6 Rich
Kimber seems distracted until she leaves and I don’t hear from her the rest of the day. Maybe it was just a one night stand, but it felt like she could have lingered longer. I liked her company, even if she confused me.
It really just made me want to ask who the fuck he is, but it doesn’t feel like something I can bring up over texts. At this rate she’ll more than likely just ignore me.
What I could hear of her phone call plays over in my head for several days, and I can’t make sense of it. I heard something about being not guilty, but can that be for her? I can’t really think of a time when Kim was particularly violent.
“Can you focus?”
I glance over at Tyson, who looks annoyed as he keeps tugging at the suspension rig. It’s a new set up that the co-managers want for the stage at Sins, and since he builds custom playrooms he seemed like the right person to help out.
If I could just pay attention.
“Right,” I grumble, eyeing the thing. Neon pink flashes in the light. It’ll make a nice stage piece. “It looks good.”
“That doesn’t help, Rich,” he groans, shooting me a look. He lets go of the ropes, the contraption above sinking halfway to the floor. It’s more complex than something I would sell in the store. This is for the stage, so there’s more rope and height to work with. “You’re distracted today.”
I hesitate, eyeing Tyson. I think he knows Kim better than I do at this point, but he has a girlfriend now. Or whatever he considers Kat to be. I don’t think they hang out as much anymore, and Kim’s older than either of them so maybe she doesn’t want to. “Have you talked to Kimber recently?”
Tyson frowns, crossing his arms. “No, I haven’t. She’s going to be in trouble though if she keeps it up.”
“It?” I ask.
“Oh, guess you haven’t talked to her either. Callie said she was drunk here last week. She stumbled around and even talked to a new guy. Tyler saw her too.”
I don’t really know who Tyler is, but I just nod along. “Huh. That’s unusual.”
“I don’t think she had any business being here,” Tyson answers honestly, pausing to fiddle with his hair.
He keeps it long, sweeping the locks between his fingers as he ties it up out of his face.
“She didn’t make a scene but if Jo or Vinny hear that she was here and possibly drunk she’ll get in trouble. ”
He’s right, and I hate it. Kim loves coming to the club. We talk about it when I do deliveries at her job, and sometimes the deliveries here. She shouldn’t be jeopardizing that.
Make me forget his name.
“Has she had a fallout with anyone recently?” I ask, and now Tyson’s staring right at me. I clear my throat, averting my gaze. “Uh, a lover maybe?”
“Why so curious?” he asks with a smirk. “If you want to know so much about Kimber, ask her yourself.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say something else, but I just shrug and move on.
I don’t want to make him too curious and cause issues for Kimber when she comes in next.
This will be my only visit to the store this week, so unless she reaches out again or I see her at her job, I don’t think we’ll even cross paths.
I hate avoidance. She doesn’t have to spill her sins when I see her, but I’d love a little insight about what was going on in her head the other night.
“You know,” Tyson goes on, tugging at the ropes when I look back, “she’s probably working. Do you want to go find her?”
I blink. He didn’t say at the store, so he probably means here. I almost forgot that Kim is one of the servers since I rarely see her on shift. “Don’t you need-”
Tyson waves me off. “It’s just fancy rigging, right? I can handle that. And if not, Russell’s here somewhere.”
I nod and turn away. Collecting the bag with supplies I head off, taking the long walk from the stage runway back to the doors. It’s a huge space. When I look around the entranceway to the club, I don’t immediately see Kimber.
I guess Tyson could be wrong. He’s not even an employee of the club, just a contracted party like me. He might not know her schedule at all.
Then I spot her. Short red hair pulled up on each side of her head into mini pigtails, she’s wearing a short, pale silver dress with a faux leather collar.
She’s sitting on a dais near the front doors.
It’s a prime location to be spotted by people entering the club, but I can see the nerves rolling off of her from here.
She’s holding a can of soda, and I wonder if they nixed her alcohol privileges while she’s here after last time.
There’s a pout on her lips, and her brows are scrunched together as she looks down instead of at anyone walking through the doors.
It’s early in the evening on a weekday, and I don’t know how many people usually filter through at this hour.
