Page 77 of No Pucks

She sends me an address, and I order myself a car. With the added practices with Logan and all the time on my feet, I really can’t add in walking to a random place. At least my finances are in better order after the divorce and getting regular paychecks again, so it’s not painful to spend a few bucks on a car.

I step out of the car fifteen minutes later to find Krista already waiting for me.

“Where are we?”

“It’s a sex club,” she says, like I should know. “Remember, you’re helping me out of a bad decision.”

“Then why are we at the bad decision?” I think about turning to leave, but I need a distraction.

“I brought you something.” She hands me a collapsible cane.

“Did you swipe this from the ER?”

“Of course I did. Use it.”

“I feel like a fucking grandpa with this.” I unfold the cane to reluctantly use it.

“It’s better than falling, and you don’t need any help in the getting laid department, so looking like a grandpa won’t matter.” She eyes me before pulling open a nondescript door.

I follow her inside with a sigh. “I don’t want to talk about falling.” But this is a whole different type of falling I’m dealing with.

She glances at me over her shoulder, catching my mood. “Hold that damn thought until we’re inside.”

I let her do the talking at the nondescript desk. Had she not spilled the beans before we walked in, I would have thought this was a business office. The woman behind the desk smiles at her and looks past her at me. Then, they go back and forth in whispers.

“I need your ID.” Krista holds out her hand.

I pull out my wallet. “Is this discrete with my real name…”

“They have NDAs. It’s not that big of a deal.” She takes my ID and makes me sign the NDA on the iPad.

I expect her to lead us through the only door in the room, but instead, she pushes a button somewhere under the desk, and part of the molding pops out.

The room we enter looks like a high end cocktail bar. There’s a stage towards the back, but it’s tame compared to what was in my imagination. We’re taken to a table and left with drink menus.

“What is this about?” I ask when we’re by ourselves.

“They have live shows. I had tickets for tonight.”

“And you were going to take someone?”

“Yes, but I got cold feet, so thanks for joining me.” She smiles across the table.

“So, is this really a sex club like all those books you like?” It’s getting exceedingly hard to keep my eyes at the table, wanting to gawk at every person in the room, and not for any reason but being curious about everyone and what brought them here.

She tilts her head from side to side. “Ish. It’s like dipping your toe in.”

“And you thought I was the best person to replace your date?!”

“You’re the one who needed a distraction.”

“I guess this is a good distraction, but I still don’t think this is the place to have a conversation with my best friend.” The couple behind Krista’s head grabs each other, making out like they aren’t in public, and maybe they aren’t.

“Okay, Ice Daddy.”

“I told you that in confidence.”

A server comes over to check on us, and we order drinks.

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