Page 10 of The Sadist and the Brat

“Both,” Sadie decided, and took the small baggies. “Thanks, Liv.”

“You got it. Do you still want a ride home?”

She’d carpooled in with Cade and Olivia and had planned to get home the same way. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

Olivia’s eyes twinkled. “Maybe Jack will want to take you. You know, for aftercare.”

Sadie snorted. “No, he won’t.”

“Stranger things have happened,” Olivia sang and burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Olivia said, waving her hands, and laughed harder.

“Go back to work, weirdo,” Sadie said, and with Olivia’s laughter still ringing in her ears, headed back to the conversation pit. She was halfway there when someone stepped into her path.

“Hello, Sadie.”

Sadie gritted her teeth and made a concerted effort to keep the sneer out of her voice. “Joel.”

He went from smiling to scowling in an instant. “Excuse me?”

Tool, Sadie thought and inclined her head. “Forgive me.SirJoel.”

“That’s better,” he said, the smile blooming once again. He raked his gaze down her body. “You look lovely tonight. Appropriate costume.”

“Thank you,” she said stiffly. Joel was handsome in a generic white-boy way, with gilded blond hair and a gym-fit physique, but he always left her feeling like she needed a shower—and not in a good way.

“Where are you off to?” he asked, licking his lips.

Ew.“I’m on my way to rejoin Rebecca,” she said and shifted to move around him. “If you’ll excuse me, Sir.”

“You can gab with your friends anytime,” he said, blocking her sidestep. “I’ve got the spanking bench reserved tonight.”

“Then have a good scene,” she replied and tried to step around him again.

“I reserved it for us.” He reached for her arm. “Come on. We’ll give the newbies a show.”

“No, thank you,” she said, twisting to avoid his grab, and waited a deliberate beat before pointedly adding, “Sir. As I said, I have other plans.”

His face twisted into a sneer. “Yourfriendcan spare you for an hour.”

“She could,” Sadie allowed, noting the way he spat the wordfriendas though it left a bad taste in his mouth. “If I wanted to do a scene with you. But I don’t, so you’ll have to excuse me.”

She didn’t wait for his reaction, simply scuttled around him and hurried over to Rebecca.

“What was that all about?” Rebecca asked as Sadie resumed her seat.

“Joel has reserved the spanking bench for us,” Sadie said.

“Ick.” Rebecca wrinkled her nose. “I assume you told him no.”

“I’d have told him fuck no, but he’d try to get me into trouble for it.”

Rebecca shook her head. “I don’t like that guy. He’s…”

“An asshole?” Sadie ventured.

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