October 4th could be the most extraordinary day in my company’s history. My company, Everett Gaming, has an important conference call set up with Cheng Hotels International about hiring us for their hotel gaming needs. To say that this is a huge opportunity for Everett Gaming is an understatement. Cheng Hotels has a handful of hotels and casinos in Macau and they are in the process of buying up additional land for future sites. If my company could lock up a deal, it would be amazing.

With my company being in the gaming business, we keep many of our electronic gaming machines in quite a few hotels and taverns here in Las Vegas. To land a contract for a huge international company wasn’t even something I ever thought possible. I had been busting my ass for over a year with my business partners to just get my foot in the door with Cheng’s team. After many trips to Macau, hundreds of email exchanges, and phone calls, I finally have my chance. Cheng's team called about a month ago and said they wanted to seriously talk numbers. We’ve talked many times since then, and they have been happy with what my company is offering.

We had been preparing for this meeting for weeks, and I am confident that we are ready. Everett Gaming has a team that researched Cheng Hotels and the cliental for the area along with their target audience. We had numerous talks with the people from Cheng’s, but today is the actual bid proposal meeting.

I walked through the front doors to our building feeling confident, and I was eager to get the conference call started. The Everett Building was where my corporate headquarters were at and was situated off the famous Las Vegas Strip. It had ten floors which housed eight businesses with Everett Gaming occupying the ninth and tenth floors. Most of the other businesses were tech or media related.

I built my company from the ground up and did most of the legwork myself. When my parents died, I was left with a sizable inheritance and used it to start my company. I was in my late twenties when I started Everett Gaming and nearly fifteen years later it was finally turning into something very profitable.

The Everett Building had a huge atrium with a full service print shop, coffee and pastry shop, sandwich shop, and a convenience store type of place. The coffee shop, Beans, had seating inside as well as outside in the courtyard. The first floor atrium has an open center and goes all the way up to the tenth floor. Each morning I met my best friend and business partner, Anthony Graves, there. Anthony, the CFO for Everett Gaming, had been with me since shortly after I opened the company.

The atrium had a huge reception area with several people manning the reception desk and oversized leather chairs in the waiting area. Toward the back of the atrium stood a huge wall of rocks with lush palm trees and a cascading waterfall. The building was quite stunning and had won many architectural awards.

Given the importance of the meeting this morning with Cheng Hotels, Anthony and I were bypassing Beans. As I made my way past security, I greeted the ladies in reception and threw a smile over to the most recent addition, Sydney Burke. She smiled nervously as she did every morning and blushed as she looked downward, playing with her fingers. Little submissive, I’d think to myself and continue on.

I liked all of our employees and took a personal interest in making sure that they felt valued and appreciated, especially the ladies in reception. The reception ladies had a tough job, and they deserved some recognition, even if all I can do is greet them and smile each day. Many CEOs for the companies in the building couldn't give a fuck about the women in reception, but I made sure that I greeted them daily. I also made sure to include the two ladies that were assigned to Everett Gaming with all of my company’s functions.

The Openin Corporation on the second floor managed and handled all first floor shops, reception, security, and building maintenance. Openin provided each company in the building two receptionists on the first floor. They field all of our general incoming calls, make appointments and handle any print requests or refreshment services for meetings and gatherings. Janice and Sydney were the two Openin employees that were assigned to Everett Gaming. It was common to see either of them roaming around our offices on the ninth and tenth floors.

I always enjoyed seeing Sydney walk around. There was something about her that drew my eyes to her. And for months, I’d been trying to figure out exactly what the pull is. She was cute, but that wasn’t it. Something deeper pulled me to always look at her whenever I could.

Janice, a very sweet, older lady around sixty years old, had been with us for about the past ten years. Married and with a few grandchildren, Janice often showed me updated pictures of her family.

Sydney was a recent hire for Openin of about nine months now and had fit in very well. I didn’t know her really well, but I do know that she was twenty-seven years old, cute, quiet, and shy. And for whatever reason, I was very drawn to her. I’ve never been more drawn to a woman in my life without knowing the exact reason they drew my attention.

