Page 35 of S is for…

“He does,” Diann assured her.

“You really had him whip you?”Laney asked softly.

Diann nodded.

She’d cornered Lihn in one of the Iron Court playrooms.There she’d slipped off her robe and asked him to prove that he knew what he was doing.

They’d gone back and forth for several minutes, Lihn not wanting to use impact play implements on her outside of the scene, but she’d assured him that of the six of them, she was the most experienced with extreme impact play, and that she needed assurance that he wouldn’t hurt Peter or Master Morton, who’s first name was apparently Julen.

Lihn hadn’t taken offense, and when she went to a St.Andrew’s cross in the corner and grabbed on, he’d lashed her back first with the six-foot whip, then with the cat.

“I did,” Diann told Laney.“Lihn has a very light touch.Plenty of sting, but it faded fast.”

“That’s hardcore.”Joni held out her fist.

Diann tapped her knuckles to Joni’s with a smile.

They turned their attention back to the stage.

Peter and Master Morton were both stripped to the waist, their wrists bound with wide-band steel manacles connecting by heavy chain.They looked like they belonged in a medieval dungeon or in the brig of a pirate ship.

There was something extremely sexy about half-naked men wearing cuffs.

Lihn was off to the side, also shirtless and whipping a statue as he warmed up his wrist.That was equally if not more hot than the Doms in bondage.

“Do you remember that one scene, from Sleeping Beauty, with Prince Phillip?”Laney asked, watching Peter and Master Morton.

“I know exactly what you’re talking about,” Joni said with a grin.“But, am I the only one imagining them with pirate hats?”

“This has a very punishment-for-attempted-mutiny vibe,” Diann agreed, studying Master Morton.

She should probably feel something about Peter getting whipped.He’d been a complete ass to her last night, and part of her was still pissed, but at the same time…

Diann couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said.

“There are things you can do to subs, consensually, that felt wrong when I thought about doing them to my wife.”

She hadn’t quite realized how seriously he’d fallen in love with her.They were a perfect match as Master and sub, and she’d thought the love he’d felt was a consequence of bad compartmentalizing.He’d fallen in love with her because she was his partner both sexually, and in some ways emotionally.BDSM was a powerful emotional outlet, and required an emotional connection between Dom and sub to be practiced responsibly.It was that connection that had been missing during their most recent scene, turning what could have been some really good humiliation and pain into something that left her feeling shame.

She’d cared about him, back when they were a bonded pair—the club’s term for a Master and submissive who were in a committed and exclusive BDSM relationship.In other parts of the community, wearing a collar and the act of collaring was the preferred method of expression.

The fact that Las Palmas had its own term, that relied not on a piece of jewelry but a signed contract, made complete sense if you knew one of the overseers, as well as many of the members, were lawyers.

Shehadbeen in a serious, committed relationship with Peter…as his sub.She’d assumed that he compartmentalized their relationship the way she had, that she put it away once her car drove down the long driveway lined with palm trees.

Until last night, she’d assumed the issue was that he kept thinking about her, as his sub, outside of club hours.Honestly, she’d assumed he was maybe between girlfriends, making her his only emotional outlet.She had no idea he was thinking in “wife” terms.And while it didn’t excuse his behavior, it certainly provided more context than she’d had before.

Diann stood by the fact that it was deeply fucked up he couldn’t imagine the idea of being kinky with his wife, but she also knew she didn’t have the right to judge someone else’s boundaries.Saying that he couldn’t really have loved her if he was willing to stop being her Master wasn’t fair.

“He was right about one thing,” she said aloud.

Both Joni and Laney looked at her.

“Peter said that our scene was exactly what I like.How I like to submit and be used.He wasn’t wrong.That scene was delicious.Degrading and full of pain, intense and deeply kinky.”

Laney and Joni nodded, attentive and accepting.

“It was all the emotional stuff that made it feel wrong.”Diann shook her head.“I come here to get rid of the emotional stuff, not pile more on.”

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