[B.S. #3] Claiming Laura (7 page)

Angel looked uncomfortable as he scanned the bar. Spotting Clay, he made his way over. Clay got up and took the seat next to Laura. He didn’t want Angel sitting beside Laura. He liked Angel but he found he was very possessive and didn’t want to give her a chance to forget who she was with.

Putting his hand on her knee, he gave it a squeeze. Clay turned his attention to Angel as he sat down on the other side of the booth.

Angel squeezed into the booth that wasn’t made for a man his size. He took in Clay and his new lady.
She’s a looker. Clay is one lucky SOB.
Changing his thoughts as to why he had sought Clay out, he turned from looking at Clay’s lady and told him “I look like a fool wearing this leather costume.”

His words didn’t sway Clay. “You fit right in, a lot of people are wearing leather, Just look around.”
Clay didn’t see any problem with what Angel was wearing. He looked like the other Doms in the place. He stood out because he was a head taller than most Doms, with his Native American heritage and long black hair hanging to his shoulders. What else could he expect? “Why don’t you just try and enjoy yourself. I can see that you are getting a lot of attention from the ladies.”

Clay turned to Laura “Laura I’d like to introduce Angel to you. He’s a great guy and a member of Braden Security when not being an ass.”

Clay, wanting to appease Angel, continued “Tell our shy guy here how he looks. A woman’s opinion might help.”

Laura closed her month and looked down at the table, embarrassed that she had been caught gawking at Clay’s friend. When Laura had first come into the bar last night, she had noticed a few men dressed all in leather and thought nothing of it. But tonight the majority of the men in the bar were all dressed that way.

Laura had to ask about it. She hadn’t heard of a new dress style for men, not that she got out much, but she would have noticed the new trend.

Taking another look at Angel, she told Clay, “At first glance, I think Angel looks good and fits right in with the others. In this bar anyway. Someplace else, not so much. But, why are the majority of the men dressed in leather?”

Clay really didn’t want to get into the whole BDSM thing. He didn’t want to scare her away, but with Angel here he couldn’t avoid the subject.

Clay cleared his throat. “As you know this club is for members only. If you have a full membership you are given a choice of doors to go into when you first come in, vanilla or spice. The one to the right comes into this area, the vanilla bar. It allows anyone entrance with a membership or guest card, like you and your friends had. The door to the left is the spice bar and is strictly for members only and is a very exclusive BDSM club. I don’t know how much your friends told you before you came here.”

Laura had heard of these types of clubs. She had read about the subject in her erotic books, but had never thought about it about it one way or another.

Clay looked intently at her for an answer.
Laura told him the truth. “My friends didn’t mention anything about it being a BDSM club and I really don’t know much about the lifestyle. But I would like to think I wouldn’t judge anyone who was. I believe strongly that as long as you don’t hurt anyone with your choice, it’s nobody’s business.”

Clay seemed to like her response and sat back in his seat, giving her knee another squeeze. Wanting her to know more about the lifestyle, Clay explained about Doms and subs but didn’t go into great depth, just giving her a few facts.

“Angel is dressed up as a Dom as a favour to me. He is helping me check out a few things for my friend, Lance who owns this club.”

Laura looked up at Angel with new eyes. Now she knew more about the club. “Well, Mr. Angel, if I was a sub,
if that’s the right term, I would be all over you.
You look great.” Laura finally realized what she had said without thought and lowered her now red face down to the table, her hands covering her head. Clay just laughed at her embarrassment and leaned down and gave her a kiss on her hands.

“Don’t let it bother you. You spoke what you thought and I admire that in a person.”
Clay gently sat her back up handing her a drink.
Laura took a much needed sip and refused to look anywhere but at the glass.

Clay could tell Angel still didn’t feel comfortable after hearing Laura’s words.

