Chapter 13 #2
To say they were the center of attention as they made their way to Danica’s favorite VIP area was an understatement.
No matter what path they took, who they stopped to say hello to, or how fast they traveled, everyone who even had an inkling of who they were halted whatever they were doing to look, sometimes covertly, sometimes with an open gawk.
Alicia let their judgmental looks wash off her skin – and she had a lot of skin exposed.
All it took was one glance, and some stranger saw her ass, her stomach, her breasts bulging from the pushup bra.
Danica had put her on display. If she was proud of Alicia?
Proud enough to show her off like this? Then Alicia would embrace it as well.
No, the other guests were easy. She was a novelty. The ones who made her feel uneasy were the staff.
“Ms. Moreau.” Susan appeared the moment they were seated on a long leather sofa.
She and Alicia exchanged tentative looks.
Yeah, I never thought we would meet again like this, either.
Alicia, with a collar around her throat, a leash attached to Danica’s hand, and barely any clothes on her figure.
“I trust that you are doing well this evening, ma’am. ”
“Very well, thank you, Susan.” Danica leaned against her knees as she reached for a remote control that allowed her to adjust the temperature and lighting in their corner. Things warmed up… and became dimmer. “I trust you remember my girlfriend, Alicia?”
Another awkward exchange. Don’t make this worse. Please. “I remember Alicia quite fondly,” Susan said with a plain smile. “What would you and Alicia like to drink tonight?”
Danica ordered them a round of drinks before Susan hurried away from the VIP area.
She didn’t offer to send over any of the dancing girls.
Thank God. It wasn’t the idea of her Mistress watching other women dance that upset her.
It was the idea that she used to work with these women that made Alicia uncomfortable.
The last thing she wanted was one of them taking off a top and jiggling breasts for the owner’s entertainment.
“Look at that frivolity.” Danica pointed to the throng of people sitting, laughing, drinking, and playing in the club.
All of them were dressed up for a night out.
All of them were half intoxicated on either alcohol or lust – or perhaps both.
The only reason Alicia stopped staring was because Ms. Clayborn appeared, the frumpiest of them all.
“Ah, Ms. Clayborn. Did your reconnaissance prove fruitful?”
She didn’t sit down. “Yes, Ms. Moreau. She is here this evening.”
“Invite her over. If her wife protests, tell her it’s a business matter.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Ms. Clayborn disappeared into the group of people nearby.
“Who?” Alicia was trapped between distancing herself from her girlfriend, assumedly freeing herself from the awkwardness of being caught in the place she was fired from… or from curling up next to Danica, seeking her warmth.
She didn’t get an answer. A server appeared, and Alicia thanked her stars that she didn’t recognize the woman placing the drinks on the table. Danica thanked her. The woman glanced at Alicia, snorted, and wandered off with her tray tucked beneath her arm.
“What is it?” Danica rubbed Alicia’s knee. “You’re tense. You should relax. Here.” She handed her a glass of liquor. “If you don’t like it, we’ll get you something else.”
“It’s not that.” Alicia wanted nothing more than to dote on the woman she claimed to love. Yet that was hard to do when half of the employees in the club murmured to each other, trading snickers and even a few sighs.
“Then what?”
Alicia proved her right about being tense. She felt like a rubber band about to snap. “It’s a bit awkward being here… ma’am.”
The leash twirled around Danica’s fingers. “Because you know the people working here,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Not well, no, but enough. I only worked here for a night. I got fired because I had sex with you. Now I show up a month later dressed like this.”
Danica considered her words while she drank, ice rattling in her glass.
“There is nothing to fear, my pet. Some of them may judge you, but you need to get used to being judged. There will always be someone judging you. As long as they do not outright offend you – and if they do, don’t hesitate to inform me – you can take their criticisms and their jealousy and use them to empower you.
That’s the first thing you learn when you grow up in my world. ”
Not that your own father is a shitbag? No, tonight was not the night for those thoughts. “You’re right. I don’t even know the woman who served us our drinks.”
“You know Susan.”
“She was very nice to me when I worked here. She was training me.”
“Now I am the one training you.” Alicia walked right into that one. “If and when we have children, my pet, you will need to understand that kind of thinking.”
