His Angel (14 page)

Cassandra's face lit up. "Yes, Master Brody. I will. Thank you, Sir."

The submissive walked away, smiling, and Brody excused himself before heading toward the grand staircase. Master Carl left them a minute later and Ian looked at Angie. "Ready to go downstairs?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. She’d made it this far, so what the hell. "Yes, Sir. I am."

"Good, because so am I." He had the smile on his face which always got her nervous and wet at the same time and her heart rate increased. He took her almost empty glass and left it on the bar with his own, explaining that only bottled water was allowed in the pit so the submissives walking around barefoot didn't have to worry about broken glass. Taking her hand, he led her to the stairs and gave her membership card to the security guard standing at the top. The man scanned it and then Kristen's before handing them back to the two Dom's. Ian escorted her down the stairs followed by Devon and Kristen. They were about to break away from the other couple, when a much younger Dom approached them requesting to talk to Ian and Devon in private for a moment. Ian had mentioned earlier his cousin Mitch, who managed the club, was home with the flu for a few days, so Ian or Devon might need to take care of a few things in his place. "Kristen, would you mind showing Angie the submissive waiting area? This will take a few minutes."

Kristen looked at her Dom for permission and he nodded. "Yes, Sir. Come on, Angie. I'll introduce you to some of the other subs."

Before Kristen had a chance to lead her away, Ian gave Angie a quick kiss. "Stay there until I come for you. There's a DM standing nearby if there are any problems which there shouldn't be. Okay?"

"Yes, Sir."

She was glad he took the time to make sure she was comfortable with leaving him because it made her feel safe. Kristen brought her to a sitting area halfway between the stairs and the stage where several other submissives were sitting and talking. One of them was Shelby, who jumped up and gave Kristen a hug. Her friend explained that Shelby was one of her Beta-readers and had arranged for her to tour the club with Master Mitch. It was during the fateful tour, the author found out her date for that night, Devon, was part owner of the place.

The two women introduced her to four other submissives, two male and two female. They all took seats on the couches, ottomans and winged-back chairs and began to fill in the newest member of the club on all the gossip. All of a sudden, one of the male subs, who was also a newer member, gasped. "Who is
that
talking to Masters Devon and Ian? He's absolutely scrumptious."

Everyone turned to look back toward the stairs to see the younger Dom had stepped away from the two men and they now stood talking to an older Chris Hemsworth look-a-like. Even from where the subs sat, they could see his stunning blue eyes, and with his shoulder length, dark blonde hair and chiseled face, the man was an utter hunk. If any submissive met the six-foot-four man outside of a club, they would immediately recognize his status as a Dom. He carried himself in a commanding, mysterious manner and Angie guessed the man was popular with the subs unless he had one of his own. Dressed in brown leather pants, boots and a tan T-shirt which hugged his muscular torso and arms, the man was swoon-worthy.

It was Shelby who clued everyone in after letting out a dramatic sigh. "
That
is Master Carter. He's such a dreamboat."

Angie almost chuckled because it seemed as if Shelby thought most good-looking men were 'dreamboats,' but Kristen's sharp inhalation caught her attention. She looked at her new friend to see the woman had her mouth open and was staring wide-eyed at the three men. "
That's
Master Carter? Holy crap!"

Shelby looked incredulous. "Haven't you met him yet, Kristen? Oh that's right; I don't think he's been here for about six months, so I guess it makes sense."

"I've, uh, met him, sort of, but I didn't know what he looked like." Kristen didn't look away from the men and her answer had the other submissives eyeing her curiously.

Looking back at the male trio, Angie was about to ask her what she was talking about when she noticed Masters Devon and Carter were smiling broadly while staring at Kristen. She thought there might be a story behind the men's gazes but Angie wasn't sure what it was. Master Carter suddenly winked at Kristen as Master Devon crooked his finger at his fiancée in a command for her to come to him. Kristen stood but seemed to remember she was watching Angie for Ian and paused. Shelby eased her obvious concern. "I'll take care of Angie. Go before you earn a spanking, although I'll trade places with you if you want."

