Chapter 16
16
Amy
Their larger group had gotten smaller again. Though Rae was sticking by Avery since she didn’t have her Dom here tonight, Domi and Iris had been collected by Mitch and Law for scenes, one after the other. Then Q had come and stolen Sam away. Interestingly, Morgan and Rae were deep in conversation about being in business for themselves and making social media content—Morgan had an ASMR channel, and Rae had become an author—and seemed to be getting along incredibly well.
Avery appeared to find the discussion fascinating. And it was, but Amy was also distracted.
The main floor of Stronghold wasn’t for scening. They were sitting in the Lounge area, which was where the submissives gathered—there was no rule; it had just happened that way. The main floor also had the bar on one side and a stage for demonstrations on the other, with a dance floor in front of the stage. The stage was empty tonight. The dance floor was not, but it also wasn’t where anyone scened.
That was reserved for upstairs in the private rooms or downstairs in the Dungeon. There were three private rooms down in the Dungeon, too, though the majority of the space was taken up by spanking benches, St. Andrews Crosses, and various other equipment for public scenes. There was also the aftercare corner.
So, she wasn’t being distracted by any scenes happening around her, but she was very distracted by the happy, beaming submissives who were being picked for a scene and the sultry, satisfied submissives who returned to the Lounge, mussed up and satiated. It had been a long, long time since she’d felt the way they looked.
In the past, it had been easier to ignore the envy tingling in her stomach because it wasn’t like she could do anything about it. She had her scenes at Stronghold and her sex at home. The two were separate.
But they didn’t have to be.
Don’t I deserve a wild night?
It doesn’t even have to be a rebound.
I’m not looking for a date.
I just want to look like… them.
When Sam returned, her blonde hair rumpled, her corset looser than it had been before, and her face glowing from post-orgasmic bliss, the envy that was swirling around Amy’s belly felt like it was going to come up and swallow her whole.
“What?” Sam asked when she realized Amy was looking at her.
“I want to look like you.”
“What?” Now Sam was looking at her weird.
“I mean, I want to look like you do right now… happy, satisfied, glowing from having a great scene and great sex.” The yearning was so powerful, it actually hurt the inside of her chest. “I need to find a Dom to scene with me. If I can.”
“Well, if you’re going to get a Dom to scene with you, you’re going to have to call off your attack dogs,” Sam said, making Amy wrinkle her forehead in confusion.
“What attack dogs?”
Reaching up to run her fingers through her mussed hair, Sam paused and tilted her head at Amy. One blonde eyebrow went up.
“You didn’t notice that every Dom who started to come near us suddenly veered away when he glanced at Kincaid and Zach to see if they were okay with them approaching? No… no, you didn’t notice that.” Sam laughed. “I don’t think you need to worry about finding a Dom who wants to scene with you, honey. You just need to make sure the two Doms who have taken you under their protection don’t scare them off.”
Amy’s mouth opened and closed as she tried to find a response and came up short multiple times.
Finally, she managed to get some words out.
“They’ve been scaring off potential Doms?”
Sure, she understood what it meant to be under someone’s protection in the club, and she could even understand why everyone would assume Kincaid and Zach had taken that position for her. But she hadn’t wanted them to. And she sure as hell hadn’t asked them to.
There had been Doms who wanted to scene with her?
And they’d been scaring the Doms away?
Indignation rose up inside her.
“Multiple times after we first got here,” Sam confirmed with a nod. “The Doms stopped trying after a bit.”
Amy scowled. Well. Now that she knew, she was going to handle that right now. They might be her housemates, but that didn’t give them the right to deny her orgasms! Maybe in the house, they’d have some say. At least she wouldn’t have sex at their house in their guest bedroom out of respect, but this was here at the club! Totally different.
“Well. I am going to go have a talk with them. Excuse me.” She got to her feet, her righteous indignation fueling her march over to the table, even as her heart stuttered a little when the table full of Doms turned their joint attention to her. It was a lot of hot to face all at once, though thankfully, it wasn’t the full contingent.