If she wants to grab someone’s attention she should look up.
Bowing her head when they notice her would be a sign of submission and a hint of what she’s craving.
I watch her for a moment, waiting to see if she changes tactics.
For the most part she looks put out, which doesn’t make a lot of sense if she chose to come here.
Shouldering the bag I walk over to her, her light blue eyes widening when she spots me. She squeezes the can, denting it. “Rich.”
I nod towards her. “Kim. Can I sit?”
She shrugs and scoots over, turning her attention to me when I sit down. Her eyes don’t have a glossy sheen this time, and I think she’s fully sober. “Hey.”
Frowning, I eye her. “I don’t think anything’s changed between us unless you want it to. You’ve slept with people here and it hasn’t made it awkward, has it?”
“I didn’t say I feel awkward,” she snaps, and I fight back a grin. There’s that spicy attitude I like about her. “I just don’t know what to say to you now.”
I click my tongue. “So… awkward?”
Kim groans, leaning back on the dias. “It’s not the sex, Rich. The sex was…”
She bites her lip, and I can’t help but chuckle. Leaning a little closer, I let my breath dance across her ear. “Fantastic.”
“Don’t gloat,” she scoffs.
“Orgasmic,” I continue, turning to run my nose down the side of her face. She shudders. “You came… how many times again?”
Kim swallows, squeezing the life out of that damn can. I reach across and grab it, setting it on the floor between us before turning to rest my chin on her shoulder. Her voice is less steady when she responds. “I don’t remember. A ridiculous amount I think. Or something like that.”
“You know…” I let my voice trail, her eyes darting towards me as the quiet drags on. “If you hadn’t run out after your phone call that morning, I could’ve shown you what toy I used. It’s still at my house. It’s yours if you want it.”
She frowns, turning to fully face me as I pull away from her shoulder. “Don’t you need it for your next date?”
“I don’t bring dates home,” I tell her honestly. “That’s what the clubs are for.”
“Then why do you have toys in your room if you never bring home partners?”
I snort, laughing. She wrinkles her nose and leans away, so I reach out and catch her arm before she can ice me out again.
“Sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. I keep things my partners will appreciate at the house in case I do bring someone home.
It’s rare but it happens every once in a while.
No one recently, so it’s been sitting in the packaging until now. ”
Kimber studies me, lifting one of her brows. “So what was it?”
“A rose. I stock them here in the shop but you can have the one at my house if you come back.”
She flushes, dropping her gaze. I use the moment to let her think it over, peering around.
The clubs filled up a bit in the last few minutes, and I can see a sea of green lanyards again.
When I was talking to Tyson he mentioned that they’re letting new members join in waves so it’s not a whole club of newbies all in one night.
Right now it looks like a bunch of new people have walked in, and one girl skips over towards us.
I do mean skip. She’s wearing flats and has a spiky haircut, leaning to press her hands to her knees so she can talk to us. “Hi!”
She’s got on the green lanyard, so another new person. I can’t see too many staff members from here, and I wonder if she’s here alone.
Kimber clears her throat. “I don’t swing for girls.”
The new girl makes a face, angling her brown eyes towards me. “I wasn’t talking to you. Hey, where’s your lanyard? They gave me a card but I don’t remember all the colors. Kinda wild, there's so many different kinks!”
I raise a brow and study her harder than I glared at Kim. She’s very young, probably just scraping the twenty-one plus age limit, and her eyelashes are bright blue. The color matches her dress, which is littered with what I assume are fashionable holes. I hope she brought a coat.
“No lanyard,” I tell her, standing up. She backs away and flutters her lashes at me, and I just stare right back. “I work here. Go find someone with a badge and learn how to act at the club.”
“There’s rules?” she asks dryly.
“Standards,” I correct, grabbing my bag off the floor before turning my back to her. Kim is scowling, but her eyes shift to me when I hold out a hand. “Coming?”
It’s a spur of the moment idea, because I shouldn’t be offering anything. She eyes me, probably thinking of how things might go if she leaves with me, and takes my hand. “Absolutely.”
