Free One Hot Night by Megan West

I said, everyone is really nice. They don’t make
you feel pressured to join in or anything.”

 
        "Let me see how I feel tonight. I’ve
got a long day ahead of me. Errands, research to do at the library, an article
to start. If I’m feeling up to it, I’ll come out.” Bethany grinned as Katherine
held up a hand. “ If I feel up to it.
I very well might feel up to a night in with the rest of my bottle of wine and
Netflix.”

 
        “Fair enough. I really do hope you stop by,
though. I hear an interesting visitor might be in town.”

 
        “Interesting…like the President?” Katherine
asked, a little sarcastically.

 
        “Interesting, as in Andrew Blake.” Bethany leaned
in a little as she said it, her voice low. “It’s a big secret. I shouldn’t be
saying anything. It’s just a rumor that’s been flying around the club, but
supposedly he’s really into the BDSM scene, he just doesn’t go to any of the
clubs, unless he’s in Europe. But word is that he’s friends with the owner of
this club, so he’s coming for the grand re-opening after the renovation. It
could all just be a rumor, of course.”

 
        “Bethany, you know if I see him there, that would be a hell of an article.”

 
        “I thought you worked for a fashion
magazine, not a gossip mag.”

 
        “I do!” Katherine insisted, looking a little
hurt. “But that article would be a hell of a lot more appealing to my editor if
Andrew Blake’s name was in it. He owns a share in almost every business in this
city…and in a city this size, that’s quite a lot.”

 
        “It also might hurt his business. We’re all
about freeing people, not making them feel like they have to hide.” Bethany’s
face got serious. “Katherine, if you see him there, please don’t write about
it.”

 
        “This is San Francisco. He’d probably have
ten more offers by the morning if his cohorts knew he was into freaky shit.”

 
        Bethany sighed. “You might be right. But
still…I hope you’ll come just for fun and not because you think you can get a
scoop out of it.”

 
        “And here, earlier, you were encouraging
me.”

 
        “That’s before I remembered who might be
there.”

 
        Katherine set her cup of tea down and pushed
it, and the empty plate that had held her muffin, over to the edge of the
table. “Alright. Well, if I am going to maybe show up tonight, I better get moving on the things I need to get done today.
And you should probably take a nap before your big night.”

 
        Bethany smiled. “You’re probably right.”

 
        Katherine stood and gave her a quick kiss on
the cheek. “I’ll text you and let you know if I’m coming, okay?”

 
        “Okay.”

 
    ***

 
        By eight that evening, Katherine still
hadn’t decided whether she should go. She mulled it over as she showered,
recognizing that she was going through her ‘going
out’ motions even as she tried to talk herself into staying home. She washed
her hair, shaved her legs; even rubbed her skin down with an exfoliating scrub
before washing off and throwing her wet hair up in a towel.

 
        “What am I even going to wear?” she moaned
to herself, walking naked to the closet and flinging it open, staring at the
contents inside.

 
        What did one wear to the re-opening night of one of the premiere BDSM clubs in San
Francisco? Bethany had been training there for nearly a month as a professional
dominatrix, and despite her prior kink and fetish-model resume—which was
impressively long—she had to interview three times and commit to the training
program before they would offer her a full-time job. The club was apparently no
joke.

 
    Katherine rarely
even went to regular nightclubs. She wasn’t sure she could hack even an hour in
this place.

 
        The whole concept behind S&M confused
her more than a little. She knew