Page 54 of Good Girl

I had never in my life seen anything like this. Red walls dripping in glittering black gemstones surrounded a small black half-moon desk in the middle. A woman sat there dressed in a black latex dress that clung so tightly to her curvaceous body that it may as well have been painted on. Her red hair was scraped up into a few tight coils on top of her head, and her deep red lips pulled into a wide smile as we approached. Above her glistened a ruby-red crystal chandelier that sprayed the walls in sparkling light. Each click of my heels on the hardwood floor sent a subtle pulse of anxiety through me as I didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself.

“Samuel, darling!” The woman beamed up at us. “And who is this?”

“This is Charlotte. A guest.” Samuel smiled. He glanced at me and tilted his head. “Charlotte, this is Amanda. She runs Tranquility.”

“Hi.” I gave a little wave and immediately felt even more awkward, but Amanda didn’t bat an eye. Her smile was just as warm, and the kindness in her blue eyes had me suddenly feeling like I could confess anything to her and she would make me feel better.

“It’s lovely to meet you, sweetie. First time?”

“Yes,” Samuel answered for me.

“No problem.” She rose from behind the desk and I marveled at how she seemed to flow as she walked despite the tight constriction of her clothing. “The rest of your party is already here, I believe. I will take you to them momentarily.” Amanda moved around her desk and stopped in front of me. My breath caught in my throat as she extended a hand and gently brushed my arm.

“Don’t fret, dear. As it’s your first time, I just need to go over a few things with you. Before you go through those doors” —she pointed behind her to a set of double doors that were hexagonally padded and dotted with black gemstones— “I will need your vocal understanding, and then you will need to sign an NDA. Is that alright with you?”

An NDA to get into a club? What sort of place was this? I glanced up at Samuel who smiled expectantly at me.

“Yes,” I answered. “Of course.”

“Excellent!” Amanda leaned over her desk and grasped a sheet of paper and then a pen and laid them out for me. “It’s a classic NDA stating that you will not breathe a word of what you see here to anyone outside of this building unless you are sharing stories with confirmed active members of the club. Any attempts to leak information will result in swift legal action,” she recited carefully. Her smile remained warm as I stepped forward and took the pen. “It sounds scary dear, I know, but we protect all our members’ privacy, you understand.”

I did. Confusion sat in my heart at what kind of place this could be, but Amanda was gentle and I quickly scribbled my signature on the paper.

“Wonderful!” She whipped the paper away from me the second I lifted my pen from the paper, then she set it down beside her computer and indicated with one long, manicured finger that we were to follow her. “This way, dears.”

“What is this place?” I murmured, expecting Samuel to reply, but Amanda answered first as she pushed open the double doors and led us deeper into the club.

“This, my dear... is paradise.”

What I saw before me took my breath away.

A set of marble stone stairs led down to the club’s main dancefloor where people dressed in the skimpiest, sexiest outfits I had ever seen were dancing without a care in the world. The lights were low, and unlike the neon beams I was used to seeing in clubs, this place didn’t have any at all, creating a much more intimate atmosphere. Podiums were dotted around the flood with poles that were manned by scantily clad dancers of all shapes and sizes. They danced freely, flowing to the music and weaving around the poles with an agility I could only admire.

Wide bar cages hung from the ceiling, each with a naked dancer inside. With no idea where to look first, I became utterly enthralled with the scene before me.

“Everything you see here remains a secret,” Amanda explained as she led us down the steps and through the crowd. People parted easily around Amanda in a way I had never seen at any other club, surely a show of respect and appreciation for her. “We do not allow any photography or recording for the safety of our members.However, if being filmed is a kink you like to indulge in, we have special rooms with recording equipment that you will be in full control of, including the deletion.”

“Special rooms?” Samuel’s hand suddenly slipped into mine, and I gripped back, unable to keep the awe from my face. This was a sex club. It was a sexy BDSM club, and Samuel was a member?

“We have rooms for all tastes.” Amanda smiled back at me. “Nothing is taboo here, and there are several assistants identifiable by their halos and devil horns who can answer any questions and provide you with anything you may need to keep your time here requisite.” Amanda led us through a sparkling gray curtain at the back of the club where the dancing was minimal, then she stopped in front of a deep red velvet curtain.

“Here we are!” She grasped the curtain and pulled it back, then fixed me with a gentle smile. “Have fun, sweetie.”

With that, she was gone, and I peeked past the curtain to see Derek and Matt reclined back in a circular booth, resting against the deep red leather seats.

“Charlotte!” Matt’s face immediately burst into a wide, happy smile, and my heart leaped.

“Hi.” My heart was surprisingly calm, and that must be because of the alcohol because my mind was running a hundred miles a minute. This place wasamazing. I’d never seen such a wide array of people mingling together, and not a bubble machine or neon sparkler in sight. Derek watched me over the edge of his glass as he drank, then he opened his left hand and patted the seat next to him.

“Sit.”

I obeyed immediately, having to let go of Samuel’s hand to do so.

“This place is...” I cast an eye over the shining white table containing a bucket of champagne and several glasses, up to the dark walls and the sparkling hanging lights above us that kept the aura of the booth low and warm.

“Amazing?” Matt offered. “We’ve been coming here for a few years and we don’t have a single bad thing to say.”

Samuel dropped into the seat next to him and raised a glass.

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