Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Law
Everyone was at the table when Law returned to the main floor, just as Asad had said.
A few tables past them, Law happened to glimpse Morgan’s red hair and realized she was talking to Master Brian.
The two of them looked awfully cozy, and he had a sneaking suspicion of what Asad had meant when he said he was being used by Rae.
Not that he was going to get involved. If Rae wanted to scene with someone who would give her a good time, be perfectly fine foregoing sex, and absolutely not get involved emotionally, Asad was a great choice.
Making his way to the table, he grinned and greeted Connor and Q, who had drinks in hand and were happily chatting with Mitch, Domi, and Iris. Connor grinned when he saw Law approaching.
“Shouldn’t you be working?” he teased as Law stepped up to the table.
“Yes, I should,” Law replied, refusing to be baited. He looked down at Iris. “Want to do rounds with me?”
“Sure!” Iris’ eyes brightened with interest, and she hopped up from the barstool, tugging at her skirt to pull it down from where it had ridden up. Then she paused. “Um, if my brother and Kate show up, I’ll have to come back to this floor. Or at least stay away from whatever floor he’s on.”
“Understood.” Did it make him a bad person that he hoped her brother and fiancé stayed home tonight? It wasn’t like they were going to scene, but now that he had her to walk around with, he didn’t want to have that taken away.
Go with the flow.
Inwardly he sighed, but it made sense. Not everything could have a plan. This whole evening was unplanned, other than showing up for his shift. Might as well go with it.
Taking her hand, he ignored the startled looks they received—including one from Iris herself before she grinned and went with it—as they headed to the Dungeon.
If they were going to give Stronghold something to talk about, they might as well go all in.
Not everyone had seen the kiss earlier, but they couldn’t miss him walking through the club, holding Iris’ hand.
Hopefully, confirming everyone’s suppositions would result in less interest around them. Mysteries were interesting. Full disclosure, much less so.
“Want to tell me what’s going on with Rae and Asad?” Even though he had his suspicions, he wanted to know if he was right.
Mysteries.
Iris groaned, shaking her head.
“Yeah, so I’m pretty sure Morgan is going to move in with Master Brian, and Rae just found out.” She made a face. “She didn’t handle it very well. Not that Master Asad seems to mind being used for his body.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s one of his goals in life.” Law chuckled. “As long as Rae won’t be looking for a relationship with him, they’ll be fine.”
“I don’t think we have to worry about that.”
Iris
Walking around the club with Law was a revelation. Not only were people looking at them, a lot of the Doms were looking at her with sudden interest. Doms who hadn’t looked twice at her before.
It was all Iris could do to keep from sticking her tongue out at them. They’d shown no interest, but now that she had a Dom clearly interested in her, despite her brother, they were taking a second look? Yeah. Screw them.
She was relieved Law seemed open to exploring whatever this was between them.
She didn’t think she’d be able to reciprocate interest with any of the Doms who were checking her out when they hadn’t before she’d scened with Law.
A lot of the subs were looking at her with envy and awe.
She gripped Law’s hand a little tighter.
Yup, he’s all mine. Not sure why, but not going to let go.
He wasn’t really all hers, but he was for tonight.
Master Asad had said he’d never seen Law kiss a submissive outside of a scene.
She didn’t think he often walked around holding a submissive’s hand, either, especially while he was on duty.
His words about being the responsible one flittered through her mind.
Taking her around with him wasn’t irresponsible, but it sure as hell wasn’t something she had expected.
She did her best not to get in his way, following his lead through the club as he picked out a path, making the rounds between the second floor and the Dungeon.
They chatted, but she tried not to take up too much of his attention, and when he paused to observe a scene, she fell silent so she didn’t distract him.
Seeing him in action was fun, especially because she got the feeling, he was watching her for reactions.
Though the most interesting part of the night was when Master Brian came downstairs and saw Rae being spanked by Master Asad. He immediately headed across the Dungeon, well away from them, but Iris noticed he didn’t stop looking.
At some point, that situation was going to blow up. That or maybe they’d get over each other. She was sorely tempted to lock them in a room and tell them they could come out when they figured out their shit.
As the night was coming to a close and they did their last round, Iris’ feet were hurting like a bitch, but she didn’t want to complain. She was enjoying hanging out with Law too much.
