Page 30 of Gideon
“A Dominant is one part of the BDSM community. It’s all about kink. I enjoy taking control of a woman, typically sexually, in a way that is consented to by both parties.” I gave her the textbook paraphrasing of my particular proclivities in their barest form.
“So you and a woman decide to have sex and you just control her? But she agrees to it?” she extrapolated, and I shrugged.
“Yes, but it’s more than that. When I find a partner I want to scene with — or have a sexual encounter with — we negotiate the terms of what we are going to do. We both agree to it and then we play out that scene in a way that gives both of us enjoyment and pleasure.” I wasn’t explaining this well. In a way I was, but it felt like I was just scratching the surface of what this was for me. I wasn’t good with words like Ollie and Levi. I wished they could handle this part of the conversation.
On second thought — no, I did not. That would have been awkward as fuck.
“I don’t quite get it. That sounds like every man here in Zion,” she muttered.
“Sort of, yes, but only in a small way. Here in Zion, the men control their women, but the women do not consent. They think they do, but they don’t. Think back on our wedding day. Were you told about what would happen? Were you given all the facts before you agreed to the arrangement?” I asked, hoping my line of questioning would sink in and hit home.
“I didn’t consent at all to the arrangement,” she admitted, looking down at her hands again.
That hit me hard. So fucking hard.
“You didn’t agree to it?” I asked, confused once more.
“No. They did not ask me about it at all. I was told I would marry Gideon Temple, and I was told what day it would take place. From there, the only things I was told about were how to be a good wife and such. They didn’t tell me about what would happen on our wedding day. I wasn’t told anything about sex other than the fact that I needed to lie back and let my husband do what his carnal nature required of me. I was told about the importance of giving my husband babies. But nothing about what would happen in the church's basement. Not that I was all that surprised,” she scoffed derisively.
“What do you mean by that?” I interjected, the last part of her tirade piquing my interest.
“Nothing. Anyway, no, no one asked me if I wanted to marry you, much less whether I consented to it,” she admitted.
I sat there for a solid minute, blinking slowly, as I tried to imagine what it would be like to have no say at all in a matter as serious as marriage. I knew that women in Zion had little say in anything, but I honestly had thought they at least could say if they consented to the marriage. Perhaps they couldn’t just say no and call the whole thing off, but I thought they at least got a say in who they wanted to accept. It was mind-boggling, and it was disgusting.
“I’m so sorry, Naomi. I didn’t know,” I apologized, placing my hand on top of hers gently.
“It’s alright. Like you said, Zion is just a cult parading around as a church,” she laughed, shrugging off the bleak reality of it all as though it were nothing. “Tell me more,” she asked.
“About which part?” I asked for clarification.
“About this kink thing.” This was the part I had been looking forward to most. I wanted her to know the real me. The way my brothers’ wives knew them. But there was still something that held me back; something deep within me that worried about her reaction. She may want to leave Zion just like we did, which had been a shock in and of itself, but I doubted I would be lucky enough to have her accept my kink as well. That was just too much to ask for.
“I think we’ve talked about enough tonight,” I answered with a heavy sigh.
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew it had been exactly the wrong thing to say.
CHAPTER9
NAOMI
He was impossible. More than impossible, he was infuriating! I had just experienced awickedcase of emotional and mental whiplash, and now he wanted to call it quits? Just when it was getting good?!
I had gone from rifling through his things, trying to find something to help me escape, to learning that he wanted to leave, too. He just admitted to seeing Zion for what it was. He wasn’t one of them. And, more shocking yet, I believed him.
But it was like he was purposely trying to undercut the other little tidbit he had let slip. He was into kink. I did not know what that was exactly, but I needed to find out, and fast.
“Uh uh. No way. You’re not getting off that easy,” I scoffed at him, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Excuse me?” He shot a look at me like he couldn’t believe the words were coming out of my mouth. Get in line, buddy. I felt the same after the last hour of conversation.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Please remember to turn your hearing aidonbefore beginning a conversation,” I sassed him with every ounce of snark I could muster. And I could muster up a whole hell of a lot. His golden eyes narrowed at me, the shock melting off his face to be replaced with a rakish, almost annoyed anger that had my core clenching against my own more logical reasoning.
“I beg your pardon?” he bit out, his voice low and just shy of raspy in a way that only furthered the tiny spark of arousal that had begun. What was it about fighting with this man that set my heart to racing and my panties to flooding?
“You heard me, didn’t you? If not, I would highly suggest we have a real talk about those hearing aides,” I chuckled, turning from him and looking down at my nails in an attempt at feigned nonchalance. Completely feigned and fake as hell, I tried to keep the blush from flushing across my cheeks. I felt as well as heard his growl of response.
“You’re on a short leash, there darling,” he all but spat at me, that rasp in his voice growing stronger and making me quiver in response.
