After she got home from the café Beth second-guessed giving Drew her phone number. Although the rational side of her brain kept trying to talk her down, the irrational part wouldn’t shut off. Thoughts of her phone ringing every five minutes soared through her head the entire drive.
By the time Saturday night rolled around, Beth began to calm down. Drew hadn’t called. Not once. It had only been two days, but for some reason she’d expected him to utilize her phone number or show up when she least expected it. He did neither and she was adamantly ignoring the tinge of disappointment it caused.
As Beth dressed to go to the club, she eyed her phone where it lay on her dresser. She knew that in all likelihood Drew would be there, and she was trying to convince herself that she wasn’t anxious to see him.
Readjusting her necklace, Beth took a final look at herself. She’d chosen one of her more provocative outfits—not for Drew’s benefit, of course. Her top wrapped around her torso, coming to a deep V that ended a few inches above her navel. It showed off her breasts nicely as well as her waist. The leather skirt she’d chosen clung to her hips, and ended roughly four inches above her knees. It covered everything it needed to, but also showed off her long legs. To enhance the effect, she’d chosen black stockings and her favorite boots. The boots were also leather and had a three-and-a-half-inch heel.
She picked up her jacket and slipped it over her blood-red top, which also happened to match her lipstick. The outfit made a statement, and on some level Beth knew she was playing with fire. But for the first time in more than three months, she didn’t much care. She was going to enjoy herself. She was going to prove to herself, and to everyone else, that Ben no longer had any sway over her life. Tonight had nothing to do with Drew. It was about her taking control of her life again.
Now, if she could just believe that, she’d be all right.
Twenty minutes later, Beth pulled into the parking lot outside Serpent’s Kiss. The space was nearly full. From the look of it, there would be a decent crowd inside the club. Then again, it was Saturday night, so that was to be expected. Katrina had created a safe, fun environment for kinksters to both socialize and play.
Beth crossed the short distance to the club’s entrance, and stepped inside the small foyer. She removed the red and black plastic card from her purse, and slid it through the card reader beside the door. Two seconds later, the light on the reader turned green and the interior door unlocked, allowing her to enter.
She stepped into the second room—this one larger than the first—and was greeted by Ali, a woman not that much older than Beth herself. Ali had been a member at the club for a little over a year. She didn’t have a Dom, but every now and then she would volunteer for a demonstration. Beth knew Ali was on the lookout for a more permanent play partner, but as far as Beth knew, she hadn’t set her sights on anyone specific. “Good evening, Lady Beth.”
Beth removed her jacket and handed it to Ali, who was manning the coat check for the evening. “Thank you, Ali. Looks like the club is rather busy tonight.”
“It is. There’s been a steady stream of people for the last hour or so.” Ali paused and glanced down for a moment. “I believe I even saw that new sub, Drew, come in a short while ago.”
“Is that so?” Hearing he was inside made Beth’s heart rate kick up a notch.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Nodding, Beth headed for the door that would lead her to the club itself. Squaring her shoulders, she opened the door, and entered the main room. She immediately began searching through the crowd. Beth told herself she was only looking for her friends, but that wasn’t entirely true. Sure, she was looking for Nicole and the other members of the group she typically hung out with, but she was mainly scanning for Drew. Ali said he was there, which also told Beth that everyone in the club knew he’d set his sights on her. For some reason, knowing that didn’t bother her as much as it probably should.
Ignoring her nerves, Beth continued her search. She wanted to find him first. She wanted to be the one to set the tone this time around.
Right when she was about to give up and head to where she’d seen Nicole and Jeff sitting across the room, she spotted Drew. He was sitting with his friends, Allison and John.
Beth hesitated, but then Drew looked up. She knew the exact moment when he found her in the crowd. His eyes went wide, and his lips fell open. Before she could lose her nerve, Beth took a deep breath and walked toward him.
***
Drew about lost it when he caught sight of Beth. His cock jumped to attention and began straining against the confines of his jeans. The closer she got to him, the worse his condition became. Beth was wearing a curve-hugging leather skirt and black boots that ended right below her knees. He couldn’t see the rear view, but his imagination had already taken over and then some.
If the skirt and boots weren’t enough, the top she had on was downright sinful. It was deep red and dipped low, showing off her cleavage. Drew knew he was going to need some serious alone time later. He only hoped he could make it home first.
When she was about ten feet away, he stood. He had to ball his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her. The fact he couldn’t touch her at all was driving him crazy—especially when she showed up looking like this.
She came to a stop in front of him and smiled. “I was wondering if you’d be here tonight.”
He shrugged, trying to appear calm even though he was anything but. “I try to come on my nights off. Gets me out of the house and keeps me out of trouble.”
Drew had meant it as a joke, but when Beth’s eyes sparkled with amusement he knew something was coming. “You come to a kink club to stay out of trouble?”
Heat rushed to his face, and Drew couldn’t believe she was actually making him blush. “I guess you have a point. Maybe that was the wrong choice of words.”
