Role Play Read online

  “Yes.”

  He jerked his head at the steps. “Downstairs.”

  It was seriously creepy going down the dim stairway. My toe slipped on the slimy edge, and I had to grab the railing to keep from falling.

  My fear suddenly ramped up to anger again—this was all Lola’s fault! I wished Lola was standing in front of me right this second. I would tell her a few choice things about herself. Self-centered brat! Grow up already!

  At the bottom of the stairs was another door. Opening it, I heard voices around the corner. The New Jersey accent was unmistakable as the guy said, “I have to be in Montreal tomorrow, but I can find out and let you know next week.”

  I couldn’t see the girl who answered, but her voice was husky like a smoker’s. “You will? You’re a life-saver, Victor. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  A low laugh drew me forward. From around the blind corner, the guy’s voice went deeper with the classic come-on. “You can thank me later.”

  For some reason, it made me even madder. I don’t belong here!

  I never went to bars, and I hated pick-up scenes where the bridge-and-tunnel crowd pretended they were cool because they partied in Manhattan.

  As I rounded the corner, I muttered, “Even I’ve got better lines than that, Jersey!”

  And came to a full stop, face-to-face with a smoking hot guy. My eyes scanned upward, across his broad chest and arms that bulged as he crossed them. A strong jaw and cheekbones, tanned a golden bronze that matched his hair, just long enough on top to fall onto his forehead. It was too dim to tell what color his eyes were, but they were surprisingly light against his tanned skin. I could smell the money on him, the way his clothes fit and clung to his body. Only the best for a man like this.

  He was standing in front of another black-painted door. In the wall next to him was an open window. Inside the window an emaciated blond sat at a cash box. Her mouth hung slackly. “Are you talking to us?” the blond cashier pointedly asked me.

  Victor tossed the cashier an easy smile. “I know she’s not talking to me.”

  “You’re so funny, Victor!” The blond laughed, letting him know with her eyes that she was ready and willing. They were having a special moment right there in front of me.

  It didn’t help my mood when the gorgeous man completely ignored me, opening the black door and letting out the heavy thrum of music as he entered.

  I shrugged. So maybe I’m wrong, what’s the big deal? From around the corner I could have sworn he was your typical Jersey truck driver or construction worker. I had been careful to scrub the upstate New York from my own voice and stick to Manhattan-speak which had no trace of an accent. I learned quickly that girls who spoke well got the better jobs in the better stores.

  “Read and sign this.” The blond cashier handed over a clipboard.

  It was a liability waiver. It talked about the risks involved in “BDSM” and had a lot of rules like “no intercourse” and “no oral sex.”

  I shook my head as I signed. “You have to tell people this?”

  “It’s a fetish club.” The blond stared at me. “Are you sure you got the right place?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.” I handed over the money.

  The blond looked at me like I was cracked in the head, as she handed over a wooden ruler, marked off in twelve inches with “The Chamber” and their website printed on it. “Tonight’s theme is School’s Out. You get a door prize for looking like a teacher.”

  “I do?” I glanced down at my short skirt and vest. “I never had a teacher who looked like this.”

  “A sexy teacher,” the girl said.

  I had to laugh at that, and it made me feel better. I gave the skinny blond my first real smile as I opened the door.

  It was too dark inside to see much but a lot of shadowed people packed into too-small a space. The ceiling was very low and everything—walls, floor and ceiling—were painted black. I couldn’t shake the sensation that I was underground, in a clammy dungeon-like space with ancient brick walls.

  The music was much louder, blanketing the voices except for a shrill cry that broke through every now and then. Men kept trying to crowd in too close to me, until I was practically vibrating with silent warnings to “Get Away!” I cut off every guy’s attempt to speak to me with a tsst! and raised the ruler between us to shut them down. Like the dog whisperer, it worked perfectly. The last thing I was going to do was talk to a man in here.

