Hells Gate: Santino (4 page)

“Say you’ll come back. I’d like to see you again.”

April wanted to reply, but the dream was starting to break up. The fog in the room became thicker. Every time she drew in a breath, the vapor settled in her lungs, pulling her away from the world. She reached out to the man in the cloak to feel his hands on her once more, but all she came away with was a handful of cold air.

Chapter Four

April spent the next week wishing every night she could slip back into the dream she had the night after she had returned from the fetish club. But each night she had closed her eyes, she hadn’t revisited that same dreamland. The man haunted her. His touches ignited her skin each time she thought about him. How his mouth felt on her flesh. The way his fingers had trailed over her breasts and her thighs. Cindy kept bugging her about going back to Hell’s Gate. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to, but the thought of maybe seeing the man underneath the cloak had her intrigued. April wasn’t sure about the rest of the club. Some of the characters had given her the chills.
Especially the cheetah man who had been dancing with Cindy.
Every night the yellow strip of plastic was beside her bed, enticing her to return.

Friday night rolled around again and she searched through her closet looking for something to wear. For the first time she wished that she had something that wasn’t so conservative. Sighing, she heard the knock on the door. When she opened the door, Cindy had a grin on her face and a bag slung over her shoulder.

“Thought you might want to get ready before we go.
Knowing your fashion sense, you’re going to need some help. Good thing we’re about the same size.”

April stared at her friend. She hadn’t asked her to come over.

“Are you going to leave me in the hall or are you going to invite me in so we can get
rockin
’ early? We’re going to make those bitches at the club salivate when we step in front of them.”

She looked down at her feet and then smiled at the other woman. “How did you know that I was even thinking about going tonight?”

Her friend waltzed in, closed the door, and headed toward the bedroom. April followed. When Cindy started pulling out the clothes, April gasped. “There’s no way I can wear any of that stuff.”

Cindy rolled her eyes. “By the state of your closet, I’d say you were rummaging through it. So I would say that you can wear what I brought.”

Eyeing the clothes, April knew her friend was right. She picked through the array of skirts, leather pants, studded bras, and vinyl. Cindy held up a few outfits against her body and then settled on one.

“This is the one.
Gonna
drive them wild when they see you. Put these on and see if they fit. You got bigger tits than I do, so this will look great. I haven’t worn it yet.”

April looked at the black corset and blue vinyl skirt. She took it into the bathroom and pulled on the outfit. She struggled into the corset but wasn’t able to get the zipper all the way up. Luckily she was wearing a black satin bra that went with the corset. Cindy peeked through the crack in the door and whistled. She stepped in and zipped up the corset.

“You think this is okay?” April scrutinized her appearance in the mirror. Tugging at the corset, she tried to hike it up, but it made it harder for her to breathe.

Cindy swatted her hands away and then quickly pulled her hair away from April’s face. “It’s great. Now give me ten minutes and we’ll be ready to go.”

April waited in her bedroom and applied her makeup. She grabbed the yellow wristband and placed it around her wrist. Cindy emerged from the bathroom and flashed
her a
smile. Instead of her regular teeth, her mouth was full of fangs and her eyes were golden from contacts.

“You like the new look?”

“Where did you get those?”

“Guy hooked me up at the club.
Got me a great discount on the contacts and the fangs.”

“Was that the cheetah dude you were
bumpin
’ and
grindin
’ with?”

She nodded.
“Oh yeah.
And he’s so fine.
Tight ass.
We got together this week. He was telling me some stuff about the club.”

Getting her purse, April took one last look at her reflection. She was satisfied, although the corset lifted her boobs higher than what she was used to. “What kind of stuff did he tell you?
Anything about this kissing guy?”

“I thought you didn’t want anything to do with the strange fetishes? Now you’re interested in what’s going on there. What changed? Your inner fetish
queen decide
to come out of the closet?”

April giggled. Her cheeks burned with the sudden image of the hooded dream lover who had pleasured her. If the strange man who kissed women had the same lips that carried her away to another world, then she wanted to feel them on her once more. “No. It’s not that. Come on. Let’s just go.”

Cindy hit her shoulder and they walked out of the apartment. They caught a cab to Hell’s Gate. The cold hit April once she walked outside. The line was still long when they arrived. Once inside they went to the bar first and ordered a drink. April’s stomach churched thinking about the man at the bottom of the club kissing women. She took a sip of her drink and then placed it back on the bar. This time she felt like she fit in a little bit better. Cindy was scoping out the club looking for her cheetah man.

“So are we going to do this or not?” April asked.

“In such
a hurry
now? We can go to the front of the line whenever we want. We got the magic pass.” Cindy jiggled her wrist before April’s eyes.

Irritation rolled through her as she sighed. “You were the one who originally dragged me here, and now you want to hook up with some guy. You turned around real fast.”

