Page 5 of Finding His Forever

“Once everyone is ready,” Kristen explained, “We’ll hand all the eligible subs an envelope. It’ll have three clues about the Dom who picked you. You have to figure out who it is before time runs out.”

“Thirty minutes, right?”

“Yup. If you win, you choose how you’ll play for two hours. If you lose, the Dom chooses.”

That would’ve sounded super easy if he knew all the gay Doms well enough, but with the new ones who’d joined recently, he might not be so lucky to guess correctly.

“Okay, how do we know which Doms are involved? I’m not all caught up with the club gossip lately, and some of the Doms I know could be in relationships now. There are also a bunch of new Doms.”

Angie gestured toward a group of Doms milling about the bar. “See the necklaces some of them have on?” Several wore either a red or green lanyard with a large pendant of the same color. “They’re Christmas bulbs that light up, and all the Doms taking part in the Secret Santa have one and will turn theirs on after we hand out the clues to the subs.”

“Does it matter which color they’re wearing? Like red for straight and green for LGBTQ?”

“Nope. The store just didn’t have enough of one color, so we got both. If you don’t know if someone swings your way, you’ll have to ask one of the other subs. We’ll explain all this and more when we start.”

A half-hour later, with a white wine spritzer under his belt, Matthew stood to the left of the pit’s oval-shaped center stage,surrounded by other unattached subs whose snowflakes had been picked by a Dom or Domme. He’d dressed extra festively for the evening of holiday fun in red leather shorts, green, gold, and white suspenders over his bare torso, a Santa hat, elfin ears, and red, pointed slippers with tiny gold bells on them. Usually, when he got his bi-weekly mani/pedi, he went with clear polish because of his public service job, but earlier that day, he asked for alternating fingernails of red and green. After a good night’s sleep, he’d been able to forgo the concealer and wore a little mascara and an eyeliner he saved for special occasions. It was black but with a bit of sparkle. On his lips, he’d opted for a red-tinted gloss.

As the three owners and their significant others took the stage, the music pumping through the club’s speakers was turned off. Everyone in the pit and watching from the balcony level turned their attention to the stage. Spotlights fell upon Master Ian, Angie, Master Devon, Kristen, Master Mitch, and his two submissives, his switch husband, Tyler, and their wife, Tori. Master Ian spoke first. “Good evening, everyone. Looks like we have a full house again tonight. Thank you all for joining us, not just tonight but throughout the year. When Master Mitch first approached my brother and me about opening a BDSM club here in Tampa, we didn’t foresee our membership growing to almost five hundred kinky people. But here you all are, and we thank you for helping us make The Covenant the premier private lifestyle club on the Florida Gulf Coast.”

A thunderous round of applause, accompanied by cheers and whistles, filled the air and echoed off the high ceiling. The Dom-in-Residence handed the microphone to Master Mitch, who had to wait almost a full minute before the din died down enough for him to be heard. “Thanks, everyone. And thank you to my cousins for taking a chance on my crazy idea and making my dream come true.

“Now, as you all know, tonight’s Secret Santa event is for our unattached Doms and submissives. I’ll hand the microphone over to Kristen and Angie in a moment, and they’ll go over the rules, but we also have a holiday surprise for everyone. For those who may not have noticed yet, several ticket booths are set up down here, upstairs on the balcony, and out in the garden. Make sure you stop at one of them to get in on our big raffle. Tonight, we’re giving away a few trips to Master Key, our new lifestyle resort in the Florida Keys.”

The crowd went wild again, and Master Mitch chuckled. “All right, everyone. Fucking chill out so I can tell you how you can win.” He pointed toward the big St. Andrew’s cross at the back of the stage. In front of it was a small table with a raffle drum. When it came time, the drum would be spun to mix up the entries before the winning tickets were chosen. “We’ve already put one ticket per member into the drum—we wanted to make sure everyone had a chance, even if they couldn’t be here tonight. If you want to purchase more tickets, they’re twenty-five dollars each, five for a hundred dollars, or twenty-five for five hundred dollars. You can use your membership cards to make your purchase, which will be added to next month’s invoices. What we raise tonight will go to our favorite charity—Healing Heroes—which my beautiful wife founded several years ago. The money you fork over will help train rescue dogs to be partnered with veterans suffering from PTSD.”

There was a brief round of applause before the Dom continued. “We’ll draw five lucky winners who can bring one guest with them for a three-night stay of their choice of dates, subject to room availability. You’ll have to call the reservation number to see what dates are open. The only other thing you have to arrange is your transportation. The winners will also receive a welcome basket upon their arrival, filled with all sorts of surprises, and dinner for two, prepared by renowned ChefAdley Markham in the resort’s five-star restaurant, Decadence. Each trip is valued at over thirty-five hundred dollars. Now, there’s plenty of time to get your tickets—the booths will be open for the next three hours, so you don’t have to rush—and then at midnight, we’ll return to the stage to pull the winners. Your names will be on the tickets, so you don’t need to be present. I’ll send out emails tomorrow notifying any winners not here with all the paperwork and instructions for claiming the trip.

