Venus rising boxset, p.105
Venus Rising Boxset, page 105
Both he and Chris tried to make sure they each gave each other time alone with her as well as time for all three of them. Sometimes, they went out just the two of them for guy time, which also gave them a chance to plot fun scenes to surprise her with. She accused them of being particularly evil when they took their guy time a night before taking her to Stronghold. It wasn’t their fault the BDSM club had so many fun rooms and activities for them to play with.
“Maybe he’s just busy at work,” Justin said, playing Devil’s advocate although he privately thought Jessica might be right. It was odd that Steve had agreed to stay over for the week, then made himself scarce. Jessica looked so sad at the idea she had something to do with his absence, Justin wanted to reassure her.
She wrinkled her nose at him. “You don’t believe that.”
“Are you calling me a liar?” He mock-frowned threateningly.
They hadn’t had sex since Saturday night. It had been too weird with Steve just down the hall. Justin didn’t care about flaunting their relationship in front of him, but he could tell neither Chris nor Jessica were comfortable with it, and he respected that.
But if Steve was going to play least-in-sight... well, Justin would take advantage of the time before he came back to the house. Might as well get some benefit of him running late.
“If the shoe fits,” Jessica sassed back, her eyes lighting up at the game. She shifted slightly in her seat like she was getting ready to run. Narrowing his eyes, Justin snatched up a clean spatula from the counter and brandished it in front of him.
“You’re gonna pay for that, naughty girl,” he said, moving around the island to intercept her.
“Eek!” Laughing she shoved back the barstool she was sitting on and tried to run, but Justin was too quick for her, snagging her from behind. “Nooo! I’m sorry, I take it back!”
“I bet you wish it was that easy,” he growled, lifting her up to bend her over the counter, her legs dangling down, her curvy ass up in the air. The thin pajama pants she’d put on when she got home from work would mitigate some of the sting, but not much of it... and he’d get those off of her soon enough, anyway.
THWAP!
Jessica shrieked as he brought the plastic spatula down, right in the center of one cheek. Lifting the spatula in the air again, Justin jerked in shock at the outraged shout, then the body slamming into him from the side.
“Leave her alone!”
Chris
The angry shouting had Chris surging from his chair in alarm, his book falling to the floor as he sprinted out of the room. It was a reflex, his body in motion before he’d had even a moment to think about it—not that he stopped once his brain caught up with his body. If anything, he moved faster, charging down the hallway into the kitchen to the strangest sight.
Steve standing between Jessica and Justin, his fists up in the air like he thought he could take Justin. Which, even if Chris was lazy about going to Liam’s dojo, he could tell from Steve’s stance, his little brother was definitely still not a fighter. While Justin wielded a spatula in front of himself to keep Steve back. That was probably a kindness more than anything. Unlike Chris, Justin actually did attend Liam’s weekly class for their group of friends fairly regularly. He’d cream Steve, even if he didn’t outweigh him by a good twenty pounds of muscle.
“Back the fuck up!” Steve’s face was bright red with anger and fear. He knew Justin could kick his ass, but he was going to defend Jessica or die trying.
“Steve, it’s okay, I’m—” Jessica was trying to say soothingly, but Steve shrugged off her hands when she tried to pull him toward her, ignoring her words.
“I won’t let you hurt her!”
“I wasn’t!” Justin shouted back, shaking his head. He was clearly trying to keep hold of his temper but struggling.
“HEY!” Chris shouted over all of them, waving his arms above his head to grab their attention. To his surprise, it worked. The new voice cut through their din, and three heads swiveled to look at him, all with the same expression of relief. Under other circumstances, he might have found that funny.
“What the hell is going on?”
Wrong question.
They all three started to talk at once. Chris held up his hand, cutting them all off then pointed to Jessica.
“What happened, sweetie?”
