11. Looking Good
Looking Good
Sam
Master Brian’s house was really nice. Damn.
Maybe Sam should have tried to find a roommate instead of living in a studio, but she liked her privacy.
She also hadn’t liked the idea of living with a stranger.
Morgan had lucked out, needing a new place to live right when Brian needed a roommate.
She bet he would be pretty easy to live with, even if he was a Dom.
Though when she thought about living with him herself, she immediately rejected the notion. Nope.
Living with a roommate in college had sucked. Not because her roommate had, but because Sam had needed her own space to decompress and hang out. She never wanted to share a bedroom, much less a communal space, ever again until she was in a romantic relationship, and they agreed to live together.
Even then, she was probably going to want somewhere in the space to call her own.
“Wow, this room is huge.” Noelle looked around Morgan’s new bedroom, echoing Sam’s thoughts. Even though they’d brought Morgan’s bed, dresser, vanity, and all her boxes into the room, there was still a lot of space leftover. Morgan looked nervous but excited. “I need to find myself a Sugar Daddy.”
Sam bristled, but Morgan spoke before she could muster a response, and unlike Sam she didn’t appear bothered by Noelle’s assumption.
“Oh, no, Master Brian is a Daddy Dom, not a Sugar Daddy, totally different.” Morgan frowned, putting her hands on her hips and turning in a slow circle. “Though, now that I’m here, I do think he might be undercharging me for rent.”
“What’s the difference?” Noelle asked, sounding honestly confused, which helped unruffle Sam’s feathers. Noelle didn’t know and probably wasn’t the first person to be confused by the difference.
“Sugar daddies pay for everything and expect sexual favors in return... I think.” Morgan glanced at Sam, who shrugged.
It wasn’t like she knew anything about sugar daddies, but as far as she knew, Morgan had it right.
“Daddy Doms… well, sometimes they do age play, sometimes they just like to be called Daddy, but they all tend to be caregivers. Like service Doms, but in a slightly different way. It’s not really my kink. ”
“Huh.” Noelle didn’t seem convinced. “So… he’ll still be charging you rent and stuff?”
“Yeah. I should probably get my vanity sent up first, so I can get back to earning money.” Morgan glanced at the boxes that had been set around that particular piece of furniture.
“What’s ASMR again exactly?” Noelle asked.
“Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.”
“Brain tingles,” Sam added when Noelle blinked in confusion. “Things that you hear or see that makes your brain feel fuzzy and nice.”
“It’s not for everyone, but I like it and I’ve found I’m pretty good at it.” Morgan shrugged. “It’s something I don’t need a diploma for.”
“You didn’t graduate high school?” Noelle held up her hands when Sam shot her a look. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come out sounding so judgmental. I was just surprised.”
“I’m not sure. I was home-schooled, and I thought I had but my mom wouldn’t give me any of the information I needed to prove it.
” Morgan’s tone was matter of fact, making Noelle’s mouth drop open.
She glanced at Sam who just shrugged. If Noelle was going to be around for a while, she was eventually going to hear the details of Morgan’s life.
It would make a heck of a movie except that if it was a movie, people would probably complain that it was too far-fetched.
“ASMR and makeup are two things I can do without needing a diploma.”
“She does amazing makeup,” Sam said.
“Oooh, speaking of, I should grab that so I can do it for your date tonight,” Morgan said, turning and picking up one of the boxes marked ‘makeup.’
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I want to. No payment either. You’re my best friend, so it’s free.”
Morgan beamed at Sam right as her words hit Sam right in the chest. Holy crap. She hadn’t realized Morgan thought of her that way. Tears threatened, and she cleared her throat.
“Thank you.” She couldn’t put everything she was feeling into words, so she tried to put it into her tone. Morgan smiled back, apparently pleased, but that was also typical Morgan.
“Wow, okay.” Noelle huffed, startling both of them.
Morgan actually jumped as they turned to look at her in surprise.
Sam wasn’t sure why Noelle was upset. They’d just met her, after all.
As she took in their reactions, Noelle’s expression crumbled, and she slumped.
“I’m so sorry, I… I’m being unreasonable, I know.
I’m just extra sensitive about the whole best friend thing after losing mine. ”
She sniffled, and Sam’s heart went out to her.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Morgan said, putting her hands on her chest. “That was insensitive of me. I’m always doing that. I’m still learning.”
“No, no, you’re fine, it’s me.” Noelle reached up to wipe away a tear before Sam could reassure Morgan she had done nothing wrong.
At least, she hadn’t in Sam’s eyes. It wasn’t as though they could know everything that would set Noelle off, and she’d mentioned losing her best friend in sub class, but not in front of Morgan that Sam knew about. “One day, I’ll have a new best friend.”
Feeling sympathy surge inside her—Sam knew how difficult it could be to make friends—she stepped up to put her arm around Noelle’s shoulders.
“That’s the great thing about friendships,” she said. “They keep growing. Morgan and I didn’t start out as best friends or anything. We just started hanging out. We’ll get there.”
“Thanks.” Noelle’s eyes filled with tears as Morgan slid next to her on the other side. “It’s just a lot. I used to do Iris’ makeup for dates, and then knowing that you two are besties and I lost my best friend, and I still don’t even really know why she ditched me… It’s been hard.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Morgan turned slightly to give Noelle a tight squeeze and Sam turned to wrap her arms around both of them. “That sucks.”
“It totally sucks,” Sam agreed. She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Iris had ditched Noelle for her new friends because they were kinky, and Noelle wasn’t. That might be why she was taking the classes now, even though she didn’t seem to be super into them.
She also might just have some misconceptions about kink.
Morgan had as well, and she’d been in the lifestyle—a very specific, very narrow portion of the lifestyle—for years.
