In some ways, it was a typical club, although a little more upscale than what Tao and I usually went to. There was dance music, low lights, roaming people with trays of drinks.

But there were also raised platforms with different kinds of performances on them.

One of them held a man and a woman. He was being tied in what Jal told me was shibari. Shibari style? I had no idea. But it was intense and judging by the look on the man's face, apparently erotic. And it wasn't just his face that said how much he was enjoying things either. The tight pants he wore left nothing to the imagination when it came to the long, thick erection he was sporting.

One dais, wider than the others, had a woman bound to a pole, her body bare of everything but the rings through her nipples and the chain connecting them. It ran between her legs as well, and I was pretty sure she had a piercing down there too. Clit or labia, it didn't matter. I was more transfixed by the semi-clothed woman behind her who was using a whip. I stiffened when I heard the crack against the bound woman's flesh, but Jal urged me closer, and when I saw her face, I realized she was enjoying it. Her cries were of pleasure, not pain.

Behind semi-opaque screens, there were couples in various stages of sexual activity, including a threesome between two women and a man, and one sexual position I wouldn't have thought possible.

My heart stuttered a little, and despite myself, I found myself getting wet, my nipples tightening. The ache between my legs increased with every step, with every new experience I took in.

We'd been there less than a half hour when Jal pulled me into a dark corner. One hand gripped my throat while the other tipped my head back so he could take my mouth. And taking was what it was. Fierce and hard, demanding.

His voice was ragged when he finally pulled away. “You look like you're on the verge of coming. I can’t decide if I’m jealous, or if I want to take you to the screens and get a private booth there. Slide my hands inside your panties and make you come.”

I swallowed a groan. I’d seen the booths. They were only semi-private. People wouldn't be able to see my features, but they would see my body, his body, as he coaxed an orgasm from me.

“No.” Shaking my head, I did my best to make it clear that wasn’t what I wanted.

He bit my lip. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

I straightened, and I looked for any sign that he was disappointed. I didn't see any. He took my hand and raised it to his lips, smiling. “Okay. Dance with me then.”

He led me onto the dance floor, and when he pulled me up against him, his cock pressed against my belly, sending a shiver through me. I pressed my cheek against his shirt and tried to handle the arousal that had been burning inside me from the moment Jal said he wanted to take me to a club.

I should have kept my eyes shut.

The couple next to us was dancing with her back pressed against his front, and he had his hand resting torturously low on her belly. As he whispered something to her, she nodded, her pretty blue eyes glazed with heat. The hand on her stomach slipped underneath the waistband of her skirt. Her legs parted, and she arched against him. I could see his hand moving under the fabric, stroking her. When her hand moved behind her, he whispered something else. Something that had her body writhing against him.

“You like watching,” Jal whispered in my ear.

I jumped, startled. Heat rushed to my face.

“I–”

“Watch. If they didn't want anyone to see, they’d get one of the private rooms.” His cock was hard and hot against my stomach.

I whimpered…and kept on watching. The man shifted so that he could use his free hand to deliver a hard slap to the woman's ass. It was an awkward position, it had to be. But Jal was right, I realized. Half the draw, half the arousal for them both was being watched. And I wasn't the only one.

The man brought his hand down on her ass again. His other hand was moving almost violently between her legs. I could imagine his fingers thrusting into her, pressing against her flesh.

And then she came. Hard. I thought I could actually hear her cries of pleasure.

He spun her around, squeezing her ass as he ground himself against her. He pushed his fingers into her mouth, the fingers that had been inside her, and the look on her face was one of complete bliss. He said something to her, and she nodded again. The two of them disappeared down a hall – the one that led to rooms behind the screens.

“They have rooms where you can actually…watch. All of it. Do you want to?”

I jerked my head up to see Jal watching me carefully, as if gauging my reaction. I was breathing as if I’d run a marathon. My nipples were hard, and I felt as aroused as if I had been the one being worked over.

“How does that work?”

“It’s live streamed into a side room so that there's no physical contact with the couple, and they have complete control over whether the camera is on or off.” He ran the back of his hand down my cheek. “Do you want to watch?”

I couldn’t seem to say the words. I’d never thought of myself as a voyeur. Until now. But I still couldn't bring myself to say it.

Jal seemed to read my thoughts anyway, and he led me toward a different hall. We went downstairs, and although there was a desk – of sorts – the woman there said nothing. She didn’t even seem to notice us. Jal swiped a card, and I realized he was taking me to a space for special members only.

Once we were through the door, another woman, clad in an elegant black dress, gestured to a door.

The couple from the dance floor was displayed on three walls, from three different angles.

I’d expected it to be tawdry.

But the room we were in looked like an expensive hotel suite. Each screen was easily life-sized, so it was almost like being in the room with them.

I looked over at Jal and asked, “They know we’re here, right?”

