She’d been on her way home, in an admittedly circuitous route, when the thought had occurred to her: Paige was a submissive. From what she’d admitted to Eugene in front of her, a very kinky and particularly submissive, submissive. One with far more experience in the world of kinky, ‘The Community’, than Taylor did. Real world experience, as opposed to her own -and, by admission, Amy’s-, which came entirely from reading conversations on forums and internet search results.
Intent as she was on being the best domme to Amy that she could be -it was all well and good to lean into the knowledge she had, her instincts, and the ‘intuition’ she gained from her System-enhanced stats, but she wouldn’t rely on it.- and knowing that Paige could both answer her questions and put her in touch with knowledgeable locals, she’d started to chart a course in the young woman’s general direction.
If nothing else, she could thank her for all the fashion advice, which had certainly proven to be quite the hit with Amy -and everyone else who’d seen her- over the course of the night.
Then she’d heard the scream. Her name, from well over two blocks away, screamed raggedly and desperately, by a voice that she was plenty familiar with. Familiar enough that she could recognize it without a shadow of doubt in spite of the distance and all the myriad walls and glass and noise of the city.
Paige.
The thought, the acknowledgement, had barely finished forming before her body was moving, System-enhanced muscles carrying her across the rooftops and alleyways separating her from her friend faster than any normal human -and most Hunters- could possibly hope to manage.
She’d expected to find Paige in danger, being hurt. Probably by her ex-boyfriend or someone associated with him -she hadn’t exactly known Eugene very long, or really known him at all, but the fact that he was a genuinely abusive piece-of-shit wasn’t a matter of doubt-, and she’d been more than ready to kill whoever it was.
Instead, when she’d burst through the balcony door to Paige’s bedroom, she’d found Paige -beautiful, gorgeous Paige- in the midst of not terror, but passion. Naked, sweat-slicked skin marked with self-inflicted flogging marks and masturbating with -orgasming around!- an enchanted sex toy that was visibly electrocuting her.
Oh, and she couldn’t forget -would never forget- the fact that the reason she’d heard Paige screaming her name is because Paige was screaming it as she came so hard she stained the bed beneath her.
She’d been trying to figure out what to do in response to the magnificent, breathtaking, unforgettable sight -besides memorize it- when the alarms had gone off. The house alarms, responding to the fact that she’d just broken in, and Paige -trembling with pleasure, spread wantonly across the bed, smelling nothing short of intoxicating and breathing raggedly from what must have been a truly spectacular climax- had started with a soft squeal, before scrambling for her phone and rapidly punching in a number.
“I—I’m fine! It’s fine, it’s a friend, it’s fine!” Paige babbled into the phone, presumably to whatever security company monitored the house, her voice pitched high and breathless in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with the false alarm and everything to do with the fact that she was still coming down from her climax while the girl she’d been screaming for was standing in her bedroom staring at her with hungry, aroused eyes. “Yes…yes, I’m sure, I just…I was so excited that I forgot the code for a moment, that’s all! No, no ambulance, no police, everything’s fine, I promise!”
The alarm cut off mid-shriek, thank God, and after a stuttered ‘good night’ Paige hung up, dropped the phone onto her bed, and covered her face with both hands.
“Oh my God,” she moaned into her palms, the words muffled but perfectly audible in the sudden quiet of the room. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”
Taylor should say something. She knew she should say something. But her tongue had gone thick and useless in her mouth, and her brain had decided that it was going to go on an abrupt vacation. All she could do was stand there in the ruined doorway, glass crunching faintly beneath her boots, and glance at the glistening, sparking toy where it lay on the bedspread and Paige’s perfect breasts.
Then she took a deep breath, centered herself in a way that she could probably have never managed before she had The System to cheat with, and took a step forward.
“Paige, we need to talk about this.” she said softly, gently, invitingly, and Paige shook her head -face still covered with her hands- and muttered something in the negative. Narrowing her eyes, Taylor let her tone firm and sharpen. “Paige, that wasn’t a suggestion. We are going to talk about this. Now. You can start or I can, but you’re going to talk to me one way or the other.”
The effect was immediate, obvious, and entirely involuntary.
Paige’s hands stilled against her face, her breath catching audibly, and Taylor watched -with fascination and a curl of heat low in her belly- as a fresh flush crawled down the other girl’s throat and across her chest, joining the pink stripes of the flogger’s marks. A soft, helpless little sound escaped Paige’s throat, and her thighs pressed together in a way that had nothing to do with modesty.
Oh.
Oh.
She was reacting to the tone. To the command in it, to the firm expectation that she would obey. She was reacting to the voice of a dominant that was setting a boundary and giving her instructions, and she was enjoying it, and that knowledge thrilled Taylor just as much as her moment -not even an hour ago- with Amy in the same forest clearing that she had rescued Paige in.
“That’s…that’s not fair…” Paige whimpered into her hands, and Taylor’s eyes narrowed slightly. Not in displeasure or anger, but in scrutiny and consideration.
