“Grow up, junior. That’s because this place doesn’t exist. It’s a dream you never forget.”
Reaching the main floor, we were treated to the hedonistic thumpings of the Pussycat Dolls’ “Loosen Up My Buttons.” Dark purple velvet adorned the walls, with black leather furniture as accents. Another imposing figure with a walkie-talkie took my trench, bestowing upon me a stylized face mask to wear. Henry followed suit, looking at the other patrons before donning his. Couples shuffled by in the wide hallway, faces obscured like ours by the beautiful custom creations. At the hall’s end, you could see it opened to a larger space.
“How do you know of this place?” This Twenty Questions of his was becoming trying.
I paused, allowing another beat to flow over me before answering. I turned to him and draped my arms around his neck. “Let’s just say I got my start here. Does that bother you?”
I waited for a response. After longer than I expected, it finally came. “No.”
“Good. Remember that dream I just mentioned?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a wet one,” I teased.
Before he could say anything, I kissed Henry, allowing our tongues to mingle. I stopped abruptly, leaving him wanting as I escorted him by his tie like a slave toward what awaited us.
17
HENRY
I
think she was just tiring of my questions.
“It’s a rule here,” she whispered from beneath her decorative cover. The puffy white headdress rested atop her short, curly wig, obscuring her features some more. “No talking, unless . . .”
“Unless what?”
With a smile, she looked at me. “You’ll figure it out.”
I think I was.
From beneath the mask that made my nose itch, I watched. People of all colors—some in costumes, some in formal wear—politely interacted. Some danced. Some pranced. Others mingled. Various smaller rooms branched off from the large open area where we stood. Other couples, sometimes in groups of three or four, discreetly entered them as we stood by. Some weren’t bothering with a semblance of privacy. I began to understand the language. Why bother speaking when just a wink or the tilt of a head would suffice . . . or accomplish so much more? I watched a pairing in the shadows—a tall, slender vision of chocolate loveliness and her long-haired boy toy—with intense curiosity. She was clad in nothing but a teddy and matching heels, gladly accepting the passionate assault of his lips as they trickled along the expanse of her neck. The slow, rhythmic motion of their bodies as he stood behind her revealed there was more than kissing taking place.
Her legs buckled as she thrust herself against him, his defined arms firmly secured to her tapered waist. Their bodies clapped together, his open slacks falling to his knees. I felt uncomfortable watching, but didn’t look away as they continued. I couldn’t. Other guests gathered in a rough circle, feeling the same stirrings I was experiencing.
Then the woman in the center of the sexual circuit spoke—heavenly callings from someone in her own private nirvana at the moment.
“Oh! Oh! Yessss. Don’t stop.”
No talking, unless . . .
I now stood enlightened.
I shared a glance with my maid
de soir
. We nodded simultaneously. Time to move on. She took me by the hand to show me more.
The people in this dark, secret place had a familiarity to them. Before being fired, I had probably interacted with some. Their demeanor revealed them to be rich and powerful. If they weren’t, then they certainly were beautiful. Both groups came with certain advantages. The no-talking rule allowed the whole lot to avoid being identified in the less freaky world above.
None held my fascination as much as Pumpkin. I wondered how she came to get her start in such a place. As we interacted with other couples, she wore their lustful looks and playful touches, both male and female alike, like a badge of honor. I was so engrossed in my surroundings that I’d missed the feather duster at her side, which she was playfully swishing at people. Her maid skirt swung on cue with every spin. The outfit was ironic in that she chose to be the servant tonight when reality proclaimed her to be the master.
I just followed faithfully, accepting the surreal as a masked woman or two gave a passing grope or kiss my way. Tomorrow, my luck would be changing. Being with Pumpkin tonight was just another affirmation.
A nude woman, painted brightly like a tiger, made her way to us, offering tablets that were probably Viagra. On a cart behind her were various drinks. A man near us stopped her, helping himself to a glass of what looked to be brandy and one of the blue pills. His suit was similar to mine, making both of us smile in admiration. His companion for the night was a nice-looking blond woman in a fittedblack evening gown. Couldn’t give her perfect marks because her face was obscured. An unusual tattoo of an apple within a heart was displayed on her shoulder. The brother appeared older . . . distinguished, so I’m sure she was a dime—
paid for on his dime
. I smirked over the mental pun as I took a glass of wine from the tigress. No Viagra for me. I was just here to watch, anyway. I think.
Pumpkin saw me observing our friends, as she was herself. The four of us smiled cordially with that “what are we gonna do now?” vibe filling the air. Pumpkin ended it with a motion of her head to follow.
And we did.
I glimpsed inside one of the occupied rooms as we passed. In there I blinked, unable to count the mass of tangled bodies engaging in multiple sexual acts. One woman hung upside down over the side of the massive bed in there, her face in ecstasy as she received from the man above her. I watched her teeth clench, then suddenly release as she gasped under the ferocity of his strokes. When I looked back, Pumpkin and our two friends had entered the next room. I stole a fleeting glance, then quickly joined them.
Maybe I was interested in more than observing.
We sat mesmerized. Me? My pants were about to burst.
