“Okay, cool.” Star smiled. “See you soon.”
They hung up just as Asaad was finished touching up his make-up. Star changed into the burgundy suit and no shirt, leaving his chest bare, and went to finish the shoot with pep in his step.
Chapter Nine
STAR
He had been to a few kink clubs, thanks to Thornton making seedy deals to get what he wanted, using Star as the payment. Entertainers in Hollywood were a kinky bunch of people and hid it behind their smiles and good deeds to deflect the rumors. Star had seen enough to know what was true and what were lies. It was the same as those in a same-sex relationship who had beards to hide behind.
Star couldn't fault them since he had his secrets that he wasn't willing to share or admit aloud. Besides his relationship with Thornton, Star was just as kinky as the Hollywood elites. He was resistant when introduced to kink because of his situation and circumstances. But he was grateful for one particular dominant, a music producer, who gave Thornton many favors that did not benefit Star as far as he could remember.
Tanji Cuttler was a gentle dominant who guided him through the basics of BDSM whenever they played together. Although he knew Tanji was not a good man—after all, he was friends with Thornton—he still asked for Star's consent before they did anything. And unlike all the other men Thornton had forced him to be with, Tanji was the only one that could make him forget his misfortunes.
Star had spent a lot of time with Tanji, and it was during those moments he thought about leaving Thornton, not for the dominant but for the freedom the man gave him. Thornton must have noticed Star's wavering, because not long after, he ended his partnership with Tanji and put a much tighter leash on Star, making it impossible to leave. Somehow, Thornton had incurred a debt he could not pay back. He knew Thornton did something illegal, but he couldn't prove it. But whatever the case was, his former lover had him stuck.
Fuck, I was a fool, or maybe I wanted to kill Thornton for all the things he did to me. But it shouldn't haven't taken me going to prison, being killed, then coming back from the dead for me to figure things out.
"Here," Vivienne said, handing him a glass of champagne, and he took a light sip, letting the bubbles settle on his palate. "Come on, let's grab a table."
As they walked to an empty booth, Star looked around the tastefully decorated club with a romantic ambiance. The place looked more like a restaurant than a kink club, with elegantly set tables, expensive leather chairs, and booths, but no one was eating, nor did he see anything kinky going on except for the way everyone was dressed.
Like him and Vivienne, they wore half masks, hiding their appearance. Some were Venetian half-masks with elaborate feathers, while his and Vivienne's were simple animal shapes that complimented their outfits. Vivienne was dressed as a sexy bunny in a black minidress contoured to her body, not leaving much to the imagination. To top off her look, she wore blood-red lipstick, enhancing her heart-shaped lips beneath her mask.
They got him a leather cat mask attached to a shoulder and body harness. He didn't bother with a shirt since it worked well with his leather pants and the silver-buckle goth boots. Although the club had a strict confidentiality policy, Vivienne wanted to be safe and completely protect his identity if he hooked up with someone and he took his mask off.
He was impressed with the curly, jet-black wig that seemed to melt onto his scalp with whatever glue the makeup artist used. The hair felt real when touched from roots to tip and looked so real he had forgotten it was fake. However, he was cautioned that the glue would wear off after a few hours. Not only was he fitted with a different hair style, Star wore green-colored contacts that the best scientists must have made because they could hide his orange-red eyes better than he expected.
"So, is this all there is?" Star asked. "I thought we came out to have fun."
Vivienne looked at him and smiled. "I was trying to ease you into the scene."
"Do I look easy to scare? I might have said nothing when you told me where we were going, but I've played before."
Vivienne threw her head back and laughed as if he'd said something funny. "Very well," she said, standing. "Come with me, and I will introduce you to a whole new world."
Star put his empty champagne glass down and followed Vivienne, who led him to a set of doors he hadn't noticed when they entered earlier, nor did he see the two burly men standing in front of it. They were also wearing masks, but their faces were completely covered.
"Password," one of them said. He wore a lion mask, and the other guard's mask was a hawk.
"Pegasus," Vivienne answered, and the two men nodded and opened the doors, and Star noticed it was a waiting area. As they were about to take a step forward, Star was stopped.
"You can't enter," said the hawk.
"Why? I'm with her," he said, pointing to Vivienne.
"Yeah, he came as my guest," she added.
"You know the rule. Two uncollared submissives cannot enter the dungeon without a dominant as their escort. Especially one that's never been here before. He'll be eaten alive," the lion growled.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Vivienne sighed, shaking her head, with her hands on her hips. "Then I guess we'll just leave." She took his hand, and they were about to leave when a new voice spoke.
"Let them through."
Star and Vivienne turned to see a man wearing a black-and-white wolf's mask that matched his black suit. The man was tall and quite muscular, which reminded him of Anubis Ahket, but he didn't know why he suddenly thought of the other man, because their build was where the similarities ended.
"Yes, sir," the guards said, not questioning the man. Instead, they stepped aside and allowed Star and Vivienne to enter the club.
"I hope we didn't get you in trouble," Star told the wolf-masked man. He knew kink clubs had rules, and it wasn't only for the submissives to abide by them; dominants had to also. It was for everyone's safety.
