Xander knew exactly what was about to happen, and he was finding it hard to continue to play along.
With Clarissa standing less than a few inches in front of him, he could feel the heat of her body and see the evidence of her arousal in her beaded nipples protruding through the thin silk sheath she wore. He also noticed that, for the last few minutes, she’d started glancing outside into the club.
Who was she looking at?
He had tried to follow her gaze, but there were just enough people to make it futile to try and guess. Xander was having a difficult enough time trying to keep his head in the game, much less trying to find whom Clarissa had just set her sights on.
Clarissa was a beautiful woman, but no matter how hard he tried, the only way he could keep his erection was to think of the things Mercedes had just done to him. The way her soft, smooth hands felt against his skin, the way her eyes met his even briefly, heat and passion lingering there for him to see.
And he didn’t have anything against Clarissa. In fact, had it been five days ago, he wouldn’t have balked at the idea of a scene such as this one. Well, almost like this one – never would he willingly sign up to be a submissive.
But that wasn’t the point.
He just knew that he couldn’t go through with this.
He didn’t want to play with anyone else. He didn’t want to be with anyone else.
It was just a damn good thing he was restrained because he knew without a doubt that he would defy Mercedes if she insisted that he touch Clarissa. He just didn’t have it in him.
He tried to keep himself distanced, tried to figure out what Mercedes was up to but he had a hard time getting into it.
How far was she willing to go before she figured out she’d pushed too far? How far was Clarissa going to go before she realized what Mercedes was up to?
Because, without a doubt, Xander knew that Mercedes was trying to prove something through Clarissa.
And it wasn’t fucking working.
“Lift your dress to your hips,” Mercedes commanded Clarissa as the two women stood before him.
Holy fuck.
Ok, he was definitely on the right track. Mercedes was in rare form tonight. Maybe because she’d had to repress her dominant side for the last few days, or maybe because she was trying to prove something. Hell, he had no idea.
The brief moment of hesitation was Clarissa’s next mistake, and Xander noticed the moment Mercedes decided on her punishment. “Wait. Scratch that. Take the dress off.”
Clarissa’s eyes widened, and her gaze locked with Mercedes’s as her breathing became labored.
“Remember your safe word, Rissa. Unless you intend to use it, I expect you to do as I say.”
“Yes, m-Ma’am,” Clarissa stuttered as she slowly lifted the hem of her short dress up, the emerald silk sliding slowly up over her hips, exposing her bare pussy to Xander’s gaze and her ass to the group of people who’d gathered outside of the glass enclosed room.
Movement out of the corner of his eye had Xander briefly looking over to see that Shane was moving. He wasn’t moving closer to Clarissa, rather he was staying along the perimeter of the glass wall but he was obviously getting into a better position.
It was while he had been watching Shane that he noticed exactly who Clarissa had been looking at.
Trent Ramsey.
Shit.
Xander knew for a fact that she didn’t know him. Based on her earlier reaction, the two hadn’t even been introduced briefly. You wouldn’t know it by the heated look on Trent’s face. He was watching Clarissa intently. Almost as though he had staked his claim on her in the last few minutes.
As Clarissa’s body came into full view, Xander volleyed between watching her and watching Trent. The man was riveted, but he looked pretty damn pissed all the same. It was a fucking strange reaction from a man who had never met this woman.
Glancing back at Clarissa, Xander watched as her flat belly and the pebbled tips of her dusky pink nipples came into view.
Clarissa wasn’t a short woman, but she wasn’t tall either. A little less than average probably. Her slender body was outlined with subtle curves that… Trent Ramsey was all but consuming with his eyes.
“Beautiful,” Mercedes said approvingly, drawing Xander’s attention back to the two women.
Clarissa’s nipples hardened even more, the pink tips darkening with arousal, her stomach muscles clenching and her gaze was now transfixed on Trent again.
Fuck.
This scene was sinking like a ship and fast. When he met Mercedes’s gaze, he noticed that even she had realized it.
She was pushing, trying to hold onto the control, but there were too many factors that she wasn’t taking into consideration.
“Stand directly in front of X and then lower yourself to your knees,” Mercedes instructed in detail.
