Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Avery
“I’m so glad you could come out tonight!” Domi bounced in the driver’s seat as Avery slid into the car seat behind her, laughing at Domi’s antics. Rae was in the passenger seat, looking just as excited. Both of them were dressed to go out, but not to Stronghold or Marquis.
They’d decided to have a kink-free night.
It was the second Monday of Nick’s Dom class, but she didn’t have to partner with him tonight.
Avery didn’t have to work, so they were going to a local meadery.
There had been a lot of breweries and wineries popping up in the area over the past few years, but meaderies were a little harder to find.
Avery loved the sweet alcohol made from honey and had heard Orchid Cellar’s was good. Rae and Domi had been interested enough to join her—she thought they were indulging her rather than going for themselves and was really touched.
She hoped they’d find it worthwhile.
“I’m glad you two were willing to go try something new.” Grinning at them, she smoothed the skirt of her little black dress down over her thighs. It wasn’t a sexy little black dress, but it hugged her curves and made her feel good when she wore it.
“Honey, alcohol…” Rae shrugged. “Sounds like a fun combination to me.” Half-turning in her seat, so she could look back at Avery as Domi pulled out to the street, following the GPS directions, she tilted her head questioningly.
“Do you know what Nick’s class is doing tonight?
I’m glad we get to hang out, but I was hoping you’d have juicy details about what the class is like. ”
“Since we only get to know about the submissives class,” Domi said, sounding only a little grumpy.
“We could always say we’re switches like Sam.” Rae looked thoughtful as if she might really consider it.
“You can, but I’m pretty sure Mitch would have something to say about that for me.” Domi shook her head, her curls bouncing with the movement. Then she gave a little laugh. “Although, that could be fun, too.”
“Masochists.” Now it was Rae’s turn to shake her head.
Avery sat in the back giggling at the two of them. She loved watching their interactions with each other. They were so similar in so many ways, yet so different in others. Rae turned her attention back to Avery.
“Sorry. So… did he tell you?”
“They’re going over a lot of the basics.
” Avery couldn’t stop from grinning, just like when she’d first asked Nick, and he’d given her the rundown.
She didn’t blame Rae and Domi for being curious.
As excited as she was to go out tonight, a part of her was disappointed she didn’t get to watch how tonight went for all the Doms. “Nipple clamps, spanking, flogging, and whips.”
“Oh, man… to be a fly on the wall…” Rae shook her head. “It’s not fair. The Doms got to watch and participate in our whole class, but you don’t get to do the same?”
“It wouldn’t be good for their authority.” Domi snickered, turning onto the highway. “Mitch told me a little about their class. They really have to try every single thing they want to inflict on a submissive, and some of them don’t take it all very well.”
“Hey, if a Dom can respect me after I get a plug shoved up my ass, I can respect him for doing the same.”
“Yeah, but it’s one thing to know they did it and another thing to see it happen…
especially if they don’t react well.” Avery was wildly curious and thought watching would be incredibly entertaining.
Domi probably had a point about the effect on authority.
Of course, she’d still respect Nick, but if he took it badly, and she showed any kind of amusement…
Not great for Domly authority and probably not good for subbies’ bottoms.
“Bah, stop applying logic to the situation.” Rae waved her hand dismissively. The sun was going down, but there was still enough light to see the twinkle in her eyes. “Anyway, how are things going at work? Still keeping things quiet?”
“Yes, and it’s a lot better. No more awkward moments.
” Gareth had said nothing to anyone, and no one seemed to suspect.
Granted, most of them were distracted by the drama swirling around Jonathan and Alanna.
If anyone had wondered if George had a thing for her, it had been confirmed, and he was grumpy as hell about it.
Though he wasn’t nearly as bad as Josie and Delia, who were furious they’d been replaced.
Avery wondered if they’d become friendly with Alanna after she and Jonathan broke up… although, he seemed pretty smitten.
Basically, no one was paying attention to what she and Nick were doing when everyone was being entertained by the front-of-house drama.
