Chapter 17

17

Julie

Watching Connor cuddle Amy had been interesting.

It hadn't been good. But it hadn't been necessarily bad, either. Just… interesting. She'd enjoyed watching how caring he was, and at the same time, she'd definitely felt a little jealous. It was an interesting dichotomy.

If she was Kincaid, she'd be jealous of the way Zach was holding Amy. She happened to know that Kincaid was out of town this weekend. Did he know Zach was here? Probably, she answered her own question. It would be extremely foolish to be here out in the open if Kincaid didn't know.

The gossip train ran Stronghold. And Marquis.

Especially with Connor needing to intercede at the end of the scene—everyone was going to be talking about that for a bit.

She wondered if Kincaid had seen Zach and Amy together recently.

Though, with Amy getting married…

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Besides, Connor was almost to her. She tilted her head back, smiling up at him, reaching up to his chest. The leather Dungeon Monitor vest was cool under her palms, and she slid one hand up to his neck, encouraging him to bend down for a kiss.

When his hands came to rest on her waist, she shifted closer to him, feeling the growing bulge in the front of his pants as it rubbed against her stomach. She'd deliberately arrived when his shift was almost over, so she wouldn't have to wait long. Since she was surprising him, she wasn't sure if he'd be interested in a scene, but either way, they'd get some time together.

Even if he wasn't interested in a scene, she wanted to spend more time with him. If showing up at Stronghold because he'd taken on an extra DM shift was how she had to do it, so be it.

The kiss deepened, lingered—and abruptly cut off when a shrill scream echoed through the Dungeon. Connor jerked upward, fully at attention, and Julie was already going up on her tiptoes, trying to see where the noise had come from. The woman screamed again, a word this time, but Julie couldn't make out what it was.

"Who is it?"

"I don't know… I can't…" Connor's head was turning, his gaze scanning over all the equipment, looking for whose scene it was coming from. If he couldn't see them, she sure as hell wasn't going to be able to, no matter how much taller she tried to make herself.

Several more shrieks from different voices, then a moment of silence followed by chatter that had an oddly relieved sound to it.

"What the hell is going on?" Julie snapped, not liking that she was completely out of the loop. Especially since whatever it was had interrupted a very nice kiss. There was a stir among the crowd between them and whoever had been screaming, and suddenly, Master Michael came shouldering his way through, holding out his hands out in front of him, one atop the other, like there was something between them. Like Connor, he was dressed in leather pants and a Dungeon Monitor vest, indicating that he was currently on duty this evening. His eye-length brown hair swished as he walked, and he shook his head to move it back out of his eyes—since his hands were full.

Julie automatically stepped back as he moved, getting out of his way.

"What happened?" Connor asked as Master Michael approached.

Julie wondered if it would be too obvious to hide behind Connor. Master Michael was in the classic ‘I'm holding something gross in my hands' position, and it was likely the something gross had too many legs and was moving.

"Spider," Master Michael said, his lips starting to twist up before he managed to stop the smile. "A really big one. Angel just about took out Adam when she saw it, and for some reason, it kept running right for her. I've never seen her jump like that."

Managing to suppress a shudder, Julie took a deep breath. It wasn't that she was afraid of spiders or bugs. She just didn't like them. And she really preferred not to have to touch them. She also didn't want anyone thinking she was afraid or that she couldn't handle a spider. Especially when someone else was holding it.

"I'm gonna take this guy outside where he'll be safe… and so will Angel." Chuckling to himself, Micheal moved past them, heading for the stairs. Julie sighed with relief once he was past them.

Turning around, Connor looked down at her, amusement clear on his face.

"Don't like spiders?" he asked.

"Does anyone?"

"They've never bothered me much, but no, I guess I can't say I like them, either. My dad does, though. He likes watching them spin their webs. When I was a kid, he had a wolf spider that we kept as a pet. He named it Drake."

Julie didn't know what to do with that. While she knew people sometimes kept spiders as pets, she'd never known anyone who had one. Spiders were meant to be removed from the house immediately, along with any other bugs that made their way inside. But it sounded like Connor had fond memories of it.

"Did you play with Drake a lot?"

"Not really. Dad was worried about me being gentle enough with him." Connor shrugged. "I was kind of a clumsy kid. But sometimes I'd get to hold him if I kept very still, and he'd run up my arm and sit on my shoulder."

She suppressed a shudder.

No, thank you.

The way Connor was looking at her made her think that he realized he was making her uncomfortable. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's been five minutes." She was done talking about bugs. And spiders. "Do you want to scene?"

The smile that bloomed across his face was much more to her liking since it had nothing to do with being amused by her dislike of things with more than four legs.

"Yes, please, Mistress."

Good. Because she was in the mood to torment him a bit now.

Connor

By a stroke of luck, the Locker Room was available, though only for a short time before the next reservation. Connor relaxed as soon as they found out. He still wasn't ready to scene down in the main room of the Dungeon where anyone could see them. And if asked, he wouldn't have been able to explain why.

