What Piper Needs (25 page)

Michael had no doubt that this night was going to be interesting.

They paid up and followed Brad and Gillian out to the parking lot. Piper got behind the wheel, and Michael slid into the passenger seat.

Piper drove out of the parking lot. “We’re not going very far,” she told him. “But that’s all I’m giving you.”

Michael glanced around at their surroundings as she drove, but he wasn’t familiar with this area at all. A few blocks later, Piper followed Gillian through a series of short turns, finally pulling into the parking lot of a warehouse.

Michael sat up as they got closer to the building. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “Is that a red number one painted above the door?”

Piper glanced out the windshield to where Michael pointed. “Looks like it. Why?”

He turned to his wife, grinning from ear to ear. “I know where we are.”

Piper’s face dropped. “You do? Have you been here before?”

“No! Of course not,” he assured her, leaning in to give her a kiss. “You’re not going to believe this, but this was the last thing on my top five.”

“Are you
kidding
me?” Piper said. “How did you find out about it?”

“I’m sure you haven’t forgotten Beth, right?”

“The blonde who walked in on us while I was blowing you under your desk?”

“The very same. After you left, she gave me a card, telling me to call her, so I did. But when we decided not to do anything else, I figured it could wait.”

“Oh.” Michael watched as some of the joy in Piper’s face seemed to drain away before his eyes. “Will she be here tonight?”

“I think so. That was the plan anyway. She’ll be surprised to see us, since I told her we weren’t coming.”

“Are you…does she want to have sex with you?” Piper paused. “I guess we could do that.”

Realizing why his wife’s mood had just changed, he immediately leaned over and covered her lips with another tender kiss. He let it linger, his hand cupping the back of her neck, before he pulled back. “No, Piper. I don’t want anyone but you tonight. And she doesn’t want me. She actually wants…
you
.”

“Me?” Piper’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about? Is she a lesbian?”

“Nope, she told me she’s bi. And she’s totally into you. But I don’t think it’s about sex. It’s just about touching and pleasure.”

A rap outside his window startled him, and he turned to see Gillian. She cocked her head at him. “Well, are you two coming or not?”

“We are,” Piper answered as she opened her door, a smile beginning to form on her lips. When Michael didn’t get out of the car immediately, Piper stuck her head back in and gave him a full smile. “You know, I might just want to meet up with this Beth and see where the night takes us.”

Michael was hard again instantly.

* * *

As they all walked toward the door with the red numeral one painted above it, Piper felt giddy. She’d been so relieved by Michael’s news that he didn’t want to have sex with Beth, and vice versa, she felt like she might fly.

“I can’t believe you had this on your list and knew someone to get us in!” Piper exclaimed, her arm around her husband’s waist. “I find that to be a crazy coincidence.”

“Michael knows about this place?” Gillian turned as Brad opened the door for them to enter. “Dang, that makes so much sense now! When I called my contact and gave her our names, she acted like you guys were already on the list. I just pretended she was fucking with me and carried on, like I usually do when life throws me a curve ball.”

“Michael put us on the list, if you can believe it,” Piper said as they entered a dark, industrial hallway. A big staircase was to the left.

A single guard stood inside against the wall.

He approached them as soon as they came in.

“I’m big, but that guy is
huge
,” Brad said with a low whistle. “Must be on some steroids.”

The guard’s face was masked in red fabric, and he was naked from the waist up.

“That’s massive man candy right there,” Gillian said, seemingly unfazed by his size. “What do we need to do to get by you, sir?” she asked him.

The masked man made a show of looking them over one by one, his eyes traveling up and down as he went. He took his time. Then he simply nodded and pointed to his right.

They all shuffled in that direction, Piper trying not to giggle too loudly as she passed him. “Well, that was…a little strange,” she said as they got farther down the hallway.

“They must have people with fetishes here,” Gillian commented over her shoulder. “That’s the kind of guy you have standing sentinel at a BDSM party. More than anything, that guy is meant to titillate first and keep out the riffraff second.”

“Welp, I’m happy to say the titillation part worked on me,” Piper said. “But how does he know who the riffraff are from the regular clientele?” They made their way to the single door at the end of the hallway.

Brad pulled it open.

There were no markings on this one, not even another red number one.

“I’m assuming,” Gillian said, “that in this neighborhood, anyone who doesn’t look like they work full time for the man gets verified. That hunk of a man took one look at you guys and let us all in. If Brad and I had come alone, who knows? He probably has a list on his phone and has to take it out from time to time to check.” Gillian stepped aside to let Piper and Michael walk through the door first.

“By the way, I still don’t know where we’re going,” Brad said, bringing up the rear. “But I think I have a pretty good idea.”

“Oh, honey,” Gillian said. “No, you don’t, but I think you’re going to like it anyway.” As she passed, he affectionately grabbed her ass.

“If you’re here, I’ll like it just fine,” Brad growled as he shut the door behind them.

They had entered a large foyer where the décor took on a very different feel. The walls were painted in deep purples and trimmed with gold. There was dark plum carpeting, large potted plants in every corner, palm fronds reaching up to the ceiling, and there was modern art hanging on the walls. It was hard to see any more small details, because the lights in the sconces were set very low. There was just enough illumination to see an archway to the right.

No one else was around, which seemed strange, as a lot of folks should have been coming and going.

“Looks like there’s only one way to go,” Gillian said, taking the lead. “So we take it.”

The group followed her. The archway turned into another long hallway. It was decorated the same, with sconces every ten feet.

“Is that another door at the end?” Michael said.

