“All the women here are queer,” Athena says. “Donna’s not out, and I provide a safe space for her to be herself.” Sheplaces a hand on the small of my back. “Come, I’ll introduce you.”
“Are you serious?”
But we’re already moving. The justice smiles when she sees Athena. “There you are, honey!” She accepts Athena’s kiss on the cheek, then turns to me. “And Ruby Walsh of Walsh & Associates, as I live and breathe.”
I stammer something about being honored, and she waves it away. “No ‘Your Honor’ here, dear. I’m just Donna. We all use first names or nicknames.” She looks between Athena and me, one eyebrow raised. “Are you two together?”
“We’re neighbors,” I say quickly, feeling my face heat again.
Donna laughs. “Ah!You’rethe neighbor? So you finally caved? You know you’re the reason we all had to arrive shielding our faces from view.”
I apologize, but she just winks and turns back to her companion.
Athena’s still holding my hand, her thumb stroking me as if trying to put me at ease. “Ready to see more?” she asks.
We move through a heavy velvet curtain into another space, this one more intimate. The lighting is lower, the music softer. About a dozen women occupy the deep sofas, some simply talking, others… My eyes widen as I spot another familiar face. The CEO of a major tech company deeply engaged in kissing a woman. Her hand slides under the woman’s top, caressing her breast. It’s hard to tear my gaze away from them.
“So all these women here are…” I trail off, mesmerized by the scene.
“Queer?” Athena nods. “It’s sexy, isn’t it? Watching powerful women let go of their public personas.” Her gazedrops to my mouth and lingers on my lips. For one terrifying heartbeat, I think she might kiss me, but she snaps out of it and straightens herself.
“There’s more,” she says, showing me to the next room. It contains a large bed with an armchair on either side. Two women occupy the bed, one’s head buried between the other’s thighs. A third woman watches from one of the armchairs, her skirt hiked up and one hand moving slowly between her own legs.
The woman who’s pleasuring her looks up, grinning at me. “Hey there, newbie. Want to join?” She licks her lips. “Plenty of room.”
“Don’t stop!” The other woman pushes her head back down and spreads her legs farther. “She’s right, you should join us,” she says to me through hazy eyes. “She’s very, very good at…” Her voice trails off as her head falls back and she shuts her eyes tight, moaning.
The scene before me is raw, primal, impossible to look away from. Heat spreads through my body, an ache I haven’t felt in years. My breath comes faster, and I press my thighs together, trying to calm the sudden throb.
“I’m sorry, but this isn’t my thing,” I manage. My hands tremble as I clutch my drink. I feel exposed, stripped bare. Athena has ripped me out of my comfort zone in every way imaginable and I’m not sure how much more I can take.
The woman on the bed moans again, the sound going straight through me. I can’t stop watching, even as I back toward the door. Every cell in my body feels awake, alive, hungry for something I’ve denied myself for too long. I’m aware of Athena’s presence beside me—the warmth radiating from her body, the subtle scent of her perfume, the way her fingers still rest againstmy lower back.
I wish I had pockets to hide my trembling hands, a way to anchor myself in this storm of awakening sensation.
“Ruby is new, girls! Give her some time to adjust,” Athena jokes, guiding me out of the room.
“Are you okay?” she asks and continues without waiting for an answer. “Want to see my favorite room?”
“Can I handle your favorite room?” I blow out my cheeks, and she chuckles.
“I guess we’re about to find out.”
Athena leads me down another corridor, this one darker than the other, lit only by sconces that cast flickering shadows on the bare brick walls. The music is different here—slower, deeper. I catch glimpses through a partially open door: bare skin, leather, flashes of metal.
My mouth goes dry. Things are clearly getting more…intense. A woman’s moan echoes, followed by the sharp crack of leather against skin.
Athena pushes open the heavy black door and the scene stops me in my tracks. A woman stands with her arms above her head, wrists bound in leather cuffs attached to a ceiling ring. She wears nothing but a black lace thong, her naked breasts rising and falling with rapid breaths. Another woman circles her, dressed in leather hot pants and a matching bra, wielding a riding crop.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Athena stares at the scene, mesmerized as if she’s admiring a work of art in a museum.
I don’t answer; I have no idea what to say. Instead, I watch, transfixed, as the crop traces a line down the bound woman’s spine. It strikes the woman’s behind and she lets out a throaty moan. My skin tingles in response.
Athena’s fingers tighten on my hip, and the look she gives me when our eyes meet is knowing, intense—like she can see into my mind. “Come,” she says. “Enough for now. Idon’t want to scare you away on your first night. Let’s go back to the main lounge and I’ll introduce you to a few friends. A wealth of valuable connections is about to open up to you.”
I nod but don’t move until she nudges me. I seem to have forgotten how to walk because I nearly stumble over my own feet as we head back to the lounge.
“So that’s your thing?” I ask. “You like to be spanked?”