I’d been observing Sydney’s mannerisms ever since she came on as an employee for Openin, mental notes about her. Though quiet, Sydney was very attentive, driven, and precise. Sydney also seemed as though she protected herself from allowing anyone to get too close to her. She tried hard every day to make sure she did as directed and I could tell that pleasing others was extremely important to her. I knew in my heart that deep down Sydney was submissive. She may not know it or understand it yet, but she eventually would…in my dream world.

There was something about this young woman though, and I often found myself imagining her surrendering control to me. Being a Dominant, I often had daydreams about control and Sydney reacting well to my dominant nature. I’d love to get inside that mind of hers. With my particular set of tastes for women, I wanted nothing more than for kink to be Sydney’s cup of tea.

Typically I would take an active role in the hiring process of our employees. I let the specific department handle the questions but attended the actual interview. I would personally give them a tour of the building and handle all introductions once they’re hired. I’ve found that the best way for an employee to excel in my company is to start them off on the right foot and make them feel as a valued team member from day one.

There has always been an orange, foam ball that Anthony and I toss back and forth at each other, usually at semi inappropriate times in the office. I saw the ball on Hannah’s desk, and as I walked by I snatched the ball, threw it into his office and hit him in the back. Hannah was his secretary, and I made sure to greet her as I made my way to my office. I reached my office on the tenth floor with about an hour to spare before my meeting with Cheng’s team.

All of my executive officers shared a personal assistant name James. James was a solid guy and has been perfect as a personal assistant. He handled the demands of my business partners and myself without issue. James had been with the company since I opened the doors.

James walked into my office and put a few documents in front of me for signatures while he chatted about his upcoming weekend. He and his significant other, Neil, were going to San Diego for the weekend, and he was hoping to get out of the office before 5:00 p.m. I told him to go ahead and start his vacation early after lunch.

Just as Anthony was walking into my office with the orange foam ball, James headed out. Over the years, James had made a sport out of pretending to hit on Anthony. It usually earned him an eye roll from Anthony. But Anthony remained easy going, and it never seemed to bother him. And thankfully their jokes hadn’t become a HR issue. It takes a lot to get under Anthony's skin.

“Nice tie, Anthony,” James teased as he walked out of the office.

Anthony tossed the orange ball in the air casually as he sat in front of my desk. I have two best friends that I consider family. Anthony has been one of my best friend’s for close to fifteen years, while Matt has been my best friend since childhood. Matt and I grew up together, lived next door to one another, and his family took me in when I lost my brother and parents at the age of nine. Matt and Anthony were my family. The three of us had an incredibly strong, unconditional bond and knew just about everything about one another. We were also all in the BDSM lifestyle and were all Doms. Matt, Anthony and I, each had the same BDSM emblem tattoo on our right shoulder blades.

The three of us belonged to Club Irons, an exclusive and private BDSM club. I’d been a trainer at the club for some time and had earned the title of a Master. I worked with unattached submissives or Doms who had new submissives and needed some guiding and training. There isn’t another club in Vegas like Irons because the clientele is of the serious, dedicated side. Of course, with annual membership fees of $25,000, you'd have to be pretty serious. Even if you had the cash, the only way you could become a member is through recommendation and mentoring by an existing club member. Before you can apply for membership, you have to attend a series of classes, go through an independent psych evaluation, and be interviewed by several Masters along with the owner. Once you passed that, you had to be selected by an existing member, or members, to be mentored. Blake, the owner, took membership very seriously and didn’t want just anyone roaming around wielding a whip.

Irons is actually where Matt and I met Anthony. At forty, Anthony was about six years younger than Matt and I, and he was already a member of Irons when I joined. Matt and I became friends with Anthony quickly and have been rock solid friends ever since. When I found out he had his MBA, I offered him a position with my company. Anthony turned out to be an incredible asset to the company. He had natural charm and charisma and was able to wine and dine many of our potential clients. After Anthony would get done talking with them a few times, we’d usually land them as clients. Anthony has always been easy to get along with and one of the best Doms I’ve ever come across. He and I share many of the same kink interests. One of our favorite things to do at Irons is being able to partake in scenes where he and I co-top. He and I love to team up on a sweet little sub for an evening and give her pleasure. Make no mistake; we take the pleasure as well.

