Taking the Lead(23)

I looked over the full list of safety supplies found in each room, and checked them off as Gwen confirmed they were there. This room was missing the spray bottle of antiseptic and I noted it.

"So what are we going to do with Schmitt?" I asked, trying to keep my mind on the concrete problems at hand.

"Let's have him come by early for an executive session before the party and tell him in no uncertain terms he is not to invite people to the club without our okay first. Which brings me to my next thing I want to talk to you about: orientation."

"Orientation? Like for new college students?"

"Exactly. You know we need new members. Once we get some, we're going to need a curriculum to introduce them to not only the rules of the club but, you know, how it all works."

"How what all works?"

"Oh, you know, what happens when they want to bring someone they met? And do they have to get trained on how to use the torture rack? That kind of thing."

"Do they have to get trained on the torture rack?" I tried to picture which thing that was-probably the one with all the ropes on it next to the spinning wheel.

"No, no, they don't. It's really easy and has safety releases built into it, just like the ones on the Catherine Wheel. Well, okay, they should be shown where the release switches are, but that's it."

So that's what it was called. "Okay, if it's so easy, then why do we need an orientation curriculum?"

"If we don't develop one, right now the alternative is Schmitt tells them everything."

"Oh." We moved into a room that looked more like a standard bedroom, except for the attachment points on the bed frame. I sat on the edge of the bed. "Schmitt is a royal pain in the ass no matter what he does."

"I agree. He's the common denominator among everyone in the club now, not Grandpa. I think for the last ten years or so he's really been the one doing all the inviting and vetting."

"Which explains why it's all older mid-level executives who owe him favors," I said. "Okay, fine, curriculum. How are you going to write it if we're never supposed to write anything incriminating down?" 

She clucked her tongue and checked the drawer. "Condoms, lube, both kinds of gloves, flashlight, safety scissors  …  I'll keep it encrypted on my laptop. Don't worry about that."

"Still seems like a whole lot of trouble to go through just so some guys from the executive suites can slap women around."

"Ugh, drop that attitude, Rick'," Gwen said with a sigh. "Now that we're in charge we're going to change that. Safety is so important. And there are dominant women, too, you know!"

"Like Sakura. I know, I know." Thinking about bondage safety lessons made my head throb, though, and not in a pleasurable way. "I was only kidding, Gwen."

"But you weren't. Seriously, Ricki, the club doesn't have to be a burden and it doesn't have to be just a playground for the entitled libidos of the older generation. But if we want it to be something better, we have to change it ourselves."

"Okay, okay! You're right." It was starting to upset me how she seemed so comfortable with it all and I was very definitely not. I didn't want to have to study bondage techniques. I preferred to be on a need-to-know basis. But safety-I could get behind the whole safety idea. Speaking of which, there was a coil of rope hanging on a hook on the wall. "Is it safe to leave this lying out like this?"

Gwen opened the cabinet and hung the rope on a hook inside the door. "So, you're supposed to be in charge of membership. What are you going to do to recruit new people?"

"Ah." I honestly had no idea. It wasn't like I could put up a Craigslist ad. I followed her to the next room. "There's no reason you can't recruit people, too, obviously."

"Well, I wanted to check with you first before I made any overtures to anyone. You should ask Sakura if there's anyone she would recommend, too. She's in the know, I'm sure."

I nodded, but in the back of my mind I was thinking that I already knew who Sakura wanted to recruit and my answer was a definite "no" on Axel. If I was going to forget him, having him at the orgy in my basement once a month was really not a good plan. I still wasn't totally clear what went on at these parties exactly but anything I could imagine was already too much.

"Earth to Ricki," Gwen said. "Are you listening to me?"

No, I'm dreaming of the way his tongue felt after I'd been freshly shaved. "Of course. Look, we need to move carefully when recruiting, though," I said. "We can't just go down to the local fetish fashion night at a nightclub and hand out flyers."

"Of course not. Though speaking of fashion, that fashion show is next week."

