4. Zane

The night was running as smoothly as Zane could have hoped for. One of the well-known Doms of the club was doing a demonstration in the dungeon and had a woman restrained against a St. Andrews Cross. Not really his cup of tea but it was always interesting to observe a scene, and based on the size of the crowd that was standing around the room, other people loved watching it too.

Hanging out in the dungeon wasn’t where Zane preferred to be, but the less time he spent in the Littles’ playroom, the better. Being in there only reminded him that he and Jace were still without a Little of their own and that reminder always pissed him off. They were two attractive, successful men in their late thirties, and even though they’d shared a number of women over the years, none had ever stuck around for long.

He could tell Jace was lonely, too, and that made it all the worse. Jace was his best friend in the whole world and he would do anything to make his friend happy, but he wasn’t able to give him the one thing he knew Jace wanted. A Little of their own.

They had met in college and attended several of the same business classes together, but it wasn’t until one night when they ran into each other at a club that they became friends. When they discovered they had the same interests, they grew even closer and then one night, they shared a Little. They had never dated a woman solo after that and they never would.

Hell, they owned a business together, a house together, and lived their lives together. The only thing they didn’t share was a bedroom. Nah, they didn’t swing that way with each other. Sure, they had seen each other naked countless times but crossing swords just wasn’t their thing. To the vanilla world, they probably seemed like a couple. But they weren’t and they didn’t care what other people thought. Unfortunately, they’d never be complete until they found the Little girl who was meant for them.

Stepping away from the dungeon, Zane walked by the bar and looked around to make sure everything was running smoothly there. The bartender noticed him and gave him a thumbs up. Moving further into the club, he made his way to the Littles’ playroom. He wouldn’t stay for long, but it was his job to make sure all areas of the club were running seamlessly and that everyone was being safe.

As soon as he opened the door, he knew something was wrong. The room monitor was on alert and the room was full of Littles and Tops staring in one direction.

“Hey, give me that! I want it!”

Looking in the direction that everyone else was, Zane immediately strode toward two Littles seemingly in the middle of a disagreement.

“I wasn’t done with it. You can have it when I’m done,” a Little that he knew as Tessa said.

Looking at the other Little, Zane furrowed his eyebrows. He had never seen her before and if he had, he would have surely remembered her.

“What’s going on here, girls?” he asked.

Both women looked up at him. Tessa was frowning and looked to be on the verge of tears while the other woman was scowling with her arms crossed.

“She snatched the book out of my hand while I was in the middle of reading it, so I grabbed it back,” Tessa explained in a wobbly voice.

Looking at the other Little, Zane raised his eyebrows. “Is that true?”

The Little huffed and lowered her gaze from his.

“Eyes up here. Now,” he commanded.

Her eyes snapped up to his and he could see so much defiance in her gaze that it made his palms itch. If she were his, he was certain she’d have a hot bottom quite frequently if this attitude was anything to go by.

“Is what Tessa said true?” he asked again.

“The rules say we have to share the toys. She wasn’t sharing,” she told him.

Tilting his head, Zane wondered who this little girl was and who she belonged to. Despite the grumpy expression on her face, she was gorgeous. Long, curly brown hair pulled up in high pigtails, pouty pink lips, and the bluest eyes he’d ever seen.

He didn’t even know the woman yet the thought of her lips on him made his cock ache. When was the last time he’d had a reaction to a woman? It had been months since he and Jace had even had sex. But this arousal felt unexplainably different.

“You’re right about that. The toys all need to be shared here but snatching something out of someone’s hands isn’t polite. Did you ask Tessa if you could read the book after she was done?”

He knew before she even opened her mouth that she was about to lie to him.

“Yes.”

“You did not! You’re lying!” Tessa cried out.

Before he could stop it, the little girl in front of him snatched the book from Tessa’s hands and threw it.

“Okay, that’s it. You. Stand up right now,” he said sternly, pointing to the Little he didn’t know.

She let out a long dramatic sigh before climbing to her feet. She was a tiny little thing compared to him. Maybe a few inches over five feet, with thick thighs and full breasts and she was absolutely fucking adorable.

“Do you have a Top here?” he asked.

Rolling her eyes, the woman shook her head. “Here we go again.”

Oh, the sass on this one. He wanted to take a paddle to her bottom already.

“Again, huh? I take it this isn’t your first time being in trouble?”

When she didn’t respond and didn’t look at him, Zane reached out and hooked her chin with his index finger, tilting her head back.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Ruby.”

“I’m Zane. One of the owners of the club. Now, do you have a Top here?”

She shook her head no, but he didn’t miss the longing expression on her face as she did so.

“Let’s go have a talk about your behavior.”

Wrapping his hand loosely around her bicep, he led her out of the playroom and down the hall toward his office. As much as he wanted to bend her over his lap, pull down her panties, and redden her bottom, it wasn’t his place to do so. At least not without her agreeing to it. He wasn’t her Daddy, though the idea of Daddying her made his cock painfully hard against the zipper of his jeans.

Closing the office door behind them, he led her to his desk and pointed toward one of the chairs in front of it.

“Sit down and explain to me why you think it was okay to snatch a book out of someone’s hands and then throw it across the room.”

“Don’t wanna,” she replied.

She sounded so Little, and he suspected she was in a very Little headspace, which was pretty common, especially when they were in trouble.

“You don’t wanna? That’s not an acceptable answer, Ruby. Try again.”

“No.”

Huh.

He wasn’t really used to Littles telling him no. Between his size alone and how stern he came across, they usually jumped to his command. But not this one. Nope. She was different.

If she wasn’t going to follow the rules of the club and she wasn’t going to cooperate with him while he tried to talk to her, the only other thing he could do was to kick her out. But kicking someone out who was deep in a Little headspace wasn’t something he was comfortable with.

“Fine. If you don’t want to talk, you can go stand in the corner over there for fifteen minutes, and then we’ll try again.”

Her eyes widened as she let out a gasp. “Fifteen minutes!”

“Would you like to make it twenty? Go. Now. Don’t make me start counting.”

The whiny sound she made when she stood up almost had him smiling, but instead, he kept a stern expression on his face. As she walked toward the corner, she was mumbling something under her breath.

“No talking while you’re in the corner.”

Looking back at him, she glared. “I’m not in the corner yet.”

“Little girl, you are pushing it,” he barked.

She quickly turned and scurried the rest of the way into the corner. Taking in a deep breath, Zane silently counted to ten in his head. He couldn’t remember a time when a Little had affected him and challenged him so much at once.

After several minutes of watching her, he sat down at his desk and tried to do some work. But the frilly backside of the Little girl made his eyes keep moving back to her. When the office door opened and Jace walked in, Zane watched as his friend noticed Ruby in the corner, a look of relief crossing his face.

“What did she do this time?” he asked.