A Spanktacular Fourth, Page 3

  “Still worth it,” Sean said.

  Chapter Four

  They’d just pulled into the parking lot of the industrial complex where Venture was located when a familiar car pulled in and parked next to them.

  Sean beat Cali out of the car and opened the back door for her. Cali handed the bags holding their wings and other dinner items to Sean before climbing out of the back seat.

  “What are you guys doing here tonight?” she asked.

  Derrick stretched after climbing out, Marcia exiting the passenger side. “Went shopping and had to bring the laundry over,” Derrick said. “Forgot to do it yesterday.” Derrick and Marcia, two of the club’s owners, were supposed to be “off” that weekend, hence why Cali and her men were there.

  “Ah. We’ll help.”

  “What happened to your hand?” Marcia asked Cali as they met at the trunk, which popped open when Derrick pulled the lever.

  “Baxter got me. Not his fault.” She reached in and grabbed the plastic bag holding the clean towels and fleece throws while Marcia took three overladen plastic grocery bags. “Max, come help, please,” Cali said.

  “What the hell happened to you, Sean?” Cali heard Derrick ask.

  “You don’t want to know,” Cali called back.

  Derrick laughed. “Like hell I don’t. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I do. This has to be a good story, especially with you three.”

  “Let’s get unloaded first,” Marcia said. “Then they can eat their food and tell it. I don’t want their dinner getting cold.”

  “Ah, you spoil-sport wench,” Derrick teased. “Fine, be all logical.”

  Sean went ahead to unlock the front door while the four of them started carrying things. There was still over an hour before they were due to open, but Cali wanted to sit and relax over their food and not be rushed with preparations.

  Once they had Derrick and Marcia’s car unloaded, and were tucking into their food, Derrick smiled. “Spill it. I want to hear this.”

  Cali smirked as she stared at Sean. “Well? Faulty grill story? Or should we fess up.”

  “Nooo,” he griped, looking abashed. “Tell the full story. They’ll hear it from you anyway eventually.”

  Max laughed. “We had an…idea. And it kind of backfired on both of us.”

  “Ahem,” Cali said.

  “And caused Baxter to flip out and accidentally get Cali in the process.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No, seriously,” Derrick said. “I want to hear the details.”

  By the time Max and Sean—with Cali filling in when the men were less than detailed with the, eh, details—told the tale, both Derrick and Marcia were nearly crying with laughter.

  Sean looked suitably embarrassed. “Well, it would have been really cool if it’d worked out the way we envisioned it.”

  “I have to take partial responsibility, too,” Max said. “I guess we sort of strayed out of our lane in terms of kinky skills.”

  “Gee, ya think?” Cali quipped.

  Actually, maybe wings weren’t the best idea. Her hands were now a mess, and she’d have to change out the bandages over her wounds, although they weren’t bleeding anymore.

  Marcia smiled as she slowly shook her head. “I don’t know how you put up with the two of them,” she said. “You are a better woman than I am.”

  Cali let out a sigh as Max and Sean flashed her playful smiles. “I love them. They’re goofballs sometimes, but they’re my goofballs, and life would be boring and suck without them.”

  * * * *

  Not long after they’d finished dinner, and Marcia and Derrick left, Cali washed her hands, opted to leave off the bandages, and got started with her office opening routine while Max and Sean took care of making sure the inside dungeon was set up and ready to go.

  Running Venture wasn’t complicated, and it wasn’t like they were dealing with a lot of money, but she still took it seriously. Venture was run as a business, not like someone’s basement kink party. That was one of the things that made the club successful, by eliminating a ton of BS and legal issues that tended to cause people problems when they tried to run a “dungeon” by cutting corners.

  Technically, Venture didn’t have to make money, because Lynn Durran, one of their regulars in the Suncoast Society munch group, had literally won the lottery. One of the things she’d done was make a donation to the club to hold in reserve if they ever needed it to pay bills.

