Clifftop Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (17 page)

“Oh. Okay,” Allie said, considering that. “What are you called?”

“I have no family or social standing to speak of,” he said, laughing. “Everybody knows me as Karl, and that’s fine. But think about it as we go in. You’ll need to give your legal name to the club owner for liability purposes, but you can introduce yourself to everyone else however you want.”

He got out and went around to open her door. She looked up, suddenly feeling terrified again. Even her career as an erotic model seemed suddenly tamer than what she was about to do, and she wanted more than anything to slam the car door shut and lock it. But that was silly. He did have the car keys, after all.

Then he smiled, and it was as if his smile lit up the night. She felt a warmth steal over her, and her irrational fears melted away. Karl wasn’t going to hurt her. She was absolutely confident about that. He wouldn’t let anyone else hurt her, either. She was perfectly safe getting out of the car and going into the club with him.

She stepped out and took his proffered hand, returning his smile, although hers was a little shaky.

“Okay, let’s go,” she said in answer to his upraised eyebrows. As he led her to the door, she looked up and down his outfit. He wore a leather vest that she hadn’t seen before, with pins covering one side of the front that he had explained were from various events he’d been to. She hadn’t dared ask him what kind of events they’d been. The only thing he wore that wasn’t black was the gray shirt under the vest. His pants fit him perfectly, outlining a gorgeous ass that Allie could barely take her eyes off. The thudding of his boots on the concrete gave her the impression that she was a movie star with a huge, loyal bodyguard escorting her into an opening-night party.

He paid her entry fee as she filled out required paperwork and handed over her driver’s license to be photocopied. The woman running the door gave her a look that Allie couldn’t read, but Karl introduced them casually, as if he brought new women here every time he came. He led her into the main room, where most of the people either called out a greeting to him or came rushing up to be hugged.

Looking around, the part of Allie’s brain that had been criticizing her outfit instantly relaxed. Judging by the rest of the women, she was almost overdressed. Many wore corsets that either barely covered their breasts or didn’t at all. There were lots of other types of costumes, mostly very revealing, some simply cute. Two women in schoolgirl outfits chatted by the door, and someone wearing an evening gown—it looked like a man, but Allie couldn’t be sure—was setting out more snacks. Another girl walked past wearing nothing but body paint in zebra stripes. She had hooves on her hands, and a tail flounced behind her. Allie tried to look to see how the tail was attached, although she didn’t want to stare. A few women were naked apart from collars and leashes, kneeling by the feet of men dressed like Karl, in leather pants and vests. Some women had men sitting at their feet, which surprised Allie, even though Karl had told her that women as well as men were into domination and there were plenty of male submissives.

What was most surprising was the fact that these people weren’t the bony, ultra-chic club types that Allie had been expecting. They looked very ordinary, aside from their outrageous outfits. Most were older than her, and the women were all shapes and sizes. Nobody seemed to be concerned with whether they were too old or fat to show their bodies in public, and no one seemed to be judging them for it. The laughter and chatter in the room seemed much more genuine and friendly than in the meat markets Allie had visited in her single days. If she’d closed her eyes she would have thought she was at a PTA meeting or a church social.

Karl got drinks for them both and led her to a couch where two women were sitting. He said, “Hello, Beth. How are you?” to the one who was obviously the dominant. She wore a long leather skirt and a silver-and-red corset. Another woman wearing a lace bodysuit and heavy chain collar sat on a cushion at her feet. She nodded and smiled but did not speak.

“Hello, Karl,” Beth said, leaning forward to offer her hand. Karl shook it and nodded at Allie. She wondered for a moment why he didn’t introduce them, but then remembered his talk in the car about “scene names.”

She leaned forward and shook Beth’s hand, saying, “Hello. I’m Allie Sin.” It had been her modeling name and was the first thing that came to mind.

Beth smiled at her and indicated the woman at her feet. “And this is april.”

Allie and Karl sat down, and Beth regarded her thoughtfully. “Allie Sin?” she repeated. “That sounds familiar. Have you been here before?”

Allie shook her head. “No, I’ve never been to a club like this at all,” she said, then found that for the first time she had absolutely no hesitation in mentioning her past. “I used to do modeling—years and years ago—and it was the name I used then.”

Beth thought for a minute. Her eyes went wide. “You’re not—excuse me for asking this, and feel free not to answer if you prefer, but are you Allen Walker’s daughter?”

Allie glanced at Karl, who shrugged slightly, as if telling her it was her own choice how to answer.

“Yes,” she said finally. “How did you know?”

“It seems that I remember your father telling me a little about your work,” Beth answered, seeming almost embarrassed. “I don’t want to advertise your identity or anything, but that name might be more known here than you were aware.”

Allie thought about it. “I guess I don’t have a problem with that,” she finally said. Karl nodded in approval.

“So you’ve taken over his house?” Beth asked curiously. She seemed to be asking Allie but shot Karl a questioning look.

“We’re considering which aspects of the house Allie wants to take over,” he said, and Beth nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

At that moment, Jane walked into the room. She was wearing what looked like a cross between a minidress and a negligee, and what must have been seven-inch heels. The dress was constructed mostly of deep-blue lace, almost completely see-through, unlike Allie’s outfit, which only hinted at what lay beneath. Jane’s gorgeous shoes were a matching shade. She looked spectacular. It made Allie wish again that she had been more careful about keeping her figure.

Karl looked up, alerting Beth to the fact that something interesting was behind her. She twisted a little awkwardly in her corset to see. When she turned back, looking horrified, she exchanged a meaningful look with Karl, who stood up.

