Chapter 7

My pulse had skyrocketed the moment I saw Jenica sitting on the couch across the room. And it only increased in rhythm on my walk over here.

Now it was so damn loud I couldn’t even hear the soft music playing in the club around us.

I’d sent Jax over to the bar to grab a drink, saving him from the rage of finding his little sister in this club.

The mask did a good job of hiding her face, but that body was the one I’d fantasized about for the last two months.

I knew it well.

In my mind, anyway.

And this dress was even more revealing than the one she’d worn to my class.

However, there’d been no denying Jenica’s perfect form or the way her eyes had widened upon seeing me.

Her movement to hide had only confirmed her presence.

And then I’d heard her saying my name as I’d stepped up behind her.

Now she was frozen against me. The female beside her appeared just as frigid, the rubies on her mask confirming her membership to the club. We had never met. That wasn’t surprising, as this was my first time visiting this location.

I’d waited to visit until tonight because I’d wanted to bring Jax for the visitor party. He wasn’t a member. However, he’d been to the New York City club with me on several occasions, as we went every time he came for a visit.

The Manhattan location was one of the few with a monthly allowance for visitors due to the elite clientele residing in the area. They often wanted to take colleagues out for a night, and Ecstasy was a great place to finalize business agreements over sex.

“Are you going to speak?” I asked, my grip sliding from her shoulder to her chin so I could tilt her head toward me.

The diamond-encrusted black mask framed her blue eyes beautifully, making her heartbreakingly gorgeous in this sinful little number she was wearing. A quick glance down told me she’d paired the sexy dress with lacy lingerie to match. It made me want to strip the material off of her and fuck her on this couch.

Which pissed me the hell off.

I already hadn’t been in the mood to come tonight, but I knew how rare visitor evenings were and I didn’t want to disappoint Jax.

Plus, he was starting to wonder about my sexual dry spell. Not that he usually cared much about my sex life, but he’d noted that I seemed off, and I knew that was what he meant.

I was “off” because I wanted to fuck his sister.

His sister, who was sitting on this couch, wearing a mask that proclaimed her as an inexperienced submissive.

My dick was so damn hard it hurt.

“Introduce me to your friend,” I said when she still didn’t speak.

Jenica’s lips moved, but no sound left her mouth.

“Adalyn Rose, Sir,” the female beside her said, making my eyebrows fly upward.

I knew that name.

She was on the list of untouchables for this location.

An Elite Bride in training.

Which meant she’d been promised to someone important. And she was here to learn from a select list of trainers.

Sometimes they shared.

Usually they didn’t.

It was a part of this world that I didn’t fully understand and often stayed out of. I came for the consensual sex, not the other shit.

But Jenica… How the fuck does she know this woman? “Did you two just meet?”

“No. We’re roommates, Sir,” Adalyn replied, her eyes respectfully downcast. “Jen is my guest for the night.”

“I see.” Jenica is roommates with an Elite Bride? And that Elite Bride brought Jenica here? To the proverbial lion’s den as an untried sub? Jesus Christ… I wasn’t sure whom I wanted to throttle more—Jenica or her roommate.

Probably Jenica.

Only because I knew better than to touch an Elite Bride. That rule had been very clearly stated when I’d gained my Ecstasy membership—something that had only happened because of my role at Wakefield Pharmaceuticals. I had rubbed elbows with some very powerful men over the years, and one of them, Geoff Strider, had taken me out to the club one night for drinks.

He’d wanted to celebrate one of my social media campaigns that had gone viral about a specific orphan drug. My informative marketing had caught the interest of a renowned scientist who’d later joined the Wakefield Pharmaceutical team and changed the landscape for that medication.

What I hadn’t known at the time was that Geoff was suffering from the disease that the orphan drug treated.

The research team was what had saved him.

But he’d claimed that my campaign had been the reason behind it.

And he’d gifted me a membership to Ecstasy as a way to show his gratitude.

Which meant I took the rules very seriously and followed every single one of them. That was why I knew Adalyn’s name—I’d memorized those on the untouchable list before coming tonight.

It hadn’t been a difficult task, considering she was the only Elite Bride listed.

I’d filed it away as a name to remember, thinking I wouldn’t meet her.

Never in my wildest dreams could I have thought up a scenario where she would bring Jenica as her plus-one.

“Did you find something interesting?” Jax asked, his voice behind me.

Jenica’s lips parted, her eyes widening even more as she attempted to fight my grip.

“I did,” I replied, holding her gaze for a beat. Then I released her chin to grab the back of her neck, my thumb pushing on her head, to force her to bow the way Adalyn had. The only difference was Adalyn had tied her hair back as most subs did, while Jenica had not.

