Page 33 of Provocation
‘Does anyone else know the lab is down here?’ I ask.
‘Only my brother.’
I frown in the darkness. ‘But if no one knows it’s down here, why would you need to pay people not to notice peoplecomingdown here?’
He freezes for a second at the bottom of the stairs before he turns, and his eyes find mine and then flick to the left.
‘I’ll show you.’
He turns, and I realize there’s a narrow passage beside the steps that I didn’t see before. I hear a bolt unlock.
‘Come on.’
I peer after him and step into the corridor, noting one door on the left and two more on the right.
‘In here.’
I step over the threshold and blink as a switch is flicked and soft lighting floods a spacious room. Its walls are black patterned wallpaper with accents of silver and green and there are pieces of furniture. A normal looking couch and a coffee table are in the middle of the room facing a TV on the wall, but there are also some odd-shaped pieces as well like a padded table with ropes.
My eyes dart to Mav who’s watching me closely from just inside the door.
‘What is this place?’ I ask.
‘It’s another part of the club. VIP. A very exclusive part. Invitation only.’
‘Is this an invitation?’
‘Fuck,’ he splutters, his eyes widening at me.
‘If you want it to be,’ he chokes.
I turn back to the room, taking in a big, black X-shaped thing with restraints on it, and a unit of drawers and cabinets on one wall. There’s a black swing hanging from the ceiling and a small bar in an alcove close to Mav. There are a couple of other doors. I open the nearest and find a small, but clean bathroom complete with a shower cubicle.
‘Wish I’d known about this last night,’ I say to Mav.
‘Why?’
‘The only reason I came upstairs was to use the bathroom. If I hadn’t, that detective wouldn’t have caught me.’
‘The door to the Dark Lounge is usually locked,’ he says. ‘And there was a VIP in here last night, so you couldn’t have used it. I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized. Any night but Saturday is fine though. I’ll make sure you have the authorization on the app that Shade put on your phone for the other doors down here.’
‘Okay,’ I shrug and then side-eye him. ‘Do you…bring people in here?’
He shifts. ‘I have. Once or twice.’
‘And the others?’
He nods.
‘Lately?’
His eyes don’t leave me as he shakes his head. ‘No, Tulip. Not lately. I don’t think any of us have been in here since we met you.’
A warm feeling floods me and I give him a pleased smile as I move toward the door.
‘The lab,’ I remind him.
‘Right.’
