Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Avery
Well, that could have gone better.
Avery sighed inwardly as she watched Nick hurry out the door of the main room. She knew he had to get back to work and finish planning out the specials for the week, but she couldn’t help but feel he was running away from her. Running away from the class. Not a great feeling.
“Hey, you okay?” Iris sidled up beside her, looking at her curiously. “Did Nick start spanking really hard or something?”
They hadn’t gotten to flogging or whipping today, and Avery wasn’t sure how he was going to handle that when they did. If he was going to handle it. All evidence to the contrary at the moment. Now, she did sigh aloud.
“No. I wish.”
“Yeah, me, too. Although Q did get better.” Iris’ head tilted as she looked across the room to where her partner for the evening and Connor were talking to Mistress Julie.
Morgan was beside Connor, one arm looped through his, the other patting his bulging bicep comfortingly.
Sam stood off to the side, looking at her phone, but she kept glancing over at Mistress Julie as if she was trying to decide whether to join them.
“I can understand why Connor was afraid to use too much force. He’s built like Superman and probably could have broken Morgan in half. ”
Biting back the protest that Nick was really strong, too—he was, but no one in the class was built like Connor—Avery laughed.
Poor Connor. If the Doms were struggling with not wanting to hurt the submissive they were working with, he would struggle the most. He really looked like he could easily break someone in half.
“Poor Connor.” Avery shook her head and eyed Iris. “Hey, I hang out with a couple of other submissives from the club if you’d like to join us sometime.”
“Who? Maybe I already know them.”
“Domi and Rae.”
“Oh, I’ve seen them around.” Iris thought for a moment. “Domi is Master Mitch’s girlfriend, right?”
“That’s them.”
“Yeah, I’d love to hang out with you all sometime. I haven’t made too many friends at Stronghold.” Iris shook her head. “I tried, but it seems like the majority of them have banged my brother and want to bring it up for some reason.” She made a face.
“Huh…” Avery didn’t know what to say.
“I mean, they don’t come right out and say it. It’s more like, ‘Hey, nice to meet you, I know your brother,’ and it’s the way they say it, then I want to punch someone in the face… either them or him.”
“You said your brother is Andrew, right? Isn’t he engaged?” Avery blurted out. She was confused as hell. Yeah, she wouldn’t want to know about his ex-lovers, but wanting to punch someone seemed a little extreme, especially since he was engaged. Did that mean Iris wanted to punch his fiancé, too?
“That’s exactly why I want to punch them,” she said, scowling. “He’s a dumbass who lost the best thing that ever happened to him, then slept around with literally an entire kink club’s worth of women. He’s lucky Kate will touch his penis again, considering how much spelunking he did in-between.”
Avery couldn’t help it. She snort-laughed. Thankfully, it made Iris smile, and her expression turned rueful.
“Sorry. I get protective of Kate. I swear, if something happens, I will Lorena Bobbitt him for her. I’m pretty sure she’s too nice to do it herself.”
“Are they getting married soon?”
“December. They wanted a Christmas-themed wedding for some reason.” Iris shrugged.
“Alright, everyone, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” Mistress Julie’s voice didn’t quite echo, but it was loud enough to make Iris and Avery jump.
They exchanged phone numbers in the lobby before heading home, which gave Avery an extra spring in her step. She’d made another new friend! The happiness that gave her helped wipe away the anxiety she had about Nick’s abrupt departure after the class.
Nick
Arriving at Avery’s apartment, for the first time, Nick hesitated before knocking.
He wanted to see Avery but hated the way he felt.
He’d been distracted the entire time he’d been working on the specials, unable to concentrate on food while his emotions warred with his desires, which warred with his logic.
He’d gotten it done, but it had taken longer than normal, and some part of him couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been procrastinating to delay having to face Avery.
If it was, it was dumb because as soon as she opened the door and he saw her face, he felt better.
Maybe it was the way she lit up from within when she laid eyes on him, or maybe he felt as if he lit up the moment he saw her. Maybe a bit of both.
Either way, delaying seeing her again had been stupid.
“Hello there, handsome. Late night.” It was commiseration, not a question. She on her tiptoes to give him a kiss, which he happily returned. Walking her backward into her apartment, he kicked the door shut behind them, his muscles relaxing with every step.
Holding her, feeling the press of her warm, soft curves against him, helped the tension melt away. How could anything be wrong when he had his arms around the woman he was falling in love with?
Holy shit.
The revelation was a kick to the gut, temporarily robbing him of speech, which might have been a good thing since he was tired enough to blurt it out otherwise. Not that telling her would be a bad thing. Would it? They hadn’t been together for very long.
But they felt right. So right.
