Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Camille
Stroking Freddy’s hair, Camille turned her head slightly to press her cheek against the top of his head.
Aftercare for Freddy was cuddling, which she rather enjoyed, even if they were squished onto the same sofa.
At least it was a sofa that was big enough to handle being squished on to.
Someone had obviously anticipated that people would want to be able to lie down at least mostly next to each other, instead of having to be on top of each other.
“That was amazing.” It was the third time he’d said it, yet another burst of happiness flowed through her.
Sadly, it was accompanied by the tiniest bit of nervous tension. As much as she didn’t want to let Donaldson ruin her weekend or her time with Freddy, now that she’d worked off some of her nervous energy and the scene was over, her brain was refocusing on her life problems instead of the scene.
“It was,” she replied what she’d said the first two times he’d said it. Telling the truth was no hardship.
Watching Freddy writhe for her, having him at her mercy, giving him the pleasure he craved…
No, fuck Donaldson. There was no way she was giving this up.
They didn’t get to control her life outside the office, and there was nothing wrong with her and Freddy having a relationship.
The Alexanders’ divorce was finalized, and she and Freddy weren’t working on any other cases against each other, so there was no reason they couldn’t date.
Yet her stomach wouldn’t settle.
“Is everything okay?”
Dammit. Her submissive was far too observant at times.
“Just worrying about Monday and work, but that’s really not what I want to think about.”
He ran his hand down her side, offering a bit of reassuring comfort.
“Want to go hang out with my friends? I’m sure there are plenty of distractions happening downstairs.”
Sure, she described herself as an introvert, but that offer sounded really appealing right now.
Maybe because she wasn’t ready for the night to end.
Tomorrow, she was going to have to think a lot more about work and her problems. Being at Stronghold was like being in a little bubble outside of time, and unlike Marquis, the whole club was dedicated to kink and kinky people.
There was no chance she’d run into anyone from her firm here.
Freddy would know if anyone was a member and would have given her a heads up.
Just like the second floor of Marquis, this was a place where she could relax and be herself. Unlike Marquis, she could do it while hanging out at the bar.
“Yeah, let’s do that.” She felt his jolt of surprise but saw his pleasure as they got themselves together and headed downstairs. More than pleasure—pride. He was enjoying being seen with her.
Which was just about the cutest thing in the world. She took pleasure in his pleasure at being with her. Now that they weren’t so jazzed up and eager for their scene, she was feeling much calmer and much less overwhelmed by the many people he knew in the club.
“Uh oh,” Freddy murmured a few moments after they walked onto the main floor. She looked at him, but he wasn’t paying attention to her and didn’t seem to realize he was speaking out loud. He was looking at the dance floor.
“What’s wrong?” She squeezed Freddy’s hand, and he jumped.
“Oh, ah… well, club drama. Of course. You remember Rae, from earlier?” he asked, tilting his head toward where a number of people were dancing.
Rae was the pretty black girl with the long braids, with a few green braids threaded throughout the dark brown.
Camille nodded as she spotted Rae dancing with a handsome Asian man.
The two of them were moving well together, then the man bent his head to kiss her, one hand sliding up the back of her neck to hold her in place.
Beside Camille, Freddy winced.
“Okay, well that’s Master Damian.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing, exactly, but he’s a relationship kind of Dom, and Rae and Master Brian have been doing this kind of ‘will they, won’t they’ dance around each other. If she’s out on the dance floor with Master Damian…” Freddy’s voice trailed off, and he looked around as if trying to spot Master Brian.
“If she has a thing for Master Brian, why would she be interested in a different Dom?” Camille turned her head. She had been introduced to Master Brian but wasn’t sure she remembered which Dom he was.
“Because Master Brian is a Daddy Dom and Rae keeps insisting that’s not what she wants. I figured being around each other would eventually wear her down… Ah, crap. Yeah, there he goes.” Freddy sighed.
Following his gaze, Camille saw a dark-haired man leaving the club.
They were much too far away to go after him, but it looked like he had a friend right on his heels.
“Wow.” Camille shook her head. Right into it with the club drama, apparently.
Since she wasn’t involved, she could feel some amusement, but it faded when she saw Freddy’s expression.
He was the kind of guy who felt deeply and was protective of his friends.
All of them. And he was a helper. His inability to fix things for Brian and Rae was probably going to bug him.
She squeezed his hand, pulling him in close to her.
“You can’t make people’s decisions for them, you know.”
“I know, but the world would be so much easier if they let me.”
That made her laugh, and he smiled.
“Come on, who else can we hang out with?”
“Depends. Do you want the dirt on whatever’s going on with Rae and Damian?” His voice was hopeful.
Personally, Camille didn’t care, but she could tell Freddy did.
She was also nosy enough to be curious, even though she didn’t know them.
Distracting herself with other people’s drama didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world, and she wanted to see more of how Freddy maneuvered through his relationships in the club.
If she was going to have a relationship with him, it meant understanding how he operated in ‘his’ space.
It came to how much he gave of himself and whether she’d ever need to step in.
She was quickly coming to realize he not only felt responsible for the people in the clubs but that he struggled with not stepping in to fix things for them.
Freddy
Though he wasn’t sure it was the right decision, he was glad Mistress Camille was willing to spend some more time at Stronghold.
With all the work he did at Marquis, he wasn’t able to visit Stronghold quite as much as he would have liked.
Now that he was here again, he realized how much he missed it. The atmosphere. The people. The energy.
Every part of his backside ached and throbbed with the remembrance of their scene. He could walk without a problem, but movement came with a reminder that he’d just gotten a paddling and a pegging.
Making his way to the table where Law and Iris were talking to Master Asad and Master Connor, he smiled when they saw him and Mistress Camille coming and immediately made space.