Xander watched intently as Clarissa took a tentative step closer and then lowered her naked self to her knees in front of him. He noticed that she was careful to keep her legs tightly locked together, but her gaze never travelled outside of the room.
The woman had no idea that she’d just invited Mercedes’s own personal brand of torture. The kind he thoroughly enjoyed watching when Mercedes was doing a scene at Kink, but tonight he didn’t much care for.
“Spread your legs wide.”
Clarissa sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, but she spread her knees. Xander wouldn’t consider that wide, but he had to give her props for trying.
From where he stood, even if her legs were spread completely apart, he wouldn’t be able to see the glistening folds of her pussy. He also knew that due to the way she was angled, the audience that had now gathered outside the glass window wouldn’t be able to see clearly either. That included Trent. Maybe a couple of people along the side walls, but the majority would be denied that pleasure. Undoubtedly he knew that was Mercedes’s intention, but he figured Clarissa hadn’t realized it yet.
“Are you wet, Rissa?”
“Yes, Mis- Mistress M,” Clarissa said, her entire body trembling slightly.
“Show us,” Mercedes said and Xander glanced over at her.
She was standing with her feet apart, those fuck me boots making her sexy legs look hotter than fucking hell. Her corset was cinched tight enough that her breasts spilled over the top, but her sweet nipples were still hidden from view.
He fully intended to clamp her nipples as punishment for putting him through this. He remembered how much she’d enjoyed both the pleasure and the pain the last time he’d done it.
His dick throbbed at the memory.
Fuck, could they just get on with this?
He wanted out of these fucking restraints. Out of this fucking room. He’d much prefer somewhere that they could be alone, and he could get Mercedes naked and beneath him.
Going forward, he was not going to take his eyes off of her. He couldn’t. And if he couldn’t admire her naked, he’d soothe himself with an eyeful of her glorious ass encased in that sinfully short leather mini-skirt. If she bent just right, he’d get a nice glimpse of her smooth cunt because he knew she wasn’t wearing panties either.
“Show us, Clarissa.” Mercedes’s tone sharpened as she took a step closer to Clarissa, who was kneeling on the floor at Xander’s feet.
Xander forced his eyes to Clarissa, wondering if this was the moment she would safe word out. For the first time in his life, he wished like hell a sub would use their safe word.
Please use your fucking safe word.
But no, that’s not what happened because life was just that cruel sometimes. Rather than calling out whatever goddamn flower she had used as her safe word, Clarissa dipped her hand down between her legs and pulled back two fingers glistening with her juices.
“Lick your fingers clean.”
Xander glanced out into the club, watching Trent. The man was watching Clarissa, his tongue damn near hanging out of his mouth.
Fuck, maybe Trent would interrupt the scene. The man seemed to have a hard on for Clarissa. If they were all lucky, maybe the arrogant actor would waltz right in and claim the damsel in distress as his own, just like they did in the movies. If he didn’t, Xander wasn’t sure he was going to survive this scene.
In all honesty, it wasn’t going anything like he expected. Well, aside from him being tied up and naked. That was something he would expect from Mercedes. But she wasn’t focused on him. Somewhere along the way, she’d made this about Clarissa.
Was she scared?
Knowing she would never admit to it, Xander forced the question away, looking back down at Clarissa kneeling in front of him. She was using her tongue to clean her fingers had Xander looked up at Shane, noticing the man was on the verge of swallowing his own tongue.
Oh, fuck. That wasn’t going to end well. Trent, Clarissa and Shane.
Right.
“Very nice.” Mercedes’s voice echoed in the small room. “Now I want to watch you suck X’s big, beautiful cock,” Mercedes told Clarissa.
Fuck no. No, no, no. This was not going to happen.
Mercedes turned away and retrieved something from the counter behind her. When she came back, she handed a foil packet to Clarissa.
“Put this on him,” she instructed. “I think you’ll like this one. It tastes like grapes.”
At least Mercedes had the good sense to remember protection.
Oh, fuck. Please let her use her safe word.
Clarissa reached for the condom, but her hands were no longer trembling, they were shaking like a leaf in hurricane force winds. As soon as she plucked the condom from Mercedes’s long, slender fingers, Clarissa dropped it on the floor.
