The Club: Revisited Read online

  Table Of Contents

  Other Books by A.L. Brooks

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Epilogue

  Other Books from Ylva Publishing

  About A.L. Brooks

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  www.ylva-publishing.com

  Other Books by A.L. Brooks

  A Heart to Trust

  Dare to Love

  Never Too Late for Heroes

  The Long Shot

  Write Your Own Script

  One Way or Another

  Up on the Roof

  Miles Apart

  Dark Horse

  The Club

  Acknowledgements

  To the Ylva team—five years ago you published my debut, The Club, and here we are with a sequel eleven books later! Thank you for giving my stories a chance.

  To Michelle for a fab editing experience; it was great to learn from you!

  To my beta readers, Erin, Katja, Mari, and Amy. As ever, you gave me awesome feedback that helped lift the story from its humble beginnings as a “shall I write this or not?” piece to where we are now. Thank you!

  And to my partner, Tanja, for always supporting every single word I write.

  Dedication

  To all of you who loved The Club and wrote to tell me so—you helped make a debut author’s dream come true.

  Chapter 1

  Mandy

  Mandy stood in the middle of the Green Room and inhaled deeply. Her heart raced, but she understood why—this view just couldn’t get old. Nor could her pride at what she’d achieved here.

  But it was almost opening time for the night, and she couldn’t stand here wallowing in emotion.

  She gazed around her club’s main room, running a critical eye over every detail. The room was spotless; minutes earlier she’d inspected every nook and cranny and found nothing awry. Chairs and stools had been positioned in a seemingly random pattern against the walls, but there was still plenty of room for people to stand if they preferred. The centre bar, like every item of furniture, was clean but also sanitized with its stools lined up like regimental soldiers.

  She frowned. That seemed almost too perfect. People needed to feel comfortable here if they were going to consider taking their clothes off. She walked over to the bar and rearranged a couple of the tall stools, leaving them at slight angles to each other. Better.

  The Blue Room was next and passed her usual inspection with flying colours, as did the Red Room, where the cross was polished to a deep shine and the leather on the spanking benches gleamed in the full lights she currently had switched on. Thank God for the well-paid but extremely discreet cleaning company. Over the past eighteen months or so that the club had been open, she’d never found fault with their work, and their prices were worth it.

  She walked back towards the room’s bar and over to the control panel to dim the lights to their standard, sultry evening setting, glancing back into the room once she’d done so. Perfect.

  “Hey.” Dee’s voice came from behind her.

  Mandy turned and smiled at her assistant. “Good evening.” But then she frowned at Dee’s serious expression. “Everything okay?” The way Dee bit at her lip seemed like something was much more wrong than a malfunctioning bar tap or whatever she might have found in the club that Mandy had somehow missed. Is she ill? Facing a crisis at home? Her obvious worry was mystifying.

  Dee ran a hand through her short blonde hair. “Um, yeah. Sort of.” She puffed out a breath. “So, I need to talk to you.”

  Mandy’s concern spiked. “Just tell me. Are you all right?”

  “I am!” Dee placed one hand on Mandy’s arm. “But I have some news. I…I’ve been… Well, I’m just going to come out and say it: I got offered a position on a lesbian cruise ship.”

  Mandy blinked at her. “A cruise ship?” she echoed dumbly. Did she mean what Mandy thought…?

  Dee’s gaze suddenly flew to her feet. “Yeah,” she said after a long moment. “Entertainment manager. It’s a big step up in responsibility, and, of course, there’s loads of travel.”

  She’s been with us since we opened; the random thought occurred to her out of nowhere. “This isn’t you asking for a vacation, is it?” she said finally, a bit helplessly. A moment ago, everything in her world had been lined up to perfection. She liked the orderly little world she’d created here, and now it was suddenly all being disrupted by one decision made by someone else and completely out of Mandy’s control.

  “You know I’ve always wanted to see more of the world…” Dee had managed to look up at Mandy, her expression hopeful.

  Well, fuck. Mandy sighed. From somewhere inside her, she summoned up a smile. “It sounds perfect for you.” Her stomach twisted at the thought of losing Dee; she’d been with Mandy even before the club’s opening night, now that she thought about it, helping her with the final four weeks of setup and finishing touches. Dee had been nearly as invested in the club as Mandy was herself, and the thought of not having her by her side—

  “I just don’t think I can pass it up.” Dee was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, but at least she kept her view on Mandy now, which was a good sign.

  “And you shouldn’t.” Mandy gave her a quick hug, something they rarely shared, but clearly, the situation warranted it. She didn’t want to make Dee feel guilty over this. She had every right to leave, of course, even if it was going to inconvenience Mandy to hell. “I’m very happy for you.”

  Dee relaxed her shoulders. “I’m not going for another couple of months, don’t worry. And I already had a thought about who could take my position.”

  Mandy quirked an eyebrow.

  “Nina,” Dee said confidently. “You should promote her. She knows this place like the back of her hand. And she loves it here, you know that.”

