Page 216 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

SOPHIA

W e enter the castle and take the elevator down to the club. The plug shifts around with every step I take, heightening my arousal, already at breaking point. “You are evil,” I grit out.

Julian grins. “Hey, Damien’s the one that didn’t let you come. I would never be so cruel.”

Damien snorts. “Yeah, sure.”

A pretty, curvy woman dressed in black greets us at the club entrance. Damien breaks into a smile when he sees her. “Brooklyn, it's good to see you,” he says. “How is school? You're almost done, aren't you?”

“Hello, Mr. Cardenas,” she says, smiling back at him. “Yes, less than a year left. I'm looking for internships now.”

“In media?”

She nods. He pulls a business card out of his wallet and hands it to her. “Call me if you want help,” he says. “I can put you in touch with people.”

She nods immediately. “Thank you so much,” she says, taking the card. “I would love to take you up on that offer.”

“Of course. I should probably let you get on with your spiel. Sophia's new, so she needs to fill out a checklist.”

Brooklyn gives me a welcoming smile. “Please follow me.” She leads us to a sitting area and hands me a tablet.

“It appears that you were here ten years ago, Ms. Thorsen,” she says.

“Some of our safety features have evolved since then. This is a checklist of various BDSM activities. Please go through it, and mark what you'd be interested in trying or not. If you don’t want to try something, please also note if that’s a soft limit or a hard limit. ”

She looks in her mid-twenties. She’s pretty and young and doesn’t have a ticking biological clock. Plus, she appears to know her way around BDSM. I try not to be jealous. “I’m not really experienced,” I mutter. “I won’t know if I'm interested in something or not until I try it out.”

“Of course. Why don't you start by marking off things that you have absolutely no interest in trying?” she suggests.

“Okay, I can do that.” I scroll down the eye-popping list. “Yeah, nothing involving electricity,” I say out loud as I mark that as a hard limit. Nobody’s bringing a live current near my ladybits, thankyouverymuch. “Nothing involving blood, either. I get squeamish around it.”

Damien tilts his head to the side. “You do? Is that why you didn't go to medical school?”

“It's one of the reasons,” I reply.

Regret flashes on his face. I know he's thinking about me getting fired and living in my car, and I don't want to rehash that tonight. I don't want to dwell on the past. I'm at Club M to have a good time. Tonight, I want to focus entirely on the present.

I don't rule out a lot. Anything to do with watersports is out. I decline to be exhibited on the main floor. The role-playing section offers me options like kidnapping, interrogation, sleep deprivation, and gang bangs. My eyes go wide, and I hastily decline all of those.

The next item in the role-play section is a schoolroom scene. I hesitate. Julian looks over my shoulder and chuckles. “Do you want to get spanked for not doing your homework, Sophia?”

My cheeks go pink. I shoot a glance at Brooklyn, but her expression gives nothing away. This must be something she's used to, I remind myself. She works at Club M. There is nothing I'm going to say or do that will shock her.

When I'm done, I hand the tablet to Brooklyn. She scans my list and then presses a button. “I’ll share this with the monitors,” she says. “Will the scene today involve the three of you?”

“Yes,” Julian replies. “Can you prep a room for us?”

“Certainly, Mr. Kincaid.” She addresses me again.

“There are security cameras everywhere in the club, including in the private rooms. The club is officially closed today, but you are still being monitored via the cameras.

At any point in time, if the scene looks unsafe, or if it looks like it's going to violate one of your limits, a monitor will stop the scene. Your safety is paramount at the club. Do you consent to this?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect. There’s only one more thing. You haven’t ruled out breath-play, but the Club M rules override your preference. Breath-play scenes are not allowed unless you have prior approval.”

“That's not going to be a problem,” Damien replies tightly. He takes my arm. “Sophia, why don’t we go have a drink while Julian tells Brooklyn what we need?”

The club is supposedly closed today, but there’s a bartender on duty, a young Black woman. I ask for a glass of white wine. Damien sticks with water. “Have you slept with her?” I ask Damien as we wait for our drinks. Ugh. I guess I didn’t do a very good job throttling my jealousy.

He looks puzzled. “With who?”

“With Brooklyn.”

Damien shakes his head immediately. “God, no. She's staff. It’s frowned on. Xavier has made an exception to that rule before, but there were extenuating circumstances. But even if it wasn’t frowned on, I wouldn’t.”

“Why not? She’s pretty.”

He looks amused. “Are you jealous, Sophia?” he teases. He hands me my glass. “This is a new side of you.” His expression softens. “I only have eyes for you, sweetheart. Surely that’s obvious by now.”

It’s not obvious at all. “Why wouldn’t you sleep with her?”

“Apart from the fact that you’re the only woman I want to sleep with? Brooklyn has student loans and needs this job. I’m very rich. Consent gets murky under those circumstances. If I asked her out, she might not feel that she can turn me down.”

“You gave her your business card.”

“Sure,” he says easily. “If she calls, I’ll grab coffee with her.

It’s a basic professional courtesy. Brooklyn wants to work in media, and I have several contacts in the field.

I’ll connect her with the relevant people.

” He takes a sip of his water. “People like me, we already have a built-in network. I went to the right school and the right university. I know everyone. Brooklyn doesn’t. I do what I can to help.”

Oh. I thought Damien was unaware of his privilege, but he really isn’t. That’ll teach me to form snap judgments.

“You’re staring at me, Sophia.”

“Sorry.” I hunt about for a different topic of conversation. “Why is breath-play against the rules?”

“Ah, that’s a long story.”

“Julian’s still working out the details of the scene. Should I be concerned about that, by the way?”

He laughs. “You said you wouldn’t know if you were interested in something or not until you try it out.

Knowing Julian, he’s preparing a smorgasbord of options for you to try.

” His expression turns serious. “I was at college with Xavier. So were Julian and some other people. We were very young and very cocky, and we all liked control. We all got into BDSM in a big way.”

Julian joins us just then, but he doesn’t interrupt.

“My friend Stephan really liked this girl, Lina. He was reckless; they both were. They liked to push limits.” His lips twist. “One day, a breath-play scene went wrong. Lina died. When Stephan realized what he’d done, he shot himself.”

“How old were you?” I whisper.

“Twenty.”

“That’s why Xavier founded the club,” Julian says soberly. “It affected all of us, but it hit Xavier on a different level. Layla, the girl he was in love with, was Lina’s twin. It's his way of asserting control over uncertainty.”

“You're not a member of the club. Neither of you.”

Damien shrugs. “I like domination. I like control. I enjoy sex when the opportunity presents itself. But I spend all my time working. My life is really not that exciting.”

He’s not lying; he does spend all his time working. His phone rings constantly. I don’t know why I assumed he’s a player—more snap judgments, Soph—but he doesn’t seem to be. He’s just a guy.

A really good-looking one.

“And you?” I ask Julian. “Why aren’t you a member?”

“I’ve thought about it,” he replies. “It's a good place to have casual sex with somebody who's on the same wavelength as you. But like Damien, I have other things going on.” A slow smile forms on his face. “Of course, when I’m at the club, I’m going to take full advantage of the facilities.” He runs his fingers down my arm, and goosebumps erupt on my skin.

“Finish your drink, Sophia. Our room is ready for us.”