Collaring Brooke (Club Zodiac Book 3) Read online

Brooke continued to stare at the whip Faith had wielded so expertly. Freeing… Something about the idea made her skin tingle. It had been so long since the last time she’d felt that kind of release.

  So rarely did she step out of line, even lately. But today she had. She’d felt guilt for the last several hours. Her offense? Falling under the spell of a man. It was wrong. She knew it. And yet, she’d been unable to stop herself. The blond god who was part owner of Zodiac had tempted her.

  “You okay?” Faith asked.

  Brooke jerked her gaze up to meet Faith’s.

  “I’ve said too much. I’m so sorry. I get carried away when it seems like someone wants to learn. I forget not everyone wants to hear about my world. Forgive me.”

  Brooke slowly nodded her head. “No. Really. It’s fine.” She licked her dry lips. “Would you show me what it’s like?”

  Chapter 2

  Carter stood at the bottom of the stairs, peering around the corner without making a sound. He’d seen Faith at work several times, so he knew she was safe, but the woman sitting on the bench was horrified, and her terror had grown by the minute.

  Still, he hated to intervene. It wasn’t like Faith and the woman were engaged in a scene, but on the other hand, it sort of was.

  The woman on the bench had wide green eyes he swore he could detect even from across the room. Or maybe it was her gorgeous long red hair that made him assume her eye color. A sprinkle of freckles coated her cheeks, making her look innocent and young.

  For a moment he wondered if she was old enough to be inside the club at all, but then he remembered seeing that shock of red hair before and realized she was the woman he’d seen cleaning in the hallway earlier.

  She’s with the cleaning company? And Faith is giving her a demo?

  That last question out of the redhead’s mouth made him stiffen. It didn’t matter that the club wasn’t open right now. Faith still would need to get the woman to sign a waiver if she were going to play.

  Luckily he didn’t have to intervene because Faith came through for him. “I’d be happy to demonstrate anything you want, but you’ll have to sign a waiver first. No one plays inside Zodiac without reading all the rules first.”

  “Oh, right. Of course.” The redhead scooted off the bench. “Well, never mind. I really need to finish up and get out of here.” She beelined for the hallway, grabbing her mop along the way. “Thank you for showing me your whip,” she called over her shoulder. “It was…interesting.” She smiled, and damn but that smile lit up her entire face and stopped Carter’s breath.

  Good grief, Carter. Stop ogling the woman. She’s not even familiar with BDSM. In fact, she’d been rather horrified.

  Redheads always got to him. Every time. This one was no exception.

  He watched her backside as she rushed across the room. Her jeans were worn and fit loosely on her like they weren’t hers. Or she’d lost weight. She was too skinny as it was. He sincerely hoped she hadn’t lost weight. Her T-shirt was dark green and he’d noticed the logo of the cleaning company in the upper right corner. She had on tennis shoes. Old. Scuffed. Dirty. But then again, no one would wear nice shoes to clean a building.

  As soon as she disappeared around the corner, Carter sauntered into the room as if he happened to arrive at that moment. “Hey, Faith. How’s it going?”

  “Good.” She turned to face him. “Thanks for letting me practice before you open.”

  He shrugged. “Like I said, no worries. Lincoln, Rowen, and I would prefer you be completely in tune with your apparatus when you play. We don’t mind you practicing any time one of us is here.” He didn’t think Rowen had met Faith yet, but the three of them were owners of the club, so they trusted each other to make decisions.

  “Well, thanks anyway.” Faith smiled. “I know we just met. It’s kind of all of you.”

  “Your reputation precedes you.” He winked and then turned toward the front of the room. “Would you like me to give your friend a waiver to look over?”

  Faith chuckled, obviously realizing he’d heard at least some of their conversation. “Sure. That’s a good idea. Not sure if she’ll come back again, but just in case.”

  He inhaled slowly as he made his way to the front desk and grabbed a stapled waiver from under the counter. If nothing else, it gave him the excuse to approach the redhead and see if she was as sexy up close as she was from a distance.

