Twenty minutes later, Paige pulled into the parking lot at Sanctuary and cringed at the number of vehicles already there. With her heart pounding out a mad rhythm, she hightailed it inside before she could change her mind. The same receptionist greeted her before pointing to a different door to enter than she’d taken last night.
“Go through there and down the hall to the next door. That’ll lead into the room behind the stage where you can prep and get the final instructions. Good luck and have fun!”
“I’ll try,” Paige quipped with no intention to do so. Fun was not high on the agenda for the next few hours.
A background of low music followed her down the hall and continued into a large room teeming with half-dressed women. The palpable vibe of anticipation rubbed off on her as she watched the unabashed way the girls paraded around the room in front of the two men giving instructions. The good-looking blond bouncer caught her attention and beckoned her over, sizing her up as she padded toward him.
Paige’s hackles rose at his blatant inspection of her from head to toe, but she reined in her temper with a reminder of what was at stake. “Name?” he asked as soon as she reached him.
“Paige… Johannsen.” Damn. She’d almost given him her real last name instead of her mother’s maiden name. She needed to get on the ball, but that was proving more difficult than she’d imagined. The girls already in line to parade on stage waited with obvious excitement, appearing unashamed with their bared breasts, butts and mounds. Paige hadn’t considered she would have to stand in front of the room full of strangers with all her privates put on display. She’d assumed there would be a choice of scanty attire to pick from.
“Okay, I’ve got your form. To be clear, you agree to bondage, light pain, oral, anal play only and toys. No intercourse. Correct?”
She was not a shy person, but listening to a man she’d never met before listing off the sexual things she’d agreed to allow another stranger to do to her sent a wave of heat over her face. “Yes, correct.”
“Okay. Breasts, pussy and ass bare, otherwise you can don any of the garments over there.” He nodded to an array of hanging outfits along the wall. “You’ll be up in about fifteen minutes. Don’t hold us up.”
The man’s indifferent, business-like attitude helped her stay committed to this endeavor as she padded over to the rack of skimpy outfits. “No, no, no,” she chanted, discarding everything she came across. Conscious of the time, and the threat in the bouncer’s voice when he’d ordered her to be ready, she hurried and selected a black, lace-up corset with cups to hold her breasts and sheer stockings to hook to garters. Since the room offered no privacy, she moved to a corner and dressed as fast as possible, refusing to think about the eyes already gazing upon her nudity. The deep baritone of the auctioneer filtered through the cracked door, as did the occasional laughter and the louder rounds of applause. Paige refrained from peeking out on the stage, afraid if she did she would run away from this opportunity. Given her anxiety level, if she didn’t portray enough vulnerability to catch this bastard’s attention tonight, then she never would.
“Johannsen! You’re up next.”
“Oh, doodledrawers,” she mumbled, padding across the room to the other bouncer manning the door. For the first time since she’d begun waxing, she regretted how the remaining strip of pubic hair emphasized the rest of her bare labia. He swept her body with an appreciative glance before winking and nodding his approval.
“You’ll do well, relax. Remember, it’s for a good cause.”
His friendlier mien helped ease the tension in Paige’s shoulders until he waved her through the door onto the stage and she saw the emcee was none other than the same man she’d caught entering her sister’s room at the hospital the other day. Stopping halfway onto the stage, she wrestled with what to do as she realized the owner of the club was also Penny’s new interest and now stood waiting for her with a tight, disapproving look. Shit, now what?
With a crook of his finger and a gleam in his vivid blue eyes, Master Damien beckoned her toward the spotlight, calling out, “Don’t be shy, Paige. You’re not new to the club scene or the lifestyle, are you?”
Paige squared her shoulders against the knowing taunt that revealed he was on to her and shored up her nerve. Two could play this game. Conscious of her propped-up breasts, pert nipples pointing straight ahead, and bare mons and buttocks as she crossed the stage, she didn’t know how she managed to keep her head up and her eyes on his. Thank goodness the audience sat shrouded in darkness as she stepped onto the spotlighted stage.