“Lower your hands. Eyes on me.” she instructed, biting her lower lip as Paige promptly obeyed without complaint, going so far as to turn to face her and straightening her back, squaring her shoulders and looking with lust-dilated pupils at something just below Taylor’s own eyes. Submissive, demure, but still looking at her. “Good. Now, talk to me. What happened tonight, Paige? Where did this come from?”
For a long moment, Paige said nothing, her cheeks burning and her hands flexing anxiously where they rested on her thighs. Taylor could see the war being waged behind those pretty eyes, the embarrassment and the reluctance clashing against something older, deeper, more instinctual. Something that recognized the authority in Taylor’s voice and wanted -needed- to answer it.
The instinct won. It didn’t even come close.
“I…I like you.” Paige admitted, the words tumbling out in a rush before she could stop them, her gaze flicking up to Taylor’s and then away again, unable to hold it as she confessed, laid her heart bear. “I have. Ever since…you know, you saved me. How could I not? You’re my hero, and you’re gorgeous, and God you’ve got to be one of the most natural dominants I’ve ever met. You don’t even have to try, and it’s such a massive turn on for me. I get wet just thinking about you, never mind hearing your voice, and whenever I think about the way you took swooped in and saved me, took Eugene apart…”
She trailed off, her flush deepening further, and Taylor swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in her throat. Because that was…that was a lot. That was an admission that she hadn’t expected, not really, and it did complicated things to her heart and her libido both.
“I flirt with you over text.” Paige continued, apparently unable to stop now that she’d started, the words pouring out of her now that the proverbial damn had been broken. “Every day. I hired a P.I. to look into you —which, God, that sounds so much worse out loud than it did in my head— so I could learn what you like, so I could plan a date, so I could—so I could make you want me.”
Which was one hell of an admission, one that Taylor probably should be pretty pissed about -she certainly wasn’t happy, no matter how weirdly flattering it was that Paige had been trying so hard-, and certainly one that they would need to talk about in the future. Though from the looks of her, Paige was well aware that she was due for some chastisement, and she had the decency to not look too excited about it. She wasn’t done yet, though, and she continued.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about all of it. About you. And tonight I knew you were out with someone else, on a date, and I was so jealous and so frustrated and so...so pent up, and I thought if I just...took care of it myself, I’d feel better. So I got out my toys, and I started imagining it was you, and then I just...I came so hard, and I screamed your name, and I didn’t think anyone would hear, and then you—you were just there, and now you’re going to punish me, aren’t you?”
Those last few words hung in the air, half-question and half-plea, and Taylor felt the ground shift beneath her feet. Because this wasn’t Amy. Amy had confessed her desires with nervous honesty, sure, but Amy hadn’t hired a private investigator. Amy hadn’t spent a week reverse-engineering her preferences and plotting in secret with information she’d gathered through…somewhat illicit means. Legal, maybe, but certainly a bit underhanded. But…there was something in Paige’s confession that spoke to a hunger deeper than simple attraction and hero worship, a need that ran right down to the deepest and most vulnerable part of her, and it demanded to be handled carefully. Even in her inexperience, Taylor knew that.
So she didn’t answer the question. Not directly, not yet.
Instead, she crossed the room -crunching over broken glass, making a mental note to clean up her mess when this was done- and crouched down in front of the bed, bringing herself down to Paige’s level rather than looming over her. It wasn’t the most dominant thing to do, perhaps, but it was the right thing to do in this moment, and Taylor was self-aware enough to know that being a good domme meant knowing the difference.
“Yes, I am.” she said finally, her voice gentle but firm, and she watched Paige’s breath hitch. “We’re going to talk about the private investigator, and there will be some sort of consequences. Ones appropriate for our relationship, because I’m not your domme, Paige, and I won’t treat you like my sub. Not least because I don’t really know how. Not safely, and you’re in no shape to tell me.”
A spark of rebelliousness shone in Paige’s eyes, and she opened her mouth to protest. A stern look had her qualing briefly, but it was only briefly, and she perked back up defiantly.
“I’d make a better sub than whoever it was you were out with all night! I know what I’m doing, I’ve been a sub my entire life and got professional training ages ago!” she didn’t quite snap, but she wasn’t exactly being soft and compliant either.
“Watch it…” Taylor growled lowly, eyes narrowing at the slight -however slim, however unaware of her identity she was- that Paige had directed towards Amy. Then she softened slightly, feeling a bit guilty for her own unintentional slight to the girl in front of her. “I’m not insulting you, Paige, but you just got out of a relationship. One that didn’t end well. You need time to properly heal before you should get into anything, never mind a kinky relationship. Especially not with someone as inexperienced as I am. I won’t do that to anyone. In fact, I was coming here tonight to ask you if you could put me in touch with another domme in the area, someone that could show me the ropes.”
