Breathless (The Game 3)

“Summoning the Sadisty Sunshine Squad!” Ivy yelled from the patio.

I exchanged a look with Colt. “Sunshine?”

He laughed and wiped his forehead.

I straightened and hollered back to Ivy. “What’s up, sassafras slut?”

She giggled. “Tate and I made snacks!”

Yeah, there was no way we could resist that.

We told her we’d be done in about ten minutes, which was the time it took for her and Tate to fill a table in the shade with…I didn’t know what, but there were platters, beer, and condiments. I was ready. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was past noon now.

“We’ve earned a break.” I took a step back and inspected the cages. This was gonna be good. All we had left for today was elevating the south ends of the platforms to make the cages level.

“I don’t see us moving these anytime soon,” River muttered.

“Fuck no,” I chuckled.

“Some see just a fighting cage,” Colt mused. “We see a subbie prison.”

Exactly. We’d find multiple uses for the cages, and they weren’t in the way. The lawn was huge.

As we made our way up toward the patio, I told Colt to pass on to Lucas that I’d read his online article in our forum this morning. It was a good one. He’d written about the changes people make in new relationships, and how it further strengthened our collective agreement on not brushing kinks aside before you knew the person behind the kink. Because, as River and I were balls deep in experiencing for ourselves, we evolved with others, and it altered our outlooks on certain things.

“Do you think Luke will mind speaking at the next munch?” I asked. “We’re gonna have nine new members by then, mostly bottoms, and Luke’s a good first face to see.” We didn’t generally get on any soapboxes during munches, but it’d been a while since we’d had this sort of influx of members. Ivy had invited three of them.

“I’ll ask him, but I’m sure he won’t mind,” Colt answered. “Nine new subbies. Fantastic.”

Seriously.

We actually needed new members. Our goal was to stay at around a hundred and fifty, but relationships ended and sent some ex-partners fleeing, some moved…some, uh, infatuations weren’t reciprocated, so they left too. New jobs, lost interest, kids, school, money—there were countless reasons to terminate a membership, and we weren’t great at recruiting new ones. Mainly because we didn’t want to. But bills had to be paid, and our single kinksters wanted fresh meat.

“Santiago’s joining us too,” I said.

“Great. He belongs with us.” Colt nodded. “Luke wants to set him up with Cam.”

I lifted my brows.

He smirked. “Let’s just say my man is sick of Lucian draggin’ his feet.”

Now it made much more sense. “According to Tate, Lucian tried to play with Cam during the orgy Macklin hosted here the other week, but the boy was havin’ none of it.”

“Good for him. I gotta be honest, I feel for the kid.”

Yeah, me too.

River said he was gonna change into trunks first and headed toward our cabin. Colt and I passed the pool instead and aimed straight for the only table on the patio that the sun wasn’t burning to a crisp.

“Are we turnin’ into saps?” Colt asked me. “It’s Kit’s fault, if that’s the case.”

I chuckled and sat down on the cushy three-seater. “Lord knows I blame Shay.”

He just smiled at that.

Ivy and Tate arrived with the last of what they’d prepared, and my stomach grumbled with approval. Together, they made an excellent team in the kitchen. Tate had whipped up wings, barbecue chicken skewers, and little meatball sandwiches, and Ivy had gone overboard with salads, mozzarella sticks, guacamole, chips, homemade salsa, and grilled tomato halves.

“Did you use that shitty little grill on the front porch?” I asked.

Tate took a seat across from me, next to Colt, and nodded at Ivy.

“It’s the only one I can use without your very loud suggestions.” Ivy bit into a cucumber stick and sat down next to me.

I patted her on the head. “I’m glad you’ve picked up on that.”

She batted my hand away and smoothed down her hair. I was fairly certain the pink streaks were new. She liked to dye her hair, and it was impossible to keep up.

“This looks fantastic, sugar.” Colt started filling a plate with food. “Are you fightin’ someone this weekend?”

Ivy shook her head and pouted. “I asked August, but he has to work.”

That wasn’t technically true. August and Ivy had played a lot recently, and it was why he was keeping his distance now and taking on more work. Whether River and I wanted to or not, we got to hear a lot of gossip about our members, usually because much of it took place out here. He and I could be chilling by the pool when some chatty Cathy or five shared everything they’d found out online or at lunch with someone in the city.