anymore.
“Come here. I'm going to show you around.” He hooks his arm in mine and starts leading me across the dance floor.
Tension mounts in my chest as I fear that he's actually going to want to stop and dance with me. Thankfully, he doesn't though. We continue through the crowd of happy participants and make our way to the vendors.
Lucian leads me past most of the vendors and heads straight back to a far corner of the room where there's a man suspended by hooks swinging around on a small stage. We stop in front of it, and I cringe slightly as I see how stretched the man's skin looks. That can't possibly be comfortable.
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” Lucian glances down at me. His blue eyes are bright with amusement from my reaction.
“This isn't really my thing.” I gesture to the scene in front of us, shying away from it a bit.
“I didn't think so, but I wanted you to see it anyway.” He wrinkles his nose. “That's Armand Fiqueroa. He looks kind of intimidating, but he's a really nice guy.”
Intimidating is an understatement. The guy is covered in tattoos and piercings from head to toe. He's bald and lanky with a menacing-looking face. I'd probably be afraid of him in broad daylight.
“Come on.” Lucian nods for me to follow him.
We walk past the crowd watching the suspension act and find a small booth in the corner where people are painting each other with liquid latex. Lucian pulls his wallet out of his pocket and hands the girl manning the booth some money.
“Two please,” he tells her.
She gives him two small bottles of liquid latex and two little paintbrushes and ushers us back into an unoccupied corner of the booth. I watch as Lucian twists the top off of one of the bottles and dips his brush in it.
“No.” I hold out my hand to him when he approaches me with the brush.
Even though my outfit is cheap, I don't want to ruin it by getting liquid latex all over it. Who knows if I'd be able to get the stuff off. The liquid latex is glow in the dark, so it would probably stain or discolor the material.
Lucian cocks his head to the side as if to say, “Really?”
“I don't want to ruin this outfit.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“Fine. Then you can paint me.” He shoves both bottles of paint into my hands and the brushes and begins to strip off his shirt.
It feels like all the oxygen in the room is sucked up as I watch him peel the shirt off. Good God, he's beautiful. I'm not the only one who notices, either. The other girls in the area all seem to pause to look at him. Instantly, I feel a pang of jealousy, almost equal to seeing that girl sitting on his lap. It makes me want to tell him to put his shirt back on, but I do kind of want to paint on him, and I like that he's here with me and not someone else.
“I'm ready.” He tosses his shirt a safe distance away and then holds his arms out to his sides.
My cheeks begin to heat up as I step up to him. In truth, I'm absolutely clueless about what he expects from me. More than anything, I just want to touch him. I wish we were at his house instead of at this crowded, miserable place.
I bite back my feelings and lift up the brush, painting a line of green down the middle of his chest and stomach. The brush bristles dip into the groves of his muscles, and my clit throbs from the strange intimacy of touching him like this. It's the first time I've actually been able to explore his body the way I want—and I'm not even doing it with my hands.
He stands like a statue, gazing down at me as I switch out the paints and stripe him. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I am starting to have fun. This kind of feels like a date. We're around a bunch of people, and he's only paying attention to me. I like it.
When I finally look up at him, he's smiling.
“What?” I wrinkle my nose and turn away from him shyly.
“You're adorable.”
“Am not,” I huff.
“You're also a brat.”
I gasp in mock shock and slap his chest with one of the brushes, splattering liquid latex on his neck and chin.
“See. Bratty.” He snatches one of the bottles away from me and takes a brush from my hand. “Do you know what I do to brats?”
A knot builds in my chest from the dark sound of his voice. Maybe I pissed him off by getting the liquid latex on his face.
He opens up the bottle and dips the brush in. It's at that moment I realize what he's going to do.
“Lucian, no.” I hold my hand up to stop him.
He takes the brush and splatters me with liquid latex. Part of me wants to get upset, but the uptight feeling I've held onto all night snaps, and I just laugh. I dip my brush into the liquid latex and sling it at him. Then it turns into an all-out war.
People move out of our way as we run around the area like children, throwing liquid latex at each other. There's really no place to seek cover, so we get it everywhere. By the time our bottles are empty, we're both laughing so much that we're breathless.
Lucian tosses his bottle in the trash and pulls me into his arms, embracing me while we regain our composure. I love the way his heartbeat feels thrumming against my chest. More than that, I'm enjoying having fun with him for once. Maybe his world isn't so bad after all.
“Amy,” Janice's voice comes out of nowhere.
