I sighed and rubbed at my suddenly aching forehead, like that accusation was still lodged in there, an annoying pebble I couldn’t shake loose. “I’ll let you know about the job.”

“Please do. The position won’t be available forever. Mr. Berenger will hold it as long as he can as a favor to me. I could have expelled his son that time when he stole the test from Mrs. Morris’s desk and sold the answers to everyone, remember? I only gave him on-campus suspension.”

“Okay, Mom. Tell Dad and Amber hello for me.”

“Good night, honey.”

“ ’Night, Mom.”

Ending the call, I fell back on my bed. Law & Order was starting over again, the familiar theme music racing over the air.

Restlessness—and a low undercurrent of anger—hummed through me. Mom. Harris. Joshua. Their voices overlapped in my head, making my stomach churn. All three of them thought they knew me so well. Boring. Reliable. Serious.

All words to describe me. All words I wanted to fling to the floor and stomp on until they were dust beneath me. Holding up my phone again, I scrolled through names, stopping at one at the very bottom. My thumb hovered over the keypad before reaching a decision and typing.

Me: So what does one wear to a kink club?

Annie: Something you can easily take off . . .

Chapter 2

I HAD A VAGUE recollection of a Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman movie Mom refused to let me watch but that I watched anyway during a sleepover at Bethany Grayson’s house (her mother let her watch anything) called Eyes Wide Shut. The movie featured a lavish, hedonistic sex club full of rich, beautiful people dressed in extravagant costumes. Annie’s kink club was a far cry from that.

I should have known it after Emerson’s one visit. Amid laughter, she had shared her experience . . . which had included a man in an anatomically correct squirrel costume. Chippy was in attendance tonight, too, weaving among the rooms and bumping against females. After stepping off the elevator, I stuck close to Annie, letting her guide me. I drove my own car, the memory of Emerson being abandoned by Annie still fresh in my mind.

Tonight’s kink club was being held at a large loft with few rooms. Just a single wide-open space with sparse furniture. Understandably there was little privacy. Not that that stopped people from getting down to business. Several made out. The bedroom consisted of a near-translucent screen that did nothing to shield the orgy happening on the bed.

Couples occupied couches and ottomans. In a corner there was a threesome. They were making out in earnest, but thankfully still in clothes. Their hands were everywhere, diving inside shirts and under dresses. I looked away as I caught sight of panties being slid down one girl’s thighs.

“Want a drink?” Annie asked loudly over the pump of music, stopping before a makeshift bar manned by a guy wearing nothing but a speedo, a Captain America mask, and a Superman cape. He was clearly his own brand of superhero. He danced as he shook, stirred, and poured, doing this crazy pelvic-thrust action that drew my eyes and then made me glance away. Repeatedly.

I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

Not that I was opposed to drinking. I could have used a cocktail to calm my nerves, but I was a little uncomfortable drinking the purple-colored concoctions Captain No Name was making. He nodded at me with a jerk of his chin and sent me a wink. I smiled back lamely. I wanted a drink to relax me . . . not a roofie.

Annie took a drink from him. Bringing it to her lips, she muttered, “You’re a bucket of fun, aren’t you?”

“What’s over there?” I pointed to where a group congregated on one side of the loft.

“Let’s find out.” Annie wove through the crowd, smiling and stopping to greet people she knew. At one point, she halted and engaged in a long, sloppy-wet kiss with a guy. Gag. When they came up for air, a long string of spit connected them before breaking.

He turned his attention on me, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Hello, there, I’m Roger.”

He extended a hand and I shook it. Smiling, he bent his head, tugging me closer by the hand, clearly intending to kiss me, too.

I flattened a hand to his chest and pushed him away with a tight smile. Yeah, not happening.

Shrugging, he moved on.

Annie laughed. “Uh, you do know you’re at a kink club, right?”

I nodded and then shrugged. “Yeah. That doesn’t mean I have to be indiscriminating, right? Besides, my tetanus isn’t up-to-date.”

“You’re such a prude.” Laughing, she rolled her eyes and led us to the herd of people. Some stood and a few sat huddled cozily together in plump armchairs, cheering and chanting and holding their drinks aloft in salute.

As we approached, I saw that they surrounded a pool table. I stood on my tiptoes and peered between the bodies, catching a glimpse of some movement on top of the pool table. Bodies. There were bodies on top of the pool table. Instantly, I cringed, hoping they didn’t tear the felt. Then I cringed again, shaking my head that my first concern was for the pool table.

“Oooh, I gotta see this.” Annie squeezed between two bodies. I followed, able to look over her head. I was average height, but in my boots, I was at least six inches taller than her.

My jaw dropped. Two girls were on their backs, shoulders touching, side by side on the pool table. A single guy was poised over them, his knees planted firmly between their thighs. He kissed one of them. Then the other. He took turns, moving back and forth between them. Deep, slow kisses that looked nothing like the kiss I just witnessed between Annie and Roger. He took his time with each girl, taking her face between his hands and holding it in a way that was both tender and firm. Confident and sexy. A man who knew what he was doing.

I couldn’t even see his face, but I thought he was hot. A powerful back flexed beneath the fabric of his shirt. His forearms were strong-looking, too. Corded with tendons. Lightly dusted with hair. Something tugged low in my belly in response to him.

Suddenly, someone stood in front of me holding a bucketful of raffle tickets. Annie took one and nudged me to do the same. Without tearing my gaze from the debauched scene, I took a ticket.

The other girl waiting for her turn slid her hand under the guy’s black T-shirt and dragged the fabric up so her red fingernails could stroke his bare shoulder. I was right. Holy sexy back. It was broad and muscled. The expanse of smooth, tanned skin made my mouth dry and water alternately. She touched her mouth to his back, her tongue darting out to taste him.