“Hey!” Justin answered the FaceTime call joyfully the next day. “This is a surprise.” Justin brought his youngest son Phinn into view. “Can you say hi to Uncle C?” Phinn looked at the phone then turned to his Dad and blew a raspberry all over his face as his attempt to say the letter. Justin shut his eyes and sighed as Phinn giggled and JC tried to stifle a laugh. “Good try, buddy. You’ll get it next time,” Justin encouraged as he wiped his face.
“Yo man, I didn’t know you were watching the kids. I can call back if this is a bad time.”
“I’m good, man. What’s up?”
“Um, it’s kind of important and probably not a good conversation for little ears to hear,” JC cautioned, seeing Silas running around in the background.
Justin eyed JC skeptically. It was already unlike him to FaceTime let alone call. He could barely get JC to answer a text half the time. Whatever was going on he knew was more than kind of important.
“Hey Jess!” Justin shouted. “I got a phone call I need to take. I’m gonna head out to the backyard. Can you keep an eye on the boys?”
“Sure thing!” JC heard his wife yell back as Justin moved through his house to the outside.
“You in Montana?” JC asked.
“Yeah, a little down time right now. We’ll be back in L.A. in a week or so cuz my shooting schedule will kick off.”
“Cool cool, sounds like a great project.”
“Should be, I’m excited for it.” Justin let the silence hang for a moment. “So, you wanted to talk?”
“Yeah, sorry,” JC apologized. He was suddenly regretting wanting to see Justin face to face when doing this. “I wanted to talk to you about Colleen. Well, not exactly about Colleen but…yeah let’s start there.”
“Awww, look at you, you’re blushing,” Justin teased. “You’re a couple months in and you already need to have the commitment pep talk? I think this is definitely a record but I’ll check my score card to make sure.”
“That’s not why I’m calling, Justin,” JC informed him, not cracking a smile at his joke.
“Oh shit, ok,” Justin grew serious, sitting down in a lounge chair. “What’s going on?”
“When’s the last time you talked to Lance?” JC asked.
“Lance? Ummmm, I don’t know, a couple weeks maybe? Why?”
“What did he say after our double date over at his place?”
“He said Colleen seemed nice and brought some great booze and Michael really likes her. Said you seem pretty smitten.”
“Did he say anything about how we met?”
“I don’t think so. Wasn’t it at her office or something?”
JC breathed a sigh of relief, thankful he wouldn’t be having an altercation with two of his bandmates today so he could concentrate on just the one. “That’s not entirely true. We did actually meet a few days earlier…at the club.”
Justin was silent for a moment, working hard to keep his face neutral. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were still doing that.”
“I never stopped doing that,” JC replied. While technically a lie, JC didn’t feel like getting into the whole mess with his ex.
“Ok, so…what? She gets her rocks off on being treated like a doormat too. You two can bond over the size of the foot prints on your back.”
“Jesus,” JC replied, “didn’t realize you held me in such low regard.”
“You hold yourself there, or I guess, rather, you like being held there. Either way, you’ve known my feelings about it for a while so I don’t know why you’re calling me about this?”
“Actually, that’s exactly why I’m calling you because I don’t know how you feel because any time I’ve tried to talk to you about it, you end the discussion real quick. It’s time we had this out.”
“Why? Why now? What the hell does my opinion have to do with your love life?” Justin said harshly, his anger growing by the second.
“Because she goes to see Piper,” JC informed him.
Justin’s blood ran cold at the sound of that name. He shut his eyes and breathed long and deep. “Fuck,” he finally said, knowing he had finally run out of time to avoid this conversation. “What do you want from me, JC?”
“I want to know what happened?”
“You saw what happened.”
“No, I mean in the room, with Piper.”
“Can’t help you, blocked it out.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be so defensive right now.” JC paused, realizing he was going to have to do this the hard way. “I sat in with them last night and Piper explained a lot of stuff to me and I just…I think there’s more to the story than you’ve been telling me or maybe even telling yourself.”
