Peter and I were had been in LA for a couple of days, staying in a cheap hotel in Venice. Mostly we hung out on the beach, which is where we met Nola, Lara and Val. They were about my age and all very cute. Nola was a white, tall brunette and had a kind of wicked attitude about her. Lara was short — about my height — with beautiful auburn hair. Val was somewhere in the middle, and a California blond.
They were listening to one of my favorite bands from the 90s, L7. We struck up a conversation, and they invited us to stay and play cards. (Peter read a book.) After a couple of hours, we decided to go get something to drink. We found a restaurant and sat at the bar.
"So what do you guys do?" I asked.
Lara and Val chortled.
"What did I do?" I asked.
"Nothing," said Lara. "It's just that Nola has a very peculiar job. She beats men for a living."
"And fucks them up the ass. And pisses on them!" said Val.
"I'm a pro domme," said Nola. "And they're more or less right. Like everybody else in LA, I'm working on a script, and domming beats waitressing."
"I know, I used to be one, too," I said.
"You're kidding!" said Nola. "That's so bizarre! Did you like it?"
"I liked it a lot," I said. "You meet all the types. But the good ones outweigh the bad ones."
Nola gave me a fist-bump.
"Gotta weed out the bad ones," she said. "And keep the good ones coming back."
"What about you, Lara?" I asked.
"Production assistant for a film company," she said.
"Assistant editor for a company that does videos and commercials." said Val. "Not nearly as fun as it sounds."
"So how'd you and Peter meet?" asked Nola.
"He was client of mine," I said.
"Wait — when you were a pro domme?" asked Lara.
"Yup. I met on my first day, and we kind of ended being friends. My dungeon got shut down — apparently, strap-on sex counts as prostitution in New York — and our relationship became more ..."
"Complicated," said Peter.
"So are you dating?" asked Nola.
"Kind of. Not conventionally," I said.
"We like each other and we like to fuck," said Peter. "And we also fuck other people."
"I'm bi," I said, "and I still like to fuck girls."
"So hold on," Lara asked, "Peter — what kind of kinky shit were you into?"
"Flogging? Caning?" asked Nola.
Peter nodded 'yes' after each question.
"Nipple clamps? Hot wax? Cock and ball torture?"
Yup, he'd done though, too.
"Strap-ons?"
"Hell, yes," I said. "He loves anything anal."
"Wow," said Lara. "Kinky boy."
"Shut up," said Val. "I thinks it's cool that Peter can admit he likes anal."
"What can I say," said Peter. "It turns me on."
"Sounds?" Nola asked.
"What are those?" asked Peter.
"You've never been sounded?" she asked.
"Never. Never even heard of them," he said.
And neither did I.
"They're medical tools," explained Nola. "They're stainless steel rods, of varying diameters. You sterilize them, lubricate and stick them into a cock. Basically, you're fucking the inside of a dick."
"Whoa," said Lara. "Does it hurt?"
"Not really," said Nola. "But it is very fucking intense."
A silence fell over the table.
"Do you think you'd like to try that, Peter?" asked Nola.
I could tell she was switching into domme mode.
"He'll try it," I said.
Peter looked over to me.
"Can we watch?" asked Val.
"Of course," I said. "Peter's an exhibitionist as well. He'd enjoy performing for you."
"Is this true?" asked Nola.
Peter was blushing. But I knew he'd do it.
"Yes, Nola, I'd like to be sounded," he said. "And I'd like it if Lara and Val could watch."
Nice.
Nola took out her phone and called the dungeon. She confirmed that it had a room open for the next couple hours.
"OK, we're on," she said, writing down an address in West Hollywood. "Peter and I need about a twenty minute head start to set up. Why don't we go now, and you girls can finish your drinks?"
Peter kissed me and headed off with our new friend. I saw Nola grab his ass on the way out the door, and hang on.
This was going to be a good afternoon.
Lara, Val and I finished our drinks and paid the bill. We got in our rental, and they helped me navigate LA traffic and get on the 405 Freeway. We took that to Santa Monica Boulevard and took that to West Hollywood. We found the building, an old, Art Deco-style business building. The dungeon occupied all of the top floor, above a gym and a yoga studio.
I found that a little weird.
We took the elevator to the fourth floor and knocked on the door. A sign read "Fleming Consulting." It looked completely inconspicuous. The lock buzzed open and we walked in.
And my jaw dropped.
Dungeons in New York are vaguely shabby affairs. They're hidden in industrial buildings, and they're always the chance that neighbors will complain and you'll lose your lease. So the owners, who don't tend to be rich, don't put a lot of money into their places.
This, though, was different. They spent money here.
We walked down a small, dark hallway. The walls were completely upholstered with black leather. We turned the corner to find a phone girl sitting behind a small glass desk. It held a new looking iMac and a vase of flowers. A black leather couch sat against one wall. Electronic music played softly from somewhere.
The phone girl was gorgeous, and fully done up in fetish gear. When she stood, I saw she was well over six feet tall. She had on heels, but I bet she'd be just as tall as Peter flat-footed.
We told her we were here to see Nola, and she opened up a door (covered in red leather) and led us down to another hallway, past their rooms. Some of them were opened and I peaked in. They were huge, each done up in a different theme, each done beautifully.
There was a schoolroom, with adult-sized school desks, a blackboard, a globe and old-school posters depicting the male and female reproductive systems. There was even a stool in the corner with a dunce cap.
There was a Chinese torture room, with a throne, a series of suspension devices, a whole lots of canes, and cases and cases of acupuncture needles
There was another room lined that was painted to look like the inside of a castle. I recognized most of the equipment — St. Catherine's cross, a rack, a pillory, even a wheel. I'd never seen one before, but I knew how it worked. The wheel is about six feet in diameter and is hung from the ceiling. The slave is tied backwards to the wheel at the wrist and ankle, which is already an uncomfortable position. At the bottom was a large wooden trough, which would be filled with water. The wheel would rotate slowly, and the slave would experience a drowning sensation as he was dragged through the trough.
These guys played hard. And I wanted to try out the wheel on myself.
But there was one item I did not recognize. It a triangular piece of wood (equilateral, to be precise), about two feet per side and six feet long, which had been lacquered to a high sheen.
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's called the Spanish horse, or the wooden horse," explained the phone girl. "The slave is suspended above, then lowered onto the top point of the triangle. He — or she, I think it actually works better with women — has all of his weight on his perineum., which is very painful. So he will try to support his weight by pressing his thighs against the horse. That will work for a minute or two, but soon his thighs will give out.
"If the slave is persistent, we'll tie small buckets to his feet and toss stones into them," she continued. That usually breaks him."
OK. Maybe I was out of my league here.
We passed a couple of rooms that were occupied. But I could hear screams coming from one, and sobbing coming from another. A woman sobbing, actually.
"Do you have many female clients?" I asked
"A lot," she said, "but they're almost always part of a couple — gay or straight. Sometimes they just play by themselves, and sometimes they use one of our pro dommes. But a lot of people are looking for a safe, clean place to play, and they're willing to pay a premium to get something nice. Room rentals are the bulk of our business."
Wow. That was completely different from New York. But these rooms looked like movie sets. I began to think Peter and I might need to make a return trip.
"And here we are," said the phone girl. "Enjoy."