  The place was filled to the brim. People were standing all around me and blocking my way, as streams of men slipped by. Occasionally through the layers of watching people, I caught sight of a near-naked man or woman with their wrists chained above their heads or bent over padded benches.

  Is this the kind of show Lola is doing?! I craned my head to see everyone, to make sure none of the women were Lola.

  Shuffling along with the roving streams of people from room to room, I saw a lot more than I bargained for. The one thing I didn’t see was Lola.

  Wide-eyed, I came to rest against the wall in the largest room, as a line of guys shuffled past, not quite out of arm’s reach. I was starting to think that Dick was wrong and Lola wasn’t here. Or we had missed her because it took too long to get here.

  Then I saw Victor again. He was so sexy that he didn’t even have to try. With his golden good-looks, he stuck out in this crowd like a lion surrounded by black alley cats. I wondered what he was doing in this seedy place when he looked like he would be more at home in a Calvin Klein ad. With a perfect model hanging off him.

  Next to me stood a curvaceous woman, also pressed against the wall. She was wearing a short plaid skirt and white collared shirt, like a Catholic school girl. She giggled and called out, “Hi, Victor!” as he came closer in the steady stream of men.

  “Hi, Monica,” Victor replied as he passed by, completely ignoring me even thought I was squashed next to her. “Having a good night?”

  “It could be better…”

  Monica turned to watch as Victor disappeared in the flow through a dark doorway to the back of the club. Her expression was wistful.

  “You know him?” I asked.

  Monica giggled again, and somehow it worked for the busty older woman. “He’s some kind of bigwig with the airlines. He travels all over the world. Tricia says he has a loft on the lower east side that he stays at when he’s not up at his house in Connecticut.”

  I was impressed. It was just my dumb luck to be a bitch to the most eligible guy in this dump. The one man who looked like he didn’t belong here… like me.

  “Is Tricia his girlfriend?” I asked.

  “No, just a girl he plays with sometimes. Victor doesn’t have a girlfriend. He says he’s too busy.”

  “Not too busy to come here,” I pointed out.

  Monica was looking down the hall where Victor’s back disappeared. “If I could have one night with him, I’d take it. They say he’s a brilliant Dom.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A master, a man who tops.” Monica looked at me more closely. “Is this your first time here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, honey, you should go to one of the BDSM groups. You’re young, why not try the next generation? They call it TNG. That way you’ll meet nice guys who are your own age.” Monica glanced around. “Some of these men aren’t even kinky. They’re just horny. You don’t want to get mixed up with them.”

  I turned to her to ask more questions, but that’s when I saw Lola stand up on a stage in the far corner. “Thanks, Monica. I’ll check it out.”

  Keeping my eye on Lola, I made my way carefully through the crowd to the other end of the long room. Lola was on a low stage, slightly elevated above everyone, standing next to a tall, thin man who had his hand on her shoulder. My sister was wearing cut-off shorts that I hated because they showed her butt cheeks when she bent over. It wasn’t smart to expose yourself like that in the city. And Lola’s tank top had been ripped off right below her breasts, revealing her m
idriff. Putting it all out there for everyone to see.

  There were guys gathered around the stage, eyeing my sister hungrily. Clutching my ruler tighter, I almost rushed forward to help her.

  But I realized that everyone was holding back, watching. Only the tall man was touching Lola’s shoulder. Another man and a woman were on the stage next to them, packing up a duffle bag with bundles of fat white rope and what looked like leather straps.

  Lola was standing there in front of the tall man, looking up at him, never taking her eyes off him. The guy was older, in his thirties. Too old for Lola, for sure. He had a serious, craggy face as if he’d led a hard life. His hair needed cutting. Even worse, he didn’t look quite clean. He was definitely not the husky, manly man that Lola usually went for.

  I waited with my heart beating fast, expecting something awful to happen. Like what I had seen in the other rooms.