“How would you feel about doing another scene next weekend?”
The question came as they were climbing back the stairs from the Dungeon. Iris’ head jerked up in surprise, though she shouldn’t be too surprised. Law liked his plans.
“It depends.” She grinned at him. “What kind of scene? Another basic scene?”
“Brat.” He let go of her fingers to land a hard swat on her butt before recapturing her hand, all before she took a breath. Hot. “You said you wanted to play with electricity.”
Interest shivered through her. Yes, she did. It was both scary and exciting. It felt dangerous, but she trusted Law to know what he was doing and to make it pleasurable.
“Yes, please.” Funny how her voice went all breathless and soft when she was with him. That definitely hadn’t happened with any other Dom.
The grin that Law flashed her way warmed her insides. She knew exactly how little he smiled, yet he was smiling an awful lot at her, especially tonight. It gave her hope, she wasn’t sure she should have.
That didn’t stop her from having them, particularly as he walked her out to her car and gave her a thorough kiss goodnight.
“Text me when you get home.”
As much as she wanted to suggest their night didn’t have to end, she didn’t want to push him.
So, she nodded and waved to him before she pulled out of her space and headed home.
The whole way home, she kept going through the events of the evening.
By the time she walked into her apartment, she felt as though she was walking on air.
“Oh. You’re back.” Noelle’s tart tones caught Iris’ attention as she set down her purse, and she blinked.
“Hey, how was your night?” Iris asked, turning her attention to Noelle in the kitchen. The expression on her roommate’s face was not promising, and neither were her slightly jerky movements. Danger. Iris knew the signs well enough to know when Noelle was in a mood.
“Like you care.”
Oh, good, it was going to be one of those nights. Taking a deep breath, Iris closed her eyes for a moment and gathered her patience.
“Of course, I care. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have asked.” Iris wouldn’t play that game tonight. She’d had too good a night to let Noelle ruin it.
“You mean like you cared when you went out tonight without me? So, you could go hang out with your new friends and your new boyfriend, and just leave me on my own. The way you always do lately.”
Iris stared at her. This was a familiar tune, and normally, she would apologize and placate, thinking that maybe she’d misread the situation earlier, but this time, she had witnesses.
If Noelle had shown any reluctance or unhappiness over Iris going out, Domi, Rae, and Avery would never have encouraged it.
They would have insisted Iris stayed home or even tried to figure out a way to get Noelle into the club with them, despite how difficult that would be on such short notice.
None of them had mentioned a worry that Noelle was upset when they’d left earlier, which meant Noelle had definitely not indicated in any way that she was unhappy about Iris going out.
She knew for sure she hadn’t imagined it.
“I asked you if you wanted me to stay and hang out with you.”
“You put me on the spot! What was I supposed to do, say no?” Noelle glared at her, putting her hands on her hips, but this time, Iris wasn’t having any of it. If Noelle had wanted her to stay home, she should have said so, but she not only hadn’t, she’d encouraged Iris to go out.
This was not her fault.
“Yes, Noelle, that was exactly what you should have done. I can’t read your mind.
I don’t know what you’re thinking. You encouraged me to go out and said you were getting together with Tyler.
There is literally no way I could have known you wanted me to stay and hang out with you.
” Iris crossed her arms over her chest and felt her heart pounding against her arm.
“Heck, you were invited to come with us if you wanted to!”
Confrontations like this sucked, and usually, she would do anything she could to get out of it, but this one wasn’t fair, and she knew it.
“I encouraged you, so you and your new friends didn’t pity me! Oh, poor Noelle, left all alone. No one wants to hang out with her, but you don’t care about that.” Noelle snatched the plate she’d made for herself and stormed down the hallway. “The only person you care about is yourself.”
“Then why did I invite you to go with us?”
“You wanted to make yourself look good! That’s why I said no. I knew you didn’t actually want me coming with you. That or you wanted me to come, so you could leave me out again, and show me how little I mean to you!”
The blatant untruth made Iris want to scream. She didn’t know what to say, had no idea what she wanted to say because literally none of what Noelle was saying made sense. Noelle’s bedroom door slammed behind her, and the silence in its wake was resounding.