“Marcus? Are you ready to go, or do you need another minute?”
There was barely held impatience in her tone and just a tinge of accusation as if she thought Domi was purposefully holding him there to talk to her. Maybe Domi was projecting a little, but that’s what it felt like. Pushing a smile on her face, she grabbed Ana’s bag and passed it over to Marcus.
“Here you go. I’ll see you Wednesday. And congratulations.” It was all she could do not to reach out and hug him again. With Julia’s gaze already boring holes through her, she decided not to, but only because Julia was pregnant and likely to be more emotional. That didn’t stop her from turning and waving at the other woman. “Bye, Julia!”
Pressing her lips together so tightly, it looked like she had to poop, Julia managed to curve her lips in the semblance of a smile and wave back with a grudging little twist of her fingers.
Domi stood in the doorway as they pulled out of the driveway, giving one last wave to Ana as her daughter waved to her from the backseat. Stepping back inside, she closed the door behind her and sighed. She wished she and Julia could have a better relationship, but it could be worse.
She glanced at the clock. Rae wouldn’t be home from the gym for close to another hour. The house was going to be wonderfully, gloriously empty until then, which meant she could just sit and do absolutely nothing… at least for the next hour.
Mitch
Muscles straining, Mitch put on a final burst of speed... to no avail. His fingers reached out and flailed through the air, touching nothing. The lack of contact threw him off balance, and he tumbled forward, rolling onto the grass. Rather than trying to jump back up, he laid there panting, staring up at the blue sky, streaked with wispy white clouds.
Zach was just too damned fast. There was no catching him.
The whooping when Zach crossed into the end zone was echoed by the rest of his teammates—Zach’s teammates, not Mitch’s.
A face popped into view, blocking off the pretty sky. Brown hair, amused hazel eyes, and a slightly off-center nose—probably broken sometime in his youth—Brian smiled sympathetically at him, offering a hand to help Mitch up.
“You almost had him, man.”
“I always almost have him,” Mitch grumbled, accepting Brian’s hand. He sighed, getting to his feet and brushing the grass and dirt off of his shorts and t-shirt. Looking over at the other team, high-fiving and bumping chests and fists in celebration, he sighed again. If they’d managed to keep the football out of Zach’s hands, they’d have won the game.
Ah, well, couldn’t win them all.
Half an hour later, he was at Murphy’s Meals with his friends. Any time they managed to make it to the weekly game, Brian, Kincaid, Zach, and Mitch went out for lunch afterward. The four of them had been pretty tight since completing the Dominants 101 class together at Stronghold, even more so after serving as extra hands-on instructors for the Submissives 101 class.
Mitch was aware they were getting looks from some of the women in the restaurant, which happened every time they went out. They were all tall, good-looking guys, though in different ways. Mitch was the only blond, his hair trimmed short, and he liked to wear tank tops that showed off his muscles whenever it was warm enough. Today, they were all wearing t-shirts, though Mitch’s still did a decent job of showing off his biceps.
Kincaid was even bulkier in muscles than Mitch, taller, dark-haired, with a permanent tan. While he couldn’t match Kincaid for height or bulk, Zach had a dapper GQ thing going on that even being sweaty from football didn’t diminish. Next to the rest of them, Brian joked he was the average one—brown hair, brown eyes, boring personality… but he was fooling himself. The submissives jumped at a chance to scene with him. He was an attractive guy with a good build, not nearly as intimidating as Kincaid, and far more serious than Mitch.
Having kinky friends, he could hang out with outside of the club had turned out to be pretty great. He’d lost touch with his high school friends when he’d gone to college, then with his college friends after graduation as they spread out in the quest to find jobs. While he had some work friends, their schedules were always so crazy, finding time to hang out outside of work wasn’t easy.
“Are you going to Marquis tonight?” Kincaid asked. Mitch immediately knew he was asking because of the fire play scene scheduled. Mitch had never seen anyone do fire play and would love to. Unfortunately...
“Can’t,” he said with a sigh. “Working.” Otherwise, he would have made a reservation for him and Domi. Taking her to watch a fire play scene? Hot. Pun fully intended.
“That sucks,” Kincaid said sympathetically before turning his attention to Brian. “We got a booth if you want to join us. We’re interested in watching the technique.” By ‘we,’ Mitch and Brian both immediately understood Kincaid was talking about himself and Zach.
They must be interested in just the technique if they were inviting Mitch and Brian along. It was a pretty open secret that Kincaid and Zach were... involved. Exactly what that involvement looked like seemed to change day to day. Although Kincaid was openly bi, they’d all thought Zach was straight until he and Kincaid started doing whatever it was they were doing. It was kind of like Fight Club—none of them talked about what Kincaid and Zach were doing.
The thing was, Zach still scened on his own with women at Stronghold and occasionally Marquis. Kincaid didn’t scene with anyone unless he and Zach were scening together with one woman, and they both topped her and didn’t actually interact. But every once in a while, they would go to Marquis, together, without a woman.
Brian and Mitch had talked about it, both of them curious as fuck, but they’d always come to the same conclusion—not my business. If Kincaid or Zach wanted to talk about it, they’d bring it up.
“Are you sure?” Brian asked. “I’m a little interested but hadn’t planned to go since I didn’t have anyone to go with.”
“Well, now you do,” Zach joked, grinning. “I think I’m more interested in it than Kincaid is, honestly.”
“I’m not uninterested,” Kincaid said, but his shrug indicated Zach’s statement was basically correct. If Mitch had to put a label on them, Kincaid was a Dom who liked a bit of sadism, and Zach was a sadist who liked to top. Actually, depending on what Kincaid and Zach were doing, Zach might be a sadist and a switch.
A buzzing sensation against Mitch’s thigh had him pulling out his cell phone. He grinned when he saw the message and quickly typed back. Yes, he was absolutely willing to trade his shift tonight for one tomorrow. He hadn’t made plans tomorrow, and he was just as curious as Zach about the fire play scene. Hell, it might be better to go with his fellow Doms than with Domi. He’d actually be able to focus on watching and maybe learn something.
“Is it work?” Kincaid asked. He was a police detective, so he knew he could be called in at any time, putting him in the same boat as Mitch, even though they had very different jobs.
“Yup, but good news for once,” Mitch said, shoving his phone back in his pocket. “I’m in for tonight!”
Chapter Two
Mitch
Arriving at Marquis before the evening had really started was always interesting. He and Domi had never been late to a show, but since the night they’d made their agreement, they only had appetizers or dessert before the show started. Tonight, he and the guys had decided to have dinner beforehand, but on the second floor rather than in the restaurant, which was an option offered to anyone who had reserved a table for the show. There was more privacy upstairs, and they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone overhearing what they were talking about. Everyone else would be there for the same thing.