“Challenge me,” Boa answered.
“Oh, I will…”
He felt Boa shudder beneath his hand, and he glanced down to see that the idea of it had stirred the sub’s excitement.
Brad moved away with a slight smile on his lips, letting the audience appreciate the magnificence that was Boa’s naked manhood.
He walked over to a table that had been set aside with the needed items for the scene. He grabbed the leather wrist cuffs and moved back over to the center of the stage. As Brad secured the cuffs to his wrists, he told Boa, “I like to have my submissives subdued. I want them to understand how helpless they are.”
“I appreciate that, Master.”
A single chain had been perfectly measured and then hung from the metal rafters above. He turned Boa so that it would be a better angle for Brie, and lifted the sub’s arms, attaching both cuffs to the chain.
He’d made sure the height of it would force Boa onto the balls of his feet. A far more challenging position for someone who was about to face the bite of his whip.
“Feel helpless yet?”
“Yes, Master.”
Boa stood still, showing off his impressive calf muscles in that position.
Brad went back to the table and unfurled his whip for everyone to see. He smiled down at the audience, feeling in complete control of the moment.
Without warning, he cracked the whip to the right side of Boa’s cheek. The sub grunted in surprise as a few audience members let out frightened yelps.
Brad didn’t reprimand them; he wanted to startle the audience and set the tone of his dominance.
He slashed the whip through the air a second time, close enough to move the hair next to Boa’s ear.
The sub, to his credit, remained still. However, Brad could see he was beginning to tense his back muscles.
“Relax, Boa. The only way you can experience my whip properly is to un-tense those muscles.”
Boa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Brad was glad to see the tension leave his body.
Brad would normally start a new sub with gentle lashings to help build them up to his more spirited strokes, but Boa was used to the whip under the hand of his Mistress.
It was Brad’s intention to introduce Boa straight away to the uniqueness of his male touch. He let a hard lash strike against Boa’s back and nodded in satisfaction when the sub groaned loudly, swaying slightly in his bindings.
“Another,” he said, as he lashed in the opposite direction, leaving two raised marks on Boa’s back.
Beads of sweat appeared on Boa’s skin, letting Brad know the strength of his strokes was extremely challenging for the submissive.
“Color, Boa.”
“Yellow, Master.”
“Good, now I know the line I cannot cross with you.”
Brad went for his buttocks next. He pulled back on the power of the lashings to bring an element of uncertainty. Would the next stroke be pleasing or hit with a sting so intense it would take the man’s breath away?
When he felt Boa was ready, Brad let the volley begin, strike after strike up and down his back. Brad kept it up for quite some time, longer than he had in the past, wanting to set Boa up for a subspace he would not forget.
Brad finally slowed down and then stopped. He coiled his whip and approached the sub. The man’s back was drenched in sweat and his muscles were twitching of their own accord.
Brad placed his hand on Boa’s shoulder and asked, “Are you flying yet?”
“So close, Master,” Boa panted gruffly.
“Just a few more licks and then I set you to flight.”
Boa turned his head toward Brad. “This is everything I hoped it would be.”
“I’m not done yet,” Brad whispered in his ear.
Brad wiped the sweat from his brow as he walked back into position. This was a challenging session for him as well. The exertion required was considerable, but he appreciated the challenge Boa represented. It had been a long time since he’d sweated so profusely.
Brad surprised the sub with gentle licks, first over his entire back and then lower and lower to his toned ass cheeks. For the first time, he heard the man moan, his skin suddenly covered in goosebumps.
Interesting…
The man was more stimulated when the strokes were light.
Who would have thought?
Knowing Boa’s weakness, Brad tickled his back with the whip, surprising the sub with random strokes every now and then that stung. Keeping the man on his toes both figuratively and literally.
Finally, Boa could take no more and threw his head back, filling the large room with his passionate cries.
There was an echo of that same sexual energy coming from the crowd that Brad picked up on. His cock responded to that energy, and there was little he could do about it. Rather than fight against it, Brad searched the crowd and spotted the girl clutching his shirt, a sub he knew to be available, and pointed to her. He nodded in the direction where he wanted her to kneel and wait for him.
Brad returned his attention to Boa.
It was his norm to unbind his subs at this point, fuck them hard, then cuddle afterward.
Brad could tell aftercare was definitely needed for this male sub after the scene. He’d sent Boa deep into subspace and it was his responsibility to bring the man back safely from it.
He approached Boa, who hung limply from the chains. Releasing a wrist, he brought the muscular arm down slowly to let the blood flow back in while he rubbed the indent on the skin left by the tight cuff. Brad did the same with the other wrist.
Taking a page from Tono’s playbook, Brad wrapped his strong arms around Boa’s chest afterward, bare skin touching bare skin.
“Relax in my arms,” he commanded.
The burly submissive leaned back against him, surrendering to his masculine embrace. His body pressed into Brad’s rigid shaft. It couldn’t be helped. However, Brad didn’t mind that the sub knew his state of arousal—it gave a submissive a sense of accomplishment knowing the Dominant had enjoyed the scene.
