Club Helix: The Power Games (2 page)

That had been a month ago. I’d celebrated finishing my last final exam by drinking a bottle of wine and filling out the questionnaire required by the Helix Corporation for all participants in the Power Games. I’d breezed through the basic information, medical forms, the consent and release of liability, and even the contract I had to sign agreeing I’d have no contact with the outside world during the filming of the show. It didn’t matter to me; the only person I really cared about staying in contact with would be there with me anyway.

The BDSM Activities Appendix with its hard and soft limits had been another story. I’d had to look up half the things listed, putting a big fat check in the “no” box next to knife play, anything to do with blood, needles, electricity, golden showers, and breath play. In fact, just to make sure there’d be no misunderstanding, I’d printed a little
hell
above each box. The rest of the list had been a bit more ambiguous, and in the end, I’d just gotten tipsy and checked yes to everything else. I can trust Emmett.

The rest of the month had passed in a whirlwind of activity—graduation, boxing up our apartment, and attending to a laundry list of things to do before going on the show, including making an appointment with my gynecologist to be tested for God knows what, changing my ticket from Miami to Las Vegas, and packing. I’d also indulged in a little preshow shopping with the guilt check my mom had sent me for graduation, and the irony of Senator Sanderson’s money paying for my entire wardrobe for the show was enough incentive to make me actually cash it.

And now I’m finally here, ready to implement my plan to ruin my stepfather. The plane skids to a stop, mimicking my heart at the thought of exactly what that’s going to entail. I take a deep breath before I spiral headlong into hysteria. I can do this.

A limousine picks us up at the airport, and we make the short drive to the Las Vegas strip in relative silence, Emmett and I both lost in our own thoughts. My heart beats a quick tattoo as we pull into the circular driveway in front of the Helix. The driver opens the door and extends his hand to help me out, telling Emmett he’ll have our bags delivered to our room. Emmett grabs my hand as we go through the thick glass doors, but I’m not sure if it’s to reassure me or so we’ll look like a real couple.

“Wow!” I breathe. The pictures on the website don’t do it justice. The hotel is beyond sumptuous and even more beautiful in person. The lobby is the perfect marriage of sin and luxury, with towering arched ceilings inlaid with gold, black marble floors, elegant pillars, and a double spiral staircase that leads to the second floor. The color scheme is a sophisticated mix of gold and black accentuated with bold slashes of deep crimson.

I try not to gape at the soaring, intricately carved gold ceiling as an attractive blonde wearing a simple black dress and a unique silver necklace walks across the lobby to meet us, her heels clicking against the black marble.

“Welcome to the Helix,” she says in a soft, cultured voice. “Your names, please?”

“Emmett Stone and Avalon Summers.” Emmett answers for both of us, his voice deepening in response to her appreciative gaze.

I roll my eyes. I have yet to meet a woman on this planet who’s immune to Emmett’s charms.

She consults the tablet in her hand, touches the screen several times, and then looks up with a smile. “Excellent. Welcome to the Helix and the Power Games. My name is Rachel. I’ll show you to your room shortly so you can get settled. All contestants will meet back here in the lobby at six o’clock for a formal tour of the hotel, followed by dinner in the Sapphire Room. Attire is street casual, so you can save the good stuff for the cameras.” She gives me a conspiratorial wink, and I smile back tentatively.

“Tomorrow we’ll begin the first of several elimination processes to select the final twenty-eight contestants, but there’ll be more information on that at dinner.” She looks at Emmett. “Would you prefer one of our regular suites with a king-size bed on a pedestal or one of our king-size dungeon beds with a cage underneath?”

“What the—” I start in horror, but Emmett squeezes my hand in silent warning. I close my mouth.

“I’d like to see them both, if I may,” he says politely.

“Of course. Right this way.”

Emmett and I carry on an entire conversation without saying a word as we follow Rachel to the bank of glass elevators. My single horrified look says
what the fuck?
while Emmett is placating with a raised brow and a nod, a pointed reminder of why we are here. I try to keep my face impassive as Rachel ushers us into a beautifully decorated suite and points out the bed, which, as she implied, really has a small barred cage with a door built into the platform underneath. It’s just big enough for a person to lie down in, with a removable thick black satin pad in the bottom.

