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CHAPTER10
Justin spent the next twenty-four hours running through the available Doms at the club in his head. He’d tried to go over all the options with an open mind, attempting to keep his own feelings in check. The thought of Kim with someone else had every muscle in his body tightening and not in a good way. It was something he was going to have to get over, though. She was off-limits and always would be. Nothing was going to change that.
By the time he arrived at Serpent’s Kiss on Friday night, he’d narrowed it down to three possible Doms for Kim. The first was Daniel. He was a little old for Kim, but he had a lot of experience in the lifestyle and the patience that would be needed to train a new submissive. Plus, Kim was already comfortable with him as he was friends with her friend, Ali. The second was Brandon. He acted as the lead bartender at the club, but he’d been in the lifestyle for over ten years and had an even temperament. The third option was a newer member of the club, younger than the other two. Gabe was only twenty-eight, but he carried himself well. Justin had been asked to observe Gabe’s first play session two weeks ago, and despite the sub trying to push her weight around a few times, he’d handled the scene like someone who’d been playing for years.
Straightening his shoulders, Justin stepped inside the main room of the club and surveyed his surroundings. It was early. Most members didn’t arrive until after seven.
Katrina caught his gaze and motioned for him to join her. Justin often helped her with new members, introducing them around, answering their questions, and making sure they understood how things worked. He was hoping that wasn’t the case tonight as he was on a mission of his own.
“Good evening, Mistress Katrina.” She was in her signature corset and leather pants that showed off her boobs and ass to perfection. Even though he had no interest in Katrina, that didn’t mean he was blind. The woman had a body on her that would make a man drool.
Katrina smiled in greeting. “You’re here early tonight.”
“I managed to close up the shop a little early.” While that was true, it was intentional. He’d wanted some time to get his bearings before Kim arrived.
“I see.” She signaled for him to walk with her as she began making her way around the perimeter of the club’s main floor. “How’s Kim settling in? I haven’t seen her play with anyone yet.”
He hadn’t expected Katrina to bring Kim up, but he shouldn’t have been surprised. Kim had listed both him and Ali on her application. “We’re hoping to rectify that soon. I’m going to help her find a suitable Dom.”
Katrina stopped walking. She turned and gave him a hard look...one that said she wasn’t liking what she was hearing.
“As a family friend, I want to make sure she finds someone who can handle her. She’s new and she’s quite strong-willed.” The look she was giving him didn’t change. “I have it narrowed down to three possibilities.”
She raised one eyebrow, but still she said nothing.
He gave her the name of the three Doms he felt might be a good fit for Kim and waited to see what she’d have to say.
Instead of answering right away, Katrina began moving again. She made him wait until they were halfway up the stairs that led to the playrooms. “I don’t think Daniel would be a good idea.”
“You don’t think he’d be willing to take on an untrained sub?” Daniel had played with inexperienced subs in the past, so Justin wasn’t understanding Katrina’s reasoning.
“That isn’t the issue.”
They were on the second floor now. He followed Katrina as she entered each of the playrooms, one by one. About an hour from now, they would be full.
“How do you think Ali would feel if Kim began playing with Daniel?” Katrina asked when they entered the fifth room. “I don’t need that kind of drama at the club.”
“You think Ali would have a problem with Kim being Daniel’s sub?”
Katrina shook her head. “Men. You can be so clueless sometimes.”
It took him a moment to understand what she was getting at. Daniel and Ali?
Justin took some time to think it over as they finished inspecting the rooms. He’d never seen them play together. Daniel did play with other subs on occasion, but that was usually because a sub would approach him, asking for a scene. The older Dom had a reputation for being a master at flogging.
Racking his brain, he tried to recall the last time Ali had gone upstairs with a Dom and he had to admit it had been a while. Granted, he wasn’t keeping an eye on her all the time, but when she was at the club she was either working the front lobby or hanging out with her friends...which included Daniel.
Interesting.
“I’ll mark Daniel off the list, then.”
“Smart decision.”
After they were finished with the rooms, they headed downstairs again and Katrina was pulled away to help with something in the women’s locker room. The club was filling up fast and he knew it wouldn’t be long before Kim got there. That is, if she showed up at all. It would be like her to stay home solely because he told her to meet him there.
A part of him wanted her to defy him so he could remind her she was the submissive and he was the Dominant. But then he had to remind himself that he wasn’t her Dom. She wasn’t his and he wouldn’t be the one to punish her for her willful behavior. That would fall to someone else.
