Celebration (8 page)

“If that one’s a submissive, then I’m a peacock,” Amanda said, jabbing her finger toward the closed door.

Rex smiled because he knew better.

Amanda stared at him for a long moment, as if she’d will him to change his mind.

Rex stared back, his expression set.

Zeke looked at Amanda and pointed to the door.

A murmur passed through the crowd, all occupants watching Amanda as she headed for the door and unlocked it with a fierce gesture. She was clearly unhappy about Rex’s choice, but ceded to him. Rex held his breath without meaning to do so as the door swung open. He felt Zeke studying him, but only could think about Joanna bound and captive and his to take. He remembered her locked into that chastity belt with the vibrator that kept her hot and ready for him at any time. He remembered binding her helpless half a dozen times. He remembered how she gasped when she was surprised, that sweet involuntary sound of innocence. His cock was hard and he was ready to make the most of her appearance.

But Joanna strode into the shop with a whole lot of attitude. Rex stared in surprise. She was wearing high black leather boots and black eyeliner, a leather jacket and a short skirt. She glanced over the other members in the tattoo parlor, surveyed the images of tattoos on the wall, then noticed Rex.

She met his gaze steadily and smiled, not in the least bit submissive, then crossed the room with disconcerting purpose. Rex watched her come closer with dismay. She was moving like a dominatrix, like a woman who was far from innocent, like a woman who knew her sexual power and how to use it. She was both softer and harder than he recalled, more confident in her femininity, and utterly disinteresting.

He lost his erection, right then and there.

He remembered Athena’s conviction that he loved Joanna only because she was his creation. He had molded and shaped her, modeling her into the woman he wanted to have. She wasn’t that woman any more though—she’d been shaped by Mike into his fantasy, or maybe she’d grown into being her own fantasy.

Either way, he didn’t find her enticing, not any more.

He remembered Michelle’s assertion that he had loved the idea of Joanna more than the reality. He heard again Michelle asking him what Joanna wanted, what she believed, what she dreamed of achieving. He knew that Michelle believed he knew almost nothing about Joanna.

He might have argued that—until tonight. The assertive feminine woman in black who stood him could have been a stranger. He knew nothing about her, and he didn’t want to.

Rex stood there, stunned. His adoration of Joanna had been the axis of his universe for so long that he felt unsteady without it.

Joanna, meanwhile, put out her hand, her confident smile in place. “I’m glad to see that you survived the fire at the Plume, Rex. How are you doing otherwise?”

They might have been old acquaintances meeting on the street. Two people who had gone to high school together but had little in common.

It was a deflating moment.

But then, Joanna was marrying Mike soon.

“Fine,” he managed to say, not taking her hand. “Everything coming along for the wedding?”

If he’d been hoping that the question might make her blush, Rex was due for a surprise. Maybe a disappointment. He’d loved how she blushed.

Joanna smiled with obvious pleasure. “Yes, it is. By the way, is Rafe here?” She glanced over the crowd. “I need to get even with Mike for something and wanted Rafe to help.”

“He is here somewhere,” Rex confirmed, not even curious about what she had planned for Mike. “I saw him last at the bar.”

“I’ll find him.” Her gaze danced over his bare chest but there was no spark of desire in her eyes. “Getting some ink?”

He felt about as smooth as he had in high school, when she’d interviewed him for the newspaper. Once again, Joanna was the one with the confidence he so admired, the one with the plan for the future and the ability to make it happen. In contrast, he’d become the loser with the long-shot dream again. The thing was that he’d achieved his dream, then fucked up and lost it. He’d created something wonderful, but had made one too many enemies and pushed too far. The destruction of the Plume combined with Leya’s deception—never mind that he hadn’t seen either incident coming—made Rex feel dumb.

Seeing how Joanna learned from her experience at the Plume and moved forward reinforced Rex’s sense that he was a failure.

