and the bouncer. “The platinum level.”
Ugh. He was one of those.
As if reading her mind only to find her insanely adorable, he laughed and shook his head.
The difference in the lower level and the main level was like the difference in steerage and first class on the Titanic, except in this case, the luxury was below.
The décor was plush and decadent, while still being scary as hell. The contraptions upon which both men and women were being bound and whipped were complicated and ornate. Eric took a glass of champagne off a tray and handed it to her, his shrewd eyes taking in her reactions.
“Intimidated?”
“No,” she half lied. The half part was the impressiveness of the setup only. She’d tried a 24/7 relationship with all the props and protocol. It had left her cold because at the end of the day, she could leave him and go back to her former life.
Eric maneuvered her to a private booth out of the way.
“I’ve done the 24/7 thing before,” she said when they were settled.
“Oh?” he said, not betraying any emotion on that topic one way or the other.
“It was all just a game. A big, elaborate game.”
“And you want it to be real? That’s why you’re willing to risk everything to go to Eleu?”
Grace took a sip of the champagne, trying to hide her surprise when it turned out to be high quality. Platinum level members might not be more kinky than others, but they certainly were getting a different experience at Edge.
“Are you going to mock me or tell me how stupid I am?”
“Not at all. I understand completely. But are you sure you can’t have that kind of bond with someone here?”
“And that someone would be you?”
“I’m looking, yes. But I’m not offering anything until I find the right person. I know at least that you’re serious if you’ve been considering going to Eleu. Though I do think you have things a little confused.”
Oh, here we go. “How so?” she asked, careful not to betray her annoyance with his paternal manner.
He leaned back in the booth, his arms crossed over his chest, a pose no doubt meant to showcase his manly masterfulness. Grace waited for the strutting peacock routine to run its course.
“I think,” he said, “that reality in social situations is constructed and propped up by the group. For example, marriage is real because everyone in society agrees it is. Ceremonies and legal marriage contracts are just a way to prop up the reality. We have the same thing in the kink world with our clubs and protocols and titles and labels. It’s all just social reinforcement. But is a law really more real than a relationship? Who has the real relationship? A couple who hates each other but nevertheless are still bound by a piece of paper, or an unmarried couple with a real bond?”
An intervention was exactly what this was. She hoped he wasn’t about to demonstrate why he was real to her on one of the pieces of expensive dungeon equipment. A spanking horse less than five feet away had just been abandoned. Grace’s eyes kept drifting to it.
Eric pulled out a card and pushed it across the table. “Call me when you’re ready to consider what I’ve said, and we’ll talk further.” He slid out of the booth.
“That’s it?” she asked, her mouth gaping a little.
“I’m not here to win you, just to pass along a little common sense and hope it takes.”
The condescension in his tone pissed her the hell off. She stood and folded the card into a tiny square. “I’m sorry you wasted your time, Mr. Tatum.” She dropped it into the champagne flute and went back upstairs to the silver level.
Lainey was waiting by the gold rope like a vulture. “Well?”
“I’m going home. Don’t ask me to come here again. I’m done with this fake bullshit.”
***
Three weeks later Grace had slipped further into a funk. Work, home, frozen dinners, sleep: that was life now. She’d avoided Lainey as much as she could, not wanting to be subjected to any more of her set-ups. The truth was, if she hadn’t crumpled the card and embarrassed herself by acting like a child, she might have called Eric.
If the island was no longer an option, he certainly seemed like he had it together. And in order to even be a platinum member of Edge, there couldn’t be any red flags. The club was careful about that. It was one of the reasons it