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earlier. The logical part of her brain could rationalize the need for some people to experience pain. She guessed it was a need to release control, but to surrender total control to someone else involved a massive amount of trust and Francesca just wasn’t that trusting. Then to top it all off there was the bombshell club owner, Selene. Sex on a stick. Wow, what she would give to see some of that a little more up close and personal. She had to wonder if Selene was into the kinky stuff, she did own the club, right? Therefore, that must mean she was some type of deviant, too. What else could it mean?
    “Hey, how was the club?” Francesca’s roommate, Daphne asked. They’d lived together since college. Daphne was a product of the “me” generation, given everything by her parents, and that allowed her to spend her time on whatever social cause she fancied. Save the Oceans, Green Peace, anything that screamed activist was Daphne’s agenda. Francesca always wondered why someone like Daphne hung out with a nerd like her. Daphne’s smoldering, sexy good looks got her into places Francesca could only imagine. But they’d gotten along so well they decided to continue that tradition when they graduated.
    “Oh, it was…interesting.”
    “Really? Spill,” she said, sitting on the sofa and pulling her feet tighter under her.
    “It was fine, really.”
    “Oh come on, stop being coy and tell me every little detail. I’ve always wanted to go to a place like that but Mark isn’t into that kinda stuff.” Daphne wiggled her manicured eyebrows.
    Francesca wasn’t trying to be coy, she just wasn’t sure how to described something so full of debauchery that it defied explanation.
    “Oh there had to be one interesting thing tonight.” Daphne leaned in resting on the arm of the sofa. “There wasn’t even one cool thing about tonight, not one?”
    “Well...if you’re into that sorta thing I guess it was interesting.”
    “Okay, so what does geeky girl think about the night?”
    They invented a game in college where if Francesca found it embarrassing and couldn’t talk about something, she would respond as “geeky girl”, her other persona. It sounded silly, but by making a game out of it, she found it easier to discuss difficult topics like sex, the opposite sex and her lack of dates. Her nerdy tendencies kept her focused, on time and able to earn a decent salary, but not quite enough to live on her own, at least that’s what she told herself. Besides, she liked the comfort and security of having someone else in the house. She’d been left alone as a child and she wasn’t ready for more solitude, not yet. It also limited her social skills, her ability to date, working out or being the social butterfly like Daphne.
    “I’m glad I went. I’ve never seen anything like it before, but I doubt I’ll ever go again.”
    “Really, so want happened?” Daphne plopped down next to her, grabbed a pillow and hugged it close.
    “It was unbelievable. They had this woman named Mistress Rose and she came out and whipped this guy. He asked for it…”
    “What? No way.”
    “Yep, she had this long whip that she flicked out over the audience. We could feel the wind snap above us as she flicked it back, cracking it above our heads.”
    “No shit?”
    “Yep.” Francesca nodded. “Then she used it to whip this guy who was tied up on an X-shaped thingie. He would beg her to hit him. I couldn’t believe it.”
    “No shit.”
    “No shit.”
    “What else happened?”
    “Oh, then Dorothy harassed the owner, as she always does. It was embarrassing, as usual .”
    “What? I thought she was married?”
    “She is and you want to hear the topper?”
    “Sure.”
    “It was a woman.”
    “Who was a woman?”
    “The owner.”
    “The owner of the bondage club is a woman? Wow, who would have guessed a woman would own a bondage club?”
    “I know, right?”
    Francesca hoped that Daphne wouldn’t ask any more questions. She had to