Not Quite Juliet: A Club Imperial Novel (Silver Soul Book 1) (15 page)

“Nudity?”

I could hear him swallow. This was kind of fun. “Yeah, it’s a BDSM club, and there’s quite a bit of sex involved with that. Normally you’d be nude for it, and if you’re in shibari you want as little material as possible because the point is to feel the ropes and not get your clothes bound into them.”

“Christ on the cross...”

“Actually, most BDSM uses the Saint Andrew’s cross.”

“What?”

I laughed. “You really don’t know anything about this. I actually made the rocker-god blush!”

“Are not.”

“Denial is not just a river in Egypt.”

“Is your roommate going to be naked?”

“Mostly.”

He pulled into the parking lot and I directed him to the back of the building and down to the garage. I gave him a code to punch into the gate and we parked near the back door. There was probably a good joke in there about the back door of a BDSM club, but I was worried about Lisa. I marched up to the door and realized my lawyer’s suit was going to be a problem.

I stopped just inside the door. I really couldn’t go walking around like this——I would stand out. I decided to correct this and thrust my purse at Nick. I pulled off the jacket and threw it on one of the pegs at the door. I unbuttoned the shirt all the way down, then gathered and tied it at the center of my bra and rolled up the skirt to make it impractically short. I reached into my purse and pulled out a hair elastic and my glasses. My hair went back in a messy knot, I popped out my contacts and put the glasses on.

Nick just stared while I transformed myself quickly into the naughty teacher. He cocked his head, and let out a breath. “Shit, I should’ve brought more condoms.”

“There’s a whole box in the hotel room.” I winked, retrieving my purse. I turned and walked into the back rooms of the club. I marched right up to Tim at the bar, and he looked shocked.

“Wisconsin?” he asked, wringing the bar rag. “What the hell...”

“Sorry, Tim, this is kind of urgent. Who’s priming tonight?” I really hoped it was a woman.

“It’s Dusty,” he said. “Who’s the tail?”

“This is Doc,” I said. Rule number two at Imperial, never give your real name unless you’re really, really close non-club friends. “He’s with me. Can you call Dusty?”

“Yeah, uh...sure.” He picked up the phone.

I didn’t know if Dusty—real name Cece, —was in a room or if she was supervising the floor downstairs. But when she appeared less than a minute later, I knew she’d been on the floor.

“Wisconsin?” She was also shocked I was here.

“I need your help.” I motioned her down the hall out of Tim’s earshot. I liked the guy, but he was completely sweet on Jemma, who was the biggest bitch in the whole club. “I got a call from Luscious.”

“Oh, no,” Dusty said.

“Yeah, apparently this time, though, she was smart enough to leave her Bluetooth in and Hardbody was stupid enough not to check.”

“Why is she doing this?” Dusty’s question was very much rhetorical as she pulled out the key to the shibari room, slipping it in the lock.

There, inverted in the center of the room, in one of the most gorgeous, complicated and convoluted kinbaku creations I had ever seen, was Lisa. She had tears running up her face, into her hair which hung fanned out below her. Her calf was bound back to her thigh, the other leg bound straight up at serious obtuse angle. Her one arm was bound against her body and the other was tucked back and bound behind her head with a hangman knot. She couldn’t move it without choking herself. Which she must have done to activate the Bluetooth.

Dusty walked around the giant rope tree, studying it. “He was at this for hours.” She didn’t address anyone, but just thought aloud. “He may not have even gone home last night. The research he would’ve had to put into these knots is crazy. I didn’t teach him most of these.”

“Please, please, get me down,” Lisa pleaded.

“Hang on, Luscious, I’m working on that,” Dusty said. “Tell me the instant your breathing starts to hurt.”

“Fucking hell, Dusty, everything is tingling,” Lisa said.

“We need to cut her out, then. Hardbody is going to owe the club about five hundred dollars in ropes for this.” Dusty handed me her keys. “You know where the cabinet is in my room.”

“Yup.” I took the keys and ran for her room, three doors down. She had a cabinet she always kept locked which only she and Franz had keys to. I unlocked it and found all kinds of sharp instruments in there, including a Japanese daisho set. I grabbed the short sword, a pair of garden sheers, a pair of scissors and two butterfly knives, even though I had no idea how to use them.

