Chapter Eight

A knock on the door pulled them apart.

"Come in," Cat yelled.

Another beautiful woman walked in.

"Bella, this is Hannah. She's Jake's submissive."

"Hello," Bella said.

"Hey. I'm glad to meet you," Hannah said.

Bella looked from one to the other. "Is a submissive the same as a girlfriend?"

Cat smiled. "Kind of, but it's more intense. It's more like a marriage." Cat turned to Hannah. "Don't you think?"

Hannah nodded. "I agree with that. We live with them and give our Doms the right to make decisions for us. Jake often says it's deeper than a normal marriage because we both know everything about each other, even our thoughts. He says if I'm upset about anything, I should come right to him, and he'll take care of me. If I don't, I get in trouble."

Bella's stomach tightened. Although she had never had the time for a relationship, what these women were saying was beyond anything she could have imagined. To have a man care and cherish her like that was something she dreamed about but didn't think about when she was awake.

She often dreamed about what her life would be like if she'd had a different choice. She'd always been the caretaker of her family, even when her mother was alive, because she tended to be scatterbrained, so Bella thought it was her job to take care of her. She'd never had someone want to take care of her.

"I'm not sure what we're supposed to do?" Bella asked.

Cat shrugged. "Caden wanted us to help you unpack, but I'm guessing he mainly wanted us to spend time together and get to know each other."

"Oh."

Hannah chuckled. "Where are your clothes?"

"Someone brought my bag from the car." She pointed. "It's all I could get before I left."

"Can you tell us why you're here?" Hannah asked while Cat lifted the bag onto the bed.

"My brother was hurting me, and it was getting worse by the day," Bella told them.

"Is that what happened to your forehead?" Cat asked.

"Yes. He pushed me, and I fell against a table. He was dumping my purse on the ground to get the money I'd made that day waitressing so he and his scuzzy friends could go buy beer."

Hannah's mouth dropped open. "He took all your money?"

Bella smiled. "Just a little of it. I hid the rest in the bottom in a zippered pocket."

The other two girls laughed.

"That's ingenious," Cat said.

"I had to do that with my purse and the money I tried to hide in a box in my bedroom. I let him find the box with a little cash but have saved the rest and put it under a board in the back of my closet."

Hannah snickered. "I would love to see his face when he finds out."

Bella grinned. She would, too.

Cat started pulling clothing out of her bag, and Hannah would grab a few and walk into the closet.

Hannah looked at her. "Just tell us where you want everything."

"You guys don't really have to help. I don't have that much," Bella said.

"Do you want us to get spanked?" Hannah said.

Bella gasped. "They spank you?"

"That's one of the punishments," Cat said and giggled. "Hannah and I have decided that most of them are more like funishments than punishments, but we'd never tell our Doms that."

Bella laughed. "I can't believe you guys really like that."

"Oh, you'll find out probably sooner than later," Hannah said.

Bella looked from one to the other. "Why?"

"Because we have found that Doms—maybe not all, but ours definitely—like to punish us."

"For God's sake, why?"

"Because it always ends in hot, sweaty sex."

Bella looked at each woman as they laughed. "But I'm not his submissive."

The women smiled.

"You will be sleeping in his bed and having sex," Hannah said.

"Oh, I'm not sure about that. We just met, for one thing. Two, I'm not a submissive, and three, I doubt a man like him would want someone like me."

Cat rolled her eyes. "You just keep telling yourself that, sister. I can guarantee that man is hot for you. I saw the way he was looking at you."

"Like how?"

"Like he wanted to eat you up. I see that look on my Dom, Macy, and it makes my whole body tingle."

Bella's eyes widened. She never would have thought a man, especially like Caden, would feel like that for her. In her mind, she was a frumpy, pale, ordinary, even plain-looking woman. "Oh."

"Let's get this done, and then we'll show you part of the club." Hannah took another load into the closet.

It took less than five minutes to organize what she had. It didn't bother her because she never needed anything more.

The girls chatted on the ride down the elevator to the club, and Bella just listened. The doors opened in a hallway, and she could see a door several feet away with a fancy lock on it.

"It's this way," Cat said and grabbed her hand.

The three stopped at the door, and Cat turned to face her. "Now, remember, nothing in here is going to hurt you. It might look scary…"

"It did for me in the beginning," Hannah told her.

Cat squeezed her hand. "But it's not."

Hannah smiled. "But it is daytime, so we and the guys are usually the only ones around. At night, things are a little different when there are more people, and nudity and sex is happening."

Bella couldn't fathom what that was like. She was so innocent because she worked all the time and didn't spend time with friends or even watch movies or read books with any sex in them. She was actually sheltered but wished she'd gotten some experience with friends and the situation.

She was getting a crash course in both, but she was eager to learn and looking forward to spending time with the women and Caden.