Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Audrey
The Outlands looked like a regular building from the outside, though the curtains were drawn over the front window so no one could see into it. The window looked like it was tinted as well, adding an extra layer of privacy.
Trying to hide her nerves as she got out of the backseat of Ashley’s car, Audrey brushed her hands over her borrowed skirt.
Her legs were getting cold because she wasn’t wearing anything but a thong and fishnets underneath, and she was starting to regret her decision to wear heels instead of boots.
Even if they were her favorite, most comfortable pair of heels that were also incredibly cute.
At least she had her coat on for now, which helped with both warmth and confidence.
She was going to have to take the coat off once they got inside, though, and she was a little nervous about that. While she wasn’t a stranger to low-cut necklines, she’d never worn anything like a corset before, and her boobs were pushed up so high, they practically made a shelf.
“You look fantastic,” Ashley, the owner of the skirt and corset Audrey was wearing, reassured her.
She was the closest in size to Audrey and had offered to let her borrow an outfit for tonight.
While Audrey might not be entirely comfortable with how her boobs were being shown off, she did love the emerald green of the corset and the way the black skirt flirted around her thighs.
Ashley also looked gorgeous; her royal blue peacoat covered most of her outfit, but she was wearing really cute black stockings with seams up the back that were still visible.
The coat set off her ivory skin and pink cheeks nicely.
Her long brown hair with its blonde highlights spilled over her shoulders and down her back, gleaming even in the lamplight.
“You really do,” Naomi agreed. She was getting out on the passenger side, wearing a fuzzy black-and-white coat of faux fur.
Her hair was freshly done in long microbraids that were pulled half back away from her face, in a half-up, half-down style.
“New things are always scary, but once you get inside, you’ll see there’s nothing to worry about. ”
“Thanks. And thanks for coming with me.” Audrey took as deep a breath as she could with the corset gripping her so tightly. Every breath like that meant her boobs went up again because she couldn’t expand her belly the way she normally would for a deep breath.
Cassidy had offered to have Audrey come with her and David, but Audrey felt like she was already taxing her brother’s sensibilities enough just by showing up.
She wasn’t sure he would be able to handle the getting-ready process or actually taking her there.
In his head, she was still his baby sister who he had to protect.
“Of course. I had to make sure you would go through with it,” Ashley said with a wink, closing her car door. She looked over at Naomi. “She’s been a bundle of nerves all day. She even started hiding in the back of the bakery with Alexis at one point.”
It turned out Alexis was shy around large groups of people, and she’d hide in the back for most of the day.
Which was fine, since her job was decorating, and she had plenty to do to get ready for the grand opening tomorrow.
With everything going on, it would be easier to introduce her to everyone on another day.
“I wasn’t hiding, I was helping,” Audrey protested. “Alexis had a lot of chocolate work to do for the decorations for tomorrow’s cupcakes.”
That and when Mason appeared, she’d lost her head a little.
He’d come in, and they’d locked gazes, and she’d barely been able to breathe…
and then she’d seen Yasmine beside him. Remembered he was completely off limits.
And hid in the back with Alexis, helping with the chocolate decorations for tomorrow, until he left.
Yeah, she wasn’t proud of that, but it was better than making a fool of herself in front of everyone.
If she didn’t meet someone new to crush on tonight at the club, she was downloading a dating app on Sunday. Not tomorrow because she was going to be totally focused on her bakery. Though she didn’t have high hopes for tonight, either, just because she was a little nervous about meeting Doms.
After finishing Milking Mina, she’d asked Cassidy for a recommendation for something a little more realistic and without the hucow aspect, and Cassidy had started her on the Suncoast Society Series by Lesli Richardson.
The kink was a lot more up Audrey’s alley, though she wasn’t sure about the two men thing in the first book.
She liked the idea of one person for herself.
If more than one person was what someone else wanted, she was happy for them as long as they were happy, but it wasn’t what she wanted for herself.
She wanted something like what Cassidy and David had.
Probably. Not knowing exactly what they were doing behind closed doors—and not wanting to know—she might not want to do all the things they did.
