Temporary Master (14 page)

“Well,
I’m sure he’d probably enjoy that, but I have something else in mind. You need
to serve, to feel like you’re pleasing another? Why not work for the club
tonight? I can ‘hire’ you temporarily as a house submissive. It’ll fill your
need, but still keep Ethan from going nutso when he realizes you’re here
tonight.”

“And
what exactly would I do as a house submissive?” She nibbled on her lower lip,
thinking of all the sexual ways a house submissive could end up being used. Her
nipples tightened, but she pushed the thought away as Davis began to explain.

“Your
job would be to make the Doms present comfortable.
Taking
their coats, fetching their drinks, perhaps giving a shoulder rub or two.
Usually we assign our house submissives by sections.” He grabbed a clipboard
off the wall. “It looks like we’re short a house submissive in the massage
section. How does shoulder rubs, foot rubs and hand rubs sound? There’s nothing
sexual at all in the massage area, but it’ll still cover your need to serve.”

Chewing
on her lower lip, she debated. Even after working with her hands all day, the
idea of having a Dom demand she ease his tension with a neck
rub,
or even a foot rub sent a surge of warmth through her. It wasn’t perfect but it
would give her some release. Meeting Davis’s eyes she nodded.
“Why not?”

* * * *

“Damn, your fingers feel like magic, Sabella.”

Ethan paused at the sound of her name, as he skirted the massage
area at the back of the club. In a converted grape pressing room, there were
several benches and tables set up for fifteen to thirty minute massages.
Sitting on one of the far benches,
a young
leather
clad Dom tipped his head back, as slender fingers belonging to
his
submissive
kneaded the taunt muscles of the Dom’s shoulders.

Anger coursed through him at the sight. He’d been out of sorts
earlier in the day when he hadn’t been able to get a hold of Sabella, but he’d
never expected to see her inside of
his
club, wearing soft leggings and
a white poet’s shirt which was cinched by the club’s belly chain. The bright
emerald tokens dangling from the silver chain assured him, along with everyone
else familiar with the club’s hierarchy, that she was merely a service sub - in
this case, one who doled out massages but nothing else. It was the only thing
saving her luscious little ass too. If she hadn’t been wearing it, she’d have
earned one helluva a punishment, and the mood he was in he’d have relished
warming her bottom. His trip to Los Angeles had lasted much longer than he’d
anticipated, so his week back at home had been a nightmare as Dolly had to
reschedule the majority of his appointments. In fact, he’d been
late coming to the club tonight because his session with Louis Vayarti had
run over.

“Thank you, Sir.” Her soft reply barely reached his ears, but
still managed to send a tingle of desire though him. Her voice had the same
sultry tone to it as it had when they had been in his practice room. Moving
closer to the bench, he was ready to announce his presence to the would-be
Dom to let him know Sabella was off limits, when his ear piece buzzed.

“Ethan, what’s your location?” Davis’s question had him stopping.

Thumbing the receiver in his pocket he softly answered his
partner.
“In the massage area.”

“Good, we have an issue in the bondage area, the DM in there just
gave the signal for removal and you’re closer than Kaleb who’s upstairs in the
whipping room.”

“Copy
that.” He wanted to curse. Torn between on making a claim on Sabella and the
demands of the club, he strode from the room. “I’m on my way.”

“Thanks.”
There was a clatter in the background. “When you get the particulars let me
know. DM said infraction was ban worthy.”

A
low growl built in Ethan’s throat. There were few things that were honestly
ban-worthy at New Beginnings. The Dom had either ignored the subs safeword or
had ignored the instructions of the DM.
And heaven help the fool if he did
either of them.

“Will
do, and then you and I are going to have a discussion about putting Sabella to
work…”

Sabella
gave a sigh of relief as Ethan left the room quickly. For a split second there
she’d thought he was going to come over and cause a scene. While she wasn’t
doing anything more than giving the requested shoulder rub to the man, he’d definitely
made more than one insinuation of how he’d like to take her home so she could
massage more than his shoulders. Each time she’d politely declined, stating the
club policy as Davis had suggested when dealing with overzealous Doms.

