Page 47 of Free to Breathe
“Yeah?”
“Don’t get shocked by anything you see inside Redemption. It’s not your normal nightclub,” he advises, right before he hangs up the phone.
Great. Turning my car in the direction of my apartment so I can get a dry shirt, I drop the gear and wonder what the hell he meant by that.
* * *
Two hours later,I’m no longer wondering, and my gut is somewhere near the bottom of my dress shoes.
After following the directions Caleb sent to me, I pull up to an old warehouse on the outskirts of Manhattan in Fort Washington. If it weren’t for the number of high-value vehicles in the lot or the obvious security presence, I’d have thought he’d sent me on a wild goose chase.
I make my way toward the VIP line, much to the whiny dismay of the multitude of people waiting impatiently in line. The bouncer gives me a head-to-toe look and asks, “Male, female, or both?”
Taken aback, I choke out, “Excuse me?”
He holds up two bracelets, one pink and one blue. “If you’re here to pick up women, you wear a pink bracelet. If you’re here for men, blue. If you don’t care, you don’t wear one.”
I lean closer to the man who might, just might, be able to take me out. “What if I’m here for one woman?” I snarl.
He laughs in my face. “You still wear the bracelet, man. Otherwise, your ass might be a target for who knows what.” His grin reveals more teeth capped in gold than not.
Snagging the pink rubber bracelet out of his hand, I hand him my ID. As he checks it against the tablet resting on the podium he was leaning against, I slip it over my wrist. Fuck, it’s tighter than a cock ring. The tightness of the fit might cut off circulation later.
“And just for the record, I don’t wanna have to come down and break up a fight. If the lady in question is already claimed…” He lets his words trail off.
“Oh, she’s going to be claimed,” I mutter, trying to adjust the stupid bracelet to give my wrist room to move. Looking at the behemoth guard, I state my intention. “By me. Just in time to spank her ass.”
“We have stages for that if you want one. Just ask one of the serving staff.” Quickly losing interest, the bouncer makes his way to the door.
Running my hand through my hair, I step inside the doors of Redemption’s inner sanctum and freeze.
High-class sin. It exudes from everything in the club, from its patrons to the staff to the mostly naked acrobats dancing on platforms strategically placed around the room. My eyes glance off a woman in expensive black lingerie, bending in positions I didn’t know were anatomically possible. Another scene I latch onto is that of a male duo, taking turns getting flogged. The waitstaff are wearing shoes that would cost me a month’s salary, for Christ’s sake. And the décor is so luxurious most people would need to sell a car to buy it. Fortunately, the gyrating bodies on the dance floor are mostly clad, though the way they’re dancing leaves little to the imagination about what’s on their mind. Those not dancing seem to be holding court lounge on chaises.
And I can’t tell if anyone is wearing a damned bracelet.
I don’t know if I just walked into a high-class club pandering to the über-wealthy, a sex show, or someone’s fantasy. Either way, I’m surrounded by pulsating heat everywhere. It oozes from the air into my very pores.
Then the crowd on the dance floor parts just enough to see a swish of gold. I spot Corinna for a few seconds from my vantage point on the second floor. Her body sways to the thumping beat of the music before her partner leads her away from the crowd. The spotlight ripples off her dress as her hips sway back and forth.
Suddenly, I’m desperate to get down to her and get us both out of here.
24
Corinna
“Thank you for letting me in tonight. I know it’s been forever since we’ve talked,” I yell above the thundering music pouring from hidden speakers inside Redemption.
Marco’s answer is a wicked grin as he takes a swig from the bottled water in his hand. It’s the first time we’ve stopped to talk since I sauntered onto the dance floor an hour ago. Marco took one look at my face and immediately led me there. I gulp down some water as well, because I’m scorching. On nights like this, Redemption seems to have been made for the needs pulsating through my veins. Mulberry crushed-velvet-lined walls tempered the sound from overly jacked-up speakers in the club. Crystal chandeliers are placed in lieu of a disco ball; the multicolored spotlights aimed at them jettison light into millions of different shapes and colors. Scantily clad bodies contort themselves into new positions in time with the throb of the music. This isn’t just a club. It’s pure elegance and raw sex.
With the world spinning out of control, I might need both of those things without any judgment.
Leaning forward to make myself heard, I ask him, “Why did we never work out?” I’m intrigued to know the answer. Enough years have passed since my affair with Marco that we’ve become friends and I can handle the response.
“Probably because you are far too independent,ma chère amie, for the things I need in a long-term companion.” Marco turns his head slightly to tell me directly in my ear, “It also doesn’t help when the woman you’re trying to seduce is in love with another man.” He shrugs his broad shoulders before turning his head away.
It suddenly clicks—the gentle letdown from the man in front of me. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“How did you not know it yourself? How can you still not know? I am beginning to fear you love only once in this pathetic life,” Marco murmurs, nuzzling my ear. It’s too bad I don’t feel anything close to what I do when Colby’s merely standing in the same room.
