I knew Addison wasn’t new to the scene because I recognized her as a regular. She was part of Dichotomy’s submissive training class, which allowed her to work a couple of nights a week to cover her membership dues.
Granted, I hadn’t seen her in a while because Ben and I had been keeping our distance from the club. Shortly after my father died, I’d retreated from the scene, but that was a little over four months ago and Ben was now insisting that we start to move forward. I agreed with him, hence the reason we were here tonight.
As I kept my eyes pinned on Addison and Ben, there was a strange twitch in my chest cavity. The two of them together…they seemed to fit and I couldn’t help but think she might be perfect for us.
If I could trust her, that was.
I got the distinct feeling she knew right from wrong. She’d merely made a poor choice in partner, and for whatever fucking reason, she hadn’t extricated herself before it got out of hand.
That led to another thought. I had to wonder if Ben and I had come here tonight for this very reason, to be the ones to interrupt that particular scene. This girl had been in over her head. What she needed was someone to treat her with the respect she deserved. Perhaps someone who could take things slow with her, reintroduce her to the lifestyle in a manner she could understand, someone who would cherish her.
Baby steps, Parker.
My eyes swept over the pair in front of me.
Fuck baby steps.
Looking at them, I was ready to jump in with both feet.
Which meant I was likely not the right person for the job, but I couldn’t deny that I was damn tempted.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I told Ben, nodding my head toward Addison. I wanted him to stay there and take care of her, not let her bolt like I feared she was going to do.
My pup nodded, then tightened his arms around the girl and tucked her head into his chest once more.
Stepping out of the room and closing the door behind me, I took a deep breath and tried to clear my head of all the nonsense.
“How’s she doing?” Master Edge asked when I turned around.
Gregory Edge was a longtime friend of mine. We’d worked together before I ventured off to open my own firm a decade ago. In fact, for the past eight years, ever since our company had started turning profits, I’d done my damnedest to recruit him, but to no avail.
“She claims she’s fine,” I informed him. “I checked for marks. There are a few red welts, a couple that’ll likely result in a nasty bruise, but I think Ben managed to intervene before that asshole could hurt her too badly.”
“I’m scheduling a meeting with my DMs,” Greg noted. “That should’ve never happened.”
“You’re damn right it shouldn’t.” It had pissed me off when I’d noticed the dungeon monitor standing off to the side, talking to one of the subs while Addison was being beaten by that dickhead.
“Chad’s new to this club. He hasn’t earned Master status yet, but he’s working on it,” he clarified, only a minimal amount of defensiveness in his tone. “I think he’s hesitant to interfere until he knows for absolute certain there’s an issue.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.” The DMs were in place for everyone’s safety. “He has the right to interrupt a scene if he has concerns, and any Dom who doesn’t understand that rule shouldn’t be a member here.” At that rate, Chad would never make Master status.
“I agree,” Greg said quickly, his hands coming up in a defensive motion. “I said I’d talk to him and I will.”
I refrained from giving him more shit. Greg was one of the good ones. I knew he wouldn’t let this go without ensuring the monitors knew where they’d gone wrong. “Did that asshole say anything else?”
Greg sighed. “Just that she better not show up on his doorstep because he would call the cops. And for her to not bother coming to get her shit because he was tossing it out.”
Asshole.
“His membership card has been deactivated and we’ve put his picture up on the bulletin board by the check-in desk. He won’t get back in here.”
Well, that was good to know.
“You know much about her?” I questioned.
Greg shrugged. “Kind of quiet, doesn’t share much about her personal life with anyone. Addison’s been a member here since the beginning, but she didn’t bring this guy around until late last year. He passed the tests and the psych eval, so we offered him a membership. They’re both on the three-month plan, but she’s required to work two nights a week to maintain her membership.”
There were two membership types at Dichotomy. Yearly, which was reserved for vetted Masters and experienced submissives, or the three-month plan, which they utilized for people who were new to the scene and those the Master panel felt needed some monitoring or guidance. The three months were a probationary period that could be renewed for up to a year. At that time, they would either be added to the yearly plan or their club membership would be revoked altogether.
