Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Audrey
Cupcake acquired, Audrey found herself pulled into conversation with Naomi and Claudia, who were thrilled Audrey would be joining them for book club.
Her grandmother had apparently already run around telling the rest of the women that Audrey would be joining them.
Which meant she really had no choice but to read the hucow book.
“I’ve never really read romance before,” Audrey admitted, though she didn’t tell them why. She felt too embarrassed about being a grown woman who cared about her mother’s opinion of her reading choices.
As she spoke, her gaze drifted over to where Mason was looking at the desserts, which meant she caught the exact moment he saw all the baklava. Did her heart do a little flip again as he began to load up his plate? Yes, yes, it did.
“Neither had Claudia,” Naomi said, snickering as she cast a glance at the bossy brunette, who didn’t seem bothered by Naomi’s amusement.
“I still don’t know what I’m doing as part of this club; these books make no sense.”
“The hucow thing?” Audrey asked, jerking her attention back to the other two women and away from Mason, who had just taken a bite of baklava and was just standing there with his eyes closed, chewing.
She turned toward Naomi so she couldn’t see Mason anymore.
Watching him was going to give her heart palpitations.
“No, the heroine thing.” Claudia scowled at Naomi’s answering snicker and focused on Audrey, who knew her confusion was showing on her face.
“These heroines make no sense. I started getting book suggestions I’d never gotten before, thanks to book club, and some of them sounded pretty good, so I figured I’d read them. ”
“The fact that you like the smutty parts has nothing to do with it,” Naomi quipped, skillfully stepping sideways as Claudia reached out to poke her.
“That doesn’t hurt, but the heroines.” Claudia threw her hands up in the air, one more gently than the other since it was holding her drink. “They drive me nuts!”
She pointed a finger at Audrey.
“If you were drowning in debt from your mother’s medical bills and she needed another procedure done, and your billionaire boss was dating you and wanted to pay for your meals and clothing and give you a place to live, wouldn’t you be relieved? Wouldn’t you say yes?”
“Um… probably.” Audrey had a feeling that was the right answer. And it did make sense. “Does he know I’m drowning in debt from my mother’s medical bills?”
“Sometimes.” Claudia waved her hand. “It doesn’t really matter either way. The number of heroines who refuse to let this crazy rich man pay for anything for them, even if they’re only eating one meal a day, is freaking unrealistic. If I was dating a rich guy, he’d be paying for everything.”
“Sure he would,” Naomi murmured, winking at Audrey and ignoring Claudia’s glare at her. Which was impressive because it was a really intimidating glare.
“They don’t let the hero take care of them.
Ever. He usually has to force his way into her rundown apartment with a shoddy lock so he can care for her when she’s too sick to stand, much less cook for herself and eat it.
But oh no, I’m Miss Independent woman.” Claudia snorted.
“And that’s just the beginning of the too-stupid-to-live actions. ”
“Yes, because you’re such a joy and so cooperative when you’re sick.”
Claudia waved off Naomi’s remark.
“I’ve never been sick enough that I can’t stand and make my own meals, but if I was, I would absolutely let someone else cook for me.”
“Uh huh.” The significant look Naomi gave Audrey and Cassidy said she felt otherwise.
“Anyway, my point is that the books make no sense a lot of the time.”
“And yet, she keeps coming back and reading more of the genre, even when she’s not doing it for book club.” Naomi smirked. A quick glance at Cassidy, who was grinning, confirmed to Audrey that these two often needled each other like this.
“She likes the sexy scenes,” Grandma chimed in. “That’s why I read them, too.”
“I’m not sure I needed to know that,” Audrey muttered.
“You should be happy to know that life isn’t just for the young.” Grandma shook her head.
“It’s not that; it’s that you’re my grandmother,” Audrey protested. “I try really hard not to think about what Cassidy and David get up to. And I try really, really, really hard not to think about what my parents do or don’t do. Or what my dad does with women other than my mom.”
