I arrived at Zee and Nik’s house in the Hollywood Hills a little later on Friday night than I’d hoped, but it had been hard to get away from work. Specifically, it had been hard to get away fromBrandon, who works at the Bellamy Grand with me.
About a year back, when I quit my cage-dancing job at a nightclub after one too many awkward knee-twists, I decided I’d better get myself a career. I’d had some part-time jobs around LA in hotels and motels, so when the Bellamy Grand was hiring, I applied. I got placed at reception to start, but recently I’ve been bumped up to junior concierge. My floor manager, Magda, who runs the staff with an iron fist, even says I’m doing areasonable job.
From Magda, that’s glowing praise.
And to my own surprise, I found that I really enjoyed the work.
When I moved over to the concierge team, I recommended Brandon as a temp fill-in for reception, and he’s been…less successful. Still, he loves being on front desk. All the out-of-town celebs stay at the Bellamy, and helivesfor gossip, our Bellamy NDAs notwithstanding.
But he wasn’t so happy to hear about my dirty weekend away.
“I don’t know about this, Ollie,” he said, as I tried to leave the staff room again. Nik had said there would be a car waiting for me, and I was already running fifteen minutes late. “It sounds like too many things could go wrong.”
“It’s perfectly safe,” I told him airily. “You really think Zee and Nik have some kind of nefarious human-trafficking ring going on? They’re thesafestof the safe.”
“But this guy they’re talking about—thedemandingguy—”
I snorted at that. “How many demanding Doms have I handled? They’re always eating out of my hand by the end of the session, right?” Brandon and I are so experienced in the kink scene that it felt downright insulting for him to act like I wouldn’t be able to handle myself.
I can stand up for myself. I’ve told more than one fucker with a flogger to get lost. And Brandon has seen me do it, too. I don’t put up with bullshit, posturing, or dangerous shit.
But that’s not what this weekend would be, and I’d tried to explain that several times now to Brandon. Zee and Nik had specialized,verydetailed contracts stipulating what I would and would not allow. And there were so many rules and regulations in the handbook about what Doms could and couldn’t do that I didn’t even bother to read past the first column. Nik even said, during a brief lunch meeting at The Ivy, that he’d further discuss some of the “household traditions” with me on my arrival, but that I didn’t have to take part in them if I didn’t want to.
Then he’d winked and told me I probablywouldwant to. “Most staff members do. Well, all of them, in fact. I’m speaking about household discipline.”
I was in, a hundred percent. All the cleaning and meal serving and shoe polishing would be more than made up for by a few strokes of the cane, I was certain.
Besides, I love a challenge. At the Bellamy, I get a thrill out of meeting any ridiculous demands our guests make, and so I was looking forward to meeting this mysterious friend of theirs, this Demanding Dom coming all the way from England.
If I was honest, I also wondered if the guy might be anything like Sebastian Fox, another English friend of Zee’s. When Sebastian arrived on the scene completely unannounced, I thoughtImight have had a shot with him. For about a nanosecond, anyway, and then Sebastian saw Ezra, and, well…
I can’t blame him for falling head over his English heels for Ezra. Ezra isfine.
“Sebastian and Ezra are going to be there the first night,” I snapped at Brandon, and then wished I hadn’t. I wasn’t supposed to identify any guests to anyone not attending.
Still, Icouldunderstand why Brandon was so cautious about the whole thing, especially given the recent situation in LA wherecertainDoms had been tap-dancing over boundaries without even listening out for a safe word.
But if you can’t trust Zee and Nik, there’s literally no one in this town youcantrust.
“Plus I called up everyone we fucking know to run it by them,” I went on, ignoring his bleats. “Jon gave it the green light. So did Tristan, of all people, and ifhethought it was kosher—even Xander Romano had a long talk with me—he’sbeenat one of these Halloween masquerades with Ben—” I’d dropped into sentence fragments by the time Brandon interrupted
“I know, I know. It’s just…” He frowned again, deeper this time.
Just when I was on the edge of being truly pissed off, he gave a smile. “Maybe I’m just jealous,” he said wistfully. “A whole weekend of kinky shenanigans in a house likethat?” He gave a guttural moan and arched his body in a parody of passion. “Sexy.”
I had to chuckle. “God, B, save it for your Daddy.”
“Seriously, though,” he added, “don’t put up with any bullshit, will you?”
“Oh,hell, no,” I said blissfully. “Besides, this Dom sounds like he’s some super-rich playboy. And you know what they say—”
“A single Dom in possession of a good fortunemustbe in want of a sub.”
We both dissolved back into laughter, and as I jogged out toward the legitlimousinewaiting out the front of the Bellamy Grand, I began to feel like maybe, just maybe, this weekend was going to be a fairy tale come true.
* * *
It all started sowell.