Thankfully, Mistress Julie didn't ask. She just looked at him with her fathomless, dark eyes and slowly nodded in agreement when he'd requested to see if any of the private rooms were available. If one hadn't been, maybe he would have been able to work himself up to it… but more likely, he would have suggested going out to the walled-in gardens behind Stronghold. Fewer people.

Less of an audience.

The submissives had accepted him. None of the Doms seemed angry at him. No one was treating him any differently. Yet he still wasn't comfortable scening in front of them, not if he didn't have to. Though once he'd said yes to Mistress Julie, he would have done so rather than disappoint her… but he was relieved it wasn't necessary.

She closed the door behind them. There was a window that looked into the hallway, and the shades could be drawn, which she went and did. Connor knew that meant whoever was monitoring the cameras tonight would be paying extra attention to the audio from this room, just in case he safeworded. Safety came first. Having one watcher didn't bother him, especially since he couldn't see them watching.

The Locker Room was exactly what it sounded like, with the walls mostly made up of lockers—other than where the window was—and there were two long benches down the center of the room. It could accommodate a couple or quite a few people if someone had a football team and cheerleader fantasy they wanted to fulfill. As rooms went, it wasn't the most comfortable, but this particular room was all about the fantasy—and there was plenty of function to go along with it.

For instance, the lockers were full of implements and toys that could be used. They served as both aesthetic and storage. Mistress Julie went over and opened one.

"Hmmm… we don't have long," she said out loud while Connor stood by the benches, hands at his side, watching her with slowly growing nervous anticipation. She turned her head to look at him. "I'd like to plug you, Connor."

It wasn't a request; it was a statement. His cock immediately hardened even further, his cheeks clenching automatically. She seemed to be waiting for some kind of answer or maybe just making sure he wasn't going to say his safeword.

He sure as hell wasn't.

Ever since he'd realized what pegging was, he'd had multiple fantasies about Mistress Julie doing it to him. But he hadn't had anything in his ass since the introduction class, so it was probably best to start with a plug.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Standing still, he felt like he was quivering in place as she smiled at him, then turned back to the locker she was looking through. He happened to know it was full of a lot of different kinds of plugs, all for sale if someone hadn't brought one from home. If they used one, it would be added to her account. He made a mental note to pay her back for it later.

"Strip down." She wasn't looking at him, but it didn't matter. Connor immediately started to strip. Heck, at least it gave him something to do while he waited. By the time his clothes were off, so was the packaging on the plug she'd chosen for him.

Shit.

The black length of silicone she was holding didn't look that big, but it wasn't little, either. His muscles clenched again, trying to protect his ass. In her other hand, she held a small pack of lube.

"Bend over, feet apart, hands on the bench."

Holy shit. She had the bossy teacher voice down pat. Then again, she was a teacher for the introduction classes, but this was the first time in a while that he'd had the opportunity to hear it. Besides, during the class, it had always been directed at all the students at large—now it was just for him.

Completely naked, dick bobbing in front of him, he felt her eyes moving up and down his body as he got into position. It felt awkward, maybe even a little embarrassing, but when she ran her hand down his back and spoke, he completely relaxed.

"Good boy. You please me very much."

Fuck, he wanted to please her.

Her hand ran down the small of his back, then over his ass. With his feet spread apart, even when his cheeks automatically clenched, they couldn't entirely close. Bent forward, feet apart, the little hole where the plug was going to go was entirely vulnerable.

"Hold still, Connor. We're going to take this slowly… but I am on a bit of a time crunch." That last part was said a bit reprovingly, probably because it was his fault. He was the one who had wanted a private room, which was why she couldn't take her time.

"Sorry, Ma'am." He really was sorry. Next time, he wouldn't ask. Not if it bothered her enough to make a remark about it, even though she'd agreed.

He heard her let out a long, slow breath as her hand caressed him, sliding down to cup his balls and give them a little tug. Just enough to feel really damn good. Connor groaned as she cradled them in her hand, panting for breath at the pleasant sensation of her fingers rolling them.

"No, I'm sorry, Connor. That wasn't fair." She tugged his balls again, like an apology. It hurt just enough to make the pleasure feel even greater. "We'll make the most of it, and next time, I'll make sure I have a room reserved for us."

"You don't— Ah!" Her hand squeezed a bit harder as the tip of the plastic nosed against his anus. It had already been lubricated, and he could feel the small hole being pushed open as she added pressure.

"Breathe, Connor. I promise I'm not going to hurt you… much." There was a certain amount of devious, sadistic glee in her voice, which made him shudder even as his anticipation shot even higher. He groaned as she pulled the plug back just a bit, then pushed it deeper, his sphincter aching as it was stretched.

It hurt.

It felt good.

He felt more vulnerable than he ever had in his life, with his balls in her hand and a plug slowly pushing into his ass, yet he wouldn't have traded this moment for anything.