Satisfaction (Taking Chances #2)

by Jeanne McDonald

  From the distance, I heard her yapper. I’d know the sound of that dog anywhere. I was never much of an animal person, especially when it came to dogs. They were loud, smelly, and slobbery, but growing up, Autumn always wanted a dog. Her mother, single and working three jobs, couldn’t afford one. So as soon as Autumn was out on her own, she got a pup.

  A small, brown ball of fur ran up to me, yipping its little head off. Autumn held tight to the bright red leash, chugging her own cup of Joe. “Jujubee, sit!” she commanded.

  The stupid dog kept on barking and nudging my leg. I leaned down and patted its head, hoping to shut it up.

  “Juju!” Autumn reprimanded. “Leave him alone.”

  I sat up straight, shielding my hand over my eyes, and stared up at my best friend. Autumn would disagree with me, but I’d always thought she was a pretty woman. She claimed it was me seeing her through brother-goggles. Whatever that meant.

  She was short, not nearly as short as my bombshell, but close, and certainly a little heavier than she wanted to be. To me, her curves were one of her best features. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a mess on top of her head and her eyes were covered by sunglasses.

  “Hey there, short stuff,” I teased. “Long night?”

  She dawdled toward me, dragged by the dog on the leash. “Bite me, Jolly Green.”

  I laughed and patted the bench beside me. “I take it you pulled an all-nighter?”

  Autumn placed her coffee cup next to mine and dropped down onto the bench. Her silly dog began chasing its own tail, barking at it as though the tail offended the rest of the dog. “You could say that.”

  Her lack of a simple yes piqued my interest. I gave her a complete once over. No makeup. Leggings with an oversized shirt and UGGs in the dead of summer. “Oh, man. You got laid. Who was it?”

  Even through the dark lenses of her sunglass, I could tell I was getting the stink eye. “Can you say that any louder?”

  I dropped my pen onto the bench and cupped my hands around my mouth and began, “OH, MAN! YOU GO─”

  She rammed her fist into my ribs. “Shut up!” she screeched. “Gah! Yes. Okay. I got laid last night. Happy?”

  I slipped my pen into my pocket and positioned the napkin back under my coffee cup. “I knew it! Details, woman. I need to know if I should kick his ass for violating my friend or not.”

  Autumn picked up her coffee cup and took a drink, her head falling in a way to see what I’d placed under mine.

  “What’s that?”

  “Uh-unh. Spill the beans.”

  She let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. You remember me telling you about Dr. Stewart?”

  I scratched my head. “The cardiologist you’ve been going on and on about for weeks?”

  She groaned and had it not been for those sunglasses, I figured I would’ve caught an eye roll. “Yes. Well, Sam asked me out for drinks after our shift last night. One thing led to another and we ended up back at my place.”

  “And all that grouching about how he would never notice you,” I scoffed. “I told you.”

  “Yeah, well.”

  I grabbed my coffee and took a sip. Autumn picked up the napkin. “Still thinking about the bombshell, I see.”

  I shrugged. “I try not to. Trust me.”

  “Have you thought about going out? Getting yourself laid? You need a little something to knock her voodoo out of you.”

  I snatched the napkin back and shoved it in my pocket. “I went out just last night. Thank you very much.” My voice rose an octave in defense.

  “Work doesn’t count, Brix.”

  A little agitated that she knew me so well, I shifted in my seat, resting my leg on the bench to face her. “For your information, I went bowling with a friend after class.”

  Autumn dropped her sunglasses, revealing her bloodshot eyes and shocked expression. “Really? Do I know this person?”

  “As a matter of fact…”

  Jujubee started barking wildly, breaking my immediate train of thought. Unfazed by the barking dog, a man on a bicycle rolled right up to us. He glanced at me and then at Jujubee. She stopped yapping the instant he reached down to pet her. “You Brix Johnson?” he asked me, rubbing behind Jujubee’s ears.

  “Who wants to know?” Autumn answered before I could. Always the mother hen.

  I patted her on the arm and stood up. “Yes, I am. Can I help you?”

  The man straightened up, as he pulled a messenger bag around his body. “I have a package for you.” Out of his bag, he grabbed a bright white envelope with a beautiful gold insignia in the top left corner. I recognized it immediately. Autumn must have too because she let out a small gasp. He thrust a clipboard at me and instructed, “Please sign.”

  I pulled the pen from my pocket and scratched out my name. He took back the clipboard and handed me the package. “Have a nice day,” he puffed and was off in a flash, leaving a stunned me and a panting Jujubee in his wake.

  Autumn pounced off the bench. “Is that what I think it is?” she exclaimed, ripping the envelope from my hand. “Holy shit, it is!” Her fingers slid over the embossed emblem of a gold apple encompassed in a whip with a masquerade mask resting haplessly against the entanglement. Etched above the insignia was the word, Indulgence. “I thought it was too late to enter.” She moved her sunglasses to the top of her head and gazed up at me. “Wait! You said you didn’t want to apply this year. Did you change your mind?” She jerked her head to the disappearing messenger. “And how did they know to find you here?”

  I shook my hands, laughing. “Hold up, lightning round. One question at a time.”

