McKenzie, Cooper - Taming Blaze [Club Esoteria 8] (Siren Publishing Classic)

TAMING BLAZE

Club Esoteria 8

COOPER MCKENZIE

Copyright © 2012

Chapter 1

“That little
subbie
needs a Dom of her own,” Taurus said, watching as two
uncollared
subs helped a third out to the cab waiting just outside the club’s front doors. Blaze Richards was still sobbing as she stumbled out but refused to remain in the club until she regained control.

He had watched with growing concern as the tiny submissive had
scened
with not one, not two, but three different and increasingly sadistic Dominants over the past few hours. She had endured harsher abuse with each one. When the last one released her from her bonds after an hour of using a cane on nearly every inch of her body, she could barely walk. Taurus would have stepped in and stopped things earlier if it had been any other submissive.

Blaze Richards was always careful, while at the same time reckless. She only
scened
in the main room, and only with experienced Doms she knew and who were members of the club. But tonight, taking on three sadistic Dominants, none of whom seemed to be able to satisfy her need, was too much for Taurus to watch. He didn’t want to, but wondered if it wasn’t time to limit the little
submissive’s
membership.

“She’s in need of someone special,” Jenna Carter, his cousin and partner in Club Esoteria, replied. “Someone who can get past the maze of emotional walls she’s built up and find out what is really driving her to such painfully extreme measures. I don’t think she’s nearly as brash and bold as everyone thinks she is.”

“Uh-huh.” Taurus nodded. “But until she can tell us exactly what it is she needs, how are we supposed to match her up with an appropriate Dom?”

“What she doesn’t need is a sadist like the ones she usually scenes with,” Jackson Matthews said from where he was doing his end-of-the-night cleanup.

“What do you mean?” Jackson looked at the bartender, intrigued by his observation.

“She needs someone who’s dominant, yes, but I don’t think she’s ever been shown kindness. She needs someone with a gentle touch and an abundance of patience to sneak past her walls to her heart.”

Taurus thought about what the part-time bartender said and nodded his agreement. Turning to Jenna, he asked, “Do we have any members who fit that description?”

“I think I know someone. Andy is definitely dominant and an expert with ropes. He’s a member, but hasn’t been able to come in a couple of months because of work. I don’t think he and Blaze have ever crossed paths before,” Jackson said before the Domme could reply.

“He works with you?” he asked, referring to Jackson’s other job as a firefighter.

“Yeah. I’ll talk to him this week while we’re on shift and see if he can break free for the next time Blaze comes in. Two weeks, right?”

“Usually. I’ll call her Sunday afternoon to see if she’s recovered and confirm,” Jenna said, surprising both men.

“Jenna? You’re going to work on a Sunday?” Taurus teased.

It was a well-known fact that Sundays were sacred to Jenna. She did not work. She did not answer the phone, and she did not do anything except relax and play with Antony and Gentry, her two slaves/mates.

“No, I will not be working. I will be checking on an injured friend,” she said, sipping at her club soda. “What you’re going to have to figure out in the next two weeks, dear cousin of mine, is how to talk Blaze into
scening
with someone she’s never met before.”

* * * *

A week later, Blaze Richards shivered as she hurried across Club
Esoteria’s
wide parking lot. As usual on a Friday night, she was late. Any other night, being a few minutes behind schedule would not have bothered her. Tonight, though, was another story.

Master Taurus had called the day before and “requested” her to present herself to him at nine o’clock. He did not go into any detail about why. He just told her to be in the club’s main room wearing black boy shorts and a camisole with her hair in a single braid down her back.

While a small part of her wanted to ask why, her submissive answered with a simple, “Yes, Sir.”

So here she was, hurrying as fast as her four-inch stilettos would allow her toward the building that provided a refuge, while at the same time the source of her biggest frustrations. Club Esoteria.

As she approached, she studied the building. It was a turn-of-the–century, four-story, brick warehouse that looked much like any of the other older warehouses in town. The big difference was that Taurus and Jenna had renovated this one. The brick exterior was now painted a medium tan instead of the original brick red. Another big difference that made this one stand out from other buildings in town was its fenced parking lot. Only the city government’s outdoor storage facility had a more elaborate fence around it.

As she sidestepped a puddle, the night wind blew around her feet then up under her ankle-length trench coat. The silk and lace that were her only clothing proved no protection against the cold winter night. Praying she didn’t twist an ankle, she picked up her pace until she was trotting on the balls of her feet.

Entering the front door to the foyer, she quickly unbuttoned her coat and tossed it on the counter. Her shoes followed a few seconds later. Gentry, one of Mistress Jenna’s men, was working behind the counter tonight.

“You’re late,” he said, turning his attention to the computer and checking her in.

“You done?” she snipped without responding to his observation.

“Enter, brave woman, and enjoy the delights this night holds,” he said then gave a ghoulish laugh that just added to Blaze’s nervousness.

She pushed through the red velvet curtains that separated the locker rooms and check-in area from the main part of the club. Taking a deep breath for courage, she headed for the bar as she glanced around the room looking for Master Taurus. He was nowhere to be found.

As usual on a Friday night, Jackson was behind the bar, and Sinclair, his fiancée, sat on a barstool nearby. Ever since Christmas when Jackson had proposed, the two had been joined at the hip.

