Sugar Dust (12 page)

“Beth?” Though his lips moved, Dan barely recognized his own voice.

“Yes, who—” she stopped and squinted at his face. “Dan? Dan, wow!” The woman squealed and launched at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and dotting his face with quick, noisy kisses. He could smell her lipstick and the greasy smears of it all over his cheek and jaw. Every contour of her tiny body radiated heat, pressed against his chest like a human flame. He jerked back. Held her at arm’s length. “Beth, what are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” She cast a careless glance at the tall man standing in her shadow. “Playing.”

“Right.” A sour taste filled his mouth. He swallowed it back. “Silly question.”

“What about you? Looking for playmates?”

“No, no, no.” Groping behind him, Dan found Karen’s arm and yanked her forward. He ignored her startled yelp and pulled her to his side, curling one arm around her shoulders. “I’m here with Karen.”

“So
this
is Karen. About time I met you.”

Dan felt his girlfriend stiffen.

“About time?” Karen’s voice resembled granite.

“Yes, Dan’s told me all about you.”

“Really?”

Dan glanced at Karen. The slight tilt to her head and narrowing of her eyes chilled him right to the marrow. He recognized that look; it didn’t belong to a submissive. Beth’s feral smile only fed his growing unease. Even after so long free of it, that look called to him on a base, untamed level. Something inside him responded to it, equally wild and visceral.

Dan watched Beth’s hands, following the slow brush of her fingers along the leather of her dress. On anybody else it might have been an unconscious gesture, but Dan knew better. Despite himself, his gaze followed the path of her fingers along the tops of her breasts. When her pointy green fingernails moved up, he realized they followed an exposed line of scars extending across her chest and collarbone. The cold filling his bones seeped into his skin. Sounds and sights of the outside world, died away.

“He’s told me nothing about you.” Karen’s voice sizzled through the brief silence.

Beth widened her eyes. “Honestly? Dan, that’s so naughty. Why wouldn’t you talk about me?”

He could think of no safe way to answer. Part of him longed to grab Karen by the arm and drag her away, but that seemed worse. Though not by much.

“Karen, I’m Bethany. Call me Beth. Though I suppose you should call me Lady Bee while we’re here.” She held out her hand.

Karen ignored it. “Hi, Bethany.”

Hearing that name on Karen’s lips murdered any lingering trace of pleasure Dan felt at being there with her. He stared at the two women, one short, round and pale, the other tall, curvy and dark; the personification of his past meeting his present like a lorry crashing into a cyclist. The resulting devastation could easily be as tragic. A long pause.

Around them, other visitors to the club moved without noticing the drama unfolding in the middle of the entrance hall. Those who did kept well clear. The silence stretched further.

Dan heard his pulse thudding in his ears and realized that he’d held his breath. But he didn’t dare let it go. He looked up, eyeing Beth and the cautious, calculating look in her hard blue eyes. She glanced at him before fixing her attention on Karen. Her gaze wandered over the latex dress, lingering on the positioning of her arms.

“She’s your sub, right?” With a smooth flourish, she unhooked the riding crop from her hip and brought it down on her open palm. “I think your training technique needs work. Want to borrow this for a few minutes?”

The loud crack made Dan jump, and he felt Karen do the same. He released his grip on her shoulders and pushed her farther behind him. “No, thanks.”

“Sure? I don’t mind. I’m all for discipline when needed. It’s what we’re here for, isn’t it, Spanx?”

At the sound of his online name, Dan gritted his teeth.
Don’t do that, Beth. I’m not that man any more.
Almost as though she heard his thoughts, Beth laughed, the exaggerated girlie giggle he remembered so well. Several heads turned at the sound of that laughter, many of them nodding appreciatively. Striking, rather than beautiful, with that custom-made dress and boldly colored hair, Beth made up in presence what she lacked in height. Shoulders thrust back, head held high, she oozed self-assuredness that screamed “dominant.”

Instead of holding his breath, Dan now found himself breathing hard through his nose. He opened his mouth then closed it again. Several seconds spent thinking of something safe to say yielded no results. He focused on the man in the gimp mask. “Who are you?”

“Oh, he won’t talk to you. His name is Bones.” Beth laughed again, a sound like glass breaking. “He’s
new.”