  Mandy nodded slowly, musing over the idea. She wouldn’t have thought of it herself—Nina was such a high-spirited personality, maybe even a bit distractible—but once she learned a task, she was solid. It definitely had some promise, given Nina was so familiar with the setup, the clientele. Maybe she could do it.

  “And, I thought,” Dee continued, her words coming out a bit faster, “you could also use the opportunity to maybe recruit another one or two people to help out around here. You know how successful we’ve been lately, and only having the two of us always running the office stretches us all a bit. Especially you.” Dee paused, then plunged on. “I thought you might want some time free at the weekends. To get out a bit. I know you’ve been pretty lonely since Rebecca died. You haven’t dated anyone since, and—”

  Mandy held up one hand. “Rebecca and I never dated. We were only ever friends.” Well, that was a nugget of information she’d never meant to share with Dee.

  Dee’s mouth fell open. “You and she weren’t a couple? But I thought…I thought you were in love with her?” She frowned in confusion.

  Mandy threw her a rueful smile. “Those statements are not mutually exclusive.” She shook her head; might as well explain it all now—Dee was leaving in a couple of months, what did secrecy matter anymore? “She was my best friend, but she was straight, and I committed the cardinal lesbian sin of falling in love with her.”

  “Oh, Mandy, no way! Did you even get a chance to tell her?”

  “She knew.” Now it was Mandy’s turn to look away uncomfortably. “She knew, and she never said a word about it—until she was dying.” She couldn’t help it: her voice cracked.

  “Fuck, Mandy, I had no idea.” Dee hooked her thumbs in her jeans pockets. “Sorry.”

  Mandy waved off her apology. “And as for me hiring extra staff so that I can date again, well, I haven’t dated anyone in years. And I can’t imagine I’m going to start now.” She chuckled hoarsely. “I think that boat has sailed. I’m too set in my ways to go through all of that nonsense of getting to know someone.”

  Her chest tightened a tad as the vision of being on her own for the rest of her days flashed before her; it suddenly didn’t seem so appealing. Odd. “But I do like your idea of talking to Nina about taking over. Thank you for suggesting it.”

  Dee nodded, exhaling deeply again, but this time it seemed more from relief than from dread.

  Mandy took advantage of the moment and clapped her hands together. “Now, we need to get on with our night’s work,” she said. “Thank you for the heads-up and for giving me such a good amount of notice. I will miss you, very much, but I am very excited for what this opportunity can give you, so grab it with both hands and don’t let go, okay?”

  Dee’s eyes glistened. “I will. And… Well, please, just think about the extra staff idea, will you?” She grinned. “And the dating. There’s a lot left in you to give someone, you know. You’re not that old.”

  The cheeky little… Mandy made to slap her butt, and Dee deftly skipped out of the way.

  “Downstairs. Now!” Mandy pointed at the door to the hallway, struggling to contain her own laughter.

  “Yes, ma’am!” Dee winked and strode off.

  And just like that,
things were back to normal between them. Really, she reflected, it could be worse. Dee had given her lots of time to get used to the idea of her not being around. And Nina would learn quickly, especially with Dee training her. That thought alone gave her comfort.

  By the time they opened the club at nine on the dot, Mandy was back on track, which was a good thing because two women were already waiting to gain entry. From then on, it was the usual slow but steady build-up toward ten, when most women started to appear.

  She had just returned from her first business-hours tour of the rooms a little after ten when the door buzzer sounded behind her, prompting her to swivel in the office doorway and step out into the dimly lit hall. As always, readying to greet a new visitor, she got a buzz at what she’d created here at the club and the number of women who wanted to use it. She’d definitely created something her younger self would have loved. A rueful smile twisted her lips as she walked to the door—it was a shame her older self was rather past all this. Not only was Mandy not about to start dating, she was not about to go looking for fleeting pleasures—not at her own club nor anyone else’s.

  Of course, she took a moment to proudly note, no one else’s club in the UK was like hers—created specifically for women looking to satisfy their needs in a safe, consensual space where no one would ever, ever judge them.

  She slid back the small shutter that covered an opening in the door at eye-height. The simple security measure ensured that no visitors could enter unless she wanted them to. The club wasn’t widely advertised, and she’d been careful to make it clear it was only for women, cis or trans, and non-binary identifying lovers of women only, but it paid to be cautious. Her worst nightmare had always been a group of aggressive drunken men trying to gain entry. Thankfully, that had never happened.

  “Hi,” the woman on the other side of the door said, her voice timid. “Am I in the right place?”

  Mandy took a couple of seconds to assess her, experience counting for everything each time she did this. “Yes, you are. Come on in.”

  She stepped back, pulled back the security bar and opened the door.

  The woman walked into the hallway. She was probably late forties, about five or six years younger than Mandy’s fifty-five, with nondescript light brown hair that held a little natural curl, and she was dressed in a plain blue shirt over jeans.

  Mandy shut the door behind her and turned to face her. “Welcome to the club. My name’s Mandy, and I’m the owner.”

