Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Mason
Fuck.
He had his fiancée on his arm, and she looked amazing in a tightly fitted PVC top and skirt that hugged her body like a glove, but the difference between his reaction to seeing her versus Audrey was hard to ignore.
While he could aesthetically appreciate Yasmine’s beauty and ensemble, it didn’t cause the spark of hot need that one glance at Audrey did.
Audrey, with her red hair finally down, curling around her pale shoulders, her breasts plumped up by the corset that nipped in her waist to give her an exaggerated hourglass.
Mason had never really thought of himself as a curves man…
until now. He’d never really cared what a woman’s body looked like enough to have a preference.
Until now.
But he had a feeling it wasn’t a preference for a body type.
It was a preference for Audrey.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Taking in a deep breath, he tore his gaze away from the new complication in his life, forcing himself to focus on the woman leaning on his arm. The one he was engaged to.
They were going to scene tonight, pushing their relationship forward.
If his subconscious was already balking at the idea of such a massive change in his life, it made sense that continuing to move forward would cause more resistance.
There was nothing inherently special about Audrey other than she’d shown up at the exact right time—or wrong time—for his brain to latch onto.
Staying away from her hadn’t worked, trying his version of exposure therapy hadn’t worked… so, from here on out, he was going to stay away, even though it didn’t seem to change his reaction to her. Because that was better than being around her. It wasn’t fair to Yasmine.
Yasmine was now frowning at him. He pushed a smile onto his lips.
“I already reserved a private room for us, but we have a minute to say hi to everyone, if you’d like.
” If she didn’t, he would count his blessings; it would be a lot easier to ignore his reaction to Audrey if he didn’t have to stand very close to her, but he also wasn’t going to keep Yasmine from her friends.
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Let’s go say hi, real quick.”
Great.
He led her over, giving everyone a genial smile while the women greeted each other with hugs and compliments. He and David did the manly nod thing, jerking their chins up at each other.
The fact that Jensen wasn’t here didn’t entirely surprise Mason.
He didn’t think that going to the bakery together meant that Jennifer and Jensen were suddenly an exclusive item, but he couldn’t see the other man showing up at the club tonight after having a date with her.
It did surprise, and worry him, that Drew wasn’t here but Naomi was.
They were definitely going to need to have that talk soon.
“How’s your day going?” Mason asked David, who was doing everything he could to avoid looking in his sister’s direction.
“Terrible. First, my grandma shows up at the bakery with Mick as her date, and now I have to see my sister like this.”
Mason almost choked.
“Your grandmother and Mick?” Geezus, the age gap on that was worse than Lincoln and Ashley.
“I don’t think they’re actually doing anything other than annoying me, but I’m not sure they’re not doing anything either.
Grandma told me it was none of my business and started threatening to take my butt stick out herself so she could whack me with it.
” David’s tone and expression were so direly grim, Mason could hardly contain his amusement.
“What did Audrey think?” he couldn’t help but ask. It was only natural to ask since she was Brenda’s other grandchild.
“I don’t think she realized they were on a ‘date’,” David said, using his fingers to make air quotes around the word ‘date.’ “She was busy because that was around the time Harris and his team came in, just after you left.”
“Ah, gotcha. Well, the more Brenda knows it bothers you, the more she’s going to do it.”
“What if I manage to make it stop bothering me, and it turns out she wasn’t doing it just to bother me?” The pained expression on David’s face made Mason press his lips together.
It wasn’t nice to laugh at a friend’s pain, but the situation was genuinely hilarious. Especially the way David was reacting to it. Mason was ninety-nine percent sure Brenda and Mick were just messing with him. That was exactly the kind of thing they would both do.
There was that other one percent, though…
“Mason, should we go?” Yasmine asked, turning toward him.
He glanced over at the clock on the wall.
“Yeah, our room should be ready.” He swept his gaze across everyone with a small smile as he held out his arm for her to take again, deliberately not letting himself focus on or linger on any singular person. “Have a good night, everyone.”
Leading Yasmine away to the sounds of everyone else wishing them a good night, they headed over to the opening at the back of the bar, which looked over the lower floor.