Paige managed a weak snort at the unintentional pun, the smallest of smiles creasing her lips at the way Taylor immediately closed her eyes and shook her head in dismay at the joke she hadn’t meant to tell. It helped, but there was still visible hurt in her eyes as she shrunk in on herself a bit, and Taylor could have slapped herself for telling the emotional, vulnerable, lonely girl that she wanted information from her to help her domme another girl.
“You…so you’re already someone’s domme, then?” she asked, and there was a distinct note of sad, bitter jealousy in her voice, along with something almost like curiosity. “The girl you were with tonight. That’s who it is, isn’t it? And you just want me to help you get better for her. I’m just supposed you in the right direction, is that it?”
Taylor hesitated, and that hesitation was answer enough. Paige’s face crumpled, just for a moment, before she schooled it back into something approaching composure. Something brittle and forced, but composure all the same.
“It’s fine.” Paige said, in a tone that made it abundantly clear that it was not, in fact, fine. “It’s fine, I get it. You saved me, I got a stupid crush, and now you’re going to go be someone else’s and I’m going to help you do it because I’m pathetic and I—”
“Paige.”
The single word, spoken low and firm and brooking absolutely no argument, but she shook her head and tried to scoot back on the bed. Taylor’s hands darted out to wrap around her wrists, holding her firmly in place, making her breath catch in her throat again.
“Paige, stop. You’re not pathetic. You’re sad, you’re feeling lonely, and you want someone to fix it. Now I can’t do that for you, not right now, because if I try it will just make things worse.” she said gently but sternly. “But I’m willing to learn, and I’m willing to support you the best I can.”
“Will you leave that other girl?” she asked, dejected, and Taylor sighed.
“Her name is Amy, Paige. We met while I was in the hospital -I’m sure you know about that, if you had a P.I. look into me- and tonight was our first date. And yes, I was coming to visit you to ask you for help because I trust you, I know you understand this world way more than I do, I want to be good for her, and I don’t want to hurt her because I don’t know what I’m doing. But I won’t hurt her, either.”
She hesitated, wanting to run a hand through her hair but unwilling to take her hands off of Paige, before sighing again.
“That doesn’t mean there isn’t room in my life for you.” she said carefully, watching Paige’s eyes widen. Giving her a warning look, she continued. “I’m not going to make you any promises tonight, because you’re in no state to hear them and I’m in no state to make them. But I like you, Paige. I do, very much. You’re gorgeous, and you’re clever, and I enjoy spending time with you and talking to you. If things were different, if the timing were different…”
She trailed off, shaking her head, and squeezed Paige’s wrists gently before releasing them.
“But the timing isn’t different. You need to heal, Paige, whether you feel like it or not, and I will not put either of us in the position where I get something wrong and hurt you so quickly after Eugene did.” she finished, and Paige gave her a look that suggested she was both pitying Taylor and questioning her intelligence.
“Taylor, you’re a rookie. You’re going to hurt your sub, you’re going to make mistakes. It’s not any different from a vanilla relationship. No matter how much natural talent you have. The pros will tell you the same damn thing when I introduce you.” she chided her, sounding a bit perkier, as she eyed her. “I’m going to guess you’re not planning on cheating, and you don’t seem like the sort of girl that’s halfway out the door on a girl you’ve been on one date with. So what, you’re poly?”
It was Taylor’s turn to blush, and she looked away for a moment as she considered the question. Was she poly? She hadn’t really thought about it before, not consciously, but…
Well. She’d spent a not-insignificant amount of tonight, and plenty of other nights, thinking about Amy. She’d spent a not-insignificant amount of the past week thinking about Paige, too. And, if she was being brutally honest with herself, they were the only girls that had been on Taylor’s mind since the System had helped kick-start her beautification, opening up a whole new world of possibilities.
She was also well aware that her System wanted her to collect people, and to take them to bed. That had been the grand reveal of the Loyalty Index, that both she and her lovers would grow stronger the higher their numbers. Of course, that was in some ways the least of it, since the System had also explained that higher numbers would ‘encourage party cohesion, loyalty, and obedience’ and ‘encourage shared interests’.
Which, as far as she could tell, meant that The System would help her build a harem and keep them from hating one another while making them simultaneously stronger and kinkier. Not…not mind control, exactly, the description had been explicit about that. Just a…codifying and mechanization of what was, theoretically, a perfectly possible result that any average person could achieve and experience.
Which didn’t make her feel much better about it, honestly. There was a part of her, a stubborn and moral part that had survived everything the System had done to her body and her mind, that recoiled from the idea of being nudged in any direction by an external force. That worried about consent, about agency, about whether the girls she was falling for were falling for her or falling for something the System was doing to them.
But then, the System had been very clear that it worked with what was already there. It couldn’t make someone love her who didn’t. It couldn’t make someone submit who didn’t want to. And Paige was no small proof, wasn’t she? Because unlike Amy, Paige had never been in a Party with her. Never been in a dungeon with her, never used any Hunter-born abilities on her, or had Taylor use any on her.