I closed and locked the cabinet and ran back with the various weapons. Yeah, I ran with scissors. Ms. Hood would be terribly disappointed in me, but Lisa was going to experience the worst subdrop of her life.

Dusty looked at the different implements I’d brought, and smiled at the short sword. “Nice. Good choice. Take something and start working on some of the lower ropes. We need to get her righted like ten minutes ago.” She pulled the sword out and pointed it at Nick. “Hot Stuff, open that cabinet and get the blanket out. Then go out and get a bottle of water from Tim, and tell him we need a Gatorade from the back. Don’t come back until you have that drink.”

“Shouldn’t I be helping you?” he asked.

“We have to cut her loose before we can use your muscle,” Dusty said. “By the time you get back we’ll be ready for you.”

Nick nodded and quickly left the room, looking determined and a little frightened.

Dusty got right to work at cutting the ropes from the ceiling. I ducked down to the floor and started hacking away with the garden sheers. She clipped the ropes as close to the hooks as possible. “So. Luscious. What have we learned today?”

“That I’m an idiot.” Lisa was trying not to cry or shiver.

“No, sweetie, try again.” Dusty trimmed another line.

Lisa looked at me, as if I was going to give her the answer. She knew what the answer was and I wasn’t going to help her along. She tried to take a deep breath, but her whole body trembled. “I can’t be near Dominic ever again.”

“She’s going into drop.” I cut the lines as fast as I could. I was being fast and dirty.

“Yes, I know.” Dusty had actually managed a lot of the ropes already. “Luscious, what else do we need to know?”

“I can’t be near Dominic, isn’t that enough?”

“There’s something more.” Dusty snipped a rope and I felt the balance shift slightly. We might not be able to get her out right away, but we’d be able to get her right-side-up soon.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. I suck at life.”

“Li,” I explained. “Franz roomed us together for a reason. I’ve been trying to teach you how to be independent—at least well enough to say ‘no’ to someone who should be told no. But you’re not learning the lessons. You have to go to a therapist. You’ve got something holding you back from being independent enough to find someone who deserves your submission.”

The next rope I cut broke the tension and Dusty grabbed her foot and turned her head up. She motioned me to stand up and hold Lisa there. As I did, Nick walked back in with the two drinks and walked over to me. I took the Gatorade with a smile. “Thank you. Please put the water on the side table and grab that blanket.”

He did, completely averting his eyes from Lisa. She was breast-bound, and she was out there for the world, or at least Nick, to see. He was happy to hand me the blanket and I wrapped it around her. She was trembling badly in my arms. “Doc, do you know how to open a butterfly knife?”

“Of course.” He grabbed the knife and flipped it open for me.

I took it and cut the hangman’s knot at her throat and she let out a giant sob. I cut the ropes binding her leg, but it didn’t free her from that position. There were more ropes around her than I’d ever seen. I looked at Nick standing there while he was staring at the amazing ropes. I was able to wrap the blanket better around her. Nick opened the water and I held it up for her to drink.

“Why is she shaking so much?” The question was quiet.

“It’s called sub drop. It’s an adrenaline and endorphin reaction that can be very serious and dangerous if we don’t handle it right.”

“Which starts with replacing liquids and electrolytes.” Dusty was now hacking closer and closer to where Lisa was. “Doc, take that knife from your girlfriend there, and start trimming up from the bottom, opposite me. Make sure there’s nothing attached to the ground.”

Nick took the knife and did exactly as she asked. I kept Lisa sipping at the drink. “You’re going to have to get her into a tub of hot water pretty quickly,” Dusty directed. “It will help relax the muscles, and if it has jets that’s even better for the blood flow. Wisconsin, are you going to talk to Franz about this, or should I?”

“I think we both should.” I held on to Lisa as she shivered again. “You know we don’t have a jet tub like that at home, Li.”

“I know.” Her teeth were chattering.

Nick looked up at me. “There’s one in the hotel, and it’s closer than your house.” I could hear the sad trombone in my mind, and I guessed Nick saw it on my face as well. “She needs it. The ropes are trembling with her.”

“Fine.” I held back my disappointment. “It’s the best option.”

“Wh...wh...what’s on the floor over there?” Lisa tried to nod to the door.

We all turned and looked and there was a sheet of paper on the floor. Nick stood, putting the knife down, and retrieved it. He held up and it was a folded piece of paper addressed to Luscious and Wisconsin. I swallowed and looked at Lisa. “Open it, read it.”