“So, after we seal the deal with Cheng, lets catch an early lunch. I have a few things to get done before our tee time. And I’m going to kick your asses today,” Anthony said while leaning back and stretching.

With that, I tossed my head back and laughed. Anthony and I were about evenly matched with golf skills, however Matt was good - really good. In nearly fifteen years of golfing, Anthony has never won. Maybe came close, but he’s never won. Today he seemed confident though.

It was the first Friday in October, and like most people, I always looked forward to Fridays. Fridays were practically half days for me. Anthony and I would meet Matt for lunch at Vito’s Italian Cafe on Las Vegas Boulevard, and then we’d leave work in the early afternoon for golf. The three of us had a standing tee time at 3:00 p.m. and we’d either play the front nine or back nine of the Dragon Bourne Golf Course where I lived. Matt and his wife/sub, Gina, had a home overlooking the 14th hole in the same neighborhood where my house was. My house was near the 7th hole facing west and had incredible views of the Las Vegas Strip.

Dragon Bourne Golf Course was nestled in an exclusive gated neighborhood in a suburb of Las Vegas where all the homes were custom built. My home wasn’t like most of the other homes in the neighborhood. It wasn't obnoxiously large, but I had all that I wanted and still more than I needed. It was two stories and I had a home office, playroom, and guest room on the first floor. Since I worked with training for Irons, sometimes the Dom and sub would stay at my house in the guest room while we work on things. When Matt first got together with Gina, the two of them stayed with me for a number of weeks. Gina had a habit of suffering from sub-drop, which caused issues for Matt. They do very well now though, and he knows how to handle the dropping. After golf on Fridays, the four of us go to dinner and then go to Irons to spend the evening.

We headed towards the conference room about 9:45 a.m. for the meeting. On our way to the conference room I noticed Karl at the copier looking frustrated. I knew Karl was having some family problems, so perhaps his mood was a carryover from home. I have a vested interest in all of my employees and consider them an extension of my family, with Anthony, Matt, and Gina making up my immediate family.

Cheng and his team were in New York today visiting one of their non-gaming sites so we weren’t playing with the usual fifteen-hour time zone difference. I had my business partners and executive officers, Anthony and Mitch, two attorneys, and James in on the conference call. We were ready. Our people did an exceptional job with the preparation, and I was satisfied. Hopefully, Cheng would be as well. I sat at the head of the table with my two partners, Anthony and Mitch, on either side of me. Everyone in our office knew the importance of this meeting.

As I was talking with Anthony about our upcoming golf game, some commotion broke out just outside the conference room. Someone was ranting and going on and on about some copying mishap. It sounded like Karl. I leaned back in my chair to see if I could get a view of the turmoil. Mistakes happen and perhaps if he wasn’t stressed out over whatever issues there are going on at home, he may have been able to take a step back and calmly go over the issue. I pushed my chair away from the table to get a glimpse of who he was acting like a prick to. I didn’t care for his tone or volume. My heart sank when I saw that Sydney was on the receiving end.

I felt the overwhelming urge to protect Sydney in many cases, like from everyday life. When I had shown her around after she was hired, I could tell she was shy and noticed how she struggled to make eye contact. I recognized it immediately as a nervous trait or lack of confidence. I remembered at that point wanting to scoop her up and keep her from the world. Being a Dom and a trainer, her behavior and demeanor struck me as being a sign of fear or anxiety. Whatever this girl was afraid of or shying away from, I wanted to protect her from it. I doubted she knew much about her own needs and desires being as young as she is and probably hasn’t had a ton of relationship experience. While I certainly wasn’t going to corrupt her, there was something that drew me towards her. If we were in a room full of people, my eyes always found her if she was there, too. I know that Anthony feels that pull and urge to protect her as well. Maybe it’s a Dom thing.