All it did was…leverage the supernatural to make simpler the complex but naturally possible.
“Maybe. With the right people, maybe.” she finally said aloud, giving Paige a chiding poke as her expression brightened. “But that is something we’ll discuss in the future, Paige. When you’re recovered from Eugene’s bullshit, there will be some serious conversations to have. Until then, you’re going to put me in touch with these pro friends of yours.”
“Alright…alright. It’s a chance, and I’ll take it. I’ll show you to the club Eugene and I used to go to, it’s where we -I, really- made most of our local connections.” Paige agreed, bouncing -really bouncing- to her feet with a smile that was entirely genuine, and as Taylor rose she was treated to frown and a jabbed finger directed towards her. “But you’d better not make me wait too long, Taylor! You’ve gotten to see me naked and cumming, so you’d better hurry up and take responsibility.”
“I don’t know, something tells me that making you wait as long as humanly possible is a good idea. According to what I’ve read online, subs are into that sort of thing.” Taylor drawled, relieved that they had managed to patch things up a bit and come to an agreement. As Paige gasped and pouted in ‘offense’, she continued. “So what’s the name of this place?”
“The Patron’s Palace. The next time they have an open event is in a couple of days, we’ll go then.” came the response, before Paige frowned at the floor of her bedroom. “Right now though, you are going to help me clean all of this up and figure out a story I can use to explain the damn door…”
##################################################################
Two days later, Taylor -wearing at Paige’s insistence wearing the same outfit that she’d worn on her first date with Amy, which was definitely for the purpose of making a point to both herself and Taylor- watched as the blonde girl -who was wearing a very flattering outfit, consisting almost entirely of very revealing mesh that was thick enough in the right places to preserve some semblance of her modesty.- check them both in with the…well, bouncers, she supposed.
The Patron’s Palace, which was something of a self-aggrandizing name if she was going to be honest, was by all appearances a renovated hotel. A small one, but a nice one, and judging by the amount of people waiting in line it was a popular one.
Fortunately, pretty privilege seemed to apply on some level, given how quickly she and Paige had been seen to by the security, and she had a distinct feeling that Paige was a well-known VIP as well, given by how familiar she seemed with both the people and the process involved in getting through the door.
“Here, put this on.” Paige instructed, shoving a plain white wristband in her direction, as well as a sheet of colored dot stickers. “Blue means you’re looking for boys, pink for girls, violet for both or either. Green is for a submissive, yellow you’re a dominant. Orange if you’re a switch. Teal is for voyeurs, red for masochists, tan for cucks or cuckqueens, hot pink for being an exhibitionist…”
“Jesus Christ, Paige…” Taylor couldn’t help but mutter as the blonde paused for a moment to catch her breath. Paige shrugged in response, which did very interesting things with her breasts, the mesh doing very little to restrain them. Frowning, Taylor continued. “What about if you’re not looking for someone at all?”
“Not a thing. There isn’t a sticker for that.” came the prompt reply, and Taylor’s frown deepened as she glanced at Paige’s wristband, which proudly displayed violet, green, teal, red, and pink stickers. Seeing her attention, and her expression, Paige’s own eyes narrowed and she lowered her voice. “Not my domme, Taylor, by your own choice. And you asked me to bring you here. You don’t get to complain now that we’re here, especially since the only other place in The Bay is insanely exclusive.”
“You promised…” Taylor started, and Paige huffed at her.
“I promised that I wouldn’t jump into something stupid just because I’m lonely, and I promised to not push you, but that’s the limit, okay? Besides, this is how things work around here. People can come up to you, and if you don’t want to talk to them, you send them off. Simple as that.”
Taylor grumbled under her breath at that, but she couldn’t really argue with any of it. She didn’t have any right to give Paige instructions, in spite of their confirmed interest with one another, and even as protective -and possessive, though she struggled to even admit it to herself- as she was of Paige, she wasn’t going pretend or act otherwise.
That fact still didn’t make her any happier about the fact that people would probably be hounding Paige as soon as they walked through the door.
“And if they can’t take a hint?” Taylor asked, even as she started peeling stickers off her sheet and putting them on. Pink, of course. Yellow, without a doubt. She hesitated for a moment over the others, mulling them over. She wasn’t sure about them, not really, but wasn’t she here to learn and experience new things? Nodding to herself, she deftly added a teal and a hot pink as well, firmly ignoring the red and tan. The most pain she was interested in receiving from a partner was some scratches or a few bite marks, nothing more, and she had less than no interest in seeing anyone that was hers with a stranger.
With another member of the Party, maybe, God knows she’d imagined having Amy and Paige in her bed simultaneously plenty of times in the past, and with increasing regularity since her late-night chat with Paige in the other girl’s bedroom. But not a stranger, not someone outside of their…well, family, she supposed. As accurate as calling it a party might end up being, that felt too…clinical. Too emotionally detached.
