I revved my motorcycle, merging in and out of lanes as I raced across the city. Lauren had been brave enough to give me a second chance, and I was already fucking it up by running late.
This was why I’d never pursued a serious relationship before; I knew I’d end up disappointing someone. The fact that it was Lo I was disappointing felt unacceptable, made me even more convinced that if I had any chance of gaining some sort of normalcy, I needed to get the fuck out before Dad dug his claws any deeper than they already were.
Up ahead, the light turned yellow. I gunned it, racing through the intersection just as it changed to red.
The wind buffeted me. I kept my head on a swivel to avoid the cars and pedestrians in my path. If Lauren didn’t forgive me for standing her up, there’d be hell to pay, fuck the consequences. I was pissed at Dad before, but now that I’d put a little space between us, that anger had morphed into rage. I felt trapped, cornered, like some wild animal with no chance of escape.
I shook my head, trying to dislodge thoughts of my father, trying to unsee the look of triumph on his face when I told him he could trust me. This anger of mine was a problem, and I didn’t need it infecting my time spent with Lauren. She was too important, too special.
I parked right outside the club this time and headed toward the front door, handing my helmet and jacket over to the coat check while the hostess scanned my member card. As soon as her handheld device flashed green, I snagged a mask off her desk and strode into the lobby.
Lauren sat front and center at the bar, a gorgeous woman on one side of her and a familiar man on the other. My mood plummeted right back into rage. It was the same collegiate-looking motherfucker I’d seen sniffing around her before.
I stalked toward the trio, feeling eyes on me. People at the bar started to turn like they’d felt the vibes in the room shift, Lauren turning with them, the smile on her face faltering when she caught sight of my expression.
“Oh,” she said, “you actually ca—”
I cut her off with a kiss, going into it hard, shoving my way between her legs, hands on her face so I could hold her at the right angle. She tasted like champagne and strawberries, and I was pissed I hadn’t been here to watch her consume them.
The mask dug into my face, but I ignored it, too focused on how stiff Lauren was in my grip, her body radiating tension. I slanted my mouth over hers and stroked my tongue across her lips, begging her to let me back in, telling her with my touch how sorry I was. Her palms hit my chest, and I had just enough time to brace myself against getting shoved away before her fingers curled into my shirt and she pulled me closer instead, her mouth falling open on a jagged inhale, the first stroke of her tongue like heaven against mine.
“Woah, hey,” the guy beside us said.
I broke the kiss just long enough to tell him to get fucked and went back to claiming Lauren like some sort of goddamn caveman. Sure, I’d been late, but that didn’t mean I’d forfeited. It didn’t mean the vultures circling Lo could descend in my absence.
Was it my best moment? No. But it also wasn’t my worst, and from the way Lauren kissed me back, she didn’t seem to mind all that much. I kept going, dropping a hand to pull her leg around my waist, fitting my hips against hers so she could feel how fucked-up I was for her, how hard she made me.
“Where?” I demanded.
“Upstairs,” she said.
I scooped her off the barstool and carried her toward the stairs. She clung to me, our chests pressed together, her arms at my neck, legs around my waist. Her dress was short, so I hooked my forearm beneath her ass, tucking the hem of it in place to keep her from flashing the room.
If people had been surreptitiously watching us before, they openly gawked now. Let them. Everyone inside this building needed to know who they’d have to deal with if they went after Lauren. Dropping all pretenses, I let the menace and aggression I felt creep into my expression, my eyes daggers, my sneer a promise of violence, even as I cradled Lo against me like she was the most precious thing in the world. People tore their gazes away when I met them, and it should have been a warning sign that I needed to check my fucking temper, but all I felt was dark triumph, my blood humming, soul baying like a wolf claiming its kill.
Mine.
I carried Lauren upstairs, so distracted by how she felt in my arms that I was blind to where we were going.
She tugged on my sleeve as we were passing a door. “In here.”
I turned right, and she released me with one arm to press her card against the lock. The second it clicked open, we were in. I was desperate to taste her again, to drop her onto the nearest flat surface and—wait, where the fuck had all these people come from?
My body jerked to a stop as I took in the room around us. The voyeur room, to be exact. Or at least a carbon copy of it with the same bed and pillows and chair.
