Page 15 of Pretty Little Thing

I look at the wonky massage table again. “Punishment bench…” I murmur.

I feel the surprise tap of her crop on my rear.

“See anything you like?” she asks.

I twist away from her. “I have no idea. I mean… it looksfun?”

“That’s step one,” she says, waving upward. “Wide-open minds.”

“Uh-huh.” I glance at the stairwell, noticing that it leads up again. “And the third floor?”

Melanie smiles. “Anything goes.”

“Anything?”

“Private rooms rented by the hour,” she says. “If this floors a-rockin’...”

“Wow.”

“Leave your usual self at the door and don’t forget to wrap it.”

“Your usual self?”

“BDSM, in general, is...” She bites her cheek. “Intense, to say the least. I’ve interviewed a lot of people here and they’ve all told me the same thing: the headspace they get into when they’re here is nothing like the person who wakes up at seven AM on a Monday morning to go to work.” She points her crop at me. “And that should intrigue you, in particular.”

“It should?” I chuckle.

“Nora, don’t get me wrong, you’re one of my favorite people on this planet, but...” Her head tilts. “You need an off-switch. When is the last time you slept through the night?”

“2015, maybe,” I joke.

She nods. “This place isn’t just about getting laid. If that’s all you need, Trix and I can wing-lady you a keeper any night of the week. No, you need something deeper than a little random dick. Or big random dick, as it goes...”

“So, what do I do?” I ask. “Just hook up with some guy, he ties me up, calls me I’m a bad girl… and that’s supposed to help my stress?”

She sighs. “The idea behind it is power-play. It might look like a bunch of kinky whips and chains to some, but deep down, at its core, it’s about one person giving themselves over completely. Their actions, their words — all controlled by someone else — and you can’t tell me that’s not appealing to you in some way.”

I glance around into the blackened rooms. Kinky whips and chains, that’s definitely what it looks like on the outside but there’s something else to this that I can’t quite put my finger on.

I pause by one of the crosses and flick the soft, padded restraint near the top with my finger. The idea is appealing. Being tied up, held down, and pleasured until it hurts. Or hurt until it feels good. That might work, too…

I pause and lower my hand.

What the hell did I just think?

“In the end,” Melanie says, breaking the silence, “can you think of anything else you haven’t tried yet?”

“Acupuncture?” I quip.

She rolls her eyes. “This is way better than acupuncture. For starters, acupuncture can’t potentially get you laid.” She points her crop at me again. “Don’t lie to me. I can tell you’re in a dry spell.”

I squint. “No comment.”

Melanie sighs. “Come back tonight when they’re open and watch a few scenes play out. I’ll even come back here with you if you want.”

“No, I think...” I bite my lip, my skin tingling with embarrassment. “I think I’ll give Lenny a call instead. Beg him to take me back.”

“Or... you can come back here and beg Daddy to make you his dirty, little girl.”

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