“Are
you sure you don’t want to be mine, Bella?” Eric Malova groaned as she found a
particularly hard knot. “Your fingers are pure magic,” he repeated, his head
tipping forward. She suppressed a smile as she worked, attempting to release
the knot. It felt wonderful to be providing pleasure to another, even if it was
just the relief of easing tense shoulders. She never asked herself why she
found pleasure in such acts, but merely accepted it as it was.

“No,
Master Erik.
I’m flattered but I’m not…”

“…free.”
Davis entered the room. His face was dark. “We need to get you out of here
quick, Bella, before Ethan comes back.” He stopped next to her, placing his
hands on her shoulders. “In fact, it may be best if you go home, sweetheart.”
He sighed. “I wasn’t expecting him to be this high strung tonight, or I’d have
never offered you a job as a house sub. I should’ve expected it considering how
hectic his life has been this past week.”

Looking
up at him, she wanted to kick him in the shins. She’d serviced men for the past
two hours and
now
he wanted to pull her out after she was finally on the
verge of being balanced once more? The urge to stomp her feet, scream and throw
an utter tantrum was hard to resist. “Let me get this straight. You want me to
leave…now?”

He
nodded. “I think it’d be best. Unless you’re honestly looking for a
punishment...” He paused, his eyes darted away as he listened intently, then he
touched the earpiece, which she just finally noticed in his ear. “Does he
require medical care?” He closed his eyes. “Dammit. Good, I’m getting ready to
head to the front of the house. I’ll meet them. Who the hell let her back in? I
thought we’d banned her after the last time she fought with one of the DMs
about him stopping her scene?”

Sabella
was jerked away from Davis’s one-sided conversation by Erik.

“So
you belong to Ethan?” Erik seemed slightly intrigued by the prospect.

“Not
really…but it’s…complicated.” She sighed, what little ease she’d gotten now
gone in the face of being booted out of the club. It not only irritated her to
no end that Ethan actually thought she wouldn’t play with another during their
training, but her ire built at the idea he thought he had the right to punish
her.

“Well,
if you get it figured out and it’s true, please let him
know
I’d like to be in consideration for your next Dom.” Erik gave a flashy smile
before standing. He moved to leave when Davis grabbed his arm.

“She’ll
do no such thing, Master Erik. You know the rules. You aren’t allowed to
approach a subbie with an offer. If you want to be considered, you have to go
to Master Ethan. It’s only proper.”

Erik’s
cheeks flushed with embarrassment, before he finally gritted out a “Fine.”
Jerking his arm free, he stalked from the room.

“What
exactly is he talking about, Davis? Does Ethan honestly pick out his
submissive’s next Master when he tires of them?” Even as she uttered the words,
she had a hard time believing them. As a submissive, she’d always picked her
own Doms, and when they parted, they never lined up one of their friends to
take her like last year’s castoffs. It was the way she liked it, because even
if she wasn’t always the best of judge of character, when it blew up or fizzled
out, she had no one to blame but herself. She’d never give over that kind of
control to a Dom. She knew what was best for her.

“Damn
it.” He dragged a hand through his short dark hair, his shoulders slumping.
“Come on. I’ll explain as I walk you to your car.”

Walk
me to my car! I don’t think so!
Furious,
she dug her feet in, both literally and figuratively, when he took her by the
arm. “No, you’ll explain this to me now, Davis. What exactly have I gotten
into? What did you and Lauren not
tell
me when you
decided to con me into helping your friend?”

Scowling,
Davis planted his hands on his hips. “I’m not going to even give your
insinuation credit, Ms. Johnston. We didn’t con you into anything. You entered
an agreement with Ethan of your own free will and volition. If you don’t like
the terms now, then you have no one to blame but yourself for them.”

