Okay, King. Youâre going to love this one. Donât pretend you werenât drooling over this guy when he walked into Headquarters. We all were. Lean but muscular, perfect bed head, two full sleeves of tattoos, big damn smileâ¦remember him? He came to you with a stack of Benjamins an inch high and a request for âa couple hours with your hottest Dominatrix.â I remember it well. Not that I was eavesdropping from the next room or anything. I just happened to be in the next room standing by the door with my eye at the keyhole. What? I was practicing picking locks. You told him that you had the perfect Dominatrix to meet all his needs. Beautiful, intelligent, dominant, extremely experienced, and ready and willing to perform any sort of sadistic service for him.
Of course you were speaking about me.
Name: Dante Burnsâ¦if thatâs his real name, Iâll eat my riding crop.
Age: 29.
Occupation: Rock star, lead singer of The Black Sheets.
Dante said he merely wanted a tour of the Underground. âWeâre making a video,â he said.
âItâll be kinky, something like old Nine Inch Nails. Like the vid for âCloserâ but with fewer dead pigs,â he said.
âIâm not into the stuff but it makes for good visuals,â he said.
âSeriouslyâ¦Iâm not one of those guys,â he said.
âWeâre just scouting locations,â he said.
Yeah sure, kid. And Iâm the Virgin Mary.
The Mistress had every right to be skeptical. First of all, while she didnât know much about the music industry, she was fairly certain the lead singers of world-famous, award-winning, many-times platinum-selling bands didnât do their own location scouting for music videos. Maybe Dante was something of a diva who demanded control over every aspect of his bandâs career trajectory. Certainly plausible. Perhaps he genuinely did want to try his hand at directing and producing, which is why heâd taken this task upon himself.
Whatever the reason heâd come knocking on Kingsleyâs door, The Mistress really didnât care. Heâd paid twice her usual rate for nothing but a tour of the dungeons, the clubs and a couple hours of picking her brain about the job. Easy money, right?
Not quite.
The Mistress met Dante in Kingsleyâs office. From the moment their eyes met and she shook his hand, she had a hunch about him. The second she appeared, Kingsley seemingly disappeared to Dante. Not once did Dante glance at Kingsley after The Mistress made her entrance.
âSo youâre the Mistress?â Danteâs eyes grazed her body from head to boot and back again. âVery nice to meet you.â
âVery nice to beat you,â she said, giving him her most dangerous sort of grin.
âNo beating.â He wagged his finger at her like a teacher to a naughty pupil. For a split second she considered how much force sheâd have to exert to break that finger. âHere for the tour and nothing more.â
âYes, for your music video, you said. How nice. We lifestyle Dominants love it when outsiders take our entire world, our culture and our people and turn them into a fake Hollywood bubblegum backdrop for a pop song.â
She said the words with a smile and enjoyed watching Dante squirm in his punk boots.
âItâs more alternative than pop,â he said sheepishly. âReally good alternative. My bandâs hard-core.â
âHard-core? So am I. Poured scalding candle wax on a clientâs balls yesterday. Your band does that sort of thing?â
âUmâ¦â Dante went pale underneath his tan. âWe say âfuckâ a lot.â
âYeah, so did my grandmother.â
âMaîtresse?â Kingsley gave her a stern stare. She only winked at him. âThis is Dante Burns. Heâs been hailed as the next Trent Reznor.â