The lights in the hall of Sanctum blinked, notifying anyone still inside that they had two minutes to clear out. It was what allowed people to set up private rendezvous, like those I'd had with Mira.
What the hell had I done? I banged my head against the wall. My vision blurred as I sank down the wall. I wanted tonight to be special, and it had been until I'd called her name as I came, crossing a line I hadn’t meant to. Twenty minutes— I'd held off her orgasm until she’d been pleading, her body shaking with need.
"Care to explain?" Ethan stepped into the room from the door in the back hall. "What did she mean by she didn't know you guys were in an arrangement?"
I gripped my hair with both hands, as if the pain might distract me from the ache hollowing out my chest. "I didn't know it was her when I offered to teach her. I gave her my card. I've done it before."
"True." He dropped onto the floor next to me. "When did you know?"
I let out a slow sigh. "Like right before the first session started. She was dressed, in the room, and went to put her wrist in the cuff--"
He connected the dots.
"Her tattoo."
I nodded and my shoulders sank.
"I fucked up."
He chuckled. "You think? HR is going to have a field day."
"HR can fuck themselves."
He glared at me. "Reid?"
"She's something else, Cross. She doesn't put up with my shit. Hell, she'll call me on it. I took her to Bastian’s a few weeks ago. We talked.”
Ethan studied me for a long moment, like he was looking at a problem without all the pieces. “Whatever happened in here,” he said carefully, “it crossed a line you don’t usually let anyone near.”
“I didn’t tell her I knew who she was.”
“Fuck it. And she just found out? How long?”
I sank my head between my knees. “Weekly, for the last two months.”
“Sebastian!”
I opened my mouth to defend myself but there weren’t words that would help. The back door to the room clicked open, and Mistress Vivienne swept in.
Her eyes swept over to me, her hands on her hips, unamused. I knew her outside of Sanctum and as much as I wanted to use that connect to lighten the mood, I knew it wouldn’t help. Even being an investor in the club, she had the right to throw me out.
“Reid, my office, now.”
She didn’t wait for an answer, just whipped around and left with as much demand as she’d come in with.
Ethan stood and offered me his hand, pulling me up. “As much as I’d love to see your flogging, I think I’ll skip this one. Don’t do anything any more stupid that you already have.”
“And I know I don’t need to say this, but this stays between us.”
He chuckled. “Oh, as long as I’m there when Victor finds out, that’s a given. He’s going to lose his shit.”
Vivienne’s office was quiet. Not the curated quiet of a playroom between scenes, but the kind that belonged to contracts and consequences. The door closed behind me with a soft, decisive click. No locks. No drama. Just finality.
Similar to Sanctum’s halls, it was decorated in dark cherry and deep reds but there were no toys in sight. No silks, no cuffs, no reminders of what Sanctum held behind heavy curtains and closed doors. This room was business. Just a desk, one that looked like it belonged in the Victorian era, immaculate. An upholstered high back chair behind it. Two chairs on the side where I stood.
Vivienne didn’t gesture for me to sit so I didn’t. I’d played this game before in my own office. I didn’t like the tables being turned. I didn’t like it at all.
She stayed standing, arms loose at her sides, posture relaxed in a way that surprised me. She let the silence stretch. One beat. Then two.