The thought caused his chest to tighten and the muscles in his neck to tense. He was going to have to get past these irrational feelings of possessiveness. Kim needed him as a friend. She needed his experience in the lifestyle to help her find a good Dom. One who would treat her right. One who would care for her.
Brad and his wife, Kate, saw him from across the room and began making their way over. Brad was a surgeon and often had to work late. On the nights when Kate would come alone, Justin would watch over her for Brad. Their relationship was stricter than most of the other couples that frequented the club, but it seemed to work for them.
Tonight, Kate wore a black dress that went down to her ankles, but it was anything but modest. Both sides of the skirt had slits that came all the way to her waist. And the top was almost as revealing. Cloth stretched over her ample breasts, highlighting her pierced nipples. Those two were not shy about their sexuality. Especially not while inside the club. Justin knew that because of Brad’s position, they had to keep up appearances out in public.
“You’re here early tonight,” Justin said in way of greeting.
“No surgery today. It’s rare I get a full day at the office anymore. I wanted to take advantage of it.”
As they continued to talk, Brad moved his wife to stand in front of him. He slipped his hand beneath her top, plucking her nipple as the conversation moved from work to the scene Alexander and Grace, two of the club’s newer members, had done a few weeks ago.
It was impossible not to be drawn to the interaction between Brad and his wife, especially as she moaned against him. But that only lasted until Kim walked through the door. Justin felt her before he saw her, drawing his attention in her direction.
The moment he saw her, he knew something was wrong. To someone who hadn’t known her so well, they probably wouldn’t notice, but after all these years, he knew her tells. She had her hands balled into fists at her side, a sure sign that she was upset about something.
Justin scanned the area for Ali, but he didn’t see her. She was most likely working the lobby. That meant Kim was on her own tonight.
While that could be the source of Kim’s tension, he didn’t think so. Ali worked the front at least three times a month. This wasn’t the first time Kim was on her own in the club.
His suspicions were confirmed when she noticed him staring. Her eyes narrowed and she swiftly turned on her heel and marched in the opposite direction.
Brad had noticed his distraction. “One of the new subs caught your eye?”
Justin never took his gaze off Kim. “She’s my best friend’s little sister.”
The sound of Brad’s suppressed laughter brought Justin’s attention back to the other Dom. “Well, that could get interesting.”
“Yeah,” was all Justin said as his gaze returned to the woman in question.
An hour later, he was sitting on a barstool, watching Kim from across the room as she chatted with one of the youngest Doms at the club. The man had little to no experience and was the opposite of what she needed.
“Are you going to drink that or wear it?”
Justin McKay looked over at the bartender, Brandon, then followed Brandon’s gaze to the bottle of water Justin was holding in a death grip.
Releasing the bottle, Justin turned his back on the woman he’d been watching as she leaned in to say something to the other Dom. He needed to stop. It wasn’t doing anyone any good, let alone himself or his mental well-being.
“You know,” Brandon said, “you could do yourself a favor and ask her to go upstairs with you. Maybe if you two released some of that sexual tension that’s floating around, you wouldn’t be trying to kill your water bottle.”
“It’s not that simple.”
Brandon reached behind him and grabbed Justin a beer he hadn’t asked for. He wasn’t playing tonight, so having a drink wouldn’t matter. Not that it would anyway as the club had strict rules on alcohol consumption whether you were playing or not.
“Thanks,” Justin said when Brandon set the open beer bottle in front of him. He took a swig and let the cool liquid slide down his throat.
Someone signaled for Brandon and he walked to the other end of the bar to see what they needed. Justin was so fucked.
He tried not to watch the exchange between Kim and the other Dom, but it was impossible. It was as if she were a beacon he couldn’t look away from. His gaze was drawn to her tongue as she took a drink, then licked her lips. The memory of her tongue sliding against his in a sensual dance of give and take as he’d thrust into her had his cock straining against his pants.
He couldn’t take his gaze away from Kim and deep down he knew it wasn’t because the Dom she was talking to was young and inexperienced. What the hell was he going to do?
Finishing his beer, Justin continued to watch the exchange and forced himself to remain firmly planted in his seat. Every time the other Dom’s fingers brushed her hand, the beer Justin drank churned sour in his gut. Kim didn’t pull away or send the man packing when he ran a single finger down her arm, and for a moment, Justin thought that was it. That was the night when she was going to say yes to one of the Doms at the club, maybe just to spite him, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to remember all the reasons why he couldn’t...shouldn’t intervene. Why, despite the other Dom being young and inexperienced, Kim finally accepting and exploring her submissive nature was a good thing.