“Then I make a fuss about it and other people will step in, yourself included, or the bouncers will get involved. Or I kick their ass myself. I might not go dungeon-diving like you do, but I am Awakened. I can certainly take care of myself, if I have to.” came the response, which sounded very much like it would be accompanied by an eye-roll in a different environment. “Now come on. I don’t know if my old trainer is here tonight, but at the very least we can look around and talk to people, and you can get a good feel for things.”
As Taylor followed her beautiful friend inside, eyes falling on occasion to swaying hips beneath tightly clinging clothes, she couldn’t help but pray for patience. Patience to deal with Paige’s energy, patience to deal with the vultures that would start circling around what was hers her friend, and patience to deal with her own damn libido.
She had the feeling that all three would be a bit complicated.
##################################################################################
He didn’t often bring himself to the so-called ‘Patron’s Palace’. He didn’t think much of it, and even less of ‘The Patron’ himself. He fully admitted, of course, to some distinct and deeply personal bias there, but even if he was willing to put that aside -he wasn’t- then the fact still remained that he didn’t approve of the way that things were run here. Not least of which was the fact that submissives -and dominants, of course, but he was rather more concerned with his fellows than those of his Duchess, in a place like this- weren’t allowed to declare themselves uninterested and unapproachable if they so desired it. He didn’t approve of the way The Patron ran things, the way that he had specifically arranged the color system so that submissive women could more easily draw his attention, the way that he seemed to encourage through inaction the more…wretched, insulting elements of The Community. The tourists and the…well, the sort of people that liked the idea of power, but weren’t interested in the responsibilities that came with that sort of power.
Not that all the tourists deserved to be mentioned alongside those sorts of people. Tourists could, after all, become residents, if they found themselves comfortable and happy enough.
Which, quite frankly, is exactly what brought him here every so often. In the service of his Duchess, he would frequently find himself wandering The Palace incognito, looking for people that he thought would be well suited to her instruction, to be a part of the rather higher-class of community that she was building. People who seemed to understand what this lifestyle was meant to be, how it was meant to play out, and just needed a little bit of guidance to get there.
A familiar head of platinum blonde hair -he always did a double take when he saw her- making its way through the crowd caught his eyes, and his eyebrows rose when he saw that Paige wasn’t accompanied by Eugene, but instead a tall, slender, fit dominatrix. An inexperienced one, by her expression and her bearing, and one that he’d never seen here before, but for all her inexperience she cut quite the figure as she stayed on her companion’s heels.
Now this was interesting. He’d considered inviting Paige to his Duchess’ community several times, finding her to be a perfectly ideal recruit and a wonderful young woman, but she’d always been loyally at the hell of her dominant. And while Eugene might not be out of place here, he most certainly wasn’t the sort of person -as a man or as a ‘dominant’- that he wanted anywhere near his own people. It seemed the rumors that he’d heard of the two of them seperating, badly, weren’t incorrect after all.
He eyed the domme carefully, evaluating her as well. Paige was a good girl with, based on his previous experience observing her in this sort of environment, very bad taste. And the fact that she was so quickly in the company of another dominant after her break-up wasn’t encouraging in the least, given how emotionally vulnerable that she had to be at the moment. At the same time, though, he didn’t make a habit of pre-judging people, and this other girl was both following Paige and clearly a bit out of her depth. Certainly, she wasn’t presenting the image of some sort of cad or rake, taking advantage of a heartbroken submissive for her own pleasure.
Rather the opposite, in fact. She was clearly trying to be respectful of Paige’s space -there was a distance, there, beyond the distance one might expect from an inexperienced young woman out with her lover in public for the first time- but was, at the same time, quite clearly hovering over the shorter half of their pair. Hovering over her, with eyes taking note of and tracking damn near every person that so much as glanced in the blonde’s direction with a protectiveness that bordered on the possessive. At the same time, whenever she looked at Paige or spoke to her, her expression softened, sweetened. It was subtle, most would still see what was clearly a dominant and a Hunter, but he had more than enough experience to see the shift.
Interesting, indeed. That kind of protectiveness, that instinctive gentleness paired with a watchful, possessive edge, wasn’t something that could truly be taught or faked. It was the mark of a genuine dominant, one whose authority stemmed not solely from a desire to control, but from a desire to protect and care for. Inexperienced she might be, but the foundation was there, solid and true.
And that begged to question, where had Paige found her? Because it wasn’t here. If he’d seen someone like this mystery girl, he would have introduced her to his Duchess instantly.
He watched a moment longer as the pair made their way toward the bar area, the tall brunette’s hand hovering at the small of Paige’s back without quite touching, guiding without directing, and made his decision. His Duchess would want to hear about this one, he suspected, and if his instincts were correct -and they usually were, decades of practice tended to sharpen such things- then this was precisely the sort of situation that warranted a closer look. The sort of thing she would want to look at personally. An introduction might be in order, then.