  When he stepped out into the hallway, she was tucking her mop bucket into the supply closet. She yelped when she turned around, a hand landing on her chest.

  He stopped moving. “Shit. Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  She stared at the floor. “No. My fault. I was in my own world.”

  I’ll bet. After watching Faith wield that whip, most people fall into another dimension. He took a few steps closer, holding out the waiver. “Faith asked me to give you this. Just in case.”

  She retreated a few feet before stopping herself and lifting her gaze enough to see what he was holding.

  “It’s a waiver. If you want Faith to do some demos or if you want to try anything out, you need to look over these papers first, sign them, and return them,” he told the top of her head.

  For a moment, he wasn’t sure she would take his offering. Finally, she stepped forward, grabbed the waiver, and retreated. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

  “Good idea. Never jump into anything you aren’t sure about. Information is power.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a business card. When he held it out toward her, he spoke again. “Take my card. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to help.”

  “Uh…” She hesitated longer this time.

  Did his business card have cooties?

  Finally, she reached out with her slender fingers and carefully tugged the card from his hand, making every effort to avoid touching him. “Thank you.”

  He was treading through unchartered territory here. He wasn’t a dick, and normally women found him attractive. They didn’t usually try to avoid his touch.

  “I’m Carter, by the way. Carter Ellis.” His name was on the card, so his introduction was superfluous, but he didn’t know what else to say.

  “Brooke Madden,” she murmured. “Thanks again. I should get going.” She spun around, grabbed a backpack he hadn’t noticed from the corner of the room, and fled past him to get to the stairs that would lead to the first-floor entrance.

  Somehow she managed to skirt around him without touching him or making eye contact.

  He realized too late he never did get to confirm her eye color.

  He’d bet anything they were green, though. And he fully intended to verify that in the near future. What days did their cleaning service come?

  Chapter 3

  The following Wednesday Carter forced himself to stay upstairs while Brooke was on the main floor. He was aware of her presence and knew she and Faith had interacted, but he’d kept himself out of sight. But the week after that, he didn’t have the willpower any longer. Curiosity forced him down the stairs where he stopped at the bottom out of sight. He heard her soft, sweet voice before he saw her.

  She giggled.

  His heart stopped. The sound went straight to his cock.

  Whoa. Where did that come from?

  The memory of her shocking red curls, pale skin, and supposed gorgeous green eyes had haunted him for fourteen days. For no good reason. He didn’t know her at all. But that didn’t stop him from imagining all sorts of things about her.

  He’d even started jerking off to her image in the shower.

  At the sound of her giggle, he leaned his forehead against the wall of the stairwell and thanked God he was alone. It was wrong to eavesdrop on her and Faith, but he couldn’t stop himself. And besides, who was it hurting?

  He had to know what made her laugh, though, so he peeked around the corner long enough to see Faith dancing the ends of a flogger over her forearms.

  Damn. If that was the sound she made from the str
oke of leather on her wrists, how would she react to the dance of a feather across her belly…or her thighs?

  He jerked his head back when the women turned. And then he listened.

  Faith’s voice was prominent and louder than Brooke’s. He got the impression Brooke was extremely shy or skittish, especially since she hadn’t made eye contact with him when they met and in fact fled as quickly as possible.

  For some ridiculous reason, her shyness turned him on even more.

  “So, this is a spanking bench,” Faith was saying, “or it can be used for anything the Domme wants.”

  “How do you…?” Brooke’s inquisitive voice came through.

  “Your knees go here, and your elbows here. Your belly rests here.”

  Carter didn’t need to look to know where Faith was pointing. But damn, he wished he could see Brooke’s reaction.

  “And you strap people down?”

  “Sometimes. Sometimes I expect the submissive to stay where I tell them without restraint. That can be even more of a mind fuck than actually securing their wrists and ankles.”

