Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ALENA
“Pretty please.” Vale bats her long lashes. “Kitties don’t like playing alone. Come on. Go to the club with me tonight.”
Standing in front of a wall of dildos, she’s the best bad influence.
I want to say yes. I’ve always been curious about the sex club, but…
“I can’t. My sorta grandmother owns it, and…” Excitement bubbles in my veins. I’ve never been able to say this to her. “And I kind of have a boyfriend.”
Vale’s eyes widen. “Mr. Eggplant Parmesan, isn’t it?” She grabs my hands, matching my excitement. “I knew it! Fuck work rules when you can fuck a hottie.”
“We haven’t fucked yet. But oh my god.” I glance over my shoulder. We have the showroom to ourselves. Still, I lower my voice. “He has this way of touching me. Of wanting to please me. He said he wants to do it for hours; that he gets off on it.”
Vale licks her merlot lips, smiling. “Girl, you’ve scored the holy grail of lovers—a Pleasure Dom.”
“A what?”
“A Pleasure Dom: they get off on giving orgasms, on controlling them.”
I wince. “You mean with whips and floggers? I don’t know if I want—”
“They want whatever you want,” she explains. “It’s more than a kink; it’s their fetish.”
“Okay, Dr. Sex. I don’t even know how to suck a dick, much less the difference between a kink and a fetish with one.”
She looks too thrilled to tell me, as if I’ve scratched off the winning lottery ticket to a Mega Million Fucks.
“A kink is anything out of the norm.” She rolls her eyes.
“Whatever normal is, I think we’re all kinky.
But a fetish? It means you need it to be sexually aroused.
It means he feeds on your arousal. He needs you to get off so he can.
” She jumps up and down. “It’s like a carnival of cocks, and you’re the ride.
You’re going to live an orgasmic, fairy-tale life, and I’m so happy for you! ”
“So… so…” Why am I jumping up and down? “So, what do I do?”
“Uh, tell him what you want and let him give it to you, girl. For the rest of your life, and don’t lose him. Do you know how many women would die for a lover like that?”
“Lover?” I scrunch my face. “No offense to Tay-Tay, but no.”
“Fine.” She sighs. “He’s a Cunt King. A Casanova. A Cunnophile. A Co—”
“A cunnophile?” I can’t keep up. Vale’s getting a PhD in this, and I’m in kindergarten.
She grins like the Cheshire cat. “A cunnophile is someone who gets off on eating pussy. Like you’re Meow Mix, twenty-four seven, you lucky bitch.”
“I can’t do this.” I fall against the lacquered drawers brimming with naughty lingerie. “Vale, I’ve only had sex once, and now you’re telling me I’m with a premier penis?”
Her brows bounce. “Good one.”
“You know what I mean. How can I keep up with a man like that?”
“Simple. You’ll come with me tonight to the club. It’ll be like going to school.” See? She can read my mind. “You’ll get used to being around kinks and fetishes. Watch and decide what you think you’ll like and—”
“But it’s Nadine’s club,” I stress. “She’s been like the coolest, youngest grandmother ever. But me? Going to her sex club?”
She nods. “Nadine IS a sex goddess. That woman ate and left no crumbs of men. I heard she’s the premier Dominatrix.”
“Oh my god, Vale.” I laugh. “I just said she’s my grandmother. Eww.”
“Not by blood,” she titters. “Yeah, she was your mom’s friend and helped your dad out after she died.
I get it. Nadine’s like your family, but she’s also savage.
She won’t shame you for getting your freak on.
” She grabs a huge dildo from the glass shelf, waving it.
“Besides, you already know what your kink is, so you can tell your Pleasure Dom all about your LuvPounder.”
Shyness pinks my cheeks. Is my online past pathetic or perverted? Or worse, is it both? Who cares. “I’d die if he knew.”
“Alena”—she points the dildo like a teacher with a ruler—“you have sexual fantasies. We all do. Problem is, too many people feel shame about them when they’re actually your source of power.
” Her gray eyes sparkle. “So, what if I can sneak you into the club? What if you go and just read the menu? That way, when your Pleasure Dom asks, you’ll know what to order. ”
It does sound like a smart plan because I don’t want Loch to know why I’m so inexperienced. Why sex brings out my insecurities. “So, people can just watch? What if someone tries to, you know…”
I don’t want anyone but Loch.