Shelby giggled when Kristen didn't answer her and rushed to her Dom's side, blushing furiously when Master Carter took her hand and kissed it. Angie now knew there was definitely a story between the three and vowed to ask her friend about if she saw her later. She was so wrapped up in what was going on with the trio, she didn't realize Ian had approached her until he stood in front of her blocking the view of the rest of the huge room. He greeted the other subs by name as he held out his hand for her to take and helped her stand. "Come along, Angel. We'll walk around for a bit and you can observe some of the scenes then maybe we can have one of our own."

Angie felt warm wet heat between her legs as she wondered what Ian was going to do for her first public scene. Although they'd gone over her limit list, he hadn't decided what would happen tonight, telling her he wanted to see her reactions first.

Ian started her tour at a spanking bench, since she'd already gotten a taste of it earlier in the week. In addition to bare handed spanking, she was able to see a flogging, paddling and cropping. Moving on to other areas, there was a male submissive shackled to the wall wearing nipple clamps, a very large vibrating anal plug and a cock ring. The Domme was sucking on her sub's cock yet denying the man an orgasm as punishment for an unknown infraction and Angie almost felt sorry for the guy.

A scene involving a violet wand caught Angie's attention and after seeing it to the end she asked Ian if she could modify her limit list. She hadn't known what electric play entailed and so she'd placed it in her hard limit column but now she wanted to try it sometime. He told her he was pleased she was keeping an open mind and was willing to grow with her new knowledge.

They stopped at a station which was larger than the others because it was used for bullwhip scenes and it gave the Doms the room they needed for the longer whip. Currently, Master Jake was whipping a female sub while a male knelt nearby on the floor, awaiting his turn. Ian explained how Jake had mastered the bullwhip over many years and was often asked by unattached subs to perform whipping scenes with them. Other Doms would also request for Jake to service their subs when they didn't have the expertise to do it themselves. Mistress China and Master Carl were also in high demand as Whip Masters and the three tended to alternate Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights between them to give the others a chance to have nights off. Each session with a sub was on average about fifteen minutes and with several sessions scheduled per night, swinging a bullwhip for almost two hours straight was a strain on the upper arms and back.

The naked sub strapped to the St. Andrew's cross was slipping into sub-space and Jake slowed his strikes but the crack of the whip still could be heard over the club music. Her back, buttocks and upper thighs were covered in red slash marks but not one of the strikes had broken her skin. Without warning, the moaning woman's knees gave out and Jake dropped the whip, rushing over to help her Dom release the woman from her restraints. Her Master wrapped her in a blanket, picked her up in his arms and carried her to a nearby chaise lounge followed by the Whip Master. Laying her down gently on her stomach, the Dom pushed her hair away from her face and said something in her ear which made her nod her head although her eyes never opened. Jake monitored the exchange from beside them until he was satisfied the submissive was okay. Leaving her to her Dom's after-care, he strode back to the station where the waiting sub was wiping down the cross with citrus scented cleanser so he could take his turn.

Angie watched as Jake ran a towel across his sweaty face and wondered why he didn't take off his soaking wet T-shirt since she was sure he would be more comfortable. He had a muscular body and she didn’t doubt he would make the subs drool if he went shirtless.

"He has some scars on his back which he doesn't let most people see," Ian said. "They aren't as bad as he seems to think they are, but he's still self-conscious about them."

She didn't realize she'd voiced her thought aloud. "Did he get them in combat like you did?"

Ian shook his head as another Dom and his male submissive approached to speak with him. "No, sweetheart, he got them when he was younger and it's his tale to tell you if he chooses to. Excuse me for a minute." He turned and began to talk to the other two men, while Angie watched Jake restrain the male submissive who'd stripped his clothes off and stood there naked.

While the Dom started with a light flogging as a warm-up, Angie scanned the areas around her. Nearby she saw a man talking to Shelby but it was obvious the woman didn't want anything to do with him. The blue-haired sub was about to walk away from him when the man reared back and, much to Angie’s horror, backhanded her across the face.

