Safeword: Arabesque (Safewords Book 9) Read online

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  Safeword: Arabesque © October 2014 by Candace Blevins

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

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  First Edition October 2014

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  Safeword: Arabesque

  by Candace Blevins

  Readers with a history of rape may find elements of this story disturbing.

  Chapter One

  Cassie thought she understood the gay scene. She should, since her father had left her mom for a man when she was thirteen, but this place was like something out of a movie. It was fantastical, and loud, and flamboyant, and accepting, and she loved it.

  By contrast, her dad and his partner were normal, loving, quiet, and predictable. If you showed up on Tuesday for dinner, it would be meatloaf, cauliflower, and some kind of bean. Friday was steaks and grilled veggie kabobs. Saturday was their date night, where they went to one of about five or six restaurants, came home, and streamed a movie.

  But this nightclub was almost more than her senses could process. Big muscled guys, some of whom acted like big, muscled guys, while others acted like some kind of hunky Roman slaves. Beautiful women who may or may not actually be men. And plenty of other women who were sorta-kinda dressed as men. There were even some people on a leash, and she’d seen a few men in chaps with most of their bottom showing.

  The people with a collar and leash intrigued her, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about her reaction. The idea seemed hot, but her brain and psyche revolted.

  She’d practically run from the dance floor the first time she ventured onto it because there were hands all over the place. But she soon realized it was just touch and movement, no one was singling her out. If she made eye contact and welcomed it, they did, but it seemed as if people knew how to tell what you’d be okay with. She didn’t have the nerve to touch others, but had learned how to let people know she didn’t mind them touching her.

  When she’d been invited to the traveling bachelorette party, complete with limo to carry them from place to place, she’d had no idea they’d end up at this kind of nightclub. She was friends with Samantha from her martial arts class, and while the group spent a good deal of time together after class, she’d never done this kind of thing with Sam before.

  Cassie went to the bathroom with another of their party, and had to shake her head again once in the restroom, because by her estimation most of the inhabitants were men dressed as women. Some obviously so, but others, Cassie could only guess because of their height.

  She left the restroom and walked through an outer lobby, smiling to herself and wondering how she’d lived in this town all her life and not known this place existed, and saw her friend, Sam, as she rounded a corner.

  “Sam!” she half-yelled as she skipped to her friend, and then came to a sudden stop as she saw Frisco standing beside Sam.

  Frisco held a leash in his hand.

  With a human on the end.

  Cassie’s insides flared to life at the same time her brain revolted. How could she be turned on by something so…inhuman? She’d felt the same before, when she’d seen people walking others around on a leash, but seeing her friend holding the leash made her want…

  No. How could she possibly want to be dehumanized like that?

  And Frisco was…Damn. Sexy jeans hugging all the right spots and practically showcasing his package. Huge black boots, white t-shirt highlighting every bulging muscle, and the leash held so casually in his hand.

  Cassie had lost track of how many times horndog Frisco had hit on her or asked her out, and she hadn’t been the least interested. But now? She was very interested, and she wanted to kick herself for it.

  And the man on the leash? Sex-on-a-stick. Or, on a leash.

  Tight jeans, no shirt, ripped abs, and a black leather collar around his neck. Looking down, she noted black Capezio dance sneakers, and was intrigued.

  His dark blond hair was cut a little longer on top, and she wanted it gone so she could see his eyes as he stared at the floor in front of his feet.

  She knew she was staring at him, but couldn’t stop. With his diverted gaze, she felt brave enough to ogle him at length from head to toe, but knew the people around her would notice her probably rude stare.

  She looked back to Sam, then to Frisco, and took a few steps towards them as she opened her mouth, but the only thing she managed to say was, “Francisco?”

  “Cassie!” Sam said, finally seeing her. She smiled as if gauging her reaction before saying, “Cameron, this is Cassie. She works out with Frisco and me at the dojo.”

  The leashed sex-god looked up, and Cassie’s heart stopped beating at the intensity on his face. Cameron had what could only be called bedroom eyes, and her skin broke out in goose bumps that converged in pulsing nerve endings between her legs.

  Cassie’s mouth sometimes spouted things without checking in, and she was horrified to hear herself ask, “Why is your friend on a leash, Frisco?”

  Frisco looked to Sam for help, and she answered for him. “Because it seems the big flirt has a kinky side. Who knew? Oh, and before you ask, he’s bi, so the flirting isn’t all an act.”

  Cassie wasn’t sure what was going on, but Frisco looked horrified and Cameron returned to staring at the ground, standing there like an animal on a leash. A human, subservient animal she could too easily imagine Frisco taking home and fucking senseless.

