Chapter 2

Laura was definitely anticipating Wednesday night but was also very apprehensive wondering what would happen and how she would feel about the idea of a BDSM club when faced with the reality. This made it a real struggle to concentrate on her school work, especially in American Lit where every time she looked at John she thought about their own activities. The lecture in Tuesday's class was on the early American novel and Laura found it impossible to think about Cooper and Hawthorne and instead kept imagining herself naked and helplessly tied as a group of people, each with a strap or whip, approached her. "Oh, well," she finally thought to herself, "at least neither of us is married so I won't have to go around campus wearing a scarlet 'A'. And they no longer have a pillory around here." Then the thought struck her that maybe a pillory might be rather interesting after all and she nearly broke out laughing as the professor was describing Cooper's dull, plodding style.

Wednesday night finally arrived. Laura was too nervous to really eat any dinner and kept changing her mind about what to wear. John had said just casual clothes, nothing too formal or too sexy either. Laura finally settled on a plain, sleeveless blouse and a wool skirt which came about three inches above her knees.

Just at seven John arrived to pick her up. They drove to the edge of campus and John pulled over on a side street. "We're not here already, are we?" Laura asked.

"No," John laughed. "But you do remember I told you the location is secret. We're going to one member's house, but until you are actually joining we'd rather you didn't know where. So..." John held up a length of black silk cloth.

The surprise showed on Laura's face. "You're kidding! A blindfold?" she asked.

"No, I'm not kidding. Just think of it as adding to the mystery," John said as he wrapped the cloth around her head, shutting out all sight.

Laura settled back in the seat and they drove for about twenty minutes. However, she couldn't tell if they had gone fifteen miles or just circled the block ten or twelve times. The car pulled to a stop. "Just wait," John said as he got out of the car. Within seconds he came around to her side and helped her out. "Leave the blindfold on. I'll guide you," he said.

They walked a few yards and then she heard John knock at a door. The door opened and they went inside the building. Holding her arm, John guided her through another door and then down a set of stairs. At the foot of the stairs they turned right and went through another door. Here they stopped and John removed the silk from her eyes. Laura looked around. They were in a sort of coat room or butler's pantry leading to what looked like a large basement rec room. As they entered, Laura saw that it was exactly that. There were a number of people, all about her own age and about evenly divided between men and women. Thankfully they were dressed pretty much as she and John so that was one less worry.

There were snacks and soft drinks on a side table. Everything looked so ordinary, like a sorority rush. She was just noticing that everyone seemed to be wearing a stick-on name tag as John handed one to her. She examined it and saw her own name - first name only - along side what appeared to be a crossed set of cats-of-nine tails. "Well, maybe not so ordinary a rush," she thought.

John led her around the room and introduced her using only first names. Everyone seemed very friendly and while many gave her frankly appraising looks, she noticed she was doing the same to them. Everyone here seemed confident with themselves and no one seemed to mind the looks. Anyway, they weren't the same kind of looks that most people found repulsive from strangers. Laura decided her first impression was that this was a group to which she felt a real attraction and to which she wouldn't mind belonging. Then she remembered exactly what they did as a group and once again became apprehensive.

Laura met the other prospective pledges along with the members. There were two girls and three guys just like John had said. A petit Asian-looking girl with waist length, dark hair and a really enchanting smile had the very American name of Carol Anne. Two of the men - James and Rick - looked enough alike to be brothers, but Laura was assured they had never met. Still both were about 5' 10", had dark brown hair neatly parted on the left, and deep brown eyes. The third male of the group was named Paul and had the blonde haired, blue eyed look of a Scandinavian. And the other girl, Ashley, looked like she could have been a model. She had dark, red-brown hair worn in a pony tail and deep emerald green eyes. Laura had always considered her figure to be excellent, but Ashley's was truly outstanding. She must have spent an hour or so a day working out. But what startled Laura the most about Ashley was not her looks but the fact that Laura found herself wondering what it would be like to run her hands over that great figure. "I've certainly developed some new ideas recently," she thought.

For about forty-five minutes everyone just circulated and talked. Everyone seemed relaxed and interested in her and the other new people. None of the talk was prying or too personal, but it was clear that they were interested without being overly nosy. No one asked detailed personal questions, like what her father did or what kind of house or car she had. This in itself made it different from one of the Greek house rushes. Another difference was in the refreshments. Laura noticed soft drinks, juices, and bottled water, but no alcohol. And although there was an atmosphere of contained sexuality - everyone obviously knew what this was all about - there was nothing on the surface which could be described as crude or even risque.