“I still think I look like a damn fool. Maybe in here I don’t stand out, but you should have seen the looks I got when I had to stop for gas. I now know why Lance told me at the tailors that everyone uses the locker rooms to change when they get here. I thought I was saving time. Remind me not to do that again. That’s not the only reason I came in here. I wanted to ask if you had any tips. Lance gave me a quick rundown as I was getting suited up in these leathers. I like to think nothing can shock me anymore after what we’ve seen in the army, but, man. Clay, I don’t know if I can remain calm and do my job. Lance told me that in special rooms on the spice side, people get naked and use some contraptions that he supplies. I asked him to give me some descriptions and I had a hard time wrapping my mind around their use.”

Angel stopped and ran his hand through his hair and pinned down Clay with his black glaze. “Then he told me that some people get off on pain. I know I’ve only just made it inside to the bar and haven’t seen anything yet, but I don’t know if I’m capable of being a monitor over there. How do you know when to step in or not? I don’t fit in and I don’t want to blow this for you.”

By now with Angel’s description of the other side, Laura was outraged. “They are allowing that type of thing to go on over there? You better get back to your job, and stop them. I can call the police.” She was already digging in her purse for her cell. Clay put his hand over hers, stopping her movements.

“Both of you step back a bit and I will explain more. In a BDSM club, everything is safe, sane, and consensual. People that go to this club are here to play. You might not agree with how they play, but you must always respect their wishes. Each scene is talked over beforehand by the people involved in the playing. They know what they are going to do and how it is going to be played out. They also agree on a safe word. When that word is spoken all play stops. So if you are acting as a monitor you could go up to the person if you think they are in trouble and ask them if they want to use their safe word. If they don’t choose to, you have to back off, no matter what you think. Lance’s club is not into any rough stuff that can take place in other clubs. As for the naked people, it’s not allowed in the front bar leading back to the playrooms. I didn’t know you were a prude, Angel. Why don’t you just enjoy the view? But remember, don’t touch until you ask. Now get back there and try to relax. With your size I doubt anyone will pick on you. And as a monitor you can’t play. So you’re safe.”

Angel didn’t like the advice from Clay, but he knew he had to go back. He would try to look at things differently and try to see them with new eyes and less attitude. Squeezing back out of the booth, he gave Clay a long hard look.

“Remember that payback is a bitch.” With that said, Angel left the table and bar. He made a magnificent sight walking away. No one could tell he wasn’t a Dom in his own right.

After watching Angel leave the bar—she was a woman after all, Laura could admire the gentle Native American as he made himself walk over to the other side. She turned her eyes back to Clay to see him grinning at her.

“Well, what do you expect? All of the women are looking at him. Don’t even go there. I know I couldn’t keep up with someone like him. He would walk all over me in a week with those black eyes of his.”

“As long as you just look. He is a very good friend of mine, one from the army and now the security firm. We do get a lot of calls asking for him on security detail, and with the way he looks anyone would be crazy to tangle with him. He also seems to be able to sense things and is always one step ahead of everyone else. It has come in handy many times over the years. But getting back to my little talk with Angel, did it bother you?” Clay moved to the other seat that Angel had just left.

He took a scan of the room as he asked Laura the question. He really wanted to know what she thought. While he wasn’t into heavy BDSM, he could admit that he liked having control in the bedroom.

Laura didn’t know how to answer Clay. From what she had read, she was intrigued about BDSM. She just hoped this wasn’t a hard line for him and a breaking point for them. She had to tell him the truth. It was not something that she could hide if they ever got to the intimate stage, so she just blurted it out. “I don’t know too much about it, just what I’ve read. To be honest, I’ve never thought about it in relation to myself personally.” She still kept her eyes looking at the table as she answered him. She didn’t want to see any disappointment in Clay’s face.

Clay reached out and gently tilted her chin up. “I’m glad you’re honest. Anything else we can deal with. I must admit that I do like the control that comes with BDSM and have dabbled in it in the past. Like I told Angel, it is safe, sane, and consensual. If you don’t consent, nothing happens. We both have to be on the same page for it to work.”

Laura was trying to get her mind around what Clay was telling her. Did he mean that if they didn’t agree on BDSM, that they could never have an intimate relationship? If so, she should know right now. She knew it wouldn’t take her long to fall for him and if there was no chance, it was better to know now.

