Chapter 37 Six
Six
Shay pulled Emma to a lounge area at the end of Dungeon Row.
Although Emma tried to control the volume of her voice, she didn’t quite manage it because she was fiercely agitated. She knew it was against the rules to disrupt a scene; he’d told her that in the lounge, but she didn’t care. Kate was her friend.
“Please go back and stop him. He’s hurting her. Why can’t you stop it? Isn’t there supposed to be a Dungeon Master to help a sub who’s in trouble?”
Before he could say anything, Kate hurried up. She was completely naked, her face tear-streaked, her body trembling. Emma held out her arms, but Kate didn’t rush into them. Instead, Kate clasped Emma’s hands and squeezed them.
“I’m okay. I’m really fine,” Kate said, dragging her hand up so she could wipe her face with the back of it.
Kate let go of her hands and spun to face her master, who looked like a sci fi-movie villain, like a cyborg that crushed innocent people with his bare hands.
Big and monstrously muscular, he sported a barbed wire tattoo around his upper arm, and he looked dangerous.
Kate knelt in front of him. “She didn’t understand, Master Rory. She thought I was in trouble. She’s new.”
There was just enough stubble on his head for Emma to know Master Rory was dark-haired before he shaved. He was good-looking and probably in his late twenties, but he was built like a tank. Emma took a reflexive step back.
“That dress doesn’t belong here. You’re not at a tea party,” Rory said to Emma while he petted Kate’s hair.
“Please, Sir. I’ll take her punishment. You can put me in the stocks or—” Kate stammered. “The swan dive.”
Rory’s brows went up, and he looked down at Kate.
He put a hand under her chin and brought her to a standing position.
He put a hand on her back and slid it down to rest against her red ass.
“Trying to protect your friend, huh? Even offering to go in the swan when you hate that punishment? You’re such a soft-hearted sub.
But you’re not the one who ruined someone’s scene, kitten.
In fact, this little sub probably distracted all of Dungeon Row.
” He looked at Shay. “What happened? She too much for you to handle?”
Aghast, Emma exclaimed, “It wasn’t his fault!”
As soon as she saw the expressions on the Doms’ faces, she knew she’d made a mistake. She shouldn’t have interrupted. And did attempting to shield Shay from blame imply that she thought he was weak and needed a sub to defend him?
“You’ll stay quiet for the rest of this discussion,” Shay ordered.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Christ, no self-control at all,” Rory snapped at the same time Shay’s hand shot out and covered her mouth.
Shay wasn’t rough, but the gesture was shocking all the same. She felt the sting of tears.
Shay leaned close, his voice very low. “I value your voice, but I’ve told you not to use it right now. Do you need help staying quiet?”
Emma’s eyes widened. Did he mean he’d put a ball gag in her mouth? The thought was horrifying. She felt like a child being given a timeout.
She shook her head in a jerky motion. Shay removed his hand.
Seeing her mutinous expression, he said, “After openly defying me a moment ago, do you think it’s wise to look anything but remorseful? Remember what you are to me, or I’ll add to the punishment you’ve already got coming.”
Emma swallowed and closed her eyes as she struggled to control her emotions. When she wasn’t frowning anymore, she opened her eyes.
“Better,” Shay said, then turned back to Rory.
“She is something else,” Rory said. “What have we got here? One of the furies? Is it going to be chaos when she’s in the house?”
Shay gave her a sidelong glance and seemed, for a second, to be almost amused. “She didn’t end up in the Ivy League by being a slow learner. She’ll catch on.”
The amusement disappeared when his head turned back to Rory. “Ten for her, and I’ll take your next Saturday scrub rotation.”
“Twenty for her on the horse naked. And the scrub’s enough from you. New subs can be unpredictable.”
The panic that roared through Emma at the word naked almost made her cry out the word no. She clamped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from making a sound. She looked at Shay with pleading eyes.
“Twenty on the horse will be hard enough for her to take. I’m not inclined to strip her tonight.”
Emma froze in place, staring at them as they negotiated. She wasn’t sure what would actually happen to her, but thinking she might be naked for it left her so paralyzed she couldn’t breathe.
Rory looked her over. “Did you know it was against the rules for a sub to interrupt a scene? That if you think a scene’s out of hand, you go to the nearest Dom and inform him? And that he investigates and decides whether to stop it?”
Emma stared at him.
