Schooled

  “You don’t believe the hype?”

  Ronin shrugged. “Easy to say one’s a master; harder to prove.”

  “So the proof is in the knots?”

  He smiled at her. “For one thing. I’ll reserve my final judgment for when the demo is done.”

  “Which clubs around here did you demo in?”

  “None of them are in business anymore.”

  “What were the women like? Professional rope models? Or rope bunnies?”

  Rope bunnies. She’d definitely been talking to Yasuji. “I was a student, Amery. None of the women were memorable. I was all about refining my rope skills, not my sexual techniques.”

  “Don’t get snippy.” She paused. “I have a right to ask you questions.”

  “Yes, you do. But I have to know where all these questions are coming from?”

  “From curiosity. From jealousy. But also from pride.”

  “Explain that.”

  Amery lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m the luckiest person in the room tonight because I have my very own rope master. I don’t have to fantasize about all the different ways I’d like to be bound. All I have to do is ask you to do it.”

  Such sweetness. Ronin brushed his mouth over her ear. “Anytime, baby.”

  “Remember you said that.”

  The house lights cut out. A voice boomed through the loudspeaker. “Tonight at Go, Bakushi Iggy will tantalize your senses with his rope mastery.”

  Ronin translated.

  The lights came up and a young woman stood center stage. She wore a school uniform—a short pleated skirt and a white blouse tied at her sternum, her large breasts spilling out, her lower torso exposed down to her hipbones. Her hair was in pigtails and her lips were glossy red.

  Jesus. They’d set the scene like this was soft-core porn. The only thing missing was the girl blowing bubbles with a wad of gum or licking a sucker.

  Whack, whack, whack sounded and Iggy strode on stage, smacking a thick ruler on his palm with every step.

  When he reached the girl, he gestured to her clothing and sneered. She clasped her hands together, silently pleading with him to overlook her clothing violation. But he shook his head and grabbed her arm, leading her to a yellow line.

  The man demonstrated that he wanted her to stand at attention. She refused and faced away from him with her hands on her hips. He moved behind her and in one quick movement he latched on to her wrists, pulling her arms together behind her back, trapping them between his thighs. Then he ripped her shirt open, exposing her enormous tits.

  Ronin glanced to his right. The audience members seemed enthralled by the scene.

  The principal—or whoever he was supposed to be—tore away her skirt and tossed it aside, leaving her in a thong. Then he yanked one of her pigtails, spun her around and bent her over.

  Big surprise what came next. The girl got her bare ass spanked with the ruler.

  From that point on Ronin made a game of predicting how the scene would progress. The girl was gagged for crying out during her spanking. When she tried to cover her breasts with her hands, he bound her upper arms with her torn shirt and hit her nipples with the ruler. When the tips hardened, he placed clothespins on them.

  Amery leaned in. “If this is a kinbaku scene where are the ropes?”

  “Good question.”

  A couple in the row next to them glared at them for talking.

  Ronin watched as Iggy uncoiled a lump of hemp rope that looked frayed. He wrapped a half-assed, uneven gauntlet from the girl’s elbows to her wrists. Then he fashioned a chest harness, pinning the girl’s already abused nipples between two tight sections of rope. When he plucked off the clothespins, the rush of blood sent her swaying forward, and he jerked her upright—by yanking on the back of the rope harness.

  Next he pushed the girl to the floor and did a cross tie on both ankles. When he started a reverse shrimp tie by connecting the girl’s ankles to her bound arms with no ropes supporting the girl’s legs, or her torso, Ronin almost stormed the stage. This guy didn’t know what the fuck he was doing and there was a real possibility the girl could get hurt.

  “Ronin, baby, remember to breathe,” Amery murmured.

  “Jesus, Amery, this is all fucking wrong.”

  “I know. This place isn’t what I thought it was. We’ll leave as soon as we can.”

  That’s when he noticed the guy on stage, who should’ve been focused on his rope model’s frame of mind and physical state of being, was glaring at them.

  Ronin glared back.

  But Iggy couldn’t hack Ronin’s hard stare for more than five seconds before his gaze darted away.

  That’s what I thought, you motherfucking worm, you’re a fraud.

  The girl turned her head toward the audience. Her eyes were wide with fear, not glassy from blissed-out rope subspace. She was shaking her head, trying to remove the gag so she could speak. It was obvious she wanted to stop the scene, but Iggy wasn’t paying attention to her.

