The Bad Girls' Club (17 page)

I ran to answer the door, ready for adventure. I couldn
’t believe Beth had agreed to go to the whipping club. Guess she didn’t have much choice after refusing the last dare. I bet she was nervous. I’d be scared that I’d cry out or giggle or, even worse, that no one’d want to spank me. How did you go about it anyway? Did you just walk up to someone and say ‘suppose a spanking is out of the question?’

‘
I’ll just grab my bag…’

But instead of Imogen, Craig leaned on the doorframe. Craig. Shit. He stared at me taking in my leather skirt and my boots, my make up, my hair.

‘What’s going on? I’ve got the movies.’ He held up a bunch of DVDs.

Uh-oh. I
’d forgotten. I’d completely forgotten. Why hadn’t he reminded me?

‘
Um, Craig,’ I stared at my hands. ‘I kinda made other plans.’

‘
Other plans?’ He shifted from one foot to the other. I thought about asking him in but Imogen could rock up at any minute.

‘
I’m going out with friends. I sort of have to...’

‘
Like that? Where are you going?’

‘
Just to a club. You could come along if you want.’ Please don’t let him want to come along. Please, please, please. Why did I even suggest that?

‘
Well, it’s not like I’m doing anything else…’

Since when did Craig go to clubs?

‘You’d have to go home and get changed though. It’s real fancy. No runners or jeans. It’s sort of trendy. And it’s going to be mostly girls. Girls talking about girl things. Like… their periods and childbirth and stuff.’ I couldn’t meet his eyes. I must be the worst girlfriend ever, but what choice did I have? I couldn’t see Craig enjoying a bondage club. I couldn’t see
me
enjoying a bondage club with Craig tagging along. I’d have to explain why we were there and what was going on… and it would all get very complicated.

‘
I guess it’d be expensive and noisy too.’ He smiled but he didn’t look too happy.

‘
Next weekend, sweetheart. I absolutely promise.’

‘
OK, I guess I’ll call up one of the guys and see what they’re doing.’

He reached over and kissed me goodbye. A soft, passionless kiss. Nothing like
Satoshi or Tom. Ouch. I shouldn’t even be thinking that. I put my arms around him and pulled him closer to me for a minute.

I was almost relieved when Craig headed off down the path but he turned around when he got to the gate.

‘You know, Jules, you look really pretty like that.’

Why didn
’t he just reach into my chest cavity and wring my heart? I definitely had to make this up to him.

***

We pulled up outside a plain-looking club.

‘
Do you think this is it?’ Imogen asked.

‘
I guess so,’ I replied. ‘Guess they aren’t going to have a big neon spanking sign out the front, are they?’

‘
Probably not. Still I was expecting something a bit more gothic and grandiose.’

Just as she said that, a woman in a black leather corset and the highest boots I
’ve seen in my life got out of a car and walked to the big wooden door.

‘
Looks like it’s the right place,’ I said. I hopped out of the car and moved the seat forward for Beth. She clambered out then peeled a chocolate wrapper off her leg.

‘
Ever thought of cleaning the back of your car?’ she asked Imogen.

Imogen looked in the back and laughed.
‘It is a mess, isn’t it? I don’t sit in the back, so I don’t really notice.’

‘
Well it isn’t too pleasant for passengers, let me tell you. It’s bad enough having to squeeze myself up like a damn piano accordion to fit into this shoebox without feeling like I’m sitting in the city tip.’

‘
Well you know, we could have taken your car if you hadn’t guzzled so much wine with dinner.’

‘
I needed it. I’m the one that supposed to get a beating tonight. You’d be trying to numb yourself too.’

‘
It’s a spanking, not a beating. Now, come on. Let’s get inside. I’m freezing,’ I said.

It was so dark inside. Dark and hot and loud. The music pounded through me, making my heart beat faster. At first it seemed like a regular dance club – writhing bodies squeezed tight on the dance floor, drinkers by the bar checking each other out. I was almost disappointed. I wanted it to be more extreme, more dangerous.

Red lights flickering off the stainless steel walls made it seem even hotter. I could feel an energy in the room, making me buzz, and I soon picked up on the details that made it different.

In one corner, a girl peered through the bars of a metal cage, her hands bound above her as the cage swung around. Chains and hooks decorated the ceiling and the walls. Or maybe they were more than just decoration.

People hovered around us. I saw a few nuns in the crowd and a very large, bearded man dressed like a school girl. A woman walked past in black PVC. She held a chain over her shoulder. On the other end were a girl and boy dressed in matching rubber suits. She looked Beth up and down, taking in Beth’s bouncy hair and her trendy top and skirt. She reached out and stroked Beth’s hair.

‘
You look very
tidy
, dear,’ she said, her face stern. As she walked off, the girl and guy laughed as they followed.

‘
This is H&M,’ Beth said. ‘Freak.’ She marched off toward the bar while Imogen and I lingered behind her, taking it all in. It seemed like most of the people had known each other for years and weren’t paying the slightest bit of attention to us.

I jumped as something brushed my leg. I looked down to see a guy on his hands and knees, collar around his neck with a lead being held by a tall leather-clad woman. She told him he was a bad puppy and slapped him sharply on the rump.

Weird, but I dunno, there was something appealing about having a human puppy. He could fetch things for me and, if he was good, I’d scratch him behind the ears.

Then I saw the stage. I couldn
’t see much through the crowd but a woman towered over everyone swinging a whip above her head, red lights glowing off her pale skin. The crack of her whip cut through the beat of the music. I strained on tiptoes to see more.

Imogen grabbed my arm.

‘We’re going upstairs,’ she shouted.

