Chapter 10 #3
Forget the darkness. Forget the anger. Forget everything.
Sit back, the world seemed to say. Sit back, relax, and remember that you’re human and only young once. Nala was twenty-one. She was supposed to be enjoying her youth, whether that meant traveling, partying, or exploring every facet of her sexuality that she could.
It was almost liberating, being able to forget all the crap.
Of course, all she had to do was crane her head to the right and see Xan Ravenwood muttering something in Hawk’s ear.
The dominatrix laughed more than once, stroking the man’s cane and playing with the paddle still in her hand.
As long as she didn’t look over there, Nala belonged to a group of people who celebrated life by getting aroused and having endless sex.
Without thinking – because who could think while Quail's head rubbed all over Seba and Starling begged for her Mistress to make her come – Nala kneaded her palm against the inside of Varen’s thigh, thinking back to that night she imagined her doing the same thing she saw on the stage.
She came dangerously close to Varen’s crotch, but it was at that moment she snatched her hand away and Varen turned her body in the other direction.
I’m sorry. She didn’t know why she thought that.
I shouldn’t be focusing on this. Wasn’t it okay, if only for a few minutes?
Surely, a few minutes out of Varen’s long, grueling day could be dedicated to life’s simple pleasures.
Really, she was a bit put out that Varen was acting like this. Maybe she had award-winning self-control after all. Jealous.
Her hand moved from Nala’s arm to her shoulder. Fingers tapped her there. Fluttering commenced in Nala’s heart, and on cue, her head hit the back of the couch and Varen’s mouth was on hers.
“Yes!” Starling cried, her whines competing with the woman below. “I’m coming!”
Grunts filled the air. The scent of heady sex met Nala’s nose as Varen’s perfume mingled with it. Oh my God, ohmygod. Varen’s hand untangled from Nala’s and shot into her hair, her mouth parting to accept Varen’s tongue the moment it plummeted down her throat.
Starling climaxed with an intense scream that nearly knocked Nala over the back of the couch. Except Varen was there, caressing her bare arms, her stomach, and treading so close to her thighs as she kissed with that burning, crippling passion that Nala was scared to experience.
Her hand went to Varen’s cheek, fearing she would leave her otherwise.
I’ve never been kissed like this before…
She had seen these kinds of kisses between other people over the years, mostly on TV, but never felt it for herself.
And for everything she ever thought about Varen, she had to admit that this…
well, this was like ripping open one of her old scars and seeing what had transpired beneath.
Rush. Rushes of desire. Rushes of heat. Rushes of waves upon waves of give me more of this.
Nala clung to Varen in a vain attempt to make her awaken even more.
Would it be so bad if you took me home with you?
No, no this wasn’t the Nala she trained herself to be.
She was supposed to be bitter. Fed up with the world and what it had thrown at her. Not… not hopeful.
Not desperate for affection.
Certainly not head over heels in exploding lust for this woman.
“Varen…” she managed to utter in between heavy kisses. “I want…”
She knew what Nala wanted. Varen took her hand and brought it to her heat, letting her feel the intensity of her arousal as she grew wetter with every passing heartbeat. Every drop of blood in her body must have been rushing there.
“Oh, fuck me.” That self-admonishment escaped from Nala’s ear and disappeared into her throat, where Varen’s lips went, sucking her skin and releasing one groan after another as she rubbed her. “I’m a fucking mess.”
“Me too,” she whispered, relieved to feel Varen come as undone as her. At least they were equal in that regard.
“Ha! I told you they were as horny as the rest of us.”
Varen leaped off Nala, sending her upside down as she nearly tumbled off the couch. In front of them, Seba grinned as Quail continued to giggle. On the stage, Starling was released from her binds, her skin so flushed that she needed pats on the cheek to come back to reality.
If anything killed Nala’s libido then and there, it was Xan Ravenwood gazing at her from his spot on the other side of the VIP area. There was something… strange, about him. More than usual. Hawk was nowhere to be seen, but Xan remained transfixed on Nala, pleased.
Hell no.
“I’ve gotta go to the bathroom,” she announced, getting up and scurrying away as quickly as possible. The nearest bathroom was down a dark hall. This time there were no bedrooms full of people fucking to distract her.
She didn’t have to go, but she did have to stand in front of the mirror and splash water on her face.
It helped, a little. Not enough to completely calm her down from her sexual high, but enough to placate the heat turning her inside out.
Calm down, slut. Nala was damn close to saying that to her reflection, but she decided to go with fixing her hair and making sure her dress was as decent as could be.
Every time she tugged on the fabric, however, she remembered Varen pawing at her, exploring her figure with a single hand. She had been determined to pinch her nipple, feel her heat before they were interrupted. God, Nala was sure of it.
The bathroom door opened. Starling stumbled in, barely with the fucking program as she fought with her clothes to get them back on. “Oh, hi,” she said, tripping over her feet to get to the single toilet stall in there. “You ever get sex drunk? I am so sex drunk right now.”
“Er…”
“You fuck your Mistress tonight?”
Nala shivered, quite involuntarily. “No, not yet.”
“Mm, you better get on it. People are going crazy out there. If she’s like any of the others, she’ll be needing you pronto.”
Starling opened and shut the stall door behind her. Shoes scuffed against the floor, toilet paper turned in its wheel, and one woman bemoaned how drunk she was on sex.
“I need a priest,” Nala mumbled, splashing more water on her face. “A priest, an exorcism, and maybe a margarita.”
“You can get at least half of those out in the club!” Starling called.
Nala had to get the fuck out of there.
She wasn’t sure where she was going. Oh, at least her impulses were back.
She may forget the anger and bitterness for a while, but she could never fully get rid of the brash decision-making that led her to try to flee from the club before she had to face some unsavory emotions.
Not only lust. Definitely not love. But something spoiled inside her stomach, and it wasn’t the seafood dinner.
All she knew was that she had to get far away from Xan Ravenwood. And Varen. Definitely get far, so very far from that woman who had nearly shown her what was what.
That was the mad plan as she dried off her face with paper towels and left the bathroom.
That was her plan as she scurried down the darkened hallway, wondering where in Downtown Portland they were and how she could get home to her dingy closet.
Fuck the money. Fuck the mission for now.
Varen could make up a story about her having food poisoning.
Surely that would get out of Ravenwood’s line of sight for…
“Nala.”
Varen was there, like an archangel – no, a glowing demon – gripping Nala’s shoulders and halting her in her tiny tracks. Oh, no, please… let me go. Nala kept her eyes downcast as she struggled to think of what to say.
“We need to talk.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong about that.
“Okay…”
“This way.”
Varen hooked her hand around the bend of Nala’s arm, hauling her farther down the empty hallway and into the darker shadows encroaching there.
An abandoned leather chair sat in the corner where they finally came to a stop, Varen forcibly turning Nala around with such strength, such determination that she felt like she was on a carnival ride.
“What do we have to talk a…”
Oh.
That.