Chapter 15
Benji's POV
Here I was Tuesday morning, sitting in my first class waiting as our midterm exams were passed around the room. I wasn't as nervous as I'd been in the past on exam day. Feeling well prepared and after a pretty great weekend with Ajax, life felt good. Ajax had officially collared me and proclaimed me as 'his' in front of the other Doms. And then…of course there was the demonstration, I felt myself blush and look around even though no one could know what I was thinking about.
It only got better, we went back to Ajax's apartment and he brought me to his bed and we had probably the best sex I've ever had in my life. It was different…we didn't go into the playroom, it could almost be called vanilla. No restraints, no spanking, I didn't quite know what to make of it…it just happened. I think Ajax was just as perplexed as he even apologized afterwards. When I tried to ask him why, he just changed the subject and then we ended up going to sleep. In the morning it was back to our normal witty banter, which was fine, I guess I just wanted to understand what was going on. Did he do that with past subs? Did it mean anything? I guess I was overthinking it. I was his sub, he was my Dom and I guess once in a while he likes to put away the whips and chains and have a normal bang. Whatever. I certainly didn't mind it.
I spent most of Sunday studying while Ajax did his own thing in his office. In the late morning though he brought me downstairs to he and his brother's personal gym and we ran for a while on treadmills and did some light lifting. It was only for a couple of hours, but it helped break up the studying so I could stay focused better. Then we made some sandwiches for lunch and I went back to the books. I let Ajax quiz me before we made dinner and since I got everything right he rewarded me by popping in a movie after we ate.
I didn't know what to expect at bedtime, but Ajax said he had some reports to review before the next morning, so I ended up just going to bed in my room. When I woke up Monday morning there was a note on my night table that said he was off to work and that I could stay at the apartment for the day and study, the fridge was stocked and I should help myself to anything I wanted. I was kind of bummed I had missed him because I promised to meet Jamie back on campus at 5:00 for an evening study session so now I wouldn't see him for a few days, but I didn't want to slack off on my friends just because I was in a relationship.
Ajax and I texted back and forth a few times. He wanted to make sure I was okay and had a healthy breakfast and lunch since he had too many meetings to be able to make it back to join me. He offered to send a car to take me back to campus, but I told him I was fine taking public transit. He balked at that and we compromised and I took a cab. He had already started giving me a weekly stipend, which I still felt weird about, so it was no big deal paying for it.
"You may begin."
The professor's loud voice startled me out of my thoughts and I quickly looked around as everyone began writing furiously on their papers. I took a deep breath, opened the exam booklet and began.
I had two exams on Tuesday and only one on Wednesday. For theatre we had done group presentations the week before so all in all my first mid-term week of my college career was pretty good. I felt really confident that I did well, better than I ever had, and I couldn't wait until grades would be posted online the following Monday. First time ever I was excited to get my grades back!
Normally, well, we really hadn't been together long enough to say normally, but Ajax and I had planned to get together Wednesday nights, but earlier in the week he had called to tell me he had a meeting in San Diego that evening and wouldn't be home until late if he was able to come home at all. If the negotiations didn't go well, he might have to stay the night and finish them up Thursday morning. He said I could stay at his apartment, but I said I'd stay on campus. I didn't yet feel fully comfortable being alone at his apartment, plus I was going to go to the Boy's Club with Joe Thursday afternoon anyway. So our new plan was that Ajax would pick me up Thursday after my volunteer shift and we would head down to the beach house for a long weekend. It was a long stretch of not seeing him, but I needed to have my own life outside of Ajax and not get too dependent on him. He was my Dom for three months and who knows if we would sign another contract. He might want to move on to someone else. I had trained myself not to get attached to boyfriends after getting dumped so often in the past. Ajax was definitely the best looking, sexiest most amazing boyfriend I'd ever had and it would be too easy to get overly attached to him, so I had to keep things light.
Oh my god…I just referred to him as my boyfriend. See! He's my Dom, big difference. I slapped my head, "not my boyfriend, not my boyfriend," I muttered several times.
