Page 239 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Chapter 51

The next evening, Reubendropped me off in front of his namesake bar and told me to go upstairs while he found parking. I waved to Sanaii who was working the downstairs bar, and she grinned and gestured for me to come over.

“Holy shit, it’s so nice to meet you!” She clapped her hands and bustled out from behind the bar to shake my hands.

“You too,” I laughed. “How did you know who I was?”

“Mister Weston told me you guys were coming by today. I justknewI’d recognize you! And I had a feeling it was you who texted me! You probably don’t remember me but we met at a play party a few years ago. Man, he sounded so happy on the phone. I’m so excited for you guys!”

I felt my face break into a huge smile. I make him happy.Even Reuben’s friends had noticed that he was happier now.

“Anyway, everyone’s upstairs. You can go on through.” She motioned to the door near the end of the bar that had a sign on the front that saidPrivate.

“Fair warning, since we don’t have a security system in place yet, there’s no public nudity until ten o’clock. Typical dungeon rules: check in with the dungeon master, no ogling, no interaction without consent, keep the volume down around people doing a scene, report any ignored safewords, you know the drill, I’m sure.”

“Yes ma’am! Thanks, Sanaii. He’ll be up in a few.”

I headed towards the back of the bar and opened the door that led to the upstairs club and began my hike. About halfway up the stairs, I got a nauseous, sickly feeling, and my hands began to sweat.

Fuck. I didn’t think this would upset me. I stopped walking and leaned against the side of the stairwell, trying to count my breaths.In through the nose, out through the mouth... two, three, four... I’m okay. He’s not here, and nobody is going to hurt me. Reuben is probably walking to the bar right now.

Man, fuck him for leaving me alone and making me walk up here myself.I tried not to be angry at him, but it was hard when my brain was telling me I should text him a middle finger for no other reason than the fact that I was freaking out and he wasn’t here to hold my hand.

It’s just your brain fucking with you. It’s not real. You don’t really feel that way.

But that didn’t help me as much as it normally did, so I tried something else.

It’ll be over soon. You’ll probably be euphoric in ten minutes. It’ll be over soon.

Breathing slowly and walking even slower, trying to remember that tonight was about having fun and letting Reuben torture me in public, and that I could end it at any time. I made my way up the stairs and finally managed to get through the door. Knowing the anger, the nausea, and the fear wasn’t permanent and wouldn’t last helped enough that I didn’t throw up in the stairwell.

The Lounge looked different than I remembered. I’d only been here a few times, and the furniture and decorations had changed since then. They’d added a raised dance floor and two poles, and there was less bondage furniture in the room. Actually, come to think of it, the whole place looked smaller. I noticed a hallway off to one side. There were three doors, painted red, with numbers on them. He’d added private playrooms.

Glancing over to the bar, I saw a few familiar faces. Doctor Mike was there, and so were a few people I’d seen at Reuben’s fundraiser-house-party-thing in Cullowhee. Simon was sitting at the end of the bar, drinking whiskey.

I grinned, snuck up on him as quietly as I could, and poked him in the ribs. He let out a squeal like a little girl and almost dropped his drink.

I laughed and climbed up onto the stool beside him. The sickly feeling in my stomach had evaporated, and I felt happy again with Simon by my side.

“Damnit, Sprite, don’t do that!”

“Why not? ‘Cause now you can’t do anything about it?” I knew if I had been unowned, he would have dragged me right across his lap and spanked my ass.

“You and I both know he’d cut my hands off if I laid a finger on you.”

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