Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Iris
The one problem with reading e-books instead of paperbacks was she didn’t dare throw her e-reader across the room, even when she really wanted to. Like when she finished a book that was just so damn good, but she needed the next one in the series right now, and it wasn’t available.
It hadn’t taken her long to finish the book because she’d been so focused on reading, she’d zipped right through it. Now, what was she supposed to do with the rest of her night?
No book. No Noelle. No Stronghold.
Sitting around alone didn’t really appeal to her. She usually read when she had alone time, but now she was feeling antsy because she couldn’t read the book she wanted to read since it wouldn’t be available for months.
Maybe she should see what her other friends were doing tonight. Noelle might not like it, but she had been the one to ditch Iris. Besides, she should be out all night with Tyler, and as long as Iris never mentioned it, Noelle would never know.
Iris picked up her phone and tapped out a message in the group text she had with Rae, Domi, and Avery.
I don’t have to go into Stronghold, but my plans got canceled for the night… are you all up to anything?
She’d barely gotten to her feet when her phone made a quacking noise and buzzed with a response from Rae. The duck’s quack was the perfect text notification since she’d never met anyone else who used it.
Avery’s at work. We’re heading to Marquis in an hour to hang at the bar until she can join us. Wanna come?
Happiness lit up the inside of Iris’ chest.
Sounds good. I’ll see you there!
It was really nice having friends. Feeling a lot more excited about her evening, Iris hopped up to figure out what she was going to wear, then do her hair and makeup.
She could use some in-person girl talk about Master Law if they didn’t mind going through it all with her again.
Of course, that made her wonder what Master Law was doing tonight.
Her hands stilled on the hanger she’d been about to shove aside to look through her clothes.
Was he at Stronghold? Or Marquis?
At lunch today, he’d asked her to scene with him, but she wasn’t at Stronghold tonight, so he was free to do as he wanted while he was there.
Granted, he was free to do as he wanted regardless, but he’d only tried to scene with someone else once while he’d been keeping an eye on her during her Stronghold shifts.
Not that she’d meant for him to keep from scening while he was watching over her, but deep down, she’d liked knowing he wouldn’t be.
Ugh.
Well, if he was scening with someone else tonight, there was nothing she could do about it. In fact, if he did scene with someone else, that would be a pretty definitive indication of how he felt about their scene next week and whether it was a scene-date or a date-date.
Don’t get your hopes up for a date-date.
Law
Unsurprisingly, at first, talk with Brian, Kincaid, and Zach centered around Morgan.
Brian caught the other two men up to date, which allowed Law more insight into the conversation before he’d joined them.
It appeared Brian really did need a roommate, even if he was okay living on his own for a bit, which made Law feel better about the situation.
He’d be able to reassure Morgan on that front if she asked.
“Speaking of watching over cute subbies, Iris is done with her punishment stint next week, right?” Brian asked, turning to Law and surprising the answer from him.
“Yes.” Something about Brian’s thoughtful expression made Law’s muscles clench. “Why?” Was the Daddy Dom interested in her? Would Iris want a Daddy Dom?
Maybe.
She’d been a lot less trouble since she’d had someone watching over her, but she’d been frustrated by the lack of play partners. Law knew if Brian was interested, he should step aside and let the other man have a try…
The very thought sent jealousy surging through his gut.
“I noticed no one really scenes with her.” Brian shrugged. “I was thinking I might see if she’s interested.”
“Especially since she’s never shown any interest in him,” Kincaid said slyly, causing Law to raise his eyebrows as Brian scowled at the other man. Out of all of them, Kincaid was the tallest and most imposing, but clearly, Brian wasn’t intimidated.
“That’s not why.”
“Sure, it’s not,” Zach chimed in. Unlike Brian and Kincaid, who were both in their leathers and vests, Zach looked as if he’d come by the club after work, wearing slacks and a button-up shirt with the top button undone and the sleeves rolled up.
Although Law didn’t ask, Zach explained anyway.
“Brian prefers to scene with subbies who aren’t interested in him because the subbie he’s interested in doesn’t want anything to do with him.
So, rather than find someone who is, he tortures himself by waiting for her to become interested while trying to help the subbies who need a play partner but won’t get attached. ”
“Sounds complicated,” Law murmured, lifting his iced tea to his lips to take a sip. Though was it any more complicated than what he did? He preferred the submissives with no expectations of a relationship as well, even if he wasn’t waiting for someone in particular.