  But the man with Lola started talking to the other couple, and crowd that had been gathered around the stage began to drift away. I got the feeling that whatever had happened was now over.

  I shuddered, realizing I must have passed by this stage earlier without seeing Lola because of the crowd of men around the stage. Maybe she had been lying on that padded table…

  What did I miss?

  I felt myself jostled, as a familiar voice said, “Excuse me.” Victor slipped in next to me, waiting for the disbursing men to pass by.

  Victor literally made my breath catch, he was so handsome. Standing next to me, all I could feel was how tall and bulky he was. He kept the other men away from us by his sheer presence. For the first time since I got into this place, I didn’t feel like I was being pressed on all sides.

  For a moment, I could breathe. It was a real relief. Everything had happened so fast, that I was glad to get a break. And he was the reason for it.

  “It’s crowded here tonight,” I ventured.

  Finally Victor looked at me. “What? No more name-calling?” He glanced over at the other end of the room. “I see you were talking to Monica.”

  “She said you were a good guy.”

  “I’m sure she said more than that.” His tone was dismissive, as he went back to scanning the crowd.

  I grimaced. “Whatever. If you’re going to hold a grudge, then keep on moving.”

  Victor looked at me again. “You know, there’s a difference between being rude and being a Domme.”

  “I just called you Jersey. That’s not exactly an insult.”

  “It is in that snide tone.”

  I smiled. “Hey, at least I didn’t call you Bridge-and-Tunnel. That would have been an insult.”

  I could tell I had gotten under his skin. His perfect poise was rumpled. I felt a little smug, and it suddenly made him seem less out of reach.

  But I was too busy watching Lola to give Victor the attention he deserved. Now my sister was nodding repeatedly to everything the man was saying. Since when did Lola agree to anything without arguing it to death first?

  “Do you know that man?” I asked Victor.

  He gave the foursome a searching look. “I’ve never seen any of them before.”

  “I wonder if I could ask the casher. Do you think she would know?” Absently, I tugged on my red wig, making sure it fell over my cheeks to hide my face in case my sister turned around.

  “She probably wouldn’t tell you,” he replied. “Confidentiality is big around here.”

  I considered that. “Do people hide who they are? That can’t be safe.”

  “You can ask for references from someone who knows them. And use your common sense.”

  I glanced over at my sister. “What if you don’t have any common sense?”

  “Then you can get into a lot of trouble.”

  A chill went through me at his voice. He was serious.

  But I shook my head. “How much trouble can you get into in this place? With all these people around?” No, my biggest fear was what was happening to my sister when she was alone with that ominous-looking man.

  “Are you looking for trouble?” Victor teased.

  Now he was using his come-on voice, the same way he had talked to the blond cashier earlier. Only now he was flirting with me, this successful, irresistible man who was so yummy I could hardly take my eyes off him to keep checking on my sister. Standing in Victor’s protective zone I could ignore the crowd of men. I could swear his eyes were gray or green, some sort of arrestingly pale color. And he held my gaze now, like my sparring with him had made him notice me.

  “I think I found trouble,” I told him.

  His smile deepened. “I’m Victor. What’s your name?”

  “Sierra.”

  “That’s a beautiful name.” His eyes traced the curve of my cheek and across my lips like a touch.

  I was shaken from the spell of Victor’s eyes as someone bumped into me from behind. Heavy hands fell on my hips, as a voice slurred, “Yeah, give me some of that, Baby!”

  “Get off me!” I jerked away, but the guy behind me managed to hang on. I could smell the alcohol he was belching out with every heavy breath.

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about—“ the guy started to say.

  Victor was suddenly there, reaching over the top of me and wrangling the guy away. By the time I turned around, Victor had secured the handsy asshole with his arm twisted up terribly behind his back. Victor’s other hand was bunched in the guy’s collar.

  “Hey, man—“ the asshole started to protest, struggling ineffectually.

