The Original Sinners: The Red Years. Tiffany Reisz

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СКАЧАТЬ broke into a wide grin. “Good boy. You are dismissed for the moment. But stay close.”

      Griffin rose to his feet and leaned over.

      “I’ll stay so close you’ll think I’m inside you,” he said in a stage whisper meant for Zach to hear and nipped at Nora’s neck. Zach tried to ignore it.

      “Hurt but do not harm?” Zach asked. “What’s the difference?”

      “Hurt is a bruise on the outside.” Nora sipped her mineral water delicately. “Harm is a bruise on the inside. If you’re a masochist, pain feels like love to you. Not being hurt is what hurts.”

      “Are you a masochist?” Zach asked, fascinated despite himself.

      “Not exactly.” Nora smiled almost shyly. “Not everyone who practices S&M is an actual sadist or masochist, not in the pathological sense anyway. With Søren, I loved submitting to pain. I loved the submission, though, not the pain itself. There are a handful of actual masochists down here, though, if you want to meet one. Fair warning, they can be almost as dangerous to play with as the sadists.”

      “Warning taken. You don’t seem like those people down there.” Zach nodded toward the pit.

      “Those people down there are doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, politicians, you name it. If I’m not like them it’s only because I don’t have a real job. And I have played in the pit before, I’ll have you know. It’s like Sodom and Gomorrah down there sometimes. Tonight’s Monday so the play’s a little tame.”

      “You say ‘play’ like this is all a game. But people are actually getting hurt down there, Nora.”

      “I have one word for you, my uptight English editor—rugby.”

      Zach winced. Rugby—the sport as rough as American football but without all the padding.

      “A lot of people think we’re crazy, Zach. Some even think we’re evil. But I’m a Switch so I’ve seen both sides of the whip. I know you can’t imagine it, but this is love to a lot of us. When Søren hit me, it was because he loved me, because that’s how we loved each other.”

      “Sounds horrifying.”

      “Horrifying is the last thing Søren is. Dangerous, yes. I’ll give you that. But S&M’s only dangerous if you play with someone you don’t trust or if you forget your safe word.” She stopped, looked up at the ceiling and smiled. He could see something like a memory flash across her eyes. “Trust me, whatever you do, Zach, don’t forget your safe word.”

      “What’s a safe word?”

      “A safe word’s your last out. That’s the dark secret of S&M—the submissives actually have the final say. And your safe word can be anything—popcorn, barn owl—whatever as long as it’s not a word you’d use in a scene. If you need to tell the person topping you that you have to stop completely, you end it by using that word.”

      “You can’t just say ‘stop’?”

      “A lot of submissives enjoy feeling overpowered and truly dominated. God knows I did. ‘Stop’ doesn’t mean ‘stop’ in S&M. It’s just part of the scene. You should have a safe word down here. Everyone does. Except Søren, of course.”

      “Why is he exempt?”

      Nora smirked and rolled her eyes.

      “Because Søren doesn’t get topped. Go ahead. You can pick anything—the street you grew up on, your favorite food, the middle name of the long-lost love of your life. Got one?”

      “Sure, fine,” Zach said, picking the first word that came to mind. “Calais.”

      “The city in France?”

      “Oui.”

      “Bien. I’ll remember it. If I start to push you hard enough you need to really get out, just say that and everything will stop. Saying ‘no, Nora, I don’t think that’s such a grand idea’ doesn’t always work on me.”

      “I’ve noticed.” Zach took a sip of his drink. “So my writer is the most famous Domme in New York.”

      Nora grinned. “Zach, I’m the most famous Domme—” she began and then closed her mouth. Her ears seemed to perk up. She tilted her head sideways.

      “Do you hear that?” she asked.

      Zach listened.

      “I don’t hear anything.”

      Nora inhaled and exhaled slowly.

      “Fuck.”

      Nora jumped to her feet and raced to the balcony area of the bar. Zach ran to join her.

      “What is it?” Zach asked.

      Griffin came to stand behind them. Zach heard him chuckling.

      “Stop me if you’ve heard this one—a priest, a rabbi and a griffin walk into an S&M club…”

      “This is why I gag you during sex, Griffin,” Nora nearly growled.

      “You brought a date to the Circle,” Griffin chided. “What did you expect him to do?”

      “I expected King to keep his mouth shut.”

      “You know King answers to a higher power.”

      “Nora,” Zach said with exasperation, “please tell me what’s going on.”

      Nora turned to face him. He saw real fear in her eyes.

      “Søren.”

      “Søren?” Zach repeated and looked down. A man stood at the top of the staircase where he and Nora had entered. Zach couldn’t make out any of his features at first. All he noticed was the man’s commanding height, his incredible presence. All play below had ceased at his entrance. He strode down the staircase slowly, imperiously. The world stopped for him. The chaos on the floor fell silent. Everyone everywhere, Nora included, seemed to be holding their breath.

      Zach narrowed his eyes at the sight of Nora’s former lover. He noticed something strange about the man’s clothes.

      “Zach, I should have told you. There’s a lot I should have told you.”

      “Søren…” Zach said in utter shock. “He’s a priest?”

      “My priest.”

      19

      A hundred whispers and hints from conversations over the past few weeks came back to Zach in an instant. Nora Sutherlin’s former lover who still haunted her like the shadow of a ghost was a Catholic priest. And if it weren’t for the fear in her eyes and the dread in his stomach he might have laughed.

      “Zach, СКАЧАТЬ