Perfect Addition

Chapter 1-1

Chapter One

The sights, sounds and smells of Apex were a familiar balm to Stephanie’s mood. The b**m club was her home away from home and she loved coming—seeing old friends, meeting new ones. Occasionally she wanted more, wanted a full-time relationship, someone she could take home to meet her parents, someone she could fall asleep with at night, and wake up to in the morning. It would happen, she was sure. For now, she would play.

She’d been thinking about that more and more, lately. Ever since her friend Emma had gotten serious with her guy. She’d teased Emma about not wanting to go to the club, about becoming stale, but the happiness on her friend’s face and in her voice couldn’t be denied. And the brat had been very clear that she and her guy didn’t need a club to have all kinds of kinky fun.

Moving towards the small bar so she could grab a water and get a feel for the evening’s activities, she tried to shake off her thoughts, put her mind in a more positive direction. She was here to play, not dwell on what she hadn’t yet found.

Someone stepped in close behind her, butting into her personal space. She turned her head to meet the man’s gaze as he settled a warm hand on her bare shoulder.

Trevor, a Dom who’d been coming to the club for a couple of months, raised his eyebrow at her.

“I believe we have a date.” He sounded sure of himself, calm and cool. They hadn’t actually set up a date, but they’d been eyeing each other for weeks, and last time they’d spied each other, they’d done a little dance of head motions that she was pretty sure had meant “next time”. At least, that’s what she’d meant and at the time, she’d been a little thrilled at the exchange.

This…invitation, for want of a better word, didn’t exactly make her panties wet, but she was sure he could make it work for them, if she gave him a chance.

She lowered her gaze a bit and gave him a smile. “Yes, Sir.”

He was older than those she was usually drawn to, but she thought maybe that was part of what was attractive about him. Over the last few weeks she’d found his maturity, his commanding presence and self-confidence very sexy. He held himself like a man who knew what he wanted and knew he was going to get it. It pleased her to know that he’d decided he wanted her, that he’d been thinking about her.

“Name?”

The brusque question had her blinking, but she didn’t hesitate.

“Stephanie, Sir.”

“Limits sheet?”

She pulled the sheet she’d reexamined and re-approved at the front desk, as required, out of her back waistband, where she’d stashed it. He plucked it from her fingers. Lifting her head enough to catch his frown, she wasn’t quite sure what to make of the little harrumph he made under his breath. She didn’t have long to consider as he folded the paper precisely in half and said, “Come along.”

Turning on his heel, he marched to a whipping post and dropped the small duffel bag he’d been carrying.

Well. Okay then. Not exactly how negotiations usually went in her experience, but she’d wanted a man who knew what he wanted, right?

He looked her up and down.

“Top off, you can leave the skirt on.”

She didn’t bother replying, just unzipped the purple faux bustier and put it into a nearby cubby. She wasn’t feeling super sexy at the moment, but she figured he’d get her heated up soon. Scenes she’d seen him involved in flashed through her memory. Definitely hot. She needed to be patient.

Grabbing her arm just above the elbow, he turned her roughly and put cuffs on her wrists. She swallowed back a comment and tried to think sexy thoughts as he linked the cuffs behind her back and attached them to the post.

On a deep inhale, she forced her shoulders to relax. The guy knew what he was doing. So did she; it wasn’t like she was a beginner at this whole thing. She was in her favorite club, looking pretty damn hot, if she did say so herself, and about to get flogged, something that had brought her to climax when done correctly. Of course, the Dom who’d managed that had moved to Texas shortly after, damn it.

She flexed and tensed her muscles a bit, trying to get her blood flowing. Not something she normally needed to do. The flogger Trevor had pulled out looked like black suede. The fact that she’d seen him wield it to great effect before helped her relax. Until he whacked her breast with a not-at-all-gentle thwap.

She pulled in a sharp breath, her eyes actually watering a bit from the unexpected pain.

It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been expecting a flogging since he’d pulled the instrument from his bag. But she’d certainly expected some warm-up.

He swung again, this time the full brunt of the strands slapping across her belly. She bit her lip and tried to catch Trevor’s gaze, let him know she was not feeling this at all. Try to give him a clue. His unblinking stare was unsettling.

He swung again and she unconsciously turned her body away from him, getting the hardest strike yet across the top of her breasts, one strand flying up to catch her chin.

That was it. She was done. “Red.”

He checked himself mid-swing and stared at her.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry, but this isn’t working for me. We’re done here.”

“The hell we are, we were just getting started. You wanted this, you’re getting this.”

Her embarrassment at having to use her safe word transformed swiftly to anger, but she tried to be the bigger person. “Look, I’m sorry, I thought this was what I wanted, but apparently I’m not in the right mood. Just unhook me and we can go our separate ways.”

The anger she saw on his face dispelled any lingering sense of attraction she might have had for him and had her scanning the room for one of the monitors. Marcos, in his bright white Apex shirt, was immediately visible to her and she was pleased that he noticed her right off. Clearly realizing she wanted him, he started over, arriving in time to hear Trevor’s next words.

