Free Hard to Serve: A Hard Ink Novella by Laura Kaye

you,” Kyler said. “But you can believe I’ll be back for more work.”
    “Good. You better be,” Jeremy said, his tongue flicking at the piercing on his lip.
    Kyler said his good-byes to the last members of the group still hanging out in the lounge, and then he was back out into the night. It was late—after eleven o’clock—but he wasn’t ready to go home. Seeing his friends had made him feel energized, and getting the tattoo had adrenaline flowing through his system.
    He wanted to go to Blasphemy. But he really didn’t want to see Mia. Not tonight. Tonight, he didn’t want a reminder of something else he couldn’t have. So he called the control room at the club.
    “Yo, Kyler. What can I do for you?” Zeke asked. They rotated the jobs they did around the club.
    “Hey, Z. A new submissive named Mia joined on Wednesday night. Any idea if she’s checked in tonight?” Kyler asked.
    “Hold on,” Zeke said. Then, “No. I don’t see anyone by that name.”
    The relief Kyler expected didn’t come. Instead, there was just an odd resignation. “Good deal. Thanks, man.” They hung up.
    But at least it meant that he was in the clear to go there and not break his rules. Because he was in the mood to play.
     

Chapter 6
    Mia had only been at Blasphemy for ten minutes, but she already knew that Kyler wasn’t there. First she’d looked, and then she’d just come out and asked the dark-blond-haired man named Master Leo who was bartending tonight. For a moment, she’d been struck by the fact that the Dom had two different-colored eyes—one blue, the other green. But then he said that it wasn’t Master Kyler’s night to work, apparently, and he hadn’t come in to hang out as he apparently had the other night.
    She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Did she potentially want to play with someone else? Did she want to wait? Or did she want to go home?
    Her belly squeezed at that last one. She didn’t want to go home. This was her big night. She wanted to celebrate somehow. Besides, Master Kyler had been explicit that he wasn’t interested in a relationship, so maybe he wouldn’t want to play with her again anyway. Mia sighed. Maybe she’d just have a look around.
    As she walked from one public scene to the other, she caught a lot of looks, and not a few compliments, because of her dress. Form-fitting and strapless, she really loved the brightness of the gold color against her skin, the way the ruching on the skirt emphasized her curves, and the beading on the bodice that sparkled and shined. She felt elegant and refined, and that had been perfect for earlier in the night. But now she kinda wanted someone to mess her up and take her apart.
    Up on what had once been the church’s altar, a bondage scene was taking place in front of a rapt audience. Mia’s mouth dropped open because she recognized the black-haired Dom—Master Griffin, who had...the most fascinating tattoo that she’d ever seen. It covered his entire back in blacks and reds. A woman’s face, partially obscured by her dark hair whipping in front of her features as if blown by the wind, streaks of red framing the image. It spoke to the artist in Mia, even though it made her wonder who the woman was and whether she had anything to do with the fact that when the Dom smiled, it didn’t really reach his eyes.
    Stepping closer, she watched Master Griffin work a flogger over the bound woman’s body, admiring the beauty of what he’d wrought in bright blue rope. The submissive hung on her side from a circular hook, ropes securing her top leg straight up, her bottom leg bent back—her thighs wide, and her upper body with her arms behind her back. The Dom was apparently skilled at a Japanese style of rope bondage called Shibari, known for the beautiful patterns the arrangement of the ropes and knots made on the submissive’s body. Because the scene before her was as beautiful as it was erotic. Mia had never had it done, but watching him work made