Lost in Flight (43 page)

They left Way Point and were outside, waiting for the town car, when Christina realized there were two conversations occurring simultaneously, and she was excluded from both.  The one between Jed and Andy was practically non-verbal with lots of animated physical gestures.  Every now and then, the men would look their way and speak quietly.  Christina guessed the boys were about to ditch them for somewhere more exciting.

The other conversation between Mandy and Bonnie, was very verbal, and physical.  As soon as they’d exited the nightclub, Bonnie dragged Mandy away and they were engaged in an intense discussion punctuated by:  “Don’t”, I’m going to”, “leave it alone, you can wait until tomorrow”, “I can’t”, “you don’t know for sure” and a few pointy fingers.  After awhile, Bonnie came over to Christina.  “Dina, I have something to tell you.”

********************

“So, Riley is Mr. Anal Adventures?  Are you serious?”  Christina was furious and kept replaying the conversation in the bathroom, the one she’d found really funny, but not so much when Riley’s face was attached to it.

Bonnie said, “I’m sorry, Dina.  I thought you had a right to know.” 

Mandy was annoyed.  “You don’t know for sure.  He told you it wasn’t what it looked like and I believe him.”   

Bonnie rolled her eyes.  “Mandy not everyone is like Dave you know,” but Mandy was having none of it. 

“Bonnie, I know Riley pretty well and this just doesn’t sound like him.  He practically lives with us in New York and he’s never been a cheater.  Right, Dina?  Right?”

In truth, Christina didn’t know what Riley was like anymore.  He’d never cheated on her as far as she was aware when they were together, but that was a long time ago.  They weren’t a couple now just a couple of people who’d had ex-sex, kissed a lot watching planes, and he’d bought her unsexy pajamas.  Thinking of it like that, it sounded pretty pathetic.

Maybe she imagined and read a whole lot more into the situation than what was on offer?  She tried to recall the conversation they’d had the other night.  He’d mentioned nothing about being exclusive.  She’d just assumed – you know ass+u=me. 

Mandy and Bonnie were trying to cheer her up by calling the other women all sorts of insulting names.  Christina sighed.  “I don’t think that’s fair.  Whatever they do in their own personal lives is up to them.  We don’t need to slut shame them.  It’s not illegal to be a slut.  We’ve all done slutty things and I’m speaking about Bonnie and me, Mandy, not you.  Let’s all hate on Riley instead.”  They all agreed, except Mandy could only do it for the evening because it would cause problems between her and Dave, and she didn’t really want to.

The women dropped Jed and Andy off at some scary looking place called Pax, and headed back to the Four Seasons.  Mandy had been determined to go in with Jed, but he’d stopped her.  “Mandy – you are beautiful and classy.  No one else in there is.  Why don’t you go back to the hotel and wait for Dave?” 

Mandy gave a stunning, surly retort with folded arms and pursed lips.  “Am not and don’t want to,” but to no avail.  Jed and Andy would not be moved, so they decided to do something they hardly ever did.  They complied and headed elsewhere.

Nearing the hotel, Christina said, “I don’t want to go back just yet.  Let’s go someplace - anywhere.”  The thought of going home and having her friends worry about her was depressing.  She wanted to do something a bit outrageous and different, rather than being a sad sack alone.

Bonnie suggested Pax because Jed was there and Mandy agreed.  Bonnie’s eyes narrowed.  “You know what Pax is, right?” 

When they looked confused, Bonnie rolled her eyes.  “It’s an underground sex and fight club.  You can go dance, but most people go to bet or hook up anonymously.” 

Mandy frowned.  “Anonymous – like the hacktavist group?” 

Bonnie looked at her in disbelief.  “Are you for real?  Not the hacktavist group.  Sex with strangers and no strings attached.  A-n-o-n-y-m-o-u-s.  Get it?”

Mandy pulled an “ewwww” face, but remained quiet.  Looking at Christina, Bonnie said, “You sure about this?”  When Christina nodded, they decided they’d go – even though Mandy and Christina didn’t really want to.

Chapter Twenty-one – In-flight entertainment

Riley, Seattle, The Present, Saturday 13 October 2012

At one minute after midnight, Riley and Mason Glenn had an argument.  “Time’s up, Mason.  A deal’s a deal and now I’m leaving.”  Mason was furious, but after they argued the relative definitions of time, he conceded. 

