Page 75 of Pressure

Marissa flashed a grin. “Oh, that’s obvious. You wanted to spank her or throttle her, and not in the sexy way. That much was obvious. I’ll be OK. Sorry for working. I just needed to clear my head for a few minutes.”

He pulled her out of her chair as she tugged the headphones off and sat them on the table. “It’s OK. We’re going to forget about this and move on with our evening. Do you need to go back upstairs for a little bit or are you good?”

He gently stroked her cheek as he waited for her response.

“I’m good, Sir. Let’s get in there. When does the party start?”

“Seven. Dungeon opens at seven-thirty.”

That gave them about thirty minutes to finish set-up and get the doors open. When they stepped into the lobby holding hands, Simon, the head of their set-up crew was bustling through the door.

“Good evening, Master Lance, Marissa. Should I reserve an alcove for you tonight?”

Lance shook his head. “No thank you, Simon. We’re going to play in the main dungeon tonight. Do you need an extra set of hands? Marissa needs something to do. Just don’t pair her with Jodie for tonight.”

Marissa looked at him and shook her head no but stopped when he narrowed his gaze at her. Helping with set-up was part of a house subs duties and she was the one who wanted to be a real house sub. Besides, he needed a few minutes on his own to prepare for the scene he had in mind for later.

“Right this way, Marissa. We still need to stock the alcoves with fresh cleaning supplies.”

Marissa gave him a tense nod and Lance kissed her cheek. “Relax, Kitten. I’ll be close by.”

She smiled and briefly rested her head on his shoulder.

When she followed Simon back into the bar, Lance leaned against the reception desk and drew in a long breath. He hadn’t been this nervous about playing in the dungeon since his first few months being part of the Chicago kink scene.

Forty-five minutes later, he reclaimed Marissa from Simon and led her to the bar. Jodie was nowhere to be found and he’d seen Hunter disappear into the third parlor room a few minutes earlier.

“How are you feeling, Kitten?” Lance asked when they settled onto barstools and sipped on beers.

“Better. I like Simon. He’s sweet. Is he a house sub?”

Lance nodded. “In a way. He’s submissive and he started out as part a trainee, but we basically promoted him to the head of the program. He keeps the schedules of the shifts the house subs are supposed to work and makes sure set up goes smooth, and he works with whichever board member is supervising shut down each night. But he doesn’t have a specific house Dom he answers to. Mostly because we only have two female dominants who take on house subs and they don’t get to attend very often. It’s definitely an area we’re lacking in.”

Marissa listened intently as he talked about the club.

As they finished their beers, he picked up her hand and kissed it. “Let’s go to the dungeon, love.”

Together, they stood and walked into the dungeon where soft music was playing. It would ramp up to more intense music as people started playing. For now, most of them were milling about, being social.

The sound of a spanking caught their attention, and they both turned to find Eli using a hairbrush on Holly. Marissa looked away as they heard Holly cry out an apology for something.

Lance tugged her away from the sounds as Eli showed no signs of ending the spanking anytime soon. He didn’t punish Holly often, so whatever she’d done must have been serious to warrant a beginning of the night spanking in the public dungeon.

They wandered to a set of couches on the far side of the room and he tugged her into his lap. “You OK?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’m fine. Feel sorry for Holly, though,” she said with a giggle. “I can see a spanking, Lance. I just can’t handle getting one.”

He nodded and stroked her cheek. “I’m just making sure. I don’t want you in a bad head space before we play.”

She leaned down and kissed him. “I appreciate that, Sir.”

When she pulled away, he hooked a finger beneath her chin and stared up at her. The soft light of the dungeon cast her features in shadows in a way that made his dick hard. She belonged in a place like this as long as he was by her side or standing over her. A lopsided smile formed as he thought of the plans he had for her tonight. He didn't want to give those away though, so he quickly schooled his expression into the emotionless mask he often wore.

Around them, people slowly made their way to various play stations to begin their fun for the evening.

Some would wait until later tonight and others would bounce from scene to scene playing all night long. Across the room he spied Dakota talking with a longtime member. She poked him in the chest, and he grabbed her wrist and hauled her to a nearby play station. It would be one of many scenes for her tonight. The southern cattle heiress said it was how she let off steam. She wasn't looking for love or a collar just a fun time.

His eyes continued to scan the dungeon until they landed on Jax Fischer who sat in a corner watching the same scene he'd been eyeing.

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