CHAPTER 11
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“But what am I supposed to wear?”
Gil is sitting in my mother’s lounge chair. It’s a huge chair, but it looks tiny with Gil in it. He had come over earlier that day and had told me we were going to Dominium that evening. It wasn’t a last-minute thing; the boys had decided to only tell me right before we would go so I wouldn’t stress out over it. It was a good plan in theory, but now I’mstressing the fuck out because I haven’t had enough time to stress out about it. I don’t tell Gil that though. I’m worried he might deem me too unstable to go to Dominium if I make him privy to my most inner panicky thoughts.
“Just something you feel pretty in,” he says while taking out his phone and he starts to scroll on it.
“Isn’t there some sort of dress code?”
“Why do I get the feeling you believe Dominium is some kind of sex dungeon?”
The idea in my head is not exactly a sex dungeon, but it’s not far off to be honest. I don’t really know what to expect. He sees the worry on my face and smiles.
“It’s a place like a nightclub, but there are small rooms for people to explore other sides of their sexuality. It’s more about a mentality than it is about a vibe. There’s people that come in jeans and a shirt and that let their inner freak out. There’s people dressed up in leathers and lace and having a collar around their neck. If you just come over in what you’re wearing now, have a drink at the bar and not do anything out of the ordinary, nobody will bat an eye.”
That relaxes me a little, but I don’t know if I totally believe him. I do take his word for the outfit choice. Looking him up and down and checking his outfit, I ask him: “What are you wearing?”
His eyes fall down to his dark jeans and black shirt and he raises his brow.
“Really?”
He smirks one of those gorgeous one sided smirks. “Really.”
His reassurance eases me, making me more excited than anxious and I bounce up the stairs to go pull something cute out of my closet to wear.
Going off the reactions the boys gave me, I picked a perfect outfit. It is just a navy fifties dress that hugs my curves in all the right places, but it makes me feel pretty and that was the assignment I was given. Dean is driving the car and Jonah is in the passenger seat. O stayed home tonight because he has a big deal at work tomorrow and he wants to be fit for that. Not all of us have jobs that allow us to stay up and play at night. I’m perfectly happy to procrastinate writing some more in order to go check out Gil’s ‘establishment’.
The drive to Kinseltown goes by quickly while the boys talk about work. I zone out a little because I know nothing about the hospitality business and before I know it the car is parked. Dominium isn’t in the same neighborhood as Tempest. We’re in the outer areas of Kinseltown now and you have to know where to look to find Dominium. I would’ve missed it completely if I hadn’t been taken in the right direction by the boys.
There are no bouncers at the entrance, like there had been at Tempest. It has a different vibe. We walk in through the front door without there being a line of people waiting and there is a man dressed in security clothes sitting on a stool behind the door, looking at his phone. He looks up when we walk in and he quickly puts his phone away.
“Sorry boss,” is all he says when he sees Gil coming in.
“No worries, Bobby. I know your job is boring, but I like to keep you around anyway.”
Bobby smiles at that and he crosses his arms in front of his chest. He looks at Gil with two bright green eyes and he also has a bald head, my theory about bouncers being proven once again. Other than that he doesn’t seem to be bouncing though, he has a uniform on with a logo of one of the security companies in the area. Maybe people in security also tended to have bald heads so they couldn’t be grabbed by the hair in a fight, just like I thought about the bouncer. I’d have to look into that theory some time.
“Didn’t expect you to come in tonight. Is there more stock coming in? Marcel is managing the floor tonight, right?”
“I’m not here for business tonight, I’m showing Morgan what Dominium is all about. She has the notion we’re running a sex dungeon.”
My cheeks heat at the mention of my prejudiced ideas.
Bobby then smiles at me and grins widely. “Have fun, newbie.”
I guess I’m not the first new person to walk through these doors, and we all have some misconceptions about what we’re walking into. The fact that he was sitting there so casually scrolling his phone reassures me that everything is fine over here and I wave to Bobby as the boys take me along to go inside, happy to not talk about what my ideas are about what’s going on over here.
Dominium is not what I expected. We enter a small space that gives off a homey feeling with burgundy walls and couches all around. There is an oak bar on the other side of the room with some stools around it. While there is a small dance floor, it isn’t taking over the whole room but just seems to be a dedicated spot for dancing. It isn’t very busy on the dance floor either, just a few people gently swaying to some seductive techno tunes. There’s no DJ booth like there is in Tempest and the music seems to come out of the speakers. I guess the focus is not on the dancing over here.
The biggest difference with Jonah’s nightclub is the people that attend here. While Tempest had been crowded with young people who all dressed to impress, the people here are a little older. There are big differences in how people look. Some are indeed dressed in the leathers I had imagined everyone would be dressed in. There’s a woman sitting at the bar in an actual leather catsuit with a leather whip in her hand, while on the other side of the bar is a man in his sixties wearing jeans and a Hawaiian shirt. I now understand how Gil came to say that I could wear anything that I felt pretty in, and I’m happy I wore something that made me feel just that.
Some booths are lined up at the wall where we can sit, and Gil guides me to one of them on the other side of the room. It’s right next to a stage that has a stripper pole and a cage on it. I look at it curiously, wondering what they’re there for exactly and Gil notices me staring.
“Some people like to be watched,” he says as we slide into the booth. “Some people like to make their significant others get out of their comfort zones. Sometimes we have performers.”
“So anybody that wants to use it can just get on stage and make use of it?”