"Benji, are you talking to yourself?" I looked up and one of my friends, or maybe he was just an acquaintance, well, one of the guys from the dorm was walking by. I was sitting in the cafeteria at the student center having dinner. Jamie was going to meet me here, but she never showed and she didn't answer her phone. I had planned to stop by her dorm on the way home to see if she was okay. I figured she forgot or ended up having dinner with the friends from her dorm. I saw a bunch of them on my way to the dining hall and they told me they were ordering pizza and asked if I wanted to come. At that point I wasn't sure if Jamie was waiting for me so I told them no thanks, but maybe I'd stop by later. I wasn't really in the mood for pizza and the dining hall had really good chicken burritos.
"Hey Zach…nah, I was just trying to remember the lyrics to this song. How're you doing? You finish all your mid-terms?"
"No, I have one more tomorrow. I think I'm the only one in the dorm who hasn't finished and all hell is breaking out there. I'm going to go upstairs and see if there are any quiet study rooms available."
"Good luck dude!" I called as he grabbed a few cans of red bull and headed upstairs.
Since I was finished anyway, I gathered my tray up and brought everything up to the kitchen pass through. "First I was stood up by my Dom, then by my best friend. Sigh." I threw my backpack over my shoulder and slowly ambled in the direction of Jamie's dorm. I at least wanted to make sure she was okay before I went to go spend the evening playing with my PS3 and trying avoid the party animals on my floor.
When I entered the girls dorm I immediately knew something was up when I heard lots of excited shrieking and girls were running from room to room in different states of dress and undress. I looked through open doors and saw hair being poofed, make-up being applied and spanx being deployed.
"BENJI!!!!!!!!!!" Jamie's high pitched screech almost scared the shit out of me and I jumped a good three feet. I mean, it just wasn't a Jamie sound. "I'm so glad you're here, I was just trying to call you!" Jamie was wearing one of the tight black dresses she often wore to the club, her hair was up, and she was teetering on a pair of very high heels that almost made her as tall as me. "Come on! Syl is going to do my face!"
"Jamie, what's going on?"
"We're going out!" She exclaimed.
"You're going out with everyone on the floor?" I clarified.
"Yes, no, I mean, we're going out! As in me, you and the girls on the floor.!"
"Whoa, whoa….where are we going?"
"To a club!" she announced.
"To..um…'the club'?"
"No silly," she whisper shouted, "I can't take these girls to 'the club', we're going to a regular club and you're coming with us!"
"Since when do you go clubbing with your dorm mates, no offence Syl."
"None taken," the tall, dark skinned beauty replied with a smile. "We just never knew what a hoot Jamie could be!" I quickly looked at Jamie. Were they talking about the right girl?
"Benji, don't look at me that way, I can be lots of fun! I can be wild and spontaneous just like everyone else, that's why we're going!"
I leaned over close to my friend and whispered in her ear, "is this about that 'boring' comment somebody made?"
"No Benji, I just want to have some fun and I want you to come with!" She pouted. "Please Benji, I've done so many things for you, can't you just do this for me. You said Ajax was out of town tonight."
"Yeah, but I don't know how he'd feel about me going clubbing, and what about Dennis, does he know? Does he think it's okay?"
"Dennis shmennis. He doesn't get a say. We have our Friday and Saturday nights together and he doesn't seem interesting in anything beyond that, I'm not going to wait around for him and become this boring old hag. I'm going to go out and have fun with the girls!" Four of her floor-mates who had just walked in the room whooped and cheered.
"JA-MIE, JA-MIE, JA-MIE!"
I was pretty sure they had all started the evening with some cocktails. I didn't think it was a very good idea, but I certainly wasn't going to let Jamie go out alone with this wild group. Who knows where she would end up, and she was right. She had done so many things for me and with me, against her better judgement, I could go out on a limb once in a while for her too.
"Okay, let me go get changed," I conceded.
