Licorice Whips (43 page)

Nikla shook her head. “I have some things to do. I suspect you do, too, if you want to make things right with Sweet and his family. Those people didn’t do anything to you.”

“You’re right. Man, you’re rougher than any drill sergeant I’ve ever had.”

“And don’t you ever forget it.” She winked at her father.

“So will I see you this Sunday for dinner?”

Nikla stopped at the front door and turned to him. “After what you did to me and what you put me through, I think I deserve a reprieve, don’t you think?”

Lawrence held his hands up in defeat. “You win.”

“I’ll call you. Love you, Dad.”

“Love you, too.” He gave her an official salute before she left.

Now that she could cross seeing Justin from her list, Nikla had time on her hands. She debated going to Decadent Treats but her heart wouldn’t allow her to go, wouldn’t allow it to be subjected to a second heartbreak.

For now she would concentrate on herself. Then again, Nikla had done that before and she didn’t like her life then. Her fingers brushed over the candy bracelet still on her wrist. If she wanted to heal, she would have to break clean.

****

Sweet had never been in The Dollhouse during the day. The vibe felt different. Maybe because he found it odd to see so many businessmen and women subjecting themselves to discipline.

When he went to the bar area, he noticed Juicy’s eyes getting wide.

“What are you doing here?” She scanned the area.

“Don’t worry. Zach knows I’m coming here. He’s expecting me.” Sweet didn’t know word of his indiscretion had traveled so fast and far.

“You want something to drink?” Juicy wiped the bar down.

“I’m good.”

“You sure, Sweet? It’s on the house.”

Sweet turned when he heard the gravelly voice behind him. When he saw the gray-haired man strolling up to him, Sweet extended his hand.

The fact that Zach had called him Sweet instead of Master Sweet didn’t escape his notice. At least he knew the reason. Sweet had broken the rules and been formally ousted from the society. He didn’t give up so easily.

“I was surprised to hear from you.” Zach shook his hand.

Up close, Sweet noticed the deep spray of wrinkles around his dull blue eyes. He kept his hair loose around his face. Sweet had noticed on the rare occasion that he did play, Zach kept his hair in a ponytail.

“Is there somewhere we can go to talk?” Sweet kept his shoulders back and his chest out. He might be down, but he couldn’t be counted out, not just yet.

Zach walked toward the cage elevator that took him and Sweet up to a third level that only housed his office. Once inside, he flipped a switch on his desk that transformed the glass surrounding the office from translucent to black. Sweet wondered how the man got any privacy in an open office like he had.

“Aside from asking to come back, what can I do for you?” Zach sat behind his desk, which looked like a metal table that could be found in a mortuary.

“I want to buy The Dollhouse.” Sweet never broke eye contact when he made his proclamation.

Zach stared at him for a moment before breaking into laughter. His graying moustache that went down the sides of his mouth framed the bottom half of his face nicely.

“You’ve got to be kidding. You break the rules and then you want to buy the place. Man, you’ve got some set on you.” Zach reached into his desk and pulled out a pink bottle of Pepto Bismol and took a giant swig.

“Yes, I made a mistake. But who hasn’t?”

“My place gets inspected on the regular. Vanilla folks always think I’m running a prostitution ring. I don’t need you proving it by pumping some chick you’ve just disciplined.”

Sweet balled his hands into fists. “Don’t call her some chick. You don’t know her.”

“Easy. Everything in here is just play. I didn’t know you caught feelings.” Zach set his bottle on his desk. “For one thing, this place is not up for sale. If it was, what makes you think I would ever sell to you? I would sell to Hawk before I would let you have a crack at it.”

“Despite what you may think, I love The Dollhouse. The recent series of events that have happened in my personal life made me reevaluate what’s important to me.” Sweet pointed down. “This place. This place is what matters to me. I feel at home here. Maybe that’s the reason I slipped up. I got too comfortable. I wouldn’t do that as an owner. What I also see in here is a place to sell fetish toys, real ones. Good ones. If we do that, we can draw in more clients.”

Zach stared at him for a moment. “You’ve been thinking a lot about this, haven’t you?”

“You have no idea.” Sweet couldn’t believe the answer sat right in front of him. At his meeting with Zuberi this afternoon, he would tell them the same thing.