“Amy. Everything okay?” Zach asked, coming around the side of the table.
“Can I talk to you and Kincaid for a moment?” She lifted her chin, trying to hide the way her heart was frantically beating. She hated confrontation, but now that she’d marched all the way over for it, there was no way she was going back.
Zach frowned but nodded his head and glanced over his shoulder at Kincaid, who also nodded. They both came forward and stepped to the side. Amy turned to face them, putting her back to the others. It helped with the whole audience factor; it did not help with the fact that Kincaid and Zach were incredibly intimidating all on their own.
Especially when they were both looming over her, totally focused on her.
Yikes.
But she’d already come this far.
“Are you scaring off Doms who want to scene with me?” she asked… no, demanded to know. And got her answer immediately, before they’d even spoken when they glanced at each other before either of them said a word. Frustration bubbled up inside her. “What the hell? Did you want me to hate myself?”
“What?” Zach’s slightly guilty expression turned to bafflement, and he stared at her in confusion. “Why would you hate yourself?”
“Because I’m here, I’m single for the first time—ever—and I know the whole club knows it, yet not a single Dom came over to even see if I wanted to scene.” Frustrated tears started to threaten, making her eyes burn, but she blinked them away. “I thought I was going to have to go beg someone to scene with me.”
Kincaid frowned at her.
“I think you need to work on your self-confidence,” he said. “Any Dom would be lucky to scene with you, and you shouldn’t assume otherwise.”
Despite the compliment, Amy could only focus on the first part of what he said. She talked fast and low, her voice brimming with emotion, but keeping the volume down so she didn’t alert the whole club to her issues.
“What self-confidence? The guy I was going to marry left me at the altar. He didn’t even have the courtesy to break up with me beforehand. He thought I sucked so much that I deserved to be humiliated like that. And that’s the guy I chose to marry. No matter which way you look at it, I’m a fucking hot mess. Who the hell is going to look at me and say, ‘Oh, yeah, I want to tap that,’ when the guy I was supposed to marry didn’t even want me?” She sucked in a deep breath. “Now, I’m going to go find someone to scene with, and you two are going to stay the hell out of it.”
She started to storm past Kincaid, but she didn’t make it more than two steps before his hand came up in front of her. With as fast as she was moving, she saw it coming but couldn’t swerve to avoid him, and he caught her around the throat, turning with her movement so he didn’t jerk her to a halt.
His fingers pressed on the side of her throat as he maneuvered her around him rather than past him, and she ended up standing between them, with Zach at her back. Wide eyed, she blinked up at Kincaid, her pulse fluttering against his thumb, mouth suddenly very dry as he bent over her, his dark gaze meeting hers as one eyebrow lifted at her temerity.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She’d poked the Dom, and the Dom was poking back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, his voice a low growl.
Amy whimpered as her legs pressed together, and she felt Zach move up behind her, the heat of his body against hers making her feel completely surrounded by them. Her brain scrambled, trying to catch up with what was happening.
What was happening?
Kincaid
Dammit.
Between the way Amy had been putting herself down, her obvious hurt, and Zach’s pained expression when she said she was going to scene with someone else, Kincaid had reacted without thinking when she tried to breeze past him. All he’d known was that he needed to stop her.
Now, she was standing between him and Zach, his hand around her throat like a collar, and Zach’s eyes were hot with desire and hope. Kincaid much preferred methodical planning to spur-of-the-moment decisions and actions, but sometimes, they were unavoidable. This was one of those moments.
“I… um… to find someone to scene with?” It came out as more of a question than an answer, her voice light and breathless, pupils dilating as she looked back at him.
She was aroused.
By them.
Or by the situation.
Both.
“Is there a reason you don’t want to scene with your usual top?” He nodded his head slightly, indicating Zach behind her, just as Zach put his hands on her bare shoulders. The corset she was wearing had her breasts pushed up high, and they lifted even higher as she took a deep breath.
“Well… our situations have changed, haven’t they?” she asked, turning her head slightly, but Zach’s hands on her shoulders kept her looking at Kincaid.
