Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Quinn strides up next, all sleek confidence and leather. “Moira, finally. Thought we were gonna have to send out a search party.”
“Oh please, you know I always come back to the scene of the crime.”
She smirks. “And Saint. I was wondering when we’d see you again.”
“Quinn.” He inclines his head.
“I see you’ve met Moira.” Quinn seems amused, looking back and forth between us. Why did she call him Saint?
I squeeze Bane tighter, wondering how they know each other. “He’s my Dom.”
Quinn nods as if something’s just clicked into place. “Well, that seems like a perfect match.”
“Don’t you have a pain piggie to be making squeal somewhere?” Bane inquires mildly.
But Quinn just grins and sits down in the chairs beside us. “He doesn’t get here for another hour. I’m free to hang out ’til then.”
Bane rolls his eyes but then asks if I want anything to drink.
“Sparkling soda, please.” I intend to play tonight, so I’ll stay strictly no alcohol ’til afterward.
Bane kisses my forehead and heads to the bar.
I immediately spin toward Quinn. “You know Bane?”
She shrugs. “I may have run into him a time or two.”
“With or without the mask?” I quiet my voice so Caleb and Marcus won’t hear. Caleb rarely has a night off, so I definitely want to catch up with him, too, but first things first.
Her eyes widen. “Have you seen him without the mask?”
I sit up straighter. “Of course I have. I’m his sub.” I feel so fucking proud saying it.
“I didn’t know you did that. Have you ever been a sub before?”
“All the time here.”
She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. Like, a real sub. For anything longer than a night or two.”
“There’s a first time for everything. I can learn. I am learning.”
Quinn’s eyebrows just raise as she eyes me over her cup.
“Have you seen him without the mask?” I turn the question back on her.
Her eyes narrow on me, but she glances over at the bar quickly before leaning in. “If you’ve really seen him, tell me why I call him Saint.”
Oh. My mouth drops open a little.
She really has seen him without the mask.
I lean in even further, looking around to make sure no one’s listening in. “Did you accidentally walk into his church, too?”
Her loud laughter has me yanking back.
“Go to his—” She literally slaps her knee. “Fuck no! Girl, I haven’t been in one of those since they dragged us as foster kids when I was nine.”
She waves a hand. “No, no. I just ran into him while he was in”—she breaks off, checking around as if also seeing who might be in hearing range—“you know, uniform, when I was sitting in a coffee shop. I was in my domme gear, which I try not to wear out in public, but I just really needed a fucking cup of coffee that day and didn’t have time to change.”
She waves a hand. “I just saw it in his eyes. Out of all people, someone in that—uniform—you’d expect to be judgy about what I was wearing, but he just had a normal conversation with me while we were standing in line, and when he casually asked me which dungeon I went to, I knew.”
She smirks. “I told him about Carnal and said he should drop by. He about choked when he realized I’d also clocked him as part of the community. But he showed up, didn’t he?”
“Thank you!” I throw my arms around her.
It’s because of her I have my Bane. If they hadn’t run into each other that day, would I have ever met him?
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
I give her a big kiss on the cheek.
She chuckles low and pulls away from me.
“Get off me, you freak.”
“Mwah, mwah, mwah, I give you kisses.” I mock giving her big, sloppy kisses.
“Oh my god, you’re worse than a puppy!” She laughs and wrestles me until I finally let her go.
“Hey, hey,” Caleb jokes from across the coffee table. “Keep it consensual.”
“Fine,” I sigh, then grin with all my teeth. “But I don’t know how sane I’ll be tonight. Bane’s been edging me like a motherfucker lately, and tonight, I finally get to unleash.”
Marcus takes another sip of his whiskey. “Where exactly will you be scening? Because that sounds like it’d be fun to watch.”
“Jesus, Marcus.” Quinn gives a heavy eye roll.
“What?” he shrugs. “What’s better than friends who fuck? And who watch each other fuck?”
“I can’t think of a thing,” Caleb says, lifting his glass to toast Marcus. The clink of their glasses makes me giggle. I’m usually more in their camp than Quinn’s, but my eyes drift to Bane, who’s walking back our way with our sparkling waters.
As we all sit together and chat, I’m curled up beside Bane in a deep leather lounger around a coffee table cluttered with glasses, and for the first time in a long, long time, I don’t feel so… broken.