“You made it after all,” someone said.
I pivoted, still holding Lauren, to see one of her roommates, the tall, androgynous blond who’d turned absolutely scarlet when they’d caught us in the stairwell. They wore a black mid-length skirt and matching tank top, their hair piled in a messy bun atop their head, light blue eyes rimmed in dark liner.
I set Lauren down, keeping her in front of me to hide my obvious arousal. This was . . . not what I’d expected. I’d thought she was leading us to a room where we could be alone, not surrounded by more people.
“Junior, this is Ryan,” she said. “They’re one of my roommates.”
Politeness didn’t come easy to me at the best of times, let alone now when all I wanted to do was get Lauren naked, but it was clear that Ryan was important to her, so I shoved my frustration aside and tried to make a better second impression than my first.
I stuck my hand past Lauren toward them. “We’ve . . .” I cocked my head sideways and grinned, one eyebrow rising in question. “Met?”
Ryan let out an awkward laugh and slipped their hand into mine. “That’s one way to put it.”
“Sorry for being a dick that night,” I said as we shook.
They released me and stepped back. “Understandable, given the circumstances.”
“Right,” Lauren said. “The staircase.”
“Great documentary,” Lauren’s other roommate chimed in. “He totally fucking did it.”
I shook my head and held her gaze with monumental effort, trying not to think about the fact that I’d watched her riding someone’s cock the last time I was in this room. “I don’t know. There might be something to the owl theory.”
She smiled and glanced at Lauren. “I like him. He can stay.” With that, she turned and flounced back into the crowd.
Lauren shook her head, looking amused. “That was Taylor.”
“I’m going to take my seat,” Ryan said. “Nice to officially meet you, Junior.”
I tipped my head up. “You, too.”
They turned, and Lauren dragged me away from the door to a pair of unoccupied seats in the far corner. I took the one closest to the wall, and when Lauren made to sit next to me, I wrapped my arms around her waist and tugged her onto my lap instead, happy for the shadows on this side of the room.
“I’m sorry I was late,” I said.
She might have kissed me downstairs, but I could tell from the stiffness in her shoulders and the guarded look on her face that she was still wary. “I thought you stood me up.”
I tugged her close, brushing our cheeks together, barely managing to hold my lower body still against the urge to grind against her. “I would never willingly do that.”
“Then where were you?” she asked.
“At an absolute trainwreck of a family dinner.”
She pulled back, looking surprised. “Seriously?”
I nodded, holding her gaze, letting her eyes drink me in as she studied my expression, no doubt looking for lies.
“We have them once a month,” I told her. “My dad called this one last minute.”
“Oh.” A little line formed between her brows. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“I did, which you would have seen if you hadn’t been so quick to turn your goddamn phone off.”
She glanced away, cheeks pinking. “I was in another room and the show was about to start.”
I gripped her chin and turned her back to me. “Bullshit.” She tried to pull away, but I held her firm. “Why’d you really do it, Lo? The truth this time.”
Her response was so quiet I barely caught it. “I thought you were doing the same thing to me now that you did back then.”
I swore, low and angry, and tugged her back into my chest. My hand smoothed over her shoulders, and I took a second to choose my words, hoping to get through to her. “I’m not that scared kid anymore. I’m not going to ghost you again. Anything that happens from here on out, I’ll talk to you about it first. But you should know, because of what I do, making plans is hard.”
“So, what?” She mumbled against my shirt. “I’m just supposed to wait around for you?”
“No. I’m only asking for a little more patience if this happens again.” I dropped my lips to the top of her head, willing her to understand. “And I promise I’ll make it up to you afterward.”
“How?”
“However you want me to,” I told her.
She leaned back and gifted me a smile, and maybe it was because of the shadows, but it looked a little scary. “Dangerous words. I’m not that shy girl anymore.”
“What shy girl? The one I remember wrote me an explicit, two-sided note telling me all the things she wanted to do to my dick.”
“She was tame in comparison.”
I sent her a flat look. “And you don’t think I know that after how long I’ve been a sub?”
She shook her head. “Most of what I post, and what you’ve requested, has been pretty standard. But I like other things, too, want other things.”