There were sympathetic looks all around, and Audrey winced a little, but no one here knew her mom.
And it was nice not to have to censor herself completely.
If she’d said anything like that back home, it would have definitely gotten back to her mom, who would be horribly hurt.
Even if it was true and Audrey wasn’t the one doing the actual action, her mother considered being told about her husband’s indiscretions to be worse than the indiscretions themselves.
At least, that was how it always seemed to Audrey.
“Your mother could do with reading a romance or two,” Grandma said, her voice softening slightly as she spoke of her stepdaughter. The complete opposite of Audrey’s mother, who couldn’t mention her stepmother without sounding brittle and disapproving. “And removing her buttstick.”
“So, I always wondered,” Audrey said loudly, before her grandmother could go down the buttstick road, “what do you do with the books when you’re done with them?” When everyone looked at her, no one answering immediately, she frowned. “Like, do you donate them to the library…”
“Oh, you’re reading paperbacks… got it.” Naomi smiled. “I think we all use e-readers at this point or an app on our phone.”
“I… never considered that. I’ve never read anything but a paperback.”
“I like it because I can adjust the font to be bigger,” Grandma said. “And I can leave little notes for myself at my favorite spots to go back to. I like to mark out the sex scenes for future re-reads.”
“I just don’t want to carry a book around everywhere.” Claudia shrugged. “I don’t always have time to sit down and read, but I can get in a few pages whenever I have a minute since it’s on my phone.”
Naomi nodded in agreement. “Same for me.”
“I still like reading both, but it’s easier to carry around my e-reader,” Cassidy said, shrugging.
“Okay, so… if I’m going to do it on my phone…
how does that work?” Audrey pulled out her phone, and the others crowded around to help her figure things out.
While they were doing that, the front door opened again, and another couple walked in.
There was a moment of hesitation from everyone, which had Audrey’s alarm bells ringing in her head.
For some reason, people weren’t as happy to see him as they had been to see each other.
The man was definitely former military, like her brother and the rest of the team.
He moved just like they did. Though he was completely bald, he had a full beard and mustache.
An earring dangled down from one ear, like a chain with a little knife hanging from the end of it.
The woman at his side was a pretty blonde, and her dark eyes were bright and wide as she looked around the foyer with interest, seemingly indifferent to the people to her left in the living room, all staring at her.
“Hey, Coriander, we weren’t sure you were going to make it,” Jensen said, coming forward. “Hi, Noelle, welcome to my house.”
“His name is Coriander?” Audrey whispered to Claudia, who was standing the closest to her and watching the couple greet Jensen through narrowed eyes.
“His name is Zeus—I’ll explain the spice thing later—and we don’t trust him,” Claudia murmured back.
Well, coriander was an herb, not spicy, but okay then.
Mason
The arrival of Zeus and Noelle shifted the mood of the party. Not a lot. Some people might not even notice. But Mason was always attuned to the group and watched people’s behavior more closely than the average person. That was his job, after all.
He watched as David took Zeus and Noelle over to introduce them to Audrey and Brenda, a lot more formally than he had for anyone else.
If they were ever going to integrate Zeus into their group, they needed to put a better foot forward.
Zeus was trying. Just showing up here tonight was proof of that.
They’d run into him at the BDSM club they all frequented, but this was the first team social event that he’d shown up to.
Mason shifted closer. Not because he was trying to get closer to Audrey, of course; he was just doing his job of keeping an eye on the group and how well Zeus was integrating into it.
Exactly like Lincoln had asked him to. Their boss had chosen Zeus, after all, even with his past. He wanted Zeus on the team.
If Mason could help ease the way, all the better.
“Hey, Clove,” he said amiably when Zeus caught his eye. For just a moment, he thought he saw a flash of amusement in the other man’s face, but it was quickly covered up by his usual, stoic expression.
“Mason.”
“Okay, seriously, can someone explain the name thing to me?” Audrey complained with a cute little scowl, looking around at everyone in their circle. “Why are you calling him by spices instead of his name?”
