“What’s up?”she asked quietly, glancing over to where Zeus and Noelle were now walking out the front door, Mason closing it behind them.
Cassidy sighed, keeping her voice low, even though Zeus and Noelle had left the room, indicating she didn’t want everyone else to hear what she was saying either.Most of them had gone back to their own conversations now, anyway.
“You heard what she said about the club she was kicked out of?”Cassidy asked, and Audrey nodded.“That’s my old club, too.”
“Ooh, so you know what happened?”Audrey had to admit she was curious.She might not entirely understand this whole kink thing, but she was fascinated by it.And she wanted to know more.
To her surprise, Cassidy shook her head.
“That’s the thing, I don’t.When everything was going on with her, I was dealing with Don.I wasn’t going to the club much, and I definitely wasn’t paying much attention to any gossip or anything.”She glanced at David again, her concern clear on her face.“I do know that there was a whole bunch of drama around her eloping with a friend’s fiancé, but I don’t think that’s the same friend she’s talking about.The thing is, when I saw her up here, I thought maybe she needed a fresh start.Like me.So, I never asked anyone back home what happened.Now, I’m wondering if I should.”
“I’m sorry, back up, she eloped with her friend’s fiancé?”Audrey was horrified.That sounded like something straight from Reddit, not something that would happen to someone she actually knew in real life.Even with all the drama that sometimes occurred in her parents’ social circle.
Cassidy made a face.
“Yes.Apparently, it didn’t work out, so they got the marriage annulled, and she moved up here, looking for a fresh start.Just like me.It’s a crazy coincidence that we happened to move to the same place, but stranger things have happened.”Cassidy shrugged.“There haven’t been any problems with her until now, and I don’t know that this is any of my business, but this is the first time she’s said anything about being kicked out of the club.If she really got kicked out, instead of moving up here to start over… well, I’m wondering why.”
“Well, I’m wondering now, too, and I’m not a part of any of this.”
David’s hand was on Cassidy’s back, and she could see his arm moving as he rubbed her soothingly.
“It’s up to you,” he told her.“Or, if you want, I can talk to Gavin and have him reach out.”
“Gavin?”Audrey asked.
“He owns the Outlands, the club up here, but he’s got a good relationship with Master Patrick, who owns Stronghold, the club I came from.”Cassidy glanced at David, biting her lower lip as though she was trying to figure out what to do.“That’s the thing.I know if someone gets blacklisted at Stronghold, Master Patrick sends out a heads-up to everyone else.He sent one about Don.”
It was really weird to hear Cassidy call someone ‘master’, but Audrey did her best to keep her expression neutral.She didn’t want to accidentally kink shame someone.She loved the idea of not being judged, but that meant participating in being nonjudgmental.
But her list of questions was piling up higher by the minute.
“To be fair, Don was a possible danger and a definite abuser,” David pointed out.“If her stuff was just relationship drama…”
“Master Patrick would never kick someone out for relationship drama.You have to break one of the rules.Relationship drama isn’t that.There’s been plenty of people with relationship drama, with his closest friends, who didn’t get kicked out.”Cassidy sighed.“It feels like I’m intruding into her business, though.”
“She kind of shouted her business out to everyone here,” Audrey pointed out.“It wasn’t like you went looking for it.And she said something different from what she’d said before, or you wouldn’t have thought twice about it.”
“That’s true.”Cassidy glanced at David again.“I’m going to think about it.”
“I don’t think she’s a danger to anyone, or you would know,” he said.“Well, maybe dangerous to Zeus emotionally if he’s falling for her, but I don’t think she’s physically dangerous.”
“Yeah.”Cassidy didn’t look entirely convinced, but she put a smile on her face as Mason came over to them.
“Sorry for abandoning you,” he said to Audrey with a grimace.“I wanted to make sure Zeus knew he had backup.”
That just made her like Mason even more.Thoughtful.Caring.It was amazing to her that he’d needed someone to arrange his marriage.He was a bona fide catch.
“No problem.I thought it was nice of you to support him.”
“Mason, you’re the therapy guy.Thoughts on Noelle?And Zeus?”
Instead of answering immediately, he hesitated.
“I think Zeus is trying to fit into the team.I don’t think he has the most open personality, but he’s trying.I think it’s a good sign he came here tonight.”
“What about Noelle?”Cassidy pressed when Mason stopped there.It was hard to read his expression as he shrugged a shoulder.
“I think… I think she’s hard to get a read on.I don’t really know her, and I’ve only interacted with her a few times.”
