AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes.”
“Well, in the case of a stripper,when it’s done right, meaning the men at the strip club play by the rules, I do see the stripper as being the one in control. Regardless of whether she’s stripping or anything else.”
“Julian,” she said, now the one chidinghim.
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Look, maybe it’s completely fucked up to bring this up now, but obviously, of the two of us, I’m the one with experience as a sex worker, right?”
“Well . . . yes.”
“And I fully acknowledge I’m one of the lucky ones. Being a sex worker was my choice. Mychoice, Skylar. So, in my control. What I did? Who I did it with? I was in control of everything. I know it’s hard for most people to understand, but when it’s like that, it’s not degradation. It’s empowerment.”
She was staring at him in a way that made him shift with discomfort. As if she’d locked on to what he’d said and was now turning it over in her mind, trying to see beyond his words to the heart of him.No luck, princess. My heart is locked up even tighter than yours.
“So . . . you think taking me to a strip club can help me see that even what looks like submission, maybe evendegradation, can be empowerment?”
“Yes. At least at the strip club I have in mind.”
* * *
Most strip clubsin the city were advertised with flashing neon signs where a woman’s legs swing back and forth and are aptly (or not so aptly) splashed with the words “Gentlemen’s Club” in sparkling gold or silver or ruby across tinted windows. The strip club Julian took Skylar to after their impromptu date on the East River was not like other strip clubs.
Julian knew a secret code that he punched into an unassuming keypad by a simple glass door at a closed art gallery. The gilded frames along the pure white walls were illuminated with soft yellow light as their footsteps echoed from polished birch wood floors.
“Should we be here?” Skylar whispered. She clutched Julian’s arm tighter, glancing around for a security guard.
Julian grinned. “Isn’t it more fun if we shouldn’t be?”
His flippant response in the deathly silent space filled her with fear and anxiety but also a sense of adventure and danger that Rex had never managed to ignite.
At the back of the art gallery, a gray door was adorned with a simple white sign—Staff Admittance Only. No Trespassing.Julian stopped in front of it and glanced at the simple silver doorknob before turning to her. Skylar swallowed against a suddenly dry mouth.
“You have to be the one who opens the door,” he said, his voice deep and rumbling in the silence. “You have to be the one who wants to see what’s behind it.”
His voice sent shivers up her spine. With Rex, there were never any surprises. Fancy dinners sponsored by his law firm with menus printed out and slipped into fine linen cloth folded on gold-trimmed plates. Retreats at the most exclusive golf courses across the country with itineraries agreed upon and emailed out long before the flights were even booked by underpaid and overworked assistants. Christmas parties with seating arrangements, dates with reservations, and jogs through Central Park with routes predetermined and never deviated from.
With Rex, there were no gray doors. There were no signs saying “no,” and no hearts saying “go.” There were no difficult choices— open it and step inside or walk away.
Except for the whole sleeping with another man to help her orgasm thing, of course.
I can do this.
I want to do this.
I need to do this.
Skylar’s hand shook as she reached for the doorknob. She knew without looking that Julian saw her hand tremble, but he remained silent.
“Are you sure this isn’t a sex club? Because it’s sure feeling like it might be.”
Her blurted statement made Julian chuckle. “It reallyisa strip club, not a sex club. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Itcouldbe a sex club. Any place could be a ‘sex club.’ It just takes ambiance, imagination, and enthusiasm.”
“And maybe a quick trip to the hardware store,” she joked.
“Are you trying to diffuse your nerves with humor?”
“Yes,” she said. “That’s over now. But thank you for humoring me.” She turned back to the door, sucked in a deep, fortifying breath that did little to steady the erratic racing of her heart, and turned the knob.
The moment the door opened, the sounds hit her, a heavy bass pumping along with her heart, electronic music so penetrative she felt it in her mind. Julian closed the door behind them, and she stood there, taking it all in, Julian’s hand at her hip.