“It’s been a great week. We’ve been taking turns sleeping over at each other’s place every night.”
A great week of fantastic sex, but she had to admit, she was looking forward to doing the kinky stuff with him.
It was also one of the easiest relationships she’d ever been in.
They worked together, left in their separate cars to whoever’s place they were going, then took a shower and had something to eat before tumbling into bed and falling asleep.
Eventually, she hoped they’d go on an actual date, but at the moment, Mondays were the only nights they both had off at the same time. They had been eating breakfast and lunch together as often as possible, though they hadn’t gone out anywhere.
On second thought, it might be for the best. As soon as she thought about going out with him in public, she started thinking about what would happen if they were recognized or ran into someone they knew.
Yup. Nope. Eating in was better.
Nick
Standing next to Q on one side of the stage, Nick tried not to feel as though he was taking sides.
Sam seemed like a perfectly nice woman. He’d just happened to arrive at the same time as Q.
At least she had Connor standing with her, so she wasn’t entirely alone, and she’d smiled back at Nick when he’d waved in greeting when she came in.
Of course, she and Q had glared at each other before Q had returned to the conversation he’d been having with Nick, pretending Sam didn’t exist.
He really wished Avery was here. She was much better at the interpersonal relationship stuff.
Thankfully, Master Law came in a few minutes later, his expression unchanging as he took in the room dynamics.
As at the last class, he was dressed in a suit.
Nick wondered if he should dress up more.
Samantha was also dressed as if she’d come from business-casual work, but Connor and Q were both in t-shirts, just like him.
Well, Q’s shirt declared he was ‘Rebel Scum’ with the Star Wars logo behind it, so not exactly like the plain shirts Connor and Nick were wearing, but close enough.
“Ready to get started?” Master Law asked, gesturing to the stage and the table, with apparatuses that they’d all been studiously ignoring. Not that anyone had said, “let’s not look at all the stuff on the stage,” but it had been an unspoken agreement.
Now that he had to look at it, Nick felt a stirring of discomfort. The past week with Avery had been amazing. Best relationship of his life, hands down. Everything had been easy. Natural. The sex was phenomenal. Did they really need to add stuff?
Stop being a chicken. You know she wants it. You need to at least try.
The last bit of his wavering resolve firmed up when the door opened a second later, and Olivia walked in with Luke, who was shirtless and wearing leather chaps and what looked like a speedo. Immediately Nick jerked his head back around and slapped his hands over his eyes.
“Uh, you okay there?” Q whispered.
“That’s my brother,” he groaned loud enough, Olivia chuckled. He knew it was Olivia because he knew exactly what it sounded like when she was amused at his expense.
The sadist.
“Get over it, Nick. You need to pay attention. Luke agreed to be our demonstration for the evening.” Olivia’s voice was far too cheerful.
Shaking his head, Nick let his hand drop.
Letting her know she’d gotten under his skin would only make it worse.
That was how she rolled. If he pretended he was unbothered, she’d stop ribbing him sooner.
Of course, if he was actually upset about something, she wouldn’t keep hassling him, but in this situation, there was no way he’d be able to pretend it was a real problem.
She was the mean older sister he’d never wanted.
Joining Master Law on the stage, Luke looked over his shoulder and winked at Nick, and at the moment, Nick realized his older brother wasn’t wearing a speedo—he was wearing a banana-hammock thong. Nick made a gagging sound. Loudly.
“Alright, everyone,” Master Law said, ignoring the antics going on around him.
“Welcome to your first night of practice. Next week, we’ll have the submissives in here for you to practice on, but tonight, you’ll experience everything, so you know how it feels before you try doing it on someone else.
” He gestured at the four wood and leather structures arranged on the stage in front of the table.
“These are spanking benches. We’ll be using them today, and you’ll all have a chance to be on one. ”
“Oh, yay…” Q muttered under his breath, quieting immediately when Olivia caught his eye and raised her eyebrows.
Connor’s expression didn’t change, and Sam looked completely undisturbed.
