NightWhere

Chapter Twenty-Four

Searching

The ad read:

Feel the Lash, Taste the Knife.

Do you want it?

Bondage-A-Go-Go

The Cat Club

3713 Broadview

Thursday, August 18

9 p.m.

Mark bent the page over and leafed through the rest of the free magazine. Nearly every page featured an ad for an escort service or adult video store. He had been in the adult scene for a while now with Rae, but he’d had no idea there were so many outlets locally.

He pulled another magazine off the rack in the vestibule of Galaxy Adult World and skimmed through the pages looking for any other options. The last six pages were dedicated to personal ads, and he thought those might be a source for leads as well. He’d decided that his only hope of finding Rae was to seek out some of the more extreme sex events that hid in the city’s basements and warehouses after hours.

He and Rae had been recruited at a swingers club…so obviously NightWhere looked for people in those places. With its focus on pain, where better to search than at the city’s extreme bondage clubs?

At least, that was Mark’s theory.

He rolled the two magazines up and stuffed them in his back pocket. Then he went inside.

The cash register and a case display of condoms, jellies and vibrators was next to the door as soon as he stepped into the store. The place had racks of porno mags in the front, from Hustler and Penthouse to more obscure titles like Golden Girls and MILFs and Gangbang Brothers. In the back half of the store, the walls were covered with DVDs divided by type-from Straight, Gay, Bi and Bondage to Lesbian and Amateur. A sign on the wall at the back of the store pointed to a stairway and read Peep Shows, 25 Cents.

On the counter by the door, a small poster board was covered with Polaroid photos of women holding their shirts up to their necks to expose their tits, obviously taken right there in the store. At the top, in marker, it read See Who We’ve Seen!

Mark stood and looked at the Polaroids for a minute, wondering if he’d recognize any of the women. There were Mexicans, blacks and whites, fat and thin, old and young. But none that he knew.

“Need help?” a voice from behind the counter asked. Mark looked up to see a thin, older guy watching him. The man wore heavy black-rimmed glasses that made his eyes look too close-set. He apparently hadn’t shaved in a day or two.

Mark opened his mouth to say no, but then caught himself. He was used to dismissing shop clerks, but…that’s why he was here.

“Actually, yes,” he said. “Have you ever heard of a place called NightWhere?”

The guy raised an eyebrow. “That some kinda underwear store?”

Mark grinned. “No-it’s where as in a place, not clothing,” he said. “It’s like a heavy-bondage club.”

“Private club?” the guy asked. “I’ve heard of Bondage-A-Go-Go, but not NightWhere. ’Course, those dominatrices are always starting up some new dungeon. One gets busted and they pop up with a new name the next week a block away.”

“No, it’s a bigger kind of deal than that,” Mark said. “But it’s in a different place every month.”

The man grinned, looking at Mark over the tops of his glasses. “That’s smart,” he said. “Keep the prudes and the police away.”

“Something like that.”

The man shook his head. “Can’t help you though. I guess if you’re in the scene, you’ll find it.”

“Or it’ll find you,” Mark mumbled.

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Mark said. “Thanks.”

He left the store. The next Bondage-A-Go-Go gathering was just two nights away, according to the free adult magazine ads. He prayed that he had better luck there.