“I don’t know. The members here have heard about you. They may not respect your leadership.”

“Just like in any relationship, I’ll just have to work on gaining their trust. Besides, it looks like this place is getting to you.” Sweet pointed to the bottle.

Zach waved his hand at him. “Eh, now you sound like my old lady. Of course if she heard you, she would scream at me to sell. She’s been wanting me to retire for years.”

Sweet sat up taller. “I’m willing to work at it. Make me dungeon master. If I work out there, give me more duties in the business office. If that works out, let me put in the fetish shop. And then–”

“Stop talking, kid. I’ll give you a shot, not as dungeon master, though.”

Sweet held off jumping for joy until he heard Zach’s proposal.

“You can buy in as a partner. If things don’t work out, I’ll buy you out. If they do, I’ll sell you my share. What do you say?”

Sweet stood and put out his hand. “Deal. Will you have your attorney draw up the paperwork?”

“Yeah, I’ll pull Juicy off the bar to do that.”

Sweet peered down at the bar area and stared at the tattooed woman. “Juicy’s an attorney?”

“The best. She loves working here more than defending scumbags.”

Sweet glanced at his watch. “I have another appointment. I can come back later on.”

Zach waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever. I’m not going anywhere. But before you leave, I want to say something to you.”

Sweet took a seat. In all the years he’d been to The Dollhouse, he never remembered having a conversation with Zach.

“You remind me a lot of myself at your age.” Zach studied him for a while. “Yeah, full of piss and vinegar. You got a tiger by the tail, and you ain’t letting it go, right?”

“I don’t want to be rude, Zach, but I–”

“Listen to me. You’re an okay Dom.”

Sweet sat up taller, ready to defend himself.

Zach continued. “You have the technique down. No one can argue that. But in order to control someone else, you’ve got to learn to control yourself.”

Sweet listened to the older man’s words and let them sink into his head.

“These subs and slaves look to a Dom or Domme to have a handle on things, be a leader. They want you to be their rock. If you can’t keep your shit together, then you’re going to end up with a mess. You know why you and Honey Badger didn’t work out?”

Sweet had almost forgotten Melinda’s scene name. Almost.

He shook his head at Zach’s inquiry.

“You two were one in the same, only you’re dominant and she’s submissive. You two are both spontaneous, whether you want to admit it or not. You need to be with someone who digs boundaries. You know why?”

“Why?” Sweet had to hear this.

“Because you like pushing them.”

Sweet nodded. That would describe his relationship to Nikla perfectly.

“I didn’t ask for this advice.” Sweet stared at the older man.

“I didn’t ask for that same advice when the previous guy who owned this place told it to me thirty-five years ago.” He smiled. “But I thank God I listened.”

Sweet extended his hand to Zach and coupled the sincere gesture with a nod.

“See you later, Master Sweet.” Zach nodded.

With the use of his scene name, Sweet started to feel like life returned to some sort of order. The old Sweet would have dismissed Zach’s wise words. As a man learning to rebuild, he respected his advice. Sweet hoped that with his new way of thinking that he could get Nikla back.

****

“I don’t understand. Bobbi Zuberi said she was considering my business for that downtown unit.” Nikla spoke to a middle-aged man who busied himself packing papers into several boxes within the office.

As Nikla surveyed the space, she noticed how empty it started to look.

“My mother really has no power or say so to lease those units.”

Ah, so this guy was one of Bobbi’s sons. She had only met the guy and she didn’t like him.

“I called the number that was on the sign in the window.” When Nikla recalled that moment, she also remembered meeting Sweet there.

She shook her head to get him out of her thoughts.

“I know. Did you notice the sign was down shortly thereafter?” her son asked.

Nikla nodded. “She said my business and another were on the short list to be picked. She told us we would hear something this week.”

“I apologize for my mother. Ever since my father passed away, she’s been trying to continue what she’s done in the past, which was lease out units. I have asked her not to do that because she really has no authority. But she likes meeting new people.”

Nikla felt so deflated. She gave up her job in the hopes that this would pan out for her. The office door opened and Sweet walked through looking more handsome than ever. Her insides quivered the closer he moved toward her. She looked away to keep from crying.

