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Chapter 24
Even though it was a Sunday night, The Pendulum was in full swing, with a packed dance floor of hopefuls in their outrageous costumes. When Cooper had suggested a night of pleasure, Dylan thought it might be just what she needed, but the rhythm of the music did nothing to drown out the sorrowful thumping in her chest. It was going to take more than music and a few drinks to smooth the jagged edges of Dylan’s heart. There was a mutual betrayal that stemmed from both sides of a dagger, hers and Ari’s. Ari misled her. Made Dylan believe she was a woman in need of a job. But Dylan was no angel either. She only hired Ari because she wanted to fuck her. They were both at fault in this mutual game of deception. Still, within the short time she had gotten to know Ari, Dylan believed there was something real. An intangible force that drew them together.
In the twenty-nine years she’d been alive, Dylan learned to trust her gut and it said Ari was a decent woman. Yet, two months ago, she thought Maxi was too. That no longer held true. Maxi’s repeated betrayals had Dylan doubting her gut. The events over the past few days had really thrown Dylan for a loop. Not sure anymore what was real or fake, good or bad, right or wrong.
But Ari was gone, leaving Dylan to move forward and mend her broken heart solo. The first step was a liquid bandage.
“Did you ask Lucy to meet us?” asked Dylan while casting her gaze at the busy dance floor.
In a similar swoop of their surroundings, Cooper didn’t see her either. “Yeah, she should be here anytime.”
“What do you want? First round’s on me.”
“Thanks. A G&T with extra G.” The two of them spoke the same barkeep language.
“Extra G coming up. Go grab us a table, something tucked away.”
Cooper strolled off to grab a table and look for Lucy while Dylan turned toward the bar.
Lucy was no stranger to BDSM, though she might not practice it like they did. She had been to Adytum a few times over the years. It’s how Lucy and Cooper met. She didn’t mind her best friend hooking up with a coworker as long as Lucy respected the job. They lived in a world where sexual energy flowed around them daily. Women dangled temptation like a carrot in front of them, and they expected all employees to serve the whims of the client. Work was work. That meant being unfaithful in every sense of the word.
At the end of the bar, Dylan raised her hand. To her surprise, the big-haired, sexy bartender from her previous visit sidled up in front of her. This time, her mane was tame and her rapturous figure was sans eighties attire. Two months ago, Dylan might have slipped the woman a business card with her personal number. Alas, it wasn’t two months ago. The art of the chase was once something to be savored; now, it seemed tedious and meaningless after Ari broke her spirit.
“Hey, handsome. You’re back,” the woman said, beaming at Dylan with a lubricious lick of her lips. There was more in her eyes than wanting the drink order when she leaned on the counter and pressed her breasts forward. “So, where’s your girlfriend?”
Girlfriend? Eyebrows knitted, Dylan pondered the moniker because she hadn’t had a girlfriend since she worked at The Pendulum five years ago. She was a leggy blonde who sat at the counter every night in order to watch Dylan’s wandering eye. As if a light bulb switched on above her head, she realized. Lucy!
“Oh, not my girlfriend at all.” Rather than indulging in idle chitchat, Dylan waved off the question without going into detail. “I’ll take a whiskey, neat. A gin with a splash of tonic and a Sex on the Beach.”
She took the hint and turned to make the drinks while Dylan turned away, resting her elbows behind her on the counter and taking in the club. It had changed so much since she worked there. As had she.
No longer the baby-faced dyke who everyone thought was too cute to fuck, Dylan blossomed into a woman with haughtiness radiating from every pore. That was thanks to Maxi, who opened her eyes to something greater. Dominance came easily in the world of sex and BDSM. But at Adytum, she felt more submissive. It took nights like these where she could be herself—a Mistress in need of a sub to help her work out the kinks. Pun intended.
When the drinks arrived, she threw down a couple of twenties and gathered the glasses. She eyed Cooper & Lucy in the corner. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought they were a power couple. Lucy was a feminine dynamite with a commanding presence over Cooper, her androgynous and dutiful submissive at her side. They both swore it was nothing serious. That was bullshit.
“Here you go, ladies. A G&T and a Sex on the Beach,” said Dylan as she approached them.
“Ah, you know me so well,” Lucy replied, and Cooper grabbed the drinks as any proper submissive would do for their Mistress. They both scooted around, giving Dylan room to join them.
“Tonight is operation get Dylan laid,” Cooper said, holding up her drink for a toast.
“Gee, thanks, Coop. That sounds pathetic.” Their glasses came together in a ceremonious clink, then a drink.
“Not pathetic at all. Since that woman came around, you haven’t been the same fun-loving, lady-wooing woman we love,” Cooper said after hissing from the strong drink. “Dude, did they even put any tonic in this?”
“That woman has a name,” said Dylan, choosing to ignore the drink comment.
“How are you handling all of this ... news?” Lucy folded her hands together, leaning her elbows on the table like a psychiatrist wanting her to look into her soul for some deep, mind-blowing clarity.
Whenever Lucy did that, Dylan seemed to spill her guts as if someone had sliced her stomach open and everything poured out of her without a filter. “I feel like such a fool, falling in love with someone. A literal stranger. I thought I knew her. Had this connection with her. It was different this time. Something I never felt with anyone before. But I didn’t know jack shit about her. Coop warned me to stay away, and I didn’t listen. Ari lied to me. All of us. And now, I’m more–”
“Comfortable?” Cooper broke up Dylan’s whining with the facts of life. “As wrong as it was for Maxi to hand out corporal punishment for you two running off like lovebirds, you mastered that caning like a true Dominatrix. I’d kneel for you, bro.”
“Sounds like she helped you work through your issues. Let’s find you a sweet thing to mend that broken heart. You just need to tame someone, and you’ll see ... you’ll be just fine,” Lucy said, wiggling her brow and tossing a glance toward the dance floor.
There was a plethora of women for Dylan to choose from, a smorgasbord, all ready for the taking. From the booth, she eyed a few ladies that might suit her for the night. Lucy and Cooper’s encouragement took her mind off of that woman, the one who wronged her and the club.
The wave of bodies grinding against each other had Dylan swaying to the music. Some were in costumes, others were wearing close to nothing. No matter how much she got used to seeing women barely clothed, they still got her juices flowing.
