Chapter 8 Anton
ANTON
This bed is too big.
I don’t know how Maksim slept alone in it night after night. Or maybe he didn’t. He never married, but he did keep a woman every now and again. Perhaps that was how he kept his sanity sleeping in this mountain range of a bed on nights like this.
I don’t know exactly what’s keeping me up. I’ve been lying here looking at the ceiling between the points of the four posts that flank me. Insomnia is not a thing that normally haunts me.
I’ve been edgy lately. Maksim’s death has left a hole in me that I need to fill. I keep thinking that once I avenge his death, it’ll all fall into place, but I wonder. It kind of feels like this hole has been here the whole time. It just got bigger when Maksim died.
This is the same feeling I had when my father left. He was Maksim’s Sovietnik when I was young and from what I understand, he was the best at what he did. No one under Maksim so much as sneezed without him knowing about it.
And then, one day, it all changed. Everything changed. Suddenly, the world I thought I knew was gone. My father was gone and I was left alone. Luckily for me, Maksim stepped in.
But now, he’s gone too. I’m lying in his bed in his house and he’s not here.
I roll over and grab my phone from the nightstand. It’s almost one in the morning. I’m not likely to get any sleep tonight, so why bother? I should make better use of my time.
As I get up, I start running through what I can do to keep my mind occupied, and it all has to do with doing Bratva shit. Checking in with Mikki to see if he’s heard anything yet from the Amur or how far he’s in with our plans. It’s only been a few hours since we talked at dinner…
And a few hours since I saw Vladmir Petrov’s daughter. What a fucking knockout she’s become.
The minute I think of her, my body responds. My cock stirs under my boxers, hungry for something I’ve denied myself from having since Kat.
Perhaps that’s all I need tonight. Sex has always been the best distraction when the shadows in my room got too long.
I suppose I could partake in the stable of women we employ just for these purposes…
but… I don’t know. I’ve never been a fan of paid sex.
The false ego boost is like a heroin shot in that it’s only really good once and then you spend your life chasing that first time.
And I am not a man who chases pussy.
I go to the bathroom and consider my options and the next thought that comes to mind is Magda. She did invite me to the Firebird last time I saw her… and it has been a very long time.
Maybe I’ll go tonight. Perhaps, I’ll even participate in some of the activities. I doubt I’ll find anything to satisfy this hunger, but that doesn’t mean a midnight snack won’t present itself.
Yeah. Let’s see what the Firebird has to offer, I think as I start the shower.
“Tosha! Welcome back!”
Magda walks up to me, arms wide as I walk through the door and into the underground club. She wraps her arms around me and kisses both cheeks.
“Magda,” I say. “Good to see you again.” I glance around at the club, noting the changes…
and she was right. There have been quite a few.
Where it used to be an open area with a bar on one side of the room, now there is a main room with a bar and tables for people to relax and the rest has been cordoned off by walls and hallways.
“Would you like a tour?”
I chuckle. “Actually, I think I’d like to do the exploring on my own if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” she says, nudging me and giving me a sly smile. “Enjoy yourself, Tosha. If you need anything at all or if anyone gives you any trouble, have one of the staff let me know. I’ll take care it.”
“Thank you.”
I walk all the way into the main room. The lighting is low with pink neon lighting creating a sort of haze over everything around me.
I walk past a few people sitting at tables.
Some are dressed in bondage gear—women in leather and PVC dresses that shine under the pink lights, bare-chested men and women with collars attached to metal chains that their masters are holding while they kneel at their feet.
Kat would never come here with me. In fact, she found all of this strange and disturbing. I can’t count how often I had to hold myself back when I was fucking her.
I order a drink and wander, observing first to get a good lay of the land in this first room.
Everyone here is checking one another out, sizing them up for their next encounter.
I catch the eye of a couple of submissive women, one of which whispers something to her male dom. They both look at me and smile.
I don’t reciprocate, not that I have anything against threesomes. It’s just not my taste tonight.
I leave the main room to explore other ones. The next hallway leads to several rooms with neon signs above them. Voyeur, Bondage Play, Watersports. I smile to myself at that last sign. That’s new.
The Voyeur room seems to be the perfect place for me to start.
This room isn’t too big and thankfully, there aren’t many people here.
