Chapter Eight
K yle-fucking-Vander-something. I can’t, for the life of me, remember his last name—but it perfectly matches his arrogant, uptight, asshole vibe. Easily the worst person I’ve ever dated.
It has been nearly a year of bliss since he and I spent an evening together. There have been encounters like this with guys in the past. The majority of them have been exchanging a few pleasant words or glances, but nothing more.
Harmless.
Kyle, on the other hand, is not so harmless.
After an hour of sitting down at the restaurant, this guy decides to bring up all his exes, describing how horrible they were and has the audacity to throw into the conversation mix how he met some guy on a cruise ship and fell in love with him sharing some undeniable connection-makes me wonder what the running time is with each guy before me and who currently holds the record for longest time?
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your date?” Kyle said, walking from behind me to between Leo and myself.
What the hell is Kyle doing?
Does he need to do this and cause some sort of scene? It’s not like I skipped out on our date or never called him back. I did the respectable thing, telling him over a call the following day it simply wasn’t going to work.
This is the same guy who decided to take it upon himself and create a Facebook page all about awful men he’d been on dates with and how they treated him. In a way, it was like a social media dating burn book—my name was part of the list for a short period of time before Facebook admins caught wind of it and took the page down—saved me the time and effort if I decided to report it—but I didn’t care enough.
“I’d rather not and ask you to kindly leave us be. There’s no need for this exchange,” I tell him, in a soft, stern voice.
His eyes narrowed to fiery slits, his head cocked to the side in an etched disbelief attempting to keep calm from what I had just said.
Ignoring my request, he turns to Leo, “Since your date is being rude and not introducing us, I’m Kyle,” he said, offering his hand, “and you are?”
Leo shifted focus from me to Kyle taking his hand into his own, “I’m Leo.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Leo. Here’s some friendly advice...I suggest you get up and leave right now. When it comes to Drew here,” Kyle lingers, “it’s better to be the one to end things first before he does. Hurts much less.”
Kyle turned his head slightly, locking eyes with me.
Like I said, a fucking asshole.
“Thank you for the advice.” Leo responds, ”Now, let me give you some of mine.”
Leo tightens his grip with Kyle.
“Ow, you’re squeezing my hand too tight, buddy,” Kyle says, in a bit of a panic.
“Drew here was polite enough to ask you to leave. Apparently, you don’t listen to people all that well,” Leo says, in a demanding breath.
Jesus.
The way Leo’s handling Kyle right now is turning me on a bit. Every muscle visible is tense, saying everything that needs to be said just by his grip and still remaining collected across his face.
“Bro, you're hurting my hand. Can you please let go?” Kyle insistently says while trying to break free from Leo.
There is a brief pause as Leo withdraws his hand from their handshake, still transfixed on him. Kyle massages his own hand, keeping it close to his chest, just out of reach.
“What’s it going to be?” Leo pushes.
Kyle looked back at me, raising an eyebrow. He then looks back at Leo, “You’re a fucking lunatic,” he said to Leo,”and your a fucking loser,” he screamed at me, before stammering off to the entrance, still holding his hand close, babying it as though Leo really did some damage to it.
Where in the actual fuck was that coming from Leo?
Did Master Leo, the enigmatic owner of Wonderland Dungeon, just make a brief appearance? It was...breathtaking. The way he stood up to Kyle—calm, commanding, and utterly unshaken—asserting his authority without uttering a single “you need to leave,”—it was the most intoxicating display of power I’d ever seen.
Is this how he’ll be if I submit to him?
My date shifted awkwardly in his seat, turning to face me again as he smoothed his shirt. A flicker of uncertainty passed over Leo’s features, a rare and almost endearing contrast to his earlier dominance.
“I’m sorry you had to see that. Not exactly attractive when using physical force,” he said.
“No need to apologize. If you hadn’t, Kyle would still be standing here causing more issues,” I quickly say.
“You sure? I haven’t ruined our first date?”
“You made it better.”
A faint grin appeared, signaling that Leo’s demeanor returned back to normal, including our date, without any further disruptions.
“I have to ask, what was that?” I said.
Leo took a small sip from his glass of water.
“That was me protecting you,” he answered.
“Protecting?”
His eyes darted away and cheeks flushed with a tinge of pink. It was clear he had revealed more than he intended, unsure of what to say next.
“Yeah. This is our first date and Kyle was going to ruin it. Plus, it seemed like he was upsetting you.”
“I had the same thought of Kyle ruining our first date and yes, it was upsetting me a bit,” I repeated.
