Chapter 7
SEVEN
SLONE
“Ineed better friends,” I said when Ewen was still laughing an hour later as we walked into Cam and Priest’s loft at EDGE.
“What has him braying like a fucking donkey?” Cam asked me, pulling me into a hug, since Ewen was red-faced and gasping for air.
“He’s a fucking asshole,” I said with a sigh, knowing I would become the butt of this weekend’s jokes in the next few moments.
“How’s that different from any other day that ends in a ‘y’?” Cam asked with a laugh.
Ewen pointed at me and said, “I think our morose boy has found some happy juice.”
“I fucking hate you,” I told my best friend as I moved into the open-concept living area.
Priest and Bauer stood at the kitchen island.
Priest’s arm snaked around Bauer’s waist, his face tucked into Bauer’s neck while Bauer attempted to uncover platters of Mexican food.
Asher, Bauer’s fraternal twin, stood near the table, setting out plates and flatware.
Pitchers of margaritas and buckets of Corona on ice sat on the island between Bauer and Alex Svartstrom.
Hawk, Alex’s service dog, lay at his feet, watching the door, his ears and nose twitching.
Seeing so many of the people I knew, loved, and trusted in one space felt good. The tight band wound so tightly around my chest I felt trapped and stifled, loosened.
“Who do we hate today?” Priest asked.
“Who else?” I said, gripping Sasha’s shoulder before motioning to Hawk and asking, “Can I?”
“I see how it is. You say hi to the dog first.”
I laughed. “Poor baby. Are people not adoring you enough?”
“They are not. I am the last to receive any love. Aiden, Hawk, and then I.”
My arms wrapped around him—while everyone else called him Sasha, they were hockey fans; I wasn’t or hadn’t been, so I still called him Alex because that’s how he first introduced himself—and I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Hello, Alex. We miss you in Minnesota.”
“Get off me, you fucker!” he yelled, pushing me away with a laugh.
I dropped to my knees and greeted Hawk with pets. “Hello, good boy. We miss you up north, too,” I said, but Hawk’s only response included a put-upon huff and some jumpy eyebrows. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, the big baby. Just pissy because Aiden left. As if Aiden isn’t always leaving for a game or some reason or another,” Alex said to me, but when Hawk whined, he said, “Yes, I’m talking about you. The boy will be back tonight.”
I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.
Ewen, who was still chuckling while also trying to shove veggies and hummus in his fat fucking mouth, said, “Oh! So, he and Slone will get along fine. Slone is also pining for a boy half his age.”
The whole crew fucking snorted. “I amend my earlier statement. I don’t just hate him. I fucking hate all you fuckers.”
Cam’s arm went around my neck, and he said, “No, you don’t. You love us. Now, tell us, what does Ewen mean you’re pining?”
“Yeah!” Priest said, finally pulling his face out of Bauer’s neck to rest his chin on Bauer’s shoulder. “We were all fucking worried you were depressed.”
Bauer used two fingers to push Priest’s head off his shoulder, then turned and glowered at him.
Alex’s face dropped into his hand as he groaned. “Thank fuck I didn’t know you assholes when I took a puck to the head. I probably wouldn’t’ve survived the soul-sucking depression if I had.”
I clapped Alex on the shoulder. “They’re assholes, but they mean well. Priest has no filter.”
“So, you’re not depressed? You just need to get laid?”
“Oh my God. You know what, I take back what I just said,” I laughed, “Every one of you sucks. You know that?”
Bauer snorted. “Accurate! And I can confirm all present and give references for two out of the five.”
Sweet baby Jesus. “You are unhinged. All of you. You know this, yes?” I said, and they all bobbed their heads with stupid grins splashed across their idiot faces.
The laughter continued throughout the day as I realized this was something I had missed.
Just Ewen and I sitting around with our buddies shooting the shit, laughing, poking fun at each other, and telling war stories.
Although we kept those as watered down as possible since the Holt twins and Sasha had never served.
What a bunch of recon Marines found funny scared civilians to death.
We were a strange group. The twins met Priest and Cam while the four of us were working for Jackson Holt, the twins’ cousin.
Jackson’s music star girlfriend had a stalker that targeted Katie, Jackson, and both their families, so Priest, Cam, Ewen, and I provided security until the situation settled.
That whole situation was messed up, and I’m glad that part of my life is over.
Aiden and Sasha got folded into the group when they were in Manchester—Aiden at The U on the hockey team and Sasha as his coach.
Despite the university policy forbidding their relationship, they’d promptly fallen in love.
