The Gallery (Contemporary Reverse Harem 4)

SUMNER

I walked the floor through a party already in full swing. The guys and I always held Kink Lab on weeknights. Because of that, our guests tended to get there early, take care of business, and leave at a decent hour. Usually, by midnight everyone was gone, and we’d have locked the doors and headed home ourselves.

Which was fine with me because, like everyone else, I had to get up and go to work the next morning.

It took only one of us to close up after the party and supervise the clean up crew, so we took turns. Whoever stayed late usually came into work the next day around ten a.m. It was hardly sleeping in, but it was something. That particular night, Gio had the late shift. The only one who never did was Chase since he had a baby at home. We were all cool with that.

Smith was not part of this venture. It just didn’t seem like the kind of energy he’d bring would be…I guess you could say conducive to a sexy atmosphere.

I made my rounds like the rest of the guys, greeting our guests, making the men feel important and the women feel gorgeous. For what they were paying to attend, it was the least we could do.

There were some seriously important and beautiful people there. From where I stood, I watched several prominent New Yorkers mixing and mingling as a sort of warm up to the main event.

Speaking of watching, I’d spotted Blu come in with his friend and potential future party host, Avril. Good grief, she was a looker. They were sitting across the room on a couple of the cushy chairs we brought in for the parties. While Blu talked her ear off, she looked around the room in awe. I knew what that was like.

The first time I went to a sex party, I was astounded, too. Turned on as hell, and completely blown away. The eroticism was not like anything I’d ever seen in any porno. Nothing about it was staged. The sensuality flowed through the room as people sucked and fucked, and I tried not to stare like some kind of amateurish asshole.

That was one of the ways to spot a newbie. They stared. Sex party etiquette dictated you could look around, of course, but you had to be discreet about it so as not to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Most people at sex parties, when they were butt naked and getting it on, enjoyed being watched—why else would they be there?—but they didn’t want to be creeped out by someone with no game.

But that was okay, because most people caught on pretty quick, and those who didn’t weren’t invited back. Pretty simple.

So even though the beautiful Avril was still fully clothed, and would probably remain so the entire night since she was only scoping out our business proposition, I didn’t let her catch me staring. In fact, when she finally did meet my eye, I waved and moved on to another room.

I’d made the mistake—at least, I think it was a mistake—of inviting the cute blonde server from the Hamptons party, as our guest. She came with an equally cute friend, and they were throwing themselves at a well-known city council member. He appeared to be enjoying himself, but they were really pounding the booze, and I wasn’t sure things were going to end well.

Sometimes I felt like a damn babysitter, but I was well paid for the effort. All of us guys were. We just needed a new venue.

Time to chat up the lovely Avril.

On my way over to her, I ran into Gio and Chase.

“Hey, that’s Avril over there with Blu, right?” Chase asked.

Ash joined us. “Oh yeah, that’s Avril. Amazing, isn’t she? I went to see her at her gallery.”

All heads whipped in Ash’s direction.

“Yeah?”

“Nice space?”

“Good art?”

He smiled quietly as he always did. “The place was awesome, in fact perfect, and exactly what we are looking for,” Ash said. “I bought a nice painting and got a sweet kiss on my way out.”

“Ah. She is a bella signorina, for sure,” Gio said.

“Sum, what the fuck is wrong with her husband? He needs to have his head examined,” Chase said, frowning.

I shook my head. “No idea. He’s crazy to let someone like that get away. Speaking of which, Chase, Gio, let’s go meet a potential business partner. We’re gonna go chat her up and see what she’s thinking of our little proposition.”

“That’s not our only proposition,” Ash called after us.

“Sum!” Blu called when he saw me approaching.

Blu helped Avril to her feet, and she held on to him tightly.

What was that all about?