Emmett nods. “Interesting,” he says as if he’s actually considering the room. After a long pause, he adds, “But I think we’ll take the regular suite.”

She shows us to a regular suite, which is just as opulent as the rest of the hotel, with floor-to-ceiling windows that can go from clear to opaque with the push of a button, a bathroom that’s almost as big as Emmett’s and my entire apartment, and an enormous black-lacquered four-poster bed on a raised platform surrounded by a canopy with black drapes gathered at the four corners. And the ceiling! It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, with an intricately scrolled inset made of gold. As soon as she leaves, I collapse onto the bed.

“What the hell kind of place is this? Are there Doms who actually expect their subs to sleep in those cages like a dog?” I ask, still shocked.

“It’s a turn-on for some women,” Emmett says mildly. “It can remind a sub of her place and her dependency on her Dom; it’s possibly the ultimate form of surrender. But it’s definitely not for everyone. Just try to keep an open mind, Ava.”

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. I just feel like I’m in a little over my head.”

He crosses the room and sits on the bed next to me, pulling me to him in a comforting hug. “You don’t have to do this,” he reminds me gently. “It’s not too late to back out.”

“Yes, it is,” I say firmly. “I have no money and no place to live for the summer. But most importantly, I want to screw over Anthony Sanderson as much as he screwed me over. I’m in this for as long as I can make it last, no matter what.”

* * * *

An hour later, I’m feeling more like myself and ready to take on the world. I’ve showered and dressed in a simple but elegant deep-blue dress with a close-fitting bodice, a skirt that swirls around my thighs as I walk, and heels. When Emmett and I walk into the lobby this time, it’s teeming with people. There are more men than women—ranging in age from their early twenties to forties—and other than a few other couples who appear to be together, the majority seem to have come on their own. The women congregate in small groups, talking nervously, while the men seem more at ease, laughing easily together as they casually and unapologetically size up the women.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Doms and subs, welcome to the Helix.” The masculine voice cuts through the chatter, and a hush falls over the room as all eyes turn to the attractive man with dark blond hair dressed in a charcoal suit with a small microphone pinned to his lapel.

“Thank you for joining us for the Power Games. I’m Logan Stanford—owner and Master of the Dominion Club in San Francisco, Dominant, the host of
The Power Games
, and your main point of contact during the filming. I believe most of you met my wife and submissive Rachel when you arrived. She’s also here to help you with anything you need, so please feel free to ask either of us, or any of the production crew or hotel staff, if you need anything. I’m sure you’re all eager to begin, so we’ll start with a tour, followed by dinner, where you’ll be given the itinerary for the next few days. Now, if you’ll please follow me, I’ll show you around what is going to be the most talked-about hotel in the world in a few short months.”

The hotel is as massive as it is extravagant, and the tour takes a good hour. In addition to a casino, bar, restaurant, and several conference rooms on the second floor, the hotel also has a gorgeous pool surrounded by lounge chairs and private curtained cabanas, a pillared stage, and floating candles illuminating plush double settees strategically placed around the pool. There’s also a lushly landscaped garden with an elaborate hedge maze, a spa, a gym, and several more bars and restaurants, including one on the roof that overlooks the lights of the Las Vegas Strip. The thought of spending the summer at this luxurious resort for free is tantalizing.

Then we visit the Helix Room. This is the room that really makes the Helix unique, and it’s clearly built for things I have no concept of. At first glance, it resembles an opulent fantasy world straight from
Arabian Nights
, dimly lit with saffron-gold walls and gauzy gold and black fabric draped from the ceiling to create a tent-like effect. There’s a small sitting area, but instead of chairs, there are several large, round platforms upholstered in rich velvet with tasseled fringe in the middle of the vast space, as well as low sofas scattered with colorful pillows that line the walls from which brocaded drapes are hung. There’s also a stage, a few wooden structures shaped like Xs, half a dozen pedestals that look like they’re made for displaying sculptures, an assortment of padded benches and tables, a giant birdcage, and what I swear looks like a stockade.