I turn to see her standing at the front of the booth. There's an ear-to-ear grin plastered across her face. At first, I think it's because she's finally seeing me happy here, but then she says, “I found Sir. We're going to do a scene in the dungeon.” She points towards the dungeon and then disappears.
The amazing moment is broken as I pull out of Lucian's arms. The latex on his chest sticks to my top, making a plasticky peeling sound as we disengage from each other. Dread fills me at the mention of the word dungeon, though at this point, I think it's more from the fact that I know I'll be stuck here for an indistinguishable amount of time. Who knows how long their scene will take.
“I think we can start peeling this stuff off now.” Lucian glances down at his chest. He's absolutely covered in liquid latex. It's molded to his muscular torso, looking almost like a second skin.
“May I?” I make pinchy fingers at him.
“Be my guest, but watch the nipples.”
Just because he said it, I make sure to tweak his nipples after I peel the liquid latex off of them. He squirms and takes a step back when I do, and then we get into a tickling fight. I laugh and kick and scream until I think I'm going to pee on myself.
“Lucian, stop!” I beg.
“Call me Sir.”
“Sir. Please, please, please. I'm going to piss myself.” I wiggle out of his grasp and move a safe distance away.
“Are you going to behave?” He points at me.
I screw my face, contemplating.
“I'll tickle you again, if you don't.”
“Fine, fine,” I huff, returning to him to peel off more of the liquid latex without harassing him.
The stuff comes off with surprising ease. At least, it's easy to remove where there is a lot of it. The outline where the liquid latex begins and the small dots spotting his neck and face are more difficult.
“It's fine. Just leave the rest,” he tells me when my picking becomes tedious. I don't even bother trying to get most of the liquid latex off of my outfit. It's just going to end up in the trash later anyway.
“Did you have fun?” Lucian asks as we walk out of the booth, his arm slung over my shoulder.
“I did.” I nod, a bit surprised.
“Good. I want you to have fun.” He kisses the side of my head.
“What now?” My eyes skim down the row of vendors. I feel like I've seen the whole place already.
“Well,” he draws out the word, and I already know what he's about to say. “We could go check on your friend in the dungeon.”
“I don't know.” I curl against him, feeling unpleasant from the possibility of him seeing Janice naked. It already seemed like he liked what he saw when she had clothes on.
“Aren't you at least the slightest bit curious?” He squeezes me gently.
I am curious. But I'd be a lot more curious if I knew that my best friend wasn't in there.
“I'm not really interested in seeing all that nudity.” I gesture into the air.
Lucian smirks. “Well then, we're in luck. There's no nudity allowed here. If you didn't look at the dress code, all women have to have their nipples and areolas covered, and all attendees must have at least a one-inch strip of fabric covering their genitals.”
That does make me feel a little better, though not much. I can tell that it's really important to Lucian that I check out the dungeon, so I decide to cave in.
“Fine,” I exhale heavily, unable to make myself sound excited about it.
“Excellent.” He places his palm on the small of my back to get me going. It's beginning to feel like he's herding me. Would it be so hard for him to hold my hand instead? Maybe that's too normal for a place like this.
Each step we take towards the dungeon makes knots build up in my chest and a sick feeling churn in my stomach. I'm more than uncomfortable with the idea of going in with him. Any curiosity I might have had is erased by the fear that he's going to talk me into doing a scene.
Lucian exchanges a quick greeting with the Dungeon Master before we step into the area reserved for scene play. There is an array of BDSM equipment inside: stockades, wooden sawhorses padded for kink play, custom-designed furniture with restraints bolted to them, and a whole row of Saint Andrew's crosses.
My eyes dart around the room, trying to take it all in. I'm quickly able to distinguish the experienced kinksters from the amateurs. There's a group of people crowded around one Saint Andrew's cross, laughing and talking and joking as they play with the various kink equipment available for public use.
In one corner of the room, a Dom has a female submissive tied up on top of a table. The rope-work is so detailed and intricate that it's practically an art. From where we're standing, I can't tell if he's performing a scene, or if it's an exhibit for people to learn from. There's quite a crowd gathered around, all watching in awe.
On the other side of the room, there's a Domme flogging her female submissive. It doesn't look like she's using that much force, but the girl cries out after each blow as if it's the most painful thing in the world. It makes me cringe, even though I'm pretty sure she's faking it.