Besides, it had been a while since he’d been able to have a good chat with his fellow submissive, long enough she might not even remember him. Now seemed as good an opportunity as any to fix that little issue, and as he watched the domme guide Paige into a lounge booth -not quite touching her, and his respect notched higher at the way this magnificent stranger seemed to be so effortlessly move Paige without actually controlling her movements physically- before heading towards the restrooms.
Then his eyes narrowed, because in less than a minute two young men he recognized -for all the wrong reasons- almost immediately descended on the now-alone young woman. A pair of brothers that, he knew, took a little too much after the ‘example’ of The Patron and routinely sought out and collected submissive girls to share and amuse themselves with, usually in the very short term, before moving on to the next.
His jaw tightened, and he shifted his weight forward, ready to intervene himself if it became necessary. He didn’t much care for the idea of confrontation -it wasn’t his place to police The Palace, and he certainly wasn’t The Patron’s enforcer- but he liked the idea of standing idle while a vulnerable young woman was harassed even less. His mother had raised him better than that, his Duchess had taught him better than that, and even if they hadn’t, his own conscience would never permit it.
But he wasn’t sure that any such intervention would be necessary.
Paige, for all her softness and her recent heartbreak, wasn’t a pushover for complete strangers. He watched as she straightened in the booth, smiling politely at her interlocutors but demonstrably not gesturing for either of them to join her. Smart girl, whether she knew about them or recognized the same sliminess that he had so often seen in Eugene, now that her eyes had been opened to such things. He’d watch and wait, for the moment, and step in if it looked like he needed to.
Besides, this might be a good opportunity to learn more about the domme she’d come with, because sooner or later the dark-haired girl would come back from the bathroom…
#####################################################################################
Not too long ago, Paige would have been very flattered to have the attention of two handsome, twin dominant guys like the pair that were trying to tag-team her with their compliments and their boasting, doubtlessly in the hopes of tag-teaming her in an altogether different way for the rest of the night. But after being rescued by Taylor, after being shown that guys who acted like this weren’t ‘sexy bad boys’ but just assholes with an ego problem and a power fetish, she just found them…sad.
And more than a little annoying, if she was being honest.
Though at least they’d been amusing for the first minute, trash talking Eugene the way that they had as part of their opening move to try and get in her pants. Now they’d invited themselves into the seats on either side of her, without so much as a by-your-leave nor a hint of an invitation on her part.
“So, you here alone, gorgeous?” the one on her left asked, sliding a hand along the back of the booth in a way that wasn’t quite touching her but promised to be if she didn’t discourage it. His brother mirrored the motion on her right, boxing her in with practiced ease. “A pretty little sub like you shouldn’t be sitting all by herself. That’s just criminal.”
“Practically negligent, really.” the other agreed, his smile sharp and hungry in a way that, before, might have made her stomach flutter. Now it just made her skin crawl, never mind the fact that these two idiots had clearly been waiting for Taylor to leave so that they could pounce. Tipping his head in her direction, he continued. “We saw that wrist band of yours. You’ve got damn near every color there is on you, don’t you? You’re practically begging for a bit of attention, with a wristband like that and an outfit like this.”
He tugged on her mesh a bit, making her braless breasts bounce and sway in response, the mesh biting ever so gently into her skin. Something else she would probably be into -would be into, quite frankly-, being casually played with like that, if it was coming from someone…well, if it was coming from someone like Taylor instead of this loser.
“Whether I’m begging for something or not, doesn’t mean I want to get it from you.” she said coolly, shrugging off his hand as best she could given the confined space that they had her in. “And I’m not here alone, I’m here with a domme. So if you would both do me a favor and find another girl to play with tonight, I’d appreciate it.”
“C’mon, pretty thing, don’t be like that!” the one on her left pouted theatrically, though there was an ugly light kindling in his eyes that made her uncomfortable, only reinforcing his similarities to Eugene as far as she was concerned. “We’re just being friendly. We’ve seen you before, you know, we know how hard you like to play, so there’s no reason to play hard to get. All you want is to get used and abused. We can give that to you, and you’ll love every minute of it.”
“Besides, you might have come in with that domme, but you’re not hers, are you?” the one on the right said shrewdly, smirking as she grimaced slightly and involuntarily. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. She might be a friend of yours, but if she doesn’t own you, then she doesn’t really count as far as ‘being with someone’, does she?”
Paige wishes that she could say otherwise, but it was all too damn true. She wasn’t Taylor’s, as much as she wanted to be, and she wasn’t anyone else’s either. Which shouldn’t matter, of course, her expressing any disinterest should have the two of them backing off, but they weren’t, and they were therefore definitely the types to get enthusiastic if they had confirmation that she didn’t belong to someone already. So did she try to draw the attention of security, get another dominant to bail her out, or…
“Hey. I think the two of you are in my spot.”