“It’s our call signs,” David explained. “I’m Ginger. Mason is Posh, Drew is Sporty, Claudia is Scary, and Jensen is Baby.”
While he was talking, Brenda, Naomi, and Claudia started to drift away, which made sense, since they all knew this already.
He got the impression that Claudia preferred watching Zeus interact from afar.
She was headed in Jennifer and Ashley’s direction, both of who were openly watching Zeus and Noelle.
Naomi went to join her husband in the dining room, and Brenda made off to the kitchen.
“So, we’re trying out random spices on Zeus until we find one that fits,” Mason chimed in, and was rewarded with a delighted smile and laugh from Audrey. The sound of her laughter made him feel strangely warm inside, especially knowing that he was the reason for it.
Dammit.
He shouldn’t be feeling this way.
He should move away from her.
But that would look rude to Zeus, and he was trying to help Zeus become more a part of the team.
“Why not call him Sexy? Or Spicy?” Noelle suggested, giggling as she leaned into Zeus’ side. This time, he didn’t bother to hide his amusement as he looked down at her.
“I’m okay with never hearing David call me Sexy, actually.”
That made David crack up, which was good.
Mason didn’t hold back his laughter, either.
Where he and David led, the others would eventually follow.
Seeing them laughing at something Zeus said could only help the cause.
It didn’t surprise him when he took a quick glance around the space at everyone else, and Lincoln caught his eye and gave him an approving nod.
“Well, I’ll just have to call you that then,” Noelle said, but there was a little edge to her tone which had Mason eyeing her. Zeus didn’t seem to notice. Then again, he was a lot harder to read than most people.
“There was someone else on the team before—I’m blanking on her name right now, Abbey or something—why can’t Zeus use her call sign?” Audrey asked. “Or something like it.”
“No, everyone gets their own call sign. Besides…” Mason glanced at David. He wasn’t sure how much David wanted to reveal about his other life to his sister. Did she know? Would she understand? “Well, there are other reasons for the names, but they’re kind of private.”
As in, the nicknames actually came from the submissives at the BDSM club who had dubbed their group the Spice Doms and given them the names that they’d used for their call signs.
Abigail, their former IT person who was now with the NSA, had never been part of the kink scene with them.
Though they’d irreverently called her Smarty, which meant that she’d fit in with the general theme.
“I thought the subs at the club called you the Spice Doms and that’s why you have girl names,” Noelle said, her brow furrowing as she looked between Zeus, David, and Mason. “Did I hear wrong?”
“Subs?” Audrey asked, her gaze darting between all of them. Fuck. “Club?”
David tilted his head up toward the ceiling, and Mason got the impression he was doing his best not to glare at Noelle.
Because he wouldn’t want to glare at a submissive, even one who had just outed him to his sister.
It wasn’t like she’d done it on purpose.
She was apparently just terrible at reading the room.
“Oh… was I not supposed to say that?” Innocence dripped from Noelle’s voice as her eyes went wide. She put her hand up in front of her lips. “I’m so sorry, I assumed everyone… well…” She waved her hand around as if that provided her full explanation.
Zeus’ grip tightened around her shoulders as David’s head dropped down to look at her in disbelief.
“Hey, Noelle, let’s go get something to eat.
And drink. And then we can have a real quick conversation about privacy and what ‘private’ means,” Zeus said grimly, moving her along before David could snap at her.
The fact that Noelle immediately began protesting as he moved her didn’t stop him, but it also didn’t bode well for the relationship.
A girlfriend who couldn’t keep her mouth shut or read the room wasn’t going to be a good match for any of them.
Silence fell in their little corner as Audrey looked between him, David, and Cassidy.
“So, um… subs? I’m assuming she doesn’t mean a kind of boat or a sandwich. Or a teacher.”
Well, great. Exactly the conversation he didn’t want to have with a woman his brain was all too eager to fantasize about. That was exactly how his day was going.