My gaze tripped past her toward the unoccupied stage. “Things like this?”
“And more.”
Our gazes locked. “Things like being chased down a hallway?”
She bit her lip and nodded, shifting a little in my lap, just enough for me to realize my dick was about to get stuck down a pant leg again. Sneaking a surreptitious look at our closest neighbors, I slipped my hand beneath Lauren and adjusted myself. Her gaze followed the movement, the same hungry expression from the arcade taking over her face.
I leaned in again, kissing her cheek, moving back until I caught her earlobe between my teeth. “Whatever you want, whenever you want it.”
She shifted closer, hands gripping my shoulders. “I want—”
The overhead lights dimmed, the warning sign that the show was about to start.
Lauren let out a frustrated sound and slid off my lap.
I fought to get control of myself while everyone around us took their seats. What I wanted to do to Lauren right now wasn’t fit for public consumption. Or maybe it was, and I was just too selfish a bastard to let anyone else in. I wanted her just for myself, couldn’t stand the thought of sharing her sighs or moans.
It struck me then, that I was already sharing her with thousands of subscribers, and yet, I didn’t feel the same possessive need to keep her from them. Maybe because their relationships were transactional and online. Or maybe because it was her livelihood, and even I wasn’t a big enough bastard to want to take that from her. Or—
A low chime sounded from the speakers, cutting off my thoughts and triggering an unexpected flood of anticipation through my veins. Yup, I definitely shared Lauren’s voyeur kink, because the thought of doing this again—watching two people fuck in person—had me rock hard.
Instead of Morgan and Steph, a Black couple walked onstage, both already dressed in robes.
Lauren leaned close. “Ray and Ella. You’re in for a surprise.”
My gaze shifted from the lean man with braids to the woman holding his hand. Her hair floated around her face in tight, corkscrew curls. The robe she wore hid most of her from sight, all but her toned calves and bare feet, toenails painted a bright pink.
They stopped in front of the bed, where Ray pulled Ella close.
“Hi,” he said, leaning down to bump his forehead against hers.
“Hi,” she responded.
“You look beautiful tonight.”
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Ella said.
Well, they seemed like a sweet couple. Hopefully this wasn’t about to be boring and sentimental. It would be a letdown after the first performance I’d watched, and with so many charged emotions still swirling through me, I wasn’t in the mood for anything soft.
Lauren let out a small sigh, and I glanced over to see her watching the pair with a longing expression. Right now, she looked like someone who wanted what Ray and Ella had, what Morgan and Steph had, too. Had she only said she didn’t want something serious? Or was it me, specifically, she didn’t want to get serious with?
I turned back to the stage to find Ray and Ella making out. The kiss was slow and gentle and exploratory. Unrushed. I was forced to watch it in between other people’s heads, having to shift a little to keep the pair in sight. Each row was made up of six chairs, and there were four rows separating us from the stage, which meant I had a clearer view of the crowd than of the performers. It was distracting, especially because no one seemed like they were able to sit still.
Only when the two women right in front of us started kissing did I begin to understand the appeal. Instead of watching just one couple, we had the pick of the room. I could shift my focus to whoever piqued my interest, and no one would be the wiser.
I glanced over at Lauren, wondering if this was her plan all along, and found her unabashedly staring at the women. I’d guessed she wasn’t straight given her rainbow tattoo, but watching the intensity on her face now confirmed it. Maybe I should have been worried, or jealous, but all I felt was smug that out of all the people available to her, she was choosing to spend her time with me. It made me even more determined not to fuck it up.
A noise drew my attention to the front of the room. Ray was pushing Ella’s robe from her shoulders, slowly, taking time to kiss every inch of skin as he exposed it. He spoke to her, but whatever he said was so low it didn’t carry, for her ears only. She lifted onto her toes and arched into him in response, and the robe fell free, revealing her in all her glory.
My gaze ran over her. She was tall, with long, elegant muscles covered in more ink than I was, her sleeve sweeping up her shoulder and then down her ribs before whorling all the way over her thigh. Her breasts were small and pert, nipples pierced, a delicate chain running through both hoops and then dipping between her legs in a way that had me sitting up straighter in my seat. Where the fuck did it go? All it would take was a gentle tug to lead her around by her tits—and pussy?—and I found the idea oddly alluring.