Of course, she already knew what all this felt like, which made Nick wonder why she had to be here this week.
Maybe to make sure she didn’t miss anything or feel as if she wasn’t part of the class.
Or maybe she wanted the whole Dom class experience. Nick got that.
Even with the division between Q and Sam, there was still a feeling of camaraderie among all of them—especially now when they were all staring at the spanking benches, knowing they would be in the same position soon… ass up over those benches.
Avery
Orchid Cellar Meadery was beautiful. The turn into the parking lot was a little steep because it was located at almost the top of a hill. There was the meadery building, then an actual house on the very top of the hill. Maybe where the owners lived?
The view was gorgeous. A big field and eventually, trees and greenery all around them. The sky seemed to go on forever.
“Oh, wow.” Rae let out a low whistle as she stepped out of the car, looking around.
The meadery building was beautiful on the outside.
It had a log cabin feel, and there was a porch with a gazebo, all of it strung with lights.
Avery wanted to come out during the daytime so she could sit and really appreciate the view, maybe even watch the sunset.
The last rays of lights were almost gone over the horizon, leaving them in the dark, but the meadery was lit up from within like a cheerful fairy dwelling.
“This is gorgeous,” Domi said, shutting her door. “Let’s go in, though, before I get eaten alive by mosquitos.”
The fall air was getting chillier, but the mosquitos were still alive and biting, so neither Rae nor Avery argued with her.
The inside was as beautiful as the outside, continuing the log cabin feel but with lots of light wood, high ceilings, a gorgeous brick bar, and long tables.
The wood gleamed under the lights, and what seemed like a big tree with no branches was in the middle of the room.
Avery figured it must be the post to help hold everything up, but it looked like an actual tree, growing up through the middle of the building, which was really cool.
Behind the bar, they could see bottles and bottles of all the different mead.
Several people were standing at one end of the bar, and one of the tables was taken up, but otherwise, it was pretty empty, which was expected for a Monday night.
An extremely tall, slender man with dark blond hair that fell to his shoulders was standing behind the bar, talking to the other group, gave them a friendly wave when they walked in.
Going over, they stood against the bar since there were no stools. It was really a tasting bar. Domi scowled. At her height, it was uncomfortably high.
“Should have worn higher heels,” she muttered, making Rae snicker. The knee-high boots she had on gave her an extra inch of height, but that wasn’t enough to make a difference with the bar.
“We can sit at a table as soon as we get our mead,” Avery said apologetically.
As if he’d heard her, the very tall man behind the bar walked over to them, still smiling. Avery’s head tipped back. Holy crap. He was as tall as that Dom in the new class. A lot skinnier, but just as tall.
“Hello, welcome to Orchid Cellar. Have you been here before?”
“Nope, but I love mead. These two have never had any before.”
“Well, you are in for a treat.” His eyes lit up, and he practically rubbed his hand together. “Let me get you the tasting menu, and we can get started.”
Avery couldn’t help but grin back, sucked in by his obvious enthusiasm. It was clear he loved mead and couldn’t wait to talk to them about it.
“He seems fun,” Domi whispered without a hint of sarcasm. Apparently, she felt the same as Avery. “Does he have to be so tall, though?”
“Wait till you see the Dom who was in class last week,” Avery whispered. She didn’t think anyone cared about what they were saying, but she still didn’t want to say ‘Dom’ too loudly in a public place. Just in case. “He’s just as tall, but muscles everywhere, like a bodybuilder or something.”
“Ooooh, scary?” Rae asked, perking up a bit. On Avery’s other side, Domi rolled her eyes.
“Not really. I mean, when you first see him, yes, but he’s a total teddy bear.”
“Still… that has possibilities…” Rae tapped her finger against her lips, but their conversation cut off as the bartender returned, holding a small stack of menus and a bottle.
“This taste is on the house, so you know what you’re getting into,” he said, handing over the menus and picking up three glasses.
Ha. Talk about a metaphor. That’s exactly what Nick was getting tonight. Avery hoped he was enjoying it as much as she was about to enjoy herself.