Page 42 of Breaking Free

“Onward or turn back?” Josie asked after the four women rushed past.

Although retreating to the lounge, or maybe the street, was becoming more appealing by the second, Piper stated, “Onward, and quickly, before I chicken out.”

They walked to the archway at the end of the hall, which opened onto the immense playroom where the vendor event had taken place. It looked vastly different. The lights were low. Instead of tables and display racks, velvet ropes sectioned off play spaces, and the air was electric with a whole new level of excitement.

The dim lighting didn’t prevent Piper from seeing the array of bondage equipment, from padded crosses, tables, and benches to a bunch of stuff she didn’t recognize. Just then, one of the dommes from the vendor fair walked by, leading a bare-chested, barefoot man on a leash. Not staring was impossible.

“Where to now?” Piper asked.

“We walk the circuit with everyone else,” Josie stated, sounding more like her confident self.

“The what?”

“The path around the stations. Axyl explained during our nickel tour.”

“I must have missed that. But in my defense, I was a little distracted.”

“Understood,” Josie replied with a little laugh. “Let me see if I can do it justice.” She linked arms with Piper to descend the stairs and merge with the crowd, moving clockwise around the room. “They laid out the floor in rings, like a dartboard. Each one has a different purpose and level of intensity. The outer ring has booths and couches for chatting, observing, and aftercare. It’s the least intense experience, but he told me anything can happen anywhere in the playroom, so expect the unexpected.”

“Since I don’t know what to expect, it’s all unexpected.”

“For you and me both, sister,” Josie agreed, distracted by a vertical spinning wheel with metal cuffs bolted into it along theouter edge. It was easier to imagine its purpose than the pulleys and chains above them, but she was starting to get the idea.

“Josie!” Piper warned, pulling her to a stop and narrowly avoiding a collision with the half-naked couple ahead of them, the woman wearing only a harness and a furry tail.

“Thanks. That would have been awkward.” Her focus returned to the crowd around them. “It’s hard not to gawk though. Where was I?”

“The floor layout,” Piper supplied.

“That’s right. Moving inward is the circuit, a path that takes you through the entire room, ensuring you don’t miss any points of interest. Axyl said the voyeurs like to hang out here watching the stations, which comprise the next ring, where most of the action happens. Finally, in the bullseye is the Decadence center stage. It’s rigged with hydraulics, letting it rise thirty feet in the air. He said it revolves so it’s like theater in the round, and the view is good from just about anywhere in the room.”

They stopped at a spanking bench where a man in leather pants and nothing else except a sheen of sweat was using a flogger on his submissive. The thwaps of every stroke reverberated over the noise of the crowd. Unbelievably, she was laughing and, from her comments, appeared to be egging him on.

“Put a little muscle behind those swats, sir!” the sub bound to the bench called out.

In response, awhooshand a much louderthwapechoed through the room. The stalwart young woman winced but, despite her bright-red bottom, wasn’t impressed.

“That’s it,” she declared. “Like it or not, I’m buying spinach next time I go to the store and putting it in everything.”

The dom dropped the flogger and called loud enough for all to hear, “That sassy mouth earned you the paddle.”

“Now we’re talking!”

Their banter back and forth roused a chorus of laughter from those looking on.

“The intensity increases toward the center?”

Josie nodded. “According to Master Axyl. He also said some of the stuff on center stage freaks out even veteran members and mentioned something about a carousel.”

“What’s that?”

“No clue. He said that was advanced and didn’t elaborate.”

Piper looked at her wide-eyed. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, are we, Dorothy?”

“Nope. And this yellow brick road doesn’t lead to the Emerald City.”

“I’m steering clear of center stage tonight. Maybe forever,” Piper asserted.

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