Which meant her face was now hidden beneath a curtain of blonde hair.

“Two beautiful women in need of refills,” I said, taking the mostly empty glass from Jenica’s hand and setting it on the table beside what appeared to be a chocolate martini glass.

“Hmm,” Jax hummed. “I think I can help with that.” He set a pair of amber-colored drinks down on the glass, obviously having ordered one for me as well as himself. “What will it be?”

I glanced at Adalyn first and arched a brow. “Another martini?”

“I would prefer a water, Sir,” she whispered dutifully.

Good girl, I thought.

“I think they both could use some water,” I told Jax, giving him a meaningful look.

Alcohol should be imbibed in moderation, and the untouched tray of food told me they hadn’t eaten anything with their last drinks.

“On it,” he said, gathering the two soiled glasses and disappearing.

I waited until he was closer to the bar to press my lips to Jenica’s ear again. “Here is how this is going to go. You’re going to kneel on the floor beside me like a good little sub in training with your head bowed just like this. You’re not going to speak or move. Your obedience will be resolute. And if you’re good, Jax won’t have a clue you’re here.”

I looked at Adalyn.

“And you are going to stay right where you are and do all the talking. Your friend, Jen, is nervous and shy. I’m going to offer her comfort, something we both know you understand. When Jax gets bored, we’ll move on. Then you’re taking Jen home.”

“Yes, Sir,” she whispered, her training resolute.

Jenica, however, lacked the finesse and understanding of being a sub and attempted to lift her head. But my grip on her neck held her in place in front of me with ease. “You can’t tell us what to do,” she hissed.

“I can,” I corrected her. “You’re not a member, Jenica. All I have to do is snap my fingers and you’ll be removed. But it’ll be your roommate who pays the price for that more than you, as I suspect her trainer won’t be pleased by her pissing off a member.”

The pale coloring overtaking Adalyn’s olive skin tone confirmed my statement. “We’ll go, Sir,” she promised.

“Trainer?” Jenica repeated.

“We don’t have time for questions,” I told her before glancing over my shoulder to check on Jax. “Your brother is on his way back. Now, are you going to be a good little sub, or do I need to make a scene?” This served as an appropriate punishment—forcing her to kneel.

It would also please me immensely.

And it would allow me to help her hide her face.

Because if Jax caught her here, he would lose his ever-loving shit.

“Please, Jen,” Adalyn whispered. “Please kneel for him.”

Her plea almost made me want to go back on my threat. I didn’t know the full extent of what the trainers did with the Elite Brides, but her palpable distress felt wrong. Subs typically craved punishment. This one appeared to fear it.

“You’ll need to let go of my neck,” Jenica bit out, some of her spirit returning.

“No, darling, I don’t think I will.” I applied pressure, pulling her up into a standing position.

I stepped around her as I used my grip on her neck to angle her head back, allowing me to stare down into her eyes.

“I’m going to sit, and you’re going to move between my sprawled legs and slowly kneel before me. Then you’ll bow your head and lower those beautiful eyes for me.”

Jax had returned, the clank of glasses making Jenica jump.

Her eyes widened, and I gave her a meaningful look.

Obey, and I’ll keep quiet.

React, and you’ll regret it.

I slowly released her neck and allowed my fingers to trail down her non-inked arm in a display of possession, one Jax’s eyes tracked with interest.

It was a purposeful move to keep his gaze focused on the arm closest to him rather than the other one detailed in ink he would absolutely recognize. Her lacy gloves did a good job of masking the colorful tattoos, but if he looked hard enough, he’d see them.

And then the game would be over.

Fortunately, his rapt attention remained on my hand more than on her.

Fuck, if he only knew whom I was caressing, he would not have that look on his face.

It wasn’t an intimate one so much as a pleased one. I’d rejected countless women over the last few weeks during our evenings out. He’d asked me a few times if I was feeling all right, and I’d just claimed not to be interested.

He seemed relieved now that I’d found someone to play with. He probably assumed I just hadn’t found the right submissive bedmate at the bars.

Yet clearly I’d come across one I wanted to play with now.

Which wasn’t an inaccurate assessment. However, that didn’t make it right, either.

“Teaching?” he guessed.

“Yes,” I said, still holding Jenica’s gaze. “She’s new to kneeling, and I offered to explain it.”

“An intriguing lesson,” he mused.

Her horrified expression almost made me want to let her run, but there weren’t many options here unless she wanted to show him her face.

She swallowed, her blue eyes lowering just enough to tell me she was preparing herself mentally for the submission.

I gave her that moment, my thumb tracing the elegant line of her throat.

Then I took over her seat on the couch and spread my thighs for her.