by Susan Stoker
My heart stopped skipping and slammed into a brick wall. “What?”
She lifted up and scooted closer to me. The nearness of her tripped proximity alarms in my head, and I tensed to keep myself from leaning into her. She swallowed a breath. “I know our situation’s complicated. We’re friends, and I was with Tariq. I get why you’re nervous.”
I played at being casual. “Who’s nervous?”
Courtney moved again, inching her way toward me, and I stayed glued to the couch cushions. I liked this a lot. The building could be on fire, but I wasn’t fucking moving.
What was she getting at, though?
“If you didn’t have a date tonight, why’d you tell me you did?” And all that shit with Kyle—what was that about?
She slid until she was right beside me. Her knee, wrapped in that sleek leather, was up against my thigh. Courtney pressed her lips together, and her gaze dropped to my chest. I didn’t like seeing her anxious, but couldn’t think of a damn thing to say to make her more comfortable.
“I was hoping you’d tell me not to go.”
“Fuck, Courtney.” Sitting beside her was like being on a roller coaster. It flipped my stomach, but in the best kind of way. “I should of. I wanted to, but I thought it’d fuck things up between us.” I couldn’t fight the urge any longer and leaned close, right up to the edge of the friend zone, and then pushed passed it. “You want… more?”
I’ll give you everything I’ve got, just say the word, girl.
She stared at me like she was torn, but between what? Nerves? Worry about things changing? Her eyebrows came together. “Yeah, I do, but”—she glanced around the room—“I need to know what you do here.”
My brain was still stuck on her answer and I couldn’t follow. “I run the club.”
“What I mean is, I’m not going to get into anything with you if I have to… share.” Her expression went hard. “I already shared my man once, and it’s definitely not my thing.”
Now I got it. “I don’t fuck my girls. I don’t even touch ‘em.” She gave me some side-eye, but I laughed. “For real. I’m their boss.”
I stopped before I said the girls were like my sisters, because that always sounded creepy as fuck, but it was the only way to explain how I felt. I cared about every one of my employees like we were a twisted, messed up family. And you see someone naked enough times, it stops being weird and becomes your version of normal.
Same for watching them fuck on the security footage.
Still didn’t look like she believed me. “What happens at an audition?” she asked.
I’d changed some things when I took over. Originally at an audition, the girl got naked and went down on the owner. For Joseph, that wasn’t just about her proving herself, it was to give him power. I wasn’t into any of that.
“The girl gets naked,” I said quickly.
Court frowned. “That’s it?”
It wasn’t. I took them into a room and… “I watch her get herself off.”
Her face went blank. “Oh.”
“I didn’t tell you about this place, I know. But you gotta believe I ain’t lying about this, Court.”
“Okay,” she said with a tight voice. “How about you give me a tour then?”
Chapter Three
Courtney
Julius King was unexpected. He was huge with an intimidating build, yet he was the nicest, sweetest guy I knew. Back in college, he’d been surprisingly fast on the football field. After we graduated, he’d gone into security for the club… only to end up owning the place.
Even his deep purple suit and black dress shirt was unexpected. I hadn’t seen him dressed in a suit since the tux he’d worn at my wedding. This one fit much better, and the eggplant color looked beautiful on him. He was like modern-day royalty as he stood from the couch and gestured toward the other door in the room, the one which led further inside his club.
My best friend owned a brothel. I’d known for months, but seeing really was believing, and it was hard to wrap my head around it.
He hadn’t changed much physically from the guy I’d met at a house party Tariq had taken me to after a football game our junior year. Julius had shaved his head after graduation and kept the look. He was thick with bulky muscle. His bicep was probably bigger than my thigh, and the weekend after my divorce had been finalized, I’d had two glasses of wine and wondered what it’d be like to have his powerful arms around me.
The thought made me shiver. It felt wrong to like the idea so much because he’d been my friend for years, but it also felt… completely right. On paper, we shouldn’t click. We were opposites in every way, literally black and white, but instead we fit together perfectly.
And once the idea of us moving from friends into something more was in my mind, I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
I wasn’t sure how long he’d had feelings for me. If it was before I’d come to Chicago, he’d done a damn good job of hiding it, but the more time we spent together, the more obvious it became. He got braver over the last few months, and I did everything I could to encourage him.
But I wasn’t laying it down hard enough, I guess. My eagerness reached a critical turning point when my sister asked if she could set me up with a guy from her gym. I knew what I wanted, and I was fairly confident it was the same thing Julius did, but I also didn’t want to be ninety years old when he finally made his move.
And it’d been months since I’d had sex with anything that wasn’t battery operated. Julius was attractive and worked at a club surrounded by beautiful women who sold their bodies for money, which he had plenty of. Times were desperate. I wasn’t going to lose him before I’d even gotten him.
My legs were jelly as I stood from the couch. I believed in what I was doing, but that didn’t mean it was easy, and I could not get a handle on my nerves. They rattled in my chest, vibrating me from the inside out.
