“I …” Pausing, I can’t make myself tell her no. She just offered up my freedom like it was nothing. As if anyone can get in a car and go wherever they want.
“She’s not supposed to be seen in public,” Emilee reminds her.
“It’s not public.” Jasmine rolls her eyes. “It’s a club. That’s closed. Not like it’s a Saturday night and the place is packed. The contractor isn’t even going to think twice about her being there.”
I stand from the table and nod my head. I want to get out. Even if it’s just to be alone somewhere else. Bones doesn’t own me no matter how much he thinks he does. So what if he paid ten million for me? I’m not for sale. I am allowed to have a life and make my own decisions. And I’m starting with this one. “I’d love to go.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
MIA
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, she’s pulling up to a club. A guy is already there waiting on her outside.
“I’m so sorry,” she tells him, opening the door.
“No worries,” he says, entering with us. Jasmine was right. He doesn’t pay me any attention.
I look around the large open space and a mirrored wall behind the bar. It’s got a stage at the front for live music. There’s a main bar to the right and what looks like a smaller one on the other side, next to the stage. It looks unfinished to me, which makes sense since she’s giving the contractor the updated plans, but what do I know about running a club? Absolutely nothing.
Alexa was also right; the man didn’t stay very long. He went over a few things with Jasmine while I wandered around, and then she walked him out.
“This place is nice,” I say as she returns from locking the front door after the guy leaves.
“Thank you. It just needed some love,” she says vaguely, and I don’t push her any further to tell me what happened to it. Not my place. “I’m going to run downstairs to Kink really quick. Is that okay?”
“Of course.” I nod.
I follow her down a flight of stairs and through a door. “Wow,” I say. It’s like night and day from upstairs. This is something I’d imagine you’d see in New York. Black and white leather walls with silver buttons on the material. “What is this place?” I ask.
“This is Kink. Alexa, Bones, and I own it.”
“Dillan?” I ask, surprised.
She nods, flipping some light switches on. “Technically, he’s our silent partner. Since some men still believe women aren’t allowed to do anything on their own, we had to have him on the paperwork.”
I nod like I know what she’s talking about, but I don’t. I’m not a businesswoman. “So what is it exactly?” I go on as she walks into an office and sits at a desk.
“It’s a sex club—BDSM.”
“BDSM?” I ask slowly.
“Yep.” She smiles up at me proudly. “Anyone can do anything they want with whoever they want as long as they sign the consent forms.” Wiggling her eyebrows, she adds, “As many cocks as a woman could need.” Waving her arm out, she looks down at her paperwork. “Feel free to look around if you’d like. This will only take me a minute.”
When your family chooses to make you disappear, the time goes by excruciatingly slow. I found the best way to pass the time was to read. I found dark romance to be my favorite. I love when the heroine falls in love with the villain. The forbidden love that you’re not supposed to want. I may not have ever had sex, but I read about it in books. I understand that not everyone has that kind of sex life, if any. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know anything about the BDSM lifestyle.
Curious to see the club, I exit her office and walk down a hallway. At the end, I take a left and enter the open dance floor/bar area with black barstools and a black marble bar top. A mirror runs along the wall outlined in twinkling white lights. This looks to be further along with construction than the club upstairs.
I walk across it to the other side and down another hallway. Square windows allow you to see into different rooms. I walk into the first one on the right. A black leather table has what looks like leather belts for restraints placed strategically along the table. I run my hands over it, feeling how soft it is.
The back wall is white leather, and it, too, has restraints that hang from it in various places—wrists, ankles, neck, and waist.
“What the fuck, Jasmine?” I hear a familiar voice yell.
“She’s fine, Bones.” Their voices grow nearer. I step out of the room into the hallway just as I spot them coming toward me. “See. She’s in one piece, and there’s no one else here.” Jasmine comes to a stop with her hand on her hip.