~~~
“Is there a reason you don’t have a car?”
Kim scowls as we get into my car, the dash lighting up and highlighting the way her nose wrinkles at the question before I start the engine. “I don’t need one. I don’t go to a ton of different places so I sold it. Rideshares and the Amtrak service give me enough options.”
“Amtrak wouldn’t drop you anywhere near S&S and your job,” I point out, and she scoffs.
It’s fall now, and with the sun going down so early it’s really denying me the ability to read her expressions.
Instead of pulling out of the lot, I let the car idle and reach across to skim my fingers up her leg. “Are you coming home with me?”
“Rich,” she says, clearing her throat. “I’m not sure that’s a smart idea.”
“Hmm.” I lower the radio and decide to take a chance of her yelling at me again. “Can you tell me who he is?”
She stiffens beneath my hand. “Fuck off.”
“Fair enough,” I sigh, pulling away from her. “I’ll make you forget his name again if you want me to, Dreamer, but at some point you should at least tell me who he is.”
Kim sighs, and I shift the car into drive. If nothing else we can drive around for a few minutes until she decides if she wants me to take her to her place or mine. “Just drop me at Feel Good.”
“Excuse me?” I snap, stomping on the breaks. I’m about to pull into another parking spot. “Go back inside if you want to find someone new to fuck, but I’m not taking you there.”
“All of you are so damn stingy,” she says with a groan.
I’ve heard plenty from other members about their experiences at Feel Good.
It’s another BDSM club that fronts as a regular nightclub with some fun extra activities in the back.
It’s not well monitored or well maintained, so with all the options she has out there Kimber can pick someplace better. “They aren’t judgy there.”
“Because they don’t care what happens to you,” I argue. “Is Sins that bad?”
“No,” she says quietly, blowing out a breath. “It’s great. I just won’t find what I want there.”
I pull onto the main street, keeping my gaze straight ahead as we talk. “What do you want?”
Kim hums, and for a moment I think she won’t respond. “The other night was great. Fun. But it… it's different from what I ask people to do to me here.”
“Elaborate,” I tell her, stopping at the next light. I glance over and she’s staring back, trying to gauge my response as much as I’m waiting on hers.
She takes longer to spit it out. “I like… chasing.”
“Primal,” I tell her, keeping my voice neutral. “I’m into that.”
“It’s not just the chasing or the hunt,” she explains, the confidence in her voice wavering. “I like… I like being asleep too.”
My fucking cock decides it’s time to betray me, hardening in my pants. “Somno?”
“Yeah.” She clears her throat twice. “And, you know… being choked out.”
I grip the steering wheel, clenching my jaw instead of responding.
I can see how these kinks present a challenge if that’s what she’s seeking.
I don’t think S&S lets their members go that far, even in the private rooms where there’s cameras for security.
Somnophilia and primal play are hard kinks to play with in downtown metro Denver, and I don’t know if the interim managers, or the owners, would ever consider something like that.
The clubs get crowded, and those can easily get out of hand. They can trigger people too.
But I happen to know a place…
“Let me take you back to my house,” I tell her, and she stops looking at the floor to glance at me. I can barely see the motion from the corner of my eye as we pass through the busy streets. “I’ll give you that toy and we can talk.”
Kimber’s quiet for a moment, then she lets out a strained, hysterical snort. “You’re not going to tell me that’s freaky?”
I shoot her a look. “Who’s telling you that? It’s a little wild, that’s all.”
Her hand lifts automatically, and when I look over before I turn I see her tracing her throat like she’s thinking of something. I give her a moment to think before I speak again. “It’s a lot of trust. People don’t know what they are doing.”
We pull up to another light, and I reach across and squeeze her leg again. This time she isn’t tense, which surprises me from the tightness in her voice. “So you do know what you’re doing, Rich?”
I groan, gripping her leg tighter for a moment before pulling back. “There’s a reason I don’t spend the money for memberships. Sins doesn’t usually offer what I want.”
She hesitates, silence filling the car as we drive down the road. Finally, when I’m about to reroute and take her home, she speaks up. “Let’s go to your place.”