Unbind My Heart (2 page)

The butterflies in her stomach danced as she took another deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.  Why had she told Elena she would come?  She wanted to see her old friend perform, but at a sex club?  Just as she decided to flee for her sanity, she heard her name called.  Turning, she saw Regan Spencer, another old friend, waving frantically at her from the top of the steps—busted.  Dang!  Now she had to go in or risk never hearing the end of it. 

Lexie had known Regan and her twin sister, Megan, since high school.  Other than an occasional Facebook birthday wish or wall posting about how they had to get together, she’d lost touch with them, until recently.  Both were married now, and to beat it all, their husbands were two of the Dom owners at Club Decadence.  They had been pestering her to come to one of the open sub nights for months.  It was only when Elena had asked that she finally agreed.  Elena had been through some traumatic events lately that had led to the high school best friends reconnecting and spending more time together.  Since Elena was engaged to Dex Russell, the managing owner of The Club, and performed in the lounge, three nights a week, if she wanted some girl time with her friend, this was where she needed to be.

The whole BDSM thing fascinated Lexie while at the same time freaking her out.  Some of it, like the whips and extreme play, scared her spitless, but other things like the rope bondage and even the exhibitionism really got her heart racing.  From what she had seen, the masters at Club Decadence were hot. They bumped her pulse rate up even further.  Her friends' husbands were tall, handsome and totally ripped, and they said the same was true with most of the Doms at The Club.  This might be Lexie’s only opportunity to explore her secret kinky desires.  She’d read and researched as much as possible, and her fantasies were filled with sexy dominant men.  Maybe it was time to find out what it was all about—for real.

Yeah, right!  She knew if someone came at her tonight with a collar and leash, she would freak.  You came to hear Elena sing, she reminded herself.  Men, relationships, love … They only brought heartache, she’d learned that first hand. 

Regan had been joined by Elena and they both called to her excitedly in unison. 

“Lexie!  You came!” 

Grinning at their unplanned harmony, they rushed down the steps, each grabbing a hand as they practically dragged her up to the entrance. 

“No turning back now, mwah-ha-ha!”  Regan teased.

“C’mon, Reg, take it easy.  I don’t want her flippin’ out.  It has taken months of prep work just to get her to the front door.  Wait until we get her inside before you torture her.”

Lexie’s eyes flew to Elena, the most sensible of all her friends, but she winked teasingly before her eyes shifted to Regan and they both broke into laughter.

“Never mind our teasing.  If you only want to listen to me and the band perform that’s fine.  No pressure, honey.”  Elena wrapped an arm around Lexie’s waist and hugged her close.  “I’m so glad you’re here.  Did you bring the papers I gave you?”

Fishing around in her bag, she let Elena guide her forward.  As she brought out a bundle of tri-folded papers, she realized she was already in the lobby.  Looking around with wide-eyed fascination, she noticed a scantily clad woman at a reception desk, busily signing people in.  She was surprised at the innocuous décor in the entryway and was mildly disappointed.  That was until her eyes fell on Dex, who was leaning against the frame of a door marked “private.” 

Dex wore black leather pants and a charcoal gray dress shirt.  His arms were crossed over his broad chest, and the material of his silky shirt was strained as it tried to contain his bulging biceps.  At his waist, she noticed a pair of lined leather cuffs hooked to his belt, making him look even more intimidating than usual. 

Dex gave Lexie a small nod in greeting, his lips quirking up in a hint of a small smile.  That all changed when his gaze fell on the petite woman standing at her side.  His face lit up and his smile was infused with what Lexie could only describe as pure joy.  Without pause, he raised his hand, an obvious summons to his observant fiancée.

“There’s Dex.  He needs to see you before you go in.  Come on.”

As they approached, Elena dropped her arm from Lexie and stepped into her man’s arms.  The love they shared was palpable.  She smiled up at him, her hands sliding up over the smooth material of his shirt, coming to rest on his well-muscled chest.  As they kissed, Lexie noticed the huge diamond on her friend’s left hand as it twinkled in the light. 

“You aren’t dressed yet, Chiquita.  We’ll have to hurry both you and Lexie along.  You know how the crowd gets if you don’t start on time.”

