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It really did, and I had no idea why I’d thought the opposite. I’d feel silly if Claude wasn’t walking there already as if there was nothing strange about my words.

“There’s no alcohol, but they make great mocktails if you’re into that.”

I didn’t have to ask to know Claude would be into that. They really had a serious sugar addiction, not that I was going to complain. Their sugar addiction was the reason we’d started this—and why I was here tonight with them.

“Good to know.”

Claude ended up ordering for me when they flagged the server behind the bar.

He was a bald man wearing what I could only describe as stripper heels and a shiny corset. Rubber, perhaps? I didn’t know there were rubber corsets. It looked good on him, regardless of the material. I just always thought that rubber suits had to be incredibly uncomfortable. It was probably a me thing, though. Plenty of people were into rubber—I’d done a lot of research in preparation for tonight. Sure, I supposed some people could be into it becauseit was uncomfortable, but that couldn’t account for everyone.

Right?

“You’re deep in your head,” Claude observed.

I blushed. “Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” They made a tsking sound with their tongue. “I just want to make sure that you’re having a good time.”

“Yeah, no, of course.”

My eyes wandered around the room once more. I’d had this idea that, when we arrived, we’d be welcomed by screams of pain, with floggers and whips cutting through the air. Of course, there was nothing like that. Apart from a couple of subs on their knees while their Doms talked, nothing else was really happening. The room had a four-poster bed with a cage underneath that made me shiver for reasons I’d dissect once I was back in the safety of my own room. The other toys I was more indifferent toward. There were a couple Saint Andrew Crosses, a spanking bench, and a pillory.

I supposed I could be into that one, too, if it wasn’t used for pain. It could be used for sensation stuff, too, right?

Clearly, I hadn’t researched enough.

“You were right about this place being more chill,” I hummed.

“That’s why I like it.” Claude took a sip of their syrupy drink before continuing. “I can take you to the club Cin and their partner go to sometime if you want, but I like the no pressure vibe here.”

“No, I like it too.” I swallowed.

It was different than what I was expecting, yeah, but different was not bad. If I’d walked in to a different thing, I probably would’ve shut down right away.

“So what do you wanna do?” Claude tilted their head to the side. “I recognize a couple faces here. I wanted to say hi, but after that, I’m all yours.”

I took a deep, fortifying breath before I let the ambiance swallow me in. “Isn’t it the other way around?”

Claude’s gaze sharpened immediately. They moved quickly, standing between my legs, their hand above my knee. I shivered as they nudged my inner thigh.

“It goes both ways.”

I shivered once more—or maybe I hadn’t stopped shivering. “Right.”

“Good.” Claude smiled as if they were satisfied with the answer, but there was something about the glint in their eyes. That something said I should not lower my guard so quickly. “Now come with me. I’ll introduce you.”

“Anything I should know?”

Claude had said over and over that this club was more chill than others, and that people came here to mill around more than anything else. Still, my research said that lots of these clubs were big on protocol things. Even if this wasn’t a high protocol establishment, I wasn’t sure I knew how to handle myself in a middle protocol space, either—if that was even a thing.

It probably wasn’t, and I was just overreacting.

Good luck telling my overactive imagination that.

“Follow my lead.” Claude shrugged. “Sometimes subs are on speech restrictions, but their Domm will let you know. Besides, they know you’re new here.”

Just as they were starting to soothe my worries…