Chapter 3
GRAYSON
She was waiting for him to hit on her, he thought. She doubtless assumed he was like the other guys who had come up to her in the last thirty minutes that she’d sent on their way. He knew, because he’d been watching her through their camera system.
Security had alerted him as soon as it was determined a situation was escalating inside the club. He’d caught up with the scene in the back security room, where a bouncer monitored all the cameras on the property.
He’d watched the unconscious guy getting carried out of the building on his way to the bar, where he’d spotted Lexi from the hallway. The Club rules were in place to guarantee the safety of the submissives. He knew plenty of Dominants who mistook their positions for a power trip, and he hated it.
Grayson stared at the woman across from him.
She almost looked petite, curled up in the booth as she stared right back.
Without looking at the table, she set her drink down and snagged a chip, keeping her eyes on his.
He smirked. Was it even possible she was a sub?
All of her mannerisms were very… un-submissive.
Any Dominant -any real Dom- knew that the power behind the relationship was with the sub.
It was their call whether to accept a Dom in charge, or how far it would go, and he hated anyone who abused the power that was given to them.
They were bullies, pure and simple, and his hatred of people like that was one reason the club rules were so strict on Doms.
He’d gone back to talk to security and review the videos.
The scene in the Gladiator Room had interested him; what the hell did she say to that fighter?
He saw the bet too, which, while technically illegal, didn’t intrigue him.
It showed him how vested she was in the fight, and that interested him.
The bouncer in the back room jumped the footage into the room they were in now and queued it up to where the little asshole had chased after her.
“Is his membership revoked?” she asked
Grayson raised one brow. So she knew who he was.
“It will be. You know who I am?”
His voice held none of his surprise. As one of the owners, although he acted as the general manager, he preferred to keep a lower profile. Rarely did he frequent the club as a guest…
She -Lex, he’d learned from one of his bouncers- shrugged and took a sip of her drink.
He didn’t know how people could drink more than one of those sickly sweet cocktails.
While he was waiting for an answer, he leaned forward and snagged a couple of chips from her bowl.
She frowned, and he grinned, pleased to have gotten a reaction.
“I’m guessing you’re management in some capacity, most likely upper,” Lex said. “I saw you talking with the stiff-collared-shirt after the incident.”
He grinned at her cavalier attitude toward knocking a man out cold. Whoever she was, Lex had guts. He liked that.
“Grayson de LaPonte,” he said around another chip.
Frowning again, she took the entire bowl of chips off the table and held them as she stared back at him.
She was no pushover; he appreciated it. He looked her over from head to toe.
Deep brown layers of hair, or was it black?
Hard to tell in the dim lighting, but it cascaded straight around her oval face.
Her eyes were similarly dark, somewhere between brown and black, and waited as he assessed her. Shapely shoulders and bare arms led down to a trim torso, accented by a gathering of tight belts at her waist, leaving the rest of her deep burgundy dress to float down just past her knees.
She wasn’t anywhere near as revealed as most of the women around them, and it made her stand out. The boots she wore were black and heeled, which he supposed made it even more impressive that she’d bested Mr. Unconscious.
“I’ve seen you around, Lex.”
She frowned, but he continued.
“I’d like to talk about what happened earlier.”
Gray waited as she took another sip of her blue drink.
“You’re submissive?” he asked, watching her close for her reaction.
In his experience, subs often relaxed in the presence of a Dom, but it didn’t look like she was relaxing.
He wondered if she might be a switch; submissive sometimes, Domme others.
That could still work for him. Lex seemed to be in deep thought as she selected another potato chip. Her lack of response was grating.
“Lex?” he asked, putting a little more bass in his voice.
Her eyes leaped to his, and finally she replied.
“It’s Lexi,” she said.
He nodded. One of his bouncers had said her name was Lex, but maybe he misheard.
“Lexi then. Are you a sub?”
Just then, Randy popped back up and laid a steaming pile of jalapeno poppers on the table in front of her. Looking up, she smiled at Randy, and he realized how pretty she was.
Her eyes were lined, but it didn’t look like she was wearing a lot of makeup beyond that. Then again, he knew plenty of women who could spend an hour on their face to get a ‘natural look’. Maybe she was one of those.
Just to test her reaction, he snagged a jalapeno popper and tossed it in his mouth before she could object. Her only response was to shoot him a dirty look and slide the plate to the far side of the table.
Taking it without asking had been a jerk move, and he was paying for it. The popper scalded the inside of his mouth and he quickly swallowed, only to have it torch his esophagus. He tried not to let it show, but he couldn’t stop his eyes from watering. The damn girl smirked at him.
“A little hot over there?” she taunted, and took a long sip of her drink.
When he could speak, he blew out a long breath.
“You don’t act very submissive.”
Lexi paused in the middle of blowing on a jalapeno bite and tilted her head at him.
“Maybe that’s because I don’t equate being a sub with being a doormat.”
She was a surprise. Female subs, especially when they learned who he was in the club, were all over themselves. Or more accurately, all over him. This one didn’t seem to even care that he’d sat at her table and was struggling to have a conversation with her.
“Can we talk?”
“I’ve had kind of a long night, and no offense, but I’m not up for anything.”
Her candor stunned him for a flash before he smiled wide.
“Good. Me either. Does tomorrow afternoon work for you?”
The poppers had cooled down now, and she was enjoying them, selecting one up at a time, eating each in two bites before beginning the search for another. Sparing him a glance, she shrugged.
“Why?”
God, she was trying his patience.
“To talk about a project I’m working on.”