When Aiden was given the chance to join the professional team in Nashville, Sasha resigned and followed his boy south. I didn’t blame him.
Our friend group gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘What a tangled web we weave.’ But we were family, and none of us would have it any other way.
As we continued eating, drinking, and getting even merrier, three phones buzzed where they lay face down on the dining table. Bauer, Priest, and Cam looked at one another and sighed.
“Everything okay?” I asked before realizing it was none of my business.
Bauer checked his phone with a sigh that turned into a soft smile. “It’s fine. Gavin’s just letting us know he really likes Aiden’s friends who are visiting.”
Ewen snorted, and I punched him in his fucking arm. “Shut it. Don’t start that shit again.”
“After nearly twenty years, you should know that telling me not to do something is a sure-fire way to make it happen. So, that means you actually don’t want me to shut it, and you do want me to start that shit again,” Ewen said with a grin.
“You’re a rat bastard,” I said, hating him so much.
“I’m aware, but that doesn’t negate the fact that you’re smitten. Full on, blushing like a schoolgirl with her first crush, smitten.”
The plate in front of me became the most interesting object on the face of the planet.
I stared at it as if the secrets of the world and the answers to every social problem from world hunger to the healthcare crisis to the end of persistent poverty could be found nestled amongst tortillas, carnitas, elote, barbacoa, and pickled red cabbage.
“Oh, fuck!” Priest guffawed, snorting. “He’s right. You’re actually fucking blushing.”
I groaned, covering the back of my head to bury my face from view. “I reiterate. I need better friends.”
They laughed because, of course, they did. I would’ve too if the tables were turned.
“So…” Priest began, still snorting behind the beer bottle poised for a drink, “who is this man that’s dropped one of our founding Doms to his knees?”
Ewen snorted. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“And you will not tell a fucking soul.” I glared at him in warning.
Pinched fingers dragged across his lips as Ewen mimicked zipping his lips.
The gesture was nice, but it wouldn’t last. Especially not after the game when all of us ended up at the same place.
No way would we keep the hockey players dating my friends separated from their partners. Not that I wanted that, and I wanted…
“I’m shit at tiptoeing around shit. What’s going on with you, Slone? Why’s Ewen freaking the fuck out?”
Rubbing my forehead against the heel of my palm, I sighed. “I’m just outta sorts, guys. I wouldn’t say I’m depressed. I feel…stuck, like I’m swimming against the riptide.”
“Like nothing is bad, but nothing is great either, and no changes in sight?” Alex asked, lifting his beer to his lips.
Lips pressed together, I nodded.
Bauer cleared his throat, his gaze focused on his fingers tracing invisible designs on the tabletop. “It’s not my place—”
Several of them protested, interrupting him, and I said, “No, say your piece. I would if the tables were turned.”
He smiled, but his gaze never lifted, and his finger never quit moving. “When was the last time you didn’t feel this way?”
A slide deck of images flashed through my mind, each featuring the guys I served with, some before I separated from the Corps and some after, but the ones after were fewer and grew further apart the closer to the present they got.
Head cocked to stare at the ceiling, lips rolled into my mouth, biting down and locking my jaw in an effort to keep the truth from escaping. But these guys—Cam, Priest, and Ewen—knew me too fucking well.
“Holy fuck!” they all whispered.
The weight of their eyes bored into me.
“Tell me it’s not the Marines. That was—” Ewen started.
His voice cut out when Cam spoke over him, “Fucking years ago.”
“And you separated on your own.”
“What was I going to do? Keep serving with strangers watching my six? Fuck that. Besides, it’s not that I’ve been depressed or struggling since I walked away. I’ve not. I think it’s more that I want…more. Having a kink club full of subs is nice. But…”
Every head around the table nodded, but none as emphatically as Alex, Cam, and Priest. They were tops, Doms, Daddies who were partnered up.
“And in the veritable sea of boys and subs at EDGE in Manchester, there’s no one that you want for longer than…” Asher asked, trailing off at the end.
As if I’d been transported to Times Square and was surrounded by billboards, Trey was suddenly everywhere. But he wasn’t in the lifestyle. So, I said, “No. There’s no one at the club.”
“What about…?” Ewen asked.
I closed my eyes and shook my head.
“Right!” Asher yelled, snapping his fingers, and when I opened my eyes, he pointed at me, and I had the rapt attention of six Doms pointed right at me.
Turning to Ewen, my patience finally worn thin enough to snap. “You just couldn’t keep your trap shut, could you?”