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She opens her mouth.

“No, no. I do not belong to you until you belong to me. You must know that.” I pick up my purse. “If you want me to switch, then you need to switch too, my sweet. Let me tell you, too…” I flash my evilest smile at her. “Like you saw potential in me to serve… I see it in you too. Don’t let fear get in your way, Ira. If you want this… if you want me… then you’ll really come to me like I went to you. Think about it. We could be a formidable team.”

I leave. Not angry. Not bitter. Simply amazed that I had this much of a backbone around her. Usually, I am fighting back my inclination to defer to her. But now, though I am certainly fantasizing about hopping in her lap and riding her Avalon co-pilot until I come three times, I can hold back.

She will come to me.

Chapter 74

Ira

I’m tipsy as hell in Midnight, one day after Kathleen’s spine-chilling ultimatum.

“Tipsy” is an important designation because it’s dangerous to be drunk, as much as I want to be. Trust me. I want to down a few hard drinks and be an ass to anyone who crosses my path. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder and no way to safely get rid of it.

“Another round for my friend here,” Jem says, motioning to my empty glass. “She’s having women's troubles. It’s only right we get her drunk.”

Yes. Women troubles. That’s what I told Jem when she agreed to meet me here tonight. Women troubles.

Troubles with Kathleen, the Domme who won’t let me take her unless she takes me first.

All around us are dominants and their gorgeous subs. Some women are rail thin, others are what we would politely call curvy or a big, beautiful woman. They’re all glowing. Whether they wear leather, lingerie, or cute cocktail dresses, they only have hungry eyes for their dominants, the lucky ones so in love with them.

They kiss. They slap ass. They curl up together in chairs and on couches. Some whisper naughty things into each other’s ears and slink off to private rooms for fun and games. Others spoil the rest of us with free shows, including but not limited to fingering, licking, and humping in front of God and all Her sinful folk.

“So, tell me what’s happening with this lady friend of yours,” Jem says, slapping a card on the table between us. We’re playing a rousing game of War. Not much else to do with only two people. “I didn’t even know you were seriously seeing somebody.”

I produce a two while she beats me with a four. Doesn’t make me feel like the boss of the room. “It was a secret. This woman isn’t someone big on being seen with me like that.”

Jem looks up at me. “Would this hot lady happen to be named Kathleen Allen?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Only a little. Gwenyth and I suspected as much. Plus, last time we were here, I heard the Anderssens murmuring about you two. Wasn’t sure how true it was.”

I sigh, beating her ten with a Jack.

“So… how does that work out between you two?”

“You mean me dating another Domme?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Do you really want to know?”

What a cheeky ass grin. Is this how I look to Kathleen half the time?

Nevertheless, I mumble a detail or two about my relationship with Kathleen. I leave out a lot of particulars but leave in how she was submitting to me until it got to her.

Even above the pulsing rhythm of the club music, I hear Jem whistle nice and high. “Some would say you are living the dream. Know how many wish they could pin down a Domme and make us beg for a change?”

I wince. “Imagine how many think the same thing about us.”

“Hey, I don’t doubt it. Everything is a power play in love and war. Especially kink.”

We both put down a five and draw more cards. I win the pot with a seven to her three. “You ever done it before? Submit?”

A card falls out of Jem’s hand. “No, I have not. Never even thought about it. Although…” The card, a four, twists back and forth in her hand. “I told you about Austin, right?”