4. What Are Friends For?
What Are Friends For?
Q
He was in the middle of working through some of the code behind Glorg the Destroyer’s dialogue when his phone buzzed.
Glancing down at the screen, it was his friend, Angel.
Crap. He’d meant to text her last night when he got out of the class to let her know how it went.
She was the reason he’d ended up at Stronghold in the first place.
They’d been friends for a long time and after she’d met her Dom and now husband, Adam, Q had finally gotten up the courage to ask her about the club.
She’d been thrilled to get him in touch with Patrick, the owner of Stronghold and one of the three owners of Marquis, and get him started on his membership. She was also a relentless busybody and likely brimming with impatience to hear about his first class as a sub.
Opening the message, he wished he could have placed a bet on that. He was one hundred percent right.
Angel: I have been waiting patiently ALL NIGHT AND ALL MORNING and I get nothing from you! Nothing! Proof of life, NOW!
Q chuckled, shaking his head.
Q: Some of us have real jobs, Angel.
His phone buzzed almost immediately.
Angel: Which is why you should have texted me last night. Suck it up, buttercup. And don’t blame me just because you weren’t smart enough to get a job with a flexible schedule.
Q: I’ll show you flexible.
Angel: And I’ll show Adam my texts if you don’t start spilling deets! I’m home alone with a toddler, Q. I need to live vicariously through someone. Take pity on me.
Q: Send the toll.
He wasn’t actually worried about her showing Adam their texts.
It was an empty threat, and they both knew it.
First of all, Adam wouldn’t care. Adam was used to Angel’s banter, especially with her close friends.
He was completely secure in his relationship with Angel and knew there was nothing between her and Q—even though at one time, Q had wished there would be.
Second of all, she was probably going to tell Adam about this entire exchange later, anyway.
He wouldn’t be surprised if she read the texts aloud to him, mocking Q the entire time.
This time when the text message sounded, Q grinned before he opened it, knowing what he would see.
Baby Melody, Angel and Adam’s daughter, grinning at the camera.
She was the cutest little thing, happy to be standing and climbing on things, though she didn’t appear particularly interested in walking just yet.
She was content being carried around—and no wonder when there was never any shortage of volunteers.
Q was usually at the head of the line.
Q: Damn she gets cuter every day.
Angel: Toll paid, now spill!
Laughing, Q glanced at the clock. It was close enough to lunch time and would be easier to talk on the phone than texting for this conversation.
Saving his work, he pushed his chair away from his desk and got up to close his door.
Not that many people walked in unannounced, but still.
He wanted the warning knock that someone was there.
Picking his phone up, he dialed Angel’s contact and wasn’t the least bit surprised when she picked up before the first ring was barely over.
“Tell me everything!”
“Do you have a point where you wanted me to start at?” he asked dryly, laughing.
“Yes, skip over everyone else and tell me about Sam. Was it weird? Did you two talk at all? Did you find out what happened? Do you think it’s going to be awkward?”
Shaking his head, Q sat and leaned back in his chair as he told Angel about the evening.
He didn’t bother going into all the others in the class.
She would probably be interested later, but right now, she was focused on him and Sam.
He’d learned telling Angel everything she wanted to know usually led to some pretty good insights.
It didn’t take long for him to work his way through the entire evening, including talking with Sam at the bar.
“Oooh, poor thing. It sounds like she was embarrassed,” Angel said sympathetically.
“Yeah, she seems okay now, though.”
“Does she?” Angel sounded a little dubious. “She’s pretty standoffish. Not that it’s always a bad thing. Some people just don’t like others getting too close, but she struck me as someone who wants to make friends but doesn’t really know how to.”
“Is that why you helped her Post-it note my car?” Q asked dryly.
“If I was to do such a thing, and I’m not saying that I did, it would probably be because I was trying to make friends with someone.”
As far as Q knew, Angel had never had any trouble making friends with anyone. When she wanted a new friend, she made one. She was like a friendship octopus, but it sounded like Sam had escaped her tentacles.
“I can’t believe you didn’t pull her into your group.” Angel had a whole group of close friends at Stronghold who spent time together, both in and out of the club.
“I don’t think she’s much of a group person. Even with Lexie and I both trying to bring her into the fold, she was never comfortable. You can’t make someone be your friend.”
True enough. He could see it. Sam had been standoffish in high school as well.
Now he knew why. She had been focused on her studies to the exclusion of all else.
Something he could sympathize with, even if he hadn’t experienced it himself.
Angel’s group of friends could be overwhelming.
They were a big group and most of them were pretty loud.
Yeah, he could see where Sam would be hesitant to be pulled into all that. It would be a lot.
“I’m surprised you didn’t try to drag her in, anyway.” That would be far truer to Angel’s M.O.
“I’m a little busier than I used to be.” She sighed.
Yeah, motherhood had changed her. Not a ton, but enough that she didn’t have the time for everything she used to do, and her priorities had definitely shifted.