Both brothers froze, even as she had felt them starting to press closer to her, and Paige felt something warm and bright and giddy bloom in her chest as she looked up to find Taylor -her hero- standing at the edge of the booth, one hand posted on a cock out hip and her normally warm green eyes now flat and cold as she regarded the two young men.
“Yeah? Well I don’t see a collar around her neck, and I don’t see a key around yours, so why don’t you see your way out of the conversation huh?” the first brother, the more aggressive of the pair, leaned forward, planting one hand -fist, really- on the table in front of him while the other dropped to Paige’s mesh-clad thigh in a way that made her skin crawl.
“No offense, it’s just that around here we don’t tend to stop talking with single subs just because some friend of theirs can’t handle not being the center of attention. Unless this lovely young lady is wearing your collar, you don’t really have any claim to her, do you?” added the second, the false politeness almost as grating as the aggression of the first, as he put his arm around Paige’s shoulders.
“She and I don’t have a contract yet, sure, and I haven’t collared her yet. But we’ve expressed our interest in one another, we’ll figure things out at our own pace, and I have every intention of accepting her submission when the time is right. In the meantime, she’s my friend, we came here together, and you’re still sitting in my spot and touching her without permission. So take why don’t you two gentlemen take a walk and find someone else to try your questionable charms on?”
Oh, but the contempt and sarcasm on some of those words was acidly biting, and Paige couldn’t help but press her thighs together at the possessive, controlled power that Taylor was exuding. It wasn’t energetic, it wasn’t even really aggressive, it wasn’t anything like that. Those things would have implied that she considered the twins to be some sort of threat to her, to her claim on Paige, but she very clearly didn’t think that, and it was insanely hot. Quiet confidence, like a wolf ignoring the yapping of some sort of purse-dog because it wasn’t worth the energy to respond to something so…insignificant.
And ohmigod, she might just cum in her thong right now, because now Taylor was casually -so very, very casually- shrugging off that amazing leather jacket and dropping it one the table, revealing exquisite, rippling-muscled, skin marred here and there by small and faint scars. Compared to the soft, frat-boy look of the two guys giving them grief, she was incredibly cut, and Paige felt like she was looking at a goddess.
Mmh, Goddess Taylor…that sounded like a fantastic title to use for her future domme…
And to hear her confirm, aloud and in public, that she intended to let Paige submit to her when she felt the time was right? She could cry from happiness, because she knew -even if she would make Taylor confirm it, again and again and again, because she’d never get tired of hearing it- that Taylor meant every word that she had spoken.
The twins, however, were not nearly so appreciative of the display as Paige was. Whether they were that drunk, that stupid, or that into their own egos -or a combination thereof- she didn’t care to guess, they weren’t backing down.
“You threatening us, sweetheart? Here?” the aggressive one sneered, his hand tightening on Paige’s thigh in a way that made her wince, even as his eyes raked over Taylor’s exposed muscle with something that was equal parts wary and covetous. “Big words for a girl who just admitted she doesn’t have any claim. No contract, no collar. That means the little slut’s fair game, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Not unless you want security to put you out on your ass and call the cops.”
“You’ve got a mouth on you, don’t you?” the second one added, though he at least had the good sense to sound a bit more nervous, the grip his arm had around her shoulders loosening a bit, for all that he didn’t remove it entirely. “And you seem to think that this is some sort of gym, which it’s not. Show a little decorum and stop trying to flex on us.”
“Decorum.” Taylor repeated the word slowly, like she was rolling it over her tongue and tasting it, and something in her tone made Paige shiver and both twins go very still. “You want to lecture me about decorum, while you’ve practically got your hand up my friend’s skirt and your arm around her shoulders, after she told you two to ‘find a different girl to play with’?”
She leaned forward, planting her own palm flat on the table, and Paige watched with something approaching religious awe as the wood creaked faintly beneath the pressure. Not a threat, not really. Just a demonstration, casual as breathing, of exactly how much strength Taylor was choosing not to use right now, and she felt herself get warmer.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, okay boys? You’re going to take your hand of her thigh, and you’re going to get your arm off of her shoulders. Then, the two of you are going to stand up, walk away…and you know what? Maybe the two of you should call it a night. Go home, get some sleep, and spend some time rethinking your life choices.”
“Or what? You’ll pick a fight? Bitch, I will own you. You use your Hunter bullshit to rough us up, they’ll put you away for decades. You won’t come out until you’re a saggy old hag.”
The bravado definitely had cracks in it, everyone in earshot -which was more than a few people, Paige noticed, including an older gentlemen that she recognized from past conversations.- could see that much. Taylor included, and the smile that she gave in response was the sort of smile that made someone’s throat start to close up instinctively.
“Who said anything about a fight?” Taylor asked, her voice dropping to something soft and almost pleasant, which was somehow so much worse than if she’d shouted. “I’m not going to touch either of you. I don’t need to.” she gestured to the crowd, the clearly watching and listening crowd, though at least there were no phones. “See, the way I figure it, you two are the ones threatening violence, in a public venue, in front of witnesses, against a girl who’s told you no repeatedly and the girl who is trying to protect her. That’s harassment, at minimum. Probably sexual assault, given where your hand is.”
