After several quiet beats, he finally says something. “Your virginity is not worth twenty thousand US dollars?”
“It’s kind of silly to put a price on something like virginity. I guess if there’s a market for it, then there’s a role for price. Still, not everything can be boiled down to dollars and cents. Maybe I’ll have a different perspective if I end up majoring in economics.”
“So what would make you feel you had comfortably earned twenty thousand dollars?”
“I’m not sure. It’s faster if you stay on Ocean Avenue,” I tell him.
But he doesn’t.
“Not for where we’re going,” he says with his gaze still straight ahead.
“Where are we going?”
“The Lair.”
“What’s that?”
“A place you can earn your twenty thousand.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
I try to tamp down my excitement at the possibility he's changed his mind about taking me home. As he heads north, he speaks in Chinese to his phone. It dials a number.
A woman picks up the call. "So nice to have your call, Mr. Lee,"
She knows his name? He must be a frequent or important visitor of this place.
"Is Cell Three available?" Tony asks.
"When do you need it?"
"In twenty minutes."
"It's all yours. For the rest of the day, if you'd like. We’ll see you shortly."
Tony hangs up.
"What's The Lair?" I ask. I'm pretty sure it's not a restaurant or another hotel. What kind of place would have something called a ‘Cell Three?’
"You're familiar with the Red Room from that book you're reading. The Lair is the Red Room times ten."
Maybe I shouldn't have asked.
"You go there a lot?"
"Only when I'm in town."
So his name pops up on their caller ID. It doesn't mean anything. I'm not even sure what goes on at this place. Some manner of BDSM.
Holy shit. It's one thing to read about it in a novel, another thing to be facing it for real. I look over and study Tony. I recall the different things he’s said.
Fifty Shades...child’s play.
You have no idea what I want to do to you.
I'd ru
in you.