After reading a few Suncoast books, she was pretty sure she’d like to try bondage and maybe some spanking and flogging… canes and whips sounded far too scary.
The whole thing was pretty intimidating, really. But it was exciting too. Alluring. It made her shivery and scared, the way a really good horror movie did, and she’d never avoided those.
“Let’s go,” Ashley said, sliding her arm through Audrey’s and pulling her forward. Naomi came in on the other side, doing the same. Even if she’d wanted to run, she wouldn’t have been able to. Although she didn’t want to run. Mostly.
“Again, thanks for coming with me tonight. Especially since both of you have men you could be coming with.”
“Lincoln has too much to do this evening,” Ashley said with a shrug. “He’s just happy that I have something to keep me out of trouble.”
“Same with Drew. He’s been working a lot lately.” Unlike Ashley, Naomi didn’t sound nonchalant, though she was trying.
“Really? Lincoln doesn’t usually work late; this is an exception.” Frowning, Ashley leaned forward to look around Audrey at Naomi. The other woman shrugged, turning her head away, like she was looking down the street… or avoiding Ashley’s gaze.
“He’s been overworking ever since Don. I think, no… I know he’s blaming himself.” Naomi sighed. “It’s fine. He’ll get past it eventually, and it’s not like I don’t have plenty to do. There’s always something to do.”
“Let me know if you need help with anything,” Ashley said immediately. “Just because I have a new job doesn’t mean I can’t help.”
“I know.” Naomi smiled.
“I might be able to help eventually, too, just… right now I’m kind of crazy busy,” Audrey said.
“You’re already helping, just by sending over the end-of-day stuff to us instead of throwing it in the trash,” Naomi reminded her as they reached the door to the club. “Which is very appreciated.”
“I’m glad to.” Especially when she’d found out the number of kids at the shelter Naomi ran. Poor kids. They deserved treats, considering everything they were going through.
Remembering the women Naomi helped on a daily basis, Audrey shook off some of her blues. The worst thing a man had ever done to her was cheat on her. Those women and kids were going through much worse things. Cassidy had been through something much worse.
Even Ashley. She couldn’t imagine what it felt like to have her dad cheat on her mom with her best friend, let alone said friend becoming her new stepmother…
it was one of those things where truth was stranger than fiction.
If she’d read that in a book, she would have said it was too unrealistic because who would even do that?
And yet Ashley’s ex-best friend had done just that. The double betrayal had to have been awful.
Of course, she’d also gotten her ex-bestie back… Ashley’s husband, Lincoln, was Rebecca’s father. So, she’d become her stepmother’s stepmother. It was brutally efficient karma.
“Here we are.” Ashley stepped forward and opened the door to let Naomi and Audrey inside.
Despite having been betrayed in such an awful way by her best friend, she hadn’t let the experience jade her.
Maybe she’d been different right after it happened, but she was clearly incredibly happy and secure in her friendships now.
Audrey was happy for her and happy to be included in them.
Naomi also let go of Audrey’s arm, letting her walk in first. She would have rather followed one of them in, but since they were practically pushing her ahead of them, she wasn’t going to kick up a fuss.
It turned out the entryway wasn’t all that impressive.
At least, not in terms of being a kink club.
It looked like a regular room with a front desk and a coat check behind it.
There was a bouncer standing next to the door that must lead to the main club, and to the right of him were two more doors labeled as bathrooms. One of them had a dragon carved into it, and the other had what looked like a die with too many sides.
“Um, which one are we supposed to use?” Audrey asked in a whisper, turning to Naomi, who was right behind her, and pointing at it.
“Whichever one feels right to you today.” Naomi smiled at her. “They’re for everyone. Though there are locker rooms inside the club, too.”
Audrey nodded and followed Naomi over to the front desk, trying not to feel too much like a puppy. Ashley looped her arm through Audrey’s again as they moved, which helped a little… unless Ashley was acting as a leash?
“Hi, Eben. We’ve got a friend with us tonight,” Naomi said, greeting the woman behind the desk.