“Well, no one can say I didn’t try.  If you are determined to flagellate yourself – by the way – does she do that?”  Seeing the looking on Riley’s face, Mason said, “No?  Okay then.  I tried, but if you’re intent on masochism, who am I to stop you?”

They left on a bro-shake and Riley headed downstairs to find Christina.  It took him about half an hour to realize they weren’t in the nightclub.  He figured Bonnie had kept her thoughts to herself because Dina hadn’t appeared trying to kill him.  He checked his phone and smiled when he received a text from Jed saying the women had gone back to the Hotel.

Riley called a cab so he could get to Dina as fast as possible and they could meet up with the band together.  He made his way to Johnny’s room, but there was a “Do not disturb” sign on the door, so he tried Dave and Mandy’s instead.  He found Johnny and Dave inside eating food, and drinking beers. 

After the requisite, “Hey mans” and shoulder thumps, Dave said, “Where’s Mandy?” 

Riley frowned.  “Isn’t she here?  Jed sent them back here about an hour ago.”

Dave shook his head.  “Nope and she’s not answering her phone either.” 

Johnny said, “Neither is Dina.  I’ve left a heap of messages for her and nothing.” 

Riley tried ringing Jed, but there was no response so he called Andy James.  Andy answered on the second ring with a breathless, “Andy James” and Riley asked if he could speak to Jed.  Andy said, “Agh, he’s kind of busy right now.”  

Hearing grunts and loud calls in the background, Riley figured Jed was either fighting or betting in the fight club.  “Have you seen the girls?  They’re not here and we’re trying to find them.”

“They went back to the hotel awhile ago,” Andy said.  “They should be there by now.  Actually, they should have been there ages ago.” 

Dave and Johnny were trying every phone they could with no luck, and Riley had a bad feeling about this.  In the middle of his conversation with Andy, Dave said, “Hey I’ve got a text from her.  They’re at Pax. 
Holy shit
.  Come on.  We’ve got to go.  Oh shit.  Mandy in a place like that.” 

Riley said to Andy, “Did you hear that?  They’re at Pax.”  Andy muttered some expletives and assured Riley that he and Jed would find them.  Cursing the thought processes of women, or maybe it was just these women, the guys got into a town car and headed to Pax. 

********************

Christina, Seattle, The Present, Saturday 13 October 2012

It didn’t take Christina long to realize that Pax was a mistake and Jed was right.  They had no place being here.  She came to this stunning conclusion while holding hands with Mandy and trying to evade El Creepo.  With Mandy’s hand tucked in hers, Christina cursed her luck that probably the closest she’d get to intimacy tonight would be dirty dancing and holding hands with one of her best friends. 

They managed to lose Bonnie in a difference of interpretation between left and right.  Bonnie said, “left” and they’d taken the other “left”, which is commonly agreed as “right.”  They’d gone back hunting for Bonnie, but couldn’t find her.  What they found was a type of human behavior that Christina and Mandy could have lived their whole lives happily without knowing about.

The two women had stumbled into a section where people were engaging in acts that were illegal in many States.  As soon as they’d walked in, they knew they didn’t belong.  This was reinforced by Mandy’s shriek of, “OH MY GOD,” which drew the attention of every voyeur in the place.  She may as well have made a public announcement of:  “Fresh meat and innocent” to the crowd. 

Most of the crowd appeared wryly amused and kept their distance.  Others had shown interest, but when the women gave them glaring signals that it wasn’t reciprocated, they respected their choices.  Then there was El Creepo:  he decided they just needed persuasion, but unbeknownst to the women, it wasn’t solely his fault. 

********************

Mason

What the women hadn’t seen was the malevolent grin of Mason Glenn in the corner of the room of perversion.  His eyes lit up as he watched the women act like the shocked, small town, narrow-minded, little prudes he thought they were.  He snorted as he saw them tripping over themselves to get out the door and decided it was time to have some fun. 

Approaching a well-dressed, middle-aged man with silver hair and blue eyes, Mason smiled.  “It’s their little game, you know?”  The older man turned to him and raised an eyebrow.  Mason cast a critical eye over the man before him and deduced he was a ‘weekend warrior’, someone not really into the BDS&M scene, but wanting some titillation.  If the guy were a true devotee to the life-style, he wouldn’t be here at Mason’s club.  Pax was the antithesis of a ‘safe’ environment, it was more Darwinian in its survival of the fittest culture.

