Chapter Seven

As Vihaal and I walked up to the bar, the person behind it tucked the towel they were using to tidy up into their waistband and smiled.

"Good evening. What can I get you?"

Vihaal had opened his wallet and now placed a glossy plastic card on the bar.

Maverick Molly's, Kink Club and Gaming Parlor was embossed in gold on the top.

"I'd like to add another person to my membership profile."

"Of course. I'll just text Sebastian. He's in the office."

"I've not met you before," Vihaal said. "I'm Vihaal Petrovsky and this is Angel Barnett. The young man at our table is Gideon Foster. Vihaal and I are already members, and Angel would like to sign up."

They extended a hand to us. "I'm Darya. My pronouns are she/her."

"Excellent. He/him," Vihaal said. "Angel?"

"He/him," I said. "Thanks."

"Wonderful. Give me one moment and I'll have Sebastian come and get you sorted," Darya said, picking up her phone from under the bar and tapping its surface.

It wasn't long before Sebastian came into the gaming parlor and walked over to us. His eyes went wide when he saw me standing with Vihaal.

"Well, well, well. You look great, Angel. Wait, is that…eyeliner?" he asked, squinting.

"Maybe," I said, grinning.

He laughed. "Super-hot! I love it."

"Gideon convinced me to give it a try."

"Well, it works." He turned to Vihaal. "I see you finally convinced Angel to check out the parlor. Where's Gideon?"

"Over there," Vihaal replied. "Seems to be entranced by whichever molly boy is speaking to him at the moment."

Sebastian looked over at our table.

"Oh, that's Toby. He has a way of entrancing pretty much everyone," he said, returning his gaze to Vihaal. "What can I do for you?"

"Gideon and I decided we wanted some voyeuristic company in the Bordello this evening. And Angel here seems willing to indulge our taste for exhibitionism."

I looked at the floor, but I couldn't help smiling. Talk about going from zero to one hundred. I glanced at Sebastian.

"You fucking liar," he said, glaring at me with mock irritation. Then he raised the timbre of his voice in a way that sounded nothing like me— I hope . "Oh, I'm straight, Sebastian. We're just friends. They took me out to dinner. Wait, have they been trying to seduce me? " He put his hand to his chest in mock surprise, then laughed gleefully.

I narrowed my eyes as Vihaal gazed on with much amusement.

"Very funny," I said. "I don't sound like that. And that isn't what I said."

"That's pretty much exactly what you said." Sebastian held up his hands. "Never mind. I'm glad things have moved forward. It's about fucking time."

"Yes," Vihaal agreed. "Gideon and I are thrilled."

"All right, all right. So, I'm curious," I said, shrugging.

Sebastian lifted his hands. "Hey, you don't have to explain it to me."

I filled out and signed some electronic documents, then a card was printed for me.

"Thank you," I said. "I can cover the cost of my membership."

"Nonsense," Vihaal dismissed me with a wave. "I'm happy to do it. It's on my account, yes, but you can come here on your own or with someone else."

"Whoa, whoa," I said, staring at him in shock. "I'm not gonna come with anyone else."

"What I mean is, there are no restrictions. And if we were to, God forbid, come to a disagreement, it's very easy for Sebastian to take it off my account and create a separate account for you. Isn't that right, Sebastian?"

"Yep. Simple as anything."

I looked at Vihaal. "I'm not worried."

"Well, now that you're all signed up, let's get back to Gideon before he does something silly, and forgets all about us," Vihaal muttered.

Sebastian bid us a good evening and left.

Vihaal smiled and, with a jerk of his head, beckoned me back to the table.

Gideon was still chatting with Toby, who turned to acknowledge us.

"Good evening, Mr. Petrovsky. Mr. Foster and I were just discussing paddles, and which ones were best for an entertaining discipline session." He turned to me. "Oooh, I haven't seen you, before."

"Toby, this is Angel Barnett. Angel, Toby."

"Fuck, what an awesome name. Is your mom religious?" Toby asked, batting his eyelashes at me in a flirtatious manner.

I laughed. "No, no. Maybe it was wishful thinking."

"Toby was telling me about some new items they've added to the kink room," Gideon said, with a mischievous smile.

"Isn't that interesting," Vihaal murmured as he took his seat. "Shouldn't he be giving that information to me? I'm the one in charge."

"It's okay, babe. I'll fill you in," Gideon said as he turned to me. "So, all signed up?"

"Oooh, a new member? Welcome to Maverick Molly's!" Toby said, eyeing me up and down. "Is this your very first time?"

"Not in the building. I'm Sebastian and Jacob's accountant. But it's my first time enjoying the gaming parlor."

"Oh! Maybe I have seen you before. But you didn't look like this," he said, making a sweeping gesture with his hand.

"Thanks… I think."

"Yes, that was a compliment. You look hot."

I felt my cheeks heat.

"Toby, would you get me a refill on my ginger ale please?" Vihaal asked. "We still have some time before we can get the key."

"Of course. Back in a jiff."

Toby left in a swirl of white cotton.

"A lot of men are checking you out, Angel."

"Gideon," Vihaal said in a stern tone.

"What? He might as well know he's a hotty."

"Well, somehow I must be. Or neither of you would have paid any attention to me."