Ian was talking to a D/s couple when several things happened almost at once behind him. First, he heard a female cry out in pain, but it wasn't a normal cry he heard throughout the club on a regular basis. A second later he heard Angie scream his name and other people shout. In the mere seconds it took for him to turn around and locate the problem, Angie was gone from his side.

Panic seized him as he ran over to where a crowd had quickly gathered near the submissive waiting area. Pushing his way through, he took in the sight before him. Marco in his Dungeon Master gold vest had some guy face down into the floor, his eyes glaring with anger. One arm was yanked up the man's back in a hold he couldn't get out of, even though he was yelling and trying his best to shake the DM loose. Angie and Mistress China were kneeling on the floor, comforting Shelby who had tears coming from her shocked eyes and was holding her trembling hand to her face. From the look on Mistress China's face, the guy being detained was lucky Marco had gotten to him first. The diminutive Asian-American woman took great pleasure in giving pain to submissives and, at the moment, she looked ready to unleash her fury. Ian didn't recognize the man but spotted the yellow band on the guy's wrist indicating he was the guest of a member just as Master Parker pushed through the crowd.

Parker Christiansen was a long time member whose construction company had done a majority of the renovations throughout the compound, and was a well-liked and respected Dom. At the moment though, he looked confused and pissed as he addressed the guy Marco had pinned. "What the fuck, Dave? What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. Now get this fucking gorilla off me. I'm going to sue if he doesn't get off me." Whoever Dave was, he was the complete opposite of Parker. Whereas Parker was a confident Dom, this guy came off as a whiny jackass.

Marco growled but wouldn't let the man up. Instead he glowered at Parker and Ian. "This asshole backhanded Shelby. I had people in my way and couldn't get here fast enough to stop him."

Ian was pissed but Parker was beyond livid. He looked at the crying submissive and it appeared he was going to explode. He clenched his jaw. "He's my brother. Let him up, Marco."

Marco looked at Parker and then at Ian. Tiny and several other security guards had pushed the crowd back to give the Doms some room. Ian stood with his arms crossed and studied Parker's face. What he saw had him nodding once to Marco, who released Dave and got to his feet after giving the guy a final shove in the back. As Dave stood, he was stupid enough to say, "What's the big deal? Everyone is slapping women around here, and I get in trouble for what you all are doing."

Dave brushed himself off and Parker took a step closer to him, his voice low and barely controlled. "You okay?"

Not seeing the fury on Parker's face, the guy grinned. "Yeah, Park, I'm fine."

"Good." The Dom nodded his head once, then punched his brother in the face, knocking the bastard out. Without giving the prone man another glance, Parker hurried over to Shelby and crouched down in front of her. "I'm so sorry, Shelby. It's my fault. I shouldn't have left him alone."

He helped her stand but Mistress China and Angie stayed by her side for support. Parker gently pulled Shelby's hand from her cheek and growled, "I'm going to kill him," when he saw the red and swollen area which was starting to bruise.

She grabbed his forearm, her eyes wide. "No, don't, Sir. I should have grabbed Master Marco or one of the other DMs. He was trying to negotiate with me. I saw his guest wristband and knew he wasn't allowed to play but he wouldn't take no for an answer. When I tried to walk away, he hit me."

Parker drew the sub into his arms and held her for a moment while everyone else looked on. Ian cocked his head at Tiny who began breaking up the crowd with the other guards. The Head Dom then spoke to Parker. "Let's take this to the office. What do you want us to do with him?"

Parker didn't answer Ian right away, obviously too worried about Shelby. "Go to the ladies' lounge and put some ice on your cheek. When I'm done with Ian and my asshole brother, I'll take you home."

The man's lack of using Ian's Master title in front of a sub told the Head Dom how shaken the other man was.

"You...you don't have to do that, I can drive myself." Shelby's face flushed and she wouldn't look at Parker. She seemed almost shy about being in the Dom's arms, and Ian found it interesting since the pretty sub was such an outgoing person.