Mason sipped his drink and nodded at the man.  “They are quite an experience, believe me.  Their deal is the chase and domination.  There are usually three of them – a stunning redhead too, but the one you need to focus on is the brunette in the green dress.  If she submits to you, then the others will follow.” 

He leaned over and whispered in the man’s ear.  “They’ll be your sex slaves for the night and they do
anything
.”  Mason kept his face passive and expression in his eyes sincere when the older man held his gaze. 

Nodding at the man’s obvious skepticism and curiosity, Mason said, “It’s true, but the brunette in the green is the leader.  She’s the key, my friend.  If you get her to submit,” he shrugged, leaving the rest up to the man’s imagination.  “But you have to be forceful and dominant.  You can’t flinch from their scorn.  They only like very strong Alpha males – borderline gorillas.” 

For a moment, Mason thought he might have overplayed his hand with the gorillas comment, but he held eyes with the idiot before him.  Finally, the guy nodded his head stiffly and Mason watched him walk fast, then break into a run to get to the door.  Sipping his drink, Mason’s almost colorless eyes glittered with malicious glee and he snorted, which turned into a choking fit of laughter. 

Mason felt a tiny prick of regret not trying to fondle Mandy when he had the chance, but he would let it go.  “
Fuck you
, Darth Martin,” he laughed, then his mind turned to the potentials of an online game with the scenario he’d just made up.  He adjusted his pants and turned to watch the show.

********************

Christina

El Creepo came up behind the two women, as they stood in the hallway outside the room of dirty.  They were arguing for common agreement on their lefts and rights, trying to decide which way to go to find Bonnie.  Their interpretations probably differed to everyone else’s, but the important thing was they could agree on what they meant.  They’d already lost Bonnie and they didn’t want to lose each other because they couldn’t agree on left or right.

Mandy was texting Bonnie when El Creepo started running his index finger over her bare neck and shoulders.  Whispering in a low voice in Mandy’s ear, Mr. Creepy sleazed, “Hell-o beautiful.” 

Both the women tried not to laugh and vomit at the same time.  Mandy snapped.  “Ewwww.  Get away yucky, I’m married,” but this didn’t deter El Creepo, just the opposite. 

When he stroked his hand down Mandy’s, Christina slapped it away:  hard.  Grabbing Mandy’s hand in hers, Christina glared at Creepy.  “Leave us alone.  We’re not interested.” 

El Creepo leered.  “I think you are.  I think what you want is a strong man.” 

Christina and Mandy stared at him for a bit, and then turned to each other.  “I think there’s something wrong with him,” whispered Mandy. 

Looking back at the guy who had adopted some kind of caveman pose with his chest out, Christina agreed.  “Oh yeah seriously.”  The women marched off and thought that was an end to it, but it wasn’t. 

Their behavior seemed to incite El Creepo on and he stuck to them like glue with some kind of perverted determination.  “I am master of my domain,” he called from behind them.  “I’ve been to the jungles in South America, run with the bulls in Spain… I’ve bungee-jumped in New Zealand, rode a motorbike through the outback of Australia and visited the
gorillas
in Rwanda…”

 El Creepo’s list went on and on, and they tried to tune him out, but the way he emphasized gorillas made them snort derisively.  In response, Mandy started quoting Muhammad Ali.  “I done wrestled with an alligator… I done tussled with a whale.  I done hand-cuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail…”

Mandy’s father had been a massive Ali fan and they’d grown up listening to Mr. Robinson’s impersonations with Eddie quoting all of Ali’s best lines.  Looking at each other the women laughed and said together, “I’m so
mean
I make medicine sick.” 

The two women were giggling because it was crazy.  Christina wondered what it was that had attracted the attention of someone like El Creepo.  There were hundreds of people in this place.  Why them?

Over the years Mandy had had to deal with all sorts of strange fans as the hot wife of a famous musician, but Christina wasn’t used to it.  After she’d left Shanwick, she lived a relatively quiet life where things like this didn’t happen.  Christina concluded that El Creepo must be a deranged fan of Mandy’s and she shouldn’t have brought her here alone.

“Mandy, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For bringing you here.  I-I- just got so mad when I found out Riley was Mr. Anal Adventures.  I wanted to do something dangerous and edgy.”