Everest smiles and turns back to me.
“We spent last night at the club,” he says. “Brooke and I did a full-on role play scene.”
“What kind of scene?”
“Teacher versus student,” Brooke grins. She’s still blushing, but she looks happy.
“Sounds like something out of a movie,” I grin, winking at them.
“It was incredible,” Everest says. “If there’s enough interest, I may start opening up one of the side stages for role play scenes in the future.”
“Did a lot of people watch?”
“More than we expected,” Brooke says, looking over at Everest.
“We both thought there might be a few people who were curious about what was happening, but there were just so many,” he says. “I didn’t see Mallory there,” he adds, sipping his water.
Just then, the waiter reappears to take our order. I didn’t even look at the menu, so I just order whatever the day’s special is, and Brooke and Everest do the same. Once we’re alone, I look back at them.
“She was with me.”
“I told you,” Brooke laughs and shakes her head. “I told him,” she says to me, as though she’s sharing something private and silly. “I said that the two of you were definitely spending time together.”
“How did it go?” Everest asks. He’s not asking to be crass. It’s obvious that he really cares about Mallory. If anything, I’d say he’s asking to make sure I didn’t fuck it all up, which I hope I didn’t.
“It was wonderful,” I say. “Without going into personal details, we had a nice time together.”
“Good,” Everest says. “Sometimes I worry about her.”
“You do?” I ask. That raises a few alarm bells, but nothing too serious. It’s normal for friends to worry about other friends, right?
Brooke and Everest exchange glances.
“What? What am I missing?”
“It’s just that Mallory is very careful about who she...plays with,” Everest says.
“I know she hasn’t had a partner in a long time,” I say. “And that doesn’t bother me. We’re not rushing into anything.”
“I don’t think you understand what Everest is saying,” Brooke tells me. “Mallory doesn’t have partners...ever.”
“What do you mean? I saw her at the club with a Dom the other night.”
“That was Taylor,” Everest says. “Mallory plays with him while his partner is recovering, but when Hank is in normal shape, they don’t usually share. Mallory is their friend, and she was happy to participate in scenes with them, but Hank and Taylor are defini
tely gay. They have no romantic interest in Mallory.”
“I assumed there was something more there,” I say. “Or that they’ve played together in the past.”
“Mallory is very picky,” Brooke says, and I can tell she’s trying to be very careful. She doesn’t want to say or do anything that might make her friend feel betrayed, and I respect that.
But I’d also like to know what it is they aren’t saying.
Then it hits me.
“Are you saying that she never takes home anyone from the club?”
“Never,” Everest says.