  But Marcia and Derrick didn’t want to look at it like they had a magic cushion. The CPA and his wife still operated the club as if the only money they had to run it was what came through the door.

  No getting lazy, no wild purchases.

  Which was where Cali and her men came in, along with several other volunteers.

  She heard someone unlock the office door and let themselves in. Looking up, she saw Axel and Skye. They were two of their volunteers for the night. “Hey.” Cali finished counting the bank for the night and slipped the cash tray into its drawer.

  “Did you see the attendance count jump on Fet today?” Skye asked as she signed them in.

  “Huh?”

  “Yeah. About an hour ago.”

  “No?” Cali pulled up a browser on the club’s computer. “Son of a bitch,” she muttered. “The last time that happened was when people found out Lydia died.” At least this time it wasn’t such a drastic jump in attendance. An extra twenty people had marked themselves as coming.

  Which was great, because it meant more money in the drawer.

  Except Cali only had two more volunteers coming in tonight.

  “Rusty and Eliza are coming tonight, right?” Axel asked. He was the “newbie” to kink amongst them. While quickly learning and becoming a great DM, he still felt unsure sometimes when they had large crowds, and he didn’t like DMing rope or edge play yet, until he’d had more experience with it.

  “Yeah,” Cali said. “But I hadn’t asked anyone else to come in.” She quickly scanned the list of people marked as going and found June and Scrye among them. They weren’t just friends and regulars, but also volunteers.

  Cali slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and shot June a quick SOS text. “I wonder what happened?”

  “The only thing I could see,” Skye said, “was that a FemDom group from Ft. Myers decided to hold a road trip.”

  “Kinda last-minute,” Cali said.

  “I got the impression from some of the comments I saw floating around that it wasn’t exactly a planned thing. That maybe there was some drama there or something, and some of the members decided to do their own thing tonight instead of the usual party they attend.”

  “Terrific. Just what we need, a kinky turf war.”

  “Do they throw down with floggers and canes?” Axel asked with a smile, making them all laugh.

  Rusty and Eliza soon arrived, and June responded that yes, they were en route and only a few minutes away, and yes, if they were needed as DMs, they’d be happy to help. That’d give them nine staff for sure, and likely a few extras here and there as regular members who also volunteered showed up and could be begged into service, if needed.

  Cali started to relax. That was a totally doable ratio. Three in the office—four, if they had June in there with them—and everyone else out in the play space.

  “What happened to your hand?” Eliza asked after she noticed Cali favoring it and having trouble with the computer mouse.

  “Oh, get a load of this.” Cali told all four of them the story and had them roaring with laughter. It also sent Rusty running into the dungeon to get a look at Sean’s singed eyebrow.

  “Looks painful.”

  “Nah, I’ve had worse.” Cali was about to do one last office check before unlocking the door when her cell rang, Marcia calling.

  “Hey, boss lady,” Cali said.

  “Holy crap, we just saw Fet. Do you want us to come back and help?”

  Cali laughed. “No, it’s okay. Skye warned me, and I’ve got Eliza, R
usty, June, and Scrye here now, too. Plus Tony and Shayla, if we really need them. We’re good.”

  “Okay. By the way, thank you again. All of you. You have no idea how much we appreciate this.”

  “No worries. It’s handled.”

  Once she got off the phone with Marcia, Cali switched her phone to silent and nodded to Eliza, who stood by the office door. “Let’s do it. We’re open.”

  * * * *

  Sean knew word of his amusing near-miss would quickly make the rounds of the Suncoast Society group. Not that he minded, because it was his own dumbassery that caused it.

  The evening was already starting off busier than the average Saturday, he and Max having to take groups of new members to give them the “newbie talk.”

  He was also starting to sense a theme. Even though it wasn’t a FemDom specialty event, they seemed to be getting a lot of Dommes in that night. Scrye and Rusty were handling the new side, which had more play stations, while Axel took the old side, with him and Max as backup while they did the newbie talks.

