Chapter Sixteen

Frankie

Phantom takes my hand, and together we walk through a door into another hallway.

“These large rooms on this side of the hallway are exhibition rooms. There, you’re allowed to look. The people playing are exhibitionists who want to be seen. The people watching are voyeurs.”

“Are you a voyeur?”

“Not usually. But when I bring someone new to the club, I want to satisfy her curiosity.”

“What kind of things do they do in these rooms?”

“There’s a bondage room, a role-playing room—”

“What do you mean, a role-playing room?”

“Would you like to see?”

“Yes, I would.”

We walk to the third door, and Phantom opens it.

A security guard stands by the door. “Good evening, Phantom,” he says.

“I’m just showing my guest around.”

“Absolutely. Enjoy yourselves.”

I have to stop my jaw from dropping.

The first thing I notice is a man dressed in leather—leather from head to toe—and a naked woman walking him on a leash.

“See anything that interests you?”

I gulp. “No, not really.”

“Animal play is big with some people,” he says. “But it’s not my cup of tea.”

“What is your cup of tea?” I ask, my skin tightening.

“I could show you. If you’re ready to go to a private playroom with me.”

“I…don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.”

“That’s okay. If we don’t get there tonight, we don’t have to. This is all in your own time.”

In the corner, a woman dressed as Wonder Woman is getting pounded by Superman.

Still not a huge turn-on, but it makes a lot more sense to me than playing like a dog.

In another scene, a man and a woman are biting each other…with fangs.

“They don’t really…”

“Drink each other’s blood? Perhaps. But not in here. Blood sports can only be done in private. It’s a sanitary thing.”

I gulp. And then I nod.

Right. A sanitary thing.

This is all too much. I’m about ready to go into work Monday and tell Lisa I can’t do the story.

“It’s important not to be judgmental,” Phantom says.

“I’m not,” I say. “It’s just…new.”

“Clubs like this are places where people can meet like-minded people. After all, most people won’t walk up to someone on the street and ask if they’d like to be led around on a leash.”

“Or if they’d mind if you drink their blood?”

“Exactly.”

“Who are these people?”

“Pretty much normal people, just like you and me,” he says. “They just have some different tastes, and this club allows them to indulge.”

“I see.”

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought you in here. This is not a room for beginners. Maybe the bondage room would be better.”

“Or maybe bondage light?” I suggest.

“Actually, that’s a good idea. We’ll just go into the basic exhibition room. There you’ll see scenes, but they won’t include a lot of toys. It’s a place where people can have sex and be watched. That’s the turn-on.”

I nod. “That sounds like something I can handle.”

He guides me to a different door. Another security guard stands inside. Phantom murmurs a few things to the guard, and we enter.

Beds. Beds and stools and armchairs. And people naked, having sex.

Some are kissing, some are having oral sex, and others… Others are fucking.

Normally my jaw would be on the ground, but after what I just witnessed? This is completely normal.

Simple vanilla sex, in myriad positions, and I find myself…

Wondering…

Wondering how I’d feel having sex here, others watching me…

Phantom has already said he’s not an exhibitionist, so if we do anything together, it will be in private.

“What are you feeling?” he whispers to me.

I shudder as his warm breath caresses my neck. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to think.”

“You’re not supposed to think anything, Angel. Just tell me what you’re feeling.”

“I feel…”

Somehow I have to commit all of this to memory. I have to…

“I feel like I want to kiss you,” I say.

Never in my life have I asked to kiss a man.

Either he asks me, or it just happens. I’ve never initiated it.

But I’ve known Phantom now for just over a week, and even though I know nothing about him, I desperately want to kiss him.

I expect him to turn me around and bring his lips to mine, and when he doesn’t, disappointment surges through me.

I’ve done something wrong.

“Come with me,” he says.

We leave the large room, and he leads me to another door, where he slides a card through the lock. “We can be alone in here.”

“Is this yours?”

“No, but I was hoping you and I might need some privacy tonight, so I reserved it.” He opens the door and allows me to walk in ahead of him.

“Wow.”

It’s a beautiful bedroom. I’m not sure why I was expecting anything else.

The king-size bed sits on one side of the room, covered in a glorious royal blue quilt. Where are the toys? The tables, the ropes?

Phantom closes the door. “Come here, Angel.”

His presence is imposing, yet I feel no fear at all. Only anticipation as I walk toward him and he pulls me into his arms.

His lips touch mine.

It’s a soft kiss, but it has my heart thrumming.

He slides his lips over mine, and then his tongue probes the seam of my mouth.

I part my lips, and his tongue delves in…

And no longer is the kiss gentle.

He devours my mouth, sliding his lips, his tongue, his teeth, and then he growls into me, vibrating through me.

This kiss.

How could it start so gentle and then…

But my God, I love it. I melt into it and into him.

My nipples are hard against the stretchy fabric of my black dress.

I don’t care about the article anymore, and I don’t care about the black dress or the three hundred and fifty dollars that it cost. He can rip it into shreds.

All I care about is Phantom and this kiss.

Even if I never learn his name, it’s all worth it for this kiss.

This kiss that’s better than the hottest sex I ever had with Penn or anyone else.

All of it… Love. Peace. Goodness. The whole world.

All of it is in this kiss.