Licking her lips, she sidled slightly away from Steve, her cheeks blushing hotly. Just from that one look, Chris wanted to shake his head because he was pretty sure he could guess what she and Justin had been doing that Steve had unwittingly interrupted. Although she was still fully clothed, so at least there was that.
“Um, well, Justin and I were messing around—”
“He hit her!” Steve interjected, seething. “He was hurting her!”
“Hey,” Chris barked out the word, glaring at his brother. “Don’t interrupt her.” Pressing his lips together, Steve crossed his arms over his chest, mutinous.
“Justin spanked me with the spatula,” Jessica said, shifting back and forth uncomfortably, her eyes darting between the three men. “And I think Steve thought he was actually hurting me.”
Steve opened his mouth again, but Chris pointed at him, cutting him off without a word.
“He wasn’t though,” Jessica said, this time directing her earnest words at Steve, who looked back at her with mingled horror and confusion. “At least, not in the way you’re thinking. Justin and Chris would never harm me.”
Now Steve turned his horrified look to Chris. “You hit her too?!”
The utter revulsion in his voice shriveled Chris’ insides. Damnit, this was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to talk about BDSM to his brother yet. Even if he was submissive, Chris had known there was no way his brother would understand. At least, not right away. Chris had wanted to gently introduce the topic, not throw his brother into the deep end.
He glared at Justin. “You just couldn’t keep it in your pants, could you?”
Justin shot him a look back. “In my own house? No. He was supposed to be late. How was I supposed to know he’d show up before dinner?”
“Oh, so it’s okay to beat a woman as long as no one’s around to witness it?” Steve spat the words out.
“It’s not like that,” Jessica protested, practically dancing with anxious energy.
“Okay, everybody, sit down,” Justin said firmly, his voice deepening with authority, pointing at the kitchen table. Jessica and Steve automatically started moving, although Steve stopped for a moment when he realized what he was doing before continuing forward to sit down. Inwardly, Chris sighed. Yeah, Justin might have been right about his brother.
Looking across the room at him, Justin tilted his head, silently asking if Chris wanted to take the lead. He didn’t really want to, but he knew he should. Steve was his brother, after all, which really made this his responsibility.
Sitting down at the table across from Steve, he could see the confusion and worry churning in his brother’s eyes. Jessica looked just as uncomfortable but also as if she wanted to reach out and hug Steve to comfort him, which didn’t come as a surprise. She held back, though, worried about rejection, maybe. Chris was in the same boat.
He sighed.
“Steve... have you ever heard of BDSM?”
Steve
This might not be the worst day Steve had ever had, but it definitely ranked in the top ten.
He’d started off the morning with the senator yelling at him for having so little to report on Chris and the upcoming “mockery of marriage vows.” Then he’d had meeting after meeting to help promote the senator’s agenda on family values. Steve had been purposefully staying away from Chris’ house because he felt caught in the middle when he was there.
They weren’t even really getting married. That was something he’d learned. They were having a commitment ceremony, but all the legal stuff was tied up in trusts and agreements and power of attorney... even when it came to who she’d be legally tied to, Jessica hadn’t wanted to choose. After finding out how thorough they’d been in preparing for their future and observing the trio together, Steve was no longer sure their relationship was as impossible in the long-term as he’d assumed.
Seeing how happy his brother was—even though Steve was still confused by his and Justin’s relationship—had even managed to soothe away a lot of the resentment he’d felt about Chris choosing them. They had something special together. So far, Steve had always chosen his family first, but then... he hadn’t really had much of choice, had he?
He was so closeted, he’d never done anything but kiss another guy in college, then he’d completely freaked out that someone would find out and tell the senator. He hadn’t risked it again. He’d never met anyone who moved him to want to even try for the risk either. Chris obviously had found something he was willing to risk everything for, and that risk had paid off.
Then, after a whole day of the senator’s raging hypocrisy, he’d watched as Erica, the senator’s campaign manager, waltzed into the office with him, firmly shutting the door behind her. At the first low moan, he hadn’t been able to take it anymore and jumped up, leaving the office.