  At one point shortly after nine, Sean stuck his head through the office door to ask Cali if there was something he didn’t know about going on tonight, spotted she had at least twenty people backed up at the counter, and ducked back into the playspace.

  Holy crap.

  Well, slow nights were easier on them, sure, but they didn’t help the club’s bottom line. Also, the energy was always lower, slower on nights when they didn’t have many people there. While that was great for some people, most of the attendees liked it when it at least felt busy.

  Around ten, Sean was on the old side DMing with Axel. A suspension scene had just wrapped up and Sean was chatting with Tony, who was there to play and not volunteer tonight. Axel was crossing the social area to go check the kitchen supplies when Sean watched a woman snap her fingers at him.

  He knew she was a new member Max had given the newbie talk to. She’d come in with four other women and the other three women’s partners. She’d been alone for the evening, though, as far as he could tell. She hadn’t played, either, that he’d seen.

  She looked like she was probably younger than she appeared, hard, angular lines in her face that were accentuated by an unflattering makeup application she likely thought was sultry or slutty or something, but she’d missed the mark. Her harsh, bleached blonde hair also didn’t do her any favors when combined with her overdrawn dark brown eyebrows that almost cartoonishly gave her a somewhat surprised expression.

  Or that she had two caterpillars trying to mate on her forehead.

  Axel pulled up short, and Sean didn’t hear what the woman said to him because both he and Tony started moving toward them at the same time.

  “Excuse me?” Sean heard Axel ask.

  “I said, get me a bottle of water.”

  “Whoa, lady,” Sean said. “He’s one of our volunteers. See the name badge?” Not that she could go randomly ordering strangers to serve her there at the club, but it was even worse because Axel’s name badge was plainly visible.

  Her head swiveled around and reptilian-cold eyes took Sean in. “So?”

  Sean started to say something when Tony put out a staying hand, while his other dipped into his back pocket, grabbed the volunteer name badge and lanyard Sean didn’t realize he had on him, and strung it around his neck.

  Sean waited, hands on his hips, for the fireworks to start.

  Tony kept his voice low, and between the music and crowd noise, no one could hear past their now tight little group.

  “Let me tell you something, lady. I don’t know how you do things elsewhere, but our volunteers aren’t here as subs or slaves to anyone but their partners. You are all kinds of out-of-line right now, and I suggest you apologize to him.”

  “I was told this is a full-service club. I paid to get in here tonight. I expect good service.”

  “I don’t know who told you that included fetching you beverages, but I know it wasn’t anyone who gave you the newbie speech. And I know, because I wrote the damn thing. Everyone pays to get in here and yet you’re the only one acting like your shit don’t stink. No one else tries to order our volunteers around. Apologize.”

  “I don’t owe anyone an apology.” She looked Tony up and down with a haughty glare. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  Tony’s stance changed, feet shoulder-width, hands on his hips. His voice dropped to an even more dangerous tone. “I think I’m the guy about to throw your ass out of this dungeon for being a bitch to our volunteers if you don’t apologize right now. Try me.” His green eyes turned cold and hard, like granite, and Sean knew the woman was about to step on a land mine. If she moved just a hair the wrong way, it’d go off.

  Her gaze didn’t cut from Tony. It took her a couple of breaths to finally glance away first. “Sor-ree.” Sarcasm dripped from her tone. “You can bet I’m going to write about this on FetLife. Asshole,” she muttered.

  Tony laughed. “Go right ahead, honey. You’ll be jumped on by everyone else who’s been coming here for years and who will tell you you were out of fucking line. Everyone working here running the club is a volunteer. We don’t get paid. We do this because we’re members and we want to help keep it open.”

  “I pay to get in, I expect a little service.”

  “You’re not understanding me, lady. This is a kinky community center. Everything we make keeps the lights on and the doors open. No one on our staff tonight has agreed to be your bitch for the evening, or is being paid to be your bitch, so how about you drop the bitch ’tude and chill.”