Lifting her chin from Clay’s grasp and taking her courage in hand Laura, asked him, “Are you telling me that the only way we can be together is with BDSM?” Laura bit her lip, waiting for Clay’s response. She knew that he was too good to be true and her eyes started to water up. Laura started to gather her purse, ready to leave, when Clay didn’t answer her right back.

Clay, who had been thinking of how to reply to her question without scaring her off, grabbed her elbow as she started to rise from the table. “Hold on there, Laura, you didn’t give me time to reply. Remember I said that we could deal with anything as long as we were honest with each other? Well, I’m going to be blunt. I do like some aspects of BDSM. I would like to explain in more detail to you, but this is not the place to do that. I can and do vanilla relationships all the time. How we want this relationship to work is totally up to us. I just hope that you will give me the chance to explain and also to keep an open mind. I really would like to continue with what we have started.”

Laura sat back down. She was ashamed of herself. She was doing exactly what she hated other people doing. She was making a snap judgment on something she really knew nothing about. Shamefully she looked at Clay. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions that fast. I also would like to continue to see you. And when the time is right, learn more about BDSM. Can you forgive me?”

Clay, who had felt his heart drop when he saw her get ready to leave, took a breath and blew it out. “That’s all that I ask. All you have to do is listen and there is nothing to forgive. After Angel’s narrative of what the other room holds, it’s no wonder that you got spooked. We’ll talk about it later.”

Just then, they both heard a loud commotion coming from the front entrance. Clay stood up, ready to find out what was happening. Remembering Laura, he asked her to stay where she was until he could come back and get her. Clay hurried away after she nodded her head. Laura knew he was on some kind of job, so he knew she would understand his hurry.

Chapter Seven

Laura could hear a woman screaming from the hall. Clay was having words with the two men holding the doors open. Another tall, blond, Viking-looking man came from the front entrance and joined Clay in the doorway.

The Viking put his hands on his hips and look at
the concerned people, watching the door. “No need to worry folks. We have everything under control. Please continue to enjoy your evening. I will keep you updated, if there is anything for you to worry about.”
Both men went through the doors, shutting them when the crowd in the bar settled down some. It helped that there were no more screams from the entranceway.

Laura picked up her drink and took a sip, to have something to do with her hands. She was worried about Clay, and also about the woman that had been screaming. Hopefully this had nothing to do with why Clay was here helping his friend out. She hadn’t asked Clay what the problem at the club was but had thought it was something minor, like the bartenders giving away free drinks or watering them down. She hoped Clay was OK. This sounded serious.

Clay could see a small, dark-haired woman screaming and crying while holding onto Bob at the front desk. The man looked shell-shocked and completely lost as to what to do with the woman. He was holding the woman at arm’s length with both hands, and shaking her a little bit and telling her to stop crying. This just seemed to make the woman cry harder. Clay knew he had to defuse the situation so that he could learn anything from her. Taking the big man’s hand away from the woman, he put his arm around her and gently patted her back as she buried her head in his chest. He wasn’t the best in these situations either, but he knew shaking the woman was not helping. She started to whimper just as the front door opened and Angel came in from the parking lot. He had a grim, pissed off look on his face.

Turning his attention away from Angel, he looked down at the woman. Gently he pulled her head away from his chest and asked her what had happened. She was now starting to hiccup and Clay found the big bouncer standing beside them, handing her a Kleenex. She took it and tried to regain her breath as she looked around at the men standing in the entranceway.

“Someone tried to steal my car. They grabbed me from behind just as I reached it. But after my initial fright, I thought enough to grab my keys that were in my hand and stabbed them back at him. As soon as he loosened his grip, so that I could wiggle away from him, I ran back to the club. He didn’t try to follow me and I really didn’t get a look at him.”

“That’s OK, sweetheart, we’re just glad that you’re safe.” Clay was looking at Lance, who had followed Angel in from the parking lot as she told her story. None of them thought whoever had grabbed her was trying to steal her car but didn’t want to upset her with their theory.