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“A BDSM club.”
“BDSM?”
He sighed, but it didn’t sound like he was mad she didn’t know or impatient or anything. More like he was reluctant to explain. “Bondage, Domination, Sadism, Masochism. Although most of the letters have multiple meanings, that’s probably the most popular denotation.”
No wonder he’d been reluctant to explain. He obviously expected her to start running. Which was absolutely what she should do.
Run, run, run, as fast as you can...
But then she’d never been a very good gingerbread man, she was more like Hansel and Gretel, eagerly entering the witch’s house. Sweet seduction... but was Stronghold a trap or something else entirely? She’d heard about stuff like this, but she’d never known anyone who actually did it. Or, at least, they hadn’t admitted it to her. No wonder Rick had been so reticent, it wasn’t exactly something people encouraged conversation about.
She looked around the room. “Is there more?”
The main floor didn’t look like much more than a regular club, although she now noticed there were people actually kneeling on the floor over in a little space lined with chairs and small couches. There were some people sitting in the chairs as well, talking to those who were kneeling. The BDSM thing did explain why there were only couples on the dance floor and why they were pressed so closely together. They were there to have sex and be spanked and… well, who knew what else. A lot of the men and women at the bar were dressed like Rick. There were servers, with trays, who were wearing a lot less and were weaving through the people kneeling on the carpeted area, serving them drinks.
Like, wearing a lot less. Maria actually felt kind of overdressed. Most of the women were wearing nothing but underwear, and if they were covering their top with a corset they had on nothing but a thong on the bottom. Some had a skirt on, but their breasts were either entirely exposed or barely covered with what looked like tape. One woman who was kneeling and talking to a man in leather pants and a leather vest was wearing nothing but a see-through g-string and jewelry on her nipples. Yikes.
It was scary, but also almost natural looking. No one was acting as if there was anything weird going on, no one was staring or leering—some of them were checking each other out, but it was in a hot sexual way. Not a creepy, smarmy way. The people on the dance floor were the same; half-naked, and yet the sexual energy between dance partners seemed natural and beautiful. So much so that it had taken Maria a couple of glances to realize the people in the different areas weren’t exactly dressed.
“There’s private rooms upstairs and downstairs... and there’s a Dungeon downstairs.”
“A Dungeon?” Maria could hear the uncertainty wavering in her voice. Half-naked people were one thing, torture was another. “Like... with a rack and chains and stuff?”
Rick laughed. “No rack. Some spanking benches, a few Saint Andrew’s crosses, and some tables. There are chains, but mostly ropes and leather cuffs.” He paused. For all his apparent calm, he was definitely still tense. “So, what do you think? Do you want to stay here or check out the other floors?”
Come into my parlor...
“I have to pee,” Maria said honestly, rather than answering his question. It was true, but mostly she desperately needed some space to gather her thoughts and acclimate herself to this new norm. He’d just whacked her with a metaphorical brick and now he was asking if she wanted more? She just needed a breather for a moment. “Is there a bathroom anywhere?”
“Yeah, this way.” To her surprise, instead of just pointing the way, Rick led her over to the doors on the opposite side of the room. She noticed more than one person watching their progress with interest, including some seriously intimidating looking men and women, and she was suddenly glad he’d decided to lead her there instead of just letting her cross the room on her own. More than one woman kneeling on the floor gave her a dirty look. Maria assumed because she was with Rick.
Interesting.
“Here you go. I’ll be over there,” he pointed back toward the bar, “but I’ll keep an eye out for you. Take as much time as you need. No one will bother you in there.”
“Thanks,” she said, a bit shaken by the implication someone might ‘bother’ her elsewhere if he wasn’t there to watch over her.
The bathroom was actually a locker room. There were several other women in it, chatting and comparing outfits in one of the three rows of lockers. Maria tried not to gawk when she saw one of them had hoops in her nipples and her labia and was brazenly flaunting all of her jewelry in front of the others. One of the women, a tall redhead, smiled encouragingly at her as she passed, as if sensing Maria was feeling out of her depth.
Giving the woman a weak smile back, Maria hurried to where she saw some stalls and some much-needed privacy.
Locking herself into the tiny cubicle, she sat down rather heavily on the toilet, her knees feeling kind of shaky and weak. What was she doing here? Was she really this desperate? No, of course she wasn’t. That was a stupid thought. It wasn’t desperation which brought her here, that was just her fear speaking. She’d been curious. And attracted to Rick.
This was just a lot more than she’d bargained for. No wonder she was unsettled. The jerk hadn’t even given her the slightest bit of a heads up! Then again, would she have believed him? Or even realized how serious he was? She’d kind of brushed off the idea of being spanked as a kinky thing to be indulged in once in a while. Obviously she’d had no idea how kinky he really was.
Would he want to tie her up? That was bondage. So what about the other stuff? Domination, Sadism, Masochism... Okay, domination sounded like it might be kind of fun. And she had to admit, she went all weak in the knees when he was pressing her up against walls and going all alpha male. That was hot. But she didn’t know anything about any of this, how much more would be expected of her?
Nebulous images of various fetishes she’d heard about ran through her head... and seriously, sado-masochism? Maria was pretty sure she didn’t like to hurt people or the idea of being hurt by someone. If other people wanted to party like that, well it wasn’t any of her business, but she didn’t need to try it to know it wasn’t her cup of tea. Just the idea made her shudder, and not in a good way.
Still, how was she going to discover what Rick liked, what Rick wanted to do with her, what she and Rick might be able to become, if she didn’t learn a little bit more?
All she had to do was step out of this bathroom and tell him to take her to one of the other floors, or to take her home. Decisions, decisions.
8
Once Maria had gone into the bathroom, Rick turned around and started the long walk toward the table at the bar where he could see his friends waiting. Maybe it was a good thing she obviously needed a moment to collect herself, before he introduced her to all of his friends.
Because literally all of them except Olivia had shown up tonight and apparently none of them were playing right now. He doubted any of them would leave to play until they met the woman he’d just brought to the club. At least he’d already gotten Maria past Jared and Lexie.