He just didn’t want a submissive who would get attached. He wasn’t the relationship type. He wasn’t a player type either, but that was safer than commitment.
“That’s not what I’m doing,” Brian complained, though he didn’t provide evidence to the contrary. Crossing his arms over his chest, he glared at his friends as if the statement on its own should be enough.
Law had to chuckle. Though he didn’t know these three very well, they reminded him a lot of himself, Connor, and Asad.
“I’m half an hour late, and you’ve replaced me?
” The outraged whine belonged to Master Mitch, former club stud and now firmly attached to Iris’ friend, Domi.
Law choked on laughter at the outraged expression on the blonde’s face and his hands on his hips.
He wasn’t glaring at Law but at the rest of his friends.
“You snooze, you lose,” Kincaid replied, grinning. None of them took Mitch seriously at times like this. “Besides, we figured you’d be with your girlfriend. You were invited out of pure courtesy.”
“Nah, Domi’s having a ladies’ night. She, Rae, and Iris are headed to Marquis to wait for Avery to get off work.” Mitch rolled his eyes. “No boys allowed.”
“Iris is going to Marquis?” Law asked, stilling. The others looked at him with surprise. His tone had come out a lot harsher than he’d meant, but… did that mean she’d flat out lied to him earlier today?
“Yeah, she texted the others right before I left. Apparently, she had other plans tonight that were canceled.” Mitch eyed him a bit warily. “Was she supposed to be here?”
“Yes. I mean, no.” Law floundered, with four pairs of eyes on him, waiting for an explanation… and he didn’t really have one—not one he wanted to admit out loud. “Patrick let her off for tonight because she said her roommate needed her.”
“Ah.” The amusement in Mitch’s blue eyes was matched by the interest glinting in them. “So, you thought maybe she’d lied. That would be fun if she’d been a naughty girl under your watch. She’s been remarkably well-behaved the past month. It’s been almost disappointing.”
“Maybe for you,” Zach cut in with a snort. “The rest of us appreciate a peaceful club.”
“Says the sadist,” Mitch muttered.
Law chuckled. As much as he wanted to leave Stronghold and text Iris to find out if she would tell him about her change in plans, he made himself relax. There would be enough time for that later.
Iris
Perched at the bar with Domi and Rae, wearing a cute sundress and her hair pulled back from her face, martini in hand, Iris was really glad she’d made the decision to text them.
Making friends had never been her strong suit, but they’d made it so easy, and even though she knew they’d been besties for a really long time, they made sure to include her.
Even when they had to explain their inside jokes, which mostly seemed to revolve around shows and movies they’d watched.
“You’ve never heard of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog?
” Rae asked, mock outraged. Tonight she was dressed in a super cute green tube dress that clung to her curves.
As usual, she’d matched her outfit to the few colorful braids she had threaded through the mass of brown ones.
Beside her, Domi was wearing a little black dress, but with heavy boots and a ton of makeup to complete her pixie-goth look.
Even though she was tiny, several guys had already eyed her, then edged away, realizing that she was not to be messed with.
“Sorry?” Iris shrugged her shoulders, hands open wide.
“You don’t have to apologize just… girl, we are going to have so much fun educating you.”
“Cheers to that,” Domi chimed in, raising her glass. Rae clinked it, then they held out their glasses to Iris. Giggling, she clinked their glasses with her own.
Whatever, if they wanted her to watch it so badly, she was down. Sounded like fun.
“How are we doing over here, ladies? Everyone behaving?” Shane, Iris’ favorite bartender at Marquis, sidled up on the other side of the bar, smiling at them.
He was a total sweetheart and pretty handsome for an older guy.
In some ways, he reminded her a little of Master Law, except Shane was white and Master Law was Filipino, but they both had the same bald head and salt and pepper goatee.
“Misbehaving is more like it,” Domi replied, winking at him.
“Hey, Shane, you’re a guy,” Rae said, leaning forward on her forearms and making him chuckle.
“Why yes, yes, I am.”
“We have a situation here,” Rae continued, pointing at Iris, who groaned as she realized where Rae was headed. They were a couple drinks in, but not enough to keep her from blushing hotly. “We need a man’s opinion.”
“Okay, hit me,” Shane replied, leaning on the bar from the other side, his expression becoming much more serious.
“You’re straight, right?”
“Right.”
Great, this just kept getting better and better. Iris tipped her head back, taking the rest of her martini as a shot. Couldn’t hurt, right?