  She looked at Frisco and tried to give a normal smile. “Oh, well, do you want to come dance with us? Is it okay to dirty dance with us girls while you’re on a date with a guy, or do you have to, I dunno, be one or the other?”

  Francisco returned her smile and reached to unfasten Cameron’s leash. He touched the smaller man’s chin and looked him in the eye a few seconds before saying, “You’re to stay within eyesight, you don’t eat or drink anything unless I hand it to you, and you will make all the women I’m with feel beautiful.”

  “Yes, Sir. I understand.”

  Cassie took in the Sir, but wasn’t sure what to think.

  Frisco patted Cameron’s cheek in approval — once again as one would a pet — and Sam asked, “Can we touch him while we dance?”

  “You, my dear,” Frisco said with an evil smile, “may touch him anywhere you wish, as long as it won’t get him beat up by Ethan.”

  Frisco and Sam weren’t uncomfortable with each other at al
l, and the way he practically gave his date to Sam…

  Had Sam already known?

  Cassie was about to ask when Sam answered Frisco with, “I have permission to feel people up on the dance floor, and to kiss. They can feel me up but have to stay over my clothes, and I can’t,” she rolled her eyes, paused, and finished with, “find fulfillment.”

  Frisco touched Cam’s chin until he held eye contact and said, “You heard her restrictions. Play with her and have fun but don’t get her in trouble.”

  Cassie forced herself to stop staring at the men and poked Sam in the arm. “Permission? Seriously?”

  “We’re getting married tomorrow. I wouldn’t do that sort of thing unless Ethan was okay with it.” She shrugged. “So, yeah. Permission.”

  Cassie tilted her head, trying to figure out how to explain what was wrong with her friend’s statement. Finally, she said, “It makes sense when you put it that way, but why not just say he said you could? Or he’s okay with it? Saying Ethan gave you permission sounds like he owns you or something.”

  Sam smiled big, half turned away, and said, “Well, maybe Francisco isn’t the only one with a hidden kinky side.” She kept turning, grabbed Cameron’s belt loop, and tugged him with her as she walked towards the dance floor.

  Cassie climbed the steps to their table and watched Sam dancing with Cameron. Frisco kept an eye on Cameron, and sometimes a hand as well, but he danced and cut up with their other friends, too.

  Frisco occasionally seemed to do more than merely feel Cam up on the dance floor, and the poor man looked simultaneously tortured and enthralled.

  Cassie downed several more drinks before the show started, and recognized one of the first beautiful women to walk onto the stage as someone Sam had danced with earlier. She’d been surprised to see them getting into it heavy; Cassie had always assumed Sam was straight.

  Sam’s best friend, Kirsten, had apparently arranged for Sam to be part of the show, because she led Sam down the ornate circular staircase as the announcer started talking about a woman celebrating her last night of freedom.

  The performers put her in a chair, almost lying in it with her legs stretched out, and the dancers ran their hands up and down Sam’s body in a wild orgy of a dance.

  The announcer said, “We have it on good authority that our guest’s fiancé is fine with her feeling others up, being felt up over her clothes, and kissing, but apparently doesn’t want her having any orgasms without him around.” He chuckled. “Generous of him, eh?”

  The crowd laughed, and Cassie was mortified for her friend.

  Until she realized Sam didn’t seem to care.

  Cassie watched with a combination of horror and envy as the men pushed her friend close to an obvious climax, and then backed off so she didn’t go over the top.

  Cassie thought she might come just watching them, which was saying something as it was practically impossible for her to reach orgasm.

  They helped Sam to her feet and the large, muscled men took turns dirty dancing with her around the stage until they handed her back off to the beautiful blonde, whom Sam went into a slow dance with in spite of the frenzied music. The two kissed, and the deejay changed the lights as the stage was cleared in record time, and the dance floor once again filled with people.

  Chapter Two

  Avoiding Frisco at Sam’s wedding the next day was easy enough, but took some work at the reception, where she kept turning around to see him with his arm around yet another woman, flirting and smiling.

  He didn’t have Cameron with him today, and acted like a big flirt with every woman he came into contact with.

  Except Cassie.

  She hid in a corner with a view of the dance floor, but it was too painful to watch him playfully seducing every woman he danced with. She could tell a difference in the way he interacted with the married women versus the single ones, but he still had this way of aiming his attention to each one, as if he wanted them to know they were beautiful and desirable.

  Some of the women she’d met the night before dragged her onto the dance floor, and she managed to have fun while doing her best to keep turned away from Frisco.

  * * * *

  The following week, Frisco and Cassie avoided each other at the dojo, and with Sam and Ethan away on their honeymoon the class seemed empty.

  Tired of avoiding the situation, she asked Frisco to have a drink with her after class, and he looked uncomfortable but accepted.