After a while one of the members called for everyone's attention. "If you would like to have seats, we'd like to tell you prospective pledges something about our group so you can - pardon the pun - get a feel for what we're like."

Everyone laughed a little, but it was a laugh at a funny remark, not a snicker. John stayed with Laura and she noticed that the other new people each had someone of the opposite gender who remained close to them. People began to find seats at the few tables set up near one end of the room. Laura found herself and John at a table with four others including James and a girl named Janet who appeared to be John's counterpart. The other couple were Frank and Kelly.

When everyone was settled, the man who had spoken introduced himself as Tom and with him a lovely young woman named Barb. He said that while the club didn't spend much of any time on internal politics, he and Barb were the current co-presidents even though this post usually shifted two or three times a year.

"Let me give you some information about the club," Tom said. "Afterwards if you have questions, and I'm sure there will be some, we'll try to answer or find someone who can."

"First a little history. The club has been around here for twenty years. It was started by three couples who found they had a common interest in playing BDSM games and wanted some safe companions with whom to share them. It has now been organized so that we take in about six new members a year from the freshman class. That way when the senior six graduate each year our membership is pretty constant between eighteen and twenty-four."

"Right now we're meeting in one member's house, but we do have a house of our own. In that we are like some of the Greek houses and, in fact, most, but not all, of our members live in the house. There's no pressure either way. And we do not live as masters and slaves. We do have a party or activity about every other week and often many smaller groups of members have some kind of activity. But if you are looking for someone with whom to share a 24/7 BDSM relationship, this is not the group. We all like BDSM but we have other things in life, too."

"Another thing, we don't want anyone who is totally top or totally bottom. We find ourselves switching roles in a variety of combinations. Sure, some find they like being the 'victim' a little more and will end up being bottom more times than not. But no one is exclusive either way."

"I should also mention that when our members graduate they are not completely gone forever. Most of course will be moving to many different locations across the country, but occasionally we'll have a - call it a homecoming - and a few will come back for a weekend. We are also invited to join them occasionally in some activity they have set up. For example, one actually owns a small island in the Caribbean and has had the club down for a week."

"These activities are usually intense BDSM sex scenes, but I want to stress two things: One, no one is ever expected to participate unless they want. And, two, no one but current and past club members is ever involved, with the exception that the wife or husband of a past member may take part."

Barb stepped forward. "Now let me tell you a little about membership. First, in order to be here tonight, several things have already happened. You had to be personally recommended by a current member. These members will be your sponsors as you go through pledging. Secondly, you have demonstrated a real interest in BDSM sex play. And thirdly you have expressed an interest in possibly joining."

"Before you decide if you're still interested, I'm going to tell you a few things about what we are and what we are not. First what we are not. As we've already said we are not a club for anyone who is looking for a permanent or even long term commitment as a master or slave. We don't get involved in psychological dominance games. There's never any humiliation or degradation. There is never - let me emphasize NEVER - anything non-consensual. Everyone will ALWAYS have a safe word - in fact, two - and these words will be immediately recognized and obeyed. Also there is never any activity which will result in any real damage. No permanent marks. That means no scars, piercings, and no tattoos. In fact, no blood. We do not allow the skin to be broken."

"As to what we are, we enjoy bondage and discipline and sex. No one here is just into pain. That's definitely not our thing. We do like pain as a sexual stimulation, but it's the sex we're really after. We like the variety of a group and activities may include two or more - but the choice is always up to the individual. I'll say again, no one ever is expected to do anything unless they want."

"Likewise we don't tell you that you have to be bi or exclusively hetero. As it happens we almost never have any men who are interested in any gay activity but most, although not all, of the women enjoy sex with both genders."

"One of the things we will not compromise on however is this: No drugs or alcohol. By this I mean absolutely no drugs at any time. And no alcohol is ever used during any BDSM activity. Even a drink or two can distort judgment and might result in someone getting hurt. Besides, we all get so high on sex no one needs chemicals."

Tom stepped forward again. "The whole idea is to have a safe place and a trusted, compatible group for our games. To insure this one of the things required if you decide you want to join will be a physical and a blood test. And a blood test every six months as long as you participate in club activities. We don't want to have to worry constantly about protection from any STD. We also expect our female members to use either an implant or be on the pill. One of our former members runs a clinic near here and can handle all of this for any of you."

"If, after tonight, you and we both decide the club is for you, we will help you arrange for the physical and then let you know the date for a formal pledging. There will then be several more "pledge weekends" and finally an initiation. The initiation will take place during spring break, so let your parents know you won't be home, but don't make any plans to go elsewhere. I can promise you'll have more fun than somewhere else anyway."