Page 33 of S is for…

Lihn smiled at her.“Exactly.”

“I don’t know that I can claim to have made a mistake,” Peter said to Diann.“More a conscious decision that was badly wrong.Either way, I was an asshole.I hope you believe me when I say that there was no malice in what I did.I didn’t do any of it to punish you.”

Diann nodded slowly, and it seemed like real acceptance.

“But I did try to keep distance between us, emotionally.It was…what did you call it?”

“Plug-and-play,” Diann said with a small smile.

“It was plug-and-play BDSM, which was a dick move, because failure to engage emotionally with your partner means you’re not invested in the scene.But I promise you it wasn’t some long-term revenge plot.”

At that, Diann laughed, and Peter smiled.It must have been some inside joke.Looking at Diann, Julen could see how and why Peter had fallen in love with her.She was gorgeous and fierce.

The fact that Peter hadn’t wanted to be her Dom anymore once he fell in love with her, was...

Peter needed therapy.

Everyone needed therapy.

“If something went seriously wrong in one of our scenes back when we were together,” Peter said in a measured tone.“There would be punishment, and the emotional catharsis afterwards always made both of us feel better.”

“True.”

“I’m hoping that you’ll allow me to have that same absolution.I fucked up.Punish me.”

There was a collective inhale as everyone reacted to Peter’s words.Saying something like that in front of a bunch of D/s people was sure to elicit a response.

“Same,” Julen said, looking at Laney, who nodded slowly, eyes wide.

There was a brief pause before Diann said, “What kind of punishment are you thinking?”

“The options are humiliation, whipping, and spanking.Those three are all yeses on our checklists,” Lihn said, pointing between himself, Peter, and Julen.“I checked.”

“But you meant yes, you’ddothose things,” Laney said, eyes wide.“Not have them doneto you.”

“It doesn’t actually specify giving versus receiving.”Lihn held up a hand.“No, wait, there are a few items where it specifies giving versus receiving, but not for those three.”

Peter was shaking his head slowly, even as he smiled.“Technically, I said yes to spanking, and like Lihn said, it doesn’t specify if I’m the spanker or the spankee.”

Diann clicked her tongue.“What a poorly written document.A loophole you could drive a car through.”

Julen pressed his fingertips gently against his eye, which was definitely twitching.Every other document or contract produced by the club was lengthy and ironclad.But the checklist was supposed to be just an informational tool.As a top with no switch inclinations, when he marked yes for spanking, he definitely meant turning a naughty sub overhisknee.

“You okay, Julen?”Lihn asked.

“My eye is twitching.”

Joni started laughing, Laney’s alarmed look melted to amusement, and Diann leaned back, grinning.

Julen’s shoulders relaxed as he watched them.

Then tensed when he thought about the upcoming punishment.Not that he hadn’t been whipped, spanked, or humiliated before.The Doms who’d smacked the stupid out of him when he was young, dumb, and arrogant, had made sure his training included being on the receiving end of any activity he planned to try on a submissive.

“Whipping,” Diann said when the laughter died down.“If we can find someone who knows how to use a six-foot.”

“Whipping?”Laney nearly yelped.“That’s so…” She waved both hands in the air.

“Very articulate,” Joni said.

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