  When her frightened eyes met Ronin’s, he was instantly on his feet, striding onto the stage, snapping, “Yamete!” He crouched and removed the girl’s gag. “You wish to end the scene?” he asked in Japanese.

  She nodded.

  Ronin stood and reached for the safety scissors next to another pile of ropes.

  “What are you doing?” Iggy demanded. “Get off my stage.”

  He ignored the man’s blustering and sliced through the gauntlet. Then he snipped the ankle ties and gently lowered her feet parallel to her body. Once the girl was free of ropes, she scurried into the shadows, followed by Iggy when another man strutted onto the stage.

  The guy walked right up to Ronin and said, “Play along, Master Black,” and moved center stage to address the audience.

  Who the hell was this guy? And how did he know his name?

  “The type of bondage we showcase here at Go takes years of dedication, and hours of practice to learn . . . the ropes, so to speak.”

  The audience laughed.

  Ronin glanced at Amery; the conversation was totally lost on her.

  “Sometimes a scene doesn’t proceed as planned. Luckily tonight we had an expert in the audience, and once he saw the potential problems with the scene, he stepped in to stop it.” He not so subtly pushed Ronin into the spotlight. “We are honored to have Master Black with us this evening. Master Black is an accomplished kinbaku and shibari rope master, a true bakushi. Not only has he studied with the great Master Yasuji for the past two decades, he’s been Japan’s record holder for the fastest hojojutsu tie for years. This man knows his way around ropes.”

  The audience clapped and whistled.

  “While we’re setting up the next demonstration, please stretch your legs, or visit the lounge. And a reminder there is no recording allowed in Go. Thank you.” He bowed to the audience and then faced Ronin.

  “Master Black, you have my eternal gratitude for putting an end to that shameful demonstration.” He bowed again. “I’m Go-jen. Owner of Go. I would like a chance to speak with you in my office.”

  “As long as my wife can come with us.” Maybe Amery could keep him calm because he was seething.

  “Of course. Follow me.”

  Ronin held out his hand to Amery when they passed by their row. He expected her to demand to know what was going on—the language barrier put her on edge—but she remained quiet.

  Go-jen said, “I apologize for the lowbrow entertainment that forced you to take action.”

  “That guy knew little about rope play. How can you pretend those types of scenarios bear any resemblance to kinbaku or shibari?” Ronin demanded.

  “I don’t.”

  “But don’t you advertise this club as such?”

  “Advertising as a ‘bondage club’ leaves the definition open to interpretation. Tonight my usual performer and his model were both out sick. I couldn’t cancel tonight’s first show because of the second act”—Go-jen shot Amery a questioning look—“s
o my day manager found a replacement. Iggy dabbles in rope play at a fetish club. His job was to tease attendees with a soft-core S-and-M scene. But he is a performer and he took it too far. I would’ve been here to oversee the scene, but transportation issues made me late.”

  Ronin translated everything up to that point for Amery.

  “So the first time Master Black is in my club is the night everything is fucked up. I imagine the chances of you doing a demo are pretty slim now.”

  That took Ronin aback. “What gave you the impression I was here for any reason besides to observe?”

  Go-jen looked at Amery.

  “What did he say?” Amery asked Ronin.

  “He seems to think I’m here to do a demo.”

  “You are. Well, technically we are. It was supposed to be a surprise. So, ah . . . surprise.” She looked away.

  Ronin touched her chin and forced her attention back to him. “Did Yasuji guilt you into this?”

  “No.”

  “Then what changed?”

  “You changed.” She closed her eyes before she continued. “You don’t understand what it’s been like for me watching you struggle, not only with your jujitsu training limitations, but the limitations I’ve placed on you with public rope play. I told you months ago I’d be willing to do private demos and you’ve not scheduled anything because I don’t think you believe I will actually go through with it.”

  She had that right. The owner of Twisted had practically offered Ronin his first-born child if he’d return to the club strictly in an instructor’s role for private lessons. Ronin kept putting him off because after Amery first mentioned the possibility of her participating in private instruction with him, she’d never broached it again. And he’d sworn to himself he wouldn’t push her. “Why now?”

  “Yasuji told me about his wife and their joint decision to give public rope play demonstrations to show the beauty and the intimacy of kinbaku. They felt it was Yasuji’s responsibility to teach the right way. You saw what happened tonight when people do it the wrong way.”

  “Was the scene just a setup to see what I’d do?”