  “You have to tell people you’re bi, Frisco,” she said once they were seated and had their drinks.

  “No, I don’t think so. I date women; I play with men. It’s who I am and I prefer to keep my private life private.”

  “How could you put someone on a leash? Why? I don’t understand.”

  He smiled, and she knew he was putting on an act for her. “It’s kind of like role-playing, it’s for fun. Cam wasn’t the only one on a leash, it’s just kind of what you do when you go to The Diamond Club, you know? You dress up, go wild, and have fun.”

  The following weeks in class were awkward, and Cassie skipped going once, just so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

  She’d never been interested in him before, when he’d flirted with her practically non-stop. But now that she couldn’t look at him without her heart beating against her rib cage, he wouldn’t give her the time of day.

  Chapter Three

  Cassie was surprised to hear from Sam so soon after she returned from her honeymoon, but was happy her friend sounded so relaxed and content.

  They talked a little about Hawaii before Sam brought up Frisco.

  “Can we let it go for maybe six months, and then revisit it?” Sam asked. “Just back off and give him some space?”

  “It isn’t healthy to keep something this big a secret. It feels as if I’m lying to our friends by not telling. How can it not feel that way to him?”

  In the end, Cassie agreed to hold off a few months and then talk to Frisco about it again. Sam seemed to think everything would work itself out, so Cassie hoped Frisco was planning to come clean but just needed some time.

  A few nights later, Sam and Ethan returned to the dojo and Cassie was so glad to see them, she hugged them both.

  The entire group went out to eat after class, and Cassie had to work hard to keep from staring at Frisco. The hand he used to hold his fork was the same one he’d used to hold the leash…and the one he’d used to feel Cameron up on the dance floor.

  The lips he ate with, he’d used to kiss Cam until the boy looked as if he couldn’t breathe. And she’d seen Frisco bite him on the neck until Cam’s eyes closed in what looked like erotic bliss.

  She wanted Frisco’s oh-so-sexy hand to do things to her, to put a collar around her neck as if it were nothing. And his lips? She imagined him doing all kinds of wicked things with those lips.

  And she was afraid everyone at the table would know what she was thinking every time she looked at him.

  When dinner was finally over, Sam caught her before she could escape, and Ethan brought Frisco to them.

  “Do ya’ll want to follow me back to my house to talk, or should we take a walk down to the park?”

  Sam had her no-nonsense look, but Cassie wanted to keep it as short and sweet as possible, so she said, “The park.”

  Unfortunately, Frisco said, “Your house,” at the exact same time, and Ethan decided to be the tiebreaker and decreed they were going to the house.

  Cassie followed them home, and made small talk as the group made their way out back to the large screened in porch. She accepted a beer from Ethan, took a swig, and put it down.

  She needed to stay clear-headed.

  Sam reached for her hand and said, “I’m going to break confidences all around tonight, so both of you just grin and bear it.”

  Sam looked to Frisco. “When Cassie was twelve, her parents were still married to each other, and she thought she lived in the perfect family with her parents and siblings. When she was thirteen, h
er father called the family together to tell them he was gay, he’d fallen in love, and he was divorcing their mom.”

  Cassie’s indrawn breath made Sam hesitate, but she didn’t take her eyes off Frisco as she continued. “She didn’t talk to her father for six years, until she went into therapy for some other problems and ended up being told she’d never resolve anything until she worked through the issues with her father.”

  Well, shit, apparently Sam was going to tell all her secrets. Cassie understood why, but was still uncomfortable talking about it. Still, it was out there, so she may as well own it.

  “I’m happy for my dad, now,” Cassie interjected. “He’s in a wonderful relationship and he’s happier than he ever was with my mom. He tried to live a lie and it almost destroyed him.” She looked down. “I’d be a different person if he hadn’t tried to live a straight life. My mom would’ve married someone else, so I’d have had a different dad. Maybe one who wouldn’t have walked out of my life when I was thirteen.”

  Sam turned towards Cassie. “Frisco isn’t your father. Your father is gay; Frisco is bisexual. Do you understand the difference?”

  Cassie had to work to keep from rolling her eyes. “Of course, it means he likes girls and boys. But, bad things happen when you keep something like this secret.”

  Ethan had brought their drinks and then sat in a chair across from Sam. He’d been quiet, but now said, “I’ve never fucked a guy, never dated one, never held their hand, never kissed one…but I’ve received a few blow-jobs from them. I don’t see how that’s anyone’s business at the dojo. Sam knows because she’s my wife and I have no secrets from her. My parents and the vast majority of my friends don’t know. Of course, I also don’t share with them my love for anal sex with my wife, so…” He shrugged.