Chapter 2 Tilly #2
I shake my head, trying to pace myself. These girls, the cousins and my soon-to-be sisters-in-law, sure can toss the drinks back without seeming to be affected by them. “I better slow down a little,” I say, slurring the last word a bit before breaking out into a fit of giggles.
“She’s cut off,” Izzy, whom I’ve realized is bossier than Daphne, says and shakes her fingers. “We can’t get her drunk.”
“Thank fuck you have a late wedding.” Delilah lifts her glass to her lips and stares at me from across the table. “I’d hate to be up at the ass-crack of dawn to get my hair done.”
I laugh at the word ass-crack, and I know I’m half in the bag. Liquor doesn’t usually have this much of an effect on me, but I hadn’t eaten much today, trying to fit into my already tight wedding gown tomorrow.
“What’s so funny?” Delilah stares at me, moving her glass around the tabletop in small little circles.
“You said ass-crack,” I blurt out before laughing louder, even snorting a little.
“I agree. She’s cut off,” Mia says quickly. “Let her sober up a little before you order her another one.”
I roll my eyes. “Is there a Gallo who isn’t bossy?”
“Nope,” Angel replies. “They’re all a pain in the ass, especially the men.”
Max swats Angel on the arm with the back of her hand. “Girl, Thomas is a walk in the park compared to Anthony.”
“I win the award for most controlling husband.” Izzy lifts her hands in the air and points down at herself. “Your men are all a walk in the park.”
Suzy, the cute perky blonde, gawks at Izzy. “You think Joe’s easy?” She laughs loudly and slaps the table. “Oh, James, spank me,” she teases, leaning forward and wiggling her ass a little bit for effect.
Izzy shakes her head. “That’s not how I say it, and you know it.”
Suzy clears her throat. “You’re right. It’s more like ‘Spank me, Sir.’” Then she pauses as Izzy stares at her over the rim of her martini glass. “Do you use Sir or Master?”
I raise my eyebrows. This is an interesting turn of events, and suddenly my laughter dies and I’m pulled into their conversation.
“It depends on my mood.” Izzy shrugs.
“Bullshit,” Max coughs and covers her mouth, hiding her amusement.
Izzy places her glass on the table, letting her hand slide down the stem. “What’s bullshit?”
“It depends on what he allows you to call him,” Max says with a crooked smirk.
“Oh.” Bianca suddenly becomes interested in the conversation and turns toward Izzy. “He’s a Dom?”
“You know about the lifestyle?”
Bianca waves. “Romance writer and I thoroughly research my books. Thoroughly,” she repeats with a huskier voice. “I know all about the lifestyle or, at least, as much as I can read about it.”
“Ever been to a club, kid?” Izzy asks.
Bianca shakes her head. “No, but I’ve done a lot of reading.”
“They’re hot,” Suzy says, surprising me because she seems too innocent to even know what the hell they’re talking about.
“You’ve been?” I ask, and my mouth suddenly feels drier than the desert.
Suzy nods as a blush creeps into her cheeks, clearly visible in the shitty lighting because her skin is so pale.
“Chicago has one of the best clubs,” Izzy tells Bianca. “If you ever want to do research the right way, I can get you in.”
Bianca swallows hard and places her hand on her chest. “You could do that?”
Izzy nods. “I know the owner pretty well. James has been his friend for years.”
“Vinnie wouldn’t like that too much,” Bianca says and blows out a harsh breath.
“Bring him. He’ll like it plenty.” Izzy laughs. “We all have a bit of voyeur in us.”
“Those clubs are real?” I ask Izzy, figuring they were made up, much like most things in fiction.
“They sure as fuck are.”
I can’t imagine having sex with Angelo in public. Nor can I imagine watching other people have sex as we watched them. I’m not a complete prude, Angelo makes sure of that, but that doesn’t mean I want to share my goods with the world.
“Huh,” I mumble.
“I’ll give you ladies a choice.” She scoots her chair closer to the table, closing the space between us. “We can go to the strip show or the club. Which is it?”
Mia sways backward. “You can get us in? I mean, Mike would fucking have my head.”
“They have a viewing room on the second level. You can’t interact with anyone, but you can watch what happens in the common areas.”
I’m suddenly speechless. I didn’t want to do the whole stripper thing, but not because I was worried about Angelo.
He trusts me, and I trust him implicitly.
But the thought of going somewhere like a sex club, where people may openly be having sex might be stepping over the line.
The man is easygoing, but everyone has their breaking point.
“Club,” Suzy blurts out.
“Strippers,” Max says.
“Club.” Bianca nods with a wink at Suzy.
“Club,” Mia votes.
“Neither,” I say, which earns me a groan and a few straws thrown in my direction followed by the words “party pooper.”
We go around the table until it’s left up to Izzy to make the final call. Izzy rubs the back of her neck and doesn’t speak for a moment. “God, this decision is so hard. The club is more private.”
I don’t know why that makes me giggle. What’s private about a sex club? Her words strike me as odd, and my laughter earns me a look so serious, I instantly sober up.
“I’d have the room cleared so no one else but us would be there. We wouldn’t have to worry about anyone bothering us.” She taps her fingernail against her lip and glances up at the ceiling. “Strippers can be fun, though, too, but they’re so touchy sometimes.”
“No one’s touching me.” Suzy winces. “All those sweaty bodies. Blech.”
“I’m with Suzy,” I say, because the last thing I want is a man sweating all over me, especially if he’s not Angelo. “I told you, no strippers.”
Daphne laughs and waves me off. “Fine, it’s settled, then. We’ll go to the club. Just please say they serve drinks and I have a chance at seeing dick.”
Izzy pulls her phone out of her pocket and stares Daphne right in the eye. “Girl, you’re going to see more than dick. Just you wait.”
I’m suddenly more nervous than I was before the girls arrived. I wanted a quiet night out. An evening with the girls, a few drinks, and nothing more. I never thought the night would turn out this way, and I only pray Angelo won’t throw a shit fit when he finds out.
“I’ll call Slate and get everything set,” Izzy says as she types away on her phone.
“Slate?” I ask. “Is that really his name?” My giggles are back, and the martini I polished off a few minutes ago is finally starting to kick in.
“Fuck if I know.” She shrugs. “It’s what we call him, though. He’s hot as fuck too.”
“James will murder you,” Angel warns.
“Oh. James can go fuck himself.”
There’s a collective gasp around the table. Even I make the noise, and I’ve never even met the man.
“If I’m lucky, I might get an ass-beating tonight.
” Izzy laughs softly as she continues typing on the small screen.
When no one says anything, she looks up.
“What?” she asks with her eyebrows drawn down.
“Don’t knock it until you try it.” She pitches her thumb toward Suzy.
“This little princess likes her ass spanked too. I know how crazy y’all are in the bedroom, so don’t even pretend to act otherwise. ”
There’s laughter around the table, myself included, but I don’t know why I’m joining in. I would never call my sex life freaky. It’s perfect in every way, but there’s nothing about it that makes me think we’re doing anything outside the norm.
“Slate?” Izzy says into the phone and covers her other ear with her hand because Gavin’s is loud, almost too loud to hear one another over the music. “It’s Izzy Caldo, James’s wife.” She excuses herself, rushing toward the front door and leaving us behind.
“So, we’re doing this?” I ask, swallowing the fear of the unknown.
“It’ll be fun,” Bianca says and downs the last of her water. “Just relax. What could possibly go wrong?”