He’d meant to stay late tonight, to avoid having to deal with the issue of whether or not to try to break up the upcoming wedding… to avoid whether or not he should come clean to his brother…
But at that moment, all he’d wanted was Chris. If nothing else, he’d meant to finally tell Chris what was going on with their parents’ marriage. Maybe Chris wouldn’t be able to do anything, but at least Steve would get it off his chest.
Instead, he’d walked in, heard Jessica’s apology and Justin’s denial of it, then he’d hit her, and Steve had just lost it.
He was still shaking.
“Steve?” Chris’ voice was gentle and a little hesitant. Blinking, Steve refocused on him. Right. Chris had just asked him something. He just couldn’t remember what it was.
“Um, what?”
“Have you ever heard of BDSM?” Chris repeated.
Looking down at his hands in his lap, Steve jerked his head in a nod.
Shit.
No longer fueled by anger and frustration with the senator, he could look back and see the scene in the kitchen in an entirely different light. Justin hadn’t been hitting Jessica. He’d been spanking her. They’d been playing. His words had sounded harsh, but he hadn’t been angry. The anger had been all Steve’s. Jessica’s shriek had been pained… but it hadn’t been any worse than the yells and shouts in the porn he watched.
He slumped, his elbows banging down onto the table as he covered his face with his hands, terrified he was about to cry.
“I’m sorry. I just… I thought… I didn’t…”
“Hey, hey,” Jessica’s soft voice slid over his. Her chair screeched across the floor as she pushed it back, practically running to get around the table and embrace him. He leaned against her softness although he kept his hands over his face. “It’s okay. It can be shocking when you unexpectedly walk into a scene even if you’re familiar with the lifestyle.” She hugged him tighter, then her grip loosened. “Um… are you familiar with the lifestyle?”
“I… um…” Even though he couldn’t see any of their faces, he blushed. “I’ve watched some… movies.” Kinky porn was more like it, but he couldn’t say that out loud. He just couldn’t. Even so, he heard his brother’s quick intake of breath. Judging him? No… Chris wasn’t a hypocrite like the senator, but Steve couldn’t find the courage to look up to see his brother’s expression and try to figure out what he was thinking.
“Okay,” Jessica said brightly. She sat down in the chair next to him, and he relaxed a little more. “Well, that’s something. Um, it depends on what kind of movies you watch, but basically, we have a Dom-sub relationship. Well, two Doms and one sub, that’s me.”
Steve moaned. “I’m not sure I want to know this much about my brother’s sex life.”
“Maybe you should have knocked before walking in then,” Justin said, but he sounded more amused than anything else.
Steve finally managed to peek up through his hands. He’d stopped shaking. He met Justin’s eyes for a second before looking away though, ashamed. Meeting Chris’ wasn’t much easier, but all he saw there was sympathy, and he relaxed a little further.
“Do you want to know more about BDSM in general?” Jessica asked. “I mean since you’ve watched movies…”
“Jessica,” Chris said warningly, piercing her with a stern gaze.
“What?” Her tone was pure innocence. “He’s here this week… he’s interested, and he already knows a little about the lifestyle, obviously… maybe he’d like to visit Stronghold.”
“What’s Stronghold?” he asked before Chris could respond. Now, he was curious.
“It’s our BDSM club,” Chris said with a sigh, rubbing his hand under his chin. That was something he often did when he was uncomfortable. Steve remembered in high school when Chris had decided to have the safe-sex talk with him—since the senator just told them not to get anyone pregnant and hadn’t gone into details on how that was supposed to be achieved—he’d done the same thing multiple times throughout that discussion. “Patrick owns it, and we’re all members. It’s… well, if you’re interested in BDSM, it’s a good place to be. Safe.”
“We could go on Thursday!” Jessica suggested. She cocked her head at Steve. “If you’re interested, that is.”