“Oh, so now you’re an expert and I’m a liar, is that it?” Justin yelled, seriously debating ending the call right there. “You weren’t there, you don’t know what happened!”
“You’re right, I don’t know!” JC yelled back. “That’s why I’m asking you to explain it to me. I never doubted you, not once, but now…”
“Now you do,” Justin practically hissed.
“Now I have more information. I’m not calling you just to get you to talk about this, I’m calling because if what you said is 100 percent true, then my girlfriend’s in a bad spot and I need to do something about it.”
Justin put the phone in his lap and JC could see him put his head in his hands. JC didn’t realize this was going to be so hard for Justin to talk about and he was starting to feel guilty for not only opening an old wound but for putting Justin in that position in the first place.
After a moment, Justin gathered himself and picked the phone back up. “Ok,” he said somberly, “here’s what happened…”
*****
“This is going to be so much fun!” Joey bounced up and down in the back of the Suburban.
“Jesus, Joe, did you forget what sex feels like?” Chris asked. “I’m sorry if it’s been over 24 hours for you.”
“Shut up,” Joey said, smacking Chris’s shoulder. “This is way different than some fan. These ladies know what they are doing.”
“You know they’re dominatrixes, not hookers, right Joe?” JC asked.
“All I know is you are paying for some lady to play with my dick tonight and I’m appreciative of that,” Joey said, bowing to JC.
“How much is this setting you back?” Lance questioned.
“Don’t worry about it,” JC told him. “You save so you can afford experiences like this. It’s been a while since the five of us have been able to go out like this, thought it would be fun.”
“Only you would pick sex dungeon as the group activity,” Chris joked. “I wanted to play mini golf but no no, JC wanted to be led around on a leash so here we are.”
“You didn’t have to come if you didn’t want to,” JC informed him.
“Are you kidding? No way was I missing this!” Chris stated excitedly, jumping up and down as Joey had done moments before. “Anything that you actually initiate wanting to do is definitely going to involve a good time.”
“You’ve been quiet,” JC turned to Justin.
“A lot on my mind,” Justin mumbled. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful for the guy’s night out but he had been writing like a fiend lately, seemingly the only way to deal with his heartbreak and anger from his headline making breakup. Still, JC wanted to go out, which in itself was a rarity. He knew how hard it was to cajole JC out of his hotel room most nights so he didn’t want to be the stick in the mud that evening.
“I know, man. I hope this helps for a few hours,” JC encouraged him, wrapping an arm around Justin’s shoulders.
“Why’d you want to do this anyway? You some secret sex freak I don’t know about?” Justin asked.
“Nah, just, it’s different, you know. We’re all single right now and strip clubs are getting boring. We’re taking a break after this tour and I just thought it would be something unique to do. Put it in our lexicon of crazy stories for when we’re old and just sit around and reminisce about the “good old days”.”
“Technically, Joey’s not single,” Justin countered.
“Kelly knows what I do!” Joey yelled from his seat in the back. “I’ve been home being a good Dad the past few months but when I’m on the road, I’m allowed to be a bad boy,” Joey joked, biting his index finger and raising his eyebrows.
“You’re allowed? Sounds like you already have someone to whip your ass. You could have stayed home tonight.” Chris answered back. Joey reached over and smacked Chris again, who responded in kind.
“You both could have stayed home and beat each other since you can’t wait 20 minutes for the professionals to do it,” Lance teased them.
A few minutes later, the Suburban pulled narrowly into an alleyway as Lonnie hopped out of the front seat and swung the passenger door open to stand opposite it and act as a barricade for the guys to get out unseen. The door to the club was already open and the members were ushered in quickly.
The next thing Justin knew, he was in a large room with black walls and blood red drapes. Several chaise lounges adorned the room while a wooden bar cart sat in the corner. He felt like he walked into some Interview With A Vampire role playing porn shoot.