“Do you know where Master Taurus is?” she blurted out before Jackson had even acknowledged her.

Though not as dominant as most in the club, Jackson had been known to get his Dom on, but usually only focused that attention on Sinclair. When he turned and looked at her with one eyebrow lifted in query, Blaze took a deep breath and dropped her gaze to the gleaming bar.

“Excuse me, Sir, but do you know where I might locate Master T, Sir?”

“You’re late. But you’re lucky because he and Whitney haven’t come down yet.”

“So why did he want me here at nine?” she asked as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

Jackson did not answer as he half turned and placed a call. She blatantly eavesdropped as a moment later he said, “She’s here. Yes, she knows. Uh-huh. Okay. Yes. Bye.”

He finally hung up and turned back with a serious, very un-
Jacksonlike
expression. She leaned back an inch, trying to look as if she was not frightened by his appearance or the conversation he had just held.

“Master Taurus will be down shortly. You are to wait for him over there,” he said, waving to the alcove the
uncollared
subs had claimed as their own. “On the floor in slave position. You are not to speak, nor are you to accept any offers to scene. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir,” Blaze said with a nod as her gut clenched painfully tight in warning that something was very, very wrong.

Turning, she crossed the room and found an open spot between one of the couches and the wall. Kneeling, she settled into position easily, trying not to think of what Master Taurus had planned for her. Had he talked to the Doms who had played with her last time? Or all the Doms she had
scened
with? Had he learned the truth that she never got off on the pain they inflicted, but used it as a way to release stress and emotional hurt she hid behind her normally bold, too-brazen, snarky attitude?

The need for more and more pain had started in high school. She’d found that snapping rubber-bands against her arms or legs was more effective than cutting and less noticeable. Scars from cutting her skin would cause questions, but bruises faded in a few days and were easier to explain. But lately her need for pain was becoming harder and harder to assuage.

Memory of last week’s triple session provided little long-term relief. She was already in need of something she could not explain to herself, much less others.

Nervous knots in her belly grew until she had to fight the need to bend forward to relieve it. Closing her eyes, she felt a hot tear slide slowly down her cheek. What would she do if she were barred from coming here every couple of weeks for a good cry? Where would she go? How would she deal with the lifetime of pain now?

* * * *

Andy Zimmerman listened as Taurus talked to someone about the woman he and Jackson wanted him to meet. For the past hour, he and Taurus had drunk iced tea as the other man politely interrogated him about his knowledge of BDSM and what kind of a Dominant he was. He also learned what the club owner knew for fact and what he had pieced together about the woman, Blaze.

From his experience in the lifestyle, he wasn’t sure that they would be a match, but since he had yet to find the woman he had been searching for on his own, he was willing to allow others a chance at matchmaking. If nothing else, he would meet a new woman and have what he hoped would be a good evening. He would wait to decide whether or not anything further would come out of it.

Once he hung up, Taurus looked down at the woman who had served them. “Well, mouse, are you ready?”

“Yes, Master,” the woman said softly, looking up and smiling at the man she obviously loved.

Andy felt a stab of jealousy as he watched the interplay. That was what he wanted. A woman who could be soft and gentle when the time called for it but also was independent enough to stand up for herself. After all, with his job as a firefighter and his side business as a teen counselor, he could not always be there when his woman needed him. That was what had broken his marriage up two years earlier.

From what Taurus had told him, Blaze Richards might be what he was looking for, once they got past her need to be beaten. While he didn’t mind spanking a woman when it was called for, he could not beat anyone just for the grins and chuckles of it. He preferred using other means to help his partners find their way to bliss. From what Taurus had told him, the submissive he was about to meet did not understand what the true concept of sexual fulfillment was.

“How about you, Andy? Ready to see if you can
tame
an out-of-control
subbie
without using whips and canes?”

Andy nodded as he stood and reached for his toy bag. “I’m not making any promises, but I’m intrigued by what you’ve told me about this woman. But how are you going to get her to agree?”

Taurus smiled, though his eyes remained solemn. “I have my ways.”

“Master.” The woman by his side looked worried as she glanced at him. “You won’t kick her out, will you? She needs the club to be safe.”

“Don’t worry, little mouse. Master Z will take good care of your friend. Hopefully he’ll be able to help her heal and find the love she is so desperately searching for.”

Andy lifted an eyebrow but did not comment on the other man’s assurances to his woman as he followed them from their fourth-floor apartment to the elevator.

Without seeing them together, how could Taurus make such statements? What if Blaze took one look at him and refused to consider this new arrangement?

Andy followed Taurus and his woman out of the elevator and into the club. He shifted the bag on his shoulder as they walked the hall and entered the main room of the club. Looking around, he took a deep breath and felt himself relaxing.

The sounds, smells, and sights to be had in a BDSM club were always interesting and arousing, but tonight they did not affect him as strongly. His curiosity about the woman called Blaze distracted him. As they crossed to the bar, he admitted to himself that he did look forward to meeting the little sub, and if Jackson and Taurus were correct, maybe even more than just an evening of bondage and play would come of it.

He could only hope.

“Where is she?” he asked once Taurus spoke softly with his woman and sent her away.