“You traitors! You could have mentioned something!” Peyton slammed his bony fist into Dean’s biceps, causing him to wince.
“Ouch, Peyton. I’m sorry, I was busy this week.”
Peyton huffed before he looked accusingly at Collin and Leeland. “What’s your excuse?”
“I didn’t know you didn’t know, because you always seem to know everything, which is kind of impossible, now that I think about it, but I couldn’t have told you anyway because I lost my cell again, even though this one’s so big, and I think Dog took it, because he knows Martin wants me to carry it with me all the time and he loves teasing Martin, because he doesn’t allow him on the couch, and when Martin isn’t there, Dog totally sits on it, even though Martin always finds out because of the hair, and I hope he hasn’t buried this cell like the last one, and anyway, it’s run out of power by now, so I just have to wait until Dog brings it back.” Collin beamed at Peyton, obviously satisfied that he had defended his case so well. Peyton stared at him for a very long moment.
“Sometimes I’m not sure if you aren’t doing this on purpose,” he muttered, though Collin didn’t hear him since he was too busy shoveling the last of his pasta into his mouth. Peyton turned his glare of death on Leeland, who appeared completely unfazed. He was quite a good poker player. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I threatened his life to make sure he treats Curtis right from now on.”
“Good man!” Peyton grinned. Seth clapped.
Curtis sighed. Peace was restored. “Anyway, I invited him to my home for the second date….”
“Wasn’t it the third?” Emilio interrupted.
“Most certainly not! Who would want to count a disaster like their first date as a date?” Seth replied.
“You just called it a date.” Leeland grinned. Seth made a face and flipped him of.
“What else am I supposed to call it? Their first meeting was at the store!”
“Can we please get back to what’s really important here?” Peyton cut off whatever Leeland had wanted to say. “I don’t know about you, but I’d like to find out what happened when Curtis had Andrew in his lair.”
“Fine.” Leeland huffed. “I was just trying to be accurate.”
“You’re not being accurate, Leeland. You’re being a bean counter.” Peyton waved him off.
“Excuse me, since when does the attempt at being accurate count as bean counting?” Leeland puffed his chest out. His eyes had taken on that gleam they always got when he was bickering with Peyton. The two loved their little verbal sparring matches, which provided an endless source of entertainment to the rest of the group.
“Since you’re dealing with me, sugar. I thought you knew that by now.” Peyton smiled sweetly at Leeland. His tone was soothing, which meant he had a bigger bone to pick at the moment. Curtis had no illusions as to what that bigger bone was, even before Peyton focused on him again.
“He had sent me a contract before he came. A very thorough contract. Some of the practices listed there I didn’t even know.” When he saw the worried looks on Dean’s and Leeland’s faces, Curtis hurried to clarify. “He said he didn’t want to miss anything. And that he usually finds it more interesting what people put on their list of hard limits than what they actually choose. Which is right. We quickly realized that we’re compatible in our needs. More than compatible. Our next date is the day after tomorrow, when we plan to celebrate the signing of the initial contract for six months by doing our first official scene.”
Curtis couldn’t help the happy smile on his face. The others congratulated him, and in the joyful atmosphere, he almost forgot to mention Jasper’s visit. When Dean started handing out dessert, Curtis suddenly remembered the unpleasantness in the morning. For a moment he debated simply ignoring it, but Jasper’s visit had been gnawing on him the entire day, and he knew he had to tell somebody to let it all out. Even though only Dean knew Jasper personally, albeit not very well, they all knew the story about the breakup as well as others, and that didn’t paint Jasper in a very good light, be it as a man or as a Dom. It was astounding how long subs could remember a bad Dom. Some of the stories about Jasper’s misdeeds had been blown out of proportion over the years, though Curtis did nothing to correct them. First, because Jasper wasn’t at Whisper anymore, and second, because he was a faulty human who took a tiny bit of pleasure out of it. So even Leeland, Collin, and Emilio, who had come to Whisper after Jasper had left, knew him from tales, and Peyton and Seth knew that Jasper was the shitty ex who had dumped Curtis without telling him because of one drunken night where they all had confessed their past lovers or, in case of Collin and Dean, past crushes.
Curtis cleared his throat. “That was the good part of my week. The bad part—Jasper is back in town. He came by my gallery today with a bunch of red roses and wanted to talk. I threw him out.”
“What? Shouldn’t he be somewhere in Britain, drowning in a moor?” Dean was usually a gentle man. His angry outburst warmed Curtis from the inside, since it showed how much his friend cared about him.
“Jasper, as in ‘Jasper, the gigantic asshole’?” Leeland let his knuckles crack. “Do you know where he’s staying?”
“No. He didn’t say, and I certainly didn’t ask. I told him to leave me alone, and I hope the message has gotten through.”
“What could he have wanted anyway? I mean, bringing a man you traded in for a younger model flowers is about as vulgar as you can get. Then again, I don’t think this Jasper is known for his class from what you told us.” Seth shook his head.
“He definitely isn’t. Good thing he can’t get back into Whisper. Richard and Martin have revoked his membership permanently.” Dean grinned smugly.
“If he contacts you again, you tell me immediately. Stall him until I can get to you.” Pure murder shone in Leeland’s eyes. He despised few things more than cheating.
“Thank you, Leeland. I’ll do that. Though I do hope he’s gotten the message. Now that my heart feels lighter, let’s forget about that lying weasel and enjoy the rest of our evening together. Dean, what film have you chosen?” Curtis used his business tone to signal the others that he didn’t want to talk about the topic anymore. He wanted to bask in the happiness about having met Andrew and the love he felt coming from his friends. Dean picked up on his intentions immediately.
“I’ve found something great. First, we’re going to watchFrom Dusk Till Dawn,one of Quentin Tarantino’s classics. And then, to keep a red thread, I haveFrida,also with Salma Hayek.”
Collin squealed in delight. “Oooh, that’s great! I love the paintings by Frida Kahlo. She had such a unique view of the world, though when you think about it, it probably wasn’t that great for her, since she was always in pain, but her art is like this beautiful flower with hints of darkness and decay, like something you would find blooming on a graveyard at midnight, full of poison and pain and sadness and yet filled with light and hope and determination.”
“I likeFrom Dusk Till Dawn.A young George Clooney isn’t to be sneezed on.” Seth smiled and grabbed his bowl of panna cotta.
