Free Depths of Depravity by Rhea Wilde Page A

life,” she said. “There’s only one rule: no sex. You don’t suck his dick. He doesn’t finger you. You guys can’t even kiss. You’re not allowed to let him get to first base, is that clear?”
    “ Yeah, of course.”
    “ Even though you have maximum privacy,” she said as she lowered the curtain over the booth, “just remember that you don’t. There are cameras everywhere that record everything that’s going on. And there’s a guy watching. If he catches you doing something you’re not supposed to be doing, you’re going home.”
    “ I understand.”
    “ It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t happen very often. But if you only remember one thing, it’s that.”
    Sage pushed the curtain to the side and the light from the ceiling streamed back in. She showed me the rest of the booths and it didn ’t take me long to get accustomed to how they worked.
    “ You can charge whatever you want,” Sage explained. “Platinum takes a flat rate of five hundred dollars of your earnings per night. It’s less during the day. That’s because nobody makes any money during the day.”
    “ Five hundred? How does anybody make any profit.”
    “ Like I said, you can charge whatever you want.”
    “ But are men really willing to spend that much?”
    Sage smirked at me. I was letting my naivety show. I had some idea how clubs usually worked but Platinum ’s inner-workings continued to surprise me.
    “ Harley, it takes five-hundred just to walk in here. Some men get drunk and kicked out without anything to show for it. Some harass the women and get beat-up by security. These men are looking for a good time. A real good time. They’re willing to pay the price.”
    “ But you said there wasn’t any sex involved.”
    “ I did,” she smirked. “But like I said earlier. This isn’t just about sex. Some men just enjoy your company. But there is another way to make some money.”
    I slowly followed her toward the back of the room and there was another curtain I hadn’t noticed before. She pulled it back and I stepped through it.
    “ That was Paradise,” she said. “And this is Limbo.”
    The room was considerably darker than everything I had seen. There was a lone spotlight shining down from the cei ling, illuminating the center of the room. Through the darkness, I could barely see the booths on the edges of the room.
    “ It’s so dark,” I said. “I can’t see anything.”
    “ That’s the point,” she said. “What happens here happens in the dark. You can push things a little further but still there’s—”
    “ No sex. I know that. Then what’s the point?”
    “ There’s a different kind of sensuality when you can barely tell what’s going on. It’s all about the physical touch back here in this room. You’re a pretty girl, so most men will want to take you to Paradise. They’ll want to get a better look at you. Other men might want to take you to Limbo just so they can feel you.”
    “ I… I think I see your point.”
    “ You’ll understand better soon enough. Just remember that cameras can still see what’s going on back here.”
    I followed Sage out of the darkness, past the room she called Paradise and back toward the main floor. She put her hands on her hips and shrugged at me.
    “That’s it as far as the tour is concerned, Harley. When you’re working, you walk around and get to know some of the men. Get a feel for them. Try to get them back there so you can make that five-hundred dollars and more. Or you can let them walk up to you. It’s a free market out here. Any questions?”
    I thought about it for a moment. Everything seemed so simple. The rooms in the back were certainly lavish and the prices were even more exorbitant than I was expecting. But I still wasn’t able to piece together what the draw of Platinum was. I was almost too afraid to ask. That’s why I was here though. I couldn’t write a story about a club only because it had high prices. That doesn’t require any