Page 4 of Stripping the Sub
Or when she quickly turned and followed Leigh out towards the aisle, without even glancing at him.
What did surprise him was that when she made it to the aisle, she glanced back at him, teeth sinking into her lower lip nervously. Granted, she was blocked from actually leaving by everyone else in the rows behind them, but he was still a little surprised she looked back at him.
“What are you waiting for? Go get her!” Jake whispered from behind him, poking his finger into Michael’s back.
Michael was going to remember that for later.
But it wasn’t bad advice.
He strolled to the end of the aisle, enjoying the way Ellie’s fidgeting increased as he got closer. Anxiety was written in every line of her body, focusing him, making him more hyper-aware of her every movement. Yes, he got off on knowing he was causing her discomfort. After all, he enjoyed mental sadism as much as physical; a good mind fuck could be just as satisfying as a good flogging.
Seeing him coming, Leigh, Jared, Angel, Adam, Maria, and Rick - who had exited the aisle ahead of Ellie - all grinned. Internally, Michael sighed. It had become very apparent to him that the small group of friends was more gossip prone than high school teenage girls, and not just the women or the submissives either. All of them were guilty of it. Even the ones who claimed they tried to stay out of it, like Jared and Andrew.
It was just part of having friends though, and Michael liked having a stable group of friends again.
The aisle was clearing up by the time Michael made it to Ellie, but the others kept her trapped there by not moving, waiting for Michael’s approach. Having nosy friends wasn’t so bad when they were trapping a reluctant submissive for him.
Michael shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out and touching her. Even though she’d held hands with him, indicating she didn’t want him completely taken out of her life, he wasn’t going to rush in. He’d tried that when he’d first recognized her, and it had set him back months.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Catching her dark eyes with his, he held her gaze, ignoring the others. He stood close enough to her to loom but without touching her, making her aware of his presence without completely overpowering her with it.
“Play with me, tomorrow at Stronghold.” He didn’t phrase it as a question, but they both knew it was a request. Fear and excitement flared in her eyes. Still biting her lower lip, she nodded. Michael smiled at her. “Good girl.”
Then, for the first time,heretreated.
He turned his ass back around returned to join Olivia, Justin, Jessica, Chris, Liam, Hilary, Jake, Lexie, Patrick, Andrew, and Sharon on the other side of the aisle. Justin, Jessica, Chris, Liam, and Hilary were standing ahead of the rest of their group, gathered in a small cluster and laughing about something. Spaced behind them, Lexie and Sharon had their heads together, allowing Sharon to pretend Jake didn’t exist, while Andrew, Olivia, and Jake were involved in a conversation and Patrick was kind of staring off into space as he stood with his arms around Lexie. He looked like a guy who had something heavily weighing on his mind, but Michael wasn’t going to ask. While he was definitely becoming friendlier with everyone in the group, he was closer to Andrew, Angel, and Leigh than any of the others. And sort of Adam and Jared by default, although Jared was a pretty quiet guy and hard to get to know, and Adam… well, it was hard for the two of them not to butt heads now and then. They did their best for Angel’s sake, but Michael had been looking out for her for a long time, and Adam felt that was his job now, so they rubbed along uncomfortably, but Michael wouldn’t call them close or anything.
As he approached, Sharon looked up at him and gave him a wink. “Good job. She’s totally staring at you now.”
Lifting her head, Lexie grinned at him too. “Please tell me you guys are finally going to hook up. Watching you two is torture.”
“We’re going to scene together,” he said, keeping his voice casual at first, and then turning it stern for the warning. “Tomorrow. But you are not going to say anything to her about it. I don’t want anyone pushing her.”
Sharon rolled her eyes. Little brat. If she were more of a masochist, he would have been interested in playing with her when he first came back. She and Ellie even resembled each other a little; both petite and curvy with dark hair. Sharon’s was much longer though and her skin was more olive than Ellie’s pale cream. “Dude, we are so much more subtle than that.”
Behind her, Jake snorted and then looked away as her head snapped around to glare at him. A small smile played on Lexie’s lips. Luckily for Jake, the line of people was finally clearing up and they started moving up the aisle towards the lobby, where Kate would come out to meet them. Sharon flounced ahead with Andrew, her nose in the air, completely oblivious to Jake checking out her ass from behind. Michael noticed, but he didn’t say anything. She did have a cute, curvy ass after all.
“Want to go get a beer after this?” Jake asked, turning his head as he asked the question to include both Patrick and Michael.
Michael shrugged. “Sure.”
His day job wasn’t particularly demanding - Adam had hooked him up with an administrative assistant position through his temp agency - and he was between shows right now, so he had plenty of free time.
As they waited for Kate, he couldn’t help but think he felt a bit at loose ends. He’d come back to DC because he wanted something more permanent. He’d gotten tired of always being on the road for theater, always traveling and living out of a suitcase. It had been an incredible ride, but over the years, the enjoyment had started to pale. Now that he was here, he was still feeling restless and unsatisfied. Maybe it was the theater life in general that was starting to pale.
It was a lot of hard fucking work and not a lot of pay. Anyone who got into theater wasn’t doing it for the money.
Maybe he was just getting old. There were plenty of other actors who were older than him but… it just didn’t appeal the way it used to. He just didn’t know what else he wanted to do. Definitely not be an administrative assistant full time. He couldn’t see himselfnotworking either. But he wasn’t happy with where he was. Especially since a few months ago a great-uncle had passed away and left Michael with an inheritance. He didn’t have to work anymore, he just didn’t know what else to do. Thefeeling of being unsettled had been growing stronger every day he’d gone to work at a job he didn’t actually need. Being unsettled by Ellie hadn’t helped either.
Hanging out with friends helped.
Ellie turned down the invitation to go out and practically fled the lobby after giving Kate a quick hug, but the flushed look she gave Michael before she ran made him feel incredibly impatient for tomorrow. She was on edge and needed some time to regroup, and he was okay with that, even if he wished she had come out. Angel and Adam also headed home, Angel yawning her way through the goodbyes, and Jared and Leigh weren’t far behind them. Although Kate tried to talk Sharon into joining them, Sharon had gotten a text on her phone and was off to meet Brian, one of the newly trained Doms at Stronghold.
Standing next to Olivia, Michael was surprised to see her frowning as Sharon trotted off.
“Everything okay?” he asked the fiery-haired Domme. He liked Olivia, although he sometimes felt like she was still holding back her judgment on him.
