Once inside, I hand over my phone and encourage her to do the same.
‘This is a little strange,’ she murmurs as I take her hand again and lead her to the main salon.So strange I can’t even begin to explain.
I try to see the place through her eyes. The potted parlour palms, the heavy drapes, the pianist playing something gentle. The welcoming fire burning at the hearth. It could be the foyer of an exclusive boutique hotel. So long as you don’t notice the smell of sex permeating the air. Or the rapacious looks as you lead a new girl into the fray.
Thankfully, the owner, Dan Masters, recently issued a call for restraint in the main salon. Hopefully, that translates tonight to no one getting it on in here.
The crowd tonight is... eclectic. Some dress for an evening at the theatre, some for the club. The odd couple here and there are huddled together, quietly observing. Voyeurs or newbs, at a guess.
We take a seat by the fire; a leather love seat meant for two. The waitress takes our order. Vodka tonic for both of us. Our one and only tonight.
‘This place looks nice.’
There’s a question in her voice and I’m thankful it’s early, and that the surrounding sofas aren’t covered with squirming bodies. Exhibitionists really don’t give a fuck in these walls. And while I might’ve once been enthralled by watching a beautiful woman get off, or be spread across then eaten out on the bar, I find I’m no longer interested in watching that sort of affair.When did that happen. Only recently, I think.
‘So, what is this place? What’s the big secret.’
The waitress returns with our drinks, Sadie’s trusting green gaze lifting with her murmured thanks.
‘About Julian.’
She holds up her hand, her words sharp. ‘I don’t want to talk about it. Or him.’ She seems ready to speak again but I cut her off.
‘I know him from here, and from growing up. But we reconnected in this building just recently. And Sadie, I’m sorry, but he’s up to no good.’
‘I don’t know whether to be insulted or flattered. Why must you keep mentioning him? Do you think I can’t read people’s intentions myself?’
‘Darling,’ I say with an arrogant shrug. ‘You haven’t read me very well.’
She looks like I’ve slapped her, but strangely, my face also feels the sting. I pick up my glass, my fingers white and bloodless as I squeeze it hard enough to crack.
‘Julian wants to fuck you because you’re beautiful.’
‘What’s that got to do with you?’
‘Because I won’t let him,’ I answer in a growl. ‘Because he also wants to fuck you to get to me.’
‘You really do flatter yourself.’
‘You don’t get it.’ I won’t tell her the things he said about her at the airport. But I’ll hurt her in other ways. ‘The man is an addict and a sociopath, and he’s got it in for me because he thinks I fucked his wife.’
‘His wife!’ She brings her hand to her mouth like she’s physically ill. ‘He has a wife?’ Her words are pure breath and she looks so innocent. ‘Oh my God, I came all this way for a married man.’
Pain twists in my gut. She came for him.
‘Honestly, I don’t know if he is married, and I don’t know if I... I’d’
‘Slept with her?’
‘Something like that.’
‘But if I have, I did, it would’ve been in here. All kinds of fucked up shit goes on inside these walls.’ With my glass I indicate our surrounds. ‘Sadie, please forgive me. But the Den is—’
‘A sex club.’
I expect her to stand—to throw her drink in my face. I’d even imagined she’d storm out of the place. Instead, she picks up her own drink, sipping from it contemplatively.
‘So you brought me here to what ends?’ She glances down, her eyelashes closing over her emotions, hiding her thoughts from me.
