Rin
The music is sultry and seductive, while still maintaining a heavy bass that forces most people to lean in to hear one another. I’m sure that’s intentional; giving the illusion of privacy and offering an excuse to get closer without feeling awkward. Everything is dimly lit, and I actually feeloverdressednow that I’m here.
“A sex club,” Ares blinks, looking around with intrigue.
For a brief moment, I have a stab of doubt before promptly shoving it away. It’s clear that not even Cole’s eyes linger on anyone lasciviously, simply with open fascination, and I’d be a damn hypocrite not to admit I’m staring with just as much curiosity.
“That can’t possibly be comfortable,” he states, head canted to the side as some woman contorts herself into a position that I think I’d have to dislocate a few joints to pull off.
I try not to stare, not wanting to seem rude, but it’s nearly impossible to look away. “Props to her.” I can’t really keep track of all the cocks, but she certainly sounds like she’s enjoying herself.
A main room lit by a low, purple glow has dozens of people mingling or drinking at the bar. There are leather chaise lounges or booths scattered throughout, turning people’s sexual exploits into living art exhibits that you need to navigate around.
There are hallways branching off of the main room, some with closed doors and others without. I crane my neck and see a flash of chains hanging from loops on the wall of an open doorway, so I’m hazarding a guess that this place is well equipped to handle any kink you come here hoping to indulge.
A waitress clad only in lacy underwear passes by us, offering free drinks and both of the guys politely take one before she moves on. I put my hands over the top of the open glasses simultaneously as they start to take a drink, stopping them.
“I forgot you aren’t girls so aren’t taught the same things,” I say quietly, knowing they’ll have no trouble hearing me. “But you never accept drinks from strangers that you haven’t watched them pour, and if you take your eyes off of it for a while, you get a new one.”
“Why?” Ares asks, but he listens and sets it back on a tray as another waitress passes by.
“This is one of those things where your paranoia is perfectly valid,” I concede, still feeling like shit for giving him a hard time about it.
Especially now, as I’m forced to replay all of the rules I was taught to lessen the chance of being victimized. What I accepted as a normal hazard of life, I’m coming to see in a new light. We just accept there are shitty people and learn to live beside them instead of striving to make a better society where things like this aren’t normal, but occasional tragedies.
“Just assume anything offered to you is riddled with drugs to make you more susceptible to doing things you wouldn’t otherwise.”
“Hold the fuck up,”Cole growls, incensed. He’s more accustomed to the fringe towns than Ares, but it sounds like he still stayed to the outlying small towns that are primarily shifter inhabited and not nearly as experienced with larger towns.“They just walk around drugging and raping people and nobody does anything? You just accept you can’t trust your drink and go get a new one without thinking this is weird?!”
“And you said I expected the worst of people,”Ares scoffs, not outright calling me a hypocrite, but he doesn’t need to. I just didn’t see it before, but now I’m cringing the more things are forced into the light.
“I get it, I get it. I see it now. Just follow my lead.”
“Come to these sort of places often?” Cole asks with a smile in his voice. He doesn’t sound judgmental, just amused.
“No, but I’ve been to a club once or twice when I snuck out as a teenager. Same rules apply…sort of.”
Scanning the crowd, it’s actually hardnotto find a mage here. The starburst birthmark that they’re all born with on the side of their lower neck, spreading onto their shoulder, is on prominent display all around us. The color varies from person to person, though most I see just look like scar tissue in faded pink or white.
Primarily it’s men, but there are several women scattered throughout the place too. They wear their power like a second skin and people are drawn to it like moths to a flame. They ooze sex and confidence, and people are lapping it up like if they can kiss enough ass, some of it will rub off on them.
It’s desperate, and honestly, sort of pathetic. I’ve seen the same thing happen time and time again throughout my life, watching people pander to my father’s ego to stay in favor, but I was rather numb to it. Now I’m on the outside looking in at how disgusting my life really was and regretting not leaving sooner.
“First time?” a velvety, feminine voice whispers in my ear and I stiffen at the breath tickling against the side of my neck.
You couldn’t give me a little warning?I growl at them, but don’t wait for a reply.
“That obvious?”
I turn to face her, and Cole steps flush with my back and wraps his arms around my stomach, toying with the metal strip above my navel. He rests his chin on the top of my head, watching the newcomer attentively while tense, as if waiting to haul me out of here at a moment’s notice.
She smirks. “The new ones always radiate innocence in an intoxicating way.”
Tucking a lock of her long, dark hair behind her ear, she takes a sip of her drink, watching me intently over the rim. It draws attention to the pale starburst mark on her neck, and it’s clear she did it solely for that purpose. Her eyes are a rich brown, but the lighting makes them seem even darker. This woman lives and breathes subtle seduction like an art form.
Extending her free hand, she introduces herself. “Selena.”
“Elizabeth,” I only half lie since it’s my middle name.