“Looks like it,” Piper answered. As they got closer, they could see one detail on it.

A red number one.

24

__________________________

____________

M
ichael took Piper’s hand as they came to a stop in front of the last door. Brad reached up and knocked, then took a step back and slung his arm over Gillian’s shoulders.

Almost immediately, the door opened.

A woman dressed in a normal, almost conservative, black dress said, “Hello, and welcome to the Underground. Won’t you come in?” She stepped back and swung her arm, tugging the door open completely.

They walked into a room decorated in a deep red.

The wall directly in front of them was a large pane of glass, and the scene behind it was almost surreal.

People were mingling everywhere. The room beyond was cavernous, a true warehouse decorated to the nines with gigantic chandeliers hanging from the tall ceiling, and at least two full bars, one at each end.

As they came fully into the anterior room, Michael noticed that multiple bartenders manned the bars, and they were all naked from the waist up, including the women. He couldn’t see their bottom halves.

“Please come this way.” The woman gestured to her left as she shut the door behind them. “The Gatekeepers are waiting for you.”

Michael glanced to where the woman had pointed. Sure enough, on the far side of the room two people sat at a table right by huge glass double doors. As the group walked over, Piper leaned in and said, “This kind of feels like we’re going to prom and our medical forms are our tickets. I mean, seriously, they should at least be sitting behind something grand to match the décor, rather than a simple folding table.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, after that maze, you’d think it would be a little more high tech.”

Gillian and Brad reached the Gatekeepers first.

They walked up to the woman, and true to what Beth had described, she resembled a librarian. She had a perfectly quaffed blonde bob to go along with her light blue cardigan. “Hiya,” Gillian said to her. “Brad and Gillian Harrison.”

They watched as her finger ran down the paper in front of her. After she got to their names, her head came up. “Oh, yes, you’re cleared already. I just need your forms.” Gillian handed them to her. “Go on in.” The woman winked. “Have fun!”

Gillian laughed as she pulled Brad by the arm toward the big glass doors. “We’ll see you inside, dudes.”

Michael tugged Piper toward the guy. He was dressed equally conservatively. He looked like a tech geek, complete with a blue and white pinstriped shirt and black-rimmed glasses. “Michael and Piper Collins,” he told him.

They watched him do the same thing as the woman, his finger running down the paper in front of him. Once he got to their names, he looked up. “First-timers?”

“Yes,” Michael answered.

“We’re going to have to ask each of you a few private questions before we let you in. No need to be nervous, but we need to take precautions to guard against bad press. You understand.”

“Of course,” Piper replied, handing over their clean bills of health.

The man took the papers and nodded to his right. “You go with Heather, and your husband can come with me.” The guy stood and headed to a door to his right that Michael hadn’t even noticed.

Michael followed him, seeing that he had no other choice. He glanced over at Piper before he went through the door, and she nodded at him, giving him a single raised eyebrow and a cocky grin.

Once they were inside the room, the guy turned to Michael. “I’m Tom,” he said, reaching out to shake Michael’s hand. Michael took it. “And this is just routine. The first question is: Where do you work?”

“I’m a lawyer at Olsen, Ramsey, and Martin.”

“That’s downtown, right?” Michael watched him make a note on the paper he’d brought with him.

“Yes.”

The guy looked up and smiled. “You must know Beth, then?”

“Yes, she’s initially how I found out about this place.”

“Next question. Is this your first time participating in an orgy?”

“Yes,” Michael said, “but I’ve been in the lifestyle for about nine years.”

The guy scratched more notes. “Last question. How likely are you to talk about your experiences here to outsiders?”

Michael inclined his head. “I won’t be sharing anything about this with anyone outside the lifestyle. You have my promise.”

“Are you willing to put that in writing at a later date?”

“Yes,” Michael said.

“Great. We don’t have anyone at the meet and greets sign anything formal, but we try to vet as best we can. If you want to become a member at some point down the road, you have to sign a variety of documents and pay a substantial fee. Our members are used to really nice things.”

“I can see that,” Michael answered. “And, yes, I will agree to sign any documents if we decide to join.”

“You’re cleared for tonight,” Tom said. “The main room is the place to mingle. As the night goes on, there will be sexual acts taking place there, usually on the couches, so don’t be surprised. There are several rooms off the main area, and those are invite-only-type places. If you catch someone’s eye, you can easily be invited. It’s not formal. There is no manhandling the staff”—he cocked his eyebrow—“unless they invite it. There are also checkers working the room. They will be dressed in white shirts and black pants, and they maintain order and make sure everything is consensual. They are forbidden to participate in any extracurricular activities, and each member rotates a night of checking. Because our membership is growing fast, members usually only have to do one night of checking a year. So if you’re approached and asked, ‘Is everything okay?’ just know this is routine, and we encourage you to answer honestly.”

Michael nodded. Beth had told him everything already, so he was prepared. “Got it.”

“Okay then, you can head out and meet up with your wife,” Tom told him.

Michael chuckled. “I’m sure she passed with flying colors.”

“Oh, I’m sure she did, too,” he said, closing the door after them. “You guys came with the second-highest personal recommendation possible, which means we went very easy on you.”

“Good to know.” Michael spotted his wife by the doors. He walked up to her and said, “Shall we go?”

“We shall.”

* * *

“What were your questions?” Piper asked as they entered the elaborately decorated warehouse. The light from the chandeliers was set low, just like the lighting on the way in. Lamps on various tables clustered around sitting areas gave the place a nice living room feel.