“Jane,” he greeted her stiffly as she rushed over, holding out her arms to hug Allie. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

Allie looked from Jane to Karl, trying to gauge how she should react to this situation. She had a feeling, from what Karl had told her earlier, that there was a lot of history here and she needed to be careful about taking sides. There was also a moment of alarm when Allie half expected to see Brad following in Jane’s wake. Jane’s arms were thrown enthusiastically around her as if they had been separated for years instead of just since that morning. After a moment of consideration, Allie allowed it but carefully avoided encouraging her, leaning slightly toward Karl as soon as she was released.

“I couldn’t resist the urge to come back and visit!” Jane gushed as she wedged herself firmly between Allie and the arm of the sofa. Karl sat back down on her other side. His face had a hard, set look, and his body was rigid. Allie felt like a tiger cub whose mother is preparing to pounce on an intruder. Her skin tingled with the energy that was almost visibly sparking between the two people on either side of her.

“Hello, Jane.” Beth inclined her head slightly but did not smile or offer a hand to be shaken. Jane flashed a smirk in her general direction and then seemed to decide to pretend the other woman didn’t exist. She turned back to Allie, smiling broadly.

“How
are
you, sweetie?” Jane put an arm around Allie’s shoulders, trying to pull her even closer. Allie resisted, deciding that she didn’t care if it seemed rude. It was as if she was the prize in a tug-of-war between Jane and Karl.

Several people had turned in their direction, even though no one else was coming forward to welcome Jane back. Allie glanced around the room before turning back to Jane and pasting what she hoped looked like an obviously fake smile on her face.

“I’m fine,” she said in an overly cheerful voice, like she might have used to an obnoxious three-year-old. “Thanks so much for coming by to introduce yourself and offer your condolences for my father. It was lovely to meet you. Are you heading back to LA soon?”

Jane laughed and leaned into her, as if Allie had made an extremely clever joke. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of leaving while I can help out.” She winked at Karl. “I’m sure there’s a lot to be done with the place.”

“Nothing that we can’t handle,” Karl said, smiling pleasantly back. The smile didn’t reach his eyes, though, and Allie glanced over to see if she could tell what Beth was thinking.

Beth was watching Jane with a keen, appraising look but met Allie’s eyes briefly, then touched april’s shoulder, whispering into her ear as the submissive stretched herself upward to listen.

april nodded, got to her feet and left the room. Allie became aware of Jane saying, “—adore what Allie’s been doing with the rooms, and I’d love to help with the decoration.” She could feel Karl stiffening beside her, and she remembered what he’d said about not using real names at the club. She thought about saying something, but she thought it would sound catty. She’d already told Beth her name, anyway.

She broke into Jane’s comments instead. “That’s absolutely lovely of you, Jane, but I wouldn’t dream of keeping you away from your company. I’m sure they’re just lost without you. Didn’t you say it was a modeling agency?”

Jane blinked at her, and Karl gave her hand a small squeeze. That must be the right direction to go, she thought. When Jane didn’t say anything for a few seconds, she added cheerfully, “Besides, we have so much business to take care of before we can really start to advertise the place. If Karl can stand my imposing on him some more for his help, I’m sure we can handle the work.” She turned herself back toward him with a bright smile that she hoped would put her squarely on Karl’s side in the mind of the crowd. She had no doubt from their faces that, if she wanted to be part of this community, that was the place to be.

And she was fairly certain she wanted to be part of this community. Her attempts to network with other business owners in town had met, for the most part, with indifference. People had either smiled halfheartedly when she introduced herself or regarded her almost with alarm. She had been confused by that before, but now she understood it much better. Her house had been known by the uninformed as a place for sexual perversions and porn. She was beginning to suspect there was much more to this group of people than those things and that her standing as Allen Walker’s daughter could put her in a unique position with them, totally apart from her past as a nude model. But she found, for the first time in her life, that she was actually proud of that past and wanted to talk about it. She knew that no one here would condemn her for it or assume that she must be a brainless slut in order to have done such things.

But she was beginning to understand that she couldn’t be seen as aligning herself with Jane. The community was no doubt aware of the split in her father’s house, and if she hadn’t believed Karl’s story before, she would have been convinced now from the way people were backing away from their little group, glancing over their shoulders as if they were taking bets on how this confrontation would go.

april came back into the room then, followed by a young man dressed only in a leather thong, with a heavy chain around his neck. He looked vaguely familiar to Allie, but she couldn’t imagine where she might have seen him before. As april took her place again, the young man knelt in front of Jane, who regarded him with a surprised and slightly displeased look.

“Mistress,” he said, bowing his head until it almost touched her dark-blue high-heeled shoes. “May I serve you this evening?”

“Of course, steven,” Jane said after a moment, and he kissed her foot reverently. “Would you get me a drink, please?”

“With delight, Mistress,” he said, bouncing up and heading to the refrigerator in the corner. Before Jane could go back to her assurances that she would stay by Allie’s side as long as she was needed, he was back, curling up almost into a ball in front of them and holding a Coke above his bent head.

Jane took it with a small sigh, and his face popped back up, smiling broadly. “Would you care to come into the next room where I can make you comfortable and massage your enchanting feet?”

“Right now?” she began, looking a little angry, when Karl stood up, holding out a hand to help Allie to her feet.

“Shall we take a tour through the dungeon?”

As she gratefully took Karl’s arm and walked toward the door, Allie glanced back at steven. He was stroking Jane’s leg and asking which of the array of snacks she was most tempted by, but she thought she saw him shoot her a quick wink. Allie had no idea why steven, Beth, and april would be running interference for them, but she suspected they had more tricks up their nonexistent sleeves in case Jane made an attempt to follow.

She took the opportunity to whisper to Karl as they left the room, “What’s going on?”

He smiled down at her. “Jane is not about to win any popularity contests around here,” he said in a low voice. “She did her best to portray herself as an innocent victim when Allen kicked her out, but most people saw her for what she was.”