Toy Story

At lunch, Rey's friend Gwen said, oh so casually, "There's a guy—a scholarly-type—from your institution wanting to do some research on Moonlight."

Rey stopped mid-slurp and put down her soup spoon. "No way! You're going to let him enter the sacred domain of your BDSM club?"

Gwen smiled and nibbled a pickle. "Yeah, I don't know yet. He wants to have a hands-on BDSM experience and write about it."

Rey raised her brows. "Write about it, how?"

"He's a sociologist based at City University. He says it's a scholarly work, not an opinion piece or essay." Gwen took a bite of her sandwich and chewed. She swallowed and added, "We don't really want him to pierce the inner sanctum, if you know what I mean."

"Tell him no," Rey said, tearing off a piece of baguette.

"His family is a big donor at the University, and he knows Holdo." Gwen wrinkled her nose. "His mother is calling in a favor."

Dr. Amilyn Holdo, Ph.D., was head of the prestigious Department of Sociology and a secret long-time member of Moonlight. Gwen shouldn't have leaked this information to Rey, but they'd been close since high school and old habits of sharing secrets were hard to break. It was clear Gwen wanted to talk about the situation.

"Holdo wants to allow it? Won't she be exposed, too?" Rey asked, frowning.

"They already know she's involved. I just don't want the rest of us exposed to some random guy, scholar or no."

"Can't he just observe?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Somehow that seems worse. No, he can't be a voyeur while we do scenes." She shuddered and chewed her sandwich meditatively. "Anyway, that's not what his research is about. He claims he needs to participate. He's calling it by some weird term. Ethno-something."

"Ethnography?" Rey asked.

"Yeah, that's it. He wants an immersive experience. And none of us real Moonlight-ers wish to touch his ass with a ten-foot pole."

"He's trying to do overt research and active observation in a closed community. Wow. Brave and potentially biased all at the same time." Rey toasted Gwen and sipped her drink. "Nice."

"Well, you might not think so after I ask you to do something for me." Gwen batted her lashes at Rey.

"I was kidding," Rey said. She paused, horrorstruck. "No, you can't be serious."

"Pleath, pleath with sugar on top? I'll pay you for your time."

"That's so unethical," Rey said. "I'm not a member of your organization. I'm not representative of the culture he's trying to study."

"None of us want to be exposed in the name of research."

"Therefore, you want to expose me?"

"Oh, what do you care?" Gwen said. "Listen, I'll double your wage as an adjunct, if you do this for us."

Rey was holding on by her fingernails as a part-time Level I instructor in the English Department—it paid poorly but gave her access to the university's vast library of archives for her own research. She could definitely use the cash, if Gwen was willing to pay.

"How much do you want?" Gwen asked. "We're desperate. Name a price."

Rey chewed on it. "Will Holdo find out? I could be in the deepest of shit if she does."

"I swear on the gods of bondage and discipline that she will not find out. Holdo doesn't have a list of all the members. Only I have that information. Name your price, Rey. Help us out."