Page 42 of S is for…

Diann smiled.“You’re welcome.Thank you for the spanking.”

Julen reached around behind her, putting his palm against her upper back, where the whip marks were.“And thank you, for watching out for me.”

“You’re welcome,” she said again, more seriously.

“For aftercare?—”

“I don’t need aftercare.And I mean that genuinely, not in a ‘fuck you, I don’t want to be in your presence way’.”

“I should…” Nothing about this had been planned, and he was fumbling.

“That was barely a scene,” she said.“If we properly scene together, I promise to demand all the aftercare.Honestly, I need to head home.”

Julen nodded, and together they walked out of the Iron Court room.It was mid-day, and the bright light seemed blinding after the dim playroom.

Julen walked her to the Subs’ Garden and watched her disappear through the gate.

Diann said “if” they scened, but for Julen, there was no question.No “if.”

Next weekend, Diann would be his.

“Maybe we should stop havingplanning meetings in the parking lot.”Lihn slouched against a car, brow raised.

“The club is packed again this weekend,” Peter pointed out, gesturing to the full parking lot.“This is probably the only place we’ll have privacy.”

“And we need actually discuss and plan this time,” Lihn said.“This weekend we each start with a nice pre-scene consult and planning session.”

“Sure,” Julen said, then after a brief pause declared “I’m taking Diann tonight.”

Peter and Lihn stared at Julen.Had he…been listening?

When Peter looked over to Lihn, he was holding his head in his hands, the picture of despair.

Peter instead examined Julen, eyes narrowed as he worked through the possibilities.They’d all seen Diann pull Julen into the Iron Court playroom after their punishment last weekend.Peter had been desperately curious, but hadn’t seen either of them again so he could ask what that was about.He knew Julen and Diann hadn’t ever scened before, so how and when had a connection formed?

Julen’s declaration that he was taking Diann this weekend was both surprising and expected.

Peter waited a moment, to see if Julen would follow that up with information about what had happened between him and Diann last week, but Julen was stone-faced.

“No,” Peter said slowly.“You can’t just…call dibs.We need to look at the list and decide what makes the most sense for tonight’s pairing.”

“You two figure it out, but I’m taking Diann.”With that, Julen walked away, gravel crunching underfoot.

“Okay, if we’re doing a dibs system, I want Joni.”

Peter whipped around, shocked that Lihn was following Julen’s example.

“We agreed?—”

“We agreed to limiting it to partners for one night, that each of us would find at least three or four letter S items to work on, and that we’d meet and reassess tomorrow.”

“That’s…I thought part of the point was being more deliberate in our choices of partner and activities.And to switch partners.You had Joni last weekend.”

Lihn straightened and grinned.“You and Julen needed to switch since you fucked up.I just need to make sure Joni is feeling her submission.”Lihn huffed out a laugh.“And isn’t bored.”

Lihn walked away, a spring in his step as he headed for the club.

Peter threw both hands in the air, but there was no one there to see it.

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