“The lovely Paige.” Damien introduced her by taking one clammy hand and lifting her arm to twirl her in a slow circle. “This sub is offering her delectable body for light pain and anal play, oral consumption and usage of toys.” Yanking her against his side when Paige faced toward the audience she couldn’t see again, he wrapped one steely arm around her waist and bent to her ear. “I’m not happy with you, even if you are doing this for your sister. I don’t tolerate subterfuge in my club.”
Paige shivered from the warning in his tone but couldn’t resist snarling back, “Then let me go and I’ll leave.”
“No, that would be too easy.” Reaching up with his free hand, he plucked at one distended nipple, drawing her shocked outrage and chuckles from the bidders shrouded in darkness. “It looks like whoever gets this tasty piece will have his hands full.” He pinched her nipple and admonished, “Behave, girl.”
Paige had never struggled so hard to keep her temper in check. Maybe she should’ve watched a few of the participants on stage before her and gotten a heads-up on what to expect from the emcee. At least his actions were helping to keep her mind off the room full of ogling eyes. High priced bids rang out, surprising her with the amounts. A different sense of awareness crept over her skin, one that worried her with the small thrill of satisfaction she hadn’t expected. Then Master Damien turned her around again and doused the warm sensation generated by the interested bids by squeezing her right cheek.
“Come on, people. Look at this supple ass. What’ll you give the Children’s Miracle Network for hours of play with these round, malleable globes?” He slid his hand over to her other buttock and kneaded her flesh.
Drawing in a breath, she scowled at his smug face, her whispered, “Back off,” met with a frown of his own. Without warning, he pulled back and delivered a sharp smack that sent pain ricocheting through her entire lower half, his deep voice drowning out her gasp of outrage.
“This one may take two Doms to handle, starting with a well-deserved spanking. Any takers?”
Before Paige could state her objection, two other voices called out a simultaneous bid that outdid all the others by over a thousand dollars. A shock wave of recognition almost sent her to her knees, but didn’t keep her body from responding with its usual heated rush from knowing the Carlson brothers were near, and eyeing her naked butt.
Master Damien spun her back around in time to see a small spotlight illuminate Troy and Trevor seated in the front row. Troy’s displeasure with her mimicked the club owner’s while Trevor’s sensuous lips turned up at the corners in his usual, amused expression. Her buttock burned and her nipple throbbed, but those uncomfortable sensations changed to a pleasurable warmth and pulse as she gazed upon the two men she couldn’t seem to get out of her system. Paige noticed no one else now, heard nothing else as they finalized the transaction, and sure as hell possessed no clue what she’d just agreed to as the bouncer led her off the stage.
* * *
Trevor leaned against the wall outside the stage dressing room, crossed his arms and regarded his brother’s agitated pacing with amusement. “Relax, would you? Damien caught her enrollment in time to call us.”
Troy blazed him with a look of irritation. “I’m pissed she went against our orders, again, not worried about the interfering minx.”
“Uh, huh. You keep telling yourself that, bro. In the meantime, I’ll admit I’m itching to get my hands on Red,
and have been for some time. It’s nice she fell into my palms. Want me to handle her from here on out?”
“Fuck that, Trevor,” he snapped so fast Trevor knew the moment Troy realized he’d just given himself away. “You’re a sick bastard.”
“Yeah, but you love me anyway. Now, what are we going to do with our acquisition for eight hours?”
“I know what we will not do, and that’s let her off the hook this time. I plan to shave off thirty minutes by tossing her over my knees as soon as she gets her sweet ass out here. After that, I say if she’s so interested in BDSM, we introduce her to the things she agreed to tonight. That might be enough to scare her off this vendetta and keep her out of our hair.”
“Or,” Trevor drawled, the image of Paige draped across his brother’s lap searing his brain, “given her unpredictability, our efforts just might backfire and reveal she has a small thread of submission inside that lean body.”
“If that happens, God help all three of us.”
They both straightened when the side door opened and Paige stood there dressed in jeans and a bright yellow tee with black lettering reading: People say you can’t live without love… I think oxygen is more important. Her face reflected a myriad of emotions, indecision being the most blatant. Straightening her shoulders, she stepped forward and that cocky grin Trevor enjoyed appeared.