“And don’t forget, in two weeks, we’ll be closed on Friday and Saturday for Christmas. If you plan to join us for our big New Year’s Eve party, please visit The Covenant’s website and RSVP as soon as possible. It’s limited to three hundred members because we’re having a catered buffet, a bunch of demonstrations, and fun activities, and our very own Summer Hayes will give us a short performance that night.”

Again, the crowd went nuts. Summer was one of the world’s hottest country music singers and a submissive in the lifestyle. While she still recovered from injuries received in a motor vehicle accident last year in California and hadn’t returned to touring or recording yet, she lived in the nearby Indian Shores. Like many of the club members who’d gotten to know her in the privacy of The Covenant, Matthew adored her. She was the sweetest thing, and everyone had been devastated when she was almost killed in the rollover. Thankfully, she was on the mend.

Mitch passed the microphone to Angie, who immediately gave it to Kristen, although her words faintly came through the speakers. “She’s in charge. This was her idea.”

Kristen laughed and held the mic in front of her mouth. “It might’ve been my idea, but you figured out how we should do it. Anyway, here are the rules. When we’re ready, Angie, Tori, and I will hand out pens and envelopes with the clues to the eligible subs. Donotopen them until we tell you to. The participating Dominants are wearing a red or green light-bulb necklace. TheDoms will turn on their lights when we tell the subs to open their envelopes.” She briefly consulted a piece of paper with the list of things she wanted to mention. “The Doms chose their snowflakes based on the sub’s sexual orientation, so you don’t have to worry about not being properly matched that way. The Doms were also given a copy of their chosen sub’s limit list if requested, and as always, hard limits and safewords will be respected. If any problems arise, speak to a dungeon monitor.

“Subs will have thirty minutes to try and figure out who has their snowflake based on the three clues given to them. Youcannotask any Doms any questions—participating or not. You also can’t ask Angie, Tori, Sterling, or me to help since we know who was matched with whom.” She met Matthew’s glare and winked at him. “Yeah, we lied, sweetie. Deal with it.”

Numerous chuckles reached his ears, and he glared at Kristen as she continued. “Now, you can confer with your fellow submissives—including those collared or not participating for whatever reason—to figure out who your Dom is for the night. You can also use your envelope to jot down notes—don’tuse the card for your notes.

“When the thirty minutes is up, you must write down who you think has your snowflake on the back of your clue card. We’ll call the subs up here one by one and announce which Dom you wrote down. If you’re right, you can choose the type of play you and your Dom will do for the next two hours. If you get it wrong, then your Dom gets to decide. Make sure your decision is final before you write it down because if any names are crossed out on your card, it’ll be an automatic loss, and your Dom will get to pick your play. That’s why I said not to use your card for notes.

“Are there any questions?”

Matthew glanced around. Everyone seemed to understand how the game was played, and the excitement levels had risen as subs whispered about who they hoped had their snowflake.Matthew knew who he wanted, especially after spotting Master Del a little while ago. The Dom looked like sin incarnate tonight, wearing snug black leather pants, motorcycle boots, and a crimson leather vest without a shirt. Unfortunately, Matthew hadn’t been able to catch the man’s eye. Much to his disappointment, it seemed as if Master Del’s attention was on another single gay sub named Branden. The Dom had probably picked his snowflake.Shit.

“All right, let’s get started!” The four men left the women on the stage as Angie and Tori peeled off from Kristen, heading to the opposite sides of the raised platform. “Subs, if your last name starts with A through H, please see Angie. If your last name starts with I through P, then I’ll have your envelopes at center stage.” She pointed to her left. “And Tori will have Q through Z over on this side.”

Three collared subs, carrying boxes of pens, joined the women as the eligible submissives moved toward whoever had their envelope. Matthew stayed where he was because it was the perfect spot to get his from Angie. It only took about five minutes for all the participating subs to get their envelopes and a pen.

Kristen picked up the microphone again. “Okay, we’re ready to start. Master Mitch has a stopwatch and will give a five-minute warning and then a one-minute warning. You must hand your clue card to Tori, Angie, or me at the end of the thirty minutes.

“Here we go! Doms, please turn on your Christmas bulbs! Subs, please open your clues! Good luck!”

As glowing bulbs of green and red lit up throughout the crowd, Matthew ripped open the top of his envelope and slid the card out. It had a string of colorful Christmas lights bordering it, and the text was laser-printed with red ink.

Matthew B., here are the clues your Secret Santa provided.

Clue #1: Outside the club, your Secret Santa is tech-savvy.

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