Page 2 of His Reward (Omegas After Dark: Omega Auction #2)

That was no problem at all for me. Like I said, absolute secrecy and discretion was demanded of anyone who played as part of the Dark Fantasies Club.

As I stepped up onto the podium to receive my gold medal and the bouquet of gorgeous flowers that went along with it, I thought about the particular Dark Fantasies Club event I would be attending in just a few days and beamed.

It was a piece of cake to look genuinely joyful as I straightened and waved to the audience from the top of the podium.

The upcoming Dark Fantasies Club omega auction put an amazing smile on my face.

Only hand-selected, elite members of the club were invited to participate in omega auction events.

I’d submitted my application, of course, but I hadn’t expected to actually be accepted.

That was the gold medal that really mattered to me.

I was gracious in accepting all the accolades that came to me for winning gold on the ice, though.

Like I said, I truly did love figure skating.

I worked hard at it and had given up a normal life to be standing where I was just then.

I stood proudly with my hand over my heart as the national anthem was played, then posed for pictures with my fellow winners, who also happened to be some of the best friends I had, before stepping down and heading back to the locker room to pack it all up for the night.

“I’ll take that,” Father said, removing the medal from my neck right before we reached the locker room door.

“And I’ll take those,” Marco said, snatching the bouquet from my arms for no real reason at all.

“We’ll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes, no more,” Father said with a nod before letting me head into the locker room with the others.

“Man, if I had a dad like yours, I’d quit skating in a heartbeat,” Oliver said, shaking his head but also grinning, as we headed into the tightly guarded locker room.

Only competitors were allowed in, both because we showered and changed in there and because the event organizers knew that sometimes we just needed our own space, free even of coaches.

I laughed at Oliver’s well-intentioned comment. “They’re bastards,” I said with a shrug, “but they know skating.”

“I don’t think I could handle the kind of intense scrutiny they push on you,” Oliver went on as we stripped carefully out of our costumes and headed for the showers.

The other competitors who hadn’t gone through the medal’s ceremony had already showered and were mostly gone, so it was just me, Oliver, and Mike in the almost-but-not-quite private showers that lined one wall.

“I’m used to it,” I said over the spray as I quickly scrubbed the competition sweat from my body and hair. “And I have systems in place to help me cope with their whole…thing.”

“What systems?” Mike asked from the shower on the other side.

I’d known Oliver and Mike since juniors.

The locker room was kind of like the Dark Fantasies Club in that we kept each other’s secrets to a fault.

Some competitors were nasty with each other, but Oliver, Mike, and I had always been each other’s best and sometimes only friends on the grueling competition circuit for years.

“You ever heard of the Dark Fantasies Club?” I asked as I stepped out of the shower and grabbed one of the oversized towels to dry myself off.

“That’s the underground club thing for people who are into kinky shit, right?” Oliver asked as he stepped out with a towel around his waist, leaving only his light-brown chest exposed.

“Yep,” I said with a broad grin.

Mike came out of the shower on the other side, already half dry. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those kinky fucks,” he said with a teasing grin.

“Oh, I’m so kinky I would make Corbin Johnson blush,” I told them with a wink.

They laughed, partially because Corbin Johnson was a formerly prominent alpha figure skating judge who had been caught at a party being spanked by a female alpha while dressed as a baby.

Oliver stopped laughing suddenly and blinked. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes,” I answered with a shrug, heading over to my locker to change into my street clothes.

“There’s nothing wrong with being kinky,” Mike said as he joined me to change. “I mean, I’m not, but I don’t kink shame.”

“What kind of kinky things do you do?” Oliver asked, his dark eyes all wide and innocent. He immediately blushed and stammered, “I mean, wow, that was a really inappropriate question. I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s okay,” I said, sliding on my briefs and sweatpants as fast as I could to hide things, because just talking about the Dark Fantasies Club made me horny. “I’m a sub. I like being used and fucked by sadistic, alpha Doms.”

“Whoa,” Oliver gaped.

“Really?” Mike asked, shrugging into his sweater. “Like, really?”

I hummed and bit my lip obscenely, which answered their questions more than words could. “You have no idea how awesome it is to be punished and dominated like that.”

“Do you…do you know the alphas who…do that to you?” Oliver asked, frozen halfway through dressing as he gawked at me.

“No,” I laughed as I put my shirt and sweatshirt on. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“So wait,” Mike said, holding up a hand. “You like being fucked and, like, what, whipped? By complete stranger alphas?”

