"David," she said, as we were getting ready for the mysterious Monday night at Theta Cubed, "this has been a wonderful week and I'll always remember you...."
I had adopted "Theta Cubed" as the reference whenever I thought of the club. The actual name is "ΞΞΞ," the Greek capital letter "Theta" used as an homage to the body type of the women who supported it.
"Are you breaking up with me?" I asked, hating the tears that started to flow.
"Oh, honey," she said, smiling, "there was never an 'us' to break up. It's been fun, David, but I am not interested in a long-term relationship and, honestly, neither are you."
"But...." I started and she shushed me with a finger to the lips.
"David, Carla told me you were still pretty, well, innocent and tended to mix love up with lust," she said, "and while this has been great lust, it ain't love honey."
I didn't say anything, processing and, well, okay, trying to get my tears to stop.
"Oh, sweety, don't be so hurt. I'm not abandoning you," she said and kissed me lightly on the lips, "I'm giving you a chance to sample other women."
That stopped me.
"Huh?" I said, demonstrating that sometimes I'm not the rapier-witted conversationalist I like to think I am.
"Honey," she said, and she was giggling now, "Monday night at Theta Cubed is when girls auction off men they are," and she stopped then, thinking, organizing her thoughts.
"Okay, let me try again," she said, "Monday night at Theta Cubed is when girls auction off men they are ready to move on from."
"Huh?" I said again.
"Sweet cheeks," she said, reaching up and pinching my cheek as she said it, "I am going to put you on stage and sell you to the highest bidder. If you refuse her, no harm, but you will no longer be welcome at the club. The sale is for one week and after that, well, you can come back without whoever buys you, you can stay with her if you're a compatible couple, or she can auction you off again."
"Auction?" I managed.
"Yes, David, although she won't actually pay me. The money will go into an account and support an open bar tonight as long as it lasts, but it will be real money," she said.
"I don't know what to say," I said.
"David," she said, taking my hands in hers, "Carla was your first and I was your second. I'm not looking for a 'relationship,' so you can try other women. Don't be sad, honey," and she kissed me again, "think of it as playing the field with the field coming to you."
"Okay," I said, accepting and, honestly, feeling a little stirring in my groin.
"Okay," she said, "now let's make sure you're looking pretty. I want to get top dollar."
We spent an interesting half hour getting me ready for my debut as a sex object at Theta Cubed. She fussed with my hair, selected my tightest jeans and a T-shirt announcing that "I don't play guitar because I'm good at it. I play guitar because I like it." It's not like I had much of a wardrobe at her place and most of my stuff was still at Carla's apartment.
"Okay," she said, "you're beautiful."
She turned serious for a minute then, her eyes holding mine.
"Davey," she said, "you've been a treat, you really have. Hell, I kinda wish I was ready to settle down," and she kissed me, a very soft kiss.
She physically shook her head and grinned then.
"But," she said, sighing theatrically, "I'm not, so come on."
I followed her to the club in my 10-year-old pickup truck, a Chevrolet if you care.
In the club, I exchanged greetings with some of the women I knew and realized that there were no other men. That surprised me since Theta Cubed was a great place for young men looking to get laid.
Valerie went to the bar and had a quiet, huddled conversation with the bartender.
I was looking around when Valerie touched my shoulder and said, "Come with me."
I followed her behind the bar into a section of the building I hadn't explored before. A dimly lit hallway led us past four doors until she opened the fifth and took me into what was a dressing room straight out of a movie set. One wall had a half dozen small stools in front of a full-wall mirror with lights across the top and mounted in vertical strips of LEDs every four feet or so.
She sat me at the mirror and fluffed my hair before showing me the collar.
"Really?" I said, feeling an odd rush deep in my belly.
"It's symbolic, baby," she said showing me the way the leash terminated in a handcuff, "whoever is high bidder gets locked to you for the night. Where it goes after that, well," and she giggled and patted my head, "that'll be up to y'all."
"Okay," I said, lifting my chin.
I came erect as she put the collar on me, drawing it tight enough to dent the skin slightly, not choking but I was aware of it. I felt another rush in my belly as I watched in the mirror as she used a small brass padlock to secure the collar in place. She bent over and kissed the top of my head as she dropped the key, in that way only a reasonably well-endowed woman can, into the cleavage supported by her bra.
"Okay, sweety," she said, offering me her hand, "let's get you sold."
She opened the door at the other end of the room, drawing me along by the leash. She wasn't yanking or anything, just, well, guiding I suppose is a good word.
The door, it turned out, gave onto the stage where the band or occasional stand-up comic worked.
As we walked out onto the stage I saw there was a reasonably good crowd. I guessed about 50 women. And that's the thing. It was all women. Every other time I'd been to Theta Cubed before men had outnumbered women. It was, of course, that way by design. One of the mottos was "Every Night is Men's Night - Half Price Drinks." Theta Cubed offered free drinks with a student ID, accompanied by a driver's license as proof of age of course.
But tonight it was all women.
I had never been on the stage before and I realized, as Valerie walked me out to the front that the discrete dot on the floor was, literally, the "mark." It turned out the mark, as I found out in a few moments, was the spot where various lights focused.
"Stay," Valerie said, leaving me standing at the spot, as she went to a rack of impressive-looking electronic gear. She flipped a switch and picked up a microphone. She rejoined me and then said, into the microphone, her amplified voice easily overriding the general hubbub of voices, "Hazel, lights please."