“Yes. Anyone who wants to use one of those rooms signs a consent form, and anyone who comes in here agrees not to record anything. When someone rents one of these rooms, a light goes on, letting them know they're being watched.”

He stepped behind me and slid his arms around my waist. I'd called Tao to give me a suggestion for what to wear, and he'd selected a fairly revealing deep purple dress with a low neckline and high hem. The lust in Jal's eyes told me that it had been the right decision. Now, he moved his hands up to cup my breasts, taking advantage of the revealing cut to brush his thumbs over the bare swell.

“I’m in control this time, Allie,” Jal said against my ear. “I’m not going to fuck you here. But you’ll wish I had. Take off your panties.”

Hands shaking, I did, still staring at the screen in front of me. The man was tying his partner to a bench. That much I understood. She had a gag in her mouth and a scarf in her hand, prompting a question.

“Can I ask questions?”

He kissed my fingers. “Yes. Always.”

“Why the scarf?”

“She’s gagged…can’t talk. If he goes too far or tries something she doesn’t like, she drops the scarf, and they're done. It's a non-verbal safe word.”

It made sense, but a bit of anxiety twisted my stomach. “What if he doesn’t stop?”

“They’re married, Allie. I know them. He’ll stop. But…” He ran his hands over my ribs, down to my hips. “There are safeguards in place for random hook-ups. These rooms are monitored. The private rooms are monitored via audio. If something alarms one of the security guards, they’ll enter the room. They aren’t…polite with people who try to take advantage of places like this. Consent is taken very seriously here.”

I nodded, watching the screen as the tension inside me eased. The man had moved to stand between the woman's legs. He held a bottle in his hand.

Jal answered a question I didn't actually have. “Lubricant. He’s going to put his cock in her ass. Have you ever had anal sex, Allie?”

Licking my lips, I nodded. “Once or twice. It’s…not my favorite.”

My last boyfriend had wanted it, so I'd agreed. Since Tao had known my distaste for it, he'd never suggested it, though his fingers had occasionally wandered there. Though I knew Tao could probably have made the experience more pleasant, I'd never had the inclination to ask.

“Will you let me try to change your mind?” He cupped my breast over the dress, lightly pinching my nipple.

I reminded myself that part of being in a relationship was compromise. I trusted him not to hurt me. “Yeah. If…well, if you like that.”

“I want to show you that you can like it to.” He slid his hand down and squeezed my ass. His knee nudged against my thigh, and I moved my legs a bit farther apart. “Keep watching.”

The man on the other side of the screen had finished preparing the woman and now had one hand on her cheek as the other hand steadied his cock. Slowly, he began to fill her. She was shaking, her feet kicking up and down in mad little flutters, the most exquisite sounds coming from her mouth.

A faint electronic hum had me jerking my head around.

Gaping, I saw that the screen on the right had gone up into the ceiling, and there was an entire wall of sex aids. Jal pushed a button under one. There was a clunk and a faint, startled laugh sputtered out of me.

“A vending machine for dildos?”

“Why not?” Jal turned back to me, grinning. He held up something. “But this isn’t a dildo. It’s a butt plug.”

My face went hot. “I know what it is.”

Something that looked a lot like jealousy flickered across his face, and for a moment, I wondered what would happen when he realized that Tao had been my lover for the past three years. Somehow, I didn't think that would go over very well.

“Go to the bench.” He gestured toward a padded bench at the foot of the bed. It looked identical to the one the woman on the screen was using.

Nerves twisting in my stomach, I looked over at him, at the toy he was holding.

“Trust me,” he said, his lips twisting into a decadent smile.

Oh, hell.

I moved toward the bench, suddenly very aware that I was now bare under my dress.

The bench was wide, with the top of it rounded and thick, almost pillowy soft. The part I knelt on was soft as well, but I could feel a bit of give and realized that the covering could be taken off if someone wanted to kneel on the hard wood.

My gaze was once more drawn to the screen, and I groaned as I realized how fast he was going. They'd come soon, and it would be over. I felt like I'd only barely started to understand a part of me I'd never explored before. Tao had opened me up to some of it, but the intensity of this world was overwhelming.

“What’s wrong?” Jal asked, bending over me.

I shook my head, my face hot. I'd been bold, confident when I'd gone to Jal's office this morning, but all of that was gone now. I was out of my depth, embarrassed by what I was feeling, by what I wanted.

“Tell me.” The words were a command, not a request.

“They're going to come soon. I don’t want them…” The words trapped in my throat as another wave of embarrassment washed over me.

Jal moved away, and I gasped in utter shock as he pushed a button on an intercom I just now noticed.

“I don’t suppose you two might be interested in making this…last?”

The man’s face turned toward the camera unerringly, then bent over his partner, his cock still buried in her ass. He released the gag and spoke to her, his voice too low for me to hear the words. She nodded in response to whatever he said and lifted her head to face the camera.