"Regardless of the fact that anyone can be sexy if they're confident enough, I must say that your looks…did come into it," Vihaal admitted.

I stared at him and lifted my chin. "Oh?"

He smiled. "Of course. All those freckles and that mouth…" he said, making a swoony face. "And don't even get me started on the red hair."

"Oh, come on. Really?" I said.

"Yes. You look younger than you are."

I pretended to be shocked. "Vihaal. You reprobate."

"I'm a reprobate?"

I smiled and put my chin in my hand, gazing at him dreamily. "Yes. I think that's what I like about you."

* * * *

By the time Vihaal had retrieved the key from Darya and we were standing in front of the door to the Bordello, I was raring to go and already halfway hard.

Vihaal turned to me. "You'll have a safeword, Angel."

I frowned. "Will I need one?"

He shrugged. "We all have the option to stop the scene if needs be. You might change your mind."

"I won't."

"It might be too much."

"I doubt it."

"You might need to go to the bathroom."

"Vihaal. I just went."

He chuckled. "Darling, anything can happen in there. Safewords are a handy tool." Vihaal smiled. "Ready?"

"Hell, yes," I said.

He keyed open the door while Gideon laced our fingers together.

"This is going to be so much fun!"

I'd never actually been in this room before. I'd itemized every piece of furniture and implement from the receipts, but I'd never been in the Bordello at Maverick Molly's.

Now that I was here, I didn't know where to look first.

"Here, let me show you around. I know this place like it's written on the backs of my eyeballs."

"You should," Vihaal said. "We've been in here often enough."

"True. As soon as I step into this room, I'm ready to go," Gideon said. "Now, look. Here we have a very Victorian set up, with a settee and a rug and a vanity and mirror. There's also a rack of antique or made-to-look-antique clothing here on this rack. Did you ever play dress-up as a kid, Angel?"

"My sisters might have put me in a dress once or twice. When I was little."

Vihaal looked over at me. "Hmm. What interesting information. Would you like to watch me dress Gideon up in something?" He ran his fingers over the edge of the wood frame of the settee in a singularly seductive fashion. "That might be a nice way to start."

"Yes!" Gideon agreed. "Let's ease into it for once." He rolled his eyes. "Honestly, lately it's all been a bit wham, bam, thank you ma'am ."

"Has it?" Vihaal asked, a stern tone underpinning his words.

"Well, you know what I mean. We get right to business."

"Well, I usually don't have time to waste."

" Waste!" Gideon said, and Vihaal grinned.

Vihaal continued. "Don't forget what you are in this room, my little Deo. You need to start addressing me in the proper way."

"Oh, damn. I did forget," Gideon said, releasing my hand and immediately sinking to his knees on the rug in front of Vihaal. "I'm so sorry, Vihaal," he said.

A blaze of heat went through me at the sight. He looked so demure and sweet, kneeling there.

"Angel, come here," Vihaal said.

I did.

"In this room, Gideon is my submissive. There are certain rules and procedures that we follow."

"Right," I said. "Okay."

"While we are in this room, even though you won't be participating in the scene, you are also my submissive."

I'm what? "Pardon?"

He grinned. "Don't look so scared. I'm not a monster. And we've already agreed that you're only going to watch."

"Yes. Right," I said, my body aflame and we hadn't even started.

"I simply mean that I'm in charge. You'll need to follow my instructions if you want the scene to proceed with any validity."

"Of course," I said, happy to go along if it would get me a front row seat at the Vihaal and Gideon kink show.

"Excellent. Stay here."

I watched Vihaal grab a straight chair and bring it over, my heart pounding. He placed it on the floor just inside the door, where I'd have a good view of the Victorian parlor space.

"Sit."

I grabbed the back of the chair and spun it around so I could straddle it, and sat. Gideon was still staring at the floor, but Vihaal gazed at me with a surprised expression that soon morphed into one of displeasure.

And that look of disappointment made my cock go fully hard even as it sent a thrill of real fear down my spine.

Had I done something wrong? I looked down at the way I was sitting.

My cheeks flushed and I stood, heart pounding, and turned the chair back around, placing it the way Vihaal had put it. I sat on it properly.

"Much better," Vihaal stated.

I swallowed, feeling hot and cold and all kinds of delicious things.

"Yes, Sir," I said, testing the word in my mouth. "Sorry, Sir."

"You don't have to call me Sir, but I appreciate the effort. Vihaal is fine."

"Yes, Vihaal."

He kept his eyes on mine as he spoke.

"Safeword, Gideon?"

"Tambourine."

"And what's mine ?"

"Tarnish."

"And what safeword shall we give to Angel?"

My body was a combustion of desire and we hadn't even started. How was I going to observe this without embarrassing myself by begging to join in, or worse, coming in my pants?

Vihaal pinioned me with his intense gaze, full of his intrinsic power and a hunger so raw, yet so controlled that it was like a lion pacing its cage.

Gideon looked at the floor as the corner of his mouth curved.

"Devil," he murmured.

"Oh, that's good," Vihaal said. "Repeat it, please," he said to me.

"Devil," I said.

"Pardon? Speak more clearly."

Wow. This was next level stern schoolteacher shit.

I cleared my throat.

"Devil," I said repeated, watching Vihaal and wondering how he made me feel like a little kid and a very grown-up man in way over his head at the same time.