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Taney blows a wet kiss to me, audible even through the phone. “I love you, too,” she says. “Be here in less than an hour and you’ll have your pick.”
* * *
I’ve never found the thumping of EDM or the ultra-loud boom of the club appealing before. Walking in after the day I’ve had, I finally see the allure. The thrum lights the blood and makes it easier to forget the masks we wear for the outside world or the people we pretend to be to fit in with society. The bass helps lower inhibitions to allow any dark threads of pleasure to come out and dance in the light.
Or, rather, the muted glow from bulbs designed to mimic candles.
The underground club isn’t on any map and good people won’t be able to give you directions. Black velvet lines the walls and the carpet beneath my feet mutes any sort of footsteps. Making my approach silent. The air is heavy with roses and sweat and sex.
It’s like a homecoming, in a way, because there are others here who feel the way I do.
The club offers all sorts of dangerous activities for both sides of the coin, the submissives and the dominants like me. At least here, Taney is right. I’ll find willing men. I’ve always trusted her judgment as my friend because this is her playground. I never come here to play myself.
How in the world did I let Taney convince me?
Oh. Yeah. She knows what buttons to push, and because I love her, I cave. She called to express concern and offer a solution, knowing my guard drops for her. The same as the others in the main room of the Velvet Underground.
The dark hallway opens up into a large circular room lined with fabric and benches. A main stage dominates the back end of the building, with several women on the stage and in cages dancing to the pulse of the music. The benches are lined with bodies in various positions of sex and sexual acts.
A few tables decorate the main floor where patrons can sit to enjoy a drink and take in the sights. Everyone here is dressed in lingerie or something that passes for it, flashes of skin accompanied by leather and lace. It’s a patchwork of sin with the odd splash of color as people crowd the floor. They mingle and fuck and network and drip lust like some people drop chips on a poker table.
I’m standing at the start of a fun house with the mirrors on display. Nothing here is what it seems to be, and underneath we’re all made of the same stuff, regardless of what you see on the outside.
A shiver runs through me. The drive over here demolished the last of my buzz from the cheap crap whiskey but left a hollow empty space in my gut. The dancers on the stage and in the cages twist and writhe under the glow of the lights, with their skin oiled and assets on display.
That’s why we do this, I muse, striding forward and pushing down the hint of discomfort. To be free. To show the world that we are unafraid to own ourselves in this way. It’s a show of bravery but I, for some reason, have to muster up bravery tonight.
“My darling Layla!” Taney winds her way through the crowd and wraps her arms around my neck. She’s pocket-sized, which normally brings her face directly in line with my chest when she’s barefoot and I’m in boots. Tonight she teeters on sky-high heels. “Look at you, all gorgeous. Smelly, but gorgeous!”
“I didn’t change after work,” I murmur against her ear.
She might be short, but Taney got the lion’s share of girth in the breast department. I look flat-chested in comparison. Tonight, her dirty-blonde hair is wild around her head and she’s wearing a collar. Taney’s dressed in a black-and-purple corset ensemble, and the silver clips keeping her thigh-high stockings up match the silver of the dog collar. I’m out of place in skinny jeans and a black tank top, if only because I don’t have my legs or tits or ass out on display.
Once she pulls away, my arm still around her waist, I stare at the collar. “Seriously?” I gesture with my chin toward the dog tags jingling at the front and the shiny lock on the side.
Taney shrugs. “Not all of us like to be thebig bad.” She winks. “I’ve got a sexy Daddy holding the other end of my chain tonight. Oh! By the way, there’s a hot new Dom who’s come in a couple of times. He’s about to go on stage tonight and I thought you’d want to take a look.”
“Pass.” I hold up a hand to stop her. “I’m not interested in men who get off on dominating. Don’t they do that enough in everyday life?”
“Some of them,” Taney admits with a laugh.
I’m only partially joking because my mind immediately shifts to Jerry and all the detectives I’ve had to work with who are exactly like him. Including a few women who take one look at me and make an assessment, who feel like they need to push me down because apparently I’m a threat just by being good at my fucking job.
I do my job better than any of them. What they don’t know is the extra hours I put in tobebetter. Unlike them.
“I know you’re not into that kind of thing but give him a chance. At least watch him play. When I say this Dom is hot, Layla, I mean hot.” Taney angles me toward the stage, and when she stares at me her eyes are so very blue, resting on my face with nothing but firm affection and trust. “He’s a fuckingscorcher.”
“Fine, you’ve convinced me,” I say with a laugh. I acquiesce because it’s her, but it’s also this place, this atmosphere.
“When you see this guy…” Taney trails off and shakes her head. “You are going to cream your jeans.”
“Remains to be seen.” I keep my arm around her waist, linking the two of us together, and damn it but she was right. I needed the company. More specifically, I needed her company and the energy she brings to the table. The crowd in the club is popping, yet it’s more subdued than expected.
Until the lights flash and dim, drawing everyone’s attention to the stage. Most of the seats are already taken, but Taney hisses at a couple on a red velvet chaise a feet away from the stage. They make a hasty exit and leave the seat free for us to commandeer.
It’s too dark to see if there are stains on the fabric but I’m willing to bet there are. Taney settles at my side, crossing one leg over the other and revealing more of those toned legs.
“This is one show you won’t want to miss,” she murmurs.