The two stood on the stage, the entire club so silent one could hear a pin drop.
Brad began whispering to Boa, sharing his personal impressions of their power exchange. Boa only nodded, slowly coming down from his sub-high.
It was a uniquely intimate moment that surprised Brad. He realized the gender of the sub hadn’t mattered in the end. It was the spirit of the power exchange that made a scene pleasurable for him.
Would he consider doing such a thing again? Maybe…
When Brad felt Boa was ready, he released his hold and commanded the sub kneel where he stood. Boa moved sluggishly as he struggled to obey. Brad walked around and placed his hand on Boa’s head. “You have served me well tonight.”
“Thank you, Master,” Boa replied hoarsely.
Brad then called Mistress Lou to join him on stage.
“Thank you for the use of your sub tonight, Mistress Lou.”
The tiny woman smiled up at Brad, a glint in her eye. “It was an honor to watch you play with him, Headmaster.”
“The honor was mine.”
The Mistress helped Boa to his feet and guided him down the steps, the man still feeling the aftereffects of the sub-high he’d just experienced.
Brad faced the crowd, his cock hard and ready to dominate female flesh. He took a curt bow and the room burst in applause. Rather than bask in it, he descended the stairs and went straight for the kneeling submissive, who was still holding his shirt.
He placed his hand on her head. “Stand and serve me.”
The girl looked up at him with eyes glowing with desire. “It’s my pleasure, Master.”
Brad led her to a nearby alcove where he released his passion on her. Her cries echoed throughout the building, adding a final emphasis to the scene.
He was covered in sweat when he finally met back up with Brie. “How was it?”
She lowered her eyes when she answered, “I am glad I was her
e to record it, and that I brought two towels.”
He grinned, liking her answer. “Did you get good footage for the film then?”
“Most of it is unusable,” she said, smiling. “However, I think I can string together enough clips to make an intriguing piece. But I will give you the unedited version so you can enjoy the brilliance of tonight’s session. Truly a masterpiece of masculinity.”
He chuckled, pleased that Brie had enjoyed it.
Brad gestured to Captain and Candy when Brie began packing up her equipment. They quickly made their way through the crowd over to Brie.
“Well, look who’s here,” Brad announced.
Brie looked up, and surprised him when she started to cry once she saw the couple.
Candy instantly went over and hugged her. “It’s okay.”
Brie quickly pulled herself together, wiping away the tears. “It’s just that when I saw you, I instantly went back to that moment—all the fear and pain of that night.”
Captain put his hand on her shoulder firmly. “There is no reason to revisit old feelings, Mrs. Davis. It’s not the reason we came.”
She nodded. “I owe you so much for how you handled the situation that night.”
“You owe us nothing,” Captain assured her.
Candy hugged her again. “We were grateful we could be there for you, Brie.”
“Well, you both helped me survive that night…I will never forget it.”
Marquis moved up to the group with Celestia by his side.
“We have something for you, Brie,” Celestia gushed excitedly.
Brie smiled at her and waited as Marquis produced the item he was hiding behind his back.
As soon as she saw it, however, Brie burst into a fresh set of tears. “It’s my parents’ clock!”
She grabbed onto it with both hands, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I needed this,” she sobbed between breaths. “Oh, my heart needed this…”
“I knew it was important to you,” Marquis stated quietly.
“More than you can ever know.”
Brad had been asked on several occasions by others in the community why Brie’s parents hadn’t come to her side after the crash. Most assumed there was a rift between them. What they didn’t know, and he couldn’t tell them, was that Brie had purposely pushed them away. She was terrified of her father finding out about the allegations Lilly had made. The last thing she wanted was for her father to side against Sir. So rather than suffer that possibility, she’d pushed her parents away, leaving her family hurt and at a loss.
Brad watched the way Brie hugged the monstrous glass clock. He realized when the plane went down, the series of events that followed had stolen everything of value from Brie. She’d been left dangling alone over the precipice.
Baron came up behind her. “Hey, kitten, it’s good to see you out and about.”
She turned her head toward him, not saying a word but nodding tearfully, still clutching the clock.
The dark Dom understood her pain on a level the others could not, and placed his arms around her, fortifying Brie with his strength—no words necessary between them.
Brie might be dangling over a dark precipice, but now she had the physical support of friends to strengthen her. Even through her tears, Brad could tell she was happy.
She’d needed this night to reconnect and remember the woman she once was—and would be again.
Second Strike
Brad was glad that the night at The Haven had inspired Brie to reach out to her girlfriends. Both had been fairly nonexistent since the crash. He wasn’t sure if Brie had pushed them away as well, but it’d weighed heavily on him knowing how close Brie was with Lea, and how much Mary depended on Brie.
Girl power was its own unique entity.
He heard Brie talking to Lea while he was preparing the night’s meal.
“Hey, girl, I’ve been thinking about you.”
After a long pause, while listening to Lea’s answer, Brie replied, “Are you sure everything’s fine? You don’t sound like yourself.”
