door latch, she smiled again. "And you guys might want to do this quickly. As it stands, you're second to last in line for elimination. Not looking good for you. You'll be graded individually and as a team. The one with the most points wins the right to Dom in the bedroom.
" And," she said, opening the door to a large gymnasium set up with obstacles. "There has been a new development at this stage of the competition. From here on out, the one in the sub position will be subject to discipline. If he or she does too poorly, the Dom will decide a discipline that will inspire proper obedience. But in the weeks to come—if you manage to make it past this week—it'll be determined by the highest ranking Dom in the competition. And that includes the possibility of auctioning off a sub to another Dom for training."
What? Holy crap, that's crazy. Judging by Lucian's lowered, shaking head, he wasn't happy about that news either.
He looked at me suddenly, flint in those clear blue eyes "I guess you're going to play Dom?" His attitude said he figured I would, out of sheer obstinacy. He would be wrong. I was playing Dom because I could, and I was damn good at it.
" I am. And you're going to play sub?" I matched his doubt in his ability.
" Yes. I am."
I nodded and clapped him on the back. "You can handle it?"
He looked at me. "Can you? Can you handle Domming me?"
" Yes I can. Can you submit?"
" I can. I can fucking submit. If you can guide."
" I can guide."
" Good. I can follow."
" We should ace this then."
The announcer handed us off to a man and woman, who led us to the starting point.
I couldn 't resist a little jab. "Take a good look before the blindfold goes on."
" Oh I am. Trust me." He mumbled out the course several times. I studied it too. It didn't look too complicated, just standard obstacle course stuff.
" Okay, at the sound of the whistle, you'll both go through the Torture Tires, coated and set in a mud pit, as you can see. After, you'll climb the Berlin Wall, which will require you to help one another. You will then cross the balance beam. If you fall off, you'll have to start again and go all the way across. Then you will make your way across the ropes, and finally the Spool of Sin. You'll both mount it and walk it to the finish line. Got it?"
We nodded and Lucian held out his hand.
I slapped it and he gave a frustrated sigh, presenting it again. "Hold it, love. I can't exactly know where I'm going unless you guide me."
Heat crept up my neck. "I know that." I took his hand and he gripped it tight. The kind of tight that said he'd be dragging me. "Remember we're a team," I said. "And I'm leading. So don't get ahead of me. But keep up."
" Don't worry about me, love. Just lead and don't hold back." They tied on the blindfold then joined us at the waist with a rope having approximately a two foot slack.
T he whistle sounded and I ran with Lucian to the tires. "Get ready to stop, tires in ten feet."
" Just go, go."
We got to the tires. "Stop."
Lucian didn 't stop quite in time and fell into the tires, dragging me with him. "I need a little more than a second of advance warning, Tara, fuck!"
" Sorry!" We fought our way up, slippery mud making the task far more difficult than necessary. "I'm putting you exactly next to the tires. Step with me on three. Right foot first."
We managed great up to halfway. "My shoe!"
The unexpected halt got me jerked off balance by a driven Lucian and we both fell in a tangle, coating ourselves thoroughly with the slick goo.
" Fuck, it's a shoe! I'll buy you fifty fucking pairs if you don't do that again, Jesus."
We fought our way to standing only to fall again.
" God, I'm sorry." I helped him back up. "Shit, we have to start over." I led him back to the start.
" Let's start like we did before. Right foot first. Go."
We did our robotic dance with me calling out step left, step right, step left, step right until we made it out .
" Okay, I'm running with you to the