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Now that was a name she recognized, although she hadn’t expected to meet the young woman this evening. Maria grinned. “The one who’s growing up too fast?”
Lexie rolled her eyes, which really were a stunning shade of bright, crystal blue, contrasting sharply with all her dark black hair. Literally black, just as dark (or maybe even a shade darker) than Maria’s. But where Maria’s was long, curly and unruly, Lexie’s was short, sleek and straight.
“Is that what he said?” she asked. “Growing up too fast? You’d think I was still a child the way they treat me, none of them wants to acknowledge I’m actually grown up.” She shot Rick a look, but he was acting like he hadn’t heard her say a thing. Maria giggled.
There was definitely a sibling-type vibe going on between these two, and if she read between the lines of what Rick had told her, Lexie definitely had a plethora of “big brothers.” Poor thing. From Rick’s description, Maria had been expecting someone much younger and more immature, but it was obvious that, although Lexie was young, she was definitely a woman and not a girl, and she seemed pretty put together for her age.
“Well it’s nice to finally meet you,” Maria said, reaching her hand across the desk Lexie was sitting at. “Rick talks about you a lot.”
“Oh?” Lexie asked in real surprise as she automatically clasped Maria’s hand back. She hesitated on what to say next. “That’s... surprising. Rick’s actually not usually a talker.”
“Really?” Maria asked, now surprised herself. She also realized Lexie’s hesitation must have been because Lexie hadn’t heard anything about Maria. But the young woman obviously wanted to reassure Maria with an explanation of why that might be so; which was all the more interesting because Rick did an awful lot of talking for her.
“In our group of friends, I usually don’t need to talk,” Rick said. “Everyone else is doing plenty of talking without me.” There was a hint of exasperation in his voice, and Maria couldn’t help but giggle. He’d mentioned before that his friends could be like gossiping girls. Apparently either he hadn’t mentioned her to his friends, or none of them had mentioned her to Lexie, but she wasn’t going to get hurt feelings over that. He’d brought her out with him tonight, and that’s what counted.
“Especially now that Olivia and I aren’t the only girls,” Lexie said gleefully. She gave Maria a huge smile and squeezed her hand before releasing it and looking back at Rick. It seemed like she wasn’t just friendly, but she was genuinely pleased to see Maria with Rick. Which Maria found fascinating. “Are you two going to play tonight? Does she need to fill out forms?”
Play? Forms?
“No, I’m just showing her around the club,” Rick said, the tension returning to his frame as he shifted closer to her. Almost like he was worried she would try to run. Maria decided to keep her mouth shut and her ears open, hoping Lexie might give her some more hints about what the night might hold for her.
Unfortunately, Rick just told Lexie he’d see her later and took Maria’s arm, steering her towards the door with the giant guard. Maria waved a goodbye to Lexie who waved cheerfully back at her and then had to turn her attention to a ringing phone. When she had turned back around, the giant had shifted so he was partly blocking the doorway, watching her and Rick approach with an arrested expression on his face. His dark eyes seemed to be studying her, not judging, but just taking note of every detail about her while judgment was pending.
“Rick.”
“Jared.” Rick paused and then she felt, more than heard, him sigh when Jared didn’t move out of the way. “This is Maria. Maria, this is my friend Jared.”
“Hello,” Maria said, tilting her head back to look up at him. Holy crap he was big. The way he was looming over her, making her feel like she was being weighed on scales that she didn’t know the purpose of, made her feel uncomfortable. Which, in turn, made her feel snarky. “You’re a little bit scary, did you know that?”
A small smile twitched the edge of his mouth. “I try.”
Rick snorted. “He’s actually a big teddy bear, don’t let the height fool you.”
“I was thinking more along the line of all the bulging muscles, but whatever,” Maria muttered under her breath, purposefully loud enough both men could hear her. Jared laughed although Rick looked a little less pleased.
“So how do you two know each other?”
“We’re neighbors,” Maria said, a little surprised when a flash of recognition went through Jared’s eyes; she felt Rick tense beside her. After Lexie, she had been prepared to meet a bunch of people she’d heard about but hadn’t heard about her. Apparently, Rick had said something to Jared, at least. From their reactions she couldn’t tell if that was a bad or good thing.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Jared said, giving her a small smile as he moved back to the side of the door and out of their way. “I hope you enjoy yourself tonight.” There was some kind of ulterior meaning laden in his voice that she didn’t understand. It was like everyone else was speaking a language she’d learned, but wasn’t fluent in, and she was missing some kind of important subtext.
Talk about frustrating.
But nothing they actually said gave her any reason to ask questions, and if she was imagining it then she’d look like an idiot for saying something about it.
“We’ll see you later,” Rick said, putting his hand on the small of her back and propelling her through the door. Maria gave Jared a little smile as they went through.
The music was loud, but not so overpowering that people couldn’t talk, she noticed. There was a bar and a dance floor, although almost no one was on it at the moment. The couples there were involved in erotic bump and grinds, their bodies almost plastered together. That seemed a little unusual for a club, since they weren’t surrounded by singles or groups of women dancing together, but not entirely out of place. The bar was right in front of them, and there was a lot of leather and latex gathered around the tables and on the stools.
Rick was still pushing her forward, watching her face, although she wasn’t entirely sure what he was waiting for. Then she saw one of the pictures behind the bar and gasped.
It was a black and white, gorgeously done, of a woman bent over some kind of bench. The picture was taken from the side, but it was obvious she was naked except for the thick black cuffs at her wrists and ankles, restraining her. A blindfold was over her eyes, her breasts were hanging down on either side of the bench, and there was a man standing behind her. Nothing of his body could be seen from about mid-chest up, but he was obviously wearing a suit and he was holding a riding crop which he was trailing along the white expanse of her ass.
There was something intensely erotic and also rather frightening about the picture. Maria felt her cheeks flushing and paling in reaction. The press of Rick’s fingers against the small of her back let her know he was still there, but he didn’t try to move her away from the picture. She looked over at the next picture behind the bar, which had a man on his knees, some kind of metal cage around his erection, while a woman stood with her legs far apart, one hand on his hair, dragging him face first into the V of her legs. Even though his hands were cuffed behind his back, the cage around his bait and tackle looked both scary and painful, and he obviously had no control over the situation, the expression on his face was blissful.
And none of it was anything she’d ever seen in any kind of bar or club.
“What is this place?” Her voice was barely a whisper, the question more rhetorical than anything else, but Rick answered anyway.