She was another beautiful Black woman, with straight black hair that brushed the tops of her shoulders.
The corset she was wearing was black with a white collar, making it look almost like business-wear if one ignored the very low neckline and the way her cleavage filled it.
“I heard. You’re David’s sister, right?” Eben asked, smiling brightly at Audrey. “He and Cassidy are already inside.”
“That’s me.” Nerves bubbled in her stomach, but she pushed them down so she could return Eben’s smile.
“And you just opened a bakery, right?”
“Grand opening is tomorrow, but yeah. I had the soft open today, so that might be what you’re thinking of. It’s called Cupcakes and Crumbs, and it’s on Liberty.” Great, now she was babbling.
“How exciting! I’ll try to stop by this weekend if I can. I’m a sucker for a really good chocolate chip cookie.” Eben grinned. “Especially if it’s gooey in the middle.”
“She makes great chocolate chip cookies,” Ashley said immediately, giving Audrey’s arm a little squeeze as she advertised for her. “You’re going to love them.”
“Awesome. I can’t wait.” Eben even sounded like she meant it.
“Thank you.” Audrey could feel the blush starting on her cheeks. Taking compliments was not her forte, but she’d discovered that Ashley only doubled down if she tried to dismiss it.
Eben got them checked in, had Audrey sign off on some paperwork, took their coats to hang up, then wished them a good night. It was all surprisingly mundane.
That ended when they walked past the bouncer and through the door into the main area of the club.
It was a bar, but Audrey had never seen bar patrons dressed like this before.
The corset and skirt she was wearing, which had felt so very risqué, suddenly seemed very tame by comparison to some of the outfits on display.
Her eyes widened as she took in the scene.
A woman wearing nothing but a full body fishnet stocking that covered her from neck down to where her feet disappeared into stiletto heels, was kneeling on a cushion beside another woman who sat on a barstool.
The woman on the barstool was dressed head to toe in what looked like black leather, completely covered.
Sitting across from her was a man wearing shiny black short shorts, calf boots, and silver piercings glinting from his nipples.
There were three drinks on the table, and Audrey watched, fascinated, as the woman picked up one and lowered it down in front of the woman kneeling beside her, allowing her to sip through the straw.
“Keep moving, and try not to stare too much, though obviously you don’t have to look away,” Ashley murmured, pulling her along. On Audrey’s other side, Naomi chuckled, as she was close enough to hear Ashley’s comment. “Oh, look, there’s Cassidy and David.”
Audrey’s head jerked around, although she had the belated thought that maybe she didn’t want to see what her brother was wearing…
Thankfully, he was wearing more than he did at the beach.
No shirt, but he had on pants. The fact that they were leather and a little tighter than the pants he normally wore was something she could easily ignore.
He was looking back at her, though, for only a moment, before covering his eyes and groaning.
Next to him, Cassidy was giggling, her eyes bright with amusement.
Claudia stepped out to peer around David and grinned when she saw Audrey.
While Cassidy was dressed more like Naomi, Audrey, and Ashley, Claudia stood out for the simple fact that she was far more covered.
While she was wearing a corset and a short skirt, her boots were thigh high, nearly to the hem of her skirt, and had viciously spiked heels.
Her dark hair had been pulled back into a severe bun high on the back of her head, and her makeup was smoky, with sharp cat’s eye eyeliner.
She gave Audrey a little wave, and Audrey waved back at her.
The presence of so many of the women who had befriended her was helping to settle her nerves.
Then Claudia’s focus went beyond her, and she waved again, still smiling. Audrey turned to see who Claudia was looking at, and all those nerves that had just started to settle zipped right back up and started to swoop all around her.
Mason had just walked in, and just like her brother, he was wearing nothing but leather pants…
but her reaction to seeing his upper body was very different.
She was so distracted, she almost didn’t notice that Yasmine was at his side until Mason offered Yasmine his elbow to help steady her on the towering heels she was wearing.
Audrey’s heart sank into her stomach.
Coming tonight suddenly felt like a horrible mistake.