  “So, people voluntarily come to Zodiac to be spanked, or whatever.” Brooke was commenting more than asking, as if she was trying to wrap her head around the concept. She was so green. Part of him wished she wasn’t learning about BDSM. Or perhaps he wished he was the one teaching her. He found himself jealous of Faith.

  Faith chuckled. “Yeah. I guess it’s hard to understand when you’ve never been exposed before. You’ve signed the waiver now. You’re welcome to come when the club is open too, you know. It might help you to watch one night. Lots of people come just to watch. There’s no harm in observing. Some people even prefer it.”

  “Oh. No. I couldn’t. I feel bad enough taking up your time. I should let you do your thing.”

  “Oh gosh, don’t worry about it. I offered. I’m always happy to educate someone about the lifestyle. I’d rather help inform people about what BDSM is really about than have them wandering through life misinformed or mistakenly horrified.”

  “Okay. Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind.” The hesitancy in her voice once again made Carter ache to round the corner and approach.

  He did not.

  “What is that?” she asked next. God, how he wished he could see what she was pointing at.

  “It’s a St. Andrew’s cross. The bottom might stand facing it or facing away.”

  “Bottom?”

  “Submissive. The person on the receiving end, you could say. The Domme is often called the top. In some cases, they switch.”

  “Switch?”

  “Yeah. Just because someone is topping another doesn’t mean they always do. They might also bottom another time.”

  “Oh.”

  After several seconds of silence, Carter couldn’t resist peering around the corner again.

  Brooke had her hand on one side of the X and she was smoothing her palm up the well-sanded, varnished wood. Reverently.

  Fuck me. What was it with this woman?

  “You want to try it?” Faith asked.

  “Yes. I think I’d like that.” Brooke’s voice was stronger. Certain.

  Carter’s breath stopped. His cock jumped again. He should walk away. He should tiptoe back up the stairs and leave Faith and Brooke alone. It was wrong of him to eavesdrop like this.

  But he couldn’t stop himself.

  Brooke had no idea what possessed her to agree to whatever Faith had in mind. In fact, she had no idea what it was Faith had in mind.

  What she knew was she trusted Faith implicitly after only meeting her twice. Last week when she’d cleaned the club, Faith had once again been there “practicing.” They had exchanged pleasantries and Brooke had silently watched Faith work for a while.

  When Brooke had finished cleaning, she’d taken Faith up on the offer to stay later the following week, and here they were now.

  For the past several nights Brooke had tossed and turned, wondering what it would be like to submit to someone like Faith. Someone controlled and confident. And kind. It was obvious Faith didn’t strike her submissives out of anger. Quite the opposite.

  A few trips to the library gave Brooke a better understanding of the lifestyle. She had spent several hours reading everything she could find about BDSM. She had no idea why she found herself so intrigued, but here she was.

  And now she was taking things even further than she’d anticipated. Why would she set herself up to be struck by someone? She had to be crazy.

  “Face the cross,” Faith began. “Step closer and lift your arms up the sides of the X.”

  Brooke did as she was told, noticing how Faith’s voice had changed, her tone dropping, her words somehow soothing while demanding at the same time. Hypnotizing in a way.

  Brooke flinched when Faith tapped a peg into the cross near her hand, the sound echoing through the room. “Grab the peg. Wrap your fingers around it.”

  Easy enough, though she jerked again when Faith did the same on the other side.

  A gentle hand landed on Brooke’s shoulder. “Relax. I’m not going to do anything that will harm you. I’m just giving you a small taste of what it’s like to bottom for someone. Concentrate on how it makes you feel. Mentally. It’s a head space. Don’t think about anything else right now.”

  Faith’s hand on Brooke’s shoulder and then back helped calm her. For a moment she wondered if Faith always worked with women. Maybe she was a lesbian. She hadn’t gotten that impression at any point, but then what did she know? “Do you always top women?” she asked boldly.

  “No. I top whoever wants me to. It’s not sexual at all. It’s simply something that gives people a release they need.”