  “Well, Lucy, you got some splainin’ to do.”

  A little weirded out myself, I pushed her back to the bench until she sat down. She had a valid question about them knowing my whereabouts, and I had no answer for that one. It was pretty creepy.

  Jujubee pranced around my ankles, wrapping her leash around my legs. I managed to escape the dog and sat down next to Autumn, extracting my package from her firm grip. “So, you know that friend I went bowling with last night?”

  “Yeah, but what does that have to do─”

  “I went to Sebastian Hawk and Addison George’s house.”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. “No way!”

  “Yeah. That place is massive and they have a freaking bowling lane in their basement.”

  “Wicked!”

  “Right! That’s what I thought. Anyway, by the end of the night, Addison made me promise to return to Indulgence.” I slipped my finger under the seal and ripped open the envelope.

  Autumn’s brow furrowed and her nose wrinkled. “That’s kind of shitty of her,” she blurted out.

  “How so?”

  “Welp, after what she did to you last year…”

  My heart sank in my stomach. “They’re in love, Autumn. I hold no malice toward that.”

  She wiggled her shoulders, apparently unconvinced. “I get it was just sex between y’all, but still, you’d had a crush on her forever. It was pretty shitty of her to play on that just to get to Sebastian.”

  “You’re reading too much into it.” I extracted a large bundle of papers from the envelope.

  “If you say so.” She looked at the packet. “Wow! That’s a lot more paperwork than last year.”

  True, there was a lot of paperwork involved with applying for Indulgence. To even be considered, we were required to send in headshots and medical records, along with completing an elaborate sexual experience questionnaire. The task was daunting, really. “This is two packets,” I explained, separating them out and handing one to her.

  “Two?” She absentmindedly accepted the papers.

  “I told them that I would only attend if you were allowed to come.”

  Autumn looked from me to the papers and then back at me again. “Now, I know you just hooked up with Dr. Feelgood last night and all…”

  “Shut it!”

  I chuckled and continued, “So, if you don’t
want to go, you don’t have to, but the paperwork is there if you wish to join me.”

  “You’re serious.” She seemed dumbfounded.

  “I am. Better yet, we’re an immediate acceptance as long as we turn in the paperwork.”

  Autumn flipped through the pages, scanning each one. “Is that even allowed?”

  “Girl, I got so much information out of them last night. You don’t even know the half...” Off in the distance, a flash of purple caught my eye. Everything around me melted away. Gone was the heat from the sun, the sounds of Jujubee barking, and even Autumn snapping her fingers in front of my face to garner my attention didn’t register. A jogger, too far away to see clearly, had stolen my attention. Her hair, black with purple streaks, instantly brought my bombshell to the forefront.

  I got up, ignoring Autumn’s demands to know where I was going and rushed toward the runner. I couldn’t get to her fast enough. She was heading in the opposite direction of me, so I couldn’t see anything but her hair, yet I was compelled to chase her down. I had to know if she was the woman I sought. My heart raced as I rushed toward her. Everything inside me hoped it was the one I sought, that I could clear my head of this siren who’d seduced me.

  The closer I came, the more my blood sang.

  Then she stopped. Dead in her tracks. She leaned forward, pressing her palms to her knees. I practically tripped over my own two feet to bring myself to a stop.

  She stood erect and stretched her arms over her head.

  Without even seeing her face, my heart sank in despair. It wasn’t my bombshell. The lack of tattoos on her pale skin was enough to squash my heart’s desire.

  The woman turned around and saw me staring. She smiled, her blue eyes bright as sweat freckled her brow. “You okay?”

  I forced an aching grin. “Yeah. I just thought you might be someone I know.”

  “You seem disappointed.”

  “Maybe. A little,” I admitted.

  The woman bent from side to side, stretching her body. “She must be something special.”

  Rather than answer her, I nodded. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

  I began to walk away. “Hey!” called out the woman.

  I turned to find her right on top of me. She batted her eyelashes and pulled the pen from my shirt pocket. She took my hand in hers and started to write on my palm “How about you take me out for a drink some time? That way I can become someone you know.”

  She slid the pen back into my shirt and gave me a wink. I looked down at my hand. She’d written her name and number. “Yeah. Sure.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Brix.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Brix.” She began jogging in place. “Call me.”

  Before I could respond further, she turned on her heel and took off. She glanced over her shoulder, only once, but I remained there stunned, watching as she ran away.

  “Dude!” Autumn exclaimed, coming up behind me. She grabbed my hand and examined the freshly inked number. “One night with Sebastian Hawk and you’re picking up chicks in the park like a pro. How was he able to accomplish something I haven’t been able to in all these years?”

  “Shut it!” I nudged her.

  Jujubee yipped at my feet. “It’s true. I’ve never seen you do that before.”

  “I thought she was someone else.”

  “Oh.” I tilted my head, as I watched the understanding slide across Autumn’s face. “You thought it was…”

  “Yeah.”

  “You know, most people don’t keep color like that in their hair long, right?”

  I sighed. I didn’t know that, but then again, why would I.