Gritting
her teeth, she wanted to shout, to bean him with the nearest blunt object. “I
agreed to do a demonstration, where during it and our practices, I’d treat him
as my Dom, but outside of it I was to be as I am now…”

“...a
shrew who is airing my partner’s private matters at his place of business…”
Davis’s eyes were frosty, as another Dom and his submissive paused in the open
doorway to the massage room.

Narrowing
her eyes and ignoring the couple, she stepped up to him, nose to…chest and
poked him with her finger. “I am
not
a shrew! I’m one of the most
even-tempered and loving persons around. I don’t deserve to be pushed around,
told what I can and cannot do, when I’m not in a D/s relationship with any man.
I deserve…”

“…a
punishment, which you are coming perilously close to receiving, Sabella.”

Like
the Red Sea parting for Moses, the couple separated and Ethan stepped into the
room. A set of red scratches on his cheek had her anger towards him and the
situation dying. She wanted to tend to him, despite the situation she found
herself in. She had to push down the need, to remember why she’d been so
furious. Because of this man, she was getting kicked out of the club. She could
go to another club, but for some reason she felt more at home here the last two
hours, than she’d felt at Louis’s club in New York; or even the club she’d
frequented for nearly three years before Lewis.

“Sir.”
She laced as much contempt as
possible into the word. “There’s obviously been some miscommunication between
us.”

Without
breaking eye contact with her, he stepped around Davis. “Davis, can you please
see to Zebadiah? Kaleb’s already waiting with Allison for the police. Evidently
Zeb would like to press charges this time.” His tone implied it hadn’t been the
first time it had happened.

“Well,
let’s pray he doesn’t drop them this time.” Davis left the room, shutting the
door behind him, effectively trapping her with Ethan. The click of the lock
sent fear coursing through her. Why had Davis locked them in together?

“Wait!”
She held up a hand as Ethan moved closer.

The
look of dominating need on his face should’ve warned her. “The only way I’m not
touching you, Sabella, is if you safeword. Are you safewording?”

“But
we’re not in a scene….” She protested.

He
glanced around the room. “We’re in my BDSM club, in a room by ourselves where
you just spent the last few hours pleasing other Doms. Not to mention, you just
called me Sir. I do believe, combining these facts, I’m justified in my
reasoning.” His eyes darkened to a deep green. “You wish for attention,
Sabella, and by all means I shall give it to you.” He closed the distance
between them and brushed a finger over her bare neck.
“Now
present.”

It
was all Sabella could do to keep from moaning. The sheer dominance he’d placed
in two little words had her trembling. More than anything else she wanted to do
as he said, but logic and more than a bit of stubbornness had her refusing.
“No.”

His
eyes narrowed. “Are you refusing? Do you honestly want a spanking, Sabella? I
assure you it won’t be the erotic type you seemed to be looking for.”

She
wasn’t looking for anything from
him
! Her earlier fury had returned
two-fold. She was so mad she wanted to scream and she did something she hadn’t
done in a long time if ever. She totally lost it and chewed out a Dom. “I’m not
looking for any kind of flipping spanking, Sir! I came here to blow off the
steam from dealing with not only a difficult father and two pranking teens, but
also a Dom who’s canceled not one, but two appointments! If I wanted to see you
- deal with you, I’d have called you back earlier this afternoon…instead of
ignoring the call and taking my best friend up on her offer to join her in
Subbie night out!”

“Are
you quite done?” He gazed steadily at her, and horror, in the light of his
calmness, consumed her. Had she actually just screamed at him? She always
respected her Dom, always. She was sooo screwed.

“I…”
She looked around the room frantically, praying there was no one else who had
witnessed her stupidity. She had just made her situation worse, way worse than
it had been when he’d first stepped into the room. Davis had warned her, had
tried to get her out of the club until Ethan was more at an even keel than he
currently was. But like a prideful sub, she’d ignored his warning, sure she
wasn’t doing anything wrong - that she was in the right. “…ah…” She fumbled,
not sure if begging his forgiveness would help or make things worse.