"I need to do this, Shelby, please. I need to make sure you're okay and get home safe. This is not negotiable." He tipped her chin up with his fingers and made her look at him. "Please."

She bit her lip but nodded her consent. Mistress China wrapped her arm around the sub's shoulder and eased her from Parker's arms. Despite being a bit of a sadist, the Domme tended to be a mother hen to the submissives. "I'll take care of her. We'll be in the lounge when you're ready."

Parker nodded his thanks to her while Ian spoke to Angie. "I'm sorry but I have to take care of this. Please go with them and wait for me in the lounge. I'll be a few minutes."

"Yes, Sir."

He was surprised at the fierce look she threw at the still unconscious Dave. He almost expected her to kick the guy as she followed the other two women. Marco also went with them after asking another DM to cover his station. Ian could see his teammate was upset for not being able to stop the assault before it happened. He could be a big marshmallow when it came to the submissives and was the one they tended to go to if they needed someone to talk to or some comfort.

Ian asked one of the nearby waitresses to bring an ice-pack to Shelby before turning to Parker who still seemed like he wanted to commit familial homicide. The other Dom handed his keys to Tiny and asked him to not-so-gently throw his brother in the back seat of his truck so he could drive him back to the guy's motel. He then turned to Ian, his face filled with regret. "Let's get this over with."

A few minutes later, Parker was pacing behind the closed door of Mitch's office as Ian sat against the front of the desk and watched him. "Fuck! I'm so sorry, Ian. I was only gone two minutes to take a fucking piss. I told him not to move from where we were sitting. He fucking knew he wasn't allowed to play or approach any subs. The only reason I even brought him here is he called me a few weeks ago and said he wanted to see the place while he was in town on business. Said he and his wife were thinking about joining a club in Boston. I knew I shouldn't have brought him here. He doesn't understand the lifestyle the way I do. I know he's cheated on his wife before but I didn't think he was stupid enough to try something here. Fuck! I'm going to kill him."

Ian let him rant for another minute before the irate man at last took a deep breath and glanced at him. "I broke the rules. Do what you have to do." He plopped down into one of the chairs and hung his head in defeat.

Ian felt bad for the Dom. On top of being a nice guy, he was also one of the club's Dungeon Masters, and the last thing he would want was for someone to be hurt because of his actions, especially a submissive. But the rules had to be enforced. "I'm sorry I have to do this but you know you're not supposed to leave a guest alone for this exact reason. You should have asked a DM or guard to watch him for the time you needed to leave him alone." The other man nodded but didn't say anything. "I have to suspend your play privileges for the next twelve weeks. During that time, you'll take three DM shifts per week. I'll check the schedule and coordinate the dates and times with you tomorrow. Your guest privileges will also be suspended for two years."

Parker snorted. "Don't worry. I think this is the last time I'll bring anyone here whether they're in the lifestyle or not." He ran his hand down his face as he stood again. "I'll be back for Shelby in a few minutes. Dave's motel is about five minutes from here. I'll dump him into his room and come back. If I thought a cab would pick up the unconscious asshole, I'd call one. But since Shelby's being taken care of by China and Marco, I'll get rid of him first."

Ian nodded and followed him out of the office. At the main double doors, Parker continued out to the lobby while Ian took the door and stairs leading into the women's locker room. He found the three women and Marco sitting in the lounging area with Shelby sitting on the Dom's lap as he cradled her, talking softly. When she spotted Ian, she jumped up and latched onto his arm with a pleading expression on her face. "Master Ian! Please don't discipline Master Parker. It wasn't his fault. I don't want him to get into trouble. Please don't kick him out of the club. It's all my fault. I should've walked away sooner."

