Page 132 of Masters of Secrets

“Spider,” Master Michael said, his lips starting to twist up before he managed to stop the smile. “A really big one. Angel just about took out Adam when she saw it, and for some reason, it kept running right for her. I’ve never seen her jump like that.”

Managing to suppress a shudder, Julie took a deep breath. It wasn’t that she was afraid of spiders or bugs. She just didn’t like them. And she really preferred not to have to touch them. She also didn’t want anyone thinking she was afraid or that she couldn’t handle a spider. Especially when someone else was holding it.

“I’m gonna take this guy outside where he’ll be safe… and so will Angel.” Chuckling to himself, Micheal moved past them, heading for the stairs. Julie sighed with relief once he was past them.

Turning around, Connor looked down at her, amusement clear on his face.

“Don’t like spiders?” he asked.

“Does anyone?”

“They’ve never bothered me much, but no, I guess I can’t say I like them, either. My dad does, though. He likes watching them spin their webs. When I was a kid, he had a wolf spider that we kept as a pet. He named it Drake.”

Julie didn’t know what to do with that. While she knew people sometimes kept spiders as pets, she’d never known anyone who had one. Spiders were meant to be removed from the house immediately, along with any other bugs that made their way inside. But it sounded like Connor had fond memories of it.

“Did you play with Drake a lot?”

“Not really. Dad was worried about me being gentle enough with him.” Connor shrugged. “I was kind of a clumsy kid. But sometimes I’d get to hold him if I kept very still, and he’d run up my arm and sit on my shoulder.”

She suppressed a shudder.

No, thank you.

The way Connor was looking at her made her think that he realized he was making her uncomfortable. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“It’s been five minutes.” She was done talking about bugs. And spiders. “Do you want to scene?”

The smile that bloomed across his face was much more to her liking since it had nothing to do with being amused by her dislike of things with more than four legs.

“Yes, please, Mistress.”

Good. Because she was in the mood to torment him a bit now.

Connor

By a stroke of luck, the Locker Room was available, though only for a short time before the next reservation. Connor relaxed as soon as they found out. He still wasn’t ready to scene down in the main room of the Dungeon where anyone could see them. And if asked, he wouldn’t have been able to explain why.

Thankfully, Mistress Julie didn’t ask. She just looked at him with her fathomless, dark eyes and slowly nodded in agreement when he’d requested to see if any of the private rooms were available. If one hadn’t been, maybe he would have been able to work himself up to it… but more likely, he would have suggested going out to the walled-in gardens behind Stronghold. Fewer people.

Less of an audience.

The submissives had accepted him. None of the Doms seemed angry at him. No one was treating him any differently. Yet he still wasn’t comfortable scening in front of them, not if he didn’t have to. Though once he’d said yes to Mistress Julie, he would have done so rather than disappoint her… but he was relieved it wasn’t necessary.

She closed the door behind them. There was a window that looked into the hallway, and the shades could be drawn, which she went and did. Connor knew that meant whoever was monitoring the cameras tonight would be paying extra attention to the audio from this room, just in case he safeworded. Safety came first. Having one watcher didn’t bother him, especially since he couldn’t see them watching.

The Locker Room was exactly what it sounded like, with the walls mostly made up of lockers—other than where the window was—and there were two long benches down the center of the room. It could accommodate a couple or quite a few people if someone had a football team and cheerleader fantasy they wanted to fulfill. As rooms went, it wasn’t the most comfortable, but this particular room was all about the fantasy—and there was plenty of function to go along with it.

For instance, the lockers were full of implements and toys that could be used. They served as both aesthetic and storage. Mistress Julie went over and opened one.

“Hmmm… we don’t have long,” she said out loud while Connor stood by the benches, hands at his side, watching her with slowly growing nervous anticipation. She turned her head to look at him. “I’d like to plug you, Connor.”

It wasn’t a request; it was a statement. His cock immediately hardened even further, his cheeks clenching automatically. She seemed to be waiting for some kind of answer or maybe just making sure he wasn’t going to say his safeword.

He sure as hell wasn’t.

Ever since he’d realized what pegging was, he’d had multiple fantasies about Mistress Julie doing it to him. But he hadn’t had anything in his ass since the introduction class, so it was probably best to start with a plug.

“Yes, Ma’am.”