Nick balked at what was written there. “Dear Bitches. Expect retribution. Your asses are mine. I’m watching.” He looked at the paper, flipping it over studying it. “No signature. Out of a printer.”

“Of course.” I looked over at Dusty’s answer in time to see her roll her eyes. “It’s probably Hardbody being a complete dick. Doc, put that down. We’ll have someone check it out. Your girlfriend is going to need your help holding up Luscious. I’ve almost got her free.”

Nick shimmied up again Lisa on the other side, pulling the blanket nice and tight around her. Dusty only need a few more cuts before we felt Lisa’s body weight drop into our hands. We carried her over to the upholstered chair that was in the corner. She shook the whole way over, and Dusty came over with the butterfly knife that Nick had put down. I peeled back the blanket and like a master chef, Dusty filleted Lisa right out of the rest of the ropes. She and I peeled and pulled the ropes away.

Nick looked at the deep marks the ropes had left in her skin. “There are going to be bruises everywhere.”

“Normally,” Dusty said, wrapping the blanket back around Lisa, “the marks are part of the game. They’re a reminder of a good night of play. But this...this is unacceptable.” Dusty took one of Lisa’s hand and started massaging it. “We’ll give her about ten minutes of massage, and then you’ll take her out of here and to that tub.”

I nodded, and grabbed one of her feet to start rubbing. Dusty had Nick helping her sip the Gatorade.

“So, Doc,” I said. “Did I dazzle you with my choice of entertainment for the evening?”

“Spectacular.” He looked at me, and it was easy to see the humor in his eyes.

“Next time,” I said, “I think I’ll go for the insane asylum.”

Dusty chuckled. “I hear there’s great ambiance there.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “You so owe me Red Lobster.”

~*~*~

W
e helped Lisa into the bare outerwear necessary to make the short drive to the hotel. She was wrapped with the blanket, armed with another Gatorade, as Nick and I helped her into the car. She sat in the backseat, shivering still, though not nearly as bad as earlier.

We pulled back out of the garage and Lisa’s head rolled to the side to look out the window. “It smells like sex in this car. OH!” She whipped her head back to look at me. “Oh, shit, I’m sorry!”

I waved my hand. “Don’t even.”

“Thank you, guys,” she said. “I don’t even know you, hot rocker person driving the car, but I owe you both big time.”

I sighed. “Did you at least feed Dervish before you got tied up?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Are you going to go to the doctor now?” Lisa let out a sigh and I looked back at her. “Lisa, I’ve been trying for two years to get you to stand up for yourself at least enough to tell someone like Dominic to fuck off. And you can’t do it. I can’t always be there to help you. There’s  something holding you back, and once you learn how to be a proper brat and say no to Dominic and his ilk you’ll find someone you want to give your submission to who deserves it.” I looked back out the window. “You’ve been in the lifestyle for seven years, Lisa. Why don’t you know this?”

Lisa was quiet. She didn’t make a peep the rest of the way to the hotel, and up the elevator. We had to keep our hands on her because she kept shaking and shivering. The one time she pushed us off to try it on her own, she made five steps before her legs gave out.

I marched her right into the bathroom and started filling the tub. There was some bath essence on the self and I pulled out the lavender.

Nick helped Lisa into the bathroom. Turning, he smiled at me. “I’ll be back in half an hour.” He pulled the door closed quietly.

The bastard picked the exact moment I was helping my poor friend into the tub. I couldn’t even run after him. I swallowed my fear and helped her sit in the water. She shivered as I turned the jets on very low, and she sighed as they started to massage her muscles. I sat on the edge of the tub, completely unfazed by her complete nudity. I’d grown accustomed to flashes of peen and tit at the club.

“I’m so sorry.” Lisa’s voice was only a notch above the sound of the bubbling water. “I’ve wrecked your night with Nick D.” I wanted to scream at her. Yes, she had. She was sitting where I wanted to be, astride Nick. But I swallowed my anger. She put her hand on mine. “He’ll be back. He said he would.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure.” I slid my hand out from under hers.

“You’re pissed.”

I leveled my gaze at her. “You have no idea.”

She started crying. “I’m so sorry! I am! Dominic came over with flowers and an apology and the next thing I knew we were on our way to the club. I can’t say no to him...”