Chapter 27 #2
“Yeah, I ran into him out there. I told him the same thing.”
“Good. And?”
“And…” Nala sighed. “I didn’t really find anything. That can’t be his real office. It was super empty, aside from some pictures and receipts. Before you can ask, no, I’m not sure I found anything, but I wrote some things down and took pictures anyway. I’ll show them to you later.”
“Fuck.”
“Right?”
They leaned against one another, Varen still stewing in whatever bothered her.
Nala didn’t feel much better. Between being in Ravenwood’s house, watching that horrendous display of “spanking,” being harassed by people she considered friends, and rummaging through Ravenwood’s office… Nala was over it. Over everything.
Varen put a reassuring arm around her, allowing Nala to embrace her from the side.
She buried her nose in her chest, feeling “safe” for the first time all night.
How crazy is it that this woman I still barely know is my only real friend?
The only person I can trust? Varen stroked Nala, pulling back more of her hair so she could touch the spot behind her ear.
Sighing again, Nala sat up and intercepted Varen’s lips for that kiss they had been denied what seemed forever ago.
She thought it would be an almost loving kiss. That was all she could bear at that moment, anyway. Let me feel safe again. And again. And again.
Instead, Varen’s tongue punched into her mouth, devouring her throat as her hands grabbed the back of Nala’s head and drew her closer.
“Mmf!” Nala could have choked! When she finally pushed Varen away, it was with a gasp, hands splayed in front of her. “Let a girl breathe, huh?”
She thought Varen would apologize. She usually did, unless…
“Don’t be insolent,” Varen hissed. “You think this is a lovey-dovey game? I could have gotten us in serious trouble with Ravenwood a few minutes ago. You’re lucky you timed it coming back. I know he would have gone into his office.”
Nala didn’t mention a certain tidbit.
“This is a different world. We live in a different world when we’re here. Just like you separate yourself to deal with this, so do I. From the moment I walked through those doors downstairs, I became the Domme I usually keep locked up inside me. So, let me say…
from the moment we walked through those doors, my mind has been in overdrive with you, Nightingale.”
Her eyes widened. “Var… I mean, ma’am.”
“Good.” She tucked more of Nala’s hair back, fingers playing with the edges of her mask. “We’re being tracked. Maybe not in terms of our snooping around yet, but we are still on probation. They want us to get over our shyness. Do you know what I mean?”
She swallowed. “Yeah.”
Varen tipped up Nala’s chin, forcing her to look into those cold blue eyes.
Oh, my shit. She is so fucking hot. Domme Varen was a different kind of hot from everyday Varen, but damn if she wasn’t as hot!
No, this is wrong. This is the wrong time for this!
They were in Ravenwood’s mansion. Nala may be willing to try out exhibitionism under different circumstances, but this was definitely not the right circumstance!
“I’m not going to make you expose yourself…” Varen glanced at Nala’s chest. “Or so I thought when we were getting ready to come here. Then you walked down my stairs wearing this corset, taunting me. Do you know what that does to someone like me?”
Nala didn’t have to guess. I can tell you what it does to me…
“Take them out.”
“I…”
“Now, Nightingale.”
She spoke directly to the obedient woman inside of Nala. The one who would drop everything to do whatever her Mistress commanded. That was Nightingale’s identity. That was who Nala tried to be ever since coming here.
It would make… things… easier.
She loosened her corset, eyes flitting to the opening in the door. Someone was screaming in ecstasy from down the hall. Maggie? Quail? Robin was probably passed out drunk, but hey, maybe she sobered up enough to play a game with her equally toasted partner.
“Don’t dawdle. If you do, I’ll have to punish you.”
Nala stopped, looking her in the eye. Is she serious? Of course she was. She was a Domme. Nala was a sub. Her disobedience would lead to sexually frustrating places.
She released her breasts from their casement, careful to keep her back turned toward the door. “Ven…” Nala shook her head. “Please don’t make me have sex here.”
Her fingers caressed the underside of Nala’s breast, lips descending to kiss her bare chest and whisper in her ear.
“I won’t ‘make’ you do anything. I’ll do my best to protect you, but you must obey to the best of your abilities. You never know who is watching and waiting for us to prove ourselves unworthy.”
Strokes of gentle compliance eased down her back. Nala wanted to sink into Varen’s embrace but refrained. I hope you’re enjoying this, Nightingale.
“We have to hurry. Everyone else is already having the times of their lives.” Varen eased Nala forward, her back still turned to the door. “You don’t have to have finesse. Just do it.”