I looked at my watch and it was 9:50 a.m. I had ten minutes before the biggest meeting in my company’s history, and I now had a problem on my hands that I would much rather deal with than shut the door on. I excused myself from the room and received stares from everyone that screamed, “What the hell is he doing?” On my way to the door, Anthony grabbed my arm to stop me.

“Hey, where are you going?”

I had the utmost respect for Anthony. He was the only one who ever had the balls to say anything like that to me. He was never afraid to say anything to me.

“It’s not ten, and they’re not logged in yet. Come get me when they’re on screen. I’ll just be outside the door.”

I entered the hallway and watched Karl making large gestures, followed by smacking his hand down on the papers. Sydney stood there nodding and looked downward as he berated her. Submissive.

She held some documents in her arms that were crossed at her chest, and in her hand she held a small bag of M&M’s. Sydney constantly had M&M’s in her hands and was eating them. Other employees hugged their coffee cups, but Sydney’s fix was M&M’s. While I loved looking at Sydney, the sight of her in that moment broke my heart. She looked defeated, upset, and perhaps a tiny bit scared. Calmly I approached them with my hands in my pockets and interrupted Karl’s rant.

“Karl, your voice is carrying quite a bit. What’s the problem?” While the question was directed to Karl, I kept my eyes on Sydney.

Karl gathered himself and an apology came out. He rubbed on his forehead and then put his hand on Sydney's shoulder while bending down to try to look her in the eyes.

“I’m sorry, Sydney. I had a bad morning, and I didn't mean to take it out on you.”

I pay attention to body language, as it’s part of my working with BDSM couples and submissives. When I say I’m observant and watch body language, it’s because I have to be good at it or someone could get hurt.

I noticed Sydney flinched and tried to slowly pull away from Karl when he put his hand on her shoulder. I could tell that she was very uncomfortable with being touched. Many things raced through my mind, however, it didn’t prepare me for what would happen in the next few minutes.

Karl apologized again and turned to head back towards his area. Sydney had taken a step backwards to get out of his way and in the process she backed up against the wall, dropping her stack of papers and M&M’s. Again, more apologies flowed out of Karl as all three of us bent to start picking up the papers. Sydney was visibly shaken and Karl seemed to be making her worse. I held my hands out in the center of the mess, halting everyone’s frantic movements.

“I got it, Karl. Go on back to your desk, and I’ll help Miss Burke with her papers.”

Thankful that he just went away, I went back to focusing on Sydney. Her face was beet red and she was looking anywhere but at me and trying to gather her stuff quickly. As she reached outward, the sleeve on her sweater rose up and I saw what had to be the strangest looking mark on her wrist. She must have realized it too, because she dropped her papers again and tugged the sleeve down. She hadn’t looked up at me, but I knew that she knew that I had seen it.

The Dom in me took over, and I slowly reached for her hand and gently pulled it closer. While her hand trembled, she didn’t try really hard to get out of my grip. I just stared at her for a moment and pushed the sleeve up with my thumb. Now that her wrist was exposed, I could see her mind working quickly and panic was setting in. Sydney was successful in pulling her arm away this time. She looked breakable as she was kneeling on the floor.

“Sydney,” I risked saying her name in hopes that she’d look up at me. No such luck though.

Anthony came out of the conference room a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. and assessed us on the floor. Anthony is the most observant Dom that I know, so I knew right away that he would know this was a delicate situation. I didn't look up at him and kept my gaze on Sydney. Anthony crouched down between us and picked up her bag of M&M’s. After folding the open end down a few times he held them out to Sydney. When she didn't take them, he set the rolled up bag against her knee. After a moment, her sweater covered hand picked up the candy bag.

“Col, Cheng and his team are on screen now.”

I knew that Anthony knew something was wrong too, but we had to be careful with what we said to her. He stood and tugged on my suit jacket leaving us towering over her. Thankfully, at that moment, Megan, our Human Resource Director, walked over. Megan was like the office grandma, and I knew Sydney wouldn't feel threatened by her.

“Megan, Karl had a crappy morning and took it out on Sydney. I have to get to this meeting. Can you help Sydney get her documents and see that she gets back to her desk?”

