“Actually,” said Cole. “You take over the elevator. I’ll take care of our lovely guests here.”
“Very good, sir.”
Cole swapped positions with the doorman. “Looks like I’ll be your tour guide this evening, Miss…?”
“Morgan,” said Chastity. “Chastity Morgan. And this is Raven.”
Ah, how I loved hanging out with Chastity. I hated introducing myself.
“Pleasure to meet you both. Now, where were we? Ah, right. I’ll need your dresses.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But are you asking me to…you know…”
“Take off your dress, yes,” said Cole as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“And why in the world would I do that?”
“Because it’s a Friday night. Which means the dress code is black tie lingerie.”
“Great,” I said. “I think this cocktail dress qualifies as black tie.”
“The black tie is for the men.”
“Well that’s very unclear. How was I to know that the lingerie part applied to women?”
“What did you expect? For all the guys here to be wearing lacy thongs?”
“Hey man, I don’t know what you’re into. Don’t ask, don’t tell. That’s a thing, right?”
Cole looked at me like I was crazy. “I’m pretty sure that applies to gay guys in the army.”
I shrugged. “Gay guys in the army, lingerie-clad men at sex clubs. Potato, potahto.”
“She has a point,” added Chastity. “Those two things seem closely related.”
Cole sighed. “Look around. Everyone else understands the dress code.” He gestured to a group of women walking down the grand staircase wearing nothing but lingerie and heels. And the men with them were dressed to the nines. “If you’re not wearing appropriate undergarments, I can have someone escort you to the boutique in the Ladies’ Lounge. They’ll fix you up with some great lingerie.”
I shook my head. “I’m not taking my dress off.”
Cole frowned. “I assure you, our dress check is first rate. Your clothes will be safe with us.”
“I was more concerned with the whole being naked thing.”
He gave me the up-down. “Are you not wearing any underwear?”
“What? Of course I am!”
“I don’t know…it sure seems like you’re not. Like I said, the boutique has plenty…”
“You’re ridiculous.” I was about to turn around and get back on the elevator. But then I remembered my new mantra.Say yes.It was time for me to start living.
Would it really be so bad to walk around Club Onyx in my underwear?
All the other girls were doing it.
And at Chastity’s insistence, I’d worn a super sexy set of strappy lingerie, complete with a garter belt and stockings. I’d told her that I wasn’t going to sleep with anyone tonight, but she said it was always good to be prepared just in case. She was indeed correct.
And if that wasn’t enough, I’d also just gotten a fresh wax at the spa yesterday. That was the one link to the Society that hadn’t disappeared along with Tanner. But everyone at the Shifting Sands Spa had gotten mysteriously worse at English this summer.
