Chapter Two #2
She turns the phone toward me, and whatever I expected, it wasn't this.
The website is dark and understated, with clean lettering and none of the leather-and-red-satin nonsense my brain immediately associates with the word dom.
DOM DOT COM stretches across the top of the screen.
Everything beneath it is surprisingly professional, with sections on privacy, screening, consent, safewords, and something called magically enforced contracts.
I glance up at her. "What exactly are you showing me?"
"It's a booking service for professional doms. Before you make that face, I checked. It's legitimate, very discreet, and ridiculously hard to get into."
"You looked into it already?"
"I was curious."
"Of course you were."
Her mouth twitches. "There is one other detail."
The fact that she's saved it until now immediately concerns me. "What detail?"
"They're monsters."
I lower my glass. "The doms."
"Yes."
"Are monsters."
"Yes, Margot. Keep up, girl."
She scrolls before I can decide whether she's fucking with me, and a row of profiles appears.
Vampire. Orc. Naga. Wolfman. Minotaur. Gargoyle.
There are photographs, specialties, experience, preferred dynamics, and detailed explanations of what clients can expect before, during and after a session.
I keep waiting for the whole thing to turn sleazy, but it never does.
If anything, the amount of paperwork involved is intimidating.
"You seem to have spent a disturbing amount of time on this website."
"Enough to make sure I wasn't about to recommend that my best friend hand herself over to a stranger she found on the internet.
" Tess reaches across and scrolls down another page.
"Everything is negotiated beforehand, the contracts are magically enforced, and either person can stop a session.
There are consultations before you book anything. "
"I'm not booking anything."
"I didn't say you were."
"You brought me here, gave me two glasses of wine, and showed me a website where I can hire a monster to tie me up and spank me."
"I bought you wine because you looked like you were one mildly inconvenient email away from committing a felony. The website is separate."
A laugh escapes me before I can stop it, and Tess looks far too pleased with herself.
I take the phone from her and scroll.
I'm just curious. That's all.
Most of the profiles are easy to skim past, partly because I don't know what half the listed specialties mean and partly because thinking too hard about any of this while sitting across from my best friend feels like volunteering for something humiliating.
Then I stop.
Soren.
The photograph shows a man who would be intimidating even without Dragon Shifter beneath his name. Broad shoulders, dark hair, bronze skin, and golden eyes with pupils that aren't quite human. I stare at him long enough to realize I'm staring, then make the mistake of glancing at Tess.
She noticed.
Obviously.
"Don't."
"I haven't said anything."
"You're about to."
"I was just going to point out that you stopped scrolling."
I ignore her and look back at the profile.
Daddy Dom / Service Top.
I frown. "What the hell is a Service Top?"
"Tap it. There's an explanation."
There is, because apparently Dom Dot Com has anticipated people like me.
I read through it, then keep going. Praise.
Rules and rewards. Body worship. Aftercare.
Some of it makes sense immediately. The rest requires a glossary, which tells me everything I need to know about the current state of my sex life.
Not that this is my sex life.
This is Tess's phone.
In a wine bar.
For research purposes.
I'm still reading when Tess says, "I thought you might like him."
I look up. "Based on what?"
"The taking-care-of-you part."
My thumb stills against the screen. "I can take care of myself."
"I know you can. That's not what I meant.
" The teasing fades from her voice as she takes the phone back and sets it between us.
"You spend all day fixing things for everyone else.
Your mom calls, you handle it. Bree gets herself into trouble, you handle it.
Richard forgets his own anniversary or needs someone to pick up his pants, somehow that becomes your problem too.
I'm not saying you can't do all of that. Clearly you can."
I turn my wineglass slowly between my fingers. "There's a compliment in there somewhere, right?"
"There was supposed to be." Tess smiles, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I just think it might be nice for you to have a couple of hours where none of it is your problem."
I look down at Soren's profile again.
"That's what this is?" I ask. "A couple of hours of not having problems?"
"I have no idea. I've never booked one." She takes a sip of wine. "But according to his profile, you tell him what you want, what you don't want, and what you need. Then, assuming you both agree, he takes over for the session."
Something about that makes my stomach tighten in a way I don't particularly want to examine.
"I don't need a Dom, Tess."
"I didn't say you did." She reaches across the table and rests her hand over mine.
"I'm just suggesting one consultation. If you hate the idea, don't do it.
If you book it and change your mind, cancel.
I just want you to think about doing something because you might enjoy it, not because somebody else needs you to. "
I try to think of the last time someone did something for me simply because they wanted to.
My ex, Daniel, used to make me coffee on Sunday mornings. He always added too much milk, but sometimes I'd wake up and find a mug waiting on my nightstand before I'd even asked.
That was two years ago.
I try to think of something more recent and come up blank.
Tess gives my hand a squeeze before letting go. "That's all I wanted to say. You don't have to do anything with it."
"I'm still not booking a dragon, even if he is hot as fuck."
"I know." She takes her phone back and slips it into her bag, and just like that, the subject is closed. "Now, tell me Richard managed to learn your name today."