Liaisons Book 2 — H. Elizabeth Austin

2022 American Writing Awards FinalistThank you for your recent membership application to Liaisons. Please understand we must complete a thorough assessment to ensure that you satisfy the requirements in terms of finances, absence of criminal history, and acknowledgement of understanding of the rules of this long-standing establishment. As we process your application, Liaisons grants you an additional three visits. The processing time can take anywhere from two to seven business days. Someone from the management team will notify you if your application is approved or denied. We will inform you as to why your application was denied, if that was the determination. You may appeal the decision and request an interview with the managers and owners, but while waiting for that to take place, you will not be allowed to visit Liaisons.Also, we would like to advise our current members that the club is under new ownership and some of the policies will change. You will receive notice of these when they are finalized. We will provide these changes in writing and an acknowledgement form on your next visit to Liaisons after the changes are in place.In the meantime, we would like to introduce you to a longstanding member—almost ten years—and one of the new owners of Liaisons: Steven Cavanaugh. Steven leads a rather private life outside of Liaisons. He is a bestselling true crime author. All of his books share the stories of murder and mayhem. Steven has been known to engage in various activities here at Liaisons. All discreetly concealed behind the doors of our playrooms. In fact, as luck would have it, he is in a playroom right now with another longtime member. One wonders what they could be doing… after all, it is rumored that he likes—let’s just say some people are more into that than others.Recently, Liaisons gained a new accountant to handle our financial affairs. Nicole St. James has not applied for membership yet and has only been to Liaisons once as a guest of one of our members. Therefore, we cannot share as much about her life except that it was overheard that she is the younger sister of Steven Cavanaugh’s childhood best friend. There was some additional delicious gossip about her first visit here. Apparently, Steven didn’t take too kindly to her being here with another member. Later, witnesses reported Steven took her to a playroom where they remained for many, many hours. We at Liaisons look forward to getting to know Nicole much better in the coming months and, hopefully, years. Who knows, maybe she’ll apply for membership and we could tell you much more.The things that go on behind our doors stay behind our doors. But rest assured, as long as you follow the rules, our members are not shy about what they’d like to do in one of our many playrooms.Tell me, what would you do behind closed doors?