Page 6 of Going Deep
“That’s an understatement,” Ginger muttered, remembering the number of hits she’d gotten when she’d searched ‘common BDSM practices’. “I almost had a panic attack.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot to wade through.” She tapped her fingers on her knee for a moment. “Visiting Odyssey is a good option, if you’re willing to jump through some hoops.”
“Whatever the hoops are, they can’t be worse than a million-plus Google results.”
“Okay, then.” Lola unfolded herself and rose from the sofa. “Hang on, I’m going to grab a few things from my office.”
“Okay.”
Lola turned to go, then paused. “You know, Michael takes a strong interest in new submissives at Odyssey. He considers it his duty to make sure they have a good experience.”
Ginger widened her eyes, all innocence. “Oh, does he?”
Lola snorted out a laugh. “That’s good, the big eyes, but the grin gives you away. You’ll want to watch that.”
Ginger folded her lips to hide the grin and nodded solemnly. “Noted.”
Lola just shook her head, muttered something that sounded like ‘sneaky submissive’ and headed down the hall.
Alone, Ginger allowed herself a triumphant giggle, then closed her eyes, settled back into the cushions, and tried to breathe away both the giddy anticipation and the rising anxiety.
“You fall asleep on me?” Lola demanded a few moments later.
Ginger opened her eyes. “No, I was managing my anticipation and anxiety through meditative breathing.”
Lola’s gaze sharpened. “You have anxiety?”
“And anticipation.” Not wanting to talk about it, Ginger nodded at the sheaf of papers in Lola’s hands. “What’re those?”
Lola held them out. “Hoops. Start jumping.”
Ginger took them. “Okay, can you be more specific?”
“It’s a BDSM checklist, the one they use at Odyssey for new members.” Lola dropped back down onto the sofa. “I printed it out so you can take your time with it.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean…I wasn’t planning to join.” She’d been on Odyssey’s website, knew what they charged for membership fees. As much as she wanted to get laid, she couldn’t justify spending six months’ rent to do it.
Lola shook her head. “You can come as our guest, but you should still fill it out. It’ll give you a good idea of what’s out there, the kinds of things you might be interested in. And if you want to do more than watch at the club, you have to have it on file. House rule.”
“Oh, okay.” Ginger skimmed down the list, her eyes widening. “Age play? Bestiality? Chastity belts?”
“And that’s just the first page,” Lola said. “Look, there are going to be a lot of these that don’t appeal to you, and that’s fine. There will be even more that you just don’t know enough about to judge yet, and that’s fine too.”
“So, I’m supposed to go through this and find the things that I want to do?”
“And the things you don’t want to do,” Lola said. “That’s just as important.”
“This is going to take days,” Ginger mused, flipping through the pages. What the hell were vampire gloves?
“It takes as long as it takes. It’s important to be thorough, honest, and to remember that at this stage—at any stage, really—'I don’t know’ is a perfectly acceptable answer.”
“Right.” Ginger set the pages down. “Why did I think this was going to be simple?”
Lola chuckled. “I have no idea. Do you want to stay for dinner? Simon’s picking up pizza, and there will be more than enough.”
“Did you get it with anchovies?”
“I had to trade various kinky and unnatural sexual favors for them, but yes.”