Marco and Mistress China both growled at her inappropriate guilt and Ian grabbed the near hysterical submissive by her shoulders and guided her to sit down in an empty chair. This wasn't like her; Ian had never seen the bubbly submissive upset before. "Calm down, Shelby." His order was given in a commanding tone which instantly quieted the woman as he intended. "Master Parker knows he broke the rules and there are consequences for what happened. None of which was your fault and I don't want to hear those words out of your mouth again. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir. But..."

"No buts, Shelby." He didn't make a habit of discussing a member's discipline with others but he needed to reassure the worried sub. "I didn't revoke Master Parker's membership but he did receive a suspension for his irresponsible actions. He accepted full blame for what happened and agreed with the punishment. Now, he'll be back in a few minutes to take you home so why don't you grab your things from your locker and change. Okay?"

Still crying softly, she stood and mumbled, "Yes, Sir."

Ian pulled her into his arms and hugged her. "It'll be okay, little one. I promise. I think the best thing you can do is dry your eyes and when Master Parker comes back, give him some of your sass we all love so much and let him take care of you. I think it'll make both of you feel better, hmm?"

She pulled back and gave him a watery smile. "Yes, Sir. Thank you."

Marco took her arm and gave her a quick hug also, kissing her on the top of her blue-haired head. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me."

"It's okay, Master Marco. You got there as fast as you could."

He gave her another squeeze and let her go to her locker before turning to Angie who'd been sitting quietly on the couch next to Mistress China. His steel grey eyes bore into her. "And you, little subbie, have some explaining to do to your Master."

What?
As Ian's expression became stern, Angie's eyes widened in confusion. "What did you do, Angel?"

"I-I didn't do anything."

She looked back and forth between the two Doms, as if not quite sure what Marco was referring to. Mistress China, in her black full-length bodysuit and over-the-thigh boots, grinned and sat back to enjoy the show.

Marco shook his head and told Ian, "Your little sub tried to get to the jackass before I did. She was ready to jump on his back and start pounding on him. I almost tackled her by accident trying to take him down."

Ian's eyes narrowed at her as the Domme next to her sing-songed, "Somebody's in trouble."

Ignoring the other woman, he took a step forward to his very worried looking submissive. "Is that true, Angel?"

"I-I just reacted. I saw him hit Shelby and I..." Her words trail off. Ian knew the moment she figured out there was nothing she could say which would get her out of the mess she found herself in. She swung her gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry, Sir."

His hands on his hips, Ian tilted his head back and talked to the ceiling for a moment. "Lord, save me from subs who want to beat up people in my club and put themselves in danger." Marco snorted, knowing Ian was referring to his future sister-in-law's own fight in the locker room several months earlier which earned her the call sign 'Ninja-girl' from the rest of the team. The big difference between the two incidents was Kristen had been taller and about twenty pounds heavier than Heather and another sub Michelle, and had taken self-defense classes. Parker's brother outweighed Angie by a good one hundred and twenty pounds and had already hit another woman. Ian's gaze returned to Angie's face. "You may be sorry now but you'll be extremely sorry after I spank your pretty ass for putting yourself in danger." He ignored her surprised gasp. "We have DM's and guards for a reason in the club, Angel. We do not need little subs disregarding their own safety. You didn't know him, he's a hell of a lot bigger than you and he could have hurt you before anyone had a chance to do anything."

“Your right, Sir.” She nodded. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just couldn't believe he'd hit Shelby and my first instinct was to attack him before he struck her again.”

Her agreement didn’t change Ian’s mind about her punishment as he turned to Marco. "Would you find a free spanking station and ask someone to grab my bag from behind the bar, please?"

The other Dom nodded and said to Angie before he left the room, "I'm sorry, little one, but you earned it."

She watched him walk away with her mouth wide open, then looked up at Ian with her apprehension evident on her face. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

When she paused, Ian's expression tempered and he let out a deep, slow breath. He squatted in front of her and took her hands in his. "I'm not angry, sweetheart. I heard you yell and turned around and didn't see you. I panicked. My stomach dropped and I was terrified something happened to you. And because you acted with no regard for your own safety, you've earned your first public spanking." His stare never wavered and let her process what he'd said.