Beth chuckled. “Maybe.”
He felt something nudge his foot, and glanced down. Although John wasn’t looking at him, Drew knew his friend must want an introduction. It wasn’t as if Drew had talked about anything besides Beth the last few weeks. Considering John was the only friend Drew had he could talk to about her, he’d taken full advantage.
Clearing his throat, Drew angled his body so Beth could get a clear view of John and Allison. “I don’t know if you know my friends. This is Allison and John.”
Allison nodded in Beth’s direction. “We’ve met. It’s good to see you back at the club.”
“Thanks. It’s good to be back,” Beth said.
Allison grinned and tilted her head toward John. “I’m not sure if you’ve met my boy before.”
“No. I don’t believe so.”
“Did you want to join us?” Drew asked.
Beth turned her attention back to him. “I was thinking about getting something to drink and then heading upstairs.”
Although Drew knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend time with her. “Care for some company?”
“Sure.”
They said a quick goodbye to Allison and John before making their way across the room to the bar. Drew hadn’t missed the encouraging look John had given him as they strolled away. His friend was one hundred percent behind his pursuit of Beth.
Drew followed Beth’s lead as they stepped up to the bar. Katrina was very picky about who ran her bar. She had a strict policy of no more than two of what she considered ‘soft’ alcoholic beverages and one of what she considered the hard stuff per person per night.
Although he wasn’t much of a drinker, he’d found out on his first night at the club just how serious Katrina was about the policy. He’d been nervous and needing a little liquid courage, so he’d ordered a shot of whisky. When he joined, he’d been told about the rules, but at the time, he hadn’t really thought much about it. That was until he was told all they could give him for the rest of the night were drinks that contained absolutely no alcohol. It had made for a very long first night.
Beth rested her forearms on the bar, stretching her top even more, and Drew had to bite back a groan. She was killing him. Absolutely killing him.
The bartender, Brandon, strolled over to them. “Hey, Beth. What can I get you?”
“Just the usual for me.”
She turned to Drew, waiting. “I’ll take a water, please.”
“Coke and Sprite, and a water. Comin’ right up.”
As they waited, Drew searched his mind to come up with something relatively safe to say. What he wanted to do was ask if he could kiss her, but he knew that probably wouldn’t go over well.
He was still pondering when Brandon returned with their drinks.
Beth reached for her membership card.
“Let me get it?” Drew asked.
She stopped, met his gaze for a long moment, and then nodded.
He handed over his membership card. Within a few seconds, Brandon had swiped the card, and handed it back to him.
They took their drinks and headed upstairs. He wasn’t sure if Beth wanted to watch a specific scene, or if this was a purely voyeuristic venture. Either way, he was happily along for the ride as long as it meant he was by her side.
The first room they came to had two people inside he didn’t recognize. It was a male Dom and a female submissive, but unlike the scene he’d witnessed the week before, this one seemed a little awkward. The Dom’s movements were less fluid, and the submissive didn’t appear to be completely relaxed.
“First public scene.”
Drew jumped a little at the sound of Katrina’s voice. He hadn’t noticed her come up behind them. “Oh.”
“Have they been playing together long?” Beth asked.
Katrina shook her head, but didn’t take her eyes off the couple in the room. “No. They’re both fairly new to the lifestyle.”
The Dom selected a blindfold from the table and secured it over the sub’s eyes. She tensed, and he placed his hand on the top of her head in a comforting gesture.
“Decent instincts,” Beth said.
“Yes. I didn’t get any bad vibes from either of them. They’re just very new. It will take time for them to establish a rhythm,” Katrina agreed.
As he stood there, Drew tried to take it all in. Although the couple was still feeling their way around, he could also see the hidden connection there in the way the sub reacted to her Dom’s touch. She might be unsure of what he was going to do, but it wasn’t that she lacked trust in him. It was most likely trust in herself she was struggling with.
Drew could relate to that. Since he’d never participated in a scene before, he had no idea how he’d react. Even though he wanted to give up control to his partner, actually doing it was something altogether different. In all honesty, as much as he and Beth being friends frustrated him, he was grateful for the opportunity to get to know her before they ventured into anything like what he was watching unfold before them. He needed to be able to trust her completely, and no matter how much a person said they trusted another, true trust didn’t happen overnight. It was built and tested over time.
Several more minutes passed as the Dom inside the room circled his submissive with a crop. Every now and then, he’d swat her leg, arm, or breast. It was completely random, and the sub was having a hard time keeping still. She was anxious. But what shocked Drew was that he was, too. His skin was tingling with every hit the crop made to the submissive’s flesh.
Someone came up behind them, pulling Drew out of the moment. He took a deep breath and tried to find his balance again.
The man addressed Katrina. “Sorry to interrupt, but your presence is being requested in room five.”
She nodded and then turned to Beth and Drew. “If you’ll excuse me?”
A moment later, Katrina was gone, and he and Beth were alone again.