Upstairs was a smaller, quieter bar with couches and tables. I moved over to the balcony that looked down on the stage. I tried to take it all in, but I felt like my head was whirling. So much was happening at once – a big wooden cross with a man tied up, ready to be whipped, two nurses working on someone on a hospital trolley, a man with a frame of metal around his head chained to a hook in the ceiling.

‘Are you new here?’ the guy beside me asked. He leaned on the balcony rail watching me with an amused smile.

I nodded and realised I was bouncing on the balls of my feet, partly in time to the music and partly from excitement. No wonder he could tell I was new.

‘I’m with some friends,’ I told him pointing out Imogen and Beth. He turned to look at them but they ignored him, too busy scowling at each other.

He turned back to me.
‘I’m Peter. I’m about to go downstairs, want to have a look around?’

Did I ever? I grinned at him. He grabbed my hand as I waved goodbye to Beth and Imogen.

Everybody seemed to know Peter. A woman wearing a surgical mask nodded hello, a few guys in black leather stopped him to chat.

‘
Come and check out Victor,’ Peter said. ‘The human door mat. He likes to be trampled.’

At the back of the club was a steel ramp with handrails each side. As we approached, a man raised himself up off the ramp and said hello.

‘He wants you to walk on him,’ Peter said.

I shook my head. I couldn
’t.

‘
Go on. He loves it.’

I climbed onto the ramp, holding onto the rail. Gingerly, I put my foot on his leg. It was hard to balance and I tried to put all my weight onto my arms so as not to hurt him. I put my other foot down and walked down his body to his chest. I wasn
’t sure what to do next, so I looked to Peter for clues.

‘
Not so gentle,’ he said. ‘Stamp on him.’

I stamped my foot lightly. I didn
’t want to break him.

‘
Harder,’ called Victor. So I stomped harder with my other foot. Victor groaned. I looked down to see if he was OK.

‘
Harder,’ he said again. ‘That just tickles.’

I laughed. I
’d show him harder. I marched up and down on his chest. When I finished, Victor sat up and shook my hand.

‘
Next time, we’ll try it with a cigarette,’ he said.

‘
But I don’t smoke,’ I replied, puzzled.

Then Peter led me to the stage. The woman with the whip was still there, cracking it in the air and bringing it down across the red-marked back of the man tied in front of her. He squirmed and moaned as it hit his flesh. Her face was stern and emotionless but I could see a power surging through her. I watched, wondering how it would feel to wield that power. To be the one in control.

She untied the man from the cross and rubbed his back. He turned to leave the stage with an expression of bliss on his face.

Peter turned to me.

‘Care to go up on stage?’ he asked.

‘
I’m not sure if I could handle being whipped,’ I said.

He held my arms and looked intently into my eyes.

‘But you want to whip me, don’t you?’

Me? Whip him? What could possibly give him that idea? I had never thought of anything like that in my life. Sure, I
’d played around with Satoshi and Tom but that was just in fun.

‘
I couldn’t. I’ve never… I don’t…’

‘
Don’t think about what you should or shouldn’t do. Don’t think about what other people have told you that you should want. Just ask yourself, what do you want to do?’

I gulped and tried to settle my thoughts. What did I want to do? Peter picked up a riding crop and put it in my hand. Suddenly there was no question about it.

He took my hand and led me up the steps to the stage. That didn’t feel right. Surely I should be the one that was doing the leading. I was supposed to be the one in control, the dominant one, but I was also the inexperienced one.

I stood on stage, not sure what I should be doing. The woman with the whip walked over to us.

‘Mistress Sue, this is Juliette,’ said Peter. ‘She’s a novice and needs a helping hand.’

Mistress Sue smiled.
‘Don’t worry. We all have to start somewhere. Take him over to the cross.’

I took Peter by the hand and lead him over to the cross. He took off his t-shirt. He was tanned and muscular but had several long white scars across his back. Maybe the result of previous whippings? I wasn
’t game to ask. Mistress Sue grabbed a leather strap and showed me how to buckle his wrist. I took his other hand and tied it up.

It felt like everyone in the club was watching, waiting for me to make a mistake. Sure, most of them hadn
’t been paying any attention before but, now I was in the spotlight, it felt like every pair of eyes was pointed at me. Sweat run down the back of my leg and the butterflies went mad in my stomach.

‘
Now, you have to watch for hand signals. If he raises two fingers like this…’ She took his hand and lifted two fingers. ‘…it means he’s had enough. Although Peter’s a real pain slut. It’s unlikely that he’ll be stopping you any time soon.’

She laughed and so did Peter. Then she told me about safe words and other signals and the rules of the club.

I nodded trying to take it all in. Hoping I’d remember it all. She sounded like she’d been through this heaps of times. At least she didn’t make me feel like an idiot for not knowing anything.

She handed me a leather implement. It looked like a studded table tennis bat.

‘This is a paddle. Try it out first. It’s pretty easy to control.’

I held it in my hand. It felt easy to use, although I preferred the riding crop. It was much sexier.

‘OK, now these are the safe areas,’ she said, running her fingers over the smooth, hard skin of Peter’s butt and shoulders. ‘These are the areas you should avoid, around the kidneys and also the neck. You’ll be fine with the paddle though.’

He shuddered as she ran her fingers down his back to prepare him.

‘But enough of the lecture, I’m sure you’d rather get started on him than listen to me crap on. Oh and one last thing…’

I looked at her expectantly.

‘Relax and have fun.’

With the first contact of the paddle against his skin, I could feel my excitement rising. I was in control. I had the power. As Peter moaned in delight, I knew we were going to enjoy this.