AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When she finally got off work around 8 pm—she’d stayed to help through the dinner rush—she checked her phone to find she had seven missed calls and four new voicemails. Groaning, she scrolled through the missed calls. All three of her sisters had called her, and her mother had called her four times. She wondered whether the voicemails were all from her mother or if everyone had left one.
Plugging in her hands-free device, she started her car while she listened to them. One from each of them. Well at least they weren’t all from her mom. Maria didn’t think she could take that much haranguing right now. All four messages said basically the same thing, just delivered in different words and different tones of voice: We missed you last night, looked around and you were gone... where did you go and are you okay?
Ick.
Every single one of them, worrying over Maria’s single state and thinking she must be taking it hard that her youngest sister was getting married. It would be a hell of a lot easier to take if everyone would stop acting like she must be upset over it. There was nothing more guaranteed to make her upset.
“Sorry, but I’m not calling any of you back,” she muttered under her breath.
It was times like this that she cursed having three sisters. She’d never really had a best friend outside of them, she hadn’t needed one. Of course, she’d had female friends, but it was her sisters she’d always been closest to. After college she’d lost contact with the friends she’d made there, and she’d never really made any new close friends. It was her sisters whom she hung out the most with, whom she vented to, shared secrets with...
And she could really use someone to vent about her sisters to right now. They had good intentions, but her entire family was driving her up the wall.
“Screw it.”
Sitting alone in her apartment with her phone turned off, eating Ben & Jerry’s, might not make her family feel any less troubled about her, but it sure as hell made her feel better. What was wrong with having a night like this anyway? Maria liked sitting and watching rom-coms by herself, eating whatever the fuck she wanted. Okay, it’d be more fun with her sisters here, but the point was she didn’t need a man.
Although it might be nice to get laid.
Mmmm... she wondered what the Greek god from this morning was doing. Just knowing he was in the same building made her feel all tingly and hot. Unfortunately, the moment she started considering ditching the ice cream and grabbing her vibrator, someone knocked on her door. For just a quick second, a porno-esque fantasy ran through her head—maybe her thoughts had drawn him. Maybe he was at her door, hunkalicious and needing something from his eager neighbor.
When she peeked through the keyhole, her fantasies took a swift retreat. Recognizing the gray curls of Mrs. Pierce, she shoved down her disappointment (which was silly anyway since obviously the Greek god wouldn’t be knocking) and opened the door.
“Good evening Maria, I’m sorry to bother you,” the older woman said, peering up at her with an apologetic smile. In her early eighties, Mrs. Pierce insisted on living in her own apartment with her own things. Although her granddaughter stopped by on a regular basis, she often relied on her neighbors for help with little things.
“No problem, Mrs. Pierce, what can I do for you?” she asked.
“I’m making cookies and I thought I had enough brown sugar, but I’m half a cup short. Do you think you might have some?”
“Of course, I’ll be right over with it.”
“Thank you dear.”
Well so much for a night of dreaming about the Greek god. Maria knew from past experiences with Mrs. Pierce that she was now in for an evening of giving up detailed descriptions of everything going on in her and her sisters’ lives, hearing about every last detail of Mrs. Pierce’s granddaughter’s life, and eating some seriously delicious cookies. All in all, right now, it sounded kind of relaxing. Plus, she knew Mrs. Pierce would be delighted to hear all about Lara’s engagement party, and the older woman wouldn’t be one of the people clucking over Maria’s single status. Mrs. Pierce firmly believed in holding out until the right man, no matter how long it took.
It was an attitude Maria fully appreciated.
Leather, sweat, and sex. That’s what the Dungeon of Stronghold smelled like. The sounds were even more erotically disturbing. Screams. The crack of leather against flesh. Moans. Whimpers. Begging.
It wasn’t even making him a little bit hard.
Okay, that was a lie, he was a little hard, but being at half-mast wasn’t where he should be, not when he’d just finished a scene of his own. The blissed out little subbie he was unhooking from the spanking bench had been wonderful, but Rick just hadn’t felt anything with her. Feeling desire, even if he wasn’t interested in the woman in question beyond a scene, hadn’t been a problem before, but apparently it was now.
Fortunately, sex was one of Anna’s hard limits within the club. She was a newer sub and still getting used to public scening. She wasn’t comfortable with the idea of sex in public yet, although she’d consented to manual and oral stimulation, and the use of toys.
Rick loved watching a woman orgasm just as much as he loved watching a woman writhing with need when she was denied climax, but tonight neither had done much for him. He’d been into making sure Anna got what she needed—the lack of spark or real connection between them wasn’t her fault—but he was glad her own boundaries barred any real sexual contact between them.
“Thank you, Sir,” she said, glowing up at him as he wrapped her in a blanket. With her red cheeks, slightly reddened eyes, and happy smile, she was the very image of a well-satisfied submissive. It made him feel slightly better.
Twenty minutes later, Anna was well enough to return to the locker room on her own two feet, and Rick found himself back at the bar with his friends. For once Andrew wasn’t behind the bar, he was off scening with Ellie—a very sweet submissive and masochist who had absolutely no interest in a Dom beyond the scene, and therefore was a good match for him—but Adam, Angel, and Patrick were all sitting at one of the tables, chatting. Rick strode over to join them.
“I doubt she’ll be around again anytime soon,” Angel was saying to Patrick as Rick walked up. The pretty brunette was obviously emphasizing her Asian heritage this evening, the design on her corset had a mandarin neckline with a deep keyhole showing off her cleavage. She was wearing a collar made out of matching fabric, and her hair was up and held in place with chopsticks, keeping it off her neck. Adam’s fingers were running back and forth along the back of her collar, and Rick recognized the territorial look in his friend’s eye.
The aggressive, blond haired, blue eyed Dom wasn’t used to waiting for what he wanted, but Angel was no pushover, and so she wouldn’t be wearing his collar anytime soon. Just recently she’d announced that she didn’t care how much of her stuff was in his house, she wasn’t officially moving in until they’d been together for a year.
Suffice to say, Adam had been more possessive than ever after that. Of course, he didn’t think she was going to leave him just because she didn’t want to move in, it was just his natural reaction to her declaration of independence.
“Who are we talking about?” Rick asked as he sat down at the table, giving Adam and Patrick a nod and Angel a smile. Naturally tactile, she leaned over to give him a hug. Rick pulled her in tight, smirking at her Dom over her shoulder.