“Whipped, flogged, spanked,” I said happily, wriggling a little as slick started to leak from me.

“I don’t mind a little humiliation play either.

” They continued to stare at me like I’d grown another head.

“I mean, if you know, you know, and if it’s not your thing then it’s hard to wrap your head around, but submitting to an alpha Dom and letting them have you and use you is so goddamn freeing.

I don’t have to think or worry about anything other than pleasing them.

It’s especially awesome when I’m in heat, because I’m always half-crazy with need anyhow. ”

Oliver and Mike continued to stare at me. They were omegas, too, so I was certain they knew what that heat need felt like.

“So wait,” Mike said, shaking himself out of his disbelief. “What does all this have to do with training with your dad and brother?”

I grinned as I sat down to put my shoes on. “We have an agreement that when I stand on the podium, I get a reward of one week away from all this, no questions asked.”

“And you go do kinky stuff in those weeks?” Oliver asked, sitting down to tie his shoes, too.

“Yep,” I answered proudly. “This week’s reward is going to be extra fun because I’ve been selected to take part in an exclusive, invitation only omega auction event.”

“Excuse me?” Oliver paused in the middle of tying his shoes.

“Wait, wait,” Mike said, holding up both hands this time.

“You’re happy because you’ve been selected for an exclusive omega auction?

As in, you’re going to be auctioned off to the highest, sadistic bidder?

For real?” His tone rose a few notes with each additional question in a way that made me laugh.

“It’s all strictly controlled,” I said, both amused by my friends’ shock and turned on as I explained.

“When I applied, I filled out an extensive form with all the details about what I want from a play session and what traits I’m looking for in an alpha Dom.

The alphas fill out a similar form. The organizers pre-match alpha and omega pairs based on what they want from the experience, what their limits are, and general compatibility.

They put a lot of science into how they match people.

And they’re not bidding with real money, although a lot of us who have a bit to spare donate to the club’s many charitable endeavors.

They actually sponsor one of the biggest anti-trafficking charities in the world. ”

My friends were still stunned and just stared at me.

“So this is some sort of weird, kinky dating app and…and charity?” Oliver asked.

I shrugged. “Sort of, although it’s not for dating, it’s just for playing.”

“Then it’s not a real auction,” Mike said, maybe a little disappointed. “You already know who’s going to buy you.”

“Sort of,” I said, pinching my face a little.

“The alphas are given a complete dossier about the omega they’ll be playing with, mostly so they know things like limits and safe words.

The omegas can ask for all the information or no information at all so it feels like they’re really being sold off into the unknown.

I’ve asked for the basic dossier, which means when I show up at the location where the event is being held, I’ll know my buyer’s name, limits, and safe words, but nothing else. ”

“Isn’t that, like, really dangerous?” Oliver asked, side-eyeing me as he stood to collect his costume and shut his locker.

“No, that’s the point of the whole Dark Fantasies Club system,” I laughed, standing as well to do the same.

“It’s all highly regulated and controlled…

but it feels like it isn’t. Everyone who belongs to the club is super vetted.

I’ve done kidnapping fantasies and trafficking fantasies before, but never the auction. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Both of my friends just blinked at me as we gathered our stuff and walked to the locker room door.

“Isn’t pretending to be trafficked unethical?” Mike asked. “Too many omegas are trafficked for real.”

“That’s why the Dark Fantasies Club is so strict,” I explained. “And why it’s a fantasy. We all know it’s not real, but we can play around with dark things. And actually, the club owners do a lot of work with law enforcement in addition to their anti-trafficking organization.”

“Wow,” Oliver said as we paused in front of the door. “I mean, I still don’t know about something like that, but wow.”

I would gladly have sat in the locker room all night talking about the Dark Fantasies Club and the kink world with my friends, but I knew Father and Marco were waiting in the lobby, and if I didn’t show up within twenty minutes, my father would probably do something shitty, like canceling my reward week.

“I’ll tell you all about it when we’re back in Barrington for training in a few weeks,” I said as we headed out of the locker room.

It would be nice to have someone to talk to about the other most important part of my life.

And who knew? Maybe Oliver or Mike would get interested in the kink scene.

I mean, it wasn’t likely, but I never said never about anything.

Even just talking about that other side of my life made me smile, so when I met my father and Marco in the lobby, the way my father tapped his watch didn’t bother me.

He could tap all he wanted, I was just a few days from getting my rocks off in spectacular style, and there was even a slight chance I might go into heat for the experience, too.

That was better than any gold medal to me.