No one else was around, which seemed strange, as a lot of folks should have been coming and going.
“Looks like there’s only one way to go,” Gillian said, taking the lead. “So we take it.”
The group followed her. The archway turned into another long hallway. It was decorated the same, with sconces every ten feet.
“Is that another door at the end?” Michael said.
“Looks like it,” Piper answered. As they got closer, they could see one detail on it.
A red number one.
24
__________________________
____________
Michael took Piper’s hand as they came to a stop in front of the last door. Brad reached up and knocked, then took a step back and slung his arm over Gillian’s shoulders.
Almost immediately, the door opened.
A woman dressed in a normal, almost conservative, black dress said, “Hello, and welcome to the Underground. Won’t you come in?” She stepped back and swung her arm, tugging the door open completely.
They walked into a room decorated in a deep red.
The wall directly in front of them was a large pane of glass, and the scene behind it was almost surreal.
People were mingling everywhere. The room beyond was cavernous, a true warehouse decorated to the nines with gigantic chandeliers hanging from the tall ceiling, and at least two full bars, one at each end.
As they came fully into the anterior room, Michael noticed that multiple bartenders manned the bars, and they were all naked from the waist up, including the women. He couldn’t see their bottom halves.
“Please come this way.” The woman gestured to her left as she shut the door behind them. “The Gatekeepers are waiting for you.”
Michael glanced to where the woman had pointed. Sure enough, on the far side of the room two people sat at a table right by huge glass double doors. As the group walked over, Piper leaned in and said, “This kind of feels like we’re going to prom and our medical forms are our tickets. I mean, seriously, they should at least be sitting behind something grand to match the décor, rather than a simple folding table.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, after that maze, you’d think it would be a little more high tech.”
Gillian and Brad reached the Gatekeepers first.
They walked up to the woman, and true to what Beth had described, she resembled a librarian. She had a perfectly quaffed blonde bob to go along with her light blue cardigan. “Hiya,” Gillian said to her. “Brad and Gillian Harrison.”
They watched as her finger ran down the paper in front of her. After she got to their names, her head came up. “Oh, yes, you’re cleared already. I just need your forms.” Gillian handed them to her. “Go on in.” The woman winked. “Have fun!”
Gillian laughed as she pulled Brad by the arm toward the big glass doors. “We’ll see you inside, dudes.”
Michael tugged Piper toward the guy. He was dressed equally conservatively. He looked like a tech geek, complete with a blue and white pinstriped shirt and black-rimmed glasses. “Michael and Piper Collins,” he told him.
They watched him do the same thing as the woman, his finger running down the paper in front of him. Once he got to their names, he looked up. “First-timers?”
“Yes,” Michael answered.
“We’re going to have to ask each of you a few private questions before we let you in. No need to be nervous, but we need to take precautions to guard against bad press. You understand.”
“Of course,” Piper replied, handing over their clean bills of health.
The man took the papers and nodded to his right. “You go with Heather, and your husband can come with me.” The guy stood and headed to a door to his right that Michael hadn’t even noticed.
Michael followed him, seeing that he had no other choice. He glanced over at Piper before he went through the door, and she nodded at him, giving him a single raised eyebrow and a cocky grin.
Once they were inside the room, the guy turned to Michael. “I’m Tom,” he said, reaching out to shake Michael’s hand. Michael took it. “And this is just routine. The first question is: Where do you work?”
“I’m a lawyer at Olsen, Ramsey, and Martin.”
“That’s downtown, right?” Michael watched him make a note on the paper he’d brought with him.
“Yes.”
The guy looked up and smiled. “You must know Beth, then?”
“Yes, she’s initially how I found out about this place.”
“Next question. Is this your first time participating in an orgy?”
“Yes,” Michael said, “but I’ve been in the lifestyle for about nine years.”
The guy scratched more notes. “Last question. How likely are you to talk about your experiences here to outsiders?”
Michael inclined his head. “I won’t be sharing anything about this with anyone outside the lifestyle. You have my promise.”
“Are you willing to put that in writing at a later date?”
“Yes,” Michael said.
“Great. We don’t have anyone at the meet and greets sign anything formal, but we try to vet as best we can. If you want to become a member at some point down the road, you have to sign a variety of documents and pay a substantial fee. Our members are used to really nice things.”
“I can see that,” Michael answered. “And, yes, I will agree to sign any documents if we decide to join.”
“You’re cleared for tonight,” Tom said. “The main room is the place to mingle. As the night goes on, there will be sexual acts taking place there, usually on the couches, so don’t be surprised. There are several rooms off the main area, and those are invite-only-type places. If you catch someone’s eye, you can easily be invited. It’s not formal. There is no manhandling the staff”—he cocked his eyebrow—“unless they invite it. There are also checkers working the room. They will be dressed in white shirts and black pants, and they maintain order and make sure everything is consensual. They are forbidden to participate in any extracurricular activities, and each member rotates a night of checking. Because our membership is growing fast, members usually only have to do one night of checking a year. So if you’re approached and asked, ‘Is everything okay?’ just know this is routine, and we encourage you to answer honestly.”
Michael nodded. Beth had told him everything already, so he was prepared. “Got it.”
“Okay then, you can head out and meet up with your wife,” Tom told him.
Michael chuckled. “I’m sure she passed with flying colors.”
“Oh, I’m sure she did, too,” he said, closing the door after them. “You guys came with the second-highest personal recommendation possible, which means we went very easy on you.”
“Good to know.” Michael spotted his wife by the doors. He walked up to her and said, “Shall we go?”
“We shall.”
* * *
“What were your questions?” Piper asked as they entered the elaborately decorated warehouse. The light from the chandeliers was set low, just like the lighting on the way in. Lamps on various tables clustered around sitting areas gave the place a nice living room feel.
It all worked well.
Michael wrapped his arm around her waist and answered, “Where I work, is this my first time, and how likely I am to blab about coming here.”
She looked up at him and started to giggle. “Mine were am I into group sex, how many times can I come in a night, and what gets me going. I’m pretty sure my answers were solely to titillate Heather. I think she’s into women.” They made their way through the room, nodding at folks who acknowledged them. Everyone was dressed up, so Piper was happy with her dress choice. Piper spotted Gillian and Brad at the far end of the warehouse at the bar. “There’s Gillian and Brad. Let’s go sit with them.”
They made their way over, and Gillian handed Piper a glass of red wine. “Bottom’s up, dude.”