Switched (6 page)

     Brad nodded to no one. “Alright.
I’ll drop another check by tomorrow on my way into work.”

     That was, as they say, that. Brad
hung up and stood there for a few minutes until Amy poked her head into the
room. “Brad, it’s you and Kali’s turn next.”

     He put on a smile.  “I’ll be there
in a second, Ames.”

     Kali’s reaction to the stockade the
day before flooded back into his mind. He had a sick feeling in his gut. Taking
a deep breath, he willed himself back into the living room.

***

     A game lost later, Brad cornered
Amy in the kitchen under the guise he was going to grab another beer.  “Amy,
can I ask you something?”

     She smiled at him. “Sure, boss.
What’s up? Wanna know how Eric and I are
Pictionary
champions?”

     He couldn’t help but give her a
grin. “Ha ha. Not quite. Actually, Kali and I are having a bit of a difficulty
in…” he paused, “…communication.”

     Amy’s eyebrows lifted. She was
obviously wary. “Uh oh. Can I help?”

     Brad knew she’d offer because
that’s how Amy was. He grabbed the bottle opener from the counter and popped
the cap off the beer he’d taken from the fridge. “I was wondering if you knew
anything about her past.”

     Amy shrugged. “We don’t really talk
about the past. Mostly the present and the future. What’s so important about
her past?”

     She was more inquisitive than he
expected.

     “Well, it seems whenever I approach
the topic, she avoids it and changes the subject,” he admitted. “I just
honestly had no idea she was a switch and I like knowing what I’m dealing
with.”

     “You mean you’re nosy,” she said
with a playful grin.

     “Call it what you want. I think a
Dom should know everything about his sub, don’t you? Especially things like
general upbringing, emotional trauma, that sort of thing.” He took a drink from
the bottle.

     Amy didn’t say anything. She seemed
to be considering it.

     “Eric knows all those things about
you, doesn’t he?”

     “He does know every little bit of
my history,” she agreed.

     Brad continued, “Do you think it
makes him a better Dom and ultimately a better partner overall?”  

     She nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.
But shouldn’t Kal know this? I mean, she has dominated a few guys in her time,
hasn’t she?”

     He shrugged. “No, I’m pretty sure
only other women. Even then, only in the bedroom and superficially, but nothing
serious.” He let out an exasperated sigh. “I want more than just a bedroom
relationship with her and in order for that to happen we need to share this
kind of stuff. But I figured since she wouldn’t tell me, I’d ask the only other
person I know she talks to on a regular basis. She likes you. I figured maybe
she trusted you more or maybe you girls talked about this sort of thing.”

     A wide grin slid across Amy’s face.
“You want me to do some recon?”

     “I normally wouldn’t ask…” He
started to feel really uncomfortable.

     Her eyes traveled over his shoulder
to the doorway behind him that led to the front living room. She gave him
another wide grin. “I’ll do it. Now I’m curious.”  Her voice had a tinge of
excitement in it.

     “That would be cool, but can you
keep it, as they say, on the down low?” He tipped his head to one side. “I
don’t want her to know I’m looking into her past or that I hired the PI, but
every time I bring it up she changes the subject or she gives me vague details
about her life.”

     Amy’s eyes flew open and her jaw
dropped. “You hired a PI?” she whispered.

     Brad felt his cheeks flush a little
bit. “Shhh! Yeah, it’s not something I’m proud of.”

     “She is going to kick your ass if
she ever finds out.”

     He nodded and closed his eyes. Amy
had never been that blunt about anything, but he knew she was right. “I know.
But please don’t breathe a word, okay?”

     Her eyes narrowed. “Investigator
Ames is on the case, sir. I won’t breathe a word of it to anyone.”

     He laughed and took a drink of his
beer, and then he looked toward the kitchen door, toward the sound of laughter
and voices from the other room. “Even Eric?”

     She rolled her eyes and laughed.
“Especially not to Eric. He can’t keep a secret to save his life.”

     “Yeah, I suppose when it comes to
you, that’s true,” he said, starting toward the door.

     “Okay, so maybe I’ll tell him a
little, but he’ll tell me he doesn’t want to know and the subject will be
closed,” she told him.

     Brad paused in the entryway and
gave the kitchen another look, “Did you change something in here?”

     “I painted the walls beige. They
were white before,” she said.

     He nodded. “It looks really good. I
love everything you’ve done with the place.”

     “Thanks. Eric’s sister wasn’t too
keen on it. She decorated this place you know. She was here last month and
scowled at some of my paint choices. But we get along otherwise,” she shrugged.

     Brad chuckled. “You women and your
damn decorating.”

     Amy shrugged and then said
hopefully, “Kal says your house could use a little work, too.”

     He gave her a broad smile. Eric’s
house sure had more of a homey, upbeat feel since Amy moved in. He liked it,
and in that moment he wondered if he’d ever be able to convince Kali to give up
her one bedroom apartment and move in with him. But then he supposed she was
far too independent for that. Sure, she’d likely decorate his house six ways to
Sunday, but move in with him? No, getting Kali to give up her apartment wasn’t
going to be easy and he knew it. Slowly he meandered back into the living room
only to find Kali and Eric laughing maniacally on the couch.

     “What are you two up to?”  Brad
gave them both an appraising look. Or at least what he hoped was appraising.

     Kali smiled. “You know that guy at
the club who likes fucking shoes?”

     It didn’t ring a bell. He shook his
head as Amy entered carrying a platter of cheese and crackers.

