* * *

The next big scene up for viewing was Sully and Mac. Mac, who wore more than Cris in that he had a leather hood in addition to a leather jock and his collar and cuffs, had been strung up on a bar suspended from chains. His feet were held far apart by a spreader bar connected to the cuffs at his ankles, and he stood with his arms stretched high above him by the restraints.

“What are those things on his hands?” she asked Tony. They looked more like mitts than they did regular cuffs.

“Suspension cuffs. They’re made especially for this kind of play, where the arms are over the head. You can’t bear weight with regular wrist cuffs because you risk causing damage to nerves and tendons. And you can never use handcuffs for suspension work. But with those, they have a built-in handle inside he can hold on to. I have a pair in my bag, but they’re made differently than that brand.”

“Oh.”

Sully had positioned Clarisse, who had changed into a short, black sundress and a leather collar, on a comfortable-looking pillow in front of Mac. Her pregnancy wasn’t far enough along yet for her to be showing.

Sully blindfolded Mac and put a ball gag in his mouth. Shayla wasn’t sure what Clarisse’s job was other than to offer moral support to the man. She stroked his legs while Sully began their scene. He started out with bare-handed slaps and pummeling Mac’s back and shoulders with his fists, which quickly progressed to other implements.

He used a riding crop before quickly switching to a paddle, followed by canes. When he paused and stepped close behind the other man he made a gesture to Clarisse. She reached up and unsnapped the front cup of Mac’s jock, exposing his cock.

Shayla’s eyes widened. Despite the beating he’d already taken, his cock was semi-stiff and definitely nothing to be ashamed of in terms of size.

Sully reached around Mac’s front and grabbed him by the throat, forcing his head back. They couldn’t hear Sully’s words, but whatever he said had an effect on the restrained man. His cock grew and stiffened, fully erect now.

Stepping back, Sully grabbed a whip and uncoiled it. The first strike made a loud pop in the air and to Mack’s left. He flinched, rattling the chains and metal bar he was affixed to, but didn’t struggle.

“He’s gauging his distance and giving Mac a little mindfuck,” Tony softly explained.

Sully took two more test strikes on either side of Mac before taking aim and beginning in earnest. The lash landed first between Mac’s shoulder blades.

And Clarisse leaned in, sheathing Mac’s cock with a condom before she began stroking it with her hands. Mac’s head drooped forward as his hips thrust in the air.

Sully landed a hit on Mac’s right ass cheek. “Don’t come until I tell you to!” Mac’s head popped up, his back arching at the pain from the strike.

“This club doesn’t allow penetration or oral sex because of zoning regs,” Tony explained. “But I’ve seen them at private parties where she goes down on him during this part of the scene. The condom keeps the mess to a minimum. I hear you signed up for my whip class next Saturday.”

She nodded, unable to take her eyes off the scene before her. “And the bondage class.” Clarisse appeared to be doing her best to get Mac off while Sully had clearly ordered him not to.

“Good. You’ll learn a lot in the bondage class. Seth and Leah teach that one. Kaden taught him well.” His melancholy tone of voice caught her attention and pulled it from the people they were watching. She noticed Tony wore a sad expression.

“Who?”

“Kaden. Leah’s first husband and Seth’s best friend.” He gave her a strained smile. “Long and sad story. Not one for tonight.”

Another crack caught her attention. Sully had landed another strike between Mac’s shoulders. Not every strike made a sound. She suspected he only did it to startle Mac and get his attention. But every lash made Mac jump, his hips wildly trying to thrust against what Clarisse was doing with her hands while still trying to obey Sully’s order.

“Depending on how you strike and what kind of fall is on the whip,” Tony said, “you can tickle someone or cut them to the bone.”

That little tidbit quelled her throbbing clit. “Yikes.”

He tipped his head toward Sully. “He’s good. Really good. I wish he’d teach classes on whip technique.”

“Why doesn’t he?”

He shrugged. “He just doesn’t have any interest in it. But as you can see, when they play they draw a crowd.” She glanced around and realized over half the club patrons had gathered to watch the trio.

“Does everyone here play?”

“Not usually. A lot of people only come out to watch and meet with their friends.”

