The respect.The warmth.The camaraderie.People coming together in a community, embracing each other for their differences, and including everyone who was willing to be a part of that.
It was nice.
He wasn’t surprised when Yasmine arrived about half an hour after he got there, the first of their group.She was dressed to scene—unlike him since he was still wearing the same clothes he’d worn to work—in a black leather corset and a short skirt that hugged her body.The high heels and high ponytail were a nice touch.It was so strange how he could objectively notice what an attractive woman she was without feeling the attraction necessary to make a relationship between them work.
When she came in, she looked around, a determined expression on her face and did a doubletake as her gaze passed over him.Frowning, she strode over to the table where he was sitting.He got to his feet, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek, then sitting back down.
For anyone who was watching—and a few people were—it was a very public manner of demonstrating that they were friendly but that she didn’t belong to him.
“What are you doing here?”she asked, putting her hands on her hips, a touch of anxiety in her voice.
Mason met her gaze blandly.
“Making sure that everyone knows we’re not together, and I have no claim on you.”He raised his eyebrow at her.“Unless you have a problem with that.”
Her snapping at him with her hands on her hips was going to go a long way toward confirming the impression he’d just given with his greeting.It wasn’t like he could take out a billboard or anything, but this was as close as he could get.
“Oh.”Yasmine tilted her head, obviously thinking about it for a moment.“That’s nice of you.Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.What did you think I was here for?”
“Well…”
Giving her a firm look, he put his beer down on the coaster in front of him.
“I’m not going to be doing any scening tonight,” he stated.The only woman he wanted to scene with was off limits, anyway.And not just because Yasmine had requested a month before she had to see him with someone else.
“I want you to be happy.I just want a bit of time before I have to watch you be happy.”
“There’s no one I’m interested in ‘being happy’ with.”
Now it was her turn to give him a look.“Uh huh.”
Mason scowled, but the server had arrived to ask if Yasmine wanted anything to drink, and by the time she’d finished giving them her order, Claudia had walked into the club and made a beeline for them.Her expression was intrigued, but she fell into easy conversation with Yasmine, while Mason sat back in his chair and sipped his beer, listening with only half an ear.
“I’m going to do a walkaround,” Yasmine said, with a little twirl of her finger.“Maybe go take a peek at what’s happening downstairs.”
“Have fun.”Mason spoke loudly, just in case anyone was listening.He was pretty sure Master Cole, who was sitting at the bar not far away, had been listening to their entire conversation with one eye on Yasmine.
Mason knew Master Cole had scened with Yasmine in the past, but then he’d scened with most of the submissives in the club.He was part of a polycule that was completely open when it came to kink, which might be exactly what Yasmine needed tonight.Someone who she could relax with and not have to think about her curse, but still get her needs met.
He smirked into his beer when, about five seconds after Yasmine left the table, Master Cole got up from his seat.The big blond caught Mason’s eye for just a moment, and Mason gave him a nod.The other man grinned and ambled in the same direction Yasmine had gone.
“So.”Claudia slid onto the seat next to Mason, setting her water down on the table.“That’s done.Are you planning on scening tonight?”
“No.Considering Yasmine and I just ended things, I don’t want any submissives getting any ideas or expectations.”
Claudia snorted.
“That’s one complication I hadn’t thought of,” she admitted.“Anyone you scene with is going to have certain expectations.”She smirked in pure amusement.
“Not if I scene with two different people.I could go from person to person in one night and just keep them all platonic.”
“And that’s how you end up in polycule.”Claudia grinned.“You and Cole.”
That made Mason laugh.He was pretty sure poly wasn’t for him.The idea of making one person happy in a relationship was stressful enough; more sounded nerve-wracking.He didn’t know how Cole and his partners did it.
But he also didn’t need to since he planned to be monogamous.
