Page 18 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

Cassidy

All dressed up and totally not freaking out. Cassidy hoped. She was really trying not to. She hadn’t realized how much more comfortable she’d felt returning to Stronghold rather than going to a new club.

New club meant new people, new Doms… and some of them might be like Don.

It was possible. He had felt like he could go to Stronghold, after all.

He hadn’t thought anyone would intervene on her behalf.

Abusers didn’t announce themselves. If something happened up here, it would be her word against someone who was established in the club, someone with friends and connections.

She could end up with another Don. Someone who acted like they cared, who pretended they could give her everything she wanted and needed, then eventually changed.

Stop it. Breathe. You have friends, too.

Claudia had already said she’d look out for her. Plus, she didn’t think Naomi or Yasmine would let her get in over her head, either.

Sometimes, it was hard to stop the spiral of her thoughts, the immediate jump to worst-case scenario.

She couldn’t help but think about how this could be a trap.

She’d show up at the club, and Don would be there, waiting.

He’d maneuvered to get her there, away from Stronghold, and everyone at the Outlands believed him and not her, and they’d drag her to him, kicking and screaming.

They’d watch as he whipped her bloody, then cheerfully send her home with him, collared and chained and no longer able to fight back.

Common sense reasserted itself.

Logically, she knew Black Fox Security could be trusted.

That Kincaid wouldn’t work for them, much less hand her over to them, if he didn’t trust them.

That two of them were related to her friends back in D.C.

That her friends would check in on her. That absolutely nothing had been said or done to think that her guards were anything other than dedicated to protecting her.

But her head still went through the whole scenario, a fucked-up little movie on anxiety.

The good thing was that it was so outlandish, so far removed from what could possibly be real, it was very easy for her to dismiss the fear… eventually. After she played it out in her head. After her heart was pounding in her chest. After the metallic taste of terror coated her tongue.

But that was a lot better than back home, where the fear went with her everywhere. Back there, even though her fears were unlikely, they were not impossible. Especially with the way Don had been popping up around her. Knowing that things could get so much worse.

Here, her fears were a lot more easily dismissed because she knew she was safe.

Grabbing her favorite pair of club heels, the only ones she’d kept rather than donating to Naomi’s shelter, she headed out of her room and down the stairs.

Even though she was very practiced in walking in the four-inch heels, that didn’t mean she wanted to walk down two flights of staircases in them when she didn’t have to.

“Damn, girl, looking good!” Mick said, coming out of the kitchen as she neared the bottom of the staircase. He let out a low whistle. “Maybe I should start going to this club, too.”

“Absolutely not,” Jensen said dryly, following his brother out of the kitchen. “You’d find yourself tied up and your balls at the mercy of some dominatrix, screaming for me to help you and ruining my night.”

“It was only that one time!”

“One time was more than enough.” Jensen shook his head, glancing at Cassidy. “She hadn’t even touched him. He just didn’t listen when I told him what he was getting into. He told her he was willing to try anything once. That ended up not being true, though he didn’t realize it at the time.”

“She said she wanted to play with my nads, but really, she just wanted to crush them,” Mick said mournfully. He looked at Cassidy. “You wouldn’t crush my nads, would you?”

“Um… no?” She couldn’t help but laugh. Mick was hilarious. A total himbo in some ways, incredibly smart in others, and always a sweetheart. She could see him as a submissive, though she imagined he would drive his top crazy.

“I told you I would find you a dominatrix who won’t want to crush anything if you wanted me to,” Jensen scolded in exasperation. “You weren’t interested.”

“What can I say? I like a bit of danger.” Mick shrugged again and winked at Cassidy when Jensen made a noise like steam was escaping his mouth.

Pressing her lips together, Cassidy hid her smile as she sat down on the bottom of the steps to put on her shoes.

Sometimes, it was hard to tell when Mick was truly clueless and when he was just trying to get under his brother’s skin, but in this case, he was clearly enjoying winding his big brother up.

“Just not so much danger my balls actually get crushed. Anyway, it’s fine. I’m baking tonight to test out some recipes, anyway.”

“Can we taste test them?” Cassidy asked. She’d already found out that Mick was a phenomenal baker. While he worked a regular nine-to-five in the office, he had a side hustle on the weekends with a farmer’s market.

“Absolutely. I’ll leave them out on the counter when I go to bed,” Mick replied cheerfully. “Have fun, y’all.”

With that, he trotted up the stairs. Whatever he was working on tonight, he obviously hadn’t started it yet. Well, no matter how tonight went, there would be baked goods to look forward to, so at least there was that.

“You do look good,” Jensen said, giving her an admiring once over.

Cassidy smiled at him as she tied the ribbons on her shoes.

He held out his hand for her to take, helping her to her feet.

The platform heels made her several inches taller than him, but he didn’t seem bothered at all by the height difference.

“Do you know if you want to scene tonight?”

