Chapter 5 Adams thoughts

Despite the chaos of his work week, a certain hazel-eyed Domme kept popping up in Adam's thoughts. He owned a temp agency and had been extra busy thanks to hiring his friend, Justin, to handle the social media marketing. For the first few days Adam pushed the image of Angela aside-was Angela her real name or was she one of the ones who had assumed a name for the club?-and found projects to distract himself with. Then, on Wednesday, he found himself looking up the play, The Rivals, online. Just out of curiosity.

His excuse being that he enjoyed theater and it wasn't a show he was familiar with. The description of the character of Lydia made him grin. He could definitely see Angela playing a part like that; bouncy, seductive, a little manipulative in a comedic and enticing way, and overly dramatic, the queen of all she surveyed. Telling himself he'd just been curious about the play, he turned his mind back to work. During his lunch break on Thursday he searched the internet to see what community theaters in the area were doing a production of The Rivals. There weren't any in Virginia, but there was one in Maryland. Not too far away from him actually, by a group called The County Players. The theater they performed at was only about a twenty minute drive from his house and the show opened in two weeks. Interesting. So what was Angela doing performing in a community theater show an hour and twenty minutes away from Chained? Did people travel that far to do community theater? Or maybe she was just traveling in order to be in this particular show? It looked like there were plenty of other community theaters for her to perform which were much closer to Chained. Frowning he grabbed his cell phone and pulled up Rick on his contact list. "Hey Adam, what's up?" "Are you going back to Chained this weekend?" Adam hated talking on the phone so his friends knew not to bother with small talk when he called and he knew Rick wouldn't take offense at his lack of greeting. "I was thinking about heading up to Stronghold actually, why? Wanting to see if you run into Mistress Angela again?" Rick emphasized Angela's title a little, as if reminding his friend that he needed to give up on this. They'd talked about it Saturday night when he'd gone back to Rick's place, and even though his friend agreed Angela might have submissive tendencies she wasn't aware of, he thought Adam needed to let her explore and come to the conclusion on her own without outside interference. After all, with all of his experience and his naturally dominant personality, it was possible he could end up pushing her into something she didn't actually want just because it was what he wanted. "Maybe." He decided not to tell Rick about his internet searches. Somehow it seemed a little too much like stalking. Seems? Keep telling yourself that. "I won't push her Rick, I promise. I just want to see if she's there again. And maybe there will be other available subs this weekend." Rick chuckled. "You don't believe that any more than I do. Alright man, I'll take one for the team. Just watching you moon over a Domme is worth it in entertainment value and it'll save me some gas money." "Thanks," said Adam dryly. "I'll see you Saturday at nine?" "Works for me. See you then." Adam put his phone down. "Was that about the Domme Chris told me about?" Justin drawled from the doorway of Adam's office. He was leaning against the frame, arms crossed over the broad expanse of his chest. While Adam and Rick looked alike enough superficially because of their l hair and build, Chris and Justin really did look like they could be brothers or possibly even twins. Even their facial features were somewhat similar, and the more time they'd spent together in their threesome relationship with Jessica, the more their behaviors had rubbed off on each other as well. Two years ago Justin might not have even asked the question, and if he had it wouldn't have been with amusement in his eyes or the slight teasing note in his voice. Although he was glad to see his friend more relaxed, thanks to Chris and Jessica's influence, Adam rather missed those days sometimes. Like now? "Yes." There was no point in denying it, Rick would just tell on him anyway. Sometimes their group of friends could be as bad as teenage girls when it came to gossip, sad to say. "What do you need?" Fortunately, Justin retained most of the "get down to business" aspects of his personality. Chris would never have let the subject go so easily, but Justin just walked forward into the office to stand by his desk. One of the reasons he and Adam got along so well was because neither of them minced words. Whatever Justin needed he obviously didn't think it was going to take a long discussion because he didn't sit down. "I'm going to need some help soon," he said. "Everything's expanding so quickly, I'm going to start running behind eventually with everything that needs to be done. Especially since Linda's going to on maternity leave soon." Linda was Adam's main marketing person, she worked closely with Justin, and while the original plan had been for him to pick up the slack while she was out, the truth was the entire department was getting busier the more successful the company became. Adam also wanted to open up the possibility of consulting services in the near future and he was going to need a whole new marketing angle. "Okay," Adam said. "Talk to Victor and let him know what you need. If we're really lucky maybe one of our temps will be interested, otherwise he can start the ball rolling on looking." It wouldn't take him long, he was one of the most efficient HR people Adam had ever met. "Thanks." Justin turned to go and then stopped once he got to the doorway again. "Maybe I'll come down with you on Saturday and bring Jessica." "Chris told me he didn't think you would be interested." "In Chained? No. In meeting Mistress Angela? Absolutely. I bet Olivia will want to come too." Adam growled at him but Justin just laughed and walked away. Maybe he should rethink Saturday. He'd finally decided he wanted a serious relationship. Decided he was ready for commitment. He should be out looking for a sub who was interested in that too. But he knew he wouldn't. The mystery of Mistress Angela was bugging him too much at the moment.