Misconceptions could happen for all sorts of reasons.
If she wasn’t into kink and was only in the class to understand Iris better, Sam had to admire how far she was willing to go.
“Food’s here!” One of the guys called from downstairs. Sam thought it might be Brian, but she wasn’t sure. They’d said they were going to order pizza for lunch.
Sam squeezed a little tighter, then let go.
“Come on, let’s go get lunch.”
They trooped downstairs to where the guys were sitting around the kitchen table. Pizza boxes lined the counters, along with a big bowl of salad Sam knew was for Morgan. She wished she liked vegetables the way Morgan did. Morgan was the weirdest picky eater she’d ever met.
“Thanks for getting us lunch.” Sam went over to where plates were set out next to the food.
“Thanks for helping us out today,” Brian replied cheerfully, lifting a piece of pizza to toast her. “Things go a lot faster with good help, and that should be rewarded.”
“Thank you,” Morgan repeated, going over to press a kiss on the top of Brian’s head before following Sam to the food.
“Thanks,” Noelle echoed. Her eyes darted around, taking in everything from the casual kiss Morgan had given Brian, where all the guys were seated, and the boxes lined up along the kitchen wall.
Probably those with her dishes. Morgan had been ruthlessly organized in how she’d packed, with every box clearly labeled.
The dining room table was meant for a lot of company with lots of chairs around it.
Brian sat at the head and Mitch at the ‘foot’ with Kincaid and Zach on one side, leaving the other side for Noelle, Morgan, and Sam.
One of the chairs on their side had clearly been dragged in from the kitchen, but there was still plenty of elbow room.
“No pizza?” Noelle asked, blinking in surprise when Morgan loaded her plate up with salad and didn’t even glance at the boxes. “Yeah, I guess you’d need to eat super light to look like you do. I’d rather have pizza.”
“I just don’t like pizza, but I love salad.” Morgan smiled breezily, taking her plate over to the table.
Sam noticed that all the men were now watching Noelle warily, like they weren’t sure whether to speak up.
It wouldn’t be obvious by their expressions to most people, but after taking a kink class where all of them served as instructors, she’d gotten to know them all well.
She could tell when they went into what she called ‘watch mode.’ It happened a lot during class when they weren’t sure if they were pushing too far with a newbie.
It reminded her, as much as she liked them, Mitch was engaged to Domi who was now friends with Iris and so all of them hung out with Iris fairly regularly.
Then again, they might just be wary because they were protective of Morgan.
Stop looking for trouble.
Sam grabbed half a plate of salad as well as two pieces of pizza.
Unlike Morgan, she liked both and knew none of the guys here would be judgmental or rude about her eating choices.
Sadly, not something that was universal, but she was in a safe space here, which meant a lot to her.
Coming up behind her, Noelle quietly did the same and then followed her to the table.
Morgan had sat down next to Mitch, so Sam sat down next to Brian, leaving the spot in the middle for Noelle.
“Are you planning to go out tonight?” Brian asked, looking down the table at Morgan.
She shook her head. “I was going to stay in and unpack, but I have to do Sam’s makeup first.” Morgan looked up from her food and turned her head to beam at Mitch. “She has a date with Q.”
The guys sat up a little, and Sam groaned even as her insides warmed.
They’d just gone into ‘protective’ mode.
She’d seen it frequently directed at Morgan but never at herself.
She’d never wanted it directed at her, yet seeing them get all frowny and protective over her gave her unexpected warm fuzzies.
“A date-date? I thought you two… didn’t get along,” Kincaid said, obviously changing up what he had planned to say mid-sentence.
“You’re topping him for the class, right? So, that puts her in the power position,” Mitch pointed out before Sam could answer.
“Yeah, but he’s a Switch, and he’s already done the Dom stuff.” Zach frowned, his gaze focusing on Sam. “I thought you two were just trying scening at the club because of the class. I didn’t realize it went beyond that.”
“They scened at the club?” Brian jumped on that part of Zach’s statement.
“Who was in charge for that?” Mitch’s question came out as a demand.
“He was,” Zach answered for her.
“Where’s he taking you tonight?” Kincaid’s attention was laser focused on Sam, making her want to squirm in her seat.
Dammit. She was supposed to have a Dominant side to call on, but it was a little hard to feel it when she had not one but four Doms getting all bossy with her. If only she could channel her inner Olivia.
Olivia would never put up with being ignored when the topic of conversation was her own life.
Sam sat up a little straighter and deliberately took a bite of her pizza, chewing slowly as she stared back at Kincaid. Inside, she was quelling, her stomach doing somersaults one after the other, but she didn’t think her nerves showed on the surface. She hoped they didn’t.
To her amazement, Kincaid stared back at her, opened his mouth, then closed it without saying anything. He looked at Zach, Zach looked at Brian, who looked at Mitch.
Mitch looked at her.
She took another bite of pizza, staring back at him and doing her best to channel her inner Olivia.
Holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender, Mitch shook his head.
“Guess it’s not really our business. I’m sure you have him handled.”
Holy crap, it worked, and she hadn’t even had to say a thing.
“I knew you weren’t a sub,” Morgan said happily, taking another bite of her salad. Sam had to laugh. It really was one of the first things Morgan had said to her, and she’d been insulted at the time, but Morgan had been right.
Sam was grateful. She wasn’t sure she would have figured it out without Morgan.
“All hail Mistress Samantha,” Mitch said with a grin.
“So, what does it take to be a Switch?” Noelle asked.
Relieved that the attention was off her, Sam joined in with her two cents, answering Noelle, along with Zach and color commentary from the other guys. All in all, it was a fun way to pass the time before her date.