“And I don’t like seeing you upset,” Leo added.
“You’ve never seen me upset before,” I said.
“Let’s not ever make it happen again.”
My stomach started to flutter. I felt a surge of excitement after hearing Leo say that. What is this man doing to me?
“By the way, I don’t think Kyle officially ruined our date. I consider it like a minor bump in the road we never bring up,” I tell him.
“Agreed,” Leo confirms.
What I appreciate about this situation is that he’s not asking or demanding an explanation or any details of my history with Kyle; he’s securely content moving forward.
“What do you want to talk about?” I said, changing the subject.
“Can we talk about how handsome you are?” Leo playfully suggests.
“Maybe another time.”
Leo snaps his fingers with exaggerated flair, the sarcasm dripping from the sharp motion like honey laced with venom.
“Well I guess you’re going to have to keep talking about yourself.”
“Can’t we just talk about the playroom instead?” I said, avoiding any other explanation of myself.
“Oh!”
Leo straightened in his chair, his surprise evident. I couldn’t understand why he’d think I wouldn’t want to talk about the playroom. Did he really think I’d shy away from it?
“Unless this isn’t the time and place to ask those kinds of questions?” I followed up.
“You’re interested then?”
“I have questions,” I said, in a flirty smile.
“Understandable,” Leo murmured, his voice low, “But this hardly seems like the right time and place to ask.”
Peering past Leo, he certainly was right. Though no one was eavesdropping on our conversation, the potential opportunity of overhearing was still there by our waitress. If she happens to walk up at the wrong time listening to all the dirty things Leo would want to do to me, she’d probably request another server to continue to wait on us.
“Then let’s find a place and make the time,” I sternly told him in a flirty voice.
Leo had this look of confusion.
“Do you not want to have dinner with me? I’m trying to understand where you are going with this.”
“Leo, I’ve endured countless dinner dates filled with dull conversations and unmemorable men. But you...you have ignited something in me. My heart races and my mind can’t help but wonder more. You intrigue me in ways that no one else has, and for reasons I can’t explain. It’s both exhilarating and terrifying, the pull you have over me.”
He stared back at me with unblinking eyes and a blank expression, giving nothing away. My words seemed to disappear into the void between us, like trying to decipher a code with no key.
“So, yes I am interested in you, but I’d rather have a date with you under a different setting. Maybe I could cook for you or we could even order take out,” I added.
Leo’s demeanor softened, a flicker of comprehension crossing his face.
“You know,” he said, his voice softer than before, “It’s such a turn on when a guy is completely honest with me.”
He reached out across the table and gently took my hand, grazing his fingertips sending a jolt of electricity through me.
“A typical dinner date setting can be so...vanilla.”
A playful smile tugged at the corners of my lips.
It was just such a relief to hear Leo understanding where I was coming from. Something about this moment made our date transition from traditional to something more of a genuine connection, more than I’ve ever come to know with any guy.
Leo’s gaze shifted into an unwavering look.
“Wanted to check in with you two,” our waitress said, popping over to our table.
“Actually,” he paused, taking a moment to change eye direction from me to her, “Something just came up and we need to leave. Can we get the bill?”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I can get your bill. Your meals are nearly ready, did you want me to wrap them up to take with you?”
“That’s fine,” I told her.
Leo reached into his front jean pocket, pulling out a brown leather wallet and his credit card soon after.
“I will be right back with everything,” she said, in an urgent tone.
True to her word, she returned quickly with our food packed in to-go bags and the bill paid; Leo left her a generous tip in what I assume was for wasting her time.
“Are you sure you want to skip out on this dinner date with me?” Leo probed, as if trying to read my thoughts, making sure this is what I wanted to do.
“Do you think I shouldn’t?” I responded.
“I think you should do what feels right and comfortable to you. I’m not going to make you do something you do not want to do.”
And then it hit me.
How could I not notice it before?
The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, Leo is building trust with me.
Between a dom and sub, the foundation between the two is ultimate trust. He’s been following my lead this entire time. And when Kyle came around, he became protective knowing that he could disrupt the connection growing between us.
How had I not realized what was going on?
It’s crazy to think that this man before me was merely demonstrating to me what it could look like in and out of the playroom emotionally.
“I’m sure,” I tell him.
The blonde-haired man winked at me and casually stood up from his chair, collecting our to-go items while I got up myself then followed behind me back to his car.
I clench my teeth, pressing my lip between them as felt flushed. A small rush of heat washed over me as I anticipated what was about to happen next.