"Yeah, yeah." I waved him off and headed out to my truck.
The drive downtown took about forty-five minutes through rush hour traffic, and by the time I pulled up to the warehouse district, the sun was already starting to dip lower in the sky. The bathhouse turned out to be in a renovated warehouse that looked like it used to be some kind of factory. If I didn’t have the address, I never would’ve known it was there.
I grabbed my toolbox and headed for the entrance. The front door was simple and unmarked except for a “Member’s Only” sign.
Well, I wasn't a member, but I was the fucking plumber, so I pushed it open anyway. Inside I found a totally normal lobby with a front desk, vinyl floors, and sterile fluorescent lighting. And there was a completely normal looking guy behind the desk, probably in his mid forties. The only thing that evenhintedat the fact that this was a men only establishment was the fact that the front desk attendant was reading a romance novel with two half-naked men on the cover.
He looked up when I walked in, setting the book down with a small smile. His gaze flitted across my body before landing on my tool bag. "You must be the plumber."
"That's me," I said, setting my tool bag down. "Brad. I'm here about the sauna and the hot tub?"
"Oh thank god," he said, standing up. "We’ve had to close that part of the facility and the members arenothappy." He placed his book on the desk and picked up the phone. “Let me call someone to take you through. I can’t leave the desk.”
"So what's going on exactly?" I asked as he began to dial.
"The sauna is stuck on high heat and won't turn off. It was damn near two hundred degrees in there before we unplugged it. And one of the private hot tubs in the back won't drain no matter what we do. We've had to rope it off."
“Sounds like something I can take care of.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” A moment later his eyebrows raised and I heard a voice come through the other end of the phone. “Yes,” the man nodded. “Can you send Michael up to take him through? Thanks.”
He hung up and gave me an apologetic smile. "Michael will be here in just a moment. He's one of our... attendants."
I nodded, glancing around the lobby. It really was surprisingly normal. I'd half expected something out of a porno, but it just looked like any other business.
A door I hadn't noticed before opened, and I turned to see who I assumed was Michael stepping through. My brain stuttered for a second because the guy was not just a werewolf, but fucking gorgeous. Tall, lean, with white fur that covered him from head to toe, and eyes that were an unsettling shade of amber. Almost gold, really. He was wearing black jeans and a simple black t-shirt that hugged his frame in a way that made it clear he took care of himself.
"You're the plumber?" His voice was smooth, almost melodic, and I felt something weird twist in my gut.
"Yeah. Brad." I picked up my tool bag, suddenly very aware of how sweaty and dirty I probably looked after a full day of work.
"Michael." He didn't offer his hand, just gestured toward the door he'd come through. "Follow me. I'll show you to the sauna first."
I took a step toward him before he turned back, blocking my way.
“You… uh… been told about the kind of place this is?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, just fair warning, we have members here right now and we have to pass through the locker room. So there will be guys in various states of?—”
“Naked men don’t scare me,” I said before he could finish.
Something flashed in his eyes then. I couldn’t tell if he was surprised, impressed, or both. Either way, I liked the way it made my stomach clench. He gave me a good once over before flashing me a smile, his sharp white canines gleaming in the fluorescent light.
“Then let me show you to the sauna.”
I followed Michael through the door and immediately hit a wall of warm, humid air that smelled like chlorine, sweat, and distinctly sex. The locker room was bigger than I expected, with rows of metal lockers and wooden benches. And yeah, there were naked dudes and monsters everywhere.
A couple of guys were changing by their lockers, completely unbothered by our presence. Another, a minotaur, was walking toward what I assumed were the showers, his ass on full display and his hooves clicking on the tile. I kept my eyes forward, focused on Michael's back as he led me deeper into the facility.
"The sauna is in the back," Michael said over his shoulder. "Past the roman bath and the private rooms."
We walked through an archway and the temperature jumped another ten degrees. The roman bath was exactly what it sounded like. It was a massive room with faux Italian architecture all surrounding a giant bath. At least two dozen guys were in there, soaking and chatting. And some of them, in full view, were getting bent over the edge of the bath and fucked.
One of them, a burly guy with a thick beard, looked up as we passed. His eyes lingered on me for a second too long before he said something to his buddies that I couldn't hear. They all laughed.
"Ignore them," Michael said without turning around. "They're harmless."