“Do what?”
“Come on, don’t play dumb. It’s not cute on you.”
Nala furrowed her brows. “I’m serious. What are you talking about?”
Varen yanked Nala’s hair, pulling back her head with a snap of exquisite pain. Nala braced herself against Varen’s shoulders, her boots digging into the carpet and her ass threatening to land behind them. “We just have to make it look good,” she murmured.
Nala flung her arms around Varen, kissing her, having complete disregard for her half-naked body as the one rubbed up against the other. Varen’s hands threaded through Nala’s loose hair; there was no returning the favor with Varen’s hair still pulled back.
This was not romantic, nor was it entirely erotic.
Nala put on a performance for others to overhear, from her exaggerated moaning to coming up with fanatical praise for a woman who barely touched her after they kissed.
Plausible deniability. Yet the more Nala performed, crying out Mistress and ma’am as if they were her most used words, the more she began to believe it.
All the way down to the psychological climax she endured as she imagined Varen spanking her on the bed before eating her out from behind. Whatever it takes…
Nala didn’t stop until a finger touched her lips.
“I’m sorry.” Varen detached from her, fixing up her clothes while Nala continued to stand in the middle of the room, topless and dumbfounded. “I had to make sure you would follow my orders here at the drop of a hat. To protect us both.”
Nala shook her head. “Of course I would. I want to survive this too, don’t I? I want to get revenge. I want to see that bastard go down.”
This time, Varen held the finger up to her own lips. “Be careful what you say so loudly.”
“What, like your name? Mistress?”
Lips curled. “I see you’re getting more comfortable.”
Nala quickly shook her unburdened breasts at Varen. “These people are nuts here. I’ve gotta play the part. As long as we still have some boundaries regarding sex in front of the freaks – particularly the male ones – we’re all good. I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
Varen helped her down onto the bed. “I’m sorry for bringing you to these things.”
“You don’t make me do anything. I know what our situation is as much as you do.”
“I don’t delude myself into thinking that this is ideal for you, though.”
“I’m sure it is for you, though. Ms. Domme.”
She laughed, almost tragically. “I won’t lie. It gets me off pretty well, but even so, it’s not really under my condition. If I had to redo these past five minutes…”
Varen didn’t have to tell her. It would’ve been a lot more fun for me too.
She put on a brave face. After all, Nala couldn’t let her world turn into a pity party because she couldn’t have a whole night’s worth of great sex with Varen.
Yes, that’s the problem. That’s what she told herself as she broke out of Varen’s hold and fixed herself up in the nearest mirror.
Varen kept her eyes on Nala’s back. Even though she no longer pointed her breasts at Varen, the woman still found something to stare longingly at.
Nala cracked. When do I tell her about what I found?
First, she needed to go to the bathroom. For real, this time.
And, eventually, Nala would learn to stop going to the bathroom at these club meetings. Nothing ever, ever good came out of them.
Nala’s punishment came in the form of Hawk, leaning against the wall outside the bedroom door. The smirk on her pointed face as she uncrossed her arms and faced Nala nearly struck her dead right there and then.
“Good job, little Nightingale,” she purred, voice laced with arsenic. “I was starting to suspect that you and Mistress Lake didn’t have much going on.”
Nala’s spine bristled. “We have plenty going on, let me assure you.” Her tongue would be the death of her. “Want me to describe how good she fucks my ass?” Whoa, sometimes the lies got away from her!
“That’s quite all right.” Hawk’s smirk did not waver, and that disturbed Nala more than anything else.
“Oh, don’t worry that pretty head of yours, Nightingale. You and Mistress Lake are the favorites right now, and that’s not a terrible thing to be. Just… keep in mind that his whim changes. A lot. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
Nala had a pretty good idea but did her best not to react.
“I’ll leave you to it then. Wouldn’t want to keep your Mistress waiting for you.”
That was her cue to leave, so Nala did, stealing into the bathroom at the end of the hall as Xan Ravenwood’s office door creaked open to let him back out.
Nala locked the bathroom door behind her and held herself there, chest heaving in exasperation as her knees buckled beneath her. The potpourri scent filling the room made her want to gag. The black walls and stark, white plumbing frightened her in ways no décor should.
What is happening to me? Was it the thrill of the espionage? Was it the arousal Varen brought out of her when they were together? No. No, it was Hawk, who had been standing outside their door listening for the sounds of sex.
Although Nala knew that people would be watching, it wasn’t until now that she realized people would be watching. Not just the occasional giggly Robin. Hawk, too.