Since there was only one couple using the equipment, Mallory grabbed a plastic carryall full of cleaning equipment and went to work. She did a quick wipe down of each station and checked the armoires to see what needed to be restocked.
She was carrying freshly laundered blankets to one of the armoires when she stopped to watch the scene being enacted at the spanking bench. The man was using a cane on the naked woman tied to the bench.
The woman’s head was turned so Mallory could see her face. Her cheeks were red and wet with tears and her eyes were filled with pain. Mallory swore she heard the woman whispering something she thought was “Red, red, red,” as her lips moved. Her man was focused so hard on laying even stripes down her thighs with the cane he did not seem to be paying attention to her words.
Dropping the blankets, Mallory rushed forward and snatched the cane from his hand as he pulled back to strike again.
“What the hell?” He whirled around to frown at her. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, interfering with my scene like that?”
She was crying, unable to answer for a few minutes. By the time she calmed down enough to speak, Kelly and Jaben had joined them.
“Mallory? What happened?” Jaben asked as he moved to stand between her and the irate Dominant.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the man cut her off. “She grabbed that cane out of my hand and messed up my scene.”
“Mallory?” Jaben looked at her while Kelly took the blanket from her and opened it before covering the still bound submissive.
“The woman was chanting red. It was soft, but loud enough I heard it. But he either didn’t hear her, or didn’t care, because he didn’t stop,” Mallory said, her gaze locked on Jaben.
“Miss? Were you calling red?” Jaben asked the woman who remained strapped to the table and panting.
“She wasn’t saying red. She was saying Rand, my name. Her safe word is mallard,” the Dominant once again interrupted.
Jaben frowned at the man before approaching the spanking bench and bending so he was face to face with the woman. “Miss? What’s your safe word?”
“Mallard,” she whispered, her words slurred. “I wasn’t calling for help, I was saying Rand, hoping he would allow me to come.”
Mallory took a step back, dropping the cane to the floor. “I’m so sorry. I thought she was calling red.”
Jaben pulled Master Randell away and spoke quietly to him for a few minutes. He then pulled out his cellphone and made a call. When he finished, he approached Mallory once again.
In the meantime, Master Randell moved to the spanking bench and was unstrapping his woman and then wrapping her in a blanket Kelly had handed him. Lifting his submissive into his arms, he moved to a couch and settled in for some snuggling aftercare.
“Shall I get back to work?” Mallory was ready to disappear back into the supply closet and hide until Caren returned.
“Not yet,” Jaben said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Though she was tempted to ask why, Mallory kept her mouth shut. She had a feeling she was in a lot of trouble, and for a woman who prided herself on avoiding trouble like the plague, that was saying something.
Fifteen minutes later, the main doors to the Dungeon opened and Master Derek entered, closely followed by Master Fletcher.
Neither man looked happy.
“Uh-oh,” Mallory breathed. “I think I screwed up.”
“You can say that again,” Jaben said softly before crossing to talk to them.
Walking into the Dungeon, Fletcher immediately found Mallory and frowned when he saw her wearing the uniform worn by the service submissives assigned to work in the Dungeon. What was she doing here? She was supposed to be taking time and thinking about whether she wanted to continue as his submissive in preparation for their meeting with Derek this evening.
At least the video meeting he was to attend had been postponed until later in the week by the other man so he’d been able to come with Derek to deal with his naughty submissive.
Instead of going to her immediately, he waited for Jaben and Mallory to join them in the bar area.
“What happened?” Derek asked.
“Kelly said that Mallory grabbed a cane out of Master Randell’s hand in the middle of a scene. She called me and we stepped between them. Mallory thought the subbie was saying red, and he wasn’t paying attention, or ignoring her, so she stepped in and took the cane from his hand. Only the subbie wasn’t calling her safe word, she was chanting Rand, her Master’s name.”
“But what is Mallory doing down here to begin with? I took her off the rotation a few days ago,” Derek said, sounding nearly as bewildered as Fletcher felt.