She straightened, folding her arms across her chest in a way that did absolutely nothing to make the situation less dire for the twins and everything to display those impressive muscles once again, the movement drawing more than a few appreciative -and speculative- glances from the gathered onlookers.
“So here’s the thing. You can keep sitting there, keep running your mouths, keep touching a girl who’s said no. And when security comes over —because they will, given how much of a scene this is turning into— I’ll be the very cooperative, very concerned witness who tells them exactly what happened. Along with the dozen other people who’ve been watching you two make asses of yourselves.” she tilted her head, that terribly pleasant smile never wavering. “Or you can leave. Right now. And preferably spend some time deciding if you belong in this community.and whether you want to spend a couple decades in jail. Because you’re going to end up in jail or dead sooner rather than later if you do shit like this, never mind if you escalate.”
“You…!” the aggressive one, somehow still having the balls to pick an argument, tried to rise to his feet, only to falter as several particularly large men -and more than a few women- observing from the crowd stepped forward. They weren’t even all security, in fact more than half of them were wearing stickers indicating that they were guests, a near-even mix of dominants and switches, with a handful of subs. Taylor’s terrible, beautiful smile grew as if she heard and sensed the presence of her reinforcements, which she very likely did.
“Well, would you look at that. It seems the people have decided how they feel about the situation.” she damn near purred, radiating cold satisfaction. “So what is it going to be, boys?”
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After seeing the two pricks that had dared to try and take Paige from her -had hurt Paige, touched her, molested her- ushered out of the building in disgrace, being assured that she and Paige were not considered at fault and were welcome anytime they liked as VIPs, not to mention apologized to and complimented by other patrons -which didn’t impress Taylor over-much, considering that no one in the building had stepped in to help Paige in her absence- Taylor was pretty much done with the night.
Then a rather large -in the ‘powerfully built’ way- gentleman approached the table. A submissive man, according to his bracelet, which was one hell of a shock and not at all what Taylor would have assumed just looking at him. One that Paige had apparently recognized, though she embaressedly admitted that she’d forgotten his name, having only spoken with him once, and briefly at that.
“Don’t worry about it, young lady. I use a pseudonym whenever I’m here regardless. As should the two of you, if only to prevent…poorly behaved young men such as those two from earlier from being able to find you elsewhere quite so easily. As for the brevity of our conversation, I don’t hold that against you. No, the blame for that,” and that was a rather impressive sneer. “Lies solely in the hands of that…unfortunate example of boyhood that you used to be around. I take it that he’s no longer a part of your life?”
“Yeah, you could say that. T…uh, my hero here, helped me get out of a rough spot with him, and I kicked him to the curb. I don’t regret it for a minute, believe me. Not too different from what she just did here, really, except that there wasn’t an audience then.” Paige confirmed, giving Taylor a radiant smile, one that had her flushing even as she unconciously preened a bit in pride and pleasure at the compliment, the gratitude, and the confirmation that she’d done the right thing to step in as she had.
“Ah, yes, I witnessed that. I was getting ready to step in myself, or at least for security to stop resting on their paychecks, when your hero arrived in all her glory. Though I should have gotten involved the moment you quite clearly didn’t want their company, you have my apologies for that, young ladies.” he bowed slightly in both of their directions, genuinely contrite so far as Taylor could tell -and with the System supporting her, she could ‘tell’ pretty damn well- before turning his attention entirely onto her even as she and Paige reassured him that they didn’t hold a grudge. “As for you, young miss, you’ve impressed me. Greatly. You caught my eye when you came in, most partricularly in the way you acted towards young Paige. Your resolve, the protectiveness and decency with which you treat her, and your apparent natural talent for proper domination are all well-deserving of both a reward and cultivation.”
He reached into his pocket to extract a pair of business cards, deftly flicking them across the table in the girls’ directions. Taylor caught hers, glancing down at it instinctively, taking in the delicate golden script and the simple words they spelled.
The Duchess would be honored if you would accept her invitation to join her Court. Please use the QR code on the reverse side to complete the preliminary registration process and recieve further instructions.
Paige’s soft and excited gasp from beside her told Taylor this was a lot more than a simple invitation, and she looked up with her lips starting to form the first of several questions…only to see that the man was gone. She’d never even seen or heard him move, he’d simply…vanished. Hunter, and one of both rank and experience, plenty of it. Any speculative thoughts along that line, however, vanished as Paige excitedly pawed at her arm.
“Taylor, Taylor, Taylor!” the blonde squealed softly, practically shaking her. “The Duchess! She’s invited us to her Court! Its…the other club, the super exclusive one that I told you about? It’s her Court! Taylor, you just impressed a submissive working for the most respected and exclusive domme and venue in New England!”