“Yes,” he said before he could really think it through and chicken out.
“Great!” She clapped her hands in excitement. “It’s a plan!”
Across the table, Chris gave him a small smile, and Justin nodded slowly. Neither of them seemed as on board as Jessica was, but a small tendril of anticipation unfurled in his stomach. He was interested. This wasn’t for the senator’s plan to disrupt the wedding or because he wanted to try to understand Chris’ relationship… it was something he wanted to do for himself.
Chapter 8
Steve
When they pulled into the parking lot of Stronghold, Steve peered out of the car window in confusion. Chris had told him it was an old warehouse, but… well, he hadn’t expected it to actually still look like one. There was nothing about it, indicating it was a kinky sex club, not even a sign.
The building was huge, though.
He glanced over at Jessica, who was in the backseat with him. The spring night air was still pretty chilly, so she was wearing a jacket over her extremely short skirt and the corset that pushed her breasts up into deep cleavage. Steve thought she looked fantastic, even if she wasn’t his type.
Both Chris and Justin were wearing leather pants and shirts that showed off their muscles. Even though Justin had been really nice to him since Tuesday night, Steve still felt uncomfortable around him. He tried, though. When he’d attempted to apologize, Justin had told him there was no need. He liked that Steve had jumped to Jessica’s defense when he thought it was warranted. He had warned Steve not to do anything like that tonight.
Stronghold had safe words, and they were always honored—or the person who ignored it was kicked out, banned for life, and black balled in the community at large. Patrick had contacts. Also, knowing the big guy was not only a Dom, but he owned the BDSM club made Steve feel a little better about how intimidated he’d been on Saturday.
Apparently, everyone he’d met on Saturday, except Luke, was a dominant.
Which was probably why Steve had felt the most comfortable with Luke.
Even though it was never specifically said, Steve knew he’d always identified more with the guys who were being tied up and whipped or spanked in the movies he watched. That was the position he always imagined himself in. He knew Chris, Jessica, and Justin, somehow, all knew it too. Thankfully, they didn’t bring it up.
Turning her head, Jessica met his gaze. “Ready?” she asked, excited.
“Um, sure.” He pressed his hands together nervously, and she gave him a sympathetic smile.
“Don’t worry, walking in is the scariest part. The whole main floor is almost exactly like a regular club, and you don’t have to stay it if you don’t want to,” she reassured him.
“And we won’t leave your side unless you want us to,” Chris added on, opening his door.
“Um...” Steve bit his lower lip. He didn’t know what he wanted because honestly, he didn’t want to walk around a kinky club with his brother, especially since he still hadn’t even told Chris he was gay, but at the same time, he didn’t want to be in there alone.
Catching his eye in the rearview mirror, Justin smiled reassuringly at him. “Don’t worry, all of our friends are here too. If you’d rather have someone else show you around, you’ll be in good hands.”
He almost slumped in relief. Hopefully, Olivia and Luke would be there. They were the ones he’d felt most comfortable with on Saturday.
Chris walked silently by his side while Justin led Jessica through the door ahead of them. The first room they walked into was basically a small lobby where they all handed off their jackets to a petite black-haired woman who was introduced as Lexie. Wearing a mesh shirt over a bright blue bra that matched her eyes, she kind of reminded him of a goth pixie. She seemed delighted to meet him although they didn’t really have time to do more than say hello before another small group was coming in the front door.
The other three said hello to a big guy named Will, who was standing at the door between the lobby and the club like a bouncer as they walked past. Steve gave him a sheepish sort of smile, not really sure what he should do, but the other man just smiled back reassuringly and nodded his head. That made Steve feel a little better.
His anxiety was quickly forgotten when he stepped into the main club area. It was huge, with high ceilings, a stage that was currently empty, and a dance floor. Although the music wasn’t so loud, it interrupted the conversation at the bar or around the grouping of armchairs set a bit off from the bar. The people were what really caught his attention.