"No! We're all ready now, we're coming with you. I know how you are, you'll get lost in your dorm, it will take you hours. We'll come and we'll all pick out some clothes for you." More cheers went up from the group and I noticed a bottle of peach schnapps being passed around the room. Oh my god! Peach schnapps! This was going to be a long night!
We all made the short walk to my dorm and the crowd of girls swarmed onto my floor like African bees. There was a party going on in the common room, of course, and half the girls went there to join in. Six girls and Jamie followed me into my room and they immediately began the process of decimating my closet. I was thankful my new black leather pants were at Ajax's.
"THESE!"
"No!" I pleaded. "Not those!" I begged. Jamie had pulled out, from the depths of my closet, a pair of black skinny jeans that we had once bought at a goth thrift shop for a Halloween party senior year of High School. I don't even know why I brought them to UCLA with me, I’m pretty sure Jamie was behind that too. They weren't just any black skinny jeans. They had strategic rips all over them, some held together by safety pins, but they still didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination.
"AND THIS!" Another girl pulled out a tight black netting type shirt that I sometimes wore under my black leather jacket when I wasn't planning on taking the jacket off. Before I knew it the girls hands were flying at me ripping off my clothes and re-dressing me, gelled fingers were working at my hair and Syl was pulling out black eyeliner from the magical bag she brought everywhere.
"Ow! What did you poke my eye with?" I blurted as I tried to stay upright as I felt like my body was being violated.
"Mascara silly!"
"I'm not a girl, I don't need mascara!"
"I've seen you wear eyeliner, mascara is just the finishing touch."
"Nlglelblledng," I objected, tried to object as my lips were being lined and dabbed next.
All of a sudden they all stepped back. There was a moment of silence followed by squeals of delight. "If I look like a drag queen, you're all going down!" I stood up, grumbling my way over to the closet where a full length mirror was nailed to the back of the door.
"No…I can't go out looking like this!"
"You don't look at all like a drag queen!" Jamie blurted out.
"No, but I look like…" I turned around a few times. And yeah, my butt looked amazing in these pants, what few muscles I had were accentuated by the shirt, but my nipples showed, not only showed, but the sensation of the tight shirt made them swell and stick out a good half inch. My hair didn't look bad, but the make-up was a bit much to get used to. "I look like a male prostitute!" I shouted when realization hit me. "Um, not that I know what a male prostitute looks like, but if I were looking for one, I'd look for a guy looking like this!"
"Oh pish," Jamie groaned, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door.
"I can't even fit my wallet in the pockets, these pants are so tight!" She grabbed my wallet and phone and flung them into her purse, I barely had a chance to grab my leather jacket as I was propelled out the door.
Two large cabs were waiting for us in the driveway. They were actually vans and able to fit all of the girls in the group and I was impressed with whoever was planning the logistics of tonight's venture.
"What club are we going to?" I yelled so I'd be heard above the excited voices in the van I had been pulled into.
"I don't know the name," a girl named Jenny replied, "Tonya's brother owns it though, and she's called ahead so the bouncers will let us all in. All I know is that Wednesdays are Ladies Night!"
"Oh great," I groaned, "I'm going to Ladies Night!"
"Don’t worry Benji, that only means that ladies drink half price, we'll buy all your drinks!" Some girl named Kayli assured me. She had long blond hair and a beautiful smile and despite my many reservations towards the evening, I couldn't help but return it.
Forty-five minutes later, one of the girls in the front screeched, "We're here!" I winced as squeals filled the air. I looked up at the driver and he was quivering. "Now, I paid for the vans on my dad's credit card," Alicia called out, but everyone needs to tip the nice man so he'll come back to get us! I already told Jenny to tell everyone in the other one the same thing." The girls started tossing five and ten dollar bills at the small man and soon he was grinning ear to ear.
"You text me when you ready be picked up, right?" he nodded vigorously at Alicia.
