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She laughs as if I’m joking, which I’m definitely not. “Seriously, if we’re doing this, we need to be discreet. I don’t want to piss off Jacqueline any more than I already have, and she made it sound like she has spies all over the city. I wouldn’t doubt that my neighbor is one.”
A dirty thought occurs to me.
“You do not wish to be seen? You want to go about our business without being discovered?” I ask, heat woven through the inquiry.
“Whatcha got in mind? Because it definitely sounds like something,” Autumn answers with a conspiratorial grin.
I pick her up, guiding her back to the bed, and then rise myself. I find the small wardrobe where her clothes are and open it, helping myself. I hand her a plain black dress with spaghetti straps, a woman’s most versatile LBD, and explain. “You wish to fully experience Paris—the beauty, the ugliness, but how about the naughty? Would you like that,Princesse?”
Holding the dress, she appraises me with narrowed eyes. “We won’t be seen?”
“Simon and Autumn will not be seen, of that you can be sure.”
* * *
Wearing the dress I selected and a pair of heels, Autumn looks out the window at the lights glowing over the city as we drive through the night. She looks contemplative, thinking about us or what Jacqueline, said I’m not sure. But she’s with me. That has to count for something.
I make a turn, and suddenly, her face lights up. “That’s the Moulin Rouge!”
“The very same,” I reply, smiling. “Let me guess... you know the movie?”
“For a long time, the only French I knew wasvoulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir,”Autumn admits, laughing. “Then I found out what it means. I can’t believe I was going around singing that when I was just a kid.”
I laugh, even as my body thrills at the words coming from her mouth. “Welcome to Paris’s Red Light District. War couldn’t stop it, religious revivals couldn’t stop it, pandemics couldn’t stop it.”
“It’s like Vegas meets Soho,” Autumn notes, looking around. “The glitz and glam have that edge to it, but there’s way too many innocent looking tourists to really make this place dangerous and lewd.”
I pull around to the back of a nondescript building and find a parking space in the private lot. Shutting off the car, I turn to Autumn. “Are you ready for a Paris adventure?”
She points at the building in front of us, which is bland by any standard but particularly in Paris, considering there is no architecture beyond bricks and a door. The windows are frosted over, not allowing anyone to peek inside. “That’s an adventure?”
I pin her gaze with my own, wanting to see every nuance of her reaction to my next words. “It’s an adult playground.”
My tone is clear, and I watch closely as several expressions cross her face. Shock, concern, and surprise all vie for dominance before something else breaks through... excitement.
“Yes,” she says. No questions about whether she can trust me, no questions about what this adult playground might be. Just a simple... yes.
Inside, I feel something important grow.
Together, we approach the door. It’s unremarkable, black steel that looks like a service entrance, if anything. The only sign that this could be anything else is the small symbol carved on the bricks above the doorway and the buzzer beside it.
I buzz, and a moment later the door unlocks. The security system is so good that I don’t know quite where the cameras are.
Inside is a single word, embossed on a golden plaque.Dungeon.
The inner door opens, and a guard in all black gives us a look. “Card.”
I reach into my wallet and withdraw the plain black card, handing it over to the guard who scans it before handing it back. Autumn gives me a look. “You’ve been here before?” she asks. “With other girls?”
She doesn’t sound insecure. No, she sounds jealous, and part of me likes that. She doesn’t want me with anyone else because she wants me for herself. But we both have pasts we cannot change. That doesn’t mean I want to discuss them now, though, so I answer honestly and simply, “Once. The membership is a...” I stumble, not sure of the English word, and try, “benefit of celebrity?”
“A perk?” she answers.
I nod. Autumn looks to the guard as though confirming my story, but his face is blankly stoic. I have the sense that he could describe us precisely but also has not looked at us directly. I trust that he is well-versed in secrecy and will not speak of our appearance together, especially given the promise I made.
“I feel like with the stress of today, you need a release. Also, some inspiration. There’s a lot of fashion here, believe it or not.” But she doesn’t need to be talked into this. Autumn is raring to go in, so excited she’s nearly buzzing.
We go down the hallway, and I can see Autumn’s eyes roving, gathering in the Gothic aesthetic of the club. At the next door, I turn left with her, leading her into the dressing rooms.
