9781631050497EldridgesReleaseArcher
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Authors: Evelise Archer
ELDRIDGE’S RELEASE
Club Rebellion 1
Evelise
Archer
Erotic
Romance
Secret
Cravings Publishing
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A Secret Cravings Publishing Book
Erotic Romance
Eldridge’s Release
Copyright ©
2014
Evelise
Archer
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63105-049-7
First E-book Publication: January
2014
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ELDRIDGE’S RELEASE
Club Rebellion 1
Evelise
Archer
Copyright © 2014
Chapter One
He was tired, good and
tired. Eldridge could not believe he fell for the bait. He had just brokered a
high-powered merger between two companies and made a hefty amount of money, that
added to his portfolio and made an even bigger name for
himself
in the marketing world. Only problem was, he never slowed down.
His best friend,
Isabella
Catana
insisted that he needed to let go and
relax, allow someone else to take some of the pressure off of him. Relax and
not have to think. She had hounded him until she secured his promise that when
the merger was completed he would take some time for himself and unwind. Visit
the
club
. Club
Rebellion,
that
Issy
and her boyfriend belonged to and simply let loose.
Eldridge didn’t know if he understood the phrase
let loose
, but a promise to his BFF was a promise. Nobody reneged
on a promise to Isabella
Catana
.
Eldridge and
Issy
had been friends since the first day of second grade
at Christ the King Catholic School. She was a spitfire Latina girl with blonde
curls and big green eyes. She had walked directly up to the shy, lonely little
boy and told him that he was her new best friend. Eldridge had no choice in the
matter. Even at the tender age of seven, he could tell that Isabella
Catana
was a force to be reckoned with. The two of them had
been inseparable since. From grade school to high school, and even college,
they went together like peanut butter and jelly. Now, at twenty-six, they were
still together. They were each other’s wingmen and they always kept their
promises. Hence, Eldridge was in the predicament at hand. He’d promised
Issy
that he would visit Club
Rebellion
and here he was
closing in on the front entrance.
The club was an
exclusive downtown Philadelphia club, either you were a member or you were
invited by a member. Eldridge had the invite, as
Issy
and her man, Johnson, belonged to the club. Johnson was one of the owners. The
club sported the lifestyle, as
Issy
liked to
describe. It was a way of life, that for some unknown reason,
Issy
felt her
bestie
needed to
explore this.
Issy
was a submissive, when it came to
her home life. At work, she was a total cougar, taking a stance on a design,
implementing it, and bossing around even the largest men, but in her domestic
life, she allowed Johnson to rule the roost, as Eldridge saw it anyway.
The only problem was
,
Eldridge didn’t know if he completely agreed with the
lifestyle. How could a person give that much control to another?
Although, if Eldridge really, really, thought about it, the idea
did spark something inside him.
He was always in control at work and
sometimes he just wanted someone else to take the reins. Sometimes, he just
wanted to relax, but it scared the hell out of him to give up control.
In a candid moment when he and
Issy
were in college, he had discussed exploration with
his, at the time, boyfriend, Ned. The guy had done unimaginable things to him.
The guy had turned out to be sick in his treatment of Eldridge.
Physically and emotionally.
Eldridge recalled the way Ned
had shouted insults, calling Eldridge sick and perverted for wanting to explore
a different way of expressing himself sexually. After that horrible experience,
which Eldridge had no recourse to do anything about it, he turned inward and
decided to keep his desires to himself. Not that Eldridge desired to be
physically hurt, but he did crave more. As confused as he was, he didn’t know
what the more was. Isabella thought that she knew what he needed. Therefore
Eldridge was on the brink of entering a BDSM club.
The club sat in the
swankier section of Rittenhouse Square and sported its own parking lot. It was
a rarity in the city, as most establishments utilized city parking garages or
street parking. This place must be doing very well, because Eldridge could tell
that the parking lot used to be a building lot, which the owners had obviously
torn down to create the space. Eldridge parked his car, popped a wintergreen
breath freshener in his mouth and headed toward the door. Eldridge hated mint,
so wintergreen it was.
The closer he got to
the front door of the club, the more he perspired. He should not be sweating in
the outfit that he was wearing. Eldridge was told, no ordered, to wear his
black leather pants, soft as butter to the touch, and so skin tight his package
was outlined in the crotch. Added to the pants, was a white wife beater that
was plastered onto him and a leather jacket. He tried to get underwear on, even
a jock, but the pants were so tight that any seam showed through, so he elected
to go bare. He could not believe that he had been talked into this outfit. He
had bought the leather pants as a joke for a party they once attended. Mind
you, the pants were very expensive, so that was why Eldridge never threw them
out, but he never thought he would be wearing them again and to a club, no less.
He was a good looking
guy. At least that’s what
Issy
always told him. She
called him
man-pretty
; not completely
masculine and not necessarily feminine.
Man-pretty
.
At times he wasn’t sure if that was an insult or
a compliment. He had always known he was gay, or as far back as he could
remember. When their classmates were looking at the opposite gender, Eldridge
always looked at the boys. He loved the lines of their chest, hard and
delineated. Not soft mounds protruding and getting in the way.
Girl’s breasts, yuck.
His family knew he was
gay,
he came out to them in his early teens. His
parents,
were supportive and accepting, although it was
probably not the lifestyle they would have chosen for him. He never brought
boys home as dates, so his parents were fine with his homosexuality.
As long as it wasn’t flaunted in their faces.
Sometimes
Eldridge felt very lonely, but at least he had
Issy
.