  “No.” Amery’s eyes softened. “Not only did Yasuji form you into a rope master, you seeing Rikya demo with Yasuji all those years formed you too. You’ve always held out for that kind of partnership.” She paused. “I can be that partner, Ronin. I promise you I came to this decision on my own. I didn’t have anyone to explain my worries, fears, and frustrations to until I met Master Yasuji. He’d been through it all with his wife so he helped me come to grips with things, from the perspective of a teacher and a husband.”

  Despite the excitement building inside him, he knew he had to play it cool. “And so that’s what tonight is? A way for you to prove it?”

  “Yes. I was so sure I’m ready for this that I had your ropes, your gi, and my robe sent here.”

  “When?”

  “Three days ago.”

  Before any of the stuff went down with Master Daichi. Before Yasuji’s cryptic, Trust in Amery to know her own mind. She will be what you need.

  Looking into her eyes, he saw love and determination, but no fear. That’s when he trusted she had cleared the last barrier. He held her face in his hands and kissed her until she rested her body against his in total surrender. With reluctance he broke the seal of their mouths and let his lips drift up to her ear. “Let’s go to the dressing room and get ready to do a demo.”

  “Get ready together?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you always get ready alone.”

  “Not anymore.” Ronin held her tightly. “Now I’ve got a partner.”

  If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review at Goodreads or any reader site or blog you frequent.

  Now that you’ve read SCHOOLED, don’t miss the next book in the Mastered series!

  UNRAVELED

  Available March 2015

  Saturday night Shiori walked into the main lounge area of Twisted like she owned the place. The immediate buzz of interest fed her ego, which hadn’t been stroked in so long she’d almost forgotten that feeling of power.

  The first man to approach her was Merrick McBride, the club’s owner. He clasped both of her hands in his and kissed her cheeks. “Mistress B, it’s an honor that you’ve joined us.”

  “Thank you.” She looked around the space—a horseshoe shaped bar, a large meet and greet lounge area with couches, chairs, and floor cushions. The hallways that led to the private play rooms allowed for a separation of casual conversation to serious play.

  Master Merrick gave her a slow perusal. For tonight’s fun and games Shiori had donned a platinum wig, and a cream-colored lace mask. She’d gone for the traditional Domme look in clothing, a black leather vest with burgundy laces up the front, a pair of hip-hugging burgundy leather pants and four-inch black platform booties.

  She fought the urge to fiddle with the gold band adorning her wrist that denoted her Domme status at the club. “Do I pass inspection, Master Merrick?”

  His hungry gaze met hers. “You are stunning. You’ll have subs falling at your feet tonight.” He cocked his head. “I’m curious about the mask. When I did your background check, I was told that’s always been part of your persona at the clubs in Tokyo.”

  “So why would I continue that here in the U.S. when there’s a slim possibility anyone will recognize me?” She leaned in. “Besides the fact I’m Ronin Black’s sister?”

  “Your brother hasn’t been here in ages. Which is unfortunate for me, from a business standpoint, because we have some of our biggest crowds when he gives demos.”

  “I imagine the rope master is a huge draw. He’s been through a lot of changes in the past several months, but I’m confident he will return to do demos at some point.” Ronin’s wife had put off any discussion of Ronin doing bondage demos while he was on medical restrictions due to injuries. But Shiori knew now that he’d been cleared by his doctors, his need to teach would force that issue between them—sooner rather than later. “I assume you mentioned my pending membership to my brother?”

  Master Merrick shook his head. “I merely verified you’re his sister. It’s against the rules to divulge members names—real or the personas they choose to use.”

  Shiori touched the mask. “It’s become such a part of Mistress B that I felt naked without it.”

  “It adds another layer of mystery to the exotically beautiful Mistress you already are.” He kissed her hand again. “Anytime you decide you want to test your limits on whether you might be a switch, you let me know. I would love to tear that mask away and see the real woman beneath.”

  Her belly did a slow curl. She touched Master Merrick’s face. He was beautiful, the epitome of an all-American guy with his rugged good looks, athletic body and easy charm. He definitely had that Master’s way about him—where she felt the pull to do what he commanded. “You are a dangerously sexy man, Master Merrick. You almost make me question my orientation.” She smiled. “Almost. And I promise if I’m ever in the mood to be topped you’re the first man I’ll call.”

  He laughed. “I’ll hold you to that. Now would you like me to introduce you around?”

  “I’ll take you up on that later. Right now I’d like to have a glass of wine and get the lay of the land, so to speak.”