To be honest, the worst thing I see is some extreme pain play taking place at the other far corner of the room. I can only imagine that it's another exhibit, because the guy working on the submissive looks incredibly skilled. He's basically using his sub as a pin cushion, pressing needles into her skin in a straight line down her breasts above her corset. Between the gloves he's wearing, the way he maneuvers her skin, and the assistant that he has holding the tray of needles, I can only assume he's done this dozens of times before. The girl doesn't even flinch as he sticks her again and again and again. If anything, she looks happy. It's an oddity to me, but who am I to judge. I just know that it definitely wouldn't be my thing.
Finally, I spot Janice and her Sir. I wouldn't have even known it was her if not for the outfit she's wearing. Her Dom has her tied up on a padded sawhorse, bent over the V of it with her hands restrained behind her back and a ball gag in her mouth. Her skirt is hiked up over her hips, and her latex underwear is in full view. It's a one-inch strip alright.
Her Dom is a lot bigger than I imagined him to be, a hulking man so broad that he seems almost unreal. There's so much muscle on him that he makes Lucian look scrawny by comparison. He's bald with blonde eyebrows and blue eyes, and his skin has a slight fake-tan look. Janice said he looked like Mister Clean on steroids. I think he looks more like Mister Clean's bad-ass brother. He's wearing latex pants and a matching latex vest that looks at least one size too small. I can only imagine it's difficult finding clothes that fit when you're that big.
“That's Janice's ass.” I point to the two of them.
“You know your friend by her ass?” Lucian quirks an eyebrow in amusement.
“Yup. I'd know that ass anywhere,” I sigh, thinking of all the times I've held Janice's hair back while she was throwing up after a night of partying. Usually, when we get home from the bar, and she's had too much to drink, she'll strip her clothes off in the living room as she walks. It was awkward the first time I saw her do it, but I quickly got used to it when I realized it was a habit of hers.
By the time we reach the two of them, Janice's Sir has selected a heavy-looking flogger and is winding it back for the downswing. I'm not exactly sure what they've been doing up to this point, but one of her ass cheeks is already red. The other one is practically barren, still pale and untouched. It seems unbalanced to me.
Mister Clean Steroid Edition doesn't even glance over at us as we stop near their scene. He appears to be completely into the moment, telling Janice to thank him after each lash before he goes to town on her backside. I jump and wince from the first strike, watching her body tense from the blow. She makes a hissing sound but doesn't cry out, then mutters a 'thank you' around the ball gag in her mouth.
I lean against Lucian, keeping my face turned to the side, having a hard time watching the display. “Is this what you like to do?”
“Yes.” His eyes are glued to Janice's ass, to the irritated skin there that's quickly becoming a deeper shade of pink.
“You enjoy it?” My gaze falls to his crotch, and the answer is right there for me to see. There's a bulge in his pants. He's getting off to watching my best friend being flogged, and that only makes the sickness in my stomach grow. This is part of what I feared.
“These are the things I like to do.” He looks down at me, and his tone is all seriousness.
I feel like the fun time we were having with the liquid latex was years ago. The dungeon makes me uncomfortable. I don't like watching other people being tortured and pleasured. It feels dirty to me—wrong, somehow. That's just the naive part of me talking though. This wouldn't be going on if people didn't want voyeurs. But I don't want to be a voyeur. I don't want to be a participant either. I just really don't want to be here.
“Watch.” Lucian's fingers touch beneath my chin, directing my face to the scene in front of us.
Janice's Sir strikes her again and again. I can see tears streaming down her cheeks, but her eyes are happy. She's enjoying what's happening—getting off to it. Is this what I'm supposed to be seeing? That pain at this level has the potential to be pleasurable? Janice and I aren't the same person though. We don't feel the same things. We don't have the same desires.
Mister Clean shoves the flogger into a large black duffle bag on the floor and pulls out a thick wooden paddle. He steps up behind her and takes it in both hands.
“Now, I'm going to brand you mine,” he tells her.
It's an incredibly hot thing to say, and I feel the slightest twinge of jealousy. The idea of Lucian marking me his fills me with pleasure. I wouldn't want him to do it here though. Not publicly.
Janice's Dom draws the paddle back and lets it sail. There's an audible crack as it makes contact with her unmarked ass cheek. She cries out, a sound that tugs at my heart. My moment of enthrallment with the scene is over as soon as I watch him pull the paddle back and welts begin to form where it hit. The letters take shape slowly, but as soon as I can read the word clearly, my entire body is flooded with disgust. Displayed across Janice's ass for the world to see is the word SLUT.