His eyes were jet black and filled with concern, but I couldn’t tell if it was for me or for himself. Was he worried I’d judge him? The concept of him running a brothel took some getting used to, but I’d done it. There were legal jobs he could have had that were worse than this. Above all, I trusted he knew what he was doing.
“I’ve never given a tour before,” Julius said. “How much do you want to see?”
My body temperature rose and made my weak knees worse. I’d had fantasies about this place. All of them included the man before me. He said he didn’t touch the women, but did he live this lifestyle? Would he tie me up or blindfold me if I asked him to?
I could barely choke the words out over my excitement. “All of it. Walk me through what you do.”
He drew in an unsure breath. “This room is where a client hangs out before his appointment.”
“His?” I repeated. Cordell and his wife had played together, living out their mutual fantasy of a threesome, but… “You only take men?”
“Nah, we take women and couples too, but ninety-nine percent of the members are guys.” He strode to the door, but hesitated before opening it for me. “You sure you’re cool with this? Shit’s gonna get real.”
It was like he’d lit a firecracker and tossed it inside me. I bit down on my bottom lip and nodded quickly. I was dying to see more. Would the blindfold club match the sexy images I’d painted in my mind?
He tugged the door open.
The hallway, like the holding room we’d just come from, was dim. Black walls, broken up by open doorways on both sides. Security lighting in the corners was bright enough to see, but it made the long hallway feel ominous.
“I don’t have the lights on since we’re not open yet,” Julius said.
“Oh.” It was all I could think to say.
I shuffled forward a few feet and glanced into the room to my left. It looked like the living area of an elegant hotel suite. There was a big screen television mounted on the wall, a couch, and what seemed to be a wet bar area. That wasn’t what I expected at all. No bed?
“We go
t a few client rooms,” he said. “Overflow if we book two at the same time. We hold the guy here until his girl’s ready.”
Oh. A tingle crept along my skin as I glanced to my right. There was a brass number two on the door, and my gaze swept further inside. This room was lit by a glowing crystal chandelier, and the prisms cast subtle rainbows on the wall. It was the only color. Everything, including the table in the center of the space, was black except for the white wingback chair in a back corner.
He didn’t tell me it was okay to go inside the room, but I did it anyway. The table was like a large cabinet with a black leather cushion top.
“This is where it happens?” My voice was breathless.
“Yeah.”
I pictured getting on the table, and shuddered with unexpected pleasure at the mental image. “How does it work?”
Julius shuffled a few feet into the room. “The sales assistant helps the girl get blindfolded and strapped down, and waits for the client to come in.”
I paused. “Sales assistant?”
“Another girl. She’ll negotiate the price.”
I stared at the empty wingback chair. “Does she stay during?”
“Nah, she leaves when a deal’s done.”
“Is that… safe? Leaving the girl alone with the guy?”
Something flickered through his expression. Was he shy all of a sudden? “It’s safe. We got cameras and I’m watching in my office.”
I felt stupid for not thinking of that, but then my eyes widened. “Holy shit, Julius. You watch? What’s that like?” I couldn’t stop the surprised smile from rushing across my face. “Is it sexy?”
He shook his head. “It’s work.” He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, showing off his hulking form. “And it’s probably gonna give me an ulcer. A lot of the guys, they’re nothing to worry about. All they want is to fuck a hot girl. But I always gotta watch for that one asshole who wants to push things. The motherfucker who goes too far.”
His uncharacteristically dark look made me think it had happened before.
My gaze went back to the table as I struggled to find a change in topic. He’d said the girl was tied down, but— “Where are the straps?”
“Top drawer.”
It felt like he was cool with me peeking. I grabbed the silver knob and slid the drawer open. Swaths of black ribbon were coiled neatly inside, and beside them, stacks of black blindfolds wrapped in clear plastic.
There were three other drawers beneath this one. It didn’t make a sound as I closed it, and neither did the next one I opened. My breath stalled in my lungs. The drawer was partitioned, and each section held a different item. Vibrators. Dildos. Plugs.
“That one’s for pleasure.” Julius’s deep voice broke the quiet in the room.
As I stared down at the toys, I could feel his gaze on me, and I grew hot. The air in the room thickened and became hard to breathe.
The next drawer down was also partitioned. Paddles. Riding crops. Nipple clamps. A looped item I suspected was a whip.
“That drawer’s for pain.”
There was something buried in his tone, and I knew him well enough to recognize it. He didn’t care for this drawer, which was interesting. I peered at it with fascination, but also trepidation. I’d been a vanilla girl most of my life, but had always been curious, and Tariq’s betrayal was a catalyst to broadening my sex life.
It shouldn’t have been surprising the ‘pain’ drawer made Julius uneasy. The guy was the sweetest thing ever. He looked intimidating, but he had a gentle heart. Yet, he ran a BDSM sex club. Wasn’t this drawer a huge part of that?
I closed it and opened the final drawer, moving slowly because my body was sluggish with lust. There were strap-on harnesses. A wand with feathers at the end, and other things I didn’t recognize.
“That drawer is for both.”
My tone was skeptical. “Feathers can cause pain?”
“You got ticklish feet, Court. Think about if you couldn’t move or get away.”