Clarissa reached for it, her eyes darting up to Xander and then Mercedes and back once again. He wanted to shake his head, to encourage her not to go through with it. Before he had the option, the end of the riding crop came up to rest beneath his chin, and Xander lifted his eyes to meet Mercedes’s glowing gray gaze.
“I want you to watch the pretty little sub’s mouth wrapped around your cock.”
The only sound that could be heard was Clarissa’s rapid gasps and the rustle of Shane’s clothing as he moved somewhere in the background.
Xander stared back at Mercedes, praying like hell she’d realize just what was going on here, stop before the damage could be undone. Or maybe that’s what she wanted. Maybe she wanted Xander to be with Clarissa so that she could use it against him.
He saw the battle in her eyes, saw that she was just as tormented as he felt, but she wasn’t going to cave. She was trying to prove something here, but fuck it all. He didn’t give a good goddamn about proving anything.
Not when it came to his love for Mercedes.
The instant she looked away, Xander said, “Red.”
Her eyes darted up to meet his.
“What did you say?”
“Red.” There was absolutely no mistaking the fact that he was using his safe word.
He saw the relief that flooded her face before she quickly masked it, doing her best to cover it up with something else. But no matter what she wanted him to believe, Xander knew the truth.
Xander didn’t see Shane move, but he noticed Clarissa getting to her feet. He looked up at his friend just in time to see the realization on Shane’s face.
Yeah, I went there, he thought to himself. I fucking love her.
Xander was pretty sure Shane knew everything he was feeling.
Without a sound, Shane helped Clarissa slip back into her dress, and the two of them disappeared out of the room.
When the door closed behind them, Mercedes moved over to the wall. She hit a button that released the chains and then another that flipped the glass from clear to opaque, sealing them somewhat from prying eyes. It wasn’t until she hit the button to turn off the microphones that she finally spoke.
“Why?”
“Why what?” he asked, pretending to be oblivious to what she was referring to.
“Why did you use your safe word?”
Xander didn’t answer immediately. He waited for her to come over to release him from the chains that still restrained his arms and legs.
He wasn’t about to make the biggest admission of his life while he was in a fucking playroom at the club, chained to the wall. Knowing that Mercedes would likely flee the room and leave him there, he decided to wait.
She must’ve realized it too.
~~**~~**~~
Mercedes was barely breathing. There was a roaring in her ears that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with relief.
Xander had used his safe word.
Because of her.
For the last few minutes, Mercedes had been praying Clarissa would safe word. Wishing like hell the nervous little sub would save them all from themselves.
But she hadn’t, and Mercedes had been terrified of going any further. She didn’t want Clarissa touching Xander. Didn’t want to watch anyone touching him.
For some unknown reason, her scene had taken a drastic turn somewhere along the way, and it had been all her fault. But right then and there, the scene was the last thing she worried about. She didn’t care that Clarissa and Shane would likely think of her as a failure. She didn’t care that half of the club would think that either.
At this point, the only thing she wanted to do was to come with Xander’s cock lodged deep inside of her. To feel him against her. Anything to get Xander’s hands on her, even if it meant handing over the control to him. He had effectively destroyed her defenses, making her lose her touch, but she really didn’t care. Not right then at least.
Unable to hold back any longer, Mercedes moved to release Xander from his restraints. Neither of them said a word, but the nonverbal communication between them was loud and clear.
The look in Xander’s eyes stole the oxygen from her lungs.
For the last half hour, she’d wanted nothing more than to abandon the scene. It was selfish to put her own needs above everyone else’s, but for the life of her, she couldn’t go through with it.
Even now, she knew Xander would be more than happy to take over from there because he was a Dom, and she was… an imposter.
She knew she should consider this the ultimate defeat, but it didn’t change the fact that she could hardly breathe for wanting him.
Once he was freed, Mercedes stood motionless in front of him, watching, waiting.
“This is still your show,” he whispered. “What do you want?”
“What do you mean ‘what do I want’? I failed, Xander. It’s done.”
“Not even close,” he growled. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
Mercedes didn’t understand what he was doing. Why wasn’t he taking over? Why wasn’t he forcing her to do what he wanted?
“We aren’t walking out of here until we’re through here.”
“We are—” through. Mercedes couldn’t say it. She didn’t want it to be true. She didn’t want what they had to be over, and she knew he was giving her a chance to redeem herself. To take back the scene that had gone horribly wrong.