Since Master Kincaid had gone after Master Brian, and Master Mitch and Domi were nowhere to be seen, he figured Iris was probably the best source of information if he wanted to know about Rae and Master Damian.
“You two look like you had fun,” Master Asad said when they reached them.
Master Connor smiled while Master Law shook his head, and Iris giggled.
Pretty much the expected reactions from all of them.
For all that he was a huge bear of a man and a Dom, Master Connor was very quiet most of the time and was much more like a teddy bear than a grumpy bear.
Master Law was the grumpy bear, though Iris kept him smiling more often than not these days.
The two of them were good for each other.
She kept out of trouble now that she had a steady hand at the wheel, and he couldn’t be too serious with Iris around.
Master Asad, of course, was the funny man of the group. Golden retriever energy with the sex drive of a rabbit and a playfully sadistic side that left the submissives panting. He seemed to enjoy defying expectations.
“It’s been a good night,” Freddy said agreeably. He grinned at Mistress Camille, who smiled back at him.
“A very good night.” The warmth in her tone washed over him, almost as good as being called a ‘good boy.’
“How’s your night going?” he asked, turning back to the others, letting his concern show. “I saw Master Brian leaving.”
“Yeah…” Iris’ gaze cut to the dance floor. “Rae just came by to introduce her new boyfriend. He stuck around for the introduction, but I don’t think he felt like staying for the after show.”
Freddy’s eyes widened.
“Wait, they’re already boyfriend and girlfriend?
Not just dating?” Though he shouldn’t be too surprised.
Master Damian was something of a serial monogamist. He hadn’t been to the club for a while after his last breakup, but Freddy hadn’t expected him to move quite this fast upon his return… and definitely not with Rae.
Whether she wanted to admit it, Rae was the kind of sub who would thrive with a caretaker or service Dom.
A Daddy Dom wasn’t that far off from what she needed, and that wasn’t Master Damian.
He was a good, steady Dom, but his kinks tended more toward someone who took care of themselves outside of the bedroom, with no overlap.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care, but he expected his submissives to handle themselves and behave themselves without oversight from him, which worked for a lot of submissives.
He wasn’t sure it would work for Rae, but she would have to figure it out on her own.
“Yup, official as of yesterday.” Iris shrugged, but the worry in her dark eyes made it clear she didn’t feel confident about this new development either. “She seems happy.”
“Well, good.” Watching how this all played out would definitely be interesting.
The conversation moved on to Domi and Mitch’s wedding planning, which led to Master Asad complaining about his need for a fake date for the upcoming wedding.
His grumbling had both Mistress Camille and Freddy cracking up.
Apparently, his mom had decided to take matters into her own hands when it came to finding a good match for him, which led to him telling her he had a girlfriend, and of course, she’d be at the wedding with him…
and that was that. He didn’t seem to know that Lexie had picked out Morgan for him, which was interesting, so Freddy kept his mouth shut.
Heading to the bar to get a second drink for himself and Mistress Camille—things were getting a little packed, and he wanted to say hi to Andrew again—Freddy came to a sudden halt when Noelle popped up in front of him.
Her wide, imploring eyes met his, and her tongue darted out to lick her lip as if nervous.
“Hi, Freddy… um, I’m Noelle, I’m not sure if you remember me.”
“Of course, I do. Is everything okay?” He asked automatically, partly because he couldn’t think of any other reason why she would approach him and partly because there was something about her demeanor that made her seem distressed.
She sniffled as tears filled her eyes at his words.
“Well… I’ve heard you’re the person to go to when any of us submissives are having a problem.” She paused, looking up at him as though she was waiting for him to respond.
Freddy nodded, not sure where she was going with this, but was very curious.
If she did have a problem, he would want to help, though as far as he knew, she hadn’t been having trouble with any of the club’s Doms. She hadn’t played with very many of them, but there hadn’t been any complaints or drama.
However, he also missed things being at Marquis most of the time.
Her voice lowered. “I’m being bullied.”
“You are?” Indignation rose up inside him. No, he didn’t particularly like her, and for good reason, but that didn’t mean he’d condone bullying, especially not in the club. “Who?”
Her hands twisted in front of her.
“I don’t really want to say, I don’t want to single anyone out, but… I guess I just want advice on how to handle it. I noticed Doms don’t want to scene with me, and subs don’t want to be friends with me because… It’s people who are popular here and no one wants to go against them.”
Freddy frowned. He definitely hadn’t heard of anything like that.
No one was saying not to be friends with her or not to scene with her, though because of the gossip train, some people knew about how she’d treated Iris and might react accordingly.
As far as he knew, everyone had been encouraged not to treat her any differently, and she’d made several friends—including some who were friendly with Iris—and had scened with several Doms. Still, he couldn’t dismiss her out of hand since he was a little out of the loop at Stronghold these days.
“If it makes you feel better, I haven’t heard of anyone saying anything detrimental about you, and I always end up hearing the gossip. I’ll look into it, though, okay? It would help me if you told me who was bothering you.” As soon as he said the words, she was shaking her head.
“Oh, no, I can’t do that. I don’t want to stir anything up, or cause any drama, I just…
” She huffed out a breath of air. “I’m glad you haven’t heard anything, but I’m worried that maybe no one is saying anything to you because they know how you’ll react, and they don’t want me to have your protection. ”
She seemed completely sincere, and if she was anyone else in the club, Freddy would take her words at face value, but because of what he knew about her, it was difficult.
On the other hand, he also knew he needed to look into this.
There definitely were people who would believe what she said, and it could cause a lot of drama, even if she didn’t mean to.
Especially if she ended up naming names.
He could guess who she thought was behind any bullying, although he wasn’t sure that’s what he’d call it, even if there was something going on. So, that’s where he’d start.