She shrugged again, clearly unimpressed.
“What time?”
“What do you do for work?” he asked.
She looked confused by the question, so he followed up.
“That’ll give me a better idea what time would work best for both of us.”
“I’m a trainer at a gym.”
Grayson nodded. That made sense… sort of.
Judging by her physique, maybe, but subs weren’t often in the habit of working in positions of authority over other people.
Potentially lots of people. He raised a brow, letting the unasked question hang in the air.
Lexi either didn’t catch the question, or maybe she was intent on ignoring it.
“I’ll meet you tomorrow afternoon, around three, Mr. LaPonte,” she said, finishing the plate of jalapenos.
Gray opened his mouth to reply when she kept speaking.
“If you pay for my drinks and my snack, please. I’ve had a shitty night.”
Although his smile wilted some at her calling the shots, he stood up and nodded.
He had what he was after. He thought he saw her gaze linger on his mouth for a moment before he motioned to Randy behind the bar.
They pointed back and forth for a moment before Randy understood and gave him a thumbs up.
“Done. I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Lexi. Come to the back door.”
Later that night, late enough to be called morning, a few clicks in their system brought up the Membership card Lexi had used at the door. He frowned and double checked it; she was using a Local Business Membership that was registered to a gym.
That membership tier had been one of his ideas a couple of years back.
Local business owners could receive a membership for up to two people, at half the cost of a regular membership.
The local business tier had not only gotten them closer with the neighborhood, but had helped their memberships grow by leaps and bounds.
The success of his idea was one of the reasons why the guys were trusting him with the Reverse-Gladiator concept. A Local Business Membership could also have an anonymous card under the business name. This looked to be one of the latter, listed under the gym Philadelphia Fit.
With a shrug, he figured maybe she was seeing the owner of the gym, and looked up the gym itself.
While there was no contact or personnel information on the website, it was otherwise a decent site for a nice-looking gym.
Class options were full of everything from yoga to martial arts and boxing.
Photos of happy, athletic people were everywhere, and there she was in the photo gallery, where she was guiding a woman using a heavy bag.
If she was sleeping with the boss, he wondered, why was she at the Club looking for -or hooking up with- another Dom?
He knew that the morning after a Member attended the Club, they were sent a follow-up email.
It wasn’t as if the owner of the gym couldn’t know someone had attended using the business card.
Gray let it go; her personal life wasn’t his problem.
Not yet. Her work life, however… so she worked as a trainer at the gym.
That made some sense, considering the confidence and physique that would require; she’d demonstrated both last night.
He brought up another screen to review the security camera footage.
The angle of the security camera where she’d put that scumbag down was perfect. He could see the man rush up behind her and spin her around. The argument was brief but intense, with Lexi straining to take her arm back from him.
Grayson’s own anger spiked when the asshole moved in, putting both of his hands at her neck. He thought almost every single submissive he’d ever known would have taken the collar off later where it wouldn’t embarrass the Dom, or might have even accepted it if they insisted.
After she threw his hands away from her, it looked like a dance; she stepped backward, snarling, and the guy stepped forward.
With a sharp pivot, Lexi brought her elbow up to the asshole’s face.
He spun around with the movement and she caught him neatly from behind in a headlock.
The idiot panicked, which, in addition to the alcohol Gray knew he’d had, helped him pass out.
Gray noticed their bouncer Kris step into the screen before one of their floor managers, Javier, rushed into the scene, but she didn’t let go.
As soon as the asshole was unconscious, Lexi let him drop to the floor.
He smiled at that. She hadn’t lowered him down to the ground, but let him slap to the floor.
The hours of the gym were posted, and he winced; six a.m. was coming soon, and he hoped Lexi worked a later shift.
But he wanted to check it out, regardless.
Hoping to get to bed earlier than normal to scope out the gym in the morning, Gray shut down his computer monitors and carried a single file with him to the couch.
In his customary style, he spread out specs, notes, and financial ledgers across the coffee table, covering it from edge to edge. He went over everything again, as he had for months. Physically, everything was almost set.
The space was being constructed, with the mat flooring arriving this week.
He’d gone with black; it would hide blood and other stains, serve as a nice backdrop in contrast with the bright spotlights, and make a visual impact with the neon colors he was using to accent the space.
In another few weeks, he mused, sitting back from the paperwork, his vision would become a reality.
It was going to work. He refused to see failure as an option. Whether he was seeing every single vantage point to make everything work was the only question. Which was why he went over every detail almost every day.
Without some fighters already lined up, the arena had a greater risk of failure. He was certain people would be interested, but they needed to set the tone. The tone he’d determined. Genuine submissive female fighters, sparring on behalf of their Dominants.
He’d considered mixing male and female subs to fight, but nixed it early on. If guys -either Dom or sub- wanted to fight, they were free to do so in the Gladiator arena. It was still possible he would need to extend the fights to Domme women, but he wanted to gauge interest this way first.
His mind circled back to Lexi as his first fighter. What drove her to fight? It was clear she was a fitness person, but fighting took a specific personality… or specific demons, maybe. He thought about her as he readied for bed.
Getting up early to check out the gym made going home a waste of time, so he’d sleep at the Club. They all did from time to time. An extra place to sleep with plenty of space, plus a mini kitchen that doubled as a fancy meeting lounge, made having an overnight life easier.
As he laid down, his mind replayed her takedown and their conversation again, and he smirked as he drifted off to sleep. Feisty Lexi. Although he didn’t sleep long, he had vivid dreams that it was him fighting Lexi, and the fight ended very differently.