The other man and I removed our jackets, sitting in leather chairs at opposite corners of the tiny room. Pumpkin and the woman in the gown had undressed each other for our pleasure, kissing and sucking along the way. Somehow they kept the masks on, proceeding to lie across the bed as they took turns eating each other’s pussy. When it was Pumpkin’s turn, she turned her ass to me, winding it around hypnotically as she buried her head between the blonde’s legs. Maybe it was just the day’s events overcoming me or the good wine in my glass. The warm spot between her legs seemed to be an eye, taunting me . . . daring me to take a stab as its familiar sweetness reached my nose. In my pants, I rose at its command.
“Oh, shit! Oh, shit!” Blondie whooped as her spiked heels popped up in the air as if on springs. Pumpkin didn’t seem to mind the commotion she was causing; her tongue dialed in on every button the woman had. Push. Push. Push.
The other man had finished his glass of brandy, gulping it down. He rose, quickly unbuttoning his shirt. Viagra had claimed him. Wood for days, putting me to shame. As he’d been here before, I followed his lead. Even with my cast, I beat him undressing.
Take that, Viagra.
The women saw us approach the bed, but Pumpkin’s victim seemed rather caught up in the moment. When my girl stopped the pleasuring, I sensed regret. I guess no one knows a woman like another woman. Blondie moved on, though. The man had just climbed onto the bed when she motioned him closer. I watched her lips form a seal as she took his dick in her mouth. She hummed as she slurped and sucked . . . almost to the beat.
The other woman fresh on her lips, Pumpkin pulled me atop her, where she shared a taste. As we kissed harder and harder, I had to have her. Pumpkin was my drug, drawing me in on so many levels. The physical claimed me now, demanding my full, undivided attention. I gently slid inside, ready to fuck her like she’d never been fucked.
As we continued our adventure, our friends had moved on. Having had his dick and balls sucked on, he put her on hands and knees and entered from the back. Her ass jiggled as he proceeded to fuck her doggy style. She shuddered with every thrust, apparently trying to remember to breathe.
A twisted contest developed between me and the man I hardly knew. In business and pleasure, some rules were the same. The harder he went, the harder I went, sweat forming on my chest as wetness flowed onto the bed. Pumpkin and his friend’s rising moans of delight and curses of pleasure were our guides, each of us wanting to declare mastery of our partner.
Looking up at me, Pumpkin smiled as tears welled up in her eyes. I was pleased to please her as she had done for me. She began to laugh unexpectedly, exploding with a gush of nectar onto my probing dick. The woman’s face came closer, thrust across the bed by her unrelenting partner.
Pumpkin hadn’t noticed until her flailing arm bumped the woman’s mask.
It popped free, tumbling onto the bed beside them.
All ceased.
“Excuse me,” Pumpkin apologized, opening her eyes to fix on the exposed face.
“It’s okay,” the woman answered, neither one obeying the rules now. The woman, a beautiful face on her, paused. “Do I know you?” she asked as she reached for her ornate disguise.
Still inside her, I felt Pumpkin’s muscles tense. Not from an orgasm. “None of us knows anyone in here,” she replied with a smile different from the message her body was conveying to me.
Before the woman could comment further, Pumpkin had motioned for me to get up. I complied, but with a bit of disappointment. We gathered our stuff and hurriedly left our friends on the bed and thoroughly confused. She barely got her mask back in place before the man began fucking her again. And we were an afterthought. Viagra is a drug of neither patience nor understanding.
“What happened back there?” I asked. I drove with the windows lowered lest my car be consumed by the evidence of our consummation. I also needed the night air to cool me down and allow me to think.
“Nothing,” she offered. “I just remembered I needed to get back.”
“To your sister’s? Aren’t you too old for a curfew?”
“We never outgrow rules of some sort.” I didn’t think she was in the car with me at the moment.
I remembered the directions without her saying, almost repeating the course I’d taken during our first encounter. She seemed more fragile now . . . or maybe it was anger. Too much silence to determine; I drove on.
She’d left her trench coat at the club. Outside the apartment, I offered my jacket, but she wouldn’t have it. Just ran inside, sticking a hand up to stop the doorman from any inquiries.
One day I would have to camp out here. Find out more about this Pumpkin. Looking at my watch, I knew it would wait for some other time. After midnight, it was now game day. The day all my luck would change in dramatic fashion.
Maybe I would tell Kash to go fuck himself once I gave him his money.
Looking at my cast resting on the steering wheel, I left that decision for later.
In drive, I sped away into the late night.
18
BIANCA
“
Go to bed,” Dad tells me.
Company’s over. I don’t want to go to bed. Why do I always have to go to bed?
He tucks me in, but can’t make me stay. I close my eyes and count until I think he’s gone. When I run out of numbers, I sit up in my bed. I hug my Molly Wonder doll, knowing he will be mad.
Me and Molly Wonder sneak out of my room. Maybe company’s gone and I can sleep with him and Mom. Molly Wonder would like that.
It’s all dark. I don’t like the dark except when I’m asleep.
Mom and Dad’s room is at the far end of the hallway. I can see a light under their door.
Good.
Dad’s visitor is gone. And Mom and Dad are still awake.
Me and Molly Wonder move faster, feeling our way down the long, dark hallway. I hear talking and tell Molly
Wonder to be quiet. She listens. She always does. That’s why she’s my best friend.