  “H-hello. I’m-I’m Lindsey.”

  Nervous as hell. “Hi, Lindsey. It’s nice to meet you. You’re new here, right?”

  The woman nodded, her eyes wide as she cast glances all around her. Her gaze landed on Dee in the office, and she blinked a couple of times.

  “My assistant, Dee.” Mandy was pleased when Dee looked up at the sound of her name, and, as always, waved in a casual, friendly manner. Mandy had trained all her staff to be welcoming and easy-going with every customer, but it was still lovely to see it in action.

  Lindsey lifted a shaking hand in response.

  Oh, wow, she’s beyond nervous. Hm, is she really ready for this? “So, shall I tell you how this all works?”

  Lindsey looked back at her and licked her lips. “Yes, please.”

  “We are classified as a private club, for which you will pay a membership fee to use the facilities on offer. This membership is for one evening only and costs twenty pounds.” She waited until Lindsey nodded her understanding before continuing. “There are three rooms, identified by the colour of the light above their doors—green, blue, and red. The Green Room is the one you will enter first; the others lead off from that so you can’t stumble into them by accident. Okay so far?”

  “Yes. Okay.” Lindsey’s posture eased a tad.

  “The Green Room is what we call the vanilla room, but by that we simply mean no strap-ons and no BDSM. Strap-ons can be used in Blue, and BDSM is restricted to the Red Room.”

  Lindsey’s eyes widened at strap-on and BDSM, and Mandy would have bet her house Lindsey would only be visiting Green tonight.

  “In each room, there’s a bar with a full range of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. Our bartenders are also there to act as, shall we say, security—if anything happens that you are not comfortable with, or they see something happening that is outside the rules, they will step in. Sitting at the bar, or at the centre table in each room, is a safe zone. You cannot touch or initiate contact with anyone there.”

  Lindsey nodded. “Good to know.”

  Mandy smiled. “Everyone new says that, and, trust me, everyone respects it, so please do let me know if anyone suddenly doesn’t. Now, if you are interested in contact with someone, you can either approach them or wait for them to approach you. Anyone standing along one of the walls is giving their consent to be approached, however they are not giving consent for sexual contact until that’s been negotiated and agreed between the parties. Understood?”

  Her visitor relaxed her shoulders. “Yes. That’s all really clear, thanks.” Her voice was a little stronger now.

  Good. “Any other questions?”

  Lindsey flushed and looked at her feet. “Do I—do I have to do anything?”

  “Absolutely not,” Mandy said gently and waited until Lindsey met her eye once more before continuing. “If you just want to watch, even for just ten minutes and then leave, you go right ahead.” She paused, then offered a final piece of advice that she reserved only for these most nervous of newbies. “But remember, this is one place where you can find very like-minded souls and be free to try out something new without any fear of recrimination or embarrassment. Everyone here wants exactly the same thing, in essence—the freedom to be as sexual as they like on their own terms.”

  Lindsey’s wide smile at that moment lit up Mandy’s whole week.

  The door buzzed again before she could say anything else. “One moment, let me just get that.” Even though Dee could get the door this time, she thought the pause would do Lindsey good, give her some thinking time. “Why don’t you wait a little over there and I’ll be right back?”

  Lindsey nodded enthusiastically and stepped to the side.

  Mandy waved Dee away as she approached the door. “No worries, I’ve got this.”

  She opened the shutter and saw a handsome woman about her own age on the step. The woman seemed startled to see Mandy peering back at her through the gap in the door and Mandy bit back a smile. “Hi, do you know where you are?”

  The woman stared for a moment, then seemed to remember she needed to speak. “Yes, uh, yes I do.”

  “Good.” Mandy opened the door and let the woman in. “I’ll be with you in just one moment, okay?”

  “Sure.” The woman stepped into the hallway, her gaze pinned on Mandy.

  Why is she staring at me like that?

  Granted, many of the women who walked through the door to the club would stare at Mandy, their nerves plain to see in the way their gazes seemed to beseech Mandy to put them at ease—not unlike Lindsey over there in the corner. But there was something different about the way this woman looked at her, her green-eyed gaze holding Mandy’s. She felt the urge to ask, “Do I know you?” but that was ridiculous. She didn’t do much socialising outside the club, not even with her fellow neighbourhood business owners. After all, the point of the club was its discretion.

  “Right, um, one moment.” Mandy stepped back, flustered but not sure why.

  She turned to Lindsey. “So, how are you doing? Think you’ll stay with us a little while?”

  Lindsey’s blush this time was softer, not quite covering her whole face. “Yes, I’d like to.” She handed over a twenty and smiled shyly. “Thank you so much for explaining everything.”

  “You’re welcome. And remember, sitting at the bar or centre table is your safe zone, okay?”

  “Got it.”

  “Excellent.” Mandy pointed at the green light above the door at the end of the hallway. “The Green Room is that way. Enjoy your evening.”

  Lindsey managed a small smile, took a visible breath, then turned towards the door.