Sliding his hand along her throat, he cupped her chin, tilting her head back, so she had to look at him and couldn’t try to hide her face. As he did so, her shoulders squared, the way they did when she was bracing herself to be brave, chin lifting in defiance. Courageous little subbie, no matter what she thought of herself.
“Zach and I scened together because we were both in relationships, but I’m not anymore.”
“So?” Kincaid shrugged one shoulder. “I wouldn’t have minded him topping you even if you had been single. You’re not the only sub he’s topped.” Because Zach had needs that Kincaid couldn’t fulfill for him. Topping Kincaid—who was not a submissive and not a masochist, though he’d be willing to try for Zach—was not satisfying for either of them.
Some emotion flashed across Amy’s face, too quickly for him to decipher, before she went back to her stubborn expression.
“Besides, Zach topped you recently. After… well, after.” He didn’t say the words out loud because he didn’t want to rub salt in the wound. “We both did.”
“Right, well.” She huffed. Damn, she was cute. “We also always scened platonically. I don’t want to scene platonically tonight. I want to come upstairs from the Dungeon looking like the other subs. I want orgasms, dammit.” Her cheeks flushed bright pink, but that didn’t stop her from saying it.
Kincaid wondered if the bravery was coming from courage or defiance, maybe a little bit of both, but she was being very clear about what she wanted.
He looked up over her head at Zach. Zach’s gaze met his. They didn’t need to talk for Kincaid to know that Zach wanted to scene with Amy.
Non-platonically.
If this had happened before Kincaid had spent the past couple of weeks with her… but it hadn’t. And Zach had never given him any cause for jealousy with Amy before, during all the time they’d been scening together. He’d known that Zach cared for her. It was obvious she was an attractive woman. They were both attracted to her.
They were going to need to talk about this later, especially since she was living with them, if any kind of arrangement was going to continue… but for right now, he didn’t see the harm in going with the flow. Everything had been fine after the scene they’d done before; this was just another step up. Amy was looking for a night of pleasure and release, which was something he and Zach could definitely satisfy.
This way, neither of them would have to worry about her because they would be the ones taking care of her.
Everyone’s problems were solved.
He ignored that Q and Asad were smirking at him from their places, where they were watching intently. While he doubted they were catching every word, they definitely had a good idea of what was going on right now.
Might as well give them something to talk about.
“What if Zach and I offered to scene with you?” he asked. “Non-platonically.”
Amy’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“ You want to have sex with me?” She said it like the idea had never occurred to her, that she didn’t realize how damn attractive she was.
Hell, of course, the idea had occurred to him, including when she and Zach were scening platonically, but she’d had a fiancé. Otherwise, they’d probably have already done a joint scene with her.
“Is there a reason why you think I wouldn’t?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “And be very careful if your answer isn’t complimentary toward yourself because you’ve already earned a spanking for some of the things you’ve said tonight.”
“I… I…” She started to turn her head, and Kincaid let her chin go so that she could. She twisted around so she could look at Zach. “You?”
“I would never have had sex with you before because we’re both in committed relationships, but if you hadn’t been with Jeremy, I would have talked to Kincaid about scening all together a long time ago.” Zach smiled and looked up at Kincaid. “I think he probably would have said yes.”
“Yes, I would have. And I’m saying yes now. But if you don’t want us, then we’ll help you find someone to scene with.”
Zach’s lips tightened at the offer, but he didn’t protest. Both of them knew that if she chose not to scene with them, they would feel better having some control over the situation. Most of the Doms at Stronghold were good Doms, but for her first scene post-wedding breakup, Amy deserved better than ‘good.’
Kincaid was going to make sure she got it, one way or another.
“If I don’t want you?” she sputtered, turning back and forth to look at them with an expression of incredulity on her face. The same incredulousness that was in her voice. As though it was unfathomable that she wouldn’t want them.
A slow smile spread across Kincaid’s lips.
“So, that’s a yes, then?”