Page 4 of Such a Sweet Omega

I was always nervous about knife play. Not that I judged it as bad or wrong, but it had the potential for things to go really bad, which had my healer’s heart on edge. In theory, it should be just fine. I watched the scene before me with alertness, although I knew the dom was skilled and would not take things any further than his omega had agreed to. No, it was not something that I chose to indulge in.

Longtime partners had contracts between them that covered aspects of the kink they chose to participate in and any others they might have a future interest in trying out. Often, they went on for pages.

“Did you get authorization for knife play?” Nothing I was seeing here gave me the impression this alpha knew what he was doing. And while every kink under our roof had potential dangers associated with it, few had the potential for a bleed out.

“Obviously I did.” The dom whose name I wasn’t sure of but who I’d seen here a few times—and not been impressed by—thrust out his chest and lifted his chin. “Or I wouldn’t be here.”

I pulled my phone from my pocket. Only owners and authorized staff members could carry phones within the club, all others having checked theirs at the door for obvious reasons. Like the fact that the dom waiting for the knife station was a conservative congressman whose half mask might not be enough to hide his identity should a photo leak onto social media. Even we were not allowed to take pictures, except for very rare circumstances. Like this one. Before pulling up the schedule, I snapped a shot of the wanna-be knife expert as evidence. Memberships did not come cheap, and those who lost theirs for cause would receive no refunds.

“Hey, you’re not going to show that to people, are you?” he protested. “I have a reputation to maintain.”

“No doubt. This is just for our files.” And I could only imagine what his reputation was. “Let me check who has this station at this time.” Obviously, I knew, but I still went through the motions. “Yes, it is the gentleman waiting over there who has been authorized for this level of play.”

“I have every right to use any station here at any time. I pay for a VIP membership.” The dom’s attitude was making me want to handle his removal personally, but a glance at the shivering omega standing partially behind him showed me where my priorities lay. I caught the eye of another monitor on duty tonight. Talon. It was a rare situation when two owners were picking up this type of work, but it did happen. Talon, whose love of fire play made him one of the edgy experts, fixed a glare in the direction of the dom. He had been overseeing things a few yards away, but very little got past him. If I hadn’t stepped in, I had no doubt he would have.

Without a word spoken between us, my co-owner moved to my side. He looked deceptively casual, but I knew better. Cuffed was a big part of all of us, and we were protective of everything about it, including the members.

“Actually, you must have skimmed the rules because if you had read them carefully, you’d know that is not correct.” He was going to be unhappy, was in fact already, and we didn’t want to interrupt everyone else’s evening any more than we already had if he chose to have a tantrum. I still had to be clear.

“But it doesn’t matter whether you read them or not.” Talon reached out and took the dom’s arm. “I’ll have to ask you to come with me.”

“I’m in the middle of something here.” He tried to shrug free, but the fire master was having none of it, holding him with no apparent strain. “Let me go.”

“Afraid I can’t do that.” Talon started off, towing the dom behind him.

“Where are you trying to take me?” His voice was rising, but another dungeon monitor fell in behind, in the unlikely event that his boss needed backup.

“To the office,” Talon informed him. “We need to do some paperwork.”

Chapter Four

Beale

“My name is Jabez. Let’s go to my office. Do you want a drink? Water?”

My body felt hollow as I forced myself to breathe in and out in a somewhat smooth rhythm, an attempt at self-soothing.

“Um, water. Why? Your office? You’re kicking me out?” I asked, not really recognizing my own voice.

“No, of course not. Your name is Beale?”

I nodded. “Yes.” There was something about the way he said my name. There was emotion behind it. That one syllable poured from his mouth and all over me. There was more emotion from him in that word than I’d gotten from Aaron in the months we’d dated.

“Beale, I just wanted to talk to you. You’re not kicked out. You did nothing wrong.”

“Oh. But he…but we…there was commotion.”

Jabez laughed. The sound was deep and guttural, born from his chest. “Not the first time there’s been commotion in this club and won’t be the last. Follow me, please. I have water in my office.”

I didn’t know much about these kinds of clubs before coming to Cuffed, but of course there were offices here. It was a business, after all. Would dungeon monitors be assigned an office, though?

“Are you sure? I can just leave. I’m okay. I think.”

“Your face is reddening. I want to make sure you’re fine before I let you go. I’m a healer as well as an owner. Please. Make yourself at home.”

An owner? Nothing about his tight T-shirt with the logo andMonitoracross the chest had told me that.

Inside his office was sparse. A desk with no paperwork scattered. Not even a pen. One computer with three monitors. No family photos or anything else. Not even a landscape. There were no pictures on the pale-gray walls. He was so warm but his office was anything but.

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