“I wanted to greet Lexie and make sure she didn’t turn tail and run before she got in the door.”  As she said this, Elena looked over her shoulder and winked at her.

“Lexie, it’s natural to be nervous on a first visit,” Dex assured her as he opened the door behind him.  Holding out an arm, he guided the two women inside.  “Tonight is very low key.  Like a mixer, if you will.  It’s just a time for fun, conversation, dancing and good music.  It’s also an opportunity for you to meet like-minded people.”

“What if I’m not like-minded?”  She blushed when he raised his perceptive gaze to hers, an eyebrow quirked in challenge.  He saw right through her evasive question.  They both knew that was a whopper.  She’d had a secret interest in D/s for years.  Her Kindle was jam-packed with at least 2500 titles of erotic fiction, most related to bondage and spanking.  She had a few other genres like shifter or vampire romances, but they all featured strong, dominant male characters who took control of their women in one aspect of their lives or another, but always in the bedroom.  Embarrassed at being caught in a fib, she lowered her gaze.

“You wouldn’t have gotten an invitation if I wasn’t certain of your interest, my dear Alexis.”

Not knowing what to say to that, she decided silence was better than opening her mouth and inserting her foot further.  She wasn’t the biggest fan of the taste of shoe leather, after all. 

“Don’t worry, Lex; we’re all kink-friendly here.  Every one of us was a newbie at one time or another.  Believe it or not, even big bad Doms like Master Dex had to start somewhere.  They didn’t come out of the womb wearing leather and carrying single tails, despite rumors to the contrary.”

“In a sassy mood tonight are you, my little subbie?” he asked as he opened his office door, motioning them to enter first.  Dex swatted Elena’s bottom with a resounding thud as she passed.  Although she squealed and scampered away, she couldn’t have felt much through the thick denim skirt she wore.

“I was just teasing, mi amo.”

“As was I, Chiquita, or that skirt would be raised and your bottom blazing by now.”

Lexie looked on as her friends playfully teased one another.  She was delighted that after being estranged for years, they had found each other again.  Lexie was also green with envy over the love her friends shared.  They were nearly inseparable.  Dex, being extremely protective of his tiny fiancée, rarely let her out of his sight.  That she had been abused and traumatized by the man she had thought was her brother and kidnapped by his cohorts made his possessiveness justifiable. 

At twenty-eight, Lexie had been on scores of disastrous dates and already had one failed marriage under her belt.  She was disillusioned with love and doubted that there was a soul mate out there for her anywhere.  Sadly, for Lexie, starry-eyed, passionate romance didn’t exist outside of the pages of a novel.  Unlike Dex and Elena, love didn’t seem to be in her future.

Lexie felt eyes upon her and turned to find Dex and Elena both staring at her, each with smiles on their faces.  She could feel the sweep of their gazes as they tracked down her front, stopping at her shoes before returning to her face.  Elena giggled.

“What?” 

Looking down at her yellow halter dress, she checked to make sure nothing was hanging out or bulging and that she didn’t have a big glob of toothpaste anywhere.  Her dress came to mid-thigh and the hem was where it was supposed to be, both in front and back.  The deep neckline of her top still covered her large breasts thanks to the double stick tape—a handy trick she’d learned during her short stint of modeling as a teenager.  Finding everything in order, she raised her eyes in question.  “Is something wrong?”

“Didn’t you tell her it was LBD night, Chiquita?

“I thought I did.”  Elena frowned, trying to remember.

“What’s LBD stand for?”  Lexie’s mind flew through her BDSM vocabulary searching for an answer for the acronym.  When they just smiled at her in amusement, she made her best guess.  “Lesbian Bondage and Discipline?”

Laughing, they both shook their heads, and Lexie frowned.  Her eyes fell to Elena’s slave collar and she guessed again.  “Leash your Bitch Day? 

They found that hilarious, and Elena fell into Dex as they roared with laughter.

“Lash your Booty Down?  Lick Big Di—uh, no, surely not—I know, Black Lightning Discipline?  No, that would be BLD.  Oh, please, tell me.”

Both Dex and Elena had sobered, staring at her in horror after her last guess.

Dex asked sternly, “How do you know about Black Lightning, Lexie?  I thought you were a newbie.”

