most counselors, true. There are kink friendly ones. Ask Gabi for recommendations.”
“Gabi?”
“I saw her…” Linda scanned the area, then motioned toward a St. Andrew’s cross where a tall Dom in a suit was restraining a woman with strawberry blonde hair. Streaks of blue and green showed in her bangs when she turned her head. From her expression, she was sassing the Dom.
“That’s Gabi.”
Valerie grinned. “Her attitude doesn’t seem like a healthy choice for a submissive.”
“It certainly wouldn’t work for me—not with Master Sam. Gabi’s different. Her over-controlling parents never let her speak her mind. Master Marcus encourages her, partly to break the programming they did, and partly because they both enjoy the consequences of her sassing him. Funishments.”
“Oh. Hmm.” Being punished for fun? Interesting.
“If he’s walloping her, they’re having fun. She says if she does something that really bothers him, his disappointed expression is far more painful than anything physical he could do.” Linda slowed as she neared three barefoot women in a conversational area.
“Linda, you made it.” The first jumped up, and then all three were hugging Linda. “It’s been too long.”
“Sam got overloaded with the harvest—orange season, you know?—and he wouldn’t let me come to the club without him.” Linda pointed to two of them. “He thinks you two would lead me into trouble.”
The three were laughing as they took their chairs again.
“I hear none of us have been here for over a month,” the one with her hair in pigtails said. “Vance and Galen were really unhappy when they realized that.”
“Sam, too.” Linda motioned to Valerie. “I want you to welcome Valerie. She was at the BDSM Sampler event, and this is her first night here. Hopefully, not her last.”
With the chorus of welcomes, Linda added, “I wanted her to see how nice we are, but would you believe one of her ex-husband’s slaves is here and was incredibly insulting to her?”
The one with colorful hair and gorgeous tats over her pale breasts and shoulders gave Valerie a sympathetic smile. “That sucks.”
The slender woman with a sweet expression confirmed. “Submissives should support each other, not tear each other down.”
Wearing a boarding-school uniform, the woman with her hair in pigtails pointed to the couch. “Join us, guys. The floor is hard on bare feet.”
Linda pulled Valerie down on the couch beside her. “Adding injury to insult, the witch rhymed her putdowns.”
“How nasty.” The woman with tats frowned. “A rhyme would stick in your head even worse than a normal dissing.”
“It did. It does,” Valerie said ruefully.
“I’m Rainie.” She patted her rotund belly and winked. “I’ve heard my share of rude comments.”
“People can be mean,” the brown-eyed submissive with light brown skin agreed. “Being different is like putting a target on your back. I’m Natalia.”
The brunette in the school uniform rolled her eyes. “Want me to go over and slap some sense into the slave? Oh, I’m Sally.”
Spirits lifting, Valerie laughed. “No need for violence; it’s nothing new. I was simply shocked to see her here. Actually, I don’t know how my ex afforded the membership fees with me gone.”
Sally’s eyes brightened. “His budget tightened when you left?”
“Definitely.” Valerie snorted. “Neither of his slaves work fulltime. Truthfully, I resented supporting two people I didn’t even like. It was…well, destroying my mental health.”
“Oh, sister, supporting a husband’s slaves? That would burn my butt,” Rainie said.
Natalia nodded, brown eyes filled with sympathy. “Especially if you don’t like them.”
The warmth of having her outrage understood ran through Valerie. As her eyes stung, she pulled in a breath. “Thank you, all of you. I couldn’t exactly talk about this with people. Not—”
“Not with vanilla friends.” Linda patted Valerie’s leg. “I had the same problem before I joined. It’s one of the reasons I love this place.”
“Exactly.” Rainie pointed to Valerie. “You have to join us for a subbie evening out. We have them now and then, basically to whine about our Doms.”
“Or whine we don’t have one,” Natalia said under her breath, her gaze downcast.
Sally bumped her shoulder against Natalia’s. “You’ll get another one. A better one. Promise.”
Chapter Five
After chatting a while, Linda needed to return to Sam.
“I’ll escort you back to him so you don’t get in trouble,” Valerie grinned, “since he might not dispense a fun kind of punishment.”
“You’re a true friend.”
At the bar, they got paper from Cullen, exchanged phone numbers, and agreed to get together sometime, then Valerie continued her tour.
Alone.
Eventually, she might grow accustomed to being on her own in a place like this. Sometimes, right after her