"Sure thing Jose and if you don't make us wait too long, I'll make sure all the girls tip you when we're back on campus." She flashed the driver a smile and we all piled out. I hadn't looked up yet and it wasn't until we were at the door, the bouncers herding us past the ropes, when I looked up and saw the sign. The Maliboo.
"Wait. Isn't this a strip joint?" I asked Jamie.
"I don't know, Lecia said something about male dancers though."
"Ladies it's Wednesday Night! Ladies Night at the Maliboo," I heard an announcer call out as we left our jackets at the coat check. "Grab some drinks, find a seat close to the stage and welcome our All Male Review! Coming out on stage is Trevor! Ladies, put your hands together for Trevor!"
I gritted my teeth. "Jamie, you brought me to a male strip club!"
"Benji!," she whined loudly, "it doesn't matter, you're gay! You'll like it as much as we girls will!"
"Jayjay, that's not the point…"
"Hey," she interrupted, "does that guy look familiar to you? That bouncer over there."
I looked to where she was looking and saw your typical bouncer type looking over at us. "I don't know him jayjay, but I think he's checking you out!"
"Yeah right," she scoffed and soon we were pulled into the club and over to a large table near the stage that Alicia's brother had reserved for us.
I hadn't planned on drinking, but the girls found it fun to buy the one guy at the table drinks and I figured I would need the buzz to get through the evening. Besides, we had a safe way home at the end of the night and I didn't have anything to do until the next afternoon. I did, however, find it very embarrassing to watch the male strippers so I pretty much kept my eyes down, concentrating on my drink or trying to make conversation with the girls before they got too drunk…which was pretty quickly.
In between sets we would either go to the dance floor and dance in a group or some of the girls would go to these side rooms for lap dances. I refused to even go near one of the lap dance rooms. Jamie's friends kept trying to introduce me to the strippers when they came around mingling with the crowd, they were having a real good time with the token gay guy, much to my embarrassment and their amusement. I tried not to let it bother me because Jamie was having such a good time. I'd never seen her let loose like she was…though I'm sure the ten or more drinks she had was the key that unlocked her heavily guarded door.
Another drink was being shoved in my face and I had long since given up, and with each drink it all seemed more and more funny as I let myself go with the flow. I had no clue what time it was, but I knew it was pretty late, at least close to or just past midnight. I was beyond tipsy which was the only reason I let the girls drag me into a private dance room, plop me down into a chair as one of the dancers, Chad I think his name was, bopped in and turned on a loud dance song.
"No, no, you don't have to do that," I slurred as he began undulating above me. The girls were cheering him on and the closer he got to me, the more I squirmed, the more dollar bills they tucked into his g-string, which caused him to get even more showy as he straddled my lap.
"Ride him, ride him, ride him," they began chanting to Chad. I was so grateful that cameras were not permitted. There were all sorts of signs that said anyone caught pulling out their camera phones would be immediately removed and possibly charged.
Chad was getting into it as much as the girls. He kept calling me names like 'sexy stud' and 'bangable Benji'. He was dancing forward and backward, poking all of his parts in my face while I pushed myself as far back in the chair as possible trying to keep him from actually touching me. It was when he started to trail his fingers up and down my chest that I really started to feel uncomfortable. He was pretending to keep them above my skin, since no touching was allowed, but he kept skimming his palms over my painfully sensitized nipples.
"Uh, Chad, can you not do that," I tried asking politely. The music was blaring and everyone seemed to be in their own state of chaotic euphoria. My head was spinning and I was cursing myself for having the last few drinks, when I really should have stopped. "Chad…I don't think you should…"
"BENJI!" A loud, deep voice suddenly caught my attention above all the noise, but the room was spinning and I couldn't tell where it was coming from. My head started to turn each way trying to find the source. I heard another voice shout out, "JAMIE!" Suddenly the music was switched off and at the same time all the shouting died down.
"BENJI WHAT'S GOING ON!" I turned to the voice which was closer now and coming at me.
"Ajax?"
Almost at the same time I heard Jamie's voice in equal surprise say, "Dennis?"
OH FUUUUUUUCK!