“Boys, it’s an honor,” a voice greeted them. Justin turned and saw a petite woman in a corset and leather pants walking towards them. “I’m Miss Jacky, the owner of this establishment. I’d like to thank you for joining us tonight and truly hope you have a splendid time. All our girls have signed the NDAs you requested though I can assure you we treat your privacy with the utmost respect.”
“Thanks Miss Jacky,” JC stepped forward, shaking her hand. “I’m JC, we spoke on the phone. I appreciate you accommodating us. It’s hard for us to do low profile these days.”
“We work with many celebrities here so we understand the challenges involved. I understand you didn’t want profiles created for you all so I did the best I could with the information you provided to me. I hope all will be to everyone’s satisfaction.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Miss Jacky,” JC smiled at her. “We’re just here for a night of fun.”
“Well, that I can make happen,” she beamed. “Girls,” Miss Jacky called out. A door opened and 5 gorgeous leather clad women filed out and stood before them. Justin licked his lips as he looked down the line, deciding he was actually in a kinky Spice Girls porn instead.
“Gentlemen, some general rules,” Miss Jacky announced. “This is a place to explore any fantasies you’ve wanted to try with no judgment. Truly, request whatever you like and your Mistress will let you know if she can accommodate. In turn, your Mistress will discuss limits with you, both yours and her own. These Ladies have gone through extensive training so my hope is you all will fully take advantage of the evening safely. Finally, the part that always gets a groan: we are a no penetration establishment which means no intercourse.”
“What?!” Joey yelled, proceeding to hit JC in the back of the head. “You couldn’t have told us that ahead of time.”
“I didn’t know either,” JC said, rubbing his head.
“This is a dungeon, not a brothel; important difference,” Miss Jacky informed them. “While that may sound restrictive, I feel confident you will leave here fully satisfied. Shall we get started?”
The boys all agreed as Miss Jacky started pairing them off. “Now you’ll have to excuse me. While I know your band, I don’t know which one of you is which. Who’s Chris?”
“Me, Ma’am,” Chris said, raising his hand.
“Wonderful. If you would please follow Mistress Genesis and have a lovely evening,” Miss Jacky informed him. Justin saw a leggy red head beckon Chris forward and Chris practically ran to her.
“Joey?” Miss Jacky questioned.
“That’d be me,” Joey spoke up.
Miss Jacky chuckled. “Mistress Tonya, I want to hear how this goes after.”
A gorgeous dark skinned woman stepped forward, a cat o nine tails in her hand. “Oh, he’s not even going to know what hit him,” Mistress Tonya stated, slapping the tendrils against her hand for emphasis.
“Ohhhh, feisty!” Joey stated, doing a little jump and scurrying to follow Mistress Tonya down the hall.
“JC, I’d like you to meet Mistress Raina,” Miss Jacky announced as a beautiful Asian woman stepped forward.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mistress,” JC said, leaning over and kissing the woman’s hand.
“He’ll do nicely,” Mistress Raina stated, running her fingers through the side of JC’s curls and taking his hand to lead him down the hall.
“Justin?” Miss Jacky asked.
“Um, me, Ma’am”, Justin reluctantly stated. “Please not the blonde, please not the blonde,” Justin silently pleaded.
“You’ll be with Mistress Piper for the evening,” Miss Jacky stated. The slender blonde walked toward Justin as he forced a smile on his face and cursed his luck. The last thing he wanted right now was anything reminding him of his ex.
“Well, that must make you Lance,” Miss Jacky said, turning towards him. “Please say hello to Mistress Isabella.” Lance stepped forward and shook hands with the curvy brunette that remained.
“Hello Justin,” Mistress Piper said, drawing his attention back to the blonde haired woman in front of him. “You ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure,” he stated meekly as he headed towards the hall.
As he was leaving the lounge, he overheard Lance and assumed he was talking to Miss Jacky. “Are there any men who work here?” Justin laughed and shook his head. Lance always had to know everything about every situation. He didn’t know why Lance always needed to know if other guys were around. Was he that worried about people finding out what they were up to?