“Absolutely, dear.” Megan began making polite conversation with Sydney as Anthony and I went to the conference room.

Once seated in the conference room I had to pull myself together for this meeting. I was unsettled and disturbed over what just happened, but this could be the biggest, single contract for Everett Gaming. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to push Sydney out of my mind for this meeting.

The Cheng meeting had gone exceptionally well. I had been prepared for Cheng to want to negotiate the dollar figures. I was pleasantly surprised when he said that we’d work out a few minor details, but as it was, he was accepting our bid. I told him we’d work up the final contract and I’d email it to him by the end of next week. The conference call ended, and I immediately stood and thanked everyone for their hard work.

I motioned for Anthony to follow me. When we reached my office I told my secretary, Leslie, to hold all calls until further notice. Anthony shut the door and took up his usual spot in front of my desk. I sat for a few minutes without speaking and gazed out the window.

My office is spacious, and two of my four walls are glass from floor to ceiling. I loved the design of the office because I have a front row view of the Las Vegas Strip - my source of clients, business and pleasure. After stressful days, I like to gaze out at the strip. I was gazing now but not seeing anything other than Sydney and that wrist. Anthony sat patiently and played with his cell phone while I put together the thoughts in my head. Finally, he sat forward on his chair and stretched his arms out across my desk.

“Well, first off, congrats on the Cheng deal. We should be on our way for the early lunch, but I have a feeling something is weighing you down. Fragile kitten?”

Fragile kitten was the nickname that Anthony and I had given to Sydney. Of course she never heard us use that phrase, but Anthony and I used it often to describe her.

Without looking at him, I nodded and gave a short laugh. To say the least, she was on my mind. He stood, took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie. Anthony dressed trendy, but not too trendy. At forty-six years old, I went more for the classic look with classic, timeless cut suits, while Anthony was very now.

I started explaining what had happened in the hall, and I could tell by his silence and frown that he was also concerned by this news. We both knew that we couldn’t corner her and make her tell us if something was wrong. For all we knew it could be some scar from her childhood that she was embarrassed about. Anthony and I had no right to barge in on her life and no way of knowing if something was really wrong. Sydney could be one of those super shy girls who embarrasses easily. But too many pieces fit into place making her behavior and mannerisms point to something being wrong. My instincts knew better, and my gut told me to listen to my instincts.

Matt and I are pretty sure that Anthony suffered some form of violence at some point in his life, but we hadn’t really had his confirmation on that. He has a large scar that runs just under his ribs down to his hipbone on his right side. Touching the scar is a hard limit for him. Everyone he scenes with at Irons knew they couldn’t touch it or even ask about it. I remember seeing that thing for the first time almost fifteen years ago. He had just finished a scene and was at the bar drinking water when I asked him how he got the scar. His only response was that he was “doing something stupid at the time”.

It’s bothered Matt for years. Matt is an emergency room physician and also has his own practice. He volunteers in the emergency room as a trauma counselor when needed. Matt’s tried pulling the scar info out of Anthony, but Anthony doesn’t budge.

Sydney was on my mind more than ever now. Anthony and I talked for a little bit longer, and then we headed downstairs to leave for lunch. I mentioned that I wanted to stop in reception to see how Sydney was doing but as we rode the elevator down, I decided against stopping by her desk. It would only serve as a reminder to an awkward morning that I’m sure she’d rather forget. As we walked past the front reception, I smiled at the ladies behind the huge counter and let my eyes wander trying to find Sydney. When I didn’t see her, concern started brewing in me again, and I had to push the urge away to ask one of the other girls where Sydney was.

We reached the parking garage and came up on the reserved spots for the executives. My BMW Alpina was parked next to Anthony’s car. I suddenly had no interest in driving.

“You drive. My head is swimming,” I told him. Even though we just had a hugely successful morning, I felt like shit.

I dropped down in Anthony's BMW M6 coupe and instantly brought up Sydney. I was worried about her and couldn’t get that marked up wrist out of my head.

