Page 21

A few weeks later

Reese Tenley

I remembered a time when I’d thought Lucas sharing a kink dynamic with a girl was strange as fuck. But eventually, I’d met Ivy, and… Honestly, now I couldn’t picture my social life without her.

She’d essentially turned into our “sure thing.” When River and I needed to blow off some steam and didn’t have the energy to hunt down another masochist, Ivy was there for us. She was fun, bratty as hell, strong, ballsy, intelligent, and had a high threshold for pain. She’d become a friend.

I had half a mind to ask her to be part of the core group of the community River and I were hopefully starting soon, but I knew her work hours.

The girl was what, twenty-four? And she was already stressed out.

No, she’d definitely become a member, but I wasn’t going to add to that stress by giving her responsibilities in the start-up.

River had pointed out I was protective of her, and he wasn’t wrong. Weird as it was, she was the first person who’d made me stop doubting I had a Daddy Dom in me.

I really wanted to explore that more.

But I also wanted to punish her for leaving my side five minutes after we arrived at the event.

She had begged me to come with her. She had begged me to be her “barrier.” And now, she was gone. She’d spotted a handful of brat friends and said she’d see me later.

I ran a hand through my hair and leaned against the bar.

I’d found a spot at the very end, and I’d stay here and nurse my beer until Ivy either deemed me worthy of her company again, or she was ready to go home.

I took a swig and scanned the crowd, wondering if August was here. Ivy had a crush on him but, for some reason, refused to approach him. I couldn’t very well introduce her either; I’d never spoken a word to the guy. I’d just heard Ivy ramble about him.

A lot.

She had tons of friends, and there was no shortage of play partners either, so I hoped she’d recruit some of them to our future slice of kinky heaven in Mclean.

It was finally gonna happen. One work assignment with Emerson in Berlin had convinced River. We’d seen what we wanted for ourselves. No more of these fucking theme nights at regular clubs, no events in somebody’s living room.

The estate in Mclean was ours.

We estimated we’d need twelve to eighteen months for renovations and upgrades, and then we could open the doors.

I spotted Ivy on the dance floor with her friends, and she waved excitedly to me.

I smiled and tipped my bottle in her direction.

She was so funny at times. One minute, she was balls to the wall and feared no one.

Then…the instant River and I switched on the sadism, she eeep’d her way out of there and became too shy to talk to us.

Not that it stopped her from showing up and asking for more in the end.

It just required a great deal of warm-up and catching up.

The latter was on us. Maybe one day, River and I would walk away from Hillcroft and never look back. Fuck, I hoped so. But for now, we had to settle for work coming first. Which included extended trips overseas and not seeing our friends for weeks or months.

That was why we couldn’t start our community on our own. We needed that core group to keep the ball rolling when we were out of town?—

“Or you can back the fuck off,” I heard someone snap over the music. “Do I look like a Little to you? I’m also seriously taken and not one bit interested.”

I eyed the young guy glaring at another just a few feet away, and the taller of the two flashed his hands in surrender before he disappeared into the crowd.

The snapper huffed and faced the bar, looking like he needed a minute to pull himself together.

He’d had a long day, I reckoned.

I finished my beer and set the bottle on the bartop.

The snapper looked my way and hesitated for a beat before he moved closer. “Apologies in advance for a possibly stupid question, but sadomasochism was mentioned on the event board online, and so far, I’ve only seen light spanking between a Daddy and his boy. Am I missing something?”

He’d fallen into the same trap as many of us before him.

“Unless it’s a strict theme, organizers put too many kinks on the list in order to attract more guests,” I replied. “So tonight is Bigs and Littles of all kinds, including regression-players, masos, diaper lovers…and so on.”

He scowled a little and looked out over the dance crowd.

The sides were lined with simple equipment and seating areas, where kinksters could enjoy some lighter sessions on furniture that could be packed up easily. Sorry to say, but there was nothing sexy about a portable X-cross or sawhorse.

The snapper faced me again. “My Master’s in the middle of a work deadline, so he sent me out to get inspiration. Do you happen to know any events this weekend that cater more to Sadists and masochists?”

I blew out a breath, thinking. I’d seen something in the DC Kink group on Facebook, but it was usually hit or miss in that crowd.

“Are you on FetLife?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’m still kinda new. Between studies and Master’s schedule, we haven’t explored as much as we would’ve liked yet.”

Understandable. Life always got in the way of things.

“Are you part of a community?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Never found one that suited me. That’s why a few friends and I are starting our own.”

He perked up. “Really? When?”

I chuckled and rested an elbow on the bartop. “It’ll probably be a year or so before we can accept members. We bought a house that needs to be renovated from top to bottom first.”

“Wait, like—a house for the community?”

I inclined my head. “Three floors of playrooms, club area, and guest rooms. There’s a private forest too, for takedowns and shit.”

“Oh my God.” Judging by the excitement in his eyes, he was impressed. “Do you need any help? Because that sounds fucking incredible.”

I grinned. He was sweet, and I kind of soaked up his excitement. We were gonna need it when renovations started and the money began flying out the window.

“I reckon a sweet subbie like you should keep focusin’ on your studies and your Master,” I replied. “But of course you’re welcome to join once we’re finished.”

He scrunched his nose. “First of all, I’m a switch till the day I die. Second of all, I have way more time than my Owner does.”

A switch till the day he died, huh? Cute.

“I’m Macklin, by the way.” He stuck out his hand and stood a little taller.

“Reese.” I shook his hand. “Aren’t you a little young?”

He knitted his brows together. “I’m twenty-one. I’m also a chef, sort of, and I’m real scrappy. I’ve read a lot about BDSM, and I swear I wanna dedicate my life to this.”

Boy, this wasn’t a job interview.

“And you’re in your first kink dynamic,” I guessed.

He weighed his response. “Kinda, but we’ve been together three years.”

Oh. Hell, that was a lot longer than River and I had ever lasted. I reckoned our top score at the moment was four months, and we’d been out of the country for half that time.

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “I’m off on a work trip soon, but when I come back, I want you to meet my brother. He and I bought the house together.”

At the end of the day, switch or not, he was his Master’s sub, and it couldn’t hurt to have a sub’s take on things during this journey. So far, we only had Tops on the dominant side.

“Your actual brother?” Macklin pressed. “Either way, I’m so down. Can we exchange numbers? Or are you on Facebook?”