Page 20 of High Class

“And what about safewords and limits?”

“There will be no need for you to worry about any of those tonight, Zara. We won’t be playing. However, you’ll be given the opportunity at the end of the night to join the club at which point we would discuss those things. But guests are by invite only, and they have to be vouched for by a member in good standing and then vetted. If they cause trouble in their first six months as a member, both them and the person who vouched for them are kicked out and banned for life.”

She whistles. “That’s harsh.”

I nod. “It’s out of necessity. Not only is BDSM illegal in Las Vegas, we have some powerful people on our roster who pay us a lot of money to maintain a certain atmosphere of privacy and discretion. If we fail to do that, not only does the club suffer, but our other ventures suffer, and we could wind up starting a war.”

“So, your members are criminals. Good to know.”

I laugh. “Not all of them. But yes. These are not things you need to concern yourself with. Can you obey me tonight, Zara?”

She pulls the pin off of the card and pins it to the top of her dress just above her left breast.

“I won’t embarrass you, Luke.”

“At the club it’s Sir or Master Luke. Do you wish to be known as Zara or something else?”

She frowns. “Zara is the name I always go by. My birth name doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. And I don’t like honorifics. Can I just call you Mr. Bowden?”

I want to know more about why she doesn’t care for honorifics, but we use them to keep order and remind everyone of their roles. Still, I don’t want her to be uncomfortable. So I nod. “That will do. The others may balk, but they’ll respect your limits.”

“The others?”

“Victor, Owen, and Matteo. They all must be referred to with respect at all times. Other D-types should be respected but you don’t have to defer to them. An order from one of the owners is an order from all of us, though, so you must listen.”

“You’re making this sound like a cult of some sort, Mr. Bowden.”

I chuckle. “It might seem that way. A very expensive cult and the only thing we worship is power and pleasure.”

She raises her water glass. “Cheers to that.”

For the rest of our meal, I answer as many questions as I can. Most of it is pretty straightforward, but other stuff I tell her she’ll just have to discover when we arrive. When we finish our meal, I take her out to the valet area where my car pulls up within seconds.

She raises an eyebrow when the Aston Martin pulls up. “I like your style, Mr. Bowden. Not what I was expecting from a man like you.”

Right, because a rough around the edges hack like me would never drive something so expensive. I squash the thought. That isn’t what she was implying. She has no reason to think of me the way the Bowdens are viewed in New York. Here I’m not a second-class member of the mafia who doesn’t deserve his spot at the top. Here I’ve earned it and I know it.

“It’s not my only car. If you’re interested, I’ll take you to my garage and show off my collection.”

Why am I offering to take her to my sanctuary? Too late to take the invitation back now, though. Her eyes light up and she nods enthusiastically as I open her door and motion her into the passenger seat.

“Buckle up, Flower.”

Sliding behind the wheel, I instantly relax. Driving has always relaxed me. Driving a car as sleek as this excites me, too.

As we drive away from the strip toward Summerlin, I look over and find her glancing around pensively.

“Everything alright?”

She nodded. “I just have history in this city and don’t love being back here.”

I want to ask more questions, but I don’t want her to be too tense when we arrive at the club. So, I show off the sound system in my car and turn on some Nine Inch Nails.

To my surprise, she sings along. At the very least, we share the same tastes in music. I would have pegged her for a Taylor Swift or even a Skylar Cameron fan.

When we pull into the parking lot of the strip mall and stop in front of Sin City Subs, her mouth drops open and she gapes at me. “You mean it really is a sandwich shop?”

Chapter 8

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