“So, if you saw a woman you knew, having lunch by herself, and you went to speak with her, then ended up sitting down and talking to her for half an hour… then asked her to an event the following week… that’s you asking her out on a date, right?” Rae didn’t break eye contact once, and Iris groaned.
“It’s more complicated than that,” she said. “You forgot the part where he felt sorry for me because no one ever invites me to… events because of my brother.”
“Ah… ah.” Shane’s expression flickered with understanding, his second ‘ah’ making it clear he’d figured out what ‘event’ was code for. Considering that what happened on the second floor of Marquis was the worst kept secret among the first-floor staff, she wasn’t surprised.
“It’s not that complicated,” Rae argued. “Right, Domi?”
“I mean… it’s a bit more complicated than you made it sound,” Domi said. Iris nodded her head firmly. “But I don’t think it’s as complicated as Iris thinks.”
Just then, Iris’ phone buzzed with a text message. Who would be texting her now? Crap… Noelle, but when she pulled it out of her handbag, it wasn’t Noelle’s name on the screen. It was Master Law’s.
“Oooh, what did he say?” Domi and Rae were leaning toward her, trying to see more of her phone screen. Nosy bitches. Iris laughed, shaking her head.
“Well, give me a second to look at it.”
On the other side of the bar, Shane straightened up, chuckling.
“Let me know if you need me for anything else, ladies.”
“Hey, you never answered our question… oh, never mind.” Rae sighed as Shane walked away, not looking back. Smart man.
“He just asked how my night is going.” Iris chewed her lower lip, studying the simple text as if clues might suddenly pop out at her. She giggled when a thought occurred to her. “Maybe he feels weird not having to watch over me tonight.”
“Or maybe he doesn’t like not knowing what you’re up to after watching over you for so long,” Domi teased.
Iris laughed as she quickly typed her reply.
My roommate canceled our plans, so I’m at Marquis with Domi and Rae. I promise we’re not causing any trouble =P What about you?
“This looks good, right?” she asked, tipping the phone toward them so they could give it a brief scan. Once she had approval, she hit send.
It only took a moment before her phone buzzed again, and she raised her eyebrows. Domi and Rae made encouraging noises, glee in their eyes.
Just got home from Stronghold. It was a pretty quiet night. Now I’m stuck on my couch with my cat on my lap, so who knows when I’ll be able to go to bed.
“He has a cat!” She wouldn’t have pictured Master Law with any kind of pet, but she supposed a cat was easier to imagine than a dog. It wasn’t that he seemed like an animal-hater, but he wasn’t the type to appreciate stray hairs all over the place.
“Oooh, tell him to send a picture,” Domi said, poking her in the side. “Ana’s still asking for a pet. I think Mitch is encouraging her behind my back.” She scowled, though she wasn’t actually angry. “If he gets her something for Christmas without consulting me, he’s going to be in big trouble.”
“Please,” Rae snorted. “He’s way too smart for that. He’s much more likely to get himself a pet, then let Ana ‘borrow’ it as much as she wants.”
The horrified expression on Domi’s face was hilarious. Since she and Mitch hadn’t officially moved in together, technically, he could do whatever he wanted pet-wise, but they spent just about every night together, so she would be affected by whatever he did.
“Oooh, look!” Iris held up her phone with the photo Law had just sent of the cat curled up on his lap. Her heart melted. What was it about men and cute animals? “Mast… I mean, Law says its name is Whiskers.”
Had he named the cat? She had trouble seeing him coming up with such a cutesy name. Then again, she wouldn’t have guessed he had a cat, either.
“Girl, you are in so much trouble,” Domi murmured, peering at the phone, then glancing at Iris. “I hope you know what you’re doing, scening with him next week. I’m living proof the whole ‘bondage buddies’ thing doesn’t always work out the way you expect it to.”
“Considering how cute you and Mitch are together, that’s not exactly off-putting,” Rae pointed out.
“No, but we got lucky. It could have blown up in our face multiple times. Heck, it almost did.” Domi shook her head, though there was a little smile on her lips, as though she was remembering the way they’d worked it out, not the way the situation had almost exploded.
Iris mentally crossed her fingers.
If she ended up half as lucky in love as Domi and Mitch, she’d be thrilled. Maybe Master Law wasn’t the one, but… heck, scening with him was a step in the right direction. Maybe once she got a few scenes in with someone, more Doms would follow.
Hopefully, by then, her crush would have run its course.