That’s where both the Dungeon and the private rooms were.
When they reached the lower floor, something made Mason look up.
Audrey was there, flanked by Ashley and Naomi, with Claudia hovering protectively just behind them.
So, she was well taken care of.
Still, his stomach twisted at knowing there were probably any number of Doms who would jump at a chance to introduce her to the scene, even with her brother around.
It would be a good thing if one did. Maybe then my brain would get on board with reality.
Thankfully, because of the overhang, he couldn’t keep looking up at her without being obvious. A few moments later, he and Yasmine were walking out of view of the balcony and to the side, where the private rooms were, his name on the board outside the second one.
“Here we go,” he said with forced cheerfulness as he escorted her into the room.
His club bag had already been brought down and was waiting for him on one of the chairs.
The room was richly furnished and decorated.
There was a bed as well as a St. Andrew’s Cross, a spanking bench, and an assortment of implements in case he didn’t have something he wanted to use.
Gavin, the owner of the club, made sure the rooms were always fully stocked.
“Everything is already set up. Do you need to use the bathroom or anything before we get started?”
Rather than answering right away, Yasmine walked over to the bed. Mason frowned as he watched her, wondering what she was doing. Sitting down on the edge, she rested her elbows on her knees, hands clasped in front of her.
With a sigh, she looked up to meet his gaze.
“We need to talk.”
Audrey
Forcing herself to watch Mason and Yasmine walk out of sight, so that maybe her stupid brain would get the hint and cut it out with this wild crush, Audrey felt her stomach churn nauseously.
She didn’t want to hang out or scene or find a Dom to flirt with.
She wanted to go home, eat some ice cream, and maybe cry a little.
Which was a ridiculous way to feel because it wasn’t like there was anything between her and Mason, other than her own imagination.
She didn’t want anyone to realize why she was leaving, though, which meant she had to stay at least a little longer.
Her gaze drifted over the activities below, and her stomach did another flip. There was a man spanking a woman bent over a bench. Her cheeks were a bright, hot red, yet every time his hand came down, she moaned so loudly, it was audible where Audrey and the others were standing.
Another section had a woman standing against a large wooden X shape, leaning against it while a man used a flogger on her upper back and buttocks, both of which were exposed.
Her darker-hued skin didn’t show the color of impact the way the woman being spanked did, but from the undulations of her body, it was clear she was enjoying it just as much.
Arousal stirred, clashing with the unhappy envy bubbling inside her. It was hard not to picture Mason doing the same things with Yasmine. Even if Yasmine hadn’t particularly liked kissing him.
Thanks to watching the scenes below, it took her a few minutes to realize that Claudia and Naomi were having a conversation off to her side.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, leaning toward them. They both looked concerned. It might not be any of her business, but she was dying for a distraction.
“Mason and Yasmine,” Naomi said, the side of her mouth quirking.
Welp. So much for a distraction.
“Oh, yeah, you noticed that, too?” Ashley said from Audrey’s other side, trapping her in the middle of the conversation.
“Noticed what?” Audrey asked. If she had to hear about Yasmine and Mason, she might as well understand what they were talking about.
“She had her dumping face on,” Claudia explained, which made Audrey blink.
“Her what?”
“Yeah, so when she talks about being cursed, she tends to leave a few things out.” Naomi leaned against the balcony, elbow propped up on the bar, and she sighed loudly.
“Like the fact that she’s the one who has dumped every single one of her boyfriends and pointed them in the direction of the person she thinks they’re going to end up with. ”
“To give her credit, she’s got a knack for matchmaking,” Claudia said. “Even if it does cause her to sabotage every relationship she’s ever been in.”
“So, she’s not really cursed?”
“Cursed by self-fulfilling prophecies, maybe.” Ashley sighed. “I don’t know whether to be happy or not. She wants marriage and kids so badly, but she and Mason just don’t fit right together in my head. I wasn’t going to say anything because it seemed like a done deal, but…” She shrugged.
“He’s too reserved for her,” Claudia agreed. “She needs someone who will be passionate about her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mason be passionate about anything. It’s not that he doesn’t care, but… it’s like he’s always watching things happen around us rather than being a part of them.”