Chapter Two
“I don’t know about this,” Sasha told Jane as they sat in the latter’s car. Sasha was wearing a black, shoulderless mini-dress and four-inch high heels. Her hair was straightened and let loose behind her and she wore large, circular dangling earrings.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Jane asked. “Bitch, you’re fucking gorgeous. All you got to do is stand in front of him and his dick will fly off. I promise.”
Sasha still didn’t feel that comfortable. She wasn’t so scared about him being a well-to-do rich boy- most of the boys they dated from these sites were rich men anyway - but she was uneasy about him being into BDSM.
“I just have this fear that I’m too vanilla for him,” Sasha tried to explain.
Jane scoffed at the idea and replied, “You? Vanilla? Girl, you’re the most daring little bundle of ass I’ve ever seen. He’ll have his hands full with you.”
Sasha laughed and then opened her door. She took one step out, looked back at Jane, then said “Wish me luck.”
“Fuck you,” Jane said and laughed.
Sasha winked back at her friend and then got out of the car. She looked at the glass double doors ahead of her, took a moment to breathe, and then walked in. She was immediately greeted by a female usher in a black suit.
“Hello ma’am, to whom is the reservation named to?” the usher asked.
“Oh, uh Sasha Byron. The reservation is under Damian Rivers,” Sasha answered.
The expression on the usher’s face quickly shifted. Where earlier she apparently did not care all too much about Sasha, she now seemed to give her full attention.
“Ah yes,” the usher stated. “Master Damian is already here waiting for you. He’s seated in the balcony. Please follow me.”
Gears began to grind in Sasha’s head. Master Damian? He had his own balcony table too? She tried to push the questions out of her mind and simply followed the young lady through the restaurant.
The Golden Brickhouse was one of the oldest fine dining restaurants in the city. She’d never been in it either but from the few quick glances she took at the tables she could tell this was likely a three-star Michelin restaurant. A single dish might cost over $300. She shuddered to think what a full course meal would cost her. It was a good thing Damian agreed to pay for this date.
She was led up a beautiful case of stairs, onto the second floor. She could see there were several balconies, with their entrances shrouded by thick, maroon curtains. The usher led her across several of these before taking her to the fourth balcony on the right side of the restaurant.
“Master Rivers, Lady Sasha Athens for you,” the usher introduced as she opened the curtains without stepping inside. With her other hand, the usher motioned for Sasha to enter, to which she did.
Sasha felt the usher close the curtains from behind and then walk away. She was then left alone, in that balcony, with Damian. He sat there, across the lone table on the balcony, staring at her. He looked exactly like the way he appeared in the dating site: dark hair, dark brown eyes, five o’clock bristles of a beard and a perfect square jaw. He was like a living, breathing mannequin. He was perfection in human form.
Without a word, he raised his hand motioned for her to sit across him.
Sasha took a seat and then smiled at him. She bit her lip, hoping he liked the way she looked and how she dressed. “Hi.”
“Hey,” Damian answered. His voice was not how she imagined. It was rougher, coarser and a little deeper than she thought it would be. His tone reminded her of a young Clint Eastwood, like in “A Fistful of Dollars.”
“I already ordered us food and wine,” he told her as he pointed to their glasses already filled with a deep red drink. “I do hope you like something red and a little sweet. Is lamb okay with you? I do hope you’re not a vegetarian.”
Sasha shook her head, “I’m not, don’t worry. Anything you give is fine by my book.”
“Really now?” Damian asked. She noticed he rarely blinked and always had his gaze set straight to her face. It was like he wanted to lock his gaze with hers but she couldn’t help it and constantly looked down.
“Y-yeah,” Sasha told him. “I didn’t eat much today, so I’ll take whatever you got. This place looks really expensive though.”
Damian grinned. She looked up briefly and saw a devilish glimmer in his eyes.
“Don’t worry about the cost,” he told her. He took a sip from his glass. “I just want to really get to know you more.”
He seemed like a very square gentleman. Sasha looked at him more closely and managed to smile at him. She felt shy but also intrigued. This was when she remembered his unique hobby and reminded herself to always be a little vigilant. His words could cut right through her.
“I wasn’t even sure you’d reply to my message,” she told him. “I mean, a guy like you, you could get anything and anyone you wanted.”
“A guy like me?” Damian asked.
Sasha nodded and took a sip from her drink. It was sweet but it also burned quite strongly in her chest. “You’re a billionaire. Don’t women fall to the floor naked in front of you just for you to give them a moment’s notice?”
“Would you?”
“I date old men when I’m broke, so you tell me,” she answered.
Damian still kept his gaze on her, “So why me? I’m only thirty years old. Sure, I’ve got money but I’m not as desperate yet as the old geezers.”
“You’re dangerous,” Sasha had to be honest. “Money can come later. The thrill is what turned me on in the first place. I know what your hobby is, Mr. Rivers, and I want to be the girl that you can honestly say didn’t break. I want to be the one to say you made love to me without tying me to your bed.”
Damian laughed hard. “Have you ever been dominated before, Ms. Byron?”
She shook her head. “I’ve seen videos. Leather outfits, straps, soft whipping, gag balls, masks and other toys. The beauty of the fetish is lost to me.”
“Sad,” he told her. “The beauty of the fetish is that even though you are tied down and gagged, it is you being served and not I.”
That sounded like a weird oxymoron of some sorts.
Before Sasha could figure it out, the waiter arrived and delivered their first course of the night. Sasha’s eyes grew wide when she saw the artful manner that her shrimp was prepared. It was a thing of wonder and it made her doubt if she should frame it instead of eat it.
“So tell me, Ms. Byron,” Damian then said before taking a taste of his dish. “Would you be open to a bet?”
She cocked her head in honest intrigue.
“I’ll give you a week,” he told her. “Let me do what I do best. If after a week you haven’t broken to my will, I will financially support you for the rest of your life. If you do break, you will become mine, permanently.”
“Permanently?”
Damian smiled. “Permanently,” he repeated. “For me to do as I wish.”