It was no wonder he didn’t find her attractive. Her poise challenged his own self-esteem, especially in this moment.

Rex turned his shoulder so she could see the marker lines Zeke had put on his skin, wishing she’d leave. “He’s still tweaking the design.”

“It’ll look good.” Joanna paused as if she’d had a thought, then looked over the room. The music was being turned up again and people were starting to dance. “Do all these people have that commemorative tattoo?”

“How do you know about it?”

“Louise told me. Do they?”

Rex nodded. He showed her the images he’d already taken, using the display on the back of the digital camera. She wasn’t interested in seeing all of them, though, because her gaze kept wandering back to the other party goers. She was thinking about something else, and he found himself resenting her distraction.

“Oh, look, there’s Rafe,” Joanna said suddenly, pointing across the room. Sure enough, the former chauffeur of the Plume was leaning against the wall, his eyes hidden behind his mirrored sunglasses.

Rex watched Joanna for a moment, seeing how she cut through the crowd with determination. A forthright Joanna didn’t work for him, not at all. That was maybe a good thing. She wasn’t for him anyway.

It was time for Rex to move on.

But maybe he could learn from her. He recalled how frightened she had been when she’d first come to the Plume, how she’d been out of her element but hadn’t retreated. People like Joanna picked themselves up and tried again. Maybe it was time for Rex to be proud of what he’d accomplished, to focus on the positive and what he could do, rather than his mistakes and shortcomings. The idea made him stand straighter. Maybe he should take charge of his future and build on success, as Julius had suggested. All these people were here because they’d loved the Plume. All he needed was the right idea, and the faith that it would come.

For now, he’d take Athena’s challenge and make her party an incredible event.

Rex turned to face the other party attendees and raised his voice to a shout. “I’ve got something to tell you all!”

Someone turned down the music and they all faced Rex with expectation.

“You’re all invited to a party at Athena’s home in London two weeks from tonight,” Rex said.

“In England?” someone asked and at Rex’s nod, a few people groaned.

Tess pulled out her Blackberry and Tex leaned over her shoulder, murmuring to her.

“I’m giving away thirteen return airfares to London tonight.” Rex said. “Lucky thirteen! Just show me your stuff and convince me that you have to be there. I’ll make it happen for thirteen of you.”

The shop erupted into shouts of approval. Rex was kissed and hugged from all sides, and he smiled at his newfound conviction that he was right where he needed to be.

With the people who understood him best.

* * *

Joanna did her best to hide how startled she was by Wicked Ink. It was one thing to be visiting a tattoo shop for the first time in her life, but seeing all these people in their fetish gear made her realize how conservative she still was. She’d seen them at the Plume and at Rex’s show, but those locations had seemed contrived. She’d also been aroused and distracted on those two nights.

Not on this one.

Wicked Ink wasn’t exactly in the mainstream, but it was a real place, a business open to the public. Even though it was closed for the party and it was late at night, Joanna found the eye candy a little disconcerting.

Then she heard Rex’s offer and knew she couldn’t stay very long. It was funny how much she felt like an outsider—or an alien. She loved what she and Mike did to each other and for each other, but the privacy, even the secrecy, of it was a big part of the appeal. The intimacy was also what she loved. She liked that it was their little secret and that virtually no one knew how they played together. She felt lucky that they’d found each other and knew she was smiling like a fool by the time she reached Rafe.

She’d thought she might feel embarrassed talking to him, given what he’d seen done to her (and what he’d done to her) but he greeted her as if they were casual acquaintances.

She supposed that in this company, they were. They’d only had oral sex once and Rafe had seen her naked, bound and claimed. That was pretty tame compared to the possibilities.

Joanna had to shout at him to explain her idea over the loud music. She would have loved to have seen Rafe’s eyes as he listened, but he didn’t remove his sunglasses. His smile broadened, though, which made her hope he’d do it.

He demanded a pretty high price and she let her surprise show.

