The woman was going to drive him to madness well before his time. Thankfully, they were interrupted before he could flip her over, push the panels of her dress aside, and fuck her right here in the bar.

It was no surprise that it took less than an hour; it wasn’t like there were too many things to know about a woman like Victoria Brown. What you saw was what you got. Digging deeper was just a fruitless endeavor.

The previous week, when Bryant had gone through the exact same process with Lexi, Lillie had come back to greet them. This time, Desmond, who practically never showed his face in public, was the one who appeared.

Bryant did his best to prevent himself from groaning. He’d known the damn King had liked Tori. Of course he had.

Desmond’s father founded the club a long time ago; he was taken to a nursing home before Bryant had even heard of The Tower, and his three sons stepped in to run the club.

Maverick, Cal and Desmond King were it, according to just about everyone around the world. They had their hands in every pie, a presence anywhere worth mentioning. Never had a name been bestowed with such wisdom: they really were kings of the world. It was no surprised that they were all Doms - the sort of Doms who made Bryant seem like a choir boy.

The previous week, Lexi and he had dealt with Cal, the most volatile of the three Kings. But he’d given Lexi the basic 101 before returning to his workload, without showing his face again. And now, the eldest King was coming out of his office to show Tori, Bryant’s Tori, around his Tower.

Fuck. Just his luck.

Bryant couldn’t even blame him for being interested; after all, he had brought another girl there just a week ago. Desmond probably assumed that Tori was up for grabs.

Yeah…that was a firm no.

“Well, you’ll be glad to know that you’ve cleared our background check, Miss Brown.”

“What, so that means you don’t mind about my parking ticket?”

Desmond’s white teeth flashed. “It’s three years old, and you paid it in full. I believe we can overlook that.”

She chuckled nervously, probably realizing that he wasn’t joking.

“This is your membership pass, Miss Brown,” he said, handing her a brand-new phone.

This was normal procedure, but Bryant noticed that hers was white, rather than black; it also looked a little newer. He stiffened.

“A phone?”

“Indeed. Bring it with you when you wish to be admitted to the non-residential parts of this building. You’ll need to scan it before entering any communal areas. There is an interactive chat room where you can connect with other members of The Towers, all around the world. You can also check what floors are currently available to you. May I?”

She handed him the phone he’d just given her, and he showed her around the main app.

“That’s where you check the available floor.”

He clicked on the seventy-fourth, which showed as ‘locked’; there was a red cross right next to the number. “That’s where you’re staying, right?”

Bryant nodded. “Yes. I’ll authorize your ID, so you can come in freely. The other floors currently occupied will also be locked; there are always a few available rooms, though. Not that you’ll need them,” he added, pointedly staring at Desmond, who raised a brow.

Yes, he might as well have hit his chest and yelled “mine.” As long as the bloody King got the memo, he was good.

“Are you seriously posturing again?” Tori mused, shaking her head. “Desmond is just being nice, he doesn’t want to bang me.” Then, she had to turn to the man and directly ask him, “You don’t, do you?”

To his credit, Desmond lied rather skillfully. “Of course not. Now, let me show you the various floors. If you go down to one, you can see it says ‘public’ - click on it.” She did as she was asked, and her jaw hit the floor, when she read discipline - female.

“There are shows on the first three floors, dance floors on the next four, and then rooms our members can claim at any time. You will notice that some occupied rooms are still green - that means whoever is currently in the room is open to other participants, or happy to be observed. Just click on the room number for extra details.”

Bryant observed Tori very closely, trying to catch the smallest change in her expression, but she really wasn’t freaking out. She was definitely surprised, maybe even overwhelmed, though.

“The members of staff are identifiable by the gold pin on their chest - it will either be a crown, a tower, or a horse. That’s to differentiate those who answer to me to those hired by my siblings.”

“So, you’re into chess?” Tori guessed.

Bryant wished he could have told her to keep quiet. Every word she said was making Desmond look like he was considering taking a bite, probably because women didn’t talk to him; they squirmed, looked away, and knelt before him.

Lexi had certainly had the appropriate Sub response when she’d met Cal. She’d looked away the whole time.

That’s because Tori isn’t actually a Sub, no matter what you’re trying to turn her into, a little voice whispered in Bryant’s ear. He told it to shut up and mind its own business.

No, Tori wasn’t your typical Sub, but, although it had practically been two months ago, he had no trouble recalling how she’d reacted to him. She could submit, sexually at least.

If she wanted to.

Finally, the King was done with his explanation. Bryant half expected him to offer to show them around, but, thank all fucks, he just said, “If you’re all set now, I wish you a good evening,” before skulking away in a puff of red smoke, his dark cape flying behind him.

Okay, not really, on the cape. Or the smoke. But damn, the man had charisma, in spades.

“You know, he’s a sadist. Pretty extreme, from what I hear.”

“Yeeeep,” Tori replied, making the ‘p’ pop out. “Can’t even pretend to be surprised.” Then she flipped through her newly acquired ID phone, and asked, “So, are we starting with female discipline, floor one, or St. Andrew’s Cross, floor three?”

He winced, knowing just what both of those entailed. “We’ll see, sweetheart. First, though, we have to run through the basics. I’m a Dom. For tonight, I’m your Dom.” He marked a pause, giving her the chance to deny that. She kept quiet.

Good girl.

“Other Doms will defer to me when it comes to you. They will ask me your name. They’ll ask me if they can touch you.”

She opened her mouth. Catching his steady gaze, instinctively, without being told she needed to, she closed it.

“Your name is Vicky, here. And no one will touch you. Not tonight.”

“No one?” she asked teasingly.

Smartass.

“No one else.”