She reached up and pushed Ray’s robe off next, and the audience drew in a collective gasp. The entire underside of Ray’s fully erect dick was pierced with barbells, like a goddamn Jacob’s ladder running up his shaft.
I glanced over at Lauren, knowing I must have looked horrified, because holy shit, that had to hurt. Her mischievous expression was back, and now I was wondering what, exactly, we were about to watch.
“Down,” Ray said, reaching out to tug Ella to her knees. By the chain.
My own nipples felt like they were trying to retreat back into my body, but Ella let out a moan as she hit the floor. Okay, as long as she was into it. Nonconsensual shit was a hard no for me.
“Open,” Ray said, and Ella’s lips parted at the command.
Lauren moved closer, our arms brushing, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage, where Ella leaned forward, mouth stretching around the head of Ray’s dick, tongue laving the underside. The first barbell slipped past Ella’s lips, tugging at them as it went. Jesus, did that even feel good? My eyes traveled up to Ray. He watched Ella working to take him, but nothing in his expression spoke of pain, only pleasure.
Lauren’s hand landed on my leg, and finally, I glanced over at her. Her black dress was cut low enough that I had a line of sight straight into her cleavage, where her breasts pressed against the fabric with each breath. Something must have happened onstage while I was distracted by the sight of her, because her nails dug into my leg a little. I lifted my gaze to her face, watching her watch Ray and Ella, enraptured, eyes wide and lips parted like she was imagining trying to take a dick that large herself. Well, if she wanted one, all she had to do was ask.
A nearby gasp had me turning forward again. Ella had worked her way down several more barbells, tears streaming from her eyes. The sight would have made my skin crawl if not for the constant, low moans of encouragement she was making and the way one hand slid down Ray’s shaft to cup his balls.
“You’re doing so good, baby,” Ray said, his fingers sinking into her curls. “Take another.”
Goddamn, I thought, watching Ella’s heroic effort to fit one more inch down her throat. Yup, porn was ruined.
As soon as that final barbell slid inside, Ella eased back, giving herself a breather, working the head of Ray’s cock with her mouth, and his balls with her hands.
Lauren’s fingers relaxed their death grip and slid up my leg.
I glanced toward the couple to Lauren’s right, but they weren’t paying attention to us. No one was. Who in their right mind would look away from the stage right now? Aside from me, because Lauren’s hand was creeping higher and higher up my thigh, and I couldn’t seem to pull my gaze away from it. Was she really about to touch my dick in a room full of people? More important, was I about to let her?
A round of murmurs had me jerking my head up just in time to watch a curvy, naked white woman with bright red hair walk out of the side door. She went straight to Ella, who was now bobbing on Ray’s dick, the barbells slipping in and out of her mouth with audible clicks against her teeth.
“Bri,” Lauren whispered.
I couldn’t respond, too consumed by the sight of Bri sinking to her knees behind Ella, one hand slipping to Ella’s breast, the other between her thighs. Ella reached back and drew Bri’s face to her neck, where Bri kissed and sucked her way up to Ella’s ear. A threesome. The surprise was a threesome, and Jesus fucking Christ did this confirm that I wanted to take part in one before I died.
People shifted in front of us, arms moving as they touched each other. In between their swaying forms, I watched Bri tug Ella’s chain, making Ella moan and squirm on Ray’s cock, and oh, fuck, that shouldn’t have been as hot as it was.
Lauren’s fingers brushed over my dick, and I hissed in a surprised breath, glancing at the couple next to us again to see if they noticed. The man’s hand was up the woman’s skirt as they watched the scene onstage, and between their distraction, the shadows in this corner of the room, and the way Lauren was turned toward me, I doubted they could have seen anything even if they looked.
Lauren flattened her hand and rubbed it all the way up my length. “Whatever I want, whenever I want it,” she whispered into my ear, throwing my words back at me.
A promise was a promise.
Our eyes caught, and I nodded. “Whatever you want.”
She undid my pants and pulled my dick out right there in a room full of strangers.