When Drew turned back around to look into the room, the Dom was kneeling in front of the sub. From this angle, he couldn’t tell what the Dom was doing, but then he saw the sub’s intake of breath and knew clamps were most likely being attached to her nipples. Drew had heard the reaction often enough in the club.
“What are you thinking?” Beth asked.
Drew met her gaze. “Wondering what it will be like. My first scene, I mean.”
She stared up at him, and Drew once again felt that spark that always seemed to be lurking when Beth was near. He wondered if she felt it, too. When he noticed the vein in her neck pounding, he knew she did. It gave him courage. He took a step forward—the scene they’d been watching totally forgotten. “Beth . . .”
Before he could do anything else, a door slammed shut at the end of the hall, jarring them both. Beth blinked and stepped back. She edged past him and hurried down the hall.
Not knowing what else to do, he followed after her. She kept moving until she reached the last door on the right. Stopping for only a moment to glance inside, Beth hurried through the doorway and out of his sight.
Drew had to admit he was worried. Everything had been going well until a moment ago.
When he arrived at the open door, he looked inside. She was standing in the center of the room with her back to him. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he stood a foot or so inside the door and waited.
Beth didn’t react outwardly to his presence although he knew she had to realize he was in the room. Just when he was ready to break the silence, she spoke. “Shut the door, please.”
Startled, he did as she asked without thinking. The door clicked as it latched into place, the sound echoing off the walls. Drew felt as if he were missing something.
Several minutes passed before Beth set her drink down, strolled over to the wall, and removed a crop. It looked identical to the one used in the scene they’d been observing.
She held the crop in her right hand, and ran her left down the length of it. “Do you know this is the first time I’ve picked up one of these in four months?”
Drew wasn’t sure what to say, so he remained silent.
“We were in the middle of a scene.”
He was confused. “I’m sorry?”
Beth turned around to face him. “Ben and I. We were in the middle of a scene when his wife showed up.”
Drew felt bile rise in his throat. “You don’t have to tell me this.”
“I want to. You need to know what you’re signing up for.”
He still wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it, but he nodded anyway.
She returned the crop, and reached for some items he wasn’t familiar with—a few of which looked as if they could be painful. “We were in my bedroom. I had him secured to the bed, and I was flogging him.”
Although he knew about her previous sub, it was weird hearing her talking about playing with another man.
“Someone rang my doorbell. At first, I ignored it since we were in the middle of playing, but the person persisted. I figured it must be pretty important, so I released one of his cuffs, and threw on a robe to go see who it was.”
She sighed and dropped her hands down to her sides. “When I opened the door, I came face-to-face with a very angry woman I didn’t know. She pushed me out of the way and began searching my house. I was furious, of course. I followed her, demanding to know who she was and why she was in my house.”
During the few weeks Drew had known Beth he’d never seen her look as vulnerable as she did at that moment. He couldn’t imagine what she’d been thinking when the woman burst into her home.
“Eventually she found Ben in my bedroom. He was still in my bed—both feet still secured to the bedposts.” Beth looked up to meet his gaze. “After that the details get a little fuzzy. There was a lot of shouting as she released the remaining cuffs. But it ended with her slapping me, calling me a pervert, and telling me to leave her husband alone. She dragged him out of my house in his underwear.”
“I take it that he never mentioned he was married.”
Beth snorted. “No. He didn’t.”
Drew felt helpless. He wanted to comfort her, but wasn’t sure how.
“Ben showed up at the café the next day. He tried to apologize. Explain himself. That’s when I found out that he didn’t only have a wife, but a daughter as well.”
When Drew heard the catch in her voice, he threw caution to the wind. Leaving his water on a long table right inside the door, he crossed the room to her in three long strides. He stopped a foot in front of her, and opened his arms in offering—giving her the choice to take his comfort or not.
She hesitated for only a moment before stepping into his embrace. It was the first time he’d been so close to her. While he hated seeing her in distress, he couldn’t help but take in the feel of her body against his. If only he could take the hurt and betrayal he knew she must have felt away from her, the moment would have been close to perfect.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Any time.”
She pulled away, and he couldn’t help but feel the loss. “I haven’t told that to anyone besides Nicole. Katrina knows some of it, but . . .”
“Thank you for telling me.” He felt honored that she’d shared something so personal with him.
“I figured you should know, in case . . .” She took a deep breath and released it. “In case it changed your mind about me.”
He was confused. “Why would it change my mind? He lied to you. He betrayed your trust.”
Beth looked down at her hands, and then back up at him. “He broke me, Drew. I know you want a mistress. And I know you’re hoping I can be that for you one day. I just don’t know if that’s possible. I don’t know if I can . . .”
Drew extended his hand, and she took it. He gave her fingers a squeeze. “I’ll take what you are willing to give.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.
“Whatever you’re willing to give, all right?”
Beth studied him for several moments before nodding. It was a small step, but he’d take it.