Chapter 5 - Maddy #2
‘So,’ I ask, taking the Pret wrap she hands me. ‘Are you getting involved with Slave Night?’
It’s no exaggeration to say I’ve thought of nothing else since Cal brought it up.
Imagine how you feel when you know you have an entire spa day to look forward to today. Or a shopping trip. Or you’ve allocated the day to achieving nothing except a Bridgerton binge.
That’s how I feel about Slave Night.
Not merely excited, but blissful, if that makes sense?
My brain and my heart and my lady parts and my entire nervous system feel swirly and warm and delirious.
It’s the submission factor, I think. The idea that I’ll be participating in an event that’s been choreographed precisely to take care of me and my most elemental desires.
The prospect of standing up there on that stage, exposed and on display in only the most exquisitely delicate, shockingly scanty lingerie.
Being admired, and coveted, and bid for, and fought over, and won.
Being claimed. Enjoyed. Devoured. Engulfed. By a man, or men, high on the power of ownership.
Putting myself unquestioningly into their hands and letting them do what they will.
Being docile. Pliable. Having my body undulate just for them as they bend me over or push me down and spread my legs and claim my mouth and take me every which way.
Being carried away on a tide of yearning, of need, so great it unravels all the strands that make me the person I think I am and puts me back together in an altogether different form.
The warmth, the richness, of the prospect awaiting me has been gathering mass deep inside me. Building. Flourishing, even. But, as I said, it’s not excitement. More a sense of peace. Of certainty that my most primordial needs will be met.
Yes. It’s fair to say my expectations are sky high.
Belle’s a far more recent disciple on the path to owning her body and having her needs met. Her exploratory journey’s been somewhat shorter, given she and Rafe are now a monogamous item.
But I know for a fact their sex life isn’t short on adventure, and I’m also aware that, during her time on the club’s Unfurl programme for virgins or people who wish to expand their experience, she yielded to her own desires to be looked after by multiple guys at a time and that she fucking loved it.
What I’m trying to say is that Unfurl (and, to be fair, Rafe) did such a great job of liberating her from the burden of toxic religious bullshit she bore that I reckon she’d be all over this Slave Night thing if she was single.
Now she gives me a smug side-eye over her wrap while considering my question.
‘Kind of.’ She bites in.
‘Meaning…’
We cross over bustling Piccadilly and head into the sumptuously verdant glory that is Green Park. Given our insistence on wearing ridiculous heels, we’re both walking slowly.
I wait. Belle swallows and relents.
‘Meaning Rafe, obviously, had a total hissy fit at the concept of me being up for grabs and him having the slightest chance of missing out.’
‘You wouldn’t fuck anyone else in any case, would you, though?’ I point out.
‘Exactly. Of course not. But he wants to support Zach, obviously. And let’s say I gave him a little private walk-through of just how hot it could be for us.’
She smiles like the cat who got the cream. I bet she got a lot of cream after that sneak preview. She has that guy wrapped around her little finger.
‘So…’
‘So he, um, came around to the idea. He can’t resist the thought of me being up there and him winning me, basically. You know he likes having other people’s eyes on me.’
I do. I know far too much about it. Not that I don’t love getting the salacious details of Belle’s sex life.
God knows I’m playing catch up after years of her having nothing to declare.
But yes. In a nutshell, it seems Rafe has a major boner for showing his gorgeous girlfriend off within the confines of the club, making everyone around him super jealous, and then whisking her off to bang the hell out of his glorious prize.
Enough detail for you?
‘Yup,’ I say. ‘So how are you going to work it?’
‘He and the auctioneer will have an agreement. They’ll put me up as a regular lot and let the bidding start, but they’ll fake a phone bid from Rafe.
He’s agreed to donate a quarter of a million, and if someone bids higher they’ll just pretend he’s outbid them.
That’s the only way I’ll go up there, so I suppose they get an extra few pounds out of it, at least.’ She shrugs prettily.
I give a low whistle. ‘Wowzers. A quarter of a million quid. You’d better put out, babe.’
‘You know I will.’ She grins seductively.
‘Are you excited about it?’ I press. ‘Or nervous?’
‘Excited,’ she says decisively. ‘I mean, at the end of the day it’s just another elaborate set-up for Rafe and I to get our kink on.
I know who I’m going to end up with. Yeah, I’m nervous about being up there in front of everyone, but I’ll have underwear on, and I know Rafe won’t let anything bad happen to me. Aren’t you a bit nervous, though?’
Belle and I are always honest, vulnerable, with each other. I’ve never patronised her for having so many sexual and religious hang-ups, and she’s never judged me for having obscene amounts of sex or, more recently, making quite so much use of my Alchemy membership.
And I have to say I’m loving this new dynamic between us, where we both have vibrant sex lives and can share our gossip. So I give her serious question serious consideration.
‘I’m so up for it I might actually wet myself,’ I tell her.
‘But aren’t you worried about who you’ll end up with?’ she presses.
‘You’ve gone in blindfolded before in the programme, not knowing who you were going to end up with,’ I remind her.
‘Yeah, but that was different. Rafe and Gen vetted everyone in that room. This is, like, the whole club.’
I think about how I can explain this to her. ‘That’s the whole thrill of it. It’s less about who it is, or what they look like—and I might not even get to see them, if they keep me blindfolded—and more about what they do to me. I absolutely love the idea that it’s a free-for-all.’
‘You just want to get gang-banged, basically,’ she says, and I can tell she’s trying not to look horrified.
‘Six priests and a bishop,’ I say, not to be a dick but to remind her that she was outnumbered seven to one in the final Adieu of her programme.
‘Fair,’ she says, ‘but only Rafe actually shagged me, and it was all choreographed in advance.’
‘I know, babes.’ I nudge her with my elbow.
‘I’m just messing with you. But I truly believe that if I want to live out these kinds of fantasies, Alchemy’s the best place to do it.
It’s a safe space, and everyone’s vetted, and by God do they know how to do these things properly.
I know it’ll be atmospheric as hell. And I just want all the guys.
’ I spread my arms dramatically while keeping a tight hold on my wrap. ‘Seriously. Gimme.’
She rolls her eyes. ‘Honestly, if you ever end up with one guy, I pity him trying to keep you satisfied.’