“I have to rent a limo,” he said, rubbing his fingers and thumb together.

“Can’t you borrow the one from the Plume?”

He shook his head. “It’s gone.”

Joanna didn’t ask where it had gone, as the admission seemed to sadden him. “You know Mike,” she negotiated. “Give me a deal because it’s him.”

“Because he’ll be getting what he deserves?”

“Pretty much.”

“We should all be so lucky.” Rafe dropped his price a little.

Joanna made a counter-offer. “You can watch.”

Rafe laughed. “I would anyway. That’s a given and you knew it.”

Joanna had. “That’s really the best you can do?”

“Unless you have a stretch limo you can provide for the festivities.”

Joanna sighed and made the deal with him, confirming the details of her plan. Rafe nodded and they exchanged cell phone numbers. “I’ll call you the night before,” he said. “Make sure I’ve got everything right.”

Joanna realized then that there was one flaw with her plan. “Do you know Mike’s friend Eric?”

“Crazy bastard,” Rafe said with a nod. “Tall, athletic.”

“That’s him.”

“Yeah, why?”

“Do you have a number for him? I’ll probably see him that night, but I’d like to talk to him ahead of time, be sure he can help out.”

“Don’t you have his number?”

“I did, but I’m thinking he must have changed it.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Joanna let her voice harden. “Maybe he doesn’t know yet that he does.”

“This is getting complicated,” Rafe said as he scrolled through his address book. “I like it.” He flashed her a grin. “I always knew you had potential.”

Then Joanna did blush, but there was a distraction. There was a roar from the crowd in the shop and the music was changed to a song with a more driving beat. The crowd parted to create an avenue and Zeke danced down it, gyrating his hips and heading for his private tattoo room. Rex strode after him, then paused in the doorway to strip naked. The group went wild, shouting and stamping and whistling. They were chanting “Thirteen!” over and over again, thanks to Rex’s offer.

Rex pivoted at the door of the private room to take a bow and Joanna noted the size of his erection. She didn’t doubt that he could take thirteen partners and be ready for more. It could be a long wild night at Wicked Ink.

She had a moment of uncertainty, but to her relief, Rex didn’t even glance her way. That was over, not just for her but for him, too. Joanna was glad.

The crowd swarmed behind Rex, encircling the table as he climbed on to it. At Zeke’s gesture, Rex straddled the leather bench, placing his feet on the foot braces. Louise stepped forward with a devious smile and secured his ankles to the bench with wide leather straps. She shackled his hands together, then climbed up on the bench to secure them to a hook in the ceiling.

Rex was no submissive captive: he bent forward to caught her nipple in his teeth, even through her shirt. He suckled her and Louise moaned, then bucked toward him.

The crowd roared approval. Rex grinned, his erection getting even bigger as he stretched out his tongue for Louise’s other nipple.

“Taking me to England, Rex?” Louise teased. She caught his face in her hands and raised his mouth for a kiss. “You could pack me in your carry-on and save a fare,” she said, then kissed him thoroughly. Joanna smiled, knowing that she was referring to the previous Christmas, when Mike and Joanna had packed Louise in a duffel bag and left her under Rex’s Christmas tree.

No sooner had Louise broken their kiss than a beautiful woman with long chestnut curls stepped in front of the bench. “Hey, Rex, there’s one of my fantasies that never did come true at the Plume.”

“Tess,” Rafe whispered to Joanna. “Long time member.” Joanna nodded.

“What’s that?” Rex asked Tess.

“I always wanted the boss man,” Tess said in a sultry voice. The others hooted. “Going to make my dream come true?”

“Come take me, if you can,” Rex taunted.

Tess unzipped the front of her bodysuit, much to the delight of the crowd, kicked off her shoes and peeled off the garment. A tall guy behind her with russet hair caught the discarded bodysuit and tossed it over his shoulder in a proprietary move. He smiled as he watched her.