The last weeks of the semester fly by. Turkey Day with my family, term papers, studying for finals. Along the way a very pleasant post-Salon evening with Silver Fox, and an equally nice date with Hero -- though while he's a wonderful lover, he really doesn't resonate with my kink.
I almost skip the last Salon of the semester due to, "
Surfing the crimson wave
," as Cher expressed it so eloquently in
Clueless
. But I'm bored with academic cramming so I make a late appearance -- though with no interest in having anything to do with men in any way, shape, or form.
Sultan is in attendance and, of course, immediately makes a pass at me. I politely let him know that while I had enjoyed being his harem-slave for a night, I'm not interested in another encounter.
He takes it rather well, actually. A little disappointed, perhaps, but not crushed. After all, as he quickly lets me know, I'm not the only bird in his aviary -- so to speak.
Once that's off the table, we have a nice chat. Somehow, it drifts into personal fantasies, unusual desires, and how to safely satisfy them. Later, I realize that our conversation didn't so much '
drift
' in that direction as he led it there.
It turns out that
Sultan and Concubine
isn't really his thing at all -- though he assures me he did have a good time playing the role with me. He is circumspect about what his personal proclivities actually are and I accept his nonverbal indication that I would not resonate with them. Some books, after all, are best left unread.
What he does want me to know is that he's a member of a very exclusive, very expensive, 'Private Members Club' in the city.
As he describes it, PMC sounds more like a business than a club. A business providing venues and safe facilitation for consensual encounters and romantic role play among its members -- with no transactional fees involved. So, no, definitely
not
a brothel, but rather a sex-club.
Oh? Really? A sex club? How intriguing.
He explains that almost all of the club's dues-paying members are of the male persuasion, successful, and mostly middle-age (or older). Good looking, free-spirited, young women, however, can apply for the Ladies Guest List. If accepted, they pay no dues at all -- at least not monetary ones.
He offers to introduce and vouch for me -- if I'm interested.
Given my current lack of enthusiasm for dhamps (which I didn't mention to him), so long as it really is totally private, completely consensual, and not coercive in any way -- points I press him on -- yes, I am most definitely interested.
* * *
So Fall Semester is finally finished and I'm on my own for Winter Break. While I didn't quite make the President's list, I did finish with a 3.8 GPA which is solidly in Dean's List territory. An achievement in which I take some pride, thank you very much.
I'll continue to live at Phi-Delt over the break, though I'll certainly spend some Christmas time with my family in my old, now emotionally-distant, teenage room.
But this morning, I'm stepping off the early train to the city. Which is a bit odd for me because I don't really know anyone here. All I have is a reservation at a Holiday Inn that Sultan recommended, a lunch date with him, after which he'll introduce me to the PMC club.
It's one of those chill, dreary, mid-December days, not really raining or snowing, but windy gusts spitting tiny beads of ice in my face that briefly stick to my eyelashes and bring a warm blush to my cheeks.
I knew what to wear when rushing Phi-Delta. But what's appropriate for checking out -- and being checked out by -- a sex club? Hot? Classy? Slutty? Femmie? Business casual? Normally I could ask my Phi-Delt sisters for fashion advice, but not, I think, in this instance.
Under my blue wool cape with the gothic hood, I'm wearing a long-sleeve, fitted, white-cashmere sweater and a suede leather, front-button skirt that almost reaches my knees, sheer black panty hose, and brown leather, knee-high boots with the two and half inch block heels. (From the lofty wisdom of my 20 years, I can assure you that stiletto heels and icy sidewalks do not play well together.)
After lunch at a classy bistro, Sultan directs our cab to a begrimed-brick factory building in a rundown, post-industrial neighborhood. It has a drive-through alley blocked by obviously new, black-steel, palisade fencing. Sultan hands the gate access code to the cabbie who punches it in and then drops us off in front of a newly-renovated entrance.
"Never come through this neighborhood on foot," Sultan cautions me as the cab drives off. "Certainly never at night or when you're Dressed. Once the club adds you to the list, you'll be provided with the gate code which is changed frequently."
Inside, it's all spiffy, renovated-modern, clean red brick, posts and beams of solid-oak, glass doors, an attractive receptionist, and a new elevator that whisks us up to plush offices on the fifth floor.
Sultan introduces me to Morgana -- an alias, I assume -- and after brief pleasantries he leaves so that we can get acquainted. She's a strikingly handsome woman in her 50s. By her posture and poise I know she must have been a stunning beauty in her day. Sultan did not give her any title, so I think of her as the Dean of Women at a very selective private college.
Morgana takes my cape and hangs it on a coat rack, then looks me over. Carefully. I wait. She smiles a friendly welcome and I know I've passed the initial appearance test.
"Would you like a tour?" she asks. "Our ground floor lounge is open from six to midnight seven days a week, and our adjacent dining room is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from six to eleven.
"Both are closed now, of course, but when you see them I think you'll be very pleased. So let's start in the basement."
The basement is an actual, no-fooling dungeon. X-frames, torture racks, and whipping posts. Racks of whips and riding crops in all sizes and types, leather hoods, ball-gags, and black leather somethings that I have no clue about.
Ewww!
Suddenly, I hear the excited barking of large dogs on the other side of a sturdy wood door. "Our kennel," Morgana explains, "we have specially-trained great danes who love meeting new guests."
I don't ask. But whatever that means --