He was not the biggest,
the tallest, nor the most talkative, in their current circle of friends. In
fact, when he wasn’t in the boardroom and high strung from all the intensive
work he did keeping his clients rolling in money, he might be classified as a
wallflower; very reclusive. Eldridge didn’t mind going out for a drink or two
with
Issy
and Johnson, or his co-workers, but he much
preferred to be by himself. Finding the right man to date was hard. Eldridge
didn’t know how women did this all the time, prowling. His introverted
personality made making contact with a stranger difficult, but there had to be
someone out there for him, didn’t there?
Eldridge walked up to
the door, nervously wiping his hands against the leather pants and rang the
bell. A non-descript, solid black door, no peep-hole; just a door. He waited
less than twenty seconds before it was opened by a very large man in blue jeans
and a black t-shirt. As he stepped through the threshold, Eldridge looked up
and noticed the camera above the door.
He handed the bouncer
the invitation with the clubs logo on it.
A raised CR in
black with a muted gray picture of a flogger in the background.
He nodded and said. “Good evening Mr.
Cristoff
.”
How in the hell would he know him? He had
never been to the club before, although they did have his picture on file, from
the background check the club had performed before the invite was given. The
bouncer, Sam, according to the embossed name on his t-shirt, pointed to the
next set of double doors and told him to go right in. Eldridge was amazed that
he heard nothing coming from the other side of the door- not a sound. The walls
and doors must be sound proof. What the hell had he gotten in to?
Red leather covered the
surface of the double doors and Eldridge felt as if he walked into an alternate
universe as he entered. The problem was
,
he had no
idea what universe he had walked into. At first glance it looked like any other
club, people milling around, sitting at the bar, tables and booths, talking,
laughing, and drinking. Then he got a better look at the clientele. Men and
women appeared in various stages of dress and undress. He tried not to gawk,
but it was pretty difficult. When he headed to the bar, a woman was being led
past him by a long chain that was attached to her nipples.
Wait, that
meant the woman had no shirt on.
Shit
.
What in the hell have I
gotten into?
The club was beautiful
and sleek. An artist would say straight lines, dark, muted colors that enhanced
the desired atmosphere. Almost everything was leather; sofas, chairs,
barstools, even the edge of the bar itself. Most were black or white leather
with gray or muted yellow accents. Muted yellow like butter. The lighting was
low, but sufficient to give a secure, yet homey feeling. The walls were adorned
with mirrors and abstract art. Eldridge did not understand the point of
abstract art, but from what he saw, the décor went perfectly with the club.
“Pina Colada.
Non-alcoholic, please,” Eldridge spoke to the bartender, Tony, as he looked at
him, acknowledging him by name. Did everyone in the place know his name? If
Eldridge was to be honest, the name thing freaked him out. It was as if they
had a
Wanted
poster of him hanging in
the club. He sat at the bar as his drink was prepared. He loved a fruity drink
and this one was his favorite.
Chunks of coconut and bits of
pineapple.
Was a Pina Colada cliché for a gay guy? At that moment he
didn’t care.
As he took his drink,
Eldridge turned around in the hopes of finding Isabella and her boyfriend. He
spotted
Issy
waving to him before he had even
completed the turn. He collected his drink and walked toward the couple. The
two were comfortably ensconced on a white leather sofa.
Issy
perched on Johnson’s lap, with her head tucked under his chin. Eldridge stopped
in his
tracks,
the couple truly looked beautiful
together.
Completely contented.
Isabella hadn’t had an
easy life prior to meeting Johnson. Afterward, it took time for the
dominant/submissive thing to run smoothly. Their late night talks gave Eldridge
an earful regarding
Issy
and Johnson’s relationship.
He knew that now, his friend had truly found peace in her life, whatever that
lifestyle may be.
He made his way to the
couch where they were seated and could see what appeared to be a stage.
Actually there appeared to be three stages, lit with various degrees of
lighting. The center stage was subdued, but the flanking stages were lit. One
stage sported what looked like a large cross. If Eldridge remembered correctly,
Issy
had told him the cross was called a St. Andrew’s
cross. Currently, a woman was attached to the cross and being flogged by a very
large man. Eldridge could not hear the sounds coming from the woman, but if the
look on her face was any indication, she was in ecstasy and enjoying herself
very much.
As Eldridge leaned down
to greet
Issy
with a peck on the cheek, he noticed
the man sitting on the far end of the sofa.
Yum.
Scary.
Dominant.
It was easy to
surmise, based on the way the man carried himself, even in a sitting position,
and the way he was dressed, that he was a Dom.
Eldridge wanted to sit at the man’s feet, which
completely through him for a loop, and he immediately locked the thought away
in the recesses of his brain. The last time he wanted to sit at a man’s feet,
he was told he was depraved and sick. Damn, Ned had done a number on him.
Thinking about Ned, brought back memories of
his sophomore year.
College life was in full
swing and
Issy
was living it up; going to class,
attending parties and dating. She was trying to find herself, as she liked to
call it, and took Eldridge along for the ride. One night, at a social
gathering, Eldridge was introduced to Ned by a mutual friend. Ned was not the
most handsome fish in the pond, but he was easy on the eyes and had a nice
smile and good sense of humor. He asked Eldridge to coffee and they were a
couple from that day on. They fell into a comfortable companionability, dating,
hanging out, and just existing.
Just existing.
That’s
what Eldridge felt like when he was with Ned. Ned was funny and caring, but not
very romantic. He had always wanted to be in charge of everything they did.
Kissing, petting, and deciding what to do on a
date. Eldridge had yearnings and feelings that he was exploring in his
psyche and he thought that maybe Ned would be the man to help him delve
further. Ned appeared to be the type that Eldridge had read about on the
Internet.
The dominant type that could assist Eldridge in
becoming complete.
Boy,
was he wrong. Ned
wasn’t interested in Eldridge’s pleasure or exploring his own sexuality. He was
just a sadistic bastard. Well, let’s just saying getting kicked in the teeth
might have been better than the humiliation he endured thanks to Ned.