I want him. I want him to fuck me like the people around us are fucking.

Hard and deep and with abandon.

My whole life has been about being in the shadows. Concealed in fear.

But this place? There is nowhere to hide.

Bennett’s hold on my hand tightens, and I’m not sure if he loves what he sees or hates it.

The truth is, it’s shocking in the most primal way. The way the people before us touch, it is so raw... and it’s hitting me hard. Probably because I’ve never done anything like this.

So freely.

But it also speaks to me for that very same reason.

Longing. An unsatisfied longing deep within cries out.

My body wants Bennett the same way these people want one another... completely.

As we make our way to the bottom step, I notice something else.

The people having sex in front of us are not as free as I initially thought.

They are all wearing masks over their eyes as if they are at some masquerade party made for pure pleasure.

My panties are soaked, the images before me so erotic. A man licks a woman’s pussy while another man has his cock in her mouth. I see a woman on all fours getting fucked from behind while kissing the man in front of her. Two women ride one man, one sitting on his face, the other his dick. My nipples are hard at the vision—and my body begs for what it’s never had.

Utter devotion while losing control... and masked all the while... hidden in plain sight.

“You’ll receive your masks once you pay,” a burly man standing in front of the roped off orgy informs us. Then he takes a harder look, recognizing me, and he frowns.

His name is Teddy, and while he may be a solid three hundred pounds, he is also a softie. At least he’s got a soft spot for me. He has brought me coffee a few times, even asked me out. I politely declined, and he didn’t press. Instead, he has taken it as his job to make sure no one at the bar messes with me.

Another guy stands beside him now, in this underground club. I feel safer knowing there’s security.

Teddy asks if Dusty knows I’m here and I lie through my teeth.

“Is that a problem?” I ask.

He blushes, stammering. “Uh, no. Sadie. I just. Uh, didn’t expect you here is all.” He looks uncomfortable … maybe the idea of me getting naked down here is too much for him.

A big part of me that wonders if it is too.

I turn my gaze from his, not wanting to make this more awkward than it potentially is. Thankfully, the show that’s taking place several yards away has all our attention.

A woman starts moaning in delight as three men surround her for a gang-bang she’s clearly asking for. “Got a good crowd tonight,” Teddy’s right-hand man says. “But it’ll be a grand to stay.” He looks me over, then speaks to Bennett. “Well, it’ll be a grand for you to stay. This one here can play, free of charge.”

Bennett doesn’t flinch at the number. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a massive fold of bills. He drops ten one hundred dollar bills in the man’s hand.

“What are the rules?” Bennett asks. His curt tone tells me he wants to get past this man and find the action. His hand is on the small on my back, his fingers on the waistband of my shorts, and I can tell by his touch, he is as hungry as I am.

“Only a few rules: Wear the mask at all times. Use condoms. No asking personal questions. There are rooms in the back, but there are no doors on the premises, so whatever you do—everyone sees. Safety reasons. Showers and lockers to your right. No smoking, no drinking. You play here, you play by the rules. I’m guessing you read the website?”

Bennett nods, but I know he’s lying. I know, because I’m rebuilding my life by doing the exact same thing.

Lies built on lies.

We are each handed a mask, and I put mine on, Bennett though, turns away and pulls off his ball cap before securing the mask in place.

Teddy unhooks the rope and lets us through. “If you want to leave, at any time, you can.”

Bennett smiles mischievously; not realizing Teddy is acting like a protective big-brother. “She’ll be fine, buddy,” Bennett says before taking my hand and leaning down to my ear. “Let’s go to the side so we can talk first.”

I nod, following him. Everything about this night is so unexpected, but I’m not ready for it to end.

And who carries a thousand dollars in cash into Dusty’s bar? I mean, besides all the people fucking around us. I need to understand more about who Bennett is, but before I can ask, he presses me against a wall, cupping my ass and pressing his mouth on my neck.

I forget my questions. My concerns. I forget my name and my fake backstory.

Bennett kisses me and all I remember is that I want this as badly as he does.

With his mouth on my throat, I feel him reaching for the button on my shorts. He unzips them, his hands reaching below and grabbing my ass.

“Where the fuck are we?” he asks. I feel a smile on his lips and surprisingly there’s one on mine too.

“No fucking clue,” I tell him.

“You want to stay?” he asks, already pulling up my tank top and dropping it on the floor beside us. “Because honestly, I’m not interested in anyone else here. I’ve only got eyes for you.”

His words make me blush, though it’s so dark he wouldn’t notice. “I’ve never been to an orgy,” I admit. “But I don’t want to have sex with a bunch of strangers.”

“Just one stranger?” Bennett asks.

I shake my head. “You’re not a stranger. I know your name.”