The look of ecstasy on her face was enough to have my belly going tight, almost enough to make me forget how strange and new this all was.

The man smoothed the woman's hair back into a ponytail, then wrapped the dark locks around his fist. He pulled, using her hair to tug her upward until her spine bowed, putting her full breasts on display. Her skin was smooth, pale, nearly translucent, and the contrast to his tanned body was beautiful. They looked like a work of art.

“Tell me you wouldn’t want to feel like that, Allie,” Jal said as he came back to me. “Open, exposed…so vulnerable to me.”

He knelt behind me, and flipped up the bottom of my dress, exposing me to his gaze, to his hands. I whimpered as his finger slid between my cheeks, slick with lubricant. My eyelids fluttered as he started to work his finger into my ass, but I forced them to stay open. I didn't want to miss a thing.

On the screen, the woman was panting, begging her partner to ride her harder, faster. Begging him to make her come. His pace, however, stayed steady, control and restraint radiating off of him.

His voice was even as he responded, “No, baby. You want to be watched, so we're going to make it a good show for our audience. Talk to them, baby. Tell them how it feels having my cock in your ass.”

“So good...so full…please, baby…make me come.” Her voice was breathless, almost pained. “Please…”

He ran his hand over her hip, then brought his hand down on her ass. She cried out, writhing as she tried to push back against him.

I twitched as he did it a second time, harder than the first, then cried out when Jal echoed the movement. It was more a sharp sting than actual pain, and then warmth followed.

“I can make you feel like that,” he said as he added a second finger, twisting them. “All you have to do is tell me.”

A shudder ran through me. I'd had a finger in my ass before, had even enjoyed the way it intensified things, but what he was doing was something new.

And I wanted more.

“I want to feel it. Jal, please…”

“Good girl.” He pressed the plug against my anus, and I instinctively tensed. “Watch them, Allie. Watch and relax.”

On the screen, the man stood and pulled the woman to her feet as well. He nudged her legs apart, positioning them so we could see everything. His hands were on her hips, steadying her as he began to thrust up into her hard enough to put her on her tiptoes. I moaned as I watched his cock emerge, then disappear back inside. He moved so slow, filled her so deeply, I could almost feel it.

“Take a deep breath,” Jal order.

Without thinking, I did.

I watched as the man drove back into his partner – and then I cried out, my hands tightening on the bench as Jal twisted the plug and pushed. “Push down on it, Allie. And watch him – see him taking her. Imagine it’s us.”

I whimpered, the line between what I was watching and what was happening blurring away into nothingness. Without thinking, I pushed back onto the plug, the way she was pushing back onto her partner’s cock.

“That’s it, baby.” Jal’s voice.

“Do you like my cock in your ass?” The stranger’s voice.

She moaned out a raw yes.

I made a sound that wasn't a word. I knew the plug wasn't a large one, hardly more than the two fingers Jal had been using, but it was solid, unyielding. The prior boyfriend with whom I'd tried anal sex before had been about this size, but it didn't feel the same at all. I gasped in ragged breaths, my hands opening and closing as I struggled to process all the sensations.

“I changed my mind.” Jal's voice was low in my ear, words not quite covering up the sound of a wrapper tearing, a zipper being lowered. “I’m going to fuck you.”

I barely had time to register what he said before he was burying himself inside me with one rough thrust. I wailed, every muscle in my body quivering with overloaded nerve endings. On his own, he was big enough to make me see stars if I wasn't prepared. With the plug still in my ass, I felt like I would surely explode. I was too full. It was too much. I couldn't take it.

One of his hands slid under my dress and up my spine, the touch soothing, calming.

“Relax, baby. Let me make you feel good.” His hand moved around to my breast, and his fingers gave my nipple a tug, drawing a moan from me. “Keep watching…and don’t you dare come before she does.”

I made a sound of protest, curling my hands into fists so tight my nails marked my palms. I couldn't hold back. I knew I couldn't.

“Let me come,” the woman pleaded. “Please, Master, say I can come.”

“Please,” I moaned along with her. Jal had just barely started to move, and I was already burning with the need to climax.

“Don’t come yet, Allie. When he says she can, then you can.”

Jal's strokes were long and deep, reaching every inch of me. The plug moved with every thrust, sending painful pleasure to mix with the sensations of Jal's cock dragging over my g-spot, stretching me. I'd never considered doing anything like this before, but now, I could only think of how good it felt, how the pressure inside me was building until I could barely breathe.

The man on the screen was pounding into the woman, sweat glistening on both their bodies. As I watched, he dropped a hand between her legs.

“Come!” He made it a command as he shoved three of his fingers into her pussy.

She screamed, and I was vaguely aware that Jal was saying my name, but all of that was lost as the command gave me permission for release. My orgasm overwhelmed me, claimed me, made me lose all sense of self, of reality. When the darkness claimed me, it was almost a relief.