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)
“Oh my God.” Judging by the excitement in his eyes, he was impressed. “Do you need any help? Because that sounds fucking incredible.”
I grinned. He was sweet, and I kind of soaked up his excitement. We were gonna need it when renovations started and the money began flying out the window.
“I reckon a sweet subbie like you should keep focusin’ on your studies and your Master,” I replied. “But of course you’re welcome to join once we’re finished.”
He scrunched his nose. “First of all, I’m a switch till the day I die. Second of all, I have way more time than my Owner does.”
A switch till the day he died, huh? Cute.
“I’m Macklin, by the way.” He stuck out his hand and stood a little taller.
“Reese.” I shook his hand. “Aren’t you a little young?”
He knitted his brows together. “I’m twenty-one. I’m also a chef, sort of, and I’m real scrappy. I’ve read a lot about BDSM, and I swear I wanna dedicate my life to this.”
Boy, this wasn’t a job interview.
“And you’re in your first kink dynamic,” I guessed.
He weighed his response. “Kinda, but we’ve been together three years.”
Oh. Hell, that was a lot longer than River and I had ever lasted. I reckoned our top score at the moment was four months, and we’d been out of the country for half that time.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “I’m off on a work trip soon, but when I come back, I want you to meet my brother. He and I bought the house together.”
At the end of the day, switch or not, he was his Master’s sub, and it couldn’t hurt to have a sub’s take on things during this journey. So far, we only had Tops on the dominant side.
“Your actual brother?” Macklin pressed. “Either way, I’m so down. Can we exchange numbers? Or are you on Facebook?”
ONE BY ONE ONLINE
Macklin Day is now friends with Nap Oleon
Macklin Day is now friends with Lucas West
Yeah, so maybe. Maybe, maybe.
Macklin had passed the River test, and West seemed to like the kid too.
They were both on board with my suggestion too, that we might actually need a sub’s perspective in the creation of our community. Otherwise, it was easy to forget things that felt foreign to the rest of us.
We just had to wait and see. Greer had been all in from the moment I’d called him to tell him about our idea, but he hadn’t been here in a while, and we wouldn’t be seeing him until October. Until then, I wasn’t making any decisions about who else might join us.
Same went for Lucian. I knew he wanted to start this community with us, but he was on the fence for work reasons. He worked a lot. He was busy climbing the career ladder.
CHAPTER 8
Four months later
Macklin Day
Someday, maybe, Master would have time for me. Someday.
I checked the rearview mirror, and nobody could see I’d been crying.
Nobody could hear me scream out here either, if these guys turned out to be murderers.
This was great.
I climbed out of the car, thankful it’d stopped raining at least, and I looked at the massive house that was ready to fall apart.
If I were to venture a guess, the most valuable features right now were the three cars I’d parked next to on the front lawn.
I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell those guys were getting themselves into. All while…I really needed this. I wanted them to accept me so I could help out and become part of something worth fighting for. And…if…if Walker and I didn’t make it, I’d have something to fall back on.
We had to make it. I wasn’t sure I could live without him.
But a guy had to be smart, right? I needed friends—and I liked Reese and Lucas a lot. River scared me a bit.
Today, I’d meet Greer Finlay too. From what I’d learned, he was a Marine who spent what little free time he had in this area. He’d bought a house here somewhere too.
Figuring the men were inside already, I walked across the rain-soaked lawn and reached the rickety porch steps, and—
A sharp whistle halted my next step, and I looked toward the side of the house.
“Hey, kid.” It was probably Reese. Possibly. “Come with me. There’s a big hole in the floor on the other side of the front door.”
Oh.
Suddenly, I was glad I was up-to-date on my tetanus shot. At least, I thought I was. I should probably look that up.
“Hi, Sir.” I plastered a smile on my face and met up with the Tenley—okay, it was Reese. I didn’t wanna assume. I’d already mixed them up the first time I’d met River.
“How are ya? Where’s Walker?”
Excellent question. “I’m good. He had to work.” It wasn’t a complete lie.
Despite having met Lucas and the Tenleys for drinks once—and getting along with them—Walker called them my friends since I was the one hoping to become part of this community start-up. In short, he’d taken himself out of the equation, allowing him to work instead.