“Another? You really power through them, don’t you?”

“I have a healthy appetite. Bones, come.”

Bones stepped forward with his head lowered. Though he towered over Beth by at least two feet, he might have been invisible for the attention he called to himself. His shoulders curled in and his arms hung loose before him, bound at the wrists with a single length of sparkling chain. Beneath the tight black, thong that made his entire outfit, his hairy legs looked red and sore.

Beth reached up and slapped Bones’ face, once on each cheek. The thud of flesh on leather sounded vaguely obscene. She did it again and the second time round, Bones stumbled with a soft grunt. “Such a good boy. I’ve had him on the carpet.” Beth glanced at his knees. “Crawling around my feet where he belongs. Sauna now, I need a break. You can massage my feet, can’t you?”

The silent giant nodded. Beth grinned and grabbed one of the man’s nipples between her thumb and forefinger. She twisted it until he whimpered. “He’s so good. Very obedient. Does exactly what he’s told.”

“That’s what good slaves do.” Dan made an extra effort to keep his voice level.

“Ain’t that the truth? Show them, Bones.”

Though he might have imagined it, Dan thought he saw the taller man hesitate first. When he did turn, Dan gasped. He heard Karen echo the sound. Livid whip weals crisscrossed his back. Tiny droplets of blood beaded on the sweaty skin.

Dan winced and took a deep breath before responding. “I suppose you’re pleased with that?” His own skin prickled with sympathy, a ghost of old agony coursing across his body. He gripped his chest through his shirt. Sweat trickled down his spine.

He remembered standing in the middle of a crowded room, filled with strangers in varied states of undress. He wore a tiny black thong, too small to fully contain his raging erection. His knees ached, rubbed raw from crawling across the unforgiving carpet. Cuffed hands rested on the small of his back. A rubber ball-gag filled his mouth crushing his tongue. A whistling sound cut the air, followed by the sharp snap of a cracking whip. He flinched.

No more, please.
He longed to speak it out loud, but the ball-gag stoppered everything, even his safe words. The whip cracked again but this time pain came with it, a white-hot line of agony across the tops of his shoulders. Then another that curled around his bicep and kissed his left nipple. Blood beaded on his chest. He screamed into the rubber ball
.

Unaware of his discomfort, Beth stroked the welts on Bones’ back. Her fingers trembled. “Very proud. And we’re nowhere near his limit. Have you looked around yet?”

“We just arrived.”

“You must check out the Ball Room. It’s busy because of the buffet and the vendors but you’ll have fun. Take cash, they have loads of nice toys for sale.” She winked and cracked the riding crop against her palm again. “I just bought this. We’ll break it in later.”

A quiver went through Bones’ body. Dan saw the other man shift his position and clench his fists in front of his thong.

“Looks like you’re both looking forward to it.”

Beth beamed and turned aside. “We’ll see you later. Come, Bones.” She stalked away, trailed by her mostly naked shadow.

Dan looked at those angry red marks and took a deep breath. He let it out slow and rolled his shoulders but the imagined ache there refused to shift. Glancing back, he saw Karen staring at Beth’s retreating figure, her eyes narrowed to slits.

“Kaz?”

“Who the hell is she?” she snapped.

“No one,” he blurted, too shaken to find a more credible lie.

“How does she know me when I’ve not heard a word about her? Another addition to your Library, I suppose?”

“God, no.” The idea alarmed him enough that he forgot to lower his voice.

This time, as the curious faces turned toward him, he turned his back to block them out. Yet his back and shoulders continued to prickle with the intensity of their stares.

Relentless, Karen prodded his chest with the tip of her finger. “Then who is she?”

“Someone from my past.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Distant past. She’s not important anymore.”

“Does she know that? She leapt all over you like a teenage girlfriend.”

Dan frowned. “Let’s just find our room. Please.” He started walking, towing a reluctant Karen toward the stairs. As he did, one hand resting on the small of her back, he wondered if his mother would be so nostalgic about “the one that got away” if she could see Bethany’s new hair color and racy leather dress.

