Page 36 of S is for…

“Preach,” Joni sang out.

“Are you saying…” Laney was frowning slightly.“Are you saying you don’t think Peter deserves to be punished?”An odd expression crossed her face.“If you think we should stop them?—”

“Peter deserves to be punished for thinking him topping Diann was a good idea.That’s just stupid, and sometimes stupid must be punished,” Joni declared.“But even if Diann ran up there and pulled Peter off the stage, that doesn’t mean Julen, Master Morton, is off the hook for what he did to you.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Laney said softly.

“Yes, it was.”Diann hated that the other woman seemed ready to completely dismiss her own pain and suffering.Her default mode seemed to be quiet and apologetic, but occasionally something else broke through.

“It just… It just makes me sound so needy.”

“And?”Diann asked.“What’s wrong with that?We all have needs.People have needs.Societally, women are raised to suppress our needs, and asking for them is considered rude or demanding.”

This was a topic Diann thought about a lot.It had taken years of work for her to get to the point where she asked for what she needed and deserved.Both when it came to kink, but more importantly when it came to other aspects of her life.

Diann had thought she was good at stating her needs, but Joni had shown her that there was room for improvement.Using a safe word because the scene was “boring”—as Master Morton had phrased it—and therefore not meeting her needs, was goddamn aspirational.

Diann studied Julen Morton, particularly the tense lines of muscle on his bare back.They’d shared several unexpectedly intimate looks this morning, and—though she had no particular reason for this—she was more worried about him than she was about Peter.

Laney had a troubled look on her face, but before either Diann or Joni could say something, movement on the stage pulled their attention.Lihn mounted the steps, the handle of a leather braided cat with fringe-tipped falls tucked into the back of his pants.A six-foot leather whip with a good thickness to it was draped over one shoulder, the handle bouncing against his chest.

Lihn restrained Peter first, and Diann was surprised by her lack of emotional reaction.It was a little odd that she didn’t feel something as she watched her former master being placed in bondage.She was still pissed about the scene, and the way he’d made her feel, but didn’t experience any particular satisfaction watching Lihn connect the chain between his cuffs to a pulley mounted in the beam above.Nor was there a discordant feeling she’d heard some people experienced when they saw their top bottoming for someone else.

She didn’t have a reaction to Peter’s bondage, but she did to Julen’s.When Lihn approached him, Julen took a step away, holding up one hand in a “give me a minute” gesture.

Lihn paused, brow quirked.

Master Morton rolled his shoulders, tipping his head first to one side, then the other.Finally, with an audible exhale, he got himself into position under the second pulley system mounted to the crossbeam.Lihn made quick work of connecting the chain, then moving to one side and working the twin winches.

Slowly, both Peter and Morton’s arms were drawn up, until they were stretched high above their heads.

The minute Lihn locked the winch with a distinctive click, Julen rose up on the balls of his feet, wrapped his hands around the chain connecting the cuffs, and yanked.The wood of the crossbeam groaned.

He was fighting the bondage.

Diann was familiar with that urge—it was a way to reassure herself that she really was helpless.She didn’t think that was why Master Morton was doing it.If she had to guess, she’d say that he seriously hated not being in control, and while he’d submitted to this, now that it was actually happening, he couldn’t stop himself from fighting it.

The muscles of his bare back flexed, mid-morning light painting his skin with highlights of white and gold.

“What are you doing?”Lihn demanded.

Julen made a sound that was almost a growl, and Diann had to swallow against the need rising up her throat.She wanted to feel that frustrated dominance against her body.Wanted him to put her on her knees and make her submit, so they both knew unequivocally who was in control.

It’s what she’d had once upon a time with Peter.A high she’d been chasing ever since.

“Why is he fighting?”Laney asked in alarm.

“Because he doesn’t like not being in control,” Diann said.

Master Morton’s shoulders twitched, and Diann realized that, since the courtyard had gone silent in anticipation, Julen and Peter could probably hear her.

Up on stage Lihn grabbed Master Morton by the back of the neck, bringing their faces together.So close they could have kissed.They were speaking to one another in low, vicious tones.A heavy anticipatory silence swept through the audience.Gravel crunched underfoot as people crept closer.

“I heard this is ‘S,’” someone said in a quiet voice that nonetheless carried.“It’s such a big list, they assigned six people.”

“Why is it only tops on the stage?”another asked.“Wait, is this ‘switch’?”

Diann turned to look at Joni and Laney, eyes wide in question.Was switch one of their items?Plenty of people were switches—willing to be either Dom or sub.However, most members of Las Palmas specialized in one or the other.

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