Page 54 of Taming Scarlet

“Looking for someone?” the man asked, head tipped to the side.

“No. I came with some friends. Just… want to keep an eye on them,” I said.

“Mae and Leah?” he asked, making my brows raise. “Don’t worry. I signed my NDA,” he said with a smile. “They’ve been here often. The staff knows them. They’re safe.”

That was… good. I guess.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“What’s in the back room?”

The way he glanced away to smile before flattening it to look back at me told me that it was definitely somehow more scandalous than what was out here. Which seemed hard to believe.

“Do you really want to know, or do you need a drink first?” he asked, giving me a wicked little smile.

“A drink, if that look on your face is anything to go by,” I said, then watched him get the attention of a server, and order us a round of drinks.

“Absolutely not,” he said when I tried to reach for my card. “Elijah,” he said, toasting me with his glass.

“Scarlet,” I said, clinking my glass to his.

The buzz had my body jerking, nearly making me spill my drink all over myself.

“You okay there?” Elijah asked, brows lifted.

“Yeah. Just, ah, vertigo,” I said, figuring it was as good a reason I could come up with without telling this stranger that I was forced to wear vibrating panties. And that I was pretty sure that the man holding the remote was not approving of me spending time with another man. Even just for a drink.

It was the first sign of any sort of interest from him in days, though. So I wasn’t above using that to my advantage.

If he wanted to play, oh, I could play too.

“So,” I said, leaning forward toward Elijah. “What is in the back room?”

Elijah nipped his lower lip for a second, actually seeming a bit bashful. That seemed absurd, giving what was going on around us. But it was endearing.

“So… have you heard of glory holes?” he asked.

“What… like the holes in truck stop bathroom stalls?” I asked.

“Maybe back in the day, sure,” Elijah said. “But I’m thinking more like in popular Czech porn,” he explained.

“I’ll admit that I’m not familiar,” I said.

“There are clubs like this. Except there are holes in walls where, mostly, women’s lower halves stick out. Sometimes mouths too, but mostly waist down. And men pay an entrance fee… and do what and whoever they want.”

“There’s… holes like that back there?” I asked, mouth falling open.

I hadn’t even meant to lean forward toward Elijah when I said it. I was just so shocked that my voice had lowered like we were sharing some big secret.

But I knew it the second Julian thought I’d moved too close to this other man, because another, longer, buzz started, making my breath catch and my thighs press together hard, trying to ease the ache that was growing.

“Yep,” Elijah said, likely mistaking my reaction for interest in said glory holes.

“Is it employees—“ I started, feeling another buzz, this one pulsating on and off, making me realize I was still leaning across the table.

I made myself sit back, knowing Julian wasn’t going to let me come, just edge me until I was literally in pain from the need for release.

---