“Fine!
I’m sure Kyle will be around shortly. He’s a wild cat in the sack. Maybe you’ll entice the gentleman downstairs and he’ll stop kissing all those women.”

April and Cindy wove through the crowd. The music thumped around her and shook the walls. The body heat of the dancers pressed against her. The line was already winding through the hall. The same bouncer was there from before. Fog filled the room. Cindy walked up to the front of the line and flashed a smile to the woman at the front of the line.

“Hey, bitch! What do you think you’re
doin
’?”

Cindy held her wrist out. “Sorry. We got free passes tonight.”

“You can’t do that!” the woman said to the bouncer.

“Actually she can.”
Aldon
led the woman before them out of the room.

April noticed she was wide eyed and in a daze. Butterflies flew around in her stomach. Second thoughts bombarded her brain about actually doing this. Maybe she should go back upstairs and forget about this kissing man’s fetish. But then her dream man flashed before her eyes. The outline of his form underneath the cloak came to her. The places where his lips touched her body ignited from his remembered caresses.

God, what am I doing? He wanted me to come back to the club. What impact did this whole idea have on my mind? I didn’t even see his face.
She ran her fingers over her arms and looked at the other women in the line. They were waiting to see this guy too, all enthralled with the idea of what he could do. The bouncer stepped aside and Cindy walked into the room. When the large man returned, he smiled at her. She grinned back and then drummed her fingers on her arm waiting for Cindy to come out.

“Don’t worry about your friend. He’ll take good care of her.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.”

April watched the people passing down the hall and tried to figure out what the others saw in coming to the club. What was it about the fetishists? Then again, she was here, doing the same thing they were, attending the club to get kissed by a strange man.
What am I doing?
She glanced over and
Aldon
had Cindy.

She grabbed her friend and helped her through the door. The muscled guy took Cindy’s other arm and they began to walk her out of the room. April glanced back and saw the outline of the cloaked man leaning against the wall. She still couldn’t see his face. It seemed his eyes were on her, watching her. The same way he was the week before.

Cindy giggled. “Go for it, babe. It’s the best ride ever. You’ll feel great after. It was worth the wait.”

April glanced at the bouncer.

His eyes lit up and he nodded. “I’ll make sure she gets home okay. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you.” April glanced at Cindy. The dopey expression on her face made her seem as if she
were
in another world on some good drugs.

April stepped toward the curtained room. She stopped at the threshold and stared at the hooded man. He beckoned her forward. A shiver of dread spread through her about stepping into the unknown. Bats flapped about in her stomach. She bit her lip. The mist concealed the man before her.

“I won’t hurt you.” His voice sounded just like the man who had appeared in her dream. She jumped back when he stood before her, inches from her face, with his cloak hanging low.

“Where did you come from?” she asked, more surprised she hadn’t seen the mist part and him stepping through.

“Just right in there.
You did come here for me to kiss you, didn’t you?” His breath blasted against her face. It was warm compared to the air conditioning and dry ice that wafted through the club.

“Yes.”

“Then come into my lair.” He offered her his hand. April glanced down the hallway and saw
Aldon
taking Cindy up the stairs. She looked back at the hooded figured and slid her hand into his. He drew her into his lair. The haze enveloped her. She tried not to think about what else might be lurking in the vapor-filled room.

“What did you do to my friend?”

He chuckled and released her.
“Nothing that she didn’t want done.
She’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

The room before her was dimly lit. She squinted to see his face, but it was covered by the long hood. He stayed shrouded in the shadows. Dark blue lights illuminated sheer fabric along the walls, giving the room an eerie feel. A single spotlight shone down on a pair of manacles attached to the wall. He held out his hand and swept it before him, ushering her toward the cuffs.

“You want to tie me up and kiss me?”

His laughter was soft and caressed her skin like velvet. “Yes. It’s the price you pay for wanting to be kissed by me.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed the mystery man. Her mind had done a great job in recreating him from the little she had seen of him before. “I expect that you’re going to bite me or something else.”

“No biting. I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die.” He crossed his heart and tented his hands as if he were praying.

“Why did you give us the free pass the other night?
Why me?”

“I saw something in you. Call it a hunch. But I’ve had a lot of those before and they turned out to be wrong.
Although, I see the intrigue in your eyes.
Come on. It won’t hurt. If you don’t want to, then you can go…”

He was right. She could walk out the door, go home, and check on Cindy. A line of girls remained to be kissed by this mystery man. If she left now, she’d never know what the man’s allure was. He would continue to haunt her dreams. The questions would haunt her. Why had so many girls consented to kissing him? What was his appeal? The enigma overwhelmed her and she stood with her back to the wall. He didn’t touch her but carefully wrapped the shackles around her wrists and then backed away. April tried to move in the restraints and discovered they were lined with velvet.