What startled Alicia more? The fact that she coolly commented on them having children, or her feeling so unfazed about it?
Of course we’re having… no, no, stop. Alicia wanted to take things one step at a time.
It had been only a few weeks, for fuck’s sake!
How could they be talking about marriage and children so soon?
How could a woman who was so logical and methodical throw her heart into the ring like that?
Did she really believe in fate that badly?
“Ah,” she interrupted her thoughts with a smile to the woman entering the VIP room. “There she is. So nice of you to accept my invitation, Mrs. Warner.”
The woman, who stepped into the minute light with a wariness only Alicia could appreciate, kept her short stature straight and her polished pink lips up.
She doesn’t look like she belongs here. For one, she wore a conservative red dress that covered everything but the bottom half of her legs.
For another? Her bobbed haircut and the classical way she did her makeup spoke more of the country club type than someone who would be caught alive in a sex club.
The only thing giving her away was a black choker wrapped around her throat. Before, Alicia would have never thought twice about it. The leather choker blended in seamlessly with Mrs. Warner’s outfit. Now, though? Alicia knew better.
“Ms. Moreau,” the woman said with a firm voice. She turned her attention to Alicia. “I don’t believe we have met.”
Before Alicia could introduce herself, Danica spoke. “Allow me to reveal to you my girlfriend, Alicia Colbert.”
“Oh, yes. I remember now. You look quite different in this getup than you did in the Senator’s Ball photographs on Page 6.
” Her wry smile was the only thing keeping Alicia from thinking about harsh judgment.
Remember, Danica said to take any judgment and turn it into something else.
Easier said than done. “Either way, you are quite the lovely woman, Ms. Colbert. Pleasure.” Mrs. Warner did not extend her hand, choosing to stand on the other side of the table.
“Alicia, this is Mrs. Monique Warner. She’s a legend around these parts.” Danica cocked her head. “Suppose you could say we have a friendly rivalry.”
“We’re in the same line of business.”
“More specifically, she keeps poaching my employees to work at her… what are we calling it these days? A pleasure house?”
“Why, yes.” Monique Warner brushed some lint off her arm. “You really should come by sometime, Ms. Moreau. It’s been much too long.”
“I came by to make sure June had a smooth transition from working here to working there. I did my part. Thought I was quite cordial, considering you snatched one of my biggest moneymakers around here.”
Alicia had no idea what was going on or what they were talking about.
All she had gathered so far was that there was a business rivalry between her girlfriend and this woman.
Did they use to be lovers? Did they use to work together?
Why were tinges of jealousy warming Alicia’s body?
Was this what it felt like to be so protective of her girlfriend?
Someone caught the sour look on her face. “I assure you, Ms. Colbert,” Monique Warner said with lightness to her voice, “there is no hanky-panky in our background here.” She sniffed. “Ms. Moreau’s not quite my type.”
“Speaking of which, didn’t you just have a baby? I’m both pleasantly surprised and slightly concerned that you’re here tonight, Mrs. Warner.”
“Yes, and it’s not swell spending so much time away from home right now. Yet when your wife demands your first date night in weeks, you are inclined to agree for an evening.” Monique shrugged. “I don’t quite feel like I’m surviving, but I appreciate this distraction you are providing, Ms. Moreau.”
“Well, I did not mean to disrupt your well-deserved date night. Send your wife my sincerest apologies.”
“I will. When she found out who had requested my counsel, she was not… impressed.”
“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I do any business with your wife.”
“Do that.”
Alicia had whiplash from this exchange. Both her girlfriend and their guest glanced at her, Danica wrapping her arm around her, and Monique casually shifting her weight.
“Anyway, do pardon our intrusion on your evening, Mrs. Warner,” Danica began.
“But I wanted to introduce you to Alicia. She could use some friends in our sinful world.”
Monique pursed her lips in curiosity. “Is that so? I admit, your unexpected romance has been the trendy topic as of late. We were listening to a conversation about it in the other room. When you’re in such a public relationship, the world takes notice… apparently.”
“Why, thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.” She put her hand on the small of Alicia’s bare back. “So will she.”
Monique focused her attention on Alicia’s mask – and her collar and leash. “I may be no stranger to this kind of kink, Ms. Moreau, but I’ve got a feeling that your new… girlfriend… is.”