Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
No, he was. I’d seen Lucian’s car. The two usually arrived together.
“Come on, boys,” someone said behind us. Reese—hard not to recognize the command in his voice. “Meetin’s startin’. Chop-chop.” He strode past us and glanced back at Noa with a little smirk. “Welcome aboard, kid.”
“That’s Reese,” I said to him.
“Thank you, Sir.” Noa straightened and tried to look more confident. Being unsettled had never been his thing. He attacked life as if every day was a Friday and new adventures awaited. So the few times he was uneasy or nervous, he adopted “fake it till you make it.”
The sun was blazing as we stepped outside, and it took me a second or two to see the crowd that’d gathered on the patio. Several must’ve carpooled like us. I counted at least twenty members, spread out evenly across the three seating areas, some in chairs along the wall of the house, some on the steps leading down to the pool area.
A low murmur of chatting took over, and I almost missed Noa’s comment about the lawn beyond the pool. It wasn’t an exaggeration when he said it could be the size of a football field. It was close.
Last month’s event had brought us two fighting cages that were still positioned at the center of the lawn, now covered by a huge tarp.
The hill led to the forest, where quite a few subs had been chased down over the years.
“Are those like suites?” He nodded toward the six A-frame cabins on the right edge of the property.
“No, the Founders have their own little spaces,” I replied. I scanned the patio to see where we could sit.
“So Lucian has one?”
I nodded. There. The steps to the hot tubs were available, so I tugged on Noa’s hand and steered him through the crowd. So far, I hadn’t spotted—fuck, never mind.
I averted my gaze quickly but was now painfully aware that both Lucian and KC had seen us. Lucian was seated at one of the tables, and KC sat at the end in his wheelchair.
I was too chickenshit to read their reactions, having only registered two tense stares.
The moment we sat down on one of the wooden steps by a hot tub, I lifted my tee and wiped perspiration off my forehead. Then I removed my backpack because it was in the way, and Noa took off his too.
My stomach tightened.
“Fuck,” Noa whispered.
I side-eyed him. He’d spotted KC now too.
“Afternoon, y’all!” Reese hollered. He stood on the corner of the patio where he could see everyone, and he’d been joined by Colt, Greer, Ivy, and Macklin. “I appreciate so many of you turnin’ up. A few things before we get started.” He gestured to Ivy. “We have a couple newcomers here today, so we say welcome to Noa and Gael. You boys can go see Ivy after we’re done here. She’s put together a couple goodie bags for you.”
Noa hugged my arm and smiled carefully.
“How come we didn’t get goodie bags?” Ella cried out, pretending a little too well to be offended. I knew better; she was just chasing brat points from Penelope, her Domme.
“Are you playin’ your Mistress for an idiot, sunshine?” Reese asked her.
Ella shut her mouth.
“Movin’ on!” Colt declared. “This month’s Game is gonna be a big project, which will affect the regular parties until then. So, as of right now, you’ll find a schedule outside each playroom, and they’ll show the limited availability to said room.”
“And in the lobby, you can see a comprehensive list of the rooms that won’t be available at all until the Game,” Reese added. “If you have any questions about the schedules, you know who to ask.”
Always the same. You could ask a Founder, or you could ask a dungeon monitor on duty.
“Did I forget anything?” he asked Colt and the others standing next to him. They shook their heads, so Reese addressed everyone again. “All right—as you’ve seen on the community website by now, our next Game is gonna have a Funhouse theme, and it’ll—” He paused and chuckled as a bunch of subs cheered. They had no idea, did they? Funhouse undoubtedly meant fun for the Sadists.
On the other hand, we did have a lot of masos here.
“Simmer down, you li’l whores,” he went on with a smirk. “It’s gonna be a weekend event, so the guest rooms will first and foremost be available for booking for the members who participate in the Game—or those assisting. If you’re just here to enjoy the show, we’ll do our best to accommodate you, but we can’t make any promises.”
Colt took a step forward. “On that note, I wanna mention that we’re encouraging all founding members to invite a guest or two to crash on the couch of your—or our—cabins. Kit, Luke, and I have a sofa bed available, for instance, and River, Shay, and Reese have two spots as well.”