“My name is Sweet Hawkes. I’m supposed to meet Bobbi here.”

Bobbi’s son extended his hand. “Edmund Zuberi, Bobbi’s son. As I was explaining to Ms. Dearwood here, the units have already been leased. My mother had no right or authority to hold meetings about the units. I apologize for any inconvenience.”

From her peripheral vision, she caught Sweet looking at her.

“I had actually come to withdraw my businesses from consideration.”

Nikla brought her full attention to him. “What?”

Sweet nodded. “I’ve decided to go in a different direction with my business.” He turned to Edmund. “I was just going to argue for Ms. Dearwood.”

Nikla cleared her throat when it started to tighten. “I don’t need your endorsement.” She directed her attention to Edmund. “I need answers. If you had no intention of leasing the space, why have us come all the way out here? You could have told us this in the e-mail.”

“We offer other office spaces around the Tidewater area if you’re interested. I’d be more than happy to meet with you at our real office next door. This tiny eyesore will be torn down soon.”

“Or maybe you thought if we saw you face to face that we wouldn’t want to sue you.” Nikla crossed her arms over her chest. The fire had been lit under her. She didn’t want it extinguished yet.

“Sue us?” Edmund damn near choked back a laugh. “My mother may be unorthodox, but she is an excellent businesswoman. I guarantee you that she advised you to seek out other spots if you wanted to, right?”

Nikla remained quiet. Bobbi had on a couple of occasions told Nikla she could look for other units if she didn’t want to wait for her. Bobbi wasn’t so crazy after all.

Nikla still dug in her heels. “Your mother represented your company. She kept us waiting for an answer. She had us jumping through hoops. For loss of potential revenue, I should–”

Sweet cut her off. “Thank you for your time.” He put his hand out to Edmund. “I appreciated the opportunity.” He glanced at Nikla. “I hope you feel the same way, too.” He turned to the door.

Unsatisfied with his statement, she followed him. “What? That’s it? You’re not as angry as I am? I thought you really wanted the spaces.”

Sweet stopped by his truck and turned to her. “I thought that’s what I wanted, too. Then I met a crazy woman.”

Nikla started to open her mouth to refute his statement.

“Bobbi.”

Nikla kept her arms crossed until she heard his speech.

“If it wasn’t for Bobbi, you wouldn’t have pushed yourself to come train with me. And I wouldn’t have gone to a yoga class. I wouldn’t have gotten to know you.”

Nikla’s heartbeat slowed. She loved everything he’d said, but she couldn’t be sucked into his vortex. She didn’t want to lose herself. “That’s great for you. But what about me? I quit my job, and–”

“You quit?” Sweet smiled. “Good for you.”

She cocked her head.

“You needed to do something to push you to action. Bobbi pushed you.”

“Out of a job.”

Sweet shook his head. “You hated it. If you didn’t, you would have done what you could to work it out.” He dropped his gaze as though he’d realized what Nikla did. What he said applied to the two of them. “You’re resourceful. You’re smart. You’ll figure something out.”

“And you? What will you do?”

Sweet stared at her. He raised his hand as though he wanted to brush a curl from her face, but he stopped himself. “Do you want to be my submissive?”

Nikla never suspected he would ask her that question still, not now, not after all they had been through lately. “I can’t answer that right now.”

Sweet nodded. “I know I want to continue disciplining you. But I also know I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I should have never accused you of going to the health inspector. I can’t apologize enough for that.”

Nikla started opening her mouth again and, again, Sweet stopped her.

“Even if you did, it’s still my fault. I should have enough restraint to respect you and my business.” He took a step closer to her. “I apologize for what I did at your apartment. As a Dom,
I
need to learn discipline.”

Nikla smiled and allowed him to finish.

“As a result of my actions, I’ll be stepping down as owner of Decadent Treats.”

“Because of me?” Nikla covered her mouth.

Sweet shook his head. “Now who’s not listening?” He smiled. “Because of
me
.” He glanced around. “You want to go for coffee? Just sit and talk?”

Nikla grinned. “I’d like that.”

Sweet glanced behind them at the building. “I wouldn’t leave your car here. Follow me.”