Even if some of the kinky stuff felt wrong.
Which… that might be a reason not to tell her yet. Not until he figured his shit out.
Lowering onto her heels, Avery sighed and hugged him, snuggling into his front. Nick hugged back, still reeling from his epiphany.
“It was a long night, but I finished the specials, and I think I might have some ideas for next week.”
“That’s good.” Avery hesitated. He could see it in her face, the little hitch in her voice that indicated she still had something she wanted to say but wasn’t sure she should. “Do you want to talk about class tonight?”
Did he?
Did he want to revisit his conflict and failure?
Not particularly, but he could tell Avery did.
Maybe talking would make him feel better.
He’d felt better and worse about spanking her harder after seeing none of the submissives had felt they’d been spanked hard enough.
Doing it harder had worried him but knowing he hadn’t done it hard enough had helped motivate him—knowing all the submissives felt that way kept him from being ashamed about not doing it hard enough.
“I’m sorry if it wasn’t what you were hoping for,” he said, deciding to get that out of the way first. “I know you and the other submissives said we weren’t spanking hard enough, but I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“And I wanted you to hurt me.” Avery’s hands slid up his chest and around his neck, keeping him close. “I didn’t want you to harm me, and there’s a very real difference.”
“I know. I did listen in class.” He couldn’t help feeling a little defensive. “I was trying.”
“I know you were.” Her tone was soothing, the same one she used in the kitchen, and he narrowed his eyes.
She was managing him. At work, it didn’t bother him so much, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about it here.
“I just feel like maybe it’s different hearing it from me as opposed to Mistress Julie or Master Law. ”
“That’s… true.” It was a little different.
“I think it would also help if I could show you… really show you. Not like at class.” Avery took a step back but kept her arms around his neck.
He was big enough, he didn’t have to move with her unless he wanted to, but he did.
“I think you’re not much of an exhibitionist, and it’s hard to make it sexy when there’s an audience, and you’re under pressure, not to mention you’re still learning, and there are teachers watching. ”
“So, you think I’d do better without the class?” Nick followed her with his hands on her hips, letting her lead him step by step toward the hallway. He had a feeling she was relying on him to keep her from running into anything, so he did his best to direct her away from the walls.
“No, I think the class is good and necessary for learning technique, but technique isn’t everything.
” Avery’s eyes sparkled as her fingers stroked the short hairs on the back of his neck while he maneuvered her into the bedroom.
“For one, it’s hard to demonstrate in class exactly how much I really love being spanked.
However, here at home, I can absolutely show you. ”
Twisting slightly as she pulled away, she slipped between his hands.
If only her brightly shining eyes could unravel the nerves slowly tightening his chest. Unlike before, this anxiety came from wanting to do a good job and nothing more.
She was right—there was a lot less pressure here in the privacy of their bedroom.
No one else watching or critiquing his performance.
Even though he knew that second part was unlikely—the other Doms had been involved with their own subs, and most of Mistress Julie’s attention had been on Connor—he hadn’t been able to shake the idea.
Avery was wearing the same leggings and t-shirt she’d been wearing in class, but when she took them off, it was obvious she’d taken the time to remove the underwear she’d had on before he came over.
As always, the sight of her stripping stirred his arousal, despite his nerves, and his cock eagerly jumped to attention.
Turning, she bent over the edge of the bed, presenting her bare ass. Not that different from when they did doggy style or earlier in the club, yet it was. It meant something different.
Avery was right—this wasn’t at all like the class.
Her movements were sensual, and the moment was intimate.
When she bent over like this, he couldn’t deny he wanted to slap her ass.
Unfortunately, the guilt that welled up at the thought of how far he wanted to take things, how red he wanted to turn her skin, how much he’d wanted to go so much farther… that hadn’t changed at all.
Looking over her shoulder, Avery raised her hips, teasing him with the perfect, curvy mounds of her ass. The pouting lips of her pussy were also visible, tempting him to slide between them. Why couldn’t they just have sex? Why did he have to spank her first?
“We’re going to play a game. You start off light, and I’ll tell you harder until you get to my preferred amount of force for a fun spanking, then I’ll say ‘green.’ Okay?” She raised her eyebrows.
‘Green’ was from the stoplight system, which had been explained during the first class.
Red meant stop, Yellow meant slow down, and Green meant go.
It was supposed to be an easy way to communicate between Dom and submissive.
Everyone in the club knew the safewords, so if someone heard a sub say Yellow or Red, and the Dom didn’t stop, they’d be stopped.
Here, Avery wouldn’t have that backup. She was trusting him. With her body. Her pleasure. Her needs.
Taking a deep breath, Nick stepped forward, placing himself slightly to her side. He could do this.