“I haven’t really thought about it… I figured I would go and see how I felt once I got there,” she confessed. “I feel a little nervous about scening with someone I don’t know.”

Such an understatement, but admitting out loud that she was terrified of choosing another abusive Dom was too much. She hadn’t even said it out loud to her friends, though she’d hinted around it. All of them had reassured her that, of course, that wouldn’t happen.

But there were no guarantees. She never thought she would get into an abusive relationship in the first place.

That wasn’t her.

Until it was.

“Gotcha. Mason and David are going to be keeping an eye on you, so if you do decide to scene, you can just let them know. They can make recommendations on who you scene with,” Jensen said carefully.

David was going to be keeping an eye on her? A little tingle rippled through her body. And Mason.

But Mason didn’t make her tingle.

“Um, great,” she said.

Yeah, she didn’t know if she was going to be able to scene tonight if she knew David was watching her. But at least she could go and meet people.

David

Watching the front door of the Outlands, waiting for Cassidy, was making David antsy enough that Master Gavin took notice.

The club owner was behind the bar tonight, serving drinks and keeping an eye on things with the help of his wife, Leah.

Wearing nothing but a kilt and boots, the Dom was in incredible shape for a man in his fifties.

David hoped that he would look as good in twenty years.

Even the salt and pepper of his hair and beard looked good on Master Gavin, making him appear distinguished.

“Everything all right?” Gavin asked, coming to a halt on the other side of the bar from David, frowning. He spoke with a light Scottish brogue that had a tendency to thicken when he was emotional. “Should I be expecting trouble of some kind?”

“No, sorry.” David took a deep breath, turning toward the bar, though he positioned himself so he could still keep half an eye on the door.

He forced his shoulders to relax. If he was wound up enough to disturb Gavin, he was wound up enough to disturb others as well.

“Did Patrick tell you about the guest Jensen is bringing tonight?”

Understanding flashed in Gavin’s eyes.

“Yes, he mentioned she’s fled from a bit of trouble at home,” Gavin said carefully, wiping down the counter in front of him. “My understanding is that it’s highly unlikely to follow her here. Is that not the case?”

“No, it is…” David’s voice trailed off as he tried to find a way to reassure Gavin without making it sound like he was a schoolboy with a crush.

“As far as we can tell, she hasn’t been followed, and her ex should still have no idea where she is.

I’m on guard duty tonight, though, just in case, especially since this is her first time here.

It’s not my usual kind of job, and I’m feeling a bit antsy. ”

“Mm-hm. And she’s submissive?”

“Yeah.” David’s head turned back toward the entrance as the door opened. His senses went on alert and then relaxed again as Mistresses Terrin and Amara walked in together, laughing.

“Pretty?”

“Beautiful.”

“And you’re attracted to her.”

“Yeah— I mean, what? Wait, no.” David shook his head, as if he could shake off his answer that easily. He glared at Gavin. The older man smirked at him. “I wasn’t paying attention to your questions. That wasn’t… I’m not…”

“Sure, son. Whatever you need to tell yourself.” Still smirking, Gavin moved away as Terrin and Amara approached the bar, ostensibly to take their drink order. Really, probably, so he could have the last word.

David scowled after him, but there really wasn’t anything he could do. Calling Gavin back to emphatically tell him that David was not attracted to Cassidy would only be confirmation that he definitely was.

And he couldn’t even say truthfully that he wasn’t. It was best just to let it go and hope Gavin didn’t talk about it with anyone else. Because nothing was going to happen between him and Cassidy, anyway.

Still scowling, David spun on his barstool, defiantly facing the door, as if he didn’t care what Gavin thought.

Which was why he saw the moment Cassidy came in. She walked through the door with her chin held high, though he could see the nervousness in every line of her body. She was walking in despite her nerves.

Her long brown hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail, which meant her hair couldn’t be used for cover, showing off her stunning features and long neck.

She wore nothing around her neck, which made it look like it was begging for a collar.

The dark purple and black corset she was wearing pushed her breasts into deep cleavage, nipping her waist in to be almost impossibly small and making her hips appear extra curvy against the black PVC skirt tightly wrapped around them.

She made the pear shape look damn good. Long legs ending in high heels with ribbons that tied around her ankles completed the look.

It was a lot of bare skin showing, and David couldn’t help but drink in the sight of her. She’d been beautiful in her regular clothing, with her hair constantly swinging down to hide her face.

This outfit, though? The expanse of creamy skin against the dark colors of her clothing, face exposed to the world, looking like submissive sex on a stick… His groin tightened as he sucked in a quick intake of breath.

He was so caught up in looking at her that he barely noticed Jensen coming in behind her until the man moved to her side, and she turned to say something to him.

Her gaze flitted around the room, taking in the main floor of the Outlands until her eyes reached him.

They locked in on each other, and David could practically feel the air sizzle between them.

“Yeah, definitely not attracted to her.” The soft Scottish burr on Gavin’s last word was mocking.

David groaned inwardly.

Fuck.