“Col, calm down about the wrist. Maybe it’s a birth mark or an old scar.” I waived my hand in the air at his suggestion.

I tried not to let the thing with Sydney get me down or ruin lunch with Anthony. I always gave my company my full attention when we went out. Not only was Anthony my Chief Financial Officer, business partner, and my best friend but he was also like a brother to me.

My parents and twin brother died in a car accident when I was nine. I was the lone survivor in the car. Matt’s family was close with mine as our dad’s worked together and they took me in. I grew up knowing that life was very precious and that the person I have lunch with today could be taken away from me tomorrow or later in the afternoon.

Even though the food was good and I was one step closer to sealing a contract with a huge international hotel chain, I was still preoccupied with thoughts of Sydney. I couldn’t shake her or her wrist from my mind.

“You’re a Dom,” Anthony said as we started our drive back to work.

I gave him a “no shit” look and continued to gaze out the window. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that he was looking at me at the stoplight and heard him laugh.

“Look, you have a need to help others. You’re not satisfied until those around you are satisfied. You know better, and I think you should talk to her when we get back. Take her for a walk by the waterfall so she’s away from all those other women. You’d feel better, and you can’t let something like that hang over the weekend. Plus, we are leaving in an hour for tee time and might I remind you, I’m going to kick your ass today.”

He was probably right, at least about the talking to Sydney part. I never took his golf threats seriously. But he was right regarding the fact that I can’t let something linger like this over the weekend.

One of the things that drew Anthony and I to Sydney was her smile. She’s young, and I don’t think the weight of the world had been pushing down on her much, so she easily smiled. When I would see her smile, I could feel my dick twitch. It’s always been quite common for us to see Sydney smiling or talking to co-workers and laughing. I love her smile. After this morning though, that smile was nowhere in sight. Anthony and I decided to stop at the convenience store on our way back to work to pick up a bag of M&M’s. The candy would make her smile.

“I just want to make sure she’s okay and make sure she knows that she can talk to me. She’s so…” I wasn’t sure what adjective I was thinking of when Anthony started to rattle off several words that could describe Sydney.

“Fragile? Vulnerable? Nervous?”

“Yes, all of those.”

He laughed again and pulled into his spot next to my car. I don’t know if what he added to that list was supposed to be heard. But I heard.

“Sweet and cute. Our fragile kitten,” he chuckled quietly as we made our way back into the building.

We walked towards reception, and I let my eyes wander around looking for Sydney. When we reached the reception desk, we were greeted with a flurry of women eager to assist. They were often like this when Anthony or I approached alone, but now that it was both of us they were beside themselves. Anthony smiled and leaned on the counter and asked where Sydney was. Anthony’s charm had the women dropping what they were working on to lend him a hand.

Sydney was the youngest of the reception crew for Openin. She was very well liked and had made friends quickly. None of the women seemed catty, which I was very thankful for. They said she was at lunch, and all of them stood to look around the atrium to see if they could be the first to spot her on a bench or at a table.

“Does Sydney eat in the lunch area upstairs or out here?” I asked no one in particular and received a flurry of frantic bits of information.

“No, Mr. Everett, Sydney likes to eat outside or by the waterfall,” Katie offered.

Katie was probably the closest to Sydney in age, so I think they naturally gravitated towards one another. Anthony and I scanned the atrium for her. It was a nice October afternoon, so maybe she was outside.

Anthony and I stood outside and scanned the grounds for Sydney. Aside from the Cheng productivity, I was getting nothing else done today. Anthony looked at me and then pointed at his watch. It was 2:00 p.m. and we needed to leave in a half an hour to get to the golf course clubhouse in time to change and meet Matt by 3:00 p.m.

The courtyard had a lot of benches and huge trees to shade the area. While my eyes were skimming the courtyard, Anthony tugged on my arm. I followed his eyes and saw our fragile kitten submissive. Well, that last part hadn’t been confirmed, but I believed it with every fiber of my being. Just seeing her made me feel better. She looked better and was eating lunch. I headed towards her with Anthony and a bag of M&M’s in tow.