Chapter 1
Piper
The music is loud, the drinks are cheap, and the girls are beautiful.
Everything about tonight is perfect, except for the fact that I can’t relax enough to enjoy it. I can’t relax enough to stop worrying and just feel. I can’t. Not tonight. Not ever.
For me, relaxing means letting my guard down, and Piper Queen never lets her guard down.
Never.
That’s the problem with being me, really. I can have Dom after Dom try to calm me down and help me forget, but I never forget. No matter how hard they spank me, how tightly they bind me, how hard they make me come, I can never forget what I’m running from.
I’ve just gotten really good at faking it.
“Hey sweetie,” a familiar voice brings me back to reality. Good. I need something – someone – to ground me tonight. Right now, I feel like a leaf barely hanging onto a branch. All it will take is one strong gust of wind, and I’ll be gone. Done.
“June,” I smile at the bartendress in her too-tight corset and ridiculously amazing cleavage. She doesn’t play at Anchored, but June always looks the role. “Looking good,” I tell her, and she grins, flashing me a bright smile.
“Piper, Piper,” she shakes her head playfully and motions to her breasts. “You know they’re always available for you. All you have to do is ask.”
Now it’s my turn to chuckle. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I tell her, and June winks at me playfully.
“Not playing tonight?” She asks, glancing at the bracelet on my wrist. It designates me as a patron who won’t be participating in any BDSM activities with anyone at the club tonight. This means that I’m free to drink at Anchored, within reason. I just can’t have sex or any other type of fun. Not tonight.
Then again, having fun was never in the stars for me. Not really. Not if I’m honest with myself. I seemed to think running away would solve everything, and for a little while, I dared to let my hair down. I dared to try. I dared to dream.
Then with one letter, everything changed, and I realized that escape was never in the cards for me. I’ve been dealt a crappy hand, and there’s not much I can do to change it. All I can do is keep fighting, but the problem with combat is that eventually, even the strongest warriors get tired.
“Not tonight,” I tell June, sipping my beverage. It’s Crown and Sprite. There’s nothing like a smooth criminal to unwind after a long day, and this is my go-to drink. Whether I’m happy or sad, I like to have the same thing.
“Any reason why?” June asks, leaning on the bar. She’s giving me an up close and personal view of her breasts, but I don’t really mind. June is freaking beautiful, but she doesn’t seem to know it. In the time we’ve been friends, she’s never had a serious relationship, and I don’t really know why, except that June doesn’t seem to know her own worth.
Or maybe I’m the one who doesn’t know what I’m worth.
Maybe I’m just projecting.
The truth is that when I’m honest with myself, I don’t really feel special or valued. I don’t really feel like there’s much to me. I’m just an ordinary girl from and ordinary town who got into an ordinary relationship and it all went to hell. We all have a sob story, though, right?
We all have our demons.
Mine just happens to wear blue jeans and a fake smile.
“Just a long day,” I tell June, which is the truth. I don’t tell her what was long about it. We’re buddies, June and I, but this is something I haven’t even told her.
When I first met her, she was looking for a tech girl who could help her manage the behind-the-scenes stuff for the club. She needed someone who could do all of the major stuff like design the website and handle the social media side of the business, but June also needed someone who created the membership database and mailing list and keep it secure.
I could do that.
I can do a lot more than that, and we’ve been working closely together since she opened the club. It’s been a couple of years since Anchored first opened its doors, and during that time, neither June nor I have gotten into serious relationships.
Oh, we’ve both had our fun and our flings, but a relationship is different. If you want to have a relationship, you have to be willing to get your hands a little dirty. You have to be willing to wear your heart on your sleeve, at least a little bit.
You have to be willing to be brave.
I’m just not sure if I’m any of those things.
I was, once upon a time, but that bravery very nearly got me killed.
June looks at me with narrowed eyes, like she knows I’m completely full of shit, but she lets it slide. Another patron comes and sits at the bar, and she pours the woman a drink before moving on to help other members. I sit, sipping my drink, and I spin around on the barstool so I can watch some of the scenes unfolding.
The thing I like about Anchored is that it’s not all extreme and crazy. I’m not opposed to that. Not at all. We all have our kinks, after all, but Anchored tends to be more about voyeurism and exhibitionism than hardcore domination, and I like that.
I like the simplicity.
I like the trust.
I like the fact that Anchored is a place where you can hang out with your friends and if some of you happen to have sex, well, that’s just fine.
“Drinking alone tonight?” I turn when I hear Odessa’s voice.
“Hey beautiful,” I hug my friend and she sits beside me on the next barstool over. June c
omes over, but Odessa shakes her head at the silent offer of an alcoholic beverage. She’s playing tonight, so drinking isn’t an option. She needs to keep a clear head if she’s going to be playing with someone. It wouldn’t do anyone any favors to have her too tipsy or relaxed to be able to communicate with her Dom.
“Rough night?” She jerks her head toward my drink.