The club glowed with false calm, fresh glasses clinking, velvet curtains hiding everything ugly. Elma's skin still hummed from Booth Zero. Veylir's taste lingered like acid honey on her tongue, her thighs still trembling with the echo of climax. The system ticked quietly in her head, smug and alive.
She was ready for more.
Nitron's office sat above the floor, windows tinted dark so no one could see if he was smiling or sharpening knives. He didn't look up when she entered. His pen scratched across paper, steady, deliberate.
"You're late," he said.
"I was learning," Elma replied, leaning on the edge of his desk, hips tilted. "Isn't that what you wanted?"
"You learned too much." He set the pen down, finally looking at her. His eyes were still storms. "Booth Eleven. He's yours tonight. But you don't touch him."
Elma blinked, then smirked. "Don't touch? Then what's the point?"
"The point is to listen," Nitron said, voice smooth as poison. "This client is information, not entertainment. You will serve the drink, use your tongue for words, not what you're imagining."
Her body betrayed her, a hot pulse low in her belly, a slick ache she couldn't smother. She thought of Veylir's hands, the taste of violet essence, the way her climax had torn her open and rebuilt her. She wanted more. Needed more.
"Maybe I can multitask," she murmured, letting her voice drip. "Loosen him up, get the info, and still get myself another high. You get data, I get mine. Win-win."
Nitron's gaze darkened. "Do not test me."
Elma leaned closer, close enough to fog his glass of brandy with her breath. "Or what? You'll reset me? You think I don't know my body's half the reason this club runs? You leash me, but you like watching me bite."
The system pulsed.
[Warning: Defiance registered.]
[Risk: Sanction Imminent.]
Nitron moved before she could blink. One hand shot out, fingers like iron bands around her throat. He slammed her back against the wall, the framed art rattling with the impact. Her feet barely touched the ground.
Air vanished. Panic bloomed. Her hands flew up, clawing at his wrist.
"Nitron—" she rasped.
"Silence." His voice was thunder whispered. His grip tightened, not enough to break, enough to remind her bones that she lived because he permitted it.
Her pulse thundered in her ears. Her thighs squeezed against each other involuntarily, her body betraying her again, heat curling through fear until she hated herself for how wet she felt.
"You think you decide when you come?" Nitron hissed, his eyes burning into hers. "You think climax is yours to chase? Every moan, every scream, every drop of pleasure—you earn it when I allow it."
Elma tried to snarl, but the sound choked. Her vision blurred, sparks popping at the edges. He pressed her higher, her heels scraping for grip.
"I own your levels," he said, voice colder than steel. "I own your climb. And if I choose, I own your release. You will not touch what I forbid."
For the first time, true fear slid under her skin. Fear—and a flash of white-hot want.
When he finally let go, she collapsed against the wall, clutching her throat, gulping air like it had never been free. Her body shook, half from terror, half from the awful, aching need that only worsened under his control.
Nitron straightened his cuffs, utterly calm. "Do as I say, or I'll remind you again who commands this system."
Elma forced a laugh, raw and broken, even as her throat burned. "You like choking me more than you admit."
His smile cut her in half. "I like teaching you what happens to bad investments."
The system pinged in her vision:
[Status: Submission Threshold Enforced.]
[Warning: Nitron has direct override access.]
Her body trembled, heat still coiling where she hated it most. He had scared her—truly scared her—but underneath it, she was burning, desperate, furious.
She hated him. She needed him. She wanted more.
"Booth Eleven," Nitron said, dismissing her like she was nothing. "Now."
Elma staggered toward the door, throat sore, pulse screaming. She didn't look back. If she did, she might have admitted what terrified her most:
She liked it.