“Looks like you dodged another bullet,” Brandon said as he wiped down the bar a couple of feet away.
“What?”
Brandon nodded for Justin to look behind him.
Justin turned to see Kim rejoining her group of friends, the other Dom moving on to another unattached sub. His shoulders sagged in relief.
Brandon shook his head. “What are you going to do when she takes one of them up on their offer to play? You know Mistress Katrina isn’t going to be happy if you punch one of the other Doms for laying a hand on a girl you haven’t claimed.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Maybe Justin should stop coming to the club for a while.
But even as that thought formed in his head, he knew he couldn’t...wouldn’t do that. What if something happened and she needed him?
Then...what if something happened and she didn’t? In theory, helping her find a Dom was the right thing to do. It was logical. But what he was feeling at that moment wasn’t logical. He wasn’t even sure it was sane.
Brandon rested his elbows on the bar. It was the middle of January and the club wasn’t as busy as it usually was. Normally, Brandon wouldn’t have time to question him, but as luck would have it, no one was currently in need of his services.
“I’m not going to punch anyone,” Justin said.
The bartender raised an eyebrow. The look of doubt clear on his face.
“I haven’t punched any of them yet,” Justin mumbled and downed the rest of his water.
“Yet being the operative word in that sentence.” Brandon stepped away for a second to hand one of the other Doms a bottle of water for their sub, then returned to stand in front of Justin. Brandon looked him over and sighed. “If you’re not gonna play with Kim, then how about one of the other subs? Bridget’s here tonight.”
Bridget was one of the submissives Justin regularly played with. Or had been before Kim joined the club.
Justin snorted. He’d attempted to play with one sub since that night he’d spent with Kim, and it had been lacking, to say the least. It was pathetic and even he knew it. He couldn’t remain celibate for the rest of his life.
As rational as Brandon’s advice was, the thought of playing with Bridget or anyone else held no appeal for him. He really was screwed.
“I’ll take another,” Justin said, lifting the empty beer bottle in front of him. It would be his last given the club rules. Mistress Katrina didn’t bend the rules for anyone.
“You know,” Brandon said, “if all you’re going to do is drink beer, you could do that at a regular bar. Or at home.” He paused. “Of course, at home the view isn’t quite as nice.”
Kim was making her way to the dance floor with Lady Beth. Justin watched as Kim swayed her hips to the music, making his fingers itch to touch her. By the time they stopped dancing, he’d finished his beer and had switched back to water.
Kim headed to the bathroom, but before she went inside, she glanced toward the bar. Her gaze met his and he felt that spark all over again. The smile that had been gracing her face for the last half hour disappeared. Their gazes locked for a long moment, then her attention was pulled away when someone exited the bathroom. Justin’s chest clinched as he watched her walk away. He had to do something.
Before he knew what he was doing, Justin slid off the barstool and made a beeline for the bathrooms. He took up a position right outside, waiting for Kim to come out.
Justin got several curious glances as he stood, not so patiently, against the wall. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing. All he knew was that he needed to talk to her.
Her eyes went wide the moment she saw him hovering outside the bathroom entrance. Then he saw her stubbornness kick in. She straightened her shoulders and closed the distance between them.
The crazy thing was, he had no idea what he was going to say. Waiting for her to come out had been impulsive, which wasn’t like him at all. He’d learned long ago that it was much better to go into things with a plan.
“Dance with me.” He didn’t know where that had come from, but now that it was out there, he was craving the opportunity to get his hands on her.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why’s that?” he asked.
She pressed her lips together like she did when she was trying not to lose her temper. For some reason, that excited him more. It was an irrational reaction, but that seemed to be the norm for him when it came to Kim.
“Aren’t you worried that might give the other Doms the wrong impression?”
He took a step toward her without thinking about it. “What do you mean?”
Kim lifted her chin, not backing down despite their closeness. “I’m supposed to be finding a Dom, aren’t I? If they see me dancing with you, they might think we’re a couple, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?”
A shot of jealously surged through him and he took another step forward, bringing her close enough to touch. He saw the muscles in her throat contract as she swallowed, and her chest rose and fell more rapidly at his proximity. She was as affected by him as he was by her, which was the problem. “Dance with me.”
This time when he said it, the words were barely above a whisper. It wasn’t a demand, but a plea.
Justin held his breath until she nodded, giving him the permission he was seeking. He wasted no time taking her hand and leading her onto the dance floor. Pulling her into his arms, he closed his eyes and savored the feel of her body against him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and moved with him to the slow beat pulsing out of the speakers. Mark was going to kill him.
