McKenzie, Cooper - A Club Esoteria Christmas [Club Esoteria 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (7 page)

Chapter 7

Once the door shut behind them, Dane watched as Merlin shifted into professional mode. He had seen him like this with injured children a couple of times, but to watch him deal with Sloan as he did the kids under his care revealed once again the depth of compassion and love the man had.

Dane laid his armload of woman on the exam table after Merlin had covered it with a large towel from the bathroom. Though he wanted to help in any way he could, he felt like a hippo at a swan’s ballet, large, clumsy, and completely useless. But by the way Merlin was moving around, opening drawers and pulling out supplies, Dane knew that his assistance wasn’t needed. At least not yet.

“Master, if you could help her take off her panties,” Merlin said without looking in his direction as he opened yet another set of cabinets.

Instead of helping Sloan, Dane reached down and slid a hand down each hip between the thin strip of fabric and her skin. A quick yank and the panties were off.

“Master! What am I going to wear now?” Sloan asked, her voice soft and laced with pain.

“Don’t worry, angel, we’ll figure something out. Or maybe I’ll just carry you out of here with nothing.”

He smiled when her eyes got big and she stared at him with the same shy expression that had won him over the night he had bought her at the charity slave auction more than a year and a half before.

“You wouldn’t.”

He moved up the side of the bed and leaned down until they were nose to nose. “Do you really want to test me on that?”

She blinked and moved her head slowly from side to side. “No, Master.”

He gave her a quick kiss, pulling away when she gasped with obvious pain. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard as another contraction swept through her body.

“Merlin, what the fuck is taking you so long?”

“Breathe, Master. I’m ready,” his man said, rolling a medical stand across the room. He had donned a pair of rubber gloves and moved to stand at the foot of the exam table. “Sloan, I need you to put your feet in the stirrups and drop your knees as wide as you can.”

“No,” Sloan cried, turning her head as she brought up her free hand to cover her face.

“Angel, we need to know what’s going on, and the only way I can tell is to examine you,” Merlin said, his soothing voice sounding a little strained as he moved one of her feet into a stirrup and strapped it in.

“Not you.”

“Why not, little one?” Merlin asked. He pulled her down the table before moving her other foot to the stirrup and wrapping the Velcro strap around it as well.

“Because…because…just because,” she replied, her voice tight with pain.

“Angel, I’ve seen your pussy before. I’ve touched it and licked it, too. Why can’t I see it now?”

Dane was shocked to see that using logic seemed to reach her. Plus the contraction seemed to be passing and she wasn’t squeezing his hand so tightly any more. With a deep breath that she released in a rush, she looked up at him as she dropped her knees apart.

“This is so embarrassing,” she whispered.

“As Merlin just said, we’ve seen, touched, and tasted every inch of you. There is no need to be embarrassed now.” Dane brushed some stray hairs off her damp forehead.

“Yeah, but…it’s still embarrassing.”

“Want me to take your mind off it?” Dane offered. “You could suck my cock if you wanted. I could play with your nipples. Or if you’re really feeling daring, I could get the flogger and—”

“No need, Master. I’m done,” Merlin said as he released her ankles. “But we do need to get her to the hospital and soon.”

Dane felt himself go pale and stepped away from the table so he could lean against the wall. He knew Merlin was lying, but at this moment refused to call him on it. Obviously something was wrong and his lover did not want Sloan to know.

“Should I call an ambulance, or should we just take her ourselves?”

“I do not want my babies born in a sex club,” Sloan stated flatly, though he and Merlin both ignored her.

“I’d feel better if we had an ambulance take her. Could you go have someone take care of that?”

Dane nodded and headed to the door, relieved to be able to do something. “I’ll also gather our gear and say our good-nights to Taurus and Jenna.”

Merlin chuckled. “Yes, Master. You do that.”

* * * *

Antony buckled on his ankle cuffs before leaving the apartment. On his way back to Mistress Jenna, he put both wrist cuffs on and buckled the left one. By the time he opened the back door from the foyer and their private entrance to the club’s main room, he finished securing the left cuff and was struggling with the buckle on the right one.

As he hurried down the hall past the restrooms, he checked the buckles. They were a little looser than they had been eight months ago, but not so much that he would pull out of them. Stepping into the main room, he saw that the talent show had come to an end and there was a line at the buffet in the corner and people were starting to play as they did every other night of the year that the club was open.

Scanning the room, he found Mistress standing in the scene area near a new piece of equipment. Seconds after his eyes latched onto her, she turned and watched him approach.

Though he tried to hurry to her, he was stopped every few feet by friends welcoming him home. He tried not to be rude, but he was in a hurry and told each of them that they would get together and talk in the weeks to come. When he finally reached Mistress, he knelt and assumed the slave position.

“You’re late,” she said.

“I’m sorry, Mistress. I was held up,” he replied. “I accept any additional punishment you feel I deserve for my tardiness.”

She did not answer, and he did not dare look up to read her expression. He had exerted too much disobedience already this week.

“Stand up, pet,” she finally ordered in a gentle tone that belied her dominant spirit.

