One Night With My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 1

Annika's POV

She is naked.

Her front is pressed against the cushion top of a stool placed in the middle of the elevated podium. Her legs are wide apart on either side of the sturdy legs of the wooden stool.

The man behind her slams into her with even, hard thrusts. His fingers dig into her side, his legs pressed against the outline of hers and his other hand burrowed into her hair.

I watch the scene in front of me, half-entranced and half-petrified but unable to tear my gaze away from their sweaty, writhing bodies.

I expected a lot of things from a place called Obsidian Lair when I had logged into that website at eleven pm last night. They promised an unforgettable, life-altering experience and my thoughts had run wild about what that could entail.

Those thoughts had gone from something as mild as a display of b**m toys to something as wild as several couples making out on any available surface. It never featured anything like this scene before me. And granted, I should have gone through the long-ass explanations, descriptions, and warnings that were plastered all over the website but my scaredy ass had input my credit card details and paid the entry fee for one night. By the time the deed was done, I had told myself that it didn't matter what went on down here, I wasn't about to let my hard-earned money go to waste.

Now, I'm thinking that I should have read every goddamn sentence of what was written on that website. I should have pressed my face to the screen of that laptop and skimmed through every single word until they were ingrained in my head. If I had done that, I wouldn't be experiencing this feeling of whiplash and dizziness. I wouldn't be feeling like I chewed off more than I could swallow.

The groans and moans coming from the couple up front put my attention back on them.

They have moved over to a plush leather bed that dominates more than half of the space on the podium. The girl is on all fours, her chest pressed to the bed, her back set in a sultry arch and her ass in the air. The man stands at the foot of the bed, his right hand holding onto a riding crop which he must have gotten from the wall in front of them that proudly displays an array of gears and toys, ranging from clamps, collars, chains, ropes to floggers, paddles, canes, and so many others that my extensive research didn't even begin to cover.

The air is electrified as he moves the riding crop over her ass and dips it down between her trembling legs. He presses it against her s*x that I can see is glistening with arousal even from where I'm standing. The first swat lands firmly on her inner thigh and as the sound slides through the air, it pierces into me. Somehow that sharp sound is what does the trick and it pulls me out of my trance.

I look around me, taking in the captivated, lusty looks on everyone's face. At least, those who don't have masks covering their faces like I do. Some are pressed against their partners, limbs entwined and the few that are standing alone like me, are all looking at the podium with barely concealed excitement, awaiting the next lash of the riding crop. None of them seems to be battling an internal war that's biting and lashing at every corner of their being. Nope. It seems that's just me.

My chest squeezes, a fist wrapping around my throat, cutting off my supply of oxygen. I glance around frantically, searching for an exit, knowing that I have to get out of here before I do something embarrassing stupid like fainting.

My gaze lands on the set of doors that I entered and it's as though there's a stream of light shining down from heaven onto it. I swear, I hear some angels singing in my head as I hurriedly trot towards it. I slip in between bodies, muttering apologies and a series of 'excuse me's as I pass through the tight mass of bodies. I probably look like a lunatic as I frantically try to reach the exit while everyone else is fixated on the show that's taking place in front of them.

I let out a huge sigh of relief as I stand less than a foot away. I'm so eager to get the hell out of here that when the door suddenly opens, the normal response of stopping doesn't register in my head and I crash headfirst into a firm chest that seems to be made of rocks. A huff leaves my lips as I lose my center of gravity and start heading straight to the ground. In a room full of people currently watching a couple f**k each other on a podium.

*Dear God, please just let this fall end my life.*

Suddenly, the hands attached to that firm chest wrap around my waist, acting as the only thing stopping my butt from greeting the hard floor.

He pulls me up with a little more force than needed and I slam back into his chest.

I'm going to have a black eye and a concave face by the end of this whole encounter.

"Are you alright?" A deep voice asks, concern etched in those three words.

I open my mouth to answer but pause as I note the familiarity of that voice. It feels like I've heard it before. Several times actually.

Chills slide down my spine as I drag my eyes up a firm chest that's trying to rip out of a crisp, properly ironed dress shirt. It slides up to a neck corded with veins and up to a face that belongs to someone that I've known all my life.

I stagger back, a gasp escaping my parted lips.

What the hell is my brother's best friend doing here?