Page 313 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

“I mean the mind is capable of controlling more than we fathom. The power of belief is incredible. And I know firsthand how malleable belief can be.”

Stella and Fox would usually roll their eyes at him at this point, but Kate was sitting forward in her chair, drinking it up. He decided to show her his cheap parlor trick. “Okay, here's a super simple example of how much your mind controls.” He rummaged through the drawer in the kitchen that held the miscellaneous things until he found a safety pin and a lighter. He held the pointed tip of the pin under the flame of the lighter for a few seconds to sterilize it.

“Look at me.”

She complied.

“I'm going to prick you with this pin, but you will feel no pain.” He pricked the back of her hand in two places and she didn't flinch at all. “Now Kate, please close this hole off so no blood comes out. Now send one and only one drop of blood out of this other hole.” They both watched as a single drop came out of one hole, while nothing happened with the other.

“You see? I didn't make you bleed that way—you did. Your brain somehow knew how to control your blood to follow my directions. There are thousands of applications for this. Many of them people are already using—like hypnosis for pain-free childbirth, or to have surgery without anesthesia. There's no limit to what could happen when you start playing with your brain.” He shrugged. “Anyway, that's what I'm interested in.”

“It's fascinating,” Kate said, and he felt gratified.

“Well, piccolina mia, I think this has been enough of a break,” he said, standing up and starting to clean up the dishes. She jumped to join him.

“What does piccolina mean?”

“Pretty little one. You're playing at Congress tonight?”

She nodded.

He checked his watch. “So that gives you two more hours to work, if you have it in you.” He wasn't sure at this point how much to enforce, but she nodded.

“Sounds good. Thanks for helping me with this, Dom.” She beamed a smile at him that melted him in his place. He kissed the top of her head and left her to her studies. Two hours later, she was still typing away intently when he interrupted her so she could get ready for her gig at Club Congress.

“The trouble is, I'm not really in the zone for performing now,” she said after they'd both changed for the evening. “Can you give me a new suggestion?”

He looked at her beautiful face. It was hard to refuse her anything. But depending on him was not in her best interest. “Why don't you try it for yourself? Just set your intent to be in the perfect zone for performing, and it will happen for you.”

She looked at him doubtfully.

“Well, you have to believe for it work. You trust in what I've shown you so far, right?”

She nodded.

“Then trust me when I say that your intent is enough. You don't need me to do it for you.”

“Okay.” She looked flustered and he could feel a mild impression of hurt and disappointment coming from her.

“I'll go catch a ride with Fox. Should I come to the club after closing? Or meet you here? Or… should I just take my stuff now?” She had faltered completely now.

He couldn't seem to turn on the disciplinarian voice to tell her sternly that she was still under house arrest until her paper was finished. He should have, because it would've relieved the tension and made her laugh.

Instead, he just kissed her cheek. “Meet me at No Return.”

She avoided his eye as she picked up her bag. “Okay, I'll see you there.”

When she left, he sighed. As if he'd needed one more example of why he was bad news for Kate Strand.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why was it so easy for her to feel rejected? She tried to shake off the feeling she'd had leaving Dom and get into the right head space to perform. She took his advice and set her intent to be in the right zone for it.

She was using Fox's keyboard since hers had been destroyed in the crash. He'd said she could use it indefinitely, which took the pressure off her to buy a new one. As she started to play, she found that Dom had been right. She was able to summon the right energy to perform, just by setting her intent to do so. It was a smooth and easy night and rather than wait for Fox, since he was getting his game on with some boys, she took off to walk the four blocks to No Return as soon as they were finished. Fox could put the keyboard back in his car.

Customers were still being herded out of No Return when she got there, and there was a new bouncer standing at the front gate who crossed his arms and blocked her way when she tried to pass him to go in. “Club's closed,” he grunted.

“I know, I work here. Remember? I played in the band last night?”

“Well you're not working here tonight, are you?” he demanded.

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