******* "Saturday?" Angel asked, feeling her heart sinking. "Please, please, you have to," begged Leigh. "I know it's last minute, but I can't be there alone. I can't. Michael's acting so weird lately and I'm likely to fall apart if I don't have a friend there to keep me sane." Angel groaned. It was Thursday morning and her plans for returning to Chained on Saturday again were falling apart. So much for her secret hopes of seeing Mr. Grouchy. Now she was the grouchy one. Leigh had called while Angel was teaching one of her self defense classes and Angel had answered her cell phone thinking it must be some kind of emergency. Well, according to Leigh it was. Some big benefit dinner was happening on Saturday and Leigh was attending with Michael, of course. They were supposed to be going with another couple, one of Michael's friends from college, who was a former reality television star, and his wife. Unfortunately his wife had just been diagnosed with mono and wasn't going to be making any kind of public appearances for a while. Owen needed a date and Leigh needed a back-up friend. "I hope he's okay with the fact that I've never seen his stupid show," she muttered, feeling a large amount of resentment toward a man she'd never met. Not that Master Adam had said he'd be back at Chained this Saturday, but people tended to follow habits. Although, to put it in another perspective, maybe this was fate's way of telling her to stay away from Mr. Grouchy. It was probably for the best. After all, it wasn't as if she could actually pursue the guy. He thought she was a Domme and she hadn't given herself much wiggle room there. "I'm sure it will be fine," said Leigh, excited now that she had her victim well ensnared. "Thank you, thank you so much. You won't-" "Please don't say I won't regret this," interrupted Angel, although she had a smile on her face. "We both know that's probably not true." Not only would she be missing out on seeing sexy dominant men, she was going to be paired up with someone who actually wanted to put their personal life out on television. Ugh. She would never understand the appeal. "He's a nice guy, I promise." Relief and gratitude filled Leigh's voice, making up for whatever disappointment Angel was feeling. When Leigh needed her, she would be there, and vice versa. "You owe me. Email me the details, I've got to get back to my class." Not the best way to finish out her class since her concentration was completely shot after that, but she struggled through. Fortunately by the time Leigh had called, the women were already practicing the hits Angel had showed them, taking turns back and forth with their pads. The room echoed with the word "NO!" being shouted over and over again. "Yell it as loud as you can, every time," Angel reminded Priscilla-one of the women who often got so into hitting the pads that she would forget to yell-before moving on to watch the next pair. Her mind kept wandering though. She still wanted to go back to Chained. At least one more time before she turned around and went to Stronghold. So she'd go this Friday instead. Next weekend her show opened and if she went Chained she'd have to stay until two in the morning to make the drive worth it. Sighing she reminded herself she hadn't wanted to run into Mr. Grouchy again anyway. Right? "More from the waist, Nicole, right now you're punching from your shoulder, you need to get your whole body into it." Maybe it was best she couldn't go on Saturday again, she mused as she watched Nicole attack the pads Bridget was holding with renewed fervor. If the same Doms were there on Friday then she could take it as a sign to tell Mr. Grouchy the truth. If she didn't see them, then she'd know she should just keep with her original plan of moving on to Stronghold. Leaving what happened up to fate, as it were.

**********Friday night at Chained wasn't as bad as last Saturday night-it was worse. There were no major interruptions to the evening, thank goodness, the Dungeon Monitors didn't need to do anything other than walk around and keep an eye on things, but none of the men she'd met last Saturday were there either. She wandered around and watched the various scenes, even met a few other Doms and Dommes who were very nice although none of them were as friendly as Chris, Andrew, Rick, and Mr. Grouchy. As she explored she found herself feeling disappointed rather than interested. Bored rather than intrigued. The only big difference between this week and last week was no Mr. Grouchy. She found herself sitting back at the table she'd sat at with him last week when everything had seemed shiny and new, thinking about Adam. Master Adam. It took an interruption from the cute submissive who had been so eager to get her a drink last week to bring her back to her senses. She was feeling pretty comfortable here, even though it was only her second visit. The atmosphere and the people appealed to her; but it was becoming clear what had really intrigued her last week were the men she had met. And, truth be told, she'd rather latched onto Adam. Looking around the club, Angel decided there was currently nothing for her here. Being in the club just made her want to shed the Domme persona she was hiding behind and be who she truly was. She felt like she could be brave enough to do so now. Especially, if she went on a Thursday and did an Introduction Scene, the way the club recommended. Stronghold was open five nights a week, three of them for BDSM. The other two nights were devoted to swinging and fantasy play. She'd heard a lot about the incredible fantasy rooms they had there, pretty much anything you could desire for roleplaying. Chained didn't have any at all, everything was pretty much just in this one room. Maybe eventually they'd be successful enough for renovations and they could upgrade. Not that she'd be sticking around for it. Way too far away from home. With one last regretful sigh, Angel glanced at the clock on the wall and headed for the door, trying not to feel like she'd wasted gas by coming down here. She wouldn't be back. After this weekend she had dress rehearsal Thursday nights and then shows on the weekends for the next three weeks. So after closing night of her show, she'd finally go to Stronghold and get what she really needed