Just as I began to mingle, it was clearthat everyone was excited to finally have a space where they didn’t have tocensor what they were saying. I walked past a woman who was talking about hersub, then stopped and looked around before shaking her head and continuing.
I knew we’d all have those moments for along time to come, but it was impressive seeing how it’d all come together. Ijust wished I’d been able to go to the first mixer to meet all the owners. Butunfortunately, I’d been at a job and there’d been no way to do both. There werequiet rumors about who was in charge behind the scenes, but the people who hadgone to the first party were tight-lipped about who was in control.
When some alpha named Shane had contactedme about doing some light appetizers for the opening night I’d been excited,but everything was done through email and one conversation with the slightly stern-soundingguy who seemed to be working for the owners.
Even the man who’d led me into the kitchenearlier hadn’t seemed to be in charge, but it was hard to tell with the numberof people who’d been running around handling last-minute details. It’d lookedlike an impressive operation, very professional. However, all my focus afterthat had been on the food, so I’d missed my chance to poke my nose around andfigure out who was behind it all.
I appreciated the privacy, since it meantthey’d probably have the same level of caution when it came to sharing detailsabout the rest of us, but it made me terribly curious. I’d heard rumors that itwas everyone from the president’s nephew to some local business tycoon but noneseemed reasonable. I’d even looked up the property address, but all I couldfind was a recent sale from one obscure company to another.
Which was probably good too, but it left mewith more questions than I liked, and none of the familiar faces I’d seenlooked like they were in charge—although there were a few surprising faces. Oneomega in particular who worked for the city blushed when he saw me but justtook a deep breath and nodded before turning back to the man he’d been talkingto.
Interesting.
But there’d been nothing between us whenhe’d just been another bureaucrat, so I moved past him without a secondthought. If we hadn’t gotten along outside of BDSM, I wasn’t going to try tomake something more intimate work.
A short man I thought was a beta quietlyannounced that scenes would be starting in the next few minutes and pointedtoward a doorway at the back of the room. Everything in the small kitchenbehind the bar was as organized as I could make it and the little trays thatwere tucked around the room were still well-stocked, so I headed toward thesmaller room.
My instructions had been to make the foodsimple and easy because the kitchen was small and they didn’t want us runningaround all night. It’d been appreciated since I was technically a paying memberand my two assistants were thinking about joining if they could, but the compensationthey’d offered for the catering had been worth it.
However, making sure everything wentsmoothly was worth more than a BDSM scene, so I told myself I would just watchfor a moment. Surely I could leave Distracted and Excited alone for a bit. Howmuch trouble could they get into in five minutes?
But as I walked through the room, the lastthought I had before my head went silent was the quote about the best-laidplans…
It was Wade.
There’d been a few moments in the pastwhere everything had slowed to almost a stop…when the flames had gotten tooclose…when I’d seen a boy across a smoke-filled room…moments when everythinghad come into focus and I knew it was important.
But the only time it’d ever happenedoutside the job had been seeing Wade for the first time…when Matthew hadintroduced me to him. They’d been so in love it’d hurt to see them together.But they were both too nice to hate and too excited about meeting new people tobe able to avoid them.
From what they’d said, they’d been togetherfor years by the time I’d met them. I’d tried to avoid them, but Matthew haddecided I would be a fun addition to drag to dinner and we’d gotten to knoweach other fairly well.
As everything came back into focus, I heardthe excitement coming from across the room where two men were enthusiasticallyhovering around him. It’d been almost two years since I’d seen Wade, but thesadness and heaviness that had surrounded him before seemed to be gone.
In its place was laughter and a skimpyoutfit that explained a few teasing comments Matthew had made. After a fewdinners where it’d become clear I wasn’t going to be allowed to escapegraciously, I’d asked why he was being so insistent.
Instead of getting offended, he’d laughedand said he was pretty sure we had a few things in common, but he hadn’t gottenmore specific.
Now I could see why.
The tiny, decorative jockstrap was sexy andmade it abundantly clear what we’d all had in common…well, besides a mutualobsession with his omega.
So many things became clear as they giggledand he blushed that I couldn’t understand how I hadn’t seen it before. Nowonder Matthew had never spelled it out. When I’d missed the hints, he’dprobably assumed I wasn’t in the lifestyle or just hadn’t figured things outyet.
We’d all met those alphas, the confusedones who just screamed out they were a Dom or sometimes a sub and who justdidn’t understand why they were different. Yeah, I could see why he’d put me inthat category.
In my defense, however, I’d never met acouple who’d been together for years that were in the lifestyle. But Wade’ssmiles and the way he teasingly showed off his impressive ass to the other submade it clear he wasn’t new to the lifestyle.
How long had they been seeing each other?
How had he met the other two men?
Was it serious?
An alpha Dom with two subs wasn’t the mostunusual arrangement I’d ever seen, but I’d never pictured Wade looking thatway…and I’d never pictured him with anyone else. The last time I’d seen him,he’d been nowhere near ready to date, much less this, and he’d pulled away fromalmost all their old friends because it’d been too difficult.
Had I pulled away too far?
I couldn’t decide how I felt, so I stoodthere quietly watching everything unfold.
