Page 1 of Eden's Deliverance

1

Scarlett

“How do you feel about choking?”

I’m pacing the floor of my bedroom, gnawing away at my fingernails while Penelope bombards me with questions I don’t have the answers to.

“I’m sorry, what?” I stop dead in my tracks to face her.

She’s lounging on my bed with her laptop open in front of her. “You know, breath play. There’s a bunch of reasons why people like it.” An unmistakable sparkle shines in her eyes, letting me know she isvery muchinto breath play. “Cutting off oxygen to the brain releases endorphins and gives you a major head high. It’s supposed to feel good,” she explains. “Other people just like the power dynamic of it all.”

“Isn’t there anything a little…tamer?” I ask, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth. I don’t want to sound too ‘vanilla,’ but I’m not used to having it any other way.

I haven’t had a good lay in months, which is fucking depressing because I used to think there was no such thing as bad sex.

The reality has been disappointing, to say the least. Every encounter has resulted in a whole lot of suffocatingly heavy breath in my face, amateur boob fondling, and a complete lack of orgasms.

They’ll ask,“Does that feel good, baby?”

Sorry, but no.

There’s no class. No heat. No passion.

I am in serious need of a sexual awakening, so I asked Penelope for help. I’m tired of sleeping with men who have no idea what they’re doing, and she has a solution that could change my life.

“Scarlett, I love you, but I can’t dictate your future sexcapades. I’ve got my own to plan for, so you have to help me out here. Give me something to work with.” She means for it to come off playfully, but I can tell she’s over my bullshit.

Perching beside her on the bed, I hover over the laptop to review the application she has pulled up. “Let me take a look. I’ll get something together, I promise.”

She may have handed me the key to answering my problems, but I have to unlock the door myself.

A few months ago, one of Penelope’s girlfriends invited her to this fancy sex club called Eden’s Deliverance. It’s an underground sort of establishment, where visitors are encouraged to explore a plethora of dirty kinks with complete strangers. The club is only open from Friday through Sunday, so it’s crazy exclusive. While anybody can visit, the sexy-time part is only for members who’ve been approved to participate.

She goes almost every Saturday night and thinks it’s exactly what I need. While Pen may be the slutty devil on my shoulder, we’ve been best friends since fifth grade, and she’s rarely steered me wrong.

I mean, there was that one time when we got caught smoking-up in the high school parking lot. There was also that time last week when she encouraged me to go home with this sweet, sensitive, and conveniently hot guy from the bar.

He turned out to live with six fat cats who were named after old ‘80s rockstars. It was weird as hell, but Mötley was pretty cute.

I’m completely overwhelmed by the extensive application process, which is what we’ve been working on for the past hour. If the required STI testing wasn’tenough to scare me away, I should be able to handle this…I’m just having a really hard time making a concrete decision.

“What’s this bit here about?” I ask.

Listed on the application is a checklist of gemstones: Ruby, Topaz, Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, Pearl, and Onyx.

“Oh my god, you’re going to love this part! It’s what makes the place so mysterious.” Penelope claps her hands with enthusiasm. “Based on the kink you choose, you’ll be given a mask to wear while you’re at the club, and you can only boink people who are wearing the same mask. Every kink is paired with a color, but Onyx is meant for the general public,” she explains. “Each color is supposed to replace your identity, so think of it like a giant game of Clue. No murder though…just a bunch of raunchy sex.”

“Well, I want to be Miss Ruby, duh.”

It’s not even a question. Maybe I’m full of myself, but I can’t help gravitating towards anything red in nature because of my name. Red hair, red lipstick, red dresses, red shoes. It’s been a way of life since creating my own identity for college.

I like what I like, sue me.

Penelope clicks a few links on the website, opening a completely different page showing all the gemstones and their respective kinks. “I don’t know about that, babe. Ruby represents edge play which is the more extreme stuff like knife play, blood play, and consensual non-consent.”

I’m immediately flooded with disappointment. I was really hoping Ruby would turn out to be a good match for me, but Hell will freeze over before I ever consider tampering with knife or blood kinks.

Just the thought of it makes me shudder.Yikes. The more I think about it, the more this club feels a little too surreal.

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