“Pick up right where we left off,” he told her, but he wasn’t commanding her. He was making a request.
Mercedes stared at him in disbelief for a long moment before she said, “Sit in that chair with your legs wide.”
Xander gripped the chair that was in the corner and set it down beside where they stood before lowering himself into it. Without another word, he spread his legs wide. His thick, heavy cock was like a steel rod standing proudly against his belly, his muscles tense, but he had a smile on his handsome face.
“Come here.” He urged. Still not a command.
Mercedes realized then that she wanted him to take over from here. Because for her, it no longer mattered who held the reins. This man owned her. Every piece of her.
Walking around to stand between his spread thighs, Mercedes put his hands on her hips as she looked down at him, still trying to hold on to the last sliver of control that even she knew had disintegrated a long time ago.
“I want to ride your cock. Right here, right now,” she told him, trying to play along.
Xander nodded, and Mercedes gripped his dark hair tightly. If she had been thinking like a true Domme, his lack of response would’ve angered her, but she was long past that. She wasn’t able to keep up the perfect Domme routine. Not with him.
Hooking her left leg on the outside of Xander’s thick right thigh, Mercedes gripped his erection in her fist and guided him inside of her before sinking down on him slowly.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, pressing her cheek against his. “X,” she pleaded quietly. “Please.”
She allowed her body to adjust to the blunt intrusion, and once she could take him deeper, she relied on Xander’s firm grip on her hips to hold her as she raised up and hooked her right leg over his left leg until she was straddling his lap, his cock buried to the hilt inside of her.
“Fuck me, X. Please,” she moaned, moving her mouth to his, unable to keep from kissing him.
The way Xander gripped her hips, lifting her until only the head of his cock was penetrating her, and then lowering her roughly, Mercedes knew he was right there on the edge with her.
She was in public, even if the audience could only see shadows through the opaque glass, but none of it mattered. As far as she was concerned, they were the only two people in the entire world.
What that said about her, she didn’t know, and she no longer cared.
“Fuck me harder,” she encouraged, gripping his shoulders as she stared down at him. The intensity in his gaze was her lifeline, and she clung to it.
Xander held her hips tightly, pulling her flush against him and then lifting her, his cock thrusting up into her from below until the friction all but consumed her, his cock nailing her G-spot with every deep stroke. Mercedes was suspended by a thread, hovering on the edge of an orgasm so explosive, she wasn’t sure she’d survive it.
With her eyes still locked with his, she ran her hands over the chiseled features of his ruggedly beautiful face, desperately holding on to that connection that she knew she would feel lost without.
No matter what she’d originally thought, her pleasure was owned by this one man. Her perception of what she had wanted was clearly skewed and without Xander she would’ve felt lost and helpless. But Xander eased her, gave her strength, made her feel. And nothing else mattered except him.
Her pleasure was in his hands, and she knew she could give herself up to him completely and never have to worry. He’d be there to catch her when she fell.
And she was falling. Desperately. And fast.
Sucking his bottom lip into her mouth, she gently nipped him, his cock pulsing deep inside of her as the pain registered.
“Are you ready to come for me?” This time he was the one to ask, but his words were a mere puff of air against her ear. He was allowing her to save face, even when no one else was in the room to know.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Then come for me, pet,” he encouraged. “Come on my cock. Let me feel you.”
“Oh, God.” That’s all she needed. His permission. Not the other way around. One more forceful thrust of his hips and she was flying into orbit, Xander’s hands gripping her ass, bracing her.
When she thought she could take no more, he surprised her when he pushed to his feet, the chair he had been sitting in falling over and crashing to the floor.
With her arms around his neck, he held her like she weighed nothing as he began pounding up into her while she worked her hips down onto him at the same time.
“God, I love your pussy,” he growled. “Come for me again, Mercedes. Come for me now.” Xander groaned, and the words sent her flying over the edge, oblivious to her own guttural cries as she came.
She was only aware of the pulse of Xander’s cock deep inside of her as he came, his body stone still as he held her until they were both sated completely.
For now, Mercedes was going to enjoy that euphoric feeling.
Later, much, much later, she was going to have to play out the scene in her head just to figure out where things went completely awry.