  Victor marched him several steps over to the closest wall, through the shocked crowd that melted away in front of them. Casually he slammed the guy up against the bricks. The asshole let out a sick ooof! as he collapsed against the wall.

  A couple of the guy’s friends stepped forward just as the broad side of a bouncer appeared. Everyone took a step back at the sight of him. It all happened so fast that I was still settling my clothes from being rumpled by the guy, when Vic stepped away and let the bouncer take over.

  “He grabbed her,” Victor said

  I quickly agreed, “He did! From behind.”

  The bouncer instantly took the measure of the guy and didn’t need any more convincing. Even his friends faded away as the bouncer dragged him off towards the door.

  Someone pushed past me in the bustle, and I realized it was my sister. Lola and her friends weren’t paying any attention to the mini-drama Victor had created. Lola was following the tall man through the milling crowd. The other couple was close on their heels.

  I moved fast, following the young blond woman who had helped load up the duffle bag. I had to stay close to them to keep the crowd from closing in and cutting me off. I didn’t see what happened to Victor, lost in the sea of people behind me.

  Now he would think I was even ruder, taking off without a word after he had helped me, but there were bigger things at stake here than a hunky guy. Even a guy like Victor, who could take down some jerk without losing a breath.

  I followed the foursome that included my sister through an archway and into another long room. Here the crowds thinned and I hung back as they chose a table in the front, near a big empty stage. I found a nook where I could watch them unobserved, my belly knotting in anxiety. What would they do next?

  They sat down and the other man went and got them all drinks. They relaxed back in their chairs as if their work was done.

  I settled in to watch. Something had to happen, like that handsy guy who had grabbed me. But I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get Dick in here fast enough to “save” Lola. And now, having seen the whippings and heard the cries of pain, I worried that my sister’s acting out could get her into real trouble.

  Were these shows staged? Or was it for real? I wished I hadn’t missed Lola’s show. I wished Dick had come straight over to get me instead of getting fancy with the disguise. What was the use in coming to this awful place if I didn’t find out what was really happening?

  The longer I waited, watchin
g the foursome casually chatting with each other, the more it looked like nothing else was going to go down. If I couldn’t call Dick in to save Lola, he was going to flip out.

  And then suddenly I knew. Maybe it was the way Lola was talking so familiarly with these strangers who I had never met. I couldn’t ignore the truth that was staring me in the face.

  Lola wasn’t doing this to get Dick to pay attention to her. She was serious. She had broken up with him and was moving on.

  Had already moved on.

  It scared me. Like nothing else had scared me in a very long time. We were barely hanging on by our fingernails right now, and Dick was the only reason Lola had any stability at all.

  Not only that, it was frightening on a whole other level. Lola was always a step or two behind me. She didn’t dash off into the unknown by herself. I’m the one who blazed the trail. I’m the one who made sure it was safe. I’m the one who pulled her along.

  Now, I had the terrible feeling that I was watching Lola’s back as she ran away from me, disappearing into the mist.

  I had to find out why she was doing this.

  “The one that got away,” a familiar voice said.

  Startled, I turned to see Victor standing in front of the nook. “What?”

  Victor came closer. “I thought we were getting along in there.”

  I couldn’t believe this was happening. The hottest guy I had ever met was hitting on me, and it had to happen in an underground fetish club!

  “I don’t think we want the same thing,” I tried to explain.

  “Well, I am usually a top, but I’d be willing to bottom to you.” Victor pointed to the ruler in my hand. “I mean it. If you’d like to try, I’m game.”

  “What, with this?” I held up the ruler.

  “Why not? I’ll give you one minute.” His smile turned sly. “But then you have to give me a minute. Turn-about is fair play.”

  “A minute to do what?” I countered.

  Victor pulled out a thick piece of cord about three feet long. “Nothing sexual or any groping. You can use the ruler on me. Only the ruler. But no touching my face with it. I’ll use this rope on you.”