“Answer me,” Rory said. His voice wasn’t angry, but it was hard-edged enough to make her cringe.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Rory glanced at Shay. “Twenty on the horse. Naked. Or give her to Randall to train, and she doesn’t come back to the club till he’s in town.”
“Christ,” Shay said.
Rory shrugged. “She disrupted the whole row. What do you think Doug and J will expect? Less?”
Shay shook his head.
“So sort her out. We’ll meet you on the Alley in ten minutes. Kate, come,” he said, striding away. Kate gave Emma a sympathetic look and then hustled after him.
Emma decided she hated Rory.
“The horse is a padded spanking bench. If you choose that, I’ll strap you to it and spank you twenty times. Or you can choose to wait and let a Dom named Randall take over your training. I strongly suggest you take the bench tonight.”
“Is Randall mean?”
“No, he’s not cruel, but he’s old school tough.
If he finds out you disrupted a scene and left the club without taking your punishment, he’ll make you work twice as hard to prove you can be a good sub, and it’ll be especially difficult for you because you’re sensitive.
Also, he will love your body so much, there will be no way for you to convince him to let you cover any part of it. Ever.”
She paled.
“There’s one other thing you should consider, too.
If you take your punishment, Rory will immediately forgive you for making a mistake.
But if you make me look bad by not taking your punishment tonight, he won’t forgive you tonight or possibly at all.
That will make it hard on everyone. Understand? ”
Emma nodded, tears gathering. “I swear I didn’t mean to make you look bad. It was instinct. I thought she was in trouble.”
“I know. It takes time to adjust. I promise it will get easier. But until your mind comes to grips with the differences between life outside the club and life in here, you have to control yourself. You have to stay calm and come to me with anything that concerns or upsets you. Or to Master Randall if you’ve decided a different Dom would suit you better. ”
“No, you’ve been great. Really amazing.”
“Then let’s go to the alley. I’ll show you the bench.”
She winced. “I don’t think I can. Not naked. Please.”
“Less won’t satisfy the parties involved. And you can do it,” he said, squeezing her hand.
“There’s a third option,” she said in a hollow voice, a tear spilling over her lashes. “I could leave and never come back.”
“No. That’s the worst option of the three. Eliminate that one,” he said, putting a hand on her cheek. “Be brave. It’ll be worth it. Because when the barriers inside you come down, a part of you will feel free.”
His voice and touch were almost hypnotic. Something deep inside her trusted him and felt that if she could survive long enough, he would take her places she needed to go.
She exhaled. “I might cry the whole time.”
“No one will be upset with you for crying.”
She wiped away the moisture around her eyes. “I’m sorry I got you into trouble, too.”
“I’m not in trouble. We broke the club rules. We’ll take our punishments. That’s how the club maintains order.”
She nodded, and let him point her in the direction they were going.
Emma didn’t notice anything around her as she moved. She concentrated on not hyperventilating and on putting one foot in front of the other.
When he walked her over to an apparatus that wasn’t completely unlike the horse that gymnasts used, she stared at it blankly. It was made of wood, had a maroon pad on the top and was slightly tipped toward one end.
“I’m pretty scared,” she said.
“I know,” Shay said. “You’ll be all right.”
“You’ll be here the whole time, right? And afterward, I can go back to your office to pull myself together?”
“Yes.”
She nodded. “I’m going to pretend it’s just you and me.”
She faced the wall, but she already heard the soft tap of footsteps. People were coming to watch. She felt dizzy and a little sick.
“Master Shay?”
“Yes?”
“Help,” she whispered, feeling like she couldn’t move. She felt him at her back, solid and warm.
“You’re beautiful, and I’ll be with you the whole time. You don’t have to be scared,” he said in a low voice as he unzipped her dress.
He pulled it up and over her head. He unhooked her bra, and she shrugged her shoulders forward so it fell to the ground at her feet. The bra was so plain. Why had she worn it?
He slid her panties down, and she knew that everyone could see her imperfections, the soft white flesh of her buttocks and thighs that jiggled when she moved, the parts of her body she disliked most. She felt him at her back again, blocking people’s view of her.
“I’m proud of you for being brave. You can handle this. Step forward and out of your underwear.”
She swallowed, glancing at the plain white underwear. Fat girl panties, she thought. She’d worn them because she’d thought they’d create a smoother line under the dress. She hadn’t expected anyone to see them. She had sexier pairs. From now on, she’d wear lacy or silky ones or nothing.