“We don’t have to stay,” he tells me, kissing my ear.

“But we already paid and I’m half undressed already.” I press my body closer to him, wanting to feel his hard cock. Oh, it’s hard alright.

“If you get uncomfortable, we can go,” he promises.

“It’s kinda hot, honestly,” I tell him. “Is it weird that this place turns me on?”

Bennett laughs softly. “Not weird. It’s half the population’s fucking fantasy. And I’ll take you to the middle of the action so you can experience it, but I’m not sharing you with anyone tonight, understand? Tonight, you are mine alone.”

His possessive words speak to me in a primal way. I want to be his.

“Well, I sure as hell don’t want to leave.” I reach for his T-shirt too, pulling it up over his head and running my hands over his bare chest.

He’s strong and ripped and all man. I don’t know where he comes from, or what his real name is, or the way he looks without a mask or a hat, but I do know how his skin feels. Warm and familiar, like it has a story I might understand.

And when I reach under the waistband of his pants, feeling his hardness, I swear to God I can feel his need for this night to go differently than all the nights before.

“I’ve been staring at you for hours,” he tells me, pushing down my panties. It’s shocking, standing before him in nothing but my bra; my pants and shirt tossed are aside and my panties around my ankles. He steps out of his jeans too, and then both of us are nearly naked.

“I know you have,” I tell him. “You’re pretty damn obvious. But what I want to see,” I add. “Are your eyes.”

“You can see my eyes,” he tells me.

“I know,” I say, nodding, and panting, because Bennett’s hands run over my bare skin causing my body to ignite. “But I want to see you without the mask.”

He shakes his head and reaches behind to unclasp my bra. “Not tonight. Tonight, I need to be anonymous. Tonight, I need to–”

I say it for him, “You need to disappear.” Our eyes lock, and I may not be able to see his entire face, but his eyes say it all. “Tonight we both need to disappear into one another.”

I’ve been through enough to get to this point.

The fire. The murder.

The end.

I just want to disappear too.

“I’ve never been to an orgy,” I confess, again. “I don’t know the rules.”

“I have,” he says, his hands running over my tits, his hard cock pressed against my belly. “They’re all mostly the same. A lot of people not wanting to be seen. Needing something that will help them forget for just a little while.”

“Is that bad? Our need to hide? Does it make us monsters to want to disappear?”

He shakes his head cupping my face with his hands. I feel my nipples harden, desire is seeping from my pores.

“It doesn’t make us monsters,” he tells me. Then he kisses me hard. Bites my bottom lip and I swear he may have drawn blood. He kisses me again. His tongue in my throat, his breath hot as hell. “It makes us mortal.”

He is nothing like I expected when he sat down at the bar, and maybe that’s why I’m so open to this moment with him.

It’s unplanned. Untethered. There are no rules.

We can make them up as we go.

“Show me how an orgy works then, Bennett. We’re both nearly naked, what happens next?”

His fingers find my opening, plunging themselves inside my wet folds. I gasp at his touch.

How long has it been since I’ve been touched like this? How long has it been since someone said ‘let me give you what you need’?

Years.

And never like this.

“You sure you want to be here?” Bennett asks me.

I look up at him, unable to imagine being anywhere else where I would feel so free to give in to another man’s touch. A man’s kiss. A man’s body. Even though it isn’t dark down here, with the masks on, I feel safe enough to let down my guard and let him inside of my body.

That is where I want him. That is where he belongs.

“I think I need to be here,” I admit. “I think I’m supposed to be here. Is that crazy?”

He steps out of his underwear. He takes my hand and presses it to his bare cock. I run my hand up and down his velvety length, and damn, he is massive. Everything inside me tightens as desire ripples through my body.

“No, not crazy at all,” he says.

He is so tender with me; he cradles my face and looks into my eyes. He must see something, something I try hard to bury.

My eyes prick with tears.

“You can’t cry with this mask on, it will ruin your disguise,” he tells me, kissing my cheek.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I never cry.”

“Tears are nothing to be ashamed of. Rain comes before the sun, right?”

My heart stops on that idea. I cling to it. Won’t let it go. My life has been filled with so many cloudy days, so many storms. Maybe my tears are the rain. Maybe soon there will be a break through the gray and I can find the sunlight.

He must see he’s hit a nerve and rendered me speechless, because wordlessly he picks me up, my legs wrapping around his waist and he carries me to the center of the orgy.

With masks on, no one can identify us, and even though naked people are all around us, we are blind to them.

My eyes are only on him. And his are only on mine.

“I think I’m supposed to be here too,” he tells me. “With you. Tonight.” He lays me down on a mattress, then he spreads my legs apart and he lowers his head.

Without a doubt, I am exactly where I belong.