Looking around as the entered the room, he saw Father S and Kingsley Edge talking to each other in hushed tones. Both of them wore all black apart from Father S’s white collar and a white handkerchief in Kingsley’s pocket. An incredibly beautiful woman with ebony skin wearing a jaw-dropping ivory dress sat on a black leather sofa. Kingsley snapped his fingers and the woman rose and came to his side. It must be Juliette. Nora had told him about her—Kingsley’s Haitian secretary who kept both Kingsley and all of his business interests in line outside the bedroom while Kingsley kept her in line inside. Juliette gave him a dazzling smile and Michael’s knees nearly buckled from the force of her beauty.
Nora guided Michael to the center of the room and stood next to him. Griffin entered, wearing black pants and a black silk shirt and no shoes. He took one look at Michael and made a beeline for him. Before they could meet, Nora interposed herself between them.
“Whoa, slow down, Fiske. You don’t get to kiss the sub yet. Down, boy,” Nora ordered and Griffin playfully bared his teeth at her.
“Then let’s get this over with. I need to kiss him. Now. Right now,” Griffin said, trying to step around Nora.
“Patience is a virtue, Griffin,” Father S said as they all formed a loose circle around Griffin and Michael.
“I haven’t seen him all day. That’s as much patience as you’ll get from me,” Griffin said.
“It’s a start,” Father S said. “Go ahead.”
Nora stepped to the side and Griffin pulled a black leather collar out of his pocket, clasped it around Michael’s neck, buckled it and locked it shut. Michael closed his eyes as Griffin’s arms came around him.
“I love you,” Griffin whispered as the tiny lock in the back of the collar clicked shut. “And you belong to me.”
“Yes, sir,” Michael said, smiling. He opened his eyes and Griffin kissed him deeply, passionately and without reservation.
“Gross,” Nora said. “Those two guys are kissing. That’s disgusting.”
“It’s quite unnatural,” Kingsley agreed. “I shudder at the very thought.”
“Is that so?” Juliette asked in her rich, melodic Haitian accent. “Then what were you doing with that young man last night?”
“Business meeting. We were discussing the ledgers at the Möbius.”
“While naked?” Juliette asked, batting her eyelashes.
“It was an informal meeting,” Kingsley said.
Michael had to stop kissing so he could laugh. At least here among these weirdos and perverts, he and Griffin would always find acceptance. And maybe if they were lucky, others would accept them too.
“Griffin Randolph Fiske,” Father S began, “you are now the proud owner of Michael Dimir. He is like a son to me. If you hurt him in any way that he does not want, you will answer to me.”
“And me,” Nora said, stepping forward to give both Michael and Griffin quick kisses on the cheek.
“Et moi,” said Kingsley.
“Et moi aussi,” said Juliette.
Michael swallowed a lump in his throat. He knew Griffin would never do anything to harm him, but it moved him beyond words to know he had all these amazing people on his side if he did.
“Don’t worry. Not going to happen,” Griffin said, taking Michael by the hand. “But I would like to hurt him in the ways he likes right now. So unless you want to watch, scoot.”
Griffin made the shooing gesture that had worked so well on Michael’s father.
No one moved. Griffin glared at Nora.
“What?” she asked with feigned innocence. “We all want to watch.”
26
Nora couldn’t stop smiling. She took a sip of her white wine and set the glass back on the table. It tasted so good she wanted to chug the whole thing, but they were at The 8th Circle and the new bartender Kingsley had hired actually enforced the two-drink-maximum rule. Surely she and Søren would play later that night, so it was for the best she stay sober and alert. Søren had been acting strangely all night. He and Kingsley kept sneaking off to whisper to each other. It wasn’t like either of them to keep her this out of the loop. But she trusted Søren. He’d tell her what was up when it was time. From across the room he glanced at her, and Nora smiled. He didn’t smile back.
After a few minutes he made his way to her. She stood at the edge of the bar in the VIP section looking down on the horde below. Music pounded in the background, bodies writhed. She used to love to play in the pit at The Circle. Topping…subbing…didn’t matter. Public kink was so humiliating, so primal. She’d experienced her worst agonies in the pit, had her strongest orgasms. But tonight, it seemed like another world to her—alien, foreign, distant.
“You’re quiet tonight, little one,” Søren said as he came to her and kissed her forehead.
“I’m fine, sir. My mind’s been a lot of places lately.”
“Has it been in Kentucky?”
Nora looked up at him sharply.
“Kentucky? No, it—”
“Eleanor.” Søren covered her lips with one finger. “Tell me the truth or do not speak at all.”
She nodded and he pulled his hand away.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “Sometimes it wanders to Kentucky. But it always comes back here, comes back to you.”
“I know it does. Being separated from you this summer…you should know I too felt my heart touched by someone else.”