  “Sexual?” she asked before she could stop herself. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. What could possibly be sexual about this? She had done enough research to realize many aspects of BDSM were sexual in nature, but surely not the type Faith participated in. How could flogging and whipping people be sexual?

  “Let me amend what I said. BDSM can certainly be sexual. It often is. Many people get off on being restrained or even flogged or whipped. Many Doms also get off on that power play. But it’s not always like that. Some people just like the release from a flogging or a spanking or even something harder like a whip, crop, or cane.

  “Think of it as sort of a pressure valve. It relieves anxiety and stress for some without being sexual at all. And when I’m dominating someone, it doesn’t make me aroused. I can’t control the reactions of my submissives, of course. Some of them may get aroused from my actions, but I don’t sleep with them.”

  “Oh.” Brooke would have to process that more later. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. At the moment she couldn’t conceive of being voluntarily beaten for any reason, sexual or otherwise, so she was at a total loss to internalize either explanation.

  Except you can imagine it…

  She shuddered. The word penance popped into her head. Like an atonement for wrongdoing. Like religious people going to confession or something. Interesting that her brain would go there. Perhaps if she let Faith strike her, she might find herself exonerated of some perceived wrongdoing.

  She knew exactly what she had to atone for—her stupid interest in the club’s owner, Carter Ellis. Thoughts of the man had haunted her day and night for the past two weeks. Even though she hadn’t seen him since the night he’d given her his card and the waiver, she hadn’t been able to purge him from her mind.

  She could feel herself relaxing at the idea of releasing pent-up stress through whatever Faith was going to do to her next.

  “That’s it. Just relax. Lean your forehead on the cross if you want. You can close your eyes or keep them open. I’m not going to restrain you. You’re too new to the lifestyle for that. But I want you to hold on to the pegs on your own, because I’ve told you to do so.”

  Brooke sucked in a breath and gripped the pegs tighter, feeling the command so deeply that the end result caused her to practically sens
e her wrists strapped to the cross.

  Faith’s fingers trailed up Brooke’s arm until she wrapped them around her wrists, imitating exactly what Brooke was thinking. She was good. “I’m going to use a flogger on you. It will be so gentle at first, you won’t feel much of anything. As I pick up the intensity, you’ll feel like you’re getting a massage.”

  That seemed impossible, but Brooke nodded.

  “Before I start, you need a safeword. Never play with anyone without negotiating a safeword first. And never play for one more second with anyone who doesn’t take that safeword seriously. For most clubs, the universal safeword is red. Yellow if you need a moment to slow down and regroup. Red means stop altogether and end the scene.”

  Brooke nodded. She had read about safewords.

  “Tell me your safeword.”

  “Red.”

  “Good. If it gets too intense, use it. I’ll stop immediately. If you need me to slow down, use yellow,” she repeated.

  “Got it. Red. Yellow.” She took a few deep breaths, worrying what it would feel like to have Faith swing that flogger at her and craving it at the same time. She had truly lost her marbles.

  “Deep breaths. Lean against the cross if you want.” Faith’s hand trailed down Brooke’s back again before disappearing.

  A few seconds later, the flogger whooshed through the air and landed on Brooke’s shoulder blade. Brooke flinched, sucking in a sharp breath before realizing it didn’t hurt at all. In fact, she hardly felt it. Just as Faith had told her.

  Another strike landed on her other shoulder blade, and Brooke relaxed. Lowering onto her heels and blowing out a breath.

  “You okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “More?”

  “Okay. Yes.”

  When Faith moved around behind her more fully, she set up a rhythm, swinging the flogger through the air in what Brooke knew from observing earlier was a figure-eight pattern. Each soft blow landed on Brooke’s back, working down toward her butt and then thighs before inching back toward her shoulders.

  There was no doubt it was soothing. Relaxing. Exactly like the massage Faith had intimated. With every strike, Brooke relaxed more, going into her head and absorbing the pressure from the strips of leather.