Chapter 22 #2
“I didn’t mean to make this a thing.” Asad dropped his phone in his lap, running his fingers through his dark hair as he lifted his head to look at the screen again, where it was frozen on people creeping through the island jungle. “Start the movie again.”
“No, no, which strap-ons were you looking at?” Q turned around from where he was sitting on the floor. “Maybe I can offer suggestions.”
“Are you getting a strap-on for Morgan?” Connor asked in surprise. Yeah, they’d talked about the whole pegging thing, but it wasn’t like he’d actually thought Asad would go through with it. Even if he didn’t like being left out of things.
“No, he’s not,” Law said firmly. “He’s just letting himself be influenced by Q.”
“No, he’s not,” Q argued back in an uncanny echo. “He’s interested in something, and you should support your friend in things that interest them, even if they don’t interest you.”
“I’m supporting him in not being unduly swayed just because one of his friends wants to make a club around a single sexual act.” Law glared at Q from where he was sitting in the corner of the sectional, crossing his arms over his chest.
It was the battle of the balds.
Somehow, Connor managed to keep a straight face when it popped into his head, which he was grateful for.
He did not want to have to explain that thought to his friends.
Neither of them was particularly sensitive about being bald—in fact, they teased each other about it constantly—but there were some undercurrents to this conversation that he couldn’t figure out, and he didn’t want to get in the middle of.
“Okay, well, while you guys are figuring out whether I actually want my girlfriend to peg me, I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Asad said, getting to his feet. “Might as well since the movie is paused.”
Q gave him a thumbs-up while Law sighed and uncrossed his arms. As soon as Asad was in the bathroom and out of earshot, Connor looked back and forth between the other two.
“What is going on?” he asked in a low voice. “Why do you both care so much whether or not Asad buys a strap-on?”
The other two looked at each other, guilt creeping into both their expressions.
“You can’t tell Asad…” Q kept his voice even lower than Connor had. “We made a bet.”
“You what?” His voice rose on the second word; he couldn’t help it. They were betting on whether Asad decided to be pegged? What the hell?
On the other hand, how very like them.
“Shh!” Law and Q shushed him at the same time.
“It’s harmless. He’ll make the decision on his own,” Law said, leaning toward them so his voice wouldn’t carry down the hall and through the door where Asad was.
“Except that you’re both trying to push him to do what you want.
And you’re being weird about it.” Connor shook his head, rubbing his hand over his face while he tried to decide if he should tell them to cut it out.
Though, ultimately, it was harmless. Betting on friends was practically a time-honored past-time at Stronghold, though usually it was about relationships and when people would get together, not on whether they’d take it in the ass. “What does the winner get?”
“If I win, Law has to let Iris peg him if she wants to,” Q said with a grin, making Connor choke. Holy fuck.
“And if I win, Q has to wear the couple’s costume that Sam wants for this year.” Law didn’t grin, but there was smug satisfaction in his voice.
“What’s the costume?” Those two things seemed a little uneven to Connor, but Law appeared to be very happy with his choice. Q slumped as soon as Connor asked.
“She wants to be Han Solo and Princess Leia in the bikini… but she saw a picture online, and she wants to be Han Solo, and she wants Q to be Princess Leia.” Law smirked. “Though in the pic she saw, there’s no bra, but it’s got everything else.”
“She should be the one in the bikini.” Q’s gaze unfocused, the corners of his lips twisting up. “She’d look amazing.”
Connor was pretty sure there wasn’t a straight guy alive who hadn’t had some fantasy of his girlfriend dressed in the Leia bikini, so he couldn’t blame Q for wanting to see Sam in it. On the other hand, he also thought the genderbent version sounded pretty great.
“So, the timeline is Asad has to get pegged—or not—by Halloween?”
“Pretty much.” Q cleared his throat as the door to the bathroom opened, raising his voice a little. “So, you should invite Julie to come with us to Renn Fair next weekend.”
“I’ll ask her tomorrow after the thing with her family.
” Asking her to come with him and his friends to the Renaissance Festival wasn’t quite the same as being introduced to the family, but it was still kind of a big thing.
He also wasn’t sure how she’d take it. While they’d talked about how he was kind of a nerd—as if the action figure collection on his bookshelf hadn’t been a clue—he wasn’t sure if she knew how far that would go.
Somehow, he didn’t peg her for a Renn Fair person, but he could be wrong.
First, though, he needed to get through tomorrow.
“Okay, let’s start the movie again. I need to find out what this giant octopus is doing in a megalodon movie,” Asad said, walking toward them and gesturing at the television.
They all settled back onto the couch, and Q hit the play button.
Connor sat back and wondered if he should say something to Asad or just see it play out.
He was probably going to go ahead and see what happened.