Page 113 of X's and O's

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LEVI

Violet and I spent the entire morning scrubbing Psychos from top to bottom. The bathrooms turned into full wipe downs of the pool tables and dart boards, which turned into vacuuming the scuffed-up floorboards and polishing the wooden chairs.

When there was nothing left to scrub or shine, I washed my hands, wiping them off on the back of my jeans. “What next?”

Violet pointed to the coatroom that connected the bar side of Psychos to the sex club.

Her cheeks held the faintest stain of red.

“Lead the way.”

She pulled her shoulders back, and I followed her through the coatroom, hauling the cleaning supplies with me. She surveyed the space that seemed different during the day when it wasn’t filled with half-dressed or naked people in various stages of sex.

With the overhead lights shining bright and theabsence of the music that had poured from the speakers, the sex club didn’t have the same vibe.

Violet let out a breath that seemed tinged with relief, and I wondered if she’d noticed the same thing.

“Bliss said there’s private rooms at the back. I think we should start there and work our way to the entrance.”

“Makes sense,” I agreed.

She charged forward, passing a door markedStaff Only. She pointed at it. “Bliss said that’s her office and we don’t need to worry about it as she prefers to clean it herself, but all the other rooms are fair game.”

“Got it.”

I followed her farther down the corridor, trying really hard not to notice the sway of her ass. Or how long her legs were. All I could think about was the last time the two of us had been in this club.

How another woman had her hands all over me, and how I hadn’t enjoyed a second of it because the only hands I wanted on my body were Violet’s. Nothing had changed since. She was still all I could think about.

She got to the end of the hallway and shoved a key in the lock. It twisted easily, and she pushed open the door.

Then she froze. The back of her neck went bright pink.

I peeked around her shoulders and hid a laugh. “Kinky fuckers.”

“I don’t even know what half of these things are for.”

I glanced at her. “You want me to explain them all?”

She screwed up her face. “No. I’m already dying that my stupid habit of just saying whatever I’m thinking just broadcast I have so little experience, I don’t even know the basics of sex clubs.”

I pressed a hand to the small of her back, trying to ignore the way she tensed beneath my touch. I let my hand drop as soon as I slipped past her, so I wasn’t in her space any longer than I needed to be.

I pointed at various objects around the room, because I knew it was just embarrassment talking. I’d heard the curiosity in her tone. “Spreader bar. Probably self-explanatory. Cuffs go around your ankles—”

“I get it,” she said quickly.

I moved on. “Ball gag.”

She recoiled. “That’s terrifying.”

Clearly not her kink. I filed that away for future reference. It wasn’t mine either.

I picked up a toy from the armrest of a couch. “Flogger.”

Her eyes widened. “For whipping people?”