But everyone is either standing or sitting in a circle around a couple having ardent sex.
The man has the woman bent over a stool, his hands on her hips as he fucks her ass with enough force to nearly topple the stool she’s gripping onto for dear life.
Both of them appear to be having the time of their lives, exchanging dirty talk between them.
“Ooh, you dirty fucking slut,” he moans as he grabs a fistful of her hair. He leans into her, growling in her ear. “You like it, don’t you, everybody watching while I fuck your tight little asshole?”
“Yes,” she breathes desperately. “Fuck me harder… yes!”
She’s got a humiliation kink. It’s a hair left of what normally turns me on, but it’s not bad. The woman’s got a nice body and a decent rack. I could get into this…
I spot her across the room. Standing there in a leather mini-skirt and a tight black leather bustier. The outfit is out of place on her, but then again, she’s clearly out of place here.
Her long, red hair is up in a fancy roll, displaying a beautifully graceful neck, and her baby blue eyes are wide with wonder as she watches the show. Her cheeks are flushed, as is part of her chest. She crosses her arms uncomfortably.
What in the world is Natalya Petrov doing here tonight? I make my way through the small throng of people to the other side of the room. I have to know what brought her here, of all places.
“This is no place for a girl like you,” I say as I step up behind her. She starts and turns. The moment she sees me, the pink in her cheeks deepens.
“Anton! I mean, Mr. Romanov! I mean—”
“Anton. Please. So, what brings you out to the Firebird?”
She opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. She doesn’t have an explanation, it seems. After a second of stammering, she says, “A friend invited me.”
“A friend? Invited you here? I didn’t know you kept such exciting company.”
“Yeah. Well, she’s dating this guy and…” She smiles and lowers her head, giving up on any explanation. “I guess I can’t really blame anyone for my being in a place like this other than me, huh?”
“No,” I say.
She chuckles, her face red. “God, I am so embarrassed right now.”
“Sex embarrasses you? You are definitely in the wrong place, then.”
She stammers again, avoiding my gaze. This little thing is out of her element. I’m surprised some hawk hasn’t snatched her up just yet.
“Embarrassed doesn’t really cover it,” she says. “Shocked, maybe? I’ve never been someplace like this before.”
“It’s only as intimidating as you allow it be,” I say. We regard each other for a few seconds and a wicked thought enters my head. “So. You prefer to watch or play?”
Her smile falters slightly in confusion. “Play?”
I nod. “Participate. Watching is just fine if that’s all you want to get out of this experience, but it would be a shame if you came all the way here and didn’t get everything that you can out of it.”
She tilts her head, then snickers and says, “I don’t know. I feel a little out of my depth here.”
“I’d be more than happy to give you a tour,” I say. “Just say the word.”
She deliberates, biting the corner of her bottom lip. My hungry cock stirs behind the zipper of my slacks. I nod to the couple in the center of the room.
“Turn around and observe.”
She does, turning to watch them. The woman now has a leg lifted onto the stool, her back arched as he penetrates her slowly. That’s it, you dirty little bitch…
I lean forward and say into Natalya’s ear, “Listen to how he talks to her. Denigrating, no?”
“At least,” she says. “How can she let him talk that way to her?”
“That’s the point, Devushka,” I purr in her ear. “It’s clear that he gets off on humiliating her, but look at how she melts into his touch.”
The man wraps his hand around her neck, squeezing as she leans into him, her eyes closed and her mouth hanging open in ecstasy.
“She looks…” Natalya pauses, her breath quickening. “She looks like she’s having fun.”
“Yes. It may not appear as though she’s in control, but she is. Every word he spits at her, every way that he grabs her for the enjoyment of these people… She craves it. When she finally comes, I promise you, it will be explosive.”
She’s chewing on that lip again, watching with desperate eyes. “You sound so sure about that.”
“Once you see the difference between subjugation and submission, you can never unsee it. That woman is enjoying every minute of this humiliating experience.”
I pause, letting her watch as my breath brushes against her ear. Her breathing has quickened and the frightened rabbit look she had a moment ago is gone. That thing that she was embarrassed about is now turning her on.
“So,” I say. “Do you want to watch… or do you want to play?”
Breathlessly and almost immediately, she says, “Play.”
I slip my hand in hers and say, “Then let’s play.”