It’s only a second later that Arlo drags me through the room, hand still in mine, with the firm words in my ear that I should see the rest of the club first. I haven’t, after all. I’ve only seen the main room and only for thirty minutes or so. This is my first time here with the lights on. Or, out, rather. And my first time going through the doorway that leads to a dark, wide hallway with open doors on either side.
“Playroom number one,” Arlo announces, pointing into the first room on the left that has a smaller array of furniture. It mirrors the main room in its simplicity and color scheme of black and red, but past that, it’s not exactly special. “Playroom number two.” He points at the room across the hall, which is just a touch smaller but, again, nothing special.
Before I get to look too much, however, he pulls me onward, pointing into the next room on the right with a grin. “The classroom.” At my stifled giggle, he grins. “You laugh, but I’ve done stuff in here, and you’dlike it.”
“That’s not as difficult as you make it sound,” I point out. “I like a lot of things, Arlo.” It’s true, even though some of them arefantasylikes and things I’ve only experienced from afar.
“Oh yeah?” He pulls me into the doorway and loops his arms around my waist to lean down and brush his lips against mine. “Is that a challenge? We could do something ineveryroom. Something that fits the theme. Though, you definitely need a skirt for this one. Although…” His eyes darken, and he cups my ass, only to move his hands down to my upper thighs and grip my fishnets, making me squeak indignantly.
“I could get you for a dress code violation in here. These aren’tschool-appropriate, and I’ll have to take them off of you and discipline you appropriately.” It’s such a stupid, ridiculous thing to say, and I can’t believe how his words go straight to pool between my thighs, damn it.
“Are you going to be my principal or my teacher?” I ask, staring up at him with a smile threatening my lips. “Because if you’re my teacher, then I’m sure I need to discuss my academic performance with you and discuss the areas in whichyouneed to improve.”
“WhereIneed to improve?” He looks mockingly affronted. “I’m the teacher, remember?”
“And my performance review isn’t without critique,” I tell him, nodding sagely. “So if you want to just sit down at the desk over there and–”
He snorts and pulls me out of the room, shaking his head. “You’re such a fucking tease, you know. Well.” Arlo’s grin turns dangerous, his eyes glittering with a multitude of ideas I know that he must have.
I’d like to know every one of them, but I’m absolutely a little bit afraid to actually ask.
“Oh,Ari,” he sighs and gestures toward the next room on the left. “Exam room, obviously.”
“Obviously,” I agree flatly, my eyes flicking around the very good representation of a doctor’s exam room complete with cabinets, a rolling stool, and a table for, uh,examinations. “I’ve never really had much of a doctor kink, to be honest. But I can be your sexy nurse.”
“You mean sexy patient.”
“Well, if that’s what you want to be, then who am I to stop you from living out your dreams? We can probably find some restraints for you in there, don’t you think? You definitely feel like an unruly patient to me.”
This time my attempts to get him going don’t seem to work. He smiles brightly at me and whisks me away, just to stop at the last room on the right with an open door. “Throne room.” Is all he says, and it is as simple as that. A throne sits against the back wall, bigger and more grand than the one in the main room, and a sofa sits against one wall opposite a floor-to-ceiling mirror that takes up much of the other.
“I’m into being queen,” I say.
“Too bad there’s only one throne, and I don’t think it’s your name on it,” Arlo teases. “And that’s the kitchen. Lots of people bring in different foods and drinks. There’s probably really good sweet tea in there today from Dolores since she’s here. And maybe taco dip. All food stays in there, but drinks can go anywhere.”
With the tour done, I stare at him, my heart spinning in my chest and making me feel breathless. I don’t know what to say or ask ordo. I don’t know whathewants from me, and this is alot. The good kind of a lot, but still aloteither way.
Whatever he sees in my face makes Arlo’s smile soften, and he throws an arm over my shoulders to lead me back to the main room. “We don’thaveto do anything,” he tells me. “Not if you don’t want to.”
“That’s very un-Lost Boy of you,” I say, letting him pull me to one of the large, plush leather couches in one corner that’s not taken. Thankfully it’s theonlycouch in this corner, so when he sits down, it means that no one else can come over to our space.
I sit down beside him, not meaning to sitso closethat our thighs brush together, but Arlo murmurs in approval and wraps an arm around my shoulders to pull me in for a kiss.
“Let me make you my pet today,” he purrs into my mouth. “Just for a little while.”
“Too bad I left my ears and tail at home?” I say, the words not quite a question but still phrased somewhat like one.
“You’re perfect just as you are.” He rearranges me so that my head is in his lap, and I have an amazing view of everything that’s going on in the main room while he runs his fingers through my long black hair.
Which, okay, is pretty freaking great. So is the way he occasionally strokes down my spine. I’m sure if Iwasa cat, I’d be purring like I’m pleased as hell.
“You need a collar,” he tells me, his voice barely audible over the music as he watches a woman slowly running a knife all along a man’s back. “With a little bell on it. Would you wear a collar for me, Ari?”
I’ll probably do just about anything he asks if he keeps petting me like this, so I don’t answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me.
But he chuckles softly, as if Ididanswer, and goes on, “It’s nice, right? We’re not New York or LA, so it’s not like there’s a lot of choices when it comes to kink around here. Just this place and a few people’s houses, but that’s kind of sketchy.”
“Coming from you?” I roll over onto my back and frown at him. “Sketchy feels like a real insult.You guysare sketchy, in my opinion.”