Asa rolled his eyes. “You are not that stupid.”
Yes, I was, and that was all there was toit.
Chapter 10
Warner
“Ridley and I had a nice conversation overcoffee last week. Were you aware of that?” Asa’s oddly asked question came witha surveying look that said it wasn’t idle chatter, but it came out of nowhere forme.
It had me wondering if I’d missed the lead-into the change in topic while I’d been watching Conner and someone who seemed tobe a new sub. Pulling my eyes away from the bouncy sub, I turned to Asa wherehe was kneeling at Stuart’s feet.
How he could kneel so submissively andstill look like he thought he was in charge of all of us was beyond me.
“Yes, he mentioned that he’d seen you.” Atthe time it hadn’t seemed odd, but now that Asa was studying every reaction, Ihad a feeling I’d missed something.
The way his eyebrows pinched together saidhe didn’t like my answer, but what was I supposed to have picked up from thecomment? Were we supposed to have talked about something specific? Ridley hadbarely told me what he did for a living, so the conversation about Asa hadn’tbeen any more detailed than the rest of his life.
Not that I was going to complain about thatto Asa.
No point in making him think I was any moreincompetent than he already seemed to find me.
“I see.” Asa’s cryptic response didn’t giveme much to go on, but the fact that Stuart was having to fight to keep astraight face said there was a lot going on behind the scenes. Even Julian andNiall were exchanging pointed looks and they didn’t seem to agree on anythinglately.
They’d even had a bit of a pissing matchabout where they would sit when we’d walked over earlier.
I hoped we could change the topic becausenearly anything would be better than trying to guess what Asa was frustratedabout, but that wasn’t going to be the case.
“Are you meeting him again tonight?” Asawasn’t much for idle chitchat, so I knew there was a reason for the awkwardinterrogation. But I had no idea where he was trying to lead me.
“Yes, I’m going to leave here in about halfan hour to meet him.”
Hopefully.
Ridley’s schedule wasn’t always consistent,although in the weeks since we’d been meeting, he’d done his best to come overwhen he had time. If I wished it weren’t always so haphazard or last minute, Iwas going to keep that to myself.
I also wasn’t going to bring up howfrustrating and almost lonely it was to come to the club on my own when I had asub who should be curled up with me.
Nope.
Not going to mention that at all.
Asa nodded like my answer was expectedbased on everything I’d said, but it wasn’t helpful. “When you see him, wouldyou please remind him that it’s been a little over a week since we had coffeeand I’m looking forward to talking to him again?”
Yep, Asa was up to something and Ridley wasinvolved somehow.
What had those two done?
How could a chat at a coffee shop end upsounding so odd when Asa described it?
Well, with Asa, that really shouldn’tsurprise me. He was unique and I could see Ridley being drawn to that. Thefirst time he’d talked about his budding friendship with Asa, he’d found thesub amusing and seemed to like the idea of getting to know him.
But what could those two have shared?
How had they even had time to form afriendship? Asa didn’t like hanging out with anyone but Stuart, and I had ahard time imagining him deliberately seeking out Ridley just to bullshit overcoffee. Would he tell me if I asked?
“Asa? What did you and Ridley talk about?Do you have a lot in common?”
Asa immediately looked up at Stuart. Yep,not suspicious at all. He’d been comfortably kneeling on the floor betweenStuart’s feet since we’d sat down, but something about the question had himturning to his Master for help.
