Chapter 3: Three

Mene.

As the flashing neon lights of the Eden Club come into view, I decide to try my luck for the hundredth time. I leaned forward so I was close to the ear of Peroye, who was in the driver’s seat, eyes not straying from the road even though he felt my presence directly behind him.

“Name your price. Anything to turn this Benz back around to my office”.

“Our price is for you to accept our birthday gift," Wonodi snarls from the passenger seat, earning a glare from me before I drop back to the back seat in defeat.

“Why are you guys doing this?” I ask with a sigh, rubbing my forehead with the tip of my fingers to ease down my exhaustion. I’ve been begging them to turn the car around since I found out where we were heading.

“How many times do we have to tell you? We’re not letting you continue as a virgin. Especially now that you just turned thirty”. I rolled my eyes as Peroye continued his sermon. “You will soon get married. How will you pleasure your wife?”

“Why should that concern you?” I shoot back.

“Because she might start making advances on me or Peroye or the both of us”. Wonodi replies.

“And just so you know, we won’t resist if she’s beautiful”. Peroye buts in, glancing back to smirk and wink at me while Wonodi nodded in support.

I gaped at them before shaking my head in disgust and turning my head to look through the window as Peroye pulled up at the club’s compound. The place was packed which was much expected since it was a Saturday night. Cars were lined up in the parking lot, and Peroye had to swivel around before he finally found a place to park. He pulled the car to a stop and he and Wonodi came down from the car while I remained seated in the backseat, with my hands crossed on my chest.

The only way I would leave this car today is if they drag me down from it. I kept my gaze before me even when the door to the back seat flew open and Peroye ducked his head inside.

“What kind of man refuses a night at Eden?”

“The kind of man that has things to do”. I replied, wincing as images of my abandoned work flashed in my mind. I was almost done with my drawing when the door to my office was wrenched open and Peroye and Wonodi kidnapped me from my office. They’d informed me on our group chat that they’d booked a private show at the Eden for me as my birthday gift which I’d replied with “I’d rather swim in acid”.

The Eden was the most famous and hottest club in Rivers State and Nigeria as a whole. This was because it wasn’t just an ordinary club. It comprised different items; a normal nightclub, a VIP section which was the strip club, and a VVIP section which was a sex club.

I’d been here before. Not just once but twice for Peroye’s birthday party and also Wonodi’s birthday party.

They were obsessed with this place but I wasn’t. I was entirely uncomfortable those few times, all I could think about as the girls stripped and danced on poles was the important things I could have done with the time I was currently wasting. This was what my friends disliked about me. The fact that I was so stingy with my time. If it wasn’t in my schedule which was only filled with activities that would assist me in reaching my goal to retire at the age of forty, then I wasn’t partaking in it.

And tonight, it was clear they weren’t having it.

“Come down”. Peroye ordered. I hated how persistent he was, even in the wrong things. Once his mind was fixed on doing something, there was no changing his mind. If he was less interested like Wonodi who was already exchanging numbers with a girl in a flimsy excuse for a dress that exposed a full part of her breasts and ass, I would have found a way to sneak out of this place.

“Or what?”

He studied me for a moment before he relaxed and brought out his phone from his pocket. “Or I’ll record you now and send the video to your mother”. He threatened.

“Do your worst”. I called his bluff but later surrendered when he opened his camera. My mother would fall into a hysteria if she found out that I was hanging out in places like this. She was hell-bent on protecting my father’s reputable image. Even though we spent a huge part of our life in the UK which will make it impossible for anyone here to recognise me as Afeelo’s son, she would still make a big deal about it.

“Fine”. I agreed on a huff, holding myself from punching the triumphant smile on his face as I hopped down from the car. “But I’m spending just an hour here”.

“Don’t worry”. Wonodi who was finally done talking to the girl he would be taking to Eden’s sex club, remarked as he held my arm. “When you meet our gift, you’ll be begging for more time”.

I rolled my eyes. “My name is Mene, not Wonodi. I don’t do one-night stands”.

Wonodi recoiled at my statement and Peroye butted in just as he opened his mouth, probably to warn me against making him look like a sex freak which he is. I knew comments like that annoyed him but they’d annoyed me by bringing me here so I wasn’t sorry at all.

“Let’s go, guys”. Peroye said, dragging Wonodi and me toward the entrance of the strip club. The bouncers recognize Peroye and Wonodi at a glance and we’re ushered in without any interrogation. The loud sound of Omah Lay’s Reason hits my ears, leaving a strong headache that almost brings me to my knees.

I glance around the crowd of entangled sweaty bodies rocking against each other as we weave past them. My eyes caught sight of a woman bucking as she came while the man she was dancing with kept dry-humping her on the dance floor and I rolled my eyes in disgust. This was the kind of scene you meet at The Eden.

Peroye and Wonodi pull to a halt at a counter and I join them, standing right behind him. I try my best to ignore but my body finally surrenders the urge to spare a glance at the girl whose eyes had been on me since I walked in. She smiles as I finally meet her gaze, not bothering to hide how she’d been eagerly waiting for me to look her way. Her lips form a trail around the rim of the party cup in her hands before she winks at me. I force my eyes away from the brain-tortious scene, focusing on the conversation between Peroye and the woman at the counter leading to the private session rooms.

The woman flashes me a sympathetic look my way and I release a tired breath when I realize it’s because Peroye just introduced me as the virgin friend. Why does everyone keep giving me that reaction? What was wrong with being a virgin? It’s not like I murdered someone.

She returns her gaze to Peroye and after a few seconds of laughter and assurance, I’m being ushered into the hallway by two girls.

I glance behind me to find Wonodi and Peroye looking at me like I was some toddler who was attending school for the first time. I flashed them my two middle fingers before turning my attention to where the girls were leading me.

I walk behind the girls quietly till they stop at a double-edged door with a man, twice my size who glares at me like he wants to do nothing but beat me till I’m unconscious and then throws my body over the Lagos bridge. The girls open the door, prompting me to break eye contact with the murderous-looking man before I make my way inside the room.

They wait till I’m inside before one of the girls announces that the tease would be with me minutes from now and also asks me to read the instructions on the wall. Without any other word, they march out, leaving just me in the room.

I glance around the room which is empty aside from a chair in the middle directly facing the sofa which is just four steps away from the chair. There’s also a counter by the side which has a music tape and a light switch. Curiosity leads me to the wall beside the door and I read the instructions.

Welcome to a night with the tease.

Here are a few things to keep in mind....

No form of physical contact. Don’t bother trying your luck because you won’t be lucky. Just sit calm and enjoy your night. Remember she’s just a tease, if you feel like you need to get rid of the pressure, feel free to book a night at the sex club to satisfy your desires.

“They shouldn’t bother”. I mutter as I go take my seat on the couch. “I would be the most unproblematic client she’s ever had”.

I relax on the couch, releasing a sigh as the soft material eases all the tension in my muscles that had gathered from moments of sitting at my desk. There’s a rolled weed on the table and a bottle of red wine on the table. The last time I ever got drunk or high was in university before I became serious about life. I pushed the weed aside opened the bottle of red wine and poured myself a glass. I’d just taken two sips when the door opened and a girl strutted in, holding the strap of her trench coat in a firm grip. My eyes came in contact with hers and that was it. I couldn’t look away.