“Why would they come here then? Why not get together somewhere else?”

He shrugged. “Why not? If people didn’t want to be watched, they could do this stuff in their living room or bedroom. I’m not saying everyone who plays is an exhibitionist or anything. Some people don’t have access to equipment like this at home, so they scene here or at a party. Or they have kids or other family at home and don’t have the privacy to play there. Some like to scene and don’t care who watches. Some like to be watched. Some people only do certain kinds of scenes in public and leave the rest for at home. And the voyeurs get their fix by watching.”

* * *

Tony watched Shayla’s face as the scene played out before them. He didn’t know if she was fascinated or horrified by what she saw.

Or perhaps a mixture of both.

The scene ended when Sully began a crescendo of whip strikes along Mac’s ass before yelling, “Come!”

Mac’s body went rigid as Clarisse stroked him to completion. After a moment, he went limp in his restraints and looked like he could barely hold himself up. Clarisse used a paper towel to remove the condom and wipe him up before snapping the jock back in place. Sully brought Mac down and, with Clarisse’s help, led him over to a quiet corner where Clarisse first put down the pillow and a blanket before helping Mac to the floor. He curled up with his head in her lap while Sully went to pick up their toys and clean the station.

“Want something to drink?” he asked Shayla.

He noticed her blinking, as if confused, before turning her focus to him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Water? Tea? Coffee? They usually have sodas, too.”

“Oh. Water’s fine, thanks.”

He led her over to the buffet area and fished a bottle of water out of a cooler. He twisted the cap loose before handing it to her.

“Thanks.” As she took a swig, she looked pensive.

“Thoughts?”

“I’m just trying to figure out how to conduct an interview with them after what I just saw.”

“So how are you liking the rabbit hole, Alice?”

She let out a soft laugh. “It’s nothing like what I thought it’d be.”

“What’d you think it would be like?”

A dark look flitted across her features for a moment. Grief, perhaps? Maybe anger? He didn’t know, but part of him really wanted to find out even though he suspected tonight wasn’t the right time for that kind of in-depth discussion with her.

“I really don’t know,” she finally answered. “I mean, yes, everything fits perfectly with what Ross and Loren talked about the other night.”

She took another drink from her bottle. He suspected it was to give herself a moment to think. Then she looked up at him, and he realized she was the perfect height. She could wear stilettos and still be shorter than him.

He’d swear deeply ingrained pain flared in her hazel eyes. “I’m thinking there are some questions I’ll probably never get answers to.”

Tread lightly, Daniels. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m happy to try to answer anything I can.”

Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I think no one here can answer those questions for me.”

He studied her but suspected she wouldn’t elaborate. Not tonight, at least, and perhaps never, unless he developed a deeper relationship with her.

He also suspected the answers she sought were a key to the reason she tried to wall herself off from others.

And maybe even tied to the fact that she was single, considering her abrupt relocation from Ohio to Florida.

* * *

Shayla tried to stay objective as she watched other scenes unfold. As Tony predicted, Landry did scene with Cris. It was a hard and heavy scene completely unlike the way Landry had topped Valerie. And she found it every bit as sexy as the scene between Sully and Mac earlier.

The brute force, the clear sadism in Landry’s movements, the way Cris responded to him, all of it mixed together to take her breath away and wish she could experience some of that herself.

Ross then scened with Loren, a sensual scene that ended with a round of forced orgasms for Loren and left Shayla’s panties damp just from watching them. Seth scened with Leah, a mix of pain and pleasure different yet from what she’d witnessed.

Part of Shayla’s brain recoiled at what she saw, the impact play, tears, marks and welts and actions that looked completely contradictory to what made up loving, caring relationships.

Tilly scened with a man who, it turned out, was a former client of hers. She was sadistic, every bit as brutal with him as Landry had been with Cris. And yet even Shayla could sense the way Tilly seemed to read the man’s body language, how she raised and lowered the intensity throughout the scene until she finally ended it after what Tony called a warm-down.

And despite the man being in tears and obvious pain a few minutes earlier, he was left smiling and even gave Tilly a friendly hug and kiss on the cheek when he recovered.