  Tony patted Axel on the shoulder. Axel continued on to the kitchen area while Tony and Sean stepped away and returned to where Sean had been watching the earlier suspension scene.

  Another guy was now preparing to do a suspension on the large A-frame.

  Tony stood there, legs apart, arms crossed over his chest, and glowered at the woman, who still looked enraged.

  She finally turned away.

  Tony leaned in toward Sean. “Can you do me a favor?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Please walk over to the other side and tell Shay I asked her to come here.” He sighed. “Fuck, she’s gonna be pissed. I was about ready to start scening with her. I came over to get a couple of waters.”

  “It’s okay. I’ve got this. Go play.”

  Tony studied the way the man about to do his suspension tied his ring to the frame before glancing over at the woman again. She now sat turned away from Sean and Tony, but with her head tipped down, like she was looking at something in her lap.

  Sean spotted the telltale glow of a screen suddenly lighting her face in the darkened space.

  Before he could react, Tony saw it. “Oh, hell, no,” Tony muttered as he turned and stormed back toward her, Sean on his heels.

  She had her phone out and was typing something on it. Before she could put it away, Tony snatched it from her hands and jerked his thumb toward the office door. “You. Office. Now.” He didn’t wait for a reply and turned on his heel, heading that way.

  The wide-eyed woman wore a mix of horror and rage on her face before she finally stood and followed.

  Shit.

  Sean parked Axel in front of the suspension about to start and hurried over to the new side, where he found Shayla, still dressed, but in cuffs and collar, kneeling in front of one of the benches on a fleece throw.

  He walked around her, so she wouldn’t have to turn to look at him, and leaned in just close enough she could hear him without speaking too loudly over the music.

  “Shay, I’m sorry. Tony sent me over. We have a newbie causing trouble on the other side. Tony saw what was happening and took over and just hauled her out to the office. He asked me to tell you to go talk to him.”

  Her head snapped up, rage furrowing her brow. “Son of a fucking bitch. He’s been in goddamned Colorado for over six fucking weeks and just got back last night. We haven’t played in over two goddamned months!”

  Before Sea
n could react, she was up and moving and practically running for the office door on bare feet.

  Max, who’d been standing along the wall DMing, walked over. “What’s going on?”

  “Long story. I’ll tell you later.” Sean followed Shayla out and hoped he didn’t have to pull her off the newbie.

  She looked pissed. Then again, he supposed she had every right to be, that their evening was being messed with.

  Talk about fucking fireworks.

  Chapter Five

  Cali had been checking in a couple of regulars when the door to the playspace blasted open, like someone hit it stiff-armed. Tony appeared, a cell phone in his hand. Considering it had a bright pink case with flowers on it, Cali assumed it didn’t belong to him.

  “Oh, shit,” Eliza and June muttered on either side of her.

  He headed straight for the outside door, only turning once he had it open, as if waiting for someone to follow.

  One of the new women, who’d come up with the group from Ft. Myers, hurried out of the dungeon and into the office. He strode outside, and she followed.

  “Go,” June said to Cali. “That looks bad. We’ve got this.”

  “Thanks.” Cali switched places at the computer with Eliza and, before Cali could hurry around the counter, Shayla appeared in the office, looking really fucking pissed off, glanced around, and headed for the outside door.

  Oh, fuckballs.

  Cali caught the outer door before it even swung shut behind Shay and slipped out to find Tony standing a few yards to the side of the office door, hands on his hips, and leaning in toward the new woman.

  “I don’t know what the hell you think you were doing, lady, but the rules posted all over the place, including the rules you were told and agreed to when you came here tonight, specifically said no cell phone usage in the dungeon.”

  “Well, I—”

  He held up a hand and pinched his thumb and fingers together in a universal gesture for her to shut her pie hole. “You were going to get on FetLife and bitch to someone, yeah. I saw the screen when I walked up. What’s your name?”

  “I—”

  “I asked you for your fucking name!”