“You stupid little slut, you were begging for it. Begging for me. If you can’t handle a little pain, you need to be taught. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong place.”

“Trevor. Stephanie.” Marcos’ warm, calm voice kept her from answering the i***t Dom the way she wanted to. Well, that and the firm grip her teeth had on her lower lip.

“Is there a problem?” Marcos asked, moving to unhook her cuffs from the post while he spoke. She loved him for not waiting to take action.

“This ridiculous excuse for a sub is safe-wording after three lousy strikes.”

The monitor put his hand on her shoulder, checked her eyes. “Are you all right, darlin’?”

Taking a deep breath, she angled towards him so she could ignore the asshole in their midst. “I am now, thank you. This might be my fault, and for that, I’m sorry. I thought I was ready for a scene, but apparently I was wrong, at least for the kind of scene he wanted. But when I used my safe word, he got mean and rude.”

She felt movement at her back and whipped her head around. The two men who stood there brought a smile to her lips, even through her anger. Jesse, a friend she hadn’t seen in way too long, and Grant, the reason Jesse hadn’t been around the club. Seeing them now was a very welcome surprise.

As Marcos began unbuckling one of the cuffs from her wrists, Jesse moved in to work on the other.

“This is unbelievable,” Trevor said, disgust clear in his voice. “You just let subs get away with teasing the Doms?”

“I’d be glad to have a conversation with you about that,” Marcos said. “As soon as I take care of Stephanie. You can wait here, without saying anything more, or I can find you over near the bar when I’m done here.”

Trevor shook his head as he put the cuffs into his bag. “This night is ruined. I’ll be leaving now.”

“Actually, if you want to come back to Apex, we need to have a talk,” Marcos said as Jesse helped Stephanie back into her top. “I’ll be with you in just a minute, over near the bar.”

He led Stephanie a few steps away, looking at her inquiringly when Grant and Jesse joined them. She shrugged to show she didn’t mind their presence, if he didn’t.

“Are you all right?” Grant asked. His unblinking stare didn’t bother her at all. She gave him a smile that wavered a bit. She wasn’t hurt, but she was more unsettled than she’d realized.

“I’m fine, thanks for coming to check on me.” She included Marcos and Jesse in her look. She held the bustier that Jesse handed her up to her chest and he worked the zipper in back. “I’d been looking forward to playing with him at some point, so it just really took me by surprise when he blew it so badly. I’ve never had anyone get mad at me for using a safe word before. I was stupid, should have talked to him more before starting.” She hadn’t noticed she was rubbing her arms until Jesse draped a blanket around her shoulders. “I think that’s it for me tonight, I’m going to go home.”

“You call yourself stupid again,” Grant said as his hands moved to secure the blanket more firmly around her shoulders. “And you’ll earn a punishment from me.”

“And me,” Marcos added, not trying to hide his grin.

She blinked at both of them. “Um. Okay.”

“And you’re not going home until I know you’re good,” Marcos continued. “I don’t want you driving home and crashing suddenly.”

She gave him a wry smile. “I’m not driving. And I didn’t get anywhere near subspace, or anything good enough to risk a crash. Unfortunately.”

Marcos narrowed his eyes at her.

“We’ll take her out for dessert,” Jesse said before either of the Doms could speak.

Her eyebrows shot up. “Don’t you two have more exciting things to be doing together than taking me out? You haven’t been to the club in ages, that I’ve seen.” She pointed her chin at Jesse. “You should be tied to something.”

He grinned. “Oh, honey, I was. But that was a while ago, and now I need something sweet with my sweet guy and you, who we haven’t seen in forever. Come on, hot stuff, let’s get this girl somewhere all to ourselves.”

She managed to catch Grant and Marcos communicating in that nonverbal, masculine way that seemed especially inherent to Doms, before Jesse had her heading towards the front door.

“Thank you, Marcos!” she called over her shoulder, careful not to look where Trevor should be, in case she couldn’t resist the urge to give him a smug look. Discretion being the better part of valor, and all that.

“I really am okay, guys.”

“Good, then you can catch us up on all the new gossip,” Jesse said, helping her exchange the blanket for her coat.

Somehow she found herself walking down the street sandwiched between the couple. Jesse had an arm around her waist and Grant had one around her shoulders. She should have felt smothered, but instead she felt safe and secure. She hadn’t had a chance to get to know Grant well, but she really had missed Jesse.

The truth was, she’d spent a bit more time watching their scenes than might be considered polite. Had definitely spent way too many nights thinking about those scenes. There was just something so compelling about watching them together.

Worst of all, she’d actually maneuvered a young, newer Dom into ordering her to give him a blow job while she was able to watch Grant and Jesse play, so that she could fantasize about being a part of their action.

She’d been topping from the bottom, without question, and had been ashamed of herself for it. From that point on, she’d tried to avoid watching them together, but they’d stopped coming to Apex anyway. She’d talked to Jesse a few times, met up with him for lunch once, to hear how in love he was. There was no denying the happiness she felt for her friend’s obvious exhilaration, but the break from seeing the two men together had probably been a good thing for her mental health.