“Crystal! Rose!”
I turned my head as I heard Eli’s voice. She came bounding up to us in a body suit. It was leather from head to toe, with a cutout to showcase her prominent cleavage, and she was carrying a whip in her hand.
Had I not heard her voice, I wouldn’t have recognized her.
“Come on, you two. Time for the grand tour.”
She took both of our hands and pulled us to the edge of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the cool wall against my back. We walked around the room, skirting the bars and watching as people slowly trickled down various hallways.
“Where are they going?” I asked.
“Oh, all the private rooms are back here.” Eli said. “See the man dragging that woman along in the orange dress?”
I could see a woman tugging against the hand of a man who was shoving her into a room. Everything within me wanted to run up and kick him between his legs but the moment I saw them kiss, I realized whatever they were doing was consensual.
At least, I thought it was.
“That woman is Felicia Matthews,” Eli said.
“Wait, isn’t that—”
“The mayor’s wife?” Crystal asked. “Oh my gosh, that is her. Is that man the mayor?”
“Nope,” Eli said, grinning. “The mayor and his wife are swingers. The man currently dominating her in that room is none other than Richard Delacroix.”
“You mean the man who owns half of upstate New York,” I said.
“Precisely,” Eli said, grinning. “Rumor has it he enjoys stuffing the mayor’s wife with all sorts of toys.”
We kept walking around the floor, stalking everyone like prey. There were people hooked to others by chains, and women who were on their knees and crawling beside their… I don’t even know what they were supposed to be called. People were climbing up into the cages to dance, while others handed them drinks and vibrating toys. I watched one woman sink right down onto a dildo some man had hoisted up into the cage.
My eyes widened at the spectacle, just as Eli caught my attention.
“Look, look, look! They showed up!”
There were two men coming through the doors, clad in leopard-printed suits with insanely gaudy masks. They wore broad smiles as they hugged those around them and, when they turned around, I saw they had on assless pants, along with something shoved up their butts that gave them something resembling a tail.
“The man with the blue tail is Chef Baudenir,” Eli said.
“Oh, I heard he makes the best sushi in town,” Crystal said.
“And the one with the green tail is Maxwell Ronchetto.”
“Wait, I know that name,” I said. “Why do I know that name?”
“Because Maxwell Ronchetto founded the culinary school you two went to.”
I almost fainted right there on the spot.
We cased the wall one last time before we got all the way to the back again. People were slowly trickling back toward the rooms and I could hear lewd and lascivious sounds coming from them. Some were obvious sounds of pleasure; others were muffled sounds that sounded almost like someone was in distress. I wasn’t sure how I felt about any of it. As we passed by a group of women, I could hear them whispering.
“You think he’ll come out?”
“Is he even here?”
“The dark prince is always here.”
“I wish he would pick me.”