***

D
an dropped the bags against the wall and dived on to the four-poster’s silky red and black sheets. “This thing is huge.” He felt the sides. “And look, chains. Straps. Velcro. Rope.” He touched each item in turn, flitting between them like a child in Santa’s workshop. “They’ve got everything.”

Deep shades of black and red complimented the occasional gleam of silver. The room might have been a suite in a normal hotel but for the pictures hanging from the walls. More scenes from BDSM, beautiful black and white prints of bound women, cringing men, and naked groups of both Thick hooks screwed into the ceiling also gave it away, as did some of the more subtle details like a bowl of condoms rather than fruits and the welcome brochure featuring a pair of handcuffs on the cover.

Something hard caught his shoe and when he bent to look Dan almost keeled over. “There’s a cage under the bed!”

Standing in the doorway, arms still folded behind her back, Karen watched. Her gaze darted over the rest of the room, taking it in with a level of calm that Dan recognized from other play sessions. Underneath it he saw a layer of something else.

“What’s wrong?” He stopped riffling through the bowl of condoms to stare at her.

“I don’t like that woman. She’s rough. Savage. I didn’t know people were like that.”

He nodded. A flurry of fear made him grip his stomach. “There’s lots of different styles and intensities across the scene. Some people don’t mind blood, or piss, or whatever.” Spying her expression he added, “We’re quite mild compared to some I know.”

“I understand that better than I did an hour ago.”

“Karen.” His breath caught in his throat. He saw her downcast eyes. The trembling bottom lip. Her unease punched him like a hammer to the gut, far worse than her anger back in the parlor.

“Karen, you know I’d never do that to you, right?” He reached toward her.

She wouldn’t look up.

“Karen? I wouldn’t. Ever.” His voice fell to a whisper. Everything in him coiled tight, twisting in on itself again and again until every second was pain. She had to know. Didn’t she trust him?

“I don’t know what you think of me, but you have to know that I wouldn’t do that. Not to you.”

“But you know her.”

“I used to.” He heard the crack of the whip in his head. Flinched as the barbs slashed across his back and chest.

“You played with her?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

To hide his hesitation, Dan paused long enough to sweep hair from his eyes. “Before you.”

“How long before, Sir?”

Dan rolled off the bed. Mental alarm bells clanged in his head. “What’s the matter with you?” His forehead ached with the effort to keep from screaming.

“Nothing, Sir.”

“No, I mean that—exactly that. You’ve gone all formal and pissy.”

“No, I’ve not.”

“You have. Tell me.”

Karen’s expression hardened and her voice, when it came, hissed like a pot on the hob. She stalked closer, forming fists as she came. “She acts like you’ve spoken recently, not ‘before me.’ Just admit you want to add her to your Library.”

Relief tangled with bemusement. “What? No, that’s not it.”

“You sure? Your eyes were all over her, with that stupid green hair and tits up to her face. You practically crossed your legs.”

Dan shook his head, massaging his back of his neck with one hand. He knew Karen well, or thought he did, but the yo-yoing nature of this conversation made him weary. “Is this about the Library? You keep bringing it up.”

“No, it’s about her draping all over you like a scarf with tits.”

Dan spoke slowly, hoping to cut off further questions about his past once and for all. “I’m not interested in Beth. I don’t want any other woman but you. You’re the one I care for.”

“But you’ll still play with slaves from your Library when I’m not around.”

Another switch. He blinked. “Of course, that’s what they’re for.”

Karen gasped as though slapped. “At least I know where I stand now.” She stomped toward the door. She reached it and yanked it open before Dan managed to gather himself. He raced after her, slapping the door shut just before she walked through.

“Move,” she snarled.

Lost and adrift he tried to catch a glimpse of her face. He needed a clue, a sign, a glare, anything. “Hang on—”

“No!” She clawed at his fingers. “Get out of my way. I can’t look at you right now.”

“What have I done?”

“Just let me go.”

“No, you need to tell me what I did. Fuck—I can’t read your mind.” He locked the door and shoved the card key into the front of his pants. “What’s got your thong in a knot?” His fingers stung where she’d scratched them.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. That’s the point.”

“The Library. The bloody Slave Library.”

He gazed down at her narrowed eyes, twisted lip and furrowed brow. “You don’t like it?”