I knew which fashion show she meant. The fundraiser for AWESM. The latest thing I'd heard from Sakura was that she was now going to model in it. "Next week? No. It's in, like, three weeks."

Gwen shook her head and took the clipboard from me, marking several things off for herself. "Check your calendar, Rick'. Time flies when you're having fun."

If it had only been about AWESM I would have been fine with writing a big check and not showing up at the event. But I'd told Sakura I would be there to support her. I pulled up my schedule on my phone and sure enough, the fashion show was eight days away. There was also a red flag on a date the week following that.

The anniversary of Mom's death. This was going to be a big one. Twenty years. I wasn't sure that meant I should reflect on it any more than I usually did. I had been four years old when she died and my standard thing to tell people was that my mother's death hadn't defined my life. Truthfully I remembered her absence better than I remembered the woman herself and the memories got more and more faded as time went on. But as I approached the age she had been at the time of the accident, the anniversaries seemed to be growing in significance.



       
         
       
        

I decided not to mention it to Gwen. "Okay, you're right. But one thing at a time. What else do we have to do to get ready for this party?"

"Safety check is done," she said, giving me a bit of a glare for how little I'd actually helped. "Just pick out a great outfit for hostessing in, it being the first one we're officially in charge of? Everyone will be there."

"I'm pretty sure they'll be there to look at what our staff are not wearing more than what we are."

She ignored my comment. "Do you think we should try to coordinate? Hey, could I have Sakura's number? I want a pair of shoes like hers."

"If you're going to wear those shoes we are not matching," I said. Maybe a nice pair of knee-high platform boots, in a soft lambskin leather, though. That I could do. "Here. I'm texting you her number right now."

I sent the information from my phone to Gwen's.

"Let's not do anything too matchy-matchy," she said. "I'm going to aim for nice, and a touch on the wild side, but only insofar as fashion allows, you know?"

"Like the shoes."

"Exactly. What about you?"

"I don't know." I thought about wearing one of my nice power suits with the tall boots I had in mind, until I realized that would make me look exactly like a dominatrix. No.

"Well, you've only got a few days to figure it out." She clapped her hand onto the pocket of her shorts then, as her phone vibrated with an incoming call. She looked at who it was. "Ooh. I better take this." She waved to me as she answered the call and jogged upstairs, talking excitedly to someone.

I ran my hand up the padding on the side of the Catherine Wheel and felt the luxuriously soft shearling inside the wrist restraints. A shudder went through me and I looked around, worried that someone might be watching. No one was there, though. The mix of dread and excitement I felt was all my own. So these were the safe way to do bondage? I examined the safety release; I'd have to ask Madison how it worked.

I climbed up until my feet were on the little foot rests and stretched my arms upward. Yes, the cuffs were just the right height for me.

I imagined someone buckling the restraints, then I got quickly down. The someone had frosted blond streaks in his hair and a wicked smile. I felt a tug of desire deep in my center even as I tried to shake the vision.

Okay, I admitted to myself that Axel Hawke had been hot. And sexy. And cute. And good at what he did. He'd gotten through my armor to the lonely girl inside. But even if there were some way to keep a relationship out of the public eye, even if we could make that work, I couldn't tell him the real reason I didn't want to go down that road with him. 

Fortunately, he seemed to have forgotten about me. I hadn't heard a peep from Axel Hawke in weeks and that suited me fine.

* * *

The party should have been so easy. Things should have been a breeze. The staff, first of all, handled everything the way they must have a million times before so I don't know why I even worried about that. And the old members-come on, the members must have also done this a million times. They each had their agenda: that new sex toy they wanted to try on their wife, that new chastity device they wanted to wear, to get blown, get off, etc.

All Gwen and I should have had to do was play hostess. I should have been able to stand there in my knee-length skirt and librarian-ish blouse under the virtual "Under New Management" sign and smile and nod. But there were two reasons why it wasn't so simple.