Page 5 of Voyeur

Honor thought about how best to reply. Yes, she’d love to grab dinner with her younger sister. Also, no, she didn’t because she wanted to go to an art show. Even if they had dinner before that, Honor wouldn’t be able to focus on dinner with her sister anyway. She’d be thinking about the women she’d watched have sex the night before and how much she wanted to watch them again.

It was then that she thought about how she had no idea how the exhibit worked, and maybe those women wouldn’t even be there tonight. They might have only been performing once. Honor also knew she hadn’t seen all the vignettes. She’d been pretty focused on a couple of them, so by the time the exhibit was over, there was still a whole row that Honor hadn’t seen at all.

Temperance Wrenley: You left me on ‘Read.’ I’m waiting here, Honor.

Honor laughed at the second message before she started typing.

Honor Wrenley: Can’t tonight. I have an event for work. Maybe next week sometime?

Then, Honor opened her browser and went incognito, as if that made a difference. She knew that if someone really wanted to examine her computer closely, they’d be able to find her incognito browsing history. She needed to find money in the budget to get herself a damn work computer – or, at least, request one from IT – but, here she was, breaking her rule about going to an interesting site on a computer someone could see at the office on Monday.

Honor opened the art show’s website and read through the description. The photos of the warehouse didn’t do the ambiance justice. The colors of the fabrics mixed with the lights and the music made the experience. The pictures just made it look like some beds and hanging fabric in an open warehouse space.

When her computer pinged at her annoyingly, Honor returned to her messages.

Temperance Wrenley: Boring. But, whatever. Let me know.

Honor rolled her eyes at her sister and tried to get back to work, but her focus was on one thing and one thing only: going to the show again. She bought herself a ticket, grateful that she was able to save ten percent by buying online this time, and checked that the ticket had arrived in her inbox. She showered, for some reason, as if preparing for a date, and even made sure to groom and shave parts of her body she’d had no need to pay attention to recently. She also curled her hair at the ends and left it down again.

After dressing, Honor reached for the stupid fedora but then tossed it back on the bed, deciding to go without it and risk it all. She did pack her big sunglasses in her bag just in case. Yes, they would look strange at night, but if she had to make a quick exit if she saw someone, she might be able to get out of there without them seeing her.

She left way too early for the event, which started in two hours, and decided to stop and grab food first this time. After eating at the restaurant by herself, which was something she was more than used to now, she left and headed toward the exhibit. It was still early, but the woman at the front door from the night before was there already, and she lifted her eyebrow at Honor, whom she obviously recognized.

“Need a ticket?”

“No, I… have one.” Honor held up her phone for the woman to scan.

“It’s open in the bar area right now. You remember the rules?”

“Yes,” she said.

“And you confirm you understand them?”

“Yes,” she repeated.

“Go on in. Just stay in the area marked off by red tape on the floor until the lights flicker.”

“I will,” Honor replied.

She pulled open the door, feeling instantly and rather strangely at home. She couldn’t believe she’d just thought that, though, as she walked over to the bar where there was a short line of people also here for the event. Some of them were talking to others and laughing. Some, like Honor, were staring down at their phones, trying to pretend like they weren’t embarrassed that they were there and about to watch people get it on.

“Can I get a red wine?” she asked. “Uh… please?”

“Sure,” the bartender replied and poured her a plastic cup half-full before telling her the total.

Honor tapped her phone on the payment screen, took her drink, and proceeded to walk around the space, which wasn’t yet dimmed completely but also wasn’t brightly lit. All the devices had to be turned off and couldn’t be out during the show, as per the instructions she’d read online that day, but until the event, she would bide her time by paying attention mostly to her phone while taking sips of her wine and walking around inside the red tape.

“Hi,” a woman said to her.

“Oh. Hi,” Honor replied.

“First time?” the woman asked.

“Uh… yeah,” she lied.

“Me too,” the woman said and looked around. “No idea about what to expect, but I heard from a friend who was here last night that it was hot as hell and he was able to hook up after.”

“Hook up?”

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