Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
In other words, it was kink-related. It had to be.
Were they opening a kink club in that place?
Was that financially possible?
Well, the opening was always possible. Running it, however… Making it survive…
“By the way, did you see Luke’s Facebook post today?”
I shook my head.
Reese clearly felt the need to show me. He pulled out his phone and opened the app, then showed me the screen.
I leaned forward and read it.
Getting caught in a storm in Richmond gets five stars. No sarcasm.
I leaned back again. “I take it he’s on his way home from his work trip.” I hadn’t spoken to him in a couple weeks, because he’d been swamped with work and getting ready for a trip down south.
“What would make you give anythin’ in Richmond five stars?” Reese pressed.
I furrowed my brow. “A five-star hotel?”
He chuckled and pocketed his phone. “Boy got laid.” He looked at something over my head, so I guessed our food was here.
I was hungry.
I also hoped Reese was right. Lucas had been moping a bit more than usual lately.
The food did look delicious, and the scents of grilled lamb and garlic caused my stomach to tighten with hunger.
“Try the bread,” Reese coaxed. “If it’s good enough, maybe I can convince you to come with me to that Big/Little event mid-June.”
Oh, absolutely not. No way. “No bread in the world is that magical,” I told him, breaking off a piece. “I still have scars from last time.”
I didn’t know why he wanted to go back either. We’d both hightailed it out of there after seeing those Littles. Bless them with all the sparkles and crayons they could dream of—and zero kink-shaming—but we’d not read the fine print on that newsletter. The vast majority of them were into heavy regression play, and the event had been aptly named The Playground. Because that was how the place had been treated.
“Oh, come on, man,” Reese groaned. “It’s completely different this time. I promised to take Ivy, and she’s there for the pain.”
He should’ve led with that, but I wasn’t convinced.
We adored little Ivy, but I was so far from a Daddy Dom. I didn’t belong in such a place when it was exclusive to Bigs and Littles.
“Go with River,” I said. “Where is he anyway?”
“He’s workin’.” Reese scowled to himself and chewed on a mouthful of lamb. “Some friend you are.”
I puckered my lips at him.
ONE BY ONE ONLINE
Lucas West is now friends with Colt Carter
Was there a way to avoid seeing the people Lucas became friends with? He was incredibly social, and half the content I saw on Facebook came from him.
On that note, I should reach out to him about my dinner on Saturday.
KC had obviously canceled on me, which I refused to get pissy about. I knew why he’d done it. I knew he didn’t want to meet any of my friends if they were involved in kink, though he’d never admit to it.
I opened up my conversation with Lucas and sent him a message.
Welcome home, friend. How was the South? Just a friendly reminder about my dinner on Saturday. You’ll be my social glue, so don’t you dare cancel on me.
Every now and then, I joined him in one of his two communities, and although several of them were very nice, they were mainly Lucas’s friends. Without him there, I’d become the person Penelope couldn’t stand once more.
Lucas replied within seconds.
Hell no, I’ll be there! The South was surprisingly amazing. At least one part of it. What can I bring?
Just himself. I already had the food and alcohol covered. All the alcohol.
CHAPTER 7
A few weeks later
Reese Tenley
I remembered a time when I’d thought Lucas sharing a kink dynamic with a girl was strange as fuck. But eventually, I’d met Ivy, and… Honestly, now I couldn’t picture my social life without her.
She’d essentially turned into our “sure thing.” When River and I needed to blow off some steam and didn’t have the energy to hunt down another masochist, Ivy was there for us. She was fun, bratty as hell, strong, ballsy, intelligent, and had a high threshold for pain. She’d become a friend.
I had half a mind to ask her to be part of the core group of the community River and I were hopefully starting soon, but I knew her work hours. The girl was what, twenty-four? And she was already stressed out. No, she’d definitely become a member, but I wasn’t going to add to that stress by giving her responsibilities in the start-up.
River had pointed out I was protective of her, and he wasn’t wrong. Weird as it was, she was the first person who’d made me stop doubting I had a Daddy Dom in me.
I really wanted to explore that more.
But I also wanted to punish her for leaving my side five minutes after we arrived at the event.