Vale’s right; I want to hold on to him. I want to be his fetish, not another favor a man does for me.
“Easy,” Vale assures. “Mondays are black and white nights. If you’re open and ready, you wear black. If you’re watching and not sure, you wear white; you have to initiate, not the other way around.”
I know the club is safe. Nadine would never tolerate a place where women are harmed. Still…
“But what about Nadine? Sure, she’d never judge me. But being seen in my pseudo-grandmother’s sex club is a thousand miles past my comfort zone.”
Vale spins on her Mary Janes, aiming for lavish lingerie on silk-padded hangers. “I’ve got the perfect long silk slip. It drapes and hugs in all the right places.”
She grabs the hanger, swinging the white dress like a matador with a red cape.
“Okay, yes,” I agree, “it’s stunning. Tits, pussy, and ass covered. But my face?”
Vale smirks as if I’ve challenged the devil to a sex duel… and she’ll win. “Oh, my nymph. I got you covered. Literally.”
Sauntering toward the lacquered drawers, she pulls one open.
“You’re going to be the belle of the masked ball in this.
” Lifting a white lace BDSM hood, she flaunts, “It covers your face, but leaves a hole for your mouth, and your hair flowing down. You can see through it, but they can’t see you.
It’s hella hot. I’m almost jelly, but I’ll be working my look. ”
Vale’s look is Wednesday Addams, the very adult version.
But my look?
The dress is beautiful. The mask is erotic, but “I don’t know.” I sigh. “I’m not like you. I’m not skinny and confident and—”
“No, you’re shy and curvy, and it’s hot.”
A deep voice whips my head around.
It’s that guy, Jace, Delta’s bouncer, interrupting us. I swear that man is a massive, inked Adonis in a suit.
“Respectfully, ma’am.” He eclipses the doorway.
Must’ve snuck up here from his post downstairs.
“Be you. Vale’s got her Gothic sex-kitten look, and it works for her.
And you’ve got… ahem… and I mean this professionally.
” He tugs at his collar. “You’ve got a slim-thick body that makes men sprung. You and that cake.”
“Cake?”
It’s all I can say because I want to believe his praise; I’ve just never done it.
I know I’m strong. I’m smart and capable. I can be a little funny, too, and I try to be kind and help people. I have my mother’s face, and she was so pretty. But my body? My curves? They make men sprung?
Vale chimes in, “Cake is your ass, and he means men want a bite.”
“They wanna eat my ass?”
Yep, I just said it.
I’m failing fetish school already.
“Yes, ma’am.” He chuckles. “I see women in here every day—every shape, size, and sexuality—and you know what makes them beautiful?” I blink, hanging on to his words of wisdom. “When they realize sexy is a verb, not a noun. You have to feel sexy for yourself, not look it for someone else.”
Vale softly claps. “Listen to the man. He’s our resident doctor of desire.”
Jace is something alright.
I don’t really know him, only as the bouncer here, but I want to ship these two. Though Vale always makes cryptic comments about the man she can’t have, and it’s not Jace. He’s standing right there and is very available. There’s no ring on his finger.
Still, I tempt, “Why don’t you come with us tonight?”
I want Vale to give Jace a chance, to give up on Mr. Neverland, whoever he is, but Jace glances over his shoulder.
The hallway behind him in this three-story, historic single house turned sex shop leads to two more lavish bedrooms. One is now a changing room with a glam table and mirrors. The other is a boudoir photography suite.
“Not tonight.” Jace turns back. “Viv has clients and needs me here.”
“Vivian is our boudoir photographer,” Vale explains to me with a knowing smile. “Our very sexy photographer who looks like Jennifer Aniston’s twin, post-Brad era. You know when she was giving eat-your-heart-out-Brangelina vibes. Doesn’t she, Jace?”
He looks away, shrugging a shoulder. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Huh, Jace suddenly looks like…
“Okay, we’re going to the club,” Vale rushes out, bringing my focus back to her plan. “You’ll be in disguise, and I’ll be kicking my feet because my bestie is finally a freak like me!”