Apparently Lea changed the subject, because Brie immediately said, “I don’t know what’s going on with Mary, do you? I haven’t heard a word from her.”
Brie then giggled and confessed, “Well, I did accidentally spill the beans to Captain that she was struggling. I wonder if that has anything to do with her silence. If Mary’s going to be that petty, especially after what’s happened with Sir, then she can freakin’ jump in a lake for all I care.”
Lea must have cracked a joke because Brie started laughing and exclaimed, “Boo…that was terrible!”
Listening to the girl’s laughter gave Brad a profound sense of peace. There was something exceedingly pleasant about listening to her giggle like a kid.
But that soon changed when Brie asked, “Seriously, Lea…I get the feeling something’s up. Something that you’re not telling me.”
There was a long silence and then he heard Brie cry, “Oh no… I was afraid that would happen. How is she handling it?”
He peeked out from the kitchen and saw Brie shaking her head as she murmured into the phone, “I don’t know what to say, girlfriend.”
Brad could hear loud sobs coming from Brie’s phone. Obviously, things were not well for Lea.
“Of course I understand, but I wish you would have told me. I’m still your BFF, you know—through thick and thin. Oh, Lea…”
Brad went back to his meal preparations, but he had the ominous feeling that instead of Brie benefitting from girl power, she was being given a new burden to carry. One that Lea had wanted to protect her from.
He more fully appreciated that there were times when silence was an act of caring. Sometimes keeping quiet was a gift of self-sacrifice to protect someone you loved from suffering further.
Brad made a mental note to call Samantha to find out what was wrong with Lea. They’d all grown close up in Colorado at The Denver Academy. Just because the miles separated them didn’t mean he’d stopped caring. If needed, he could offer Lea a position at The Submissive Training Center if Samantha agreed it might help.
When Brie eventually got off the phone, Brad called her to the dinner table. “So things are not going well for Ms. Taylor, I take it?”
Brie sighed before answering. “I really hate to do this to you, but I promised Lea not to say anything.”
Brad shook his head. “Seems to be the story of my life these days.”
She reached out to squeeze his hand. “Your support and friendship have meant the world to me, Master Anderson. You’ve been my rock in the storm. Never doubt my admiration and appreciation for you. My silence is in no way reflective of how I feel.”
“I understand, young Brie.”
“Good,” she said, squeezing his hand tighter. “Because I would be lost without you.”
Brad didn’t find out about Lilly’s hijacking of Brie until after the incident.
He was working at the Training Center trying to catch up when his phone rang.
“Master Anderson,” Brie cried, panic coloring her voice, “could you come to the hospital…now?”
“What’s wrong?” Brad couldn’t breathe while waiting for her answer, expecting to hear that Thane was dead.
“It’s Lilly.”
It was a relief to hear it, but he understood the seriousness of the situation. “Have the police been called? Are you at the hospital now?”
“Yes…”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Stay put, don’t you dare move.” Brad sped through the streets, daring the cops to try to catch up with him.
Brad was grateful when he saw Nurse Abby on his way in. “What happened? How the hell did Lilly get past security?”
She shook her head. “It didn’t happen here, Mr. Anderson. I’ll go get Mrs. Davis so she can explain it herself.”
Brad stopped her before she left to get Brie. “How is she, Abby?”
“Not well,” the nurse answered, disappearing into the ICU.
r /> When Brie walked out, her frightened expression and tear-stained face gutted him. He’d failed to protect her—again.
“What happened?”
“Lilly cornered me at the café down the street. I wasn’t prepared…”
He immediately grabbed her, crushing her in his arms. “I can’t believe she dared to show her face.”
“I knew she would try something. I mean, I haven’t heard from her in over a week and she hasn’t tried to call me. I should have been better prepared.”
“Lilly is seriously irrational, no one can predict her actions. What did the police tell you?”
“They are actively looking for her but, until she’s apprehended I won’t feel safe. Lilly is smart, Master Anderson. She must have been stalking me to know that I go to that café occasionally for lunch. I never go anywhere else other than straight home. I figured I was safe with it being so close to the hospital.” She shook her head, looking frightened. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You won’t leave here alone again, that’s all there is to it. We won’t give her the opportunity to corner you a third time.”
She nodded listlessly, obviously still in shock.
“I haven’t even asked yet. What the hell happened?”
Brie’s eyes flashed with fear. “I think she will really go through with it. She’s going to destroy us.”
“How?”
Brie buried her head in his chest. “I can’t tell you.”
“I’m really getting fucking tired of being left in the dark here. As Thane’s friend and your caretaker, I demand to know what the hell is going on.”
Seeing the disturbed glances from the hospital staff and patients, Brad escorted Brie to one of the private rooms reserved for grieving families.
He sat her down and apologized. “I’m sorry I caused a scene back there, but I am going ape-shit, Brie. That crazy witch is out to get you and unless I know why, how the fuck am I supposed to protect you?”
Brie stared up at him, her honey-colored eyes clouded with fear. “If I tell you, it may change how you think of Sir. I don’t want that to happen. And Mr. Thompson said—”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what the lawyer said.”