“More than. I just want you to know that Dad and I are so proud of you.” I released her at last and nodded for her to jump in. “Tell me all about your day, and spare no details.”
I had to bide my time the following day, ’cause everyone was focused on the event—and so was I, of course. Nora and I faked it till we made it; she pretended to be a good slave, and I pretended to be a Master.
I was fairly sure I did more pretending than she did. She was a sub through and through and at least curious about high-protocol. I had zero interest in the Master/slave business.
That said, it felt great to be around kink again, and my buddies were hella forgiving.
Now, did it take the edge off? Not as much as I’d hoped. I was still thinking too much about James and Jordan, but as I’d told Penelope and Nora the other day—nothing had happened and nothing would. I’d made up my mind. Fucking around with my neighbors? That could get messy, and then what? I’d live right next to them.
At the end of the day, Nora and I gathered with the others just south of the pool out on the lawn, because it was time to see who won.
Nora stood slightly behind me, ’cause God forbid a slave stood next to you.
Reese was munching on one of the cookies the slaves had baked during the event. Part of the whole domestic servitude schtick.
“As always,” he said, brushing crumbs off his tee, “it’s been fun watching brats suffer.”
“I will make you suffer sometime!” Noa hollered.
KC sighed loudly at his boy. “Noa, I fucking swear. Shut your little piehole for one minute.”
I grinned.
Countless members had signed up for today’s event, even people like me who weren’t into the high-protocol shit. But it was part of a monthly challenge they were running, and competitive brats wanted to collect points.
This time, it’d been Reese, Penelope, and two newer members, Jack and August, who’d hosted the event.
They kept talking about what we’d done today, and maybe I zoned out a bit and focused on Nora. She’d taken one hell of a beating from me today, but the smile on her face calmed me down.
I was just rusty. It took some time to get back into the mind-set.
I folded my arms over my chest and glanced at her. “I know you’re gonna fuck off with your Mistress as soon as this is over, but I expect frequent updates on your mood after that beating. You hear?”
“Yes, Sir,” she said cheekily. “You can relax, Big Bear.”
I was trying?—
“Anything you wanna share with the class, Ash?” Reese asked.
My bad. I faced forward again. “Sorry about that, sugar. Please proceed to tell us who won.”
“Oh, we’re not doing that today,” he laughed. “You fuckers’re gonna wait till we post the results online.”
What the hell? We’d gone through all this slave nonsense today, and we weren’t even gonna know who won?
“And that includes the vote on our mascot challenge!” Penelope added.
Ugh. I zoned out again.
What felt like an eternity but was probably just two minutes later, the thing was finally over, and I watched Nora sprint into Penelope’s arms.
I scratched the side of my head and looked over at KC and Noa. Okay, time to hug the shit out of that little brat. I strode over there before they could get interrupted by others, and I squeezed Noa tightly from behind.
“Who dat!” he cried out.
KC grinned. “It’s Ash.”
“Oh.” The boy relaxed and patted my arm. “Not that I don’t appreciate a hug from a sexy beast, but what’s this about?”