He rose quickly, gracefully and took the standing pose she demanded. Arms by his side, legs spread shoulder-width apart, and staring at the floor. She stepped up to within a foot of him and wrapped a hand around his neck, sliding her pinkie under his leather collar as she did so.

He did not fight when she pulled his head down to rest on her shoulder. Closing his eyes, he sighed with relief. She would not hold him this way if she was not planning to keep him around, would she?

“Pet, I have missed you so very much there were times I thought I would go insane. Especially these past days when I did not hear from you. Tonight I’m going to flog you to remind you that you belong to me and only me. Then you will receive thirty-seven with the crop, one for each week you have been gone. Then you will receive a stroke with the cane for each day you did not call. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mistress, I understand and accept.”

“What is your safe word?”

“Red, Mistress. My safe word is red.”

“You will not count the strokes tonight, but you also will not come until I say you can. Understand?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“After all, we don’t want you messing up your ribbons,” she said with what sounded like an evil grin. Now let me show you Gentry’s latest addition to the club’s playground.”

She released his neck and stepped back as he straightened. He laid his hand in hers and allowed her to lead him toward the wooden structure that filled the center of the alcove.

Antony looked the device up and down, intrigued by the structure that looked like an inverted U. The vertical posts that looked like telephone poles stood about five feet apart. The crosspiece was a not quite so heavy, but would easily take a large man’s weight if required. He noticed hooks every few inches all along the inside of the frame with lengths of chain attached to all four corners of the square.

“Stand in the center then spread your legs,” she instructed in her power-laced Domme voice.

Without a word, Antony moved into position. He took deep breaths to control the grin of delight that wanted to break out as Mistress attached his cuffs to the chains from the bottom of each post. He made no further move until she took his right arm, pulled it up, and connected it to one of the hooks near the top of the vertical post. Then she did the same with his left arm.

“What’s your safe word again, pet?” she asked as she walked out of sight

“Red, Mistress.”

“Red it is then,” she said.

In the next moment, he felt the many strands of the soft suede flogger stroke across his back for the first time. Closing his eyes, he shut out everything except the feel of the flogger. It had been so long, too long since he’d been in this position or one similar, feeling the heat spread across his skin and deeper. He sighed as his nerve endings jangled and grew warm. It only took a few strokes before he felt himself fly to the place where mind separated from body and he floated in a limbo where all was right with the world. After that, he lost track of everything and simply reveled in being.

Chapter 8

Gentry jumped when the door to the medical playroom flew open and Dane emerged at a trot. The big man did not look his way, but headed down the balcony toward the stairs, obviously focused on whatever task the doctor had sent him to do. Turning to the doorway where the door remained half-open, he stuck his head in, but did not look at the woman on the table who was bare from her bikini top down.

“Merlin, is there anything I can do to help?”

“No thanks, Gentry. I’m going to wrap angel up in a blanket, and we’re going to walk downstairs and wait for the ambulance,” Merlin said as he stepped between Gentry and the table.

“Okay, do you want me to stick around just in case?”

“No, that’s okay. We’ll be fine. Won’t we, angel?”

“Yeah, fine,” the woman responded through gritted teeth as her head and shoulders came up off the table. “Why didn’t you tell me this was going to hurt so fucking much?”

* * * *

Merlin chuckled as he pulled Sloan into a sitting position. “Sweetheart, I couldn’t tell you. I’m a man, remember?”

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” she asked as she hugged him for a moment.

“What makes you think that?”

“You lied to Master. And you look worried. And you asked for an ambulance to come instead of just driving me to the hospital yourself.”

Merlin helped her from table then wrapped a blanket around her. “You’re farther along that I thought you’d be. How long have you been having these contractions?”

Sloan heard the tone shift in his voice and knew he was torn between being her Dom and her doctor. She also knew she had to answer or earn a punishment to be determined later.

“A couple hours now.”

“A couple hours? And you kept it from us? From me?”

Sloan looked up and met his dark eyes filled with worry.

“I figured they were those Braxton-Hicks contractions, and I didn’t want us to miss the party.” She sighed as he frowned at her.

“Well, little girl, we will be missing the rest of the party. And you will be punished for putting yourself and our babies in danger.”

Sloan sighed again. “Yes, Sir.”

“Hold the blanket closed and don’t move if you can help it,” Merlin kissed her then picked her up and headed across the room. “I’m not quite the powerhouse that Master is, and I would hate to drop you as we walk across the bar. I would never live it down.”

* * * *

Gentry closed the door before he heard Merlin answer. He looked around the club floor and saw that everyone seemed to be having a good time. He found Mistress and Antony at the rack as everyone called it. Antony faced the wall, his arms and legs stretched like a hide drying in the sun while Mistress slowly flogged him from knees to shoulders.

Gentry was surprised to see that green ribbons still decorated his friend’s waist and upper thighs. This was the first time since he joined their little family that Mistress did not demand her slaves be bare for punishment.

Since Merlin had released him from guarding their room, he headed downstairs to join his family. He crossed the room, nodding and waving to those who called to him, but not stopping. His Mistress had given him clear-cut instructions, and he had no time to dawdle. At the bar, Jackson held out two bottles of water.