     “Sorry, I didn’t slice the cheese
earlier because I didn’t want it to get hard around the edges.”  She set the
cheese and cracker platter down on the coffee table.

     “Do you believe this? We leave the
room and these two go off on shoe fetishes.” Brad took another long swig of
beer. The bottle was already half gone. He grabbed a few crackers and some
cheese and sat down in the chair next to the couch.

     “I take it you don’t know this
guy?” Eric asked with a raised eyebrow. He also helped himself to something
from Amy’s cheese and cracker platter.

     Amy took the other chair. “So does
he just get off on looking at shoes or is it all about getting off on them? And
how does one even do that?”

     Kali began laughing again. “I think
you would just rub on it or something.”

     “I can’t imagine wanting to rub one
out after a trip to the shoe store, but hey - don’t ever say I’m the type of
person to bar anyone from being able to practice their own fetish. As long as
it’s harming no one, more power to him,” Eric said with a matter-of-fact nod.

     “Being accepting of a fetish
doesn’t mean you can’t laugh does it? I think that’s funnier than hell. I’m not
really a shoe fetish person.” Kali shrugged.

     Brad looked at his beer bottle
thoughtfully. “How many pairs of shoes do you own?”

     He could feel Kali’s attitude come
at him. “
Liking
shoes and thinking they’re pretty is not the same thing
as seeing a shoe and being aroused by it.”

     Amy nodded emphatically. “Yeah, I
like shoes, too, but I don’t think I’d get off by rubbing on one.”

     “What about licking shoes?” Eric
offered.

     “That’s on my limits list as a firm
no, Sir,” Amy said with a stifled grin.

     Eric and Kali burst out laughing.

     Brad shook his head. It was a
conversation that could only happen between
his
friends. “So I see Eric
has finally allowed you to make a limits list. That’s always good.”

     Shrugging, Eric offered, “There’s
not much on it.”

     Kali howled with delight and
high-fived Amy.

     Studying the women, he realized
Eric had probably been right. Brad could have talked to Amy sooner and probably
gotten all the information he wanted. Clearly Amy and Kali talked about sex and
other intimate areas of their lives. At least now, between Agares and Amy, he’d
get a better picture of Kali. 

Chapter
Four

     Ted Agares approached the desk at
the entrance of
Dungeon
Fifty-Two.
He was actually glad he had to work instead of spending time with his family.
Those events were one of his least favorite activities. It didn’t help that he
really didn’t get along with a large portion of his family. Not to mention they
always brought up that at forty-three, he still wasn’t married and had no
family of his own. Staying away from them was far easier than trying to fend
off the questions.

     The man behind the desk set down
his paper and looked Ted up and down.

     For the first time, Ted felt
perhaps he’d dressed wrong for the job, but then this wasn’t his scene and
there was no way he was dressing in leather or Goth fashion for a job. “Hi
there. I was wondering who I could talk to who might remember a girl who used
to work here.”

     The man said nothing, but lifted an
eyebrow.

     “Her name is Laura Stanton.” Agares
pulled the picture Brad had provided out of his jacket pocket and showed it to
the man.

     The man behind the desk stood and
picked up the phone. “Hold on a minute,” he told Agares, then said into the
phone, “There’s a man here who would like to talk to someone about Laura
Stanton.”

     There was a long pause. Finally,
the guy hung up the phone. “One of the girls will be up in a minute to take you
back to talk to the owner.” The man sat back down and picked up his newspaper.
Just as he did, the door leading into the club opened and a very thin, short,
brown-haired and barefoot woman dressed in a black mini-dress came out and
looked at Agares expectantly.

     “Is this the guy I need to take
back to Mr. Kolknov?”

     Newspaper guy nodded. “That’s him,
he’s the only one here, you twit.”

     She rolled her eyes and looked at
Agares. She appraised his attire with a critical eye and didn’t say anything
except, “Follow me.”

     Agares stepped into the dimly lit
club beyond. It smelled heavy of cleaner and leather. There was a stage to the
left and there were a few women and about five men sitting around a table
toward the back of the club. They all watched him as he approached.

     One of the men, a short stocky guy
with a bad Fu Manchu moustache pulled a chair out.

     “Sit,” said the man directly across
from him. He had a military haircut and a just a trace of five-o-clock-shadow.
Then in a thick Russian accent he said, “I am to hear you have questions for me
about a former employee?” 

     Agares nodded. “My name is Ted
Agares and I’m a private investigator. I’m looking for information about a
woman named Laura Stanton who used to work for you.” He took out the picture
and pushed it across the table to the man.

     “Yes, I remember this girl.” The
man shrugged.

     “You wouldn’t happen to be Victor
Kolknov, would you? I understand he and Laura Stanton were lovers,” Agares
pressed.

     A sly grin slid over the man’s
face. “Ah. Who do you work for?”

     “My client simply wants to know
more about his girlfriend.”

     The man nodded. “I see. At least I
know she’s okay. Laura left me, obviously for this other man.” He motioned
toward the guy sitting at his left.

     He was a big guy, probably early
forties, bald and sporting a goatee. He also looked like he lifted weights. He
picked up the picture of Laura Stanton and looked at it.

     “That’s unfortunate and I hope my
being here isn’t putting salt in an old wound, but if you could give me a break
and tell me about her. I guess I’m interested to know if she was a drug addict
or anything you could tell me.” Agares leaned back in the chair.

     “I have been over Laura for years.
She was not doing drugs if you are talking about when we got arrested. That was
patron of the club who did drugs and she worked here, I own the club, we got
arrested. She was a whore though.”