“I am, but I’m not completely ignorant.”  She wasn’t about to admit that her research included a thorough investigation of all things related to bondage and discipline. Black Lightning, she had learned, was a nickname for a wicked black fiberglass cane often used for extreme discipline and pain play. 

“Sir, Lex.” 

When Lexie looked at her in question, Elena elaborated, “You need to address Dex and all the other Doms as Sir or Master.  Since you’re in The Club now, you’ve got to follow the rules.”

“I’m sorry.  I forgot.  Please forgive me, Sir Dex.”  Lexie felt strange speaking those words, but oddly satisfied, too.  What did that mean?

“It’s Sir or Master Dex, my dear.  Sir Dex sounds like we’re hosting a Renaissance fair.”  He winked at her and Elena giggled again.  Elena had told her that The Club was like an adult playground.  Although scenes were often very real, the costumes, titles and protocols were used to set the mood and added to all the sexy fun and games.  She did say there were some couples who were heavy into the lifestyle and very intense, but for the most part, The Club was an escape and a chance to play. 

She knew Dex outside The Club; he was always friendly and kind to her as Elena’s friend, but also seemed imposing. After that wink, she was thinking she needed to add teasing and playful.  Maybe Master Dex wasn’t as menacing as he’d like people to believe.  She was proven wrong by his next words, however.  

“Your little lapse is forgiven, Lexie.  A word of warning, though: you won’t find Black Lightning in my club and I don’t want to hear about you using one either.  It can cut and cause severe injury.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir, but I really just read about it online.”

Nodding, he looked relieved as he held out his hand for her paperwork.  “You’re better off taking one of our classes and staying off the internet.”  He perused her medical clearance form and general sub contract; scaled back severely according to Elena since she didn’t have a Dom and wasn’t going to play. It was a basic non-disclosure agreement and outlined the simple rules for the public areas.  This restricted her to the bar and lounge, which was fine with Lexie. 

Dex nodded after looking over each form.  “As an unattached sub and our guest, you are under my protection tonight.  If you feel uncomfortable or afraid, calling out the safewords will bring help.  We use the stop light. Are you familiar with that, Lexie?”

“Yes, Sir.  Red for stop, yellow for slow or with caution, and green means go.”

“Correct.   I promise you that red will have every available owner and dungeon monitor at your side.  I don’t anticipate you’ll need to use safewords in the bar or lounge, but they are always there for your safety.  Understood?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good.  Any questions?”

“Yeah, what’s LBD?”

***

Little Black Dress night had become a regular event ever since the twins had started it in the lounge on Wednesday nights.  It began as a girl’s night out and an opportunity to see Elena perform, but it had quickly morphed into an official club event.  Word spread to other subs, who also started coming dressed to the nines in their best little black dresses.  The Doms had responded in return and were often seen wearing dress shirts or sport coats instead of bare chests or leather vests. 

Tonight was also open sub night, which meant non-members could attend by invitation. The group of friends sat at a table in the front row, but off to the side a bit so they wouldn’t be a distraction to Elena as the liquor flowed freely.  Lexie and the twins were joined by their other guests, their cousins Moon and Angela, as well as Jenny, the pastry chef at Megan’s bakery.  They were sharing a pitcher of strawberry margaritas and singing along with Elena as they enjoyed the mellowing effects of the alcohol.  Lexie, who had laughingly introduced herself as the odd man out due to her shockingly bright yellow dress, opted for a lemon drop martini because of her strawberry allergy.  

The girls had a wonderful time chatting and reminiscing about high school, all under the watchful eyes of The Club owners, including the twins’ husbands Tony “Cap” Rossi and Rick Spencer, as well as Dex, who was never far away when Elena was performing.  Lexie noticed another handsome man—tall, sandy-haired, killer smile—was also watching the room and asked Regan about him.  Regan identified him as Jonas Mitchell, another one of the handsome owners. He was slowly making rounds, chatting with guests and closely monitoring the non-members in the lounge and bar areas.  Regan and the girls informed her that he was single, available and openly looking.  Lexie’s eyes followed the handsome Dom with interest.  She should have been more careful because her friends noticed and instantly went into matchmaking mode, waving Master Jonas over.