Page 110 of Start With A Slap

“I thought you were applying,” Citrine said at the elevator.

“I got cold feet,” Ivy said. “Maybe I’ll come back. I mean, I really need the work, but I just don’t know if I could handle the weird guys?—”

“Shh. Clients.”

“Right. See?” Ivy whispered, “I don’t even know how to be discreet.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

Ivy boarded the elevator with her and waited for the doors to close before asking, “How long have you...? You know.”

“Gosh. Almost two years now?”

Ivy nodded. “If I asked you about what it’s like, would that be weird for you? Feel free to say no, I just want to know what I’m getting myself into.”

Citrine looked her over. “You’re not a cop, are you?”

“Oh. No. God no. Not a cop. I’m just a girl with eighty thousand dollars in student loan debt.” Not a lie.

Citrine raised her hand. “Thirty thousand.”

And with that, she was in.

“What about bondage?Like, whips and stuff?”

Halfway through their second round at a nearby bar, Citrine had already shared the freakiest of her freaky anecdotes. Ivy feltguilty for the deception, but she had to play dirty. There was no other way to win with Sever.

“Oh, yeah,” Citrine said. “There’s lots of those. You just make ‘em feel like dirt and they’re happy. It’s kinda fun sometimes.”

“So it’s all guys who want to be tied up? No one ever ties you up?”

“No. We don’t allow that.”

“Oh.” Could all of that paraphernalia be for Sever? Washethe one getting whipped and choked? Ivy knew it wasn’t unusual for powerful men to have submissive fantasies, and the thought had crossed her mind, but she wastherethat first night. He wasnotsubmissive. “Not ever?”

“Unless it’s... I mean, there’s this one guy? But he’s like, an exception.”

Ivy kept calm and in character. She had to play this just right. “How so?”

“He’s... I’m sorry, I can’t really talk about him. I could get into a lot of trouble.”

“Oh.” Ivy leaned in and whispered, “Is he mafia?”

“No! He’s just like, mega rich. Kinda well known.”

“He’s a movie star?”

“No, no, just a business man. But he’s like... really intense.”

“How intense?”

“Like,” Citrine slid her eyes from side to side and said, “secret dungeon intense.”

Ivy gasped.Score. “What’s in the dungeon?”

“Whips and chains and old timey torture stuff and a...” She made a noose and choking gesture, tongue sticking out.

“Wow.” She leaned in. “He puts you innoose?”

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