  I grabbed the paperwork Autumn was holding in her hand. “I think I’m going to fill this out. Are you joining me?”

  “You know I am. Though I must admit I’m torn. I don’t like the idea of Addison George manipulating you, but I do think it’s a good idea for you to do this. Maybe you’ll forget about that woman. I hate that she screwed with your head like she did.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “What’s done is done. Let’s get home.”

  Without another word, we left the park, heading back to my place to complete the paperwork for Indulgence. Autumn was right. I needed a distraction and I had five months to prepare for the greatest distraction of all─Indulgence.

  It felt surreal being back in this place.

  Standing in line, waiting to finalize my entrance into Indulgence, I pushed the black mask against my face as though it were a pair of glasses. The past few months had flown by in what felt like a blink of an eye. My days were full with work and friends, but something always tickled the back of my mind as though I was missing something. I’d long since stopped trying to figure out what I was missing, though it nagged me in my quiet times.

  “Can you believe this?” Autumn mused, glancing up at the vaulted ceiling of the grand foyer.

  “Believe what?” I tugged at the bowtie around my neck. When we were expected to be naked for the night, it made no sense whatsoever why formal attire was required to enter.

  “That we’re here again. I never expected to return, ya know.”

  I pulled Autumn to my side, squeezing her bare shoulders tight. “Yeah, I know.” Silently, I wished she wasn’t with me. If I had my way about it, she’d be home with a boyfriend who adored her as she deserved. There was a point, a few months back, when she was going to back out of joining me, and I couldn’t have been happier. She deserved love. But when Dr. Sam Stewart decided they were taking things too fast, Autumn realized he was with her for one thing and one thing only. While I hated seeing her so heartbroken, I was happy when she tossed the jerk to the curb.

  We stepped toward the long row of oak desks where some of the most formidable yet beautiful women I’d ever laid eyes on in my life sat. They were all dressed in black suits with plain white masks.

  Unable to look fear in the eye, because that’s what these women instilled in me, I glanced around the room, enamored by the lavishness of the house. Unlike the home Sebastian and Addison lived in, this house was complete with pomp and pageantry. Marble flooring as far as the eye could see; a huge chandelier dangled above our heads casting light where the candlelight didn’t reach. Dark reds and chocolate browns splashed across the room adding ambience to the cinnamon that filled the air. The house was what fairy tales were made of. Assuming those fairy tales were elaborate pornos.

  “Next!” a woman called out.

  Autumn tugged at my jacket and pushed me forward.

  “Good evening,” said the brunette, whose dark eyes rendered me speechless. “License and invitation, please.”

  I fumbled with my wallet and handed both to her. She stamped the invitation after running it under an ultraviolet light, then flipped through a card box. From the box, she extracted a piece of thick parchment with my partner card attached. She pushed the form toward me along with a pen and gave the same spiel as last year about the rules and such.

  My eyes darted over the page, barely reading the words. I practically had them memorized from all the times I’d read them in my application packet.

  1. Participants are allowed admittance by invitation only.

  2. Medical records are to be provided by each participant. Fraudulent records will ensure instant dismissal from current and future engagements. Legal action can and will be taken in the event that fraudulent activity is discovered.

  3. Rooms are segregated by selective indulgence. A participant may take part in any or all of the indulgences available, as they so desire.

  4. Participants must partake in at least one delicacy in order to obtain a return invitation for future events.

  5. If accident or injury occur at any time during Indulgence, the participant waives his or her rights for legal litigation. Mr. Hawk insures all medical needs will be handled in a swift and appropriate manner, both during and after the event.

  6. All participants have the right to refuse another partic
ipant without repercussion or bias.

  7. All sexual partners must be documented on the participant’s partner card. There are no exceptions to this rule.

  8. The use of safe words is required by all participants. A safe word is to be provided to a partner before intercourse occurs.

  9. All cameras, cell phones, and any other recording devices are strictly prohibited. If a participant is found with any such devices on their persons, they will be immediately ejected from the premises and their property will be retained and wiped clean before being returned to its owner.

  10. All participants are to remain nude throughout the duration of the event. If a need for early departure arises, the participants clothing will be returned immediately and they will be escorted from the premises.

  Nothing had changed. I scrawled my signature and put out my arm for the woman to attach my card. She snapped it to my left wrist with a bright red piece of silk ribbon.

  “Any questions?” she crooned for probably the hundredth time this evening.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Very well. Have a wonderful evening…” She glanced down at my paperwork once again to verify my alias for the evening. “Mr. Grayson.”

  Flex Grayson. That was my alias for this year. Flex just sounded cool, and well, Grayson. C’mon, Dick Grayson. The Boy Wonder! Nightwing! How could I not? Batman would always be my favorite superhero, but Flex Wayne didn’t have the same appeal as Flex Grayson did.

  “Thank you,” I replied, taking Autumn by the hand and making our entrance into the great hall.

  Just like I remembered, anticipation saturated the room. People clustered together conversing about what pleasures the night might bring. It was New Year’s Eve and on a night like this magic could happen.

  I glanced around the room in search of two friendly faces. They would be the only two unmasked faces in the room. Lucky for me, it didn’t take me long to find them.