Oh, God. He was right. That’d be torture. My gaze landed on the black woven handle. I gestured toward it. “Can I—”
He looked exactly how I felt. Tense with desire, but trying not to show it. His head bobbed in a single nod.
I slipped my hand around the handle of the flogger and pulled it slowly from the drawer. The long leather tails dangled until I circled my fist around them and dragged the bunch through my closed hand. I could only see this tool slapping against skin and causing pain. “How is this one both?”
He sucked in a deep breath. Maybe he was struggling to breathe the thick air as much as I was. “When used right, it can feel good.”
He said it with enough confidence, it sounded like he was talking from experience. Shit, I was going to burn up from the inside. The fire was so intense, it seared away my vocal cords and kept me from asking him to show me right now.
Instead, I tucked the flogger back neatly where I’d found it, shut the drawer and straightened. My pulse roared in my body, thumping the hardest between my legs. It pounded out an ache I wanted Julius to satisfy, but I struggled with how to get what I needed.
The first year here in Chicago had been brutal. The other football wives were nice enough, but Tariq had a not-great reputation, which followed him off the field and became mine by association. Julius was the only real friend I had, and I’d leaned on him hard when I discovered Tariq’s cheating. He’d helped me get through the divorce, which had driven a wedge between the men who’d played ball together in college. I felt bad their friendship ended, but secretly I was thrilled Julius had chosen to stick by my side.
I laid my nervous hands on the cushioned top of the table and stared at my splayed fingers, searching for courage. I didn’t want to screw up what we had, but couldn’t fight my feelings any longer. I longed for him with every shallow breath I took.
I hoisted myself up, turning around to sit with my legs dangling over the side.
Alarm coasted through Julius’s handsome face. “What’re you doing?”
“I want to see what it’s like,” I said in a rush.
His concern shifted to confusion, and in a few steps, he was right in front of me. “C’mon, don’t play like that.”
Only his statement was filled with cautious hope. When he set one of his large hands on my shoulder to help me down, it was the connection we needed. It turned the key in the lock on my desire, and set it tumbling free. I reached for him, grasping his face in my hands, and pulled him down into my kiss.
Chapter Four
Courtney
I hadn’t kissed another man in seven years, and bringing my lips to Julius’s was fireworks. It was everything I’d hoped it be, and then some. My fingers bristled against the rough ends of the whiskers darkening his defined jaw when I pulled him closer. He had on cologne or some type of woodsy scent that smelled amazing.
His soft lips pressed to mine, stunned at first, and then the intensity of the moment hit us with its full force. I was kissing Julius King… and he was kissing me.
Oh my God, how he was kissing me.
His mouth was passionate and commanding. His hot tongue moved past my lips, seeking mine, and its sexy, slow movement was the same as if he’d stroked his hands between my thighs. I felt it along every nerve ending in my body.
His hands seized my waist and hauled me to the edge of the table, causing me to wrap my legs around his hips. We were wild. Out of control with lust. I’d worried about making the wrong move, but this felt so goddamn right, I was mad I waited so long.
The softest of moans slipped from me as his kiss intensified another layer. The ache for him grew like an unpredictable tornado and left me spinning. I clung to him, holding on for dear life. Would I ever be able to let go?
It was easily the most passionate kiss of my life, and I let out a hushed cry of displeasure when he ended it. His hands still circled my waist and he didn’t go far. His warm forehead rested against mine, his eyes closed, and for a long
moment we stayed like that, working to get our breathing back under control.
“Jesus,” he whispered.
His single stunned word announced how much this kiss meant to him, and it was powerful. It had meant so much to me. I slid my hands down his neck until I had my palms flat against his broad, hard chest.
“Maybe you should,” I said between two gulps of air, “shut the door.”
His eyes popped open, but he seemed foggy. “What?”
If I said it fast, I could get through it before I lost the courage. “I want to see what it’s like for the girl on the table, and you said she’s naked.”
My statement literally knocked him back, and I’d never seen my friend look more surprised. Part of him liked this idea a lot, but the other part was conflicted. He wiped a hand over the smooth dome of his head, considering how to respond. As words failed him, a stone of embarrassment grew to the size of a boulder in my stomach.
“You don’t want to?” I whispered.
“No, I do,” he said instantly. “Fuck, you have no idea how much I want to.” He threw a hand toward the table. “But like this? The first time we…” His posture stiffened. “The table you’re sitting on, it ain’t right for that. It isn’t special enough for you.”
I softened, understanding what he meant, but this was important. I needed him to see I was okay with what this club was. Yet, I felt like I was losing him. “You said this place was an experience.” I slicked my sweaty palms down over my leather-clad thighs. “We don’t have to have sex; we could do other… stuff.”
He blinked slowly. “What’re you offering?”
His question sparked an idea. “Isn’t that how it starts here? With negotiations?” I dragged a seductive smile across my lips. “I want this. What do you want? What can I give you to make this happen?”
He let out a half of a laugh, making a sound like I was crazy, and grinned. It froze on his face as he grew serious. “A date.”