She was a damn good mom, though, and Q had a feeling she and Adam would be adding to their family before long.
Which would probably mean more changes and even less time for her to seek out new friends.
Well, that was okay. He was making friends with Sam and would bring her along to the things he went to.
Which reminded him of the other person who had been trying to make friends with Sam. He was about to ask Angel what she knew about Noelle when he heard the sound of a baby’s wail.
“Hey, little fussy thing, did you fall down? I gotta go, Q, I’ll talk to you later. Keep me updated!”
“Will do,” was all he got out before the phone hung up.
Yeah, things had changed, but that was okay. He’d get her opinion later. Right now, he needed to get some lunch, then get back to work.
Sam
“You did great today, Ryan, high five,” Sam said, showing the little boy out of her therapy room. He was grinning widely as he slapped his palm against hers. “Good progress.”
Ryan was a good kid who’d been injured in a car accident last year, which had caused him some delays in motor development. It was something they’d been working on for a few months now, and he was getting much better at his fine motor skills.
“Thanks, Sam!”
“Thank you, Sam,” his mother echoed as she walked past, a tired but warm smile on her lips.
“Of course,” she said, giving them a wave. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rose, the office manager, watching from down the hall before disappearing. Sam sighed inwardly.
For some reason she and Rose had never hit it off.
Maybe because while Rose was not an OT, she’d been working in the practice long enough, she thought she knew more than some of the people who actually were OTs.
While Sam didn’t want to put on airs or cause trouble, she wasn’t going to do what Rose said just to keep the peace.
She also didn’t want to rock the boat too much because she needed this job.
I need a raise is what I need.
A raise that wouldn’t be coming this year.
Sam pressed her lips together and turned to go back into her room.
She’d already asked for an end-of-year raise and been told it wasn’t practical for this year, but that she should be getting one next year.
Unfortunately, the cost of living still went up every year, even if her income didn’t.
She was coming to a point where she was either going to need to get a second job, ask her dad for help, or start cutting expenses.
Unfortunately, the first thing that would get cut would be Stronghold and Marquis.
Even though she had a discounted membership right now because she was helping out with the sub class—which had been part of her reason for signing up—that wouldn’t last forever.
Sure, she could keep volunteering for things at the club, but that was like taking on a second job that only got her one thing. Still might be worth it.
Some people would find it laughable that she was so reluctant to cut a membership to a sex club out of her life, but it wasn’t as though she spent money on anything else for fun.
She’d already cut out pretty much all of her entertainment expenses, but she knew from her childhood that some people expected poor people to live without anything that fed their soul.
It was so easy to say, ‘of course, just cut out television, a phone plan, a club membership’ when you weren’t the one having to do it. She’d heard all sorts of advice throughout her life.
The ‘get a second job’ was another one of those well-meaning tidbits. As if it was that easy to work another job into her day. Her current job was already physically and emotionally draining. Adding something else on top of it…
Dammit.
“Just move.” That was another goodie. Just move to somewhere with a lower cost of living. Because of course, moving didn’t cost money. Not to mention leaving everything she knew behind.
How had her dad done it? He’d worked two jobs, raised a daughter by himself, and he’d never lost the smile on his face.
Logically, she knew there must have been times he’d felt like this, but she’d never witnessed it.
And she really didn’t want to ask him for help now.
After everything he’d done, he deserved to spend his money on him.
If he was rolling in it, it might be different, but he had enough to keep him comfortable and go on a few vacations—which was all she really wanted.
It shouldn’t be this damn hard.
What I wouldn’t do to win the lottery…
Of course, she had to play to win. More money.
Her phone buzzing with a text message was a welcome distraction. Sam’s eyebrows rose at the message, which was from Noelle.
Noelle: Hey, girl! Want to go to Stronghold with me this Saturday?
Sam smiled, some of the tension in her chest relaxing. She’d never gone to Stronghold with anyone other than Morgan.
Sam: Sure, sounds good! What time did you want to get there?
After a moment she sent a second text, because now Morgan was on her mind.
Sam: Do you mind if I invite my friend Morgan, too? Or we can keep it just us. She didn’t want to step on Noelle’s toes, but the idea having a little group to hang out with really appealed. Other people went and hung out at Stronghold in groups.
Man, she really did not want to give up her membership. Maybe when she was there, she could talk to Patrick or someone about getting a paid job that would also cover membership fees. Whether that was something they did, she had no idea, but she could at least ask.
Her phone buzzed again.
Noelle: Please do. I’d love to meet Morgan!
A few minutes later, Sam had confirmation from Morgan that she would be there. And there it was. Sam was getting together with friends on the weekend. She couldn’t remember the last time she could say that.
No, leaving Stronghold wasn’t an option. She would just have to find some way to make it work.
Glancing at the clock, she saw that she had about ten more minutes before her next appointment. If she was really quick, she could type up her notes and maybe start looking at some job sites.