Flustered, unsettled, and inexplicably vaguely aroused, I’m grateful when we return to the smallest of the hotel’s numerous restaurants for dinner. We select our entrées from a preset menu that includes shrimp scampi, chicken marsala, and cheese manicotti, and I have a feeling I’m going to have to become acquainted with the gym on the lower level of the hotel if all the meals are going to be like this. Champagne and Scotch are freely poured, and by the time Logan takes the small stage next to a gorgeous Steinway grand piano, we’re all feeling more at ease and the room is buzzing with a friendly hum of conversation.

I listen intently as he goes over the show and the rules for the next few days.
The Power Games
, offered on pay-per-view and online, will take place and be filmed at Club Helix with the contestants vying for the title of the Helix Dom and the Helix sub. There’s a one-million-dollar grand prize for both the winning Dom and the winning sub, and a half-million-dollar prize each for the runners-up. In addition, both the winning Dom and sub will be offered jobs at the Helix.

Although there are over one hundred applications that were accepted, by the end of the week there will only be twenty-eight contestants selected to compete in the Power Games—fourteen men and fourteen women. Doms and subs who entered without a partner will be randomly matched, and each Dom/sub pair will audition with a scene of their choice on Wednesday. The finalists will be decided based on audition by the director, producers, and Logan. Logan says something about there being an auction to determine how the remaining Doms and subs will be matched for the actual games, but I only listen with half an ear, grateful that I won’t have to worry about that. Instead I entertain myself by looking around the room at the variety of men and women whom I’ll be competing against, trying to guess which women will be catty and cutthroat and which men think they’re God’s gift to women.

An excited hum vibrates through the room when Logan announces that filming for the show will begin with the auction on Friday. I tune back in as Logan explains how the show will progress after that. Each round will consist of at least one private scene between each couple, which will be selected by the Dom, a group competition, additional footage at the discretion of the production team, and possibly a social function and/or time in the Helix Room, with viewers voting two couples off after the first four rounds and then one couple after each of the remaining rounds until there is a winning couple. I’m relieved to find out that the cameras aren’t rolling all the time, although the Dom has the final say over what is recorded and what isn’t outside of the official scenes. At least there’ll be some downtime, although I have no idea exactly what I’ll do with it; we aren’t allowed cell phones, books, magazines, movies, or music, and we can’t leave the property. We are, however, allowed to freely roam the hotel and interact with one another, so at least I can make use of the fabulous pool. After working and studying nonstop for the past four years, the thought of an entire summer with nothing to do but lie out at the pool and attend a few social functions sounds heavenly.

After informing us that all contestants will have to undergo a psych evaluation with a staff psychologist tomorrow, we’re invited to the rooftop bar for drinks and some time to get to know one another.

“Can’t we just go back to our room?” I complain to Emmett as we leave the dining room.

“Nope,” Emmett says resolutely. “I think how we interact with each other is going to be critical to getting votes and staying on the show. We’ve got to make friends.”

“Not my strong suit,” I say glumly.

Emmett lifts my chin with his forefinger until I’m looking into his cognac-colored eyes. “Don’t let what happened to you define you, Ava,” he says firmly. “You’ve kept your heart and your emotions locked up tightly for too long. You’ve got to stop being so afraid to open up. Not everyone is going to hurt you.”

“Okay,” I say with a sigh. “I’ll try.”

I do try, although years of protecting myself have made it hard for me to remember how to make friends. Emmett, on the other hand, has a natural and undeniable charisma, and people are invariably drawn to him. It’s funny, I think, how tragedy translates differently depending on the person. Although neither Emmett nor I trust easily, I come across as aloof and closed off while Emmett is the life of the party, hiding behind a gregarious facade that he’s erected to shield his heart every bit as much as my reserve guards mine.

However, before long I find myself talking to a bubbly blonde named Tessa who’s from Chicago, and who’s one of those easy, open people you just can’t help but like.