“What happened to the convo with the twink?” he asked without even saying hello.
“What? Oh, bad connection. I apologize. I live in a Victorian. The wiring leaves something to be desired.” I kicked my foot to keep the space between us when he tried to take a step closer and attempted to pretend I was just fidgeting, but he narrowed his eyes, so I doubted I’d been successful.
He frowned like he was trying to work out what I’d said. “Oh.”
I couldn’t stop myself from checking on Max again, and he turned to stare the same direction. “You don’t seem like you want to let go of your boy. What gives? He sick of you?” Shannon gave me a mean smirk. “Maybe if Vic doesn’t want to fuck him, I’ll take that ass for a spin. He’s fresh.”
There was no way he could have known how much those words would hurt me, but his barb landed, and I sighed. “I am heavy-handed with the domestic aspects of a relationship.” I said the words out loud to remind myself as much as make conversation. Max probably would have chafed and wanted out. “I like to plan a boy’s entire day. That level of commitment takes a special boy.”
Shannon snorted. “I never understood Doms like you. Talk about making yourself work. I like to lay a pretty ass out and spank it until I have some tears. Or screams. Fuck ’em and send ’em home. Why work so hard?”
All at once I was even happier I hadn’t let Max meet him. “Mm, I can see the appeal, but Max was looking for aDaddy, and that behavior doesn’t qualify someone to be one, in my opinion.”
Shannon stepped closer, and even my foot in the way didn’t stop him from looming forward. I lightly rested my heel on his crotch and he grinned, but I wouldn’t hesitate to jam his jewels so hard they popped out of his throat if he took another step. He seemed to be excited by the implied danger, however, as he ground against my foot.
I shook my head at him.
“You’re a shamer.” He laughed and slapped my shoulder in a way that had me wanting to shake off his groping touch.
“Not really. I just have some very specific ideas about how my boy should be treated. You’re welcome to your substandard opinions.”
Shannon dropped his hand from me and stepped back. Yes, the fucker was hard. Made me wonder if he was a bit of a switch.
“You’re a prick, aren’t you, Jean-Paul?”
Smiling, I shrugged. He waved at someone across the room and left without a goodbye, but I was glad. I wouldn’t have had anything nicer to say to him if he’d stuck around. Shannon met a smaller man, gave him a hug, and then humped against him.
Turning back to Max, my stomach jerked. The seats were empty. I scanned the room and saw Vic leading Max toward the entrance to the playrooms and was off my stool in a flash. I took money out of my wallet and slapped the bills on the bar for the drink I hadn’t even received yet, before I rushed after them, but the few seconds it had taken me to pay had allowed them to disappear from sight.
At the doorway stood a tall, attractive man with short hair and ebony skin that looked soft as velvet. He flashed me a bright smile and my gut heated. He used to strip here when I first started coming to Triple X, and he was one of those men who were too perfect for real life. “Laurent, it’s been a while.”
“No partner, Jean-Paul? We don’t usually let anyone back alone.” He shrugged apologetically.
My heart raced and I clenched my hands into fists as I thought about what Vic might be doing with Max already.
“No worries, it’s fine.” I turned to go back to the bar, but my spot had already been taken. All of the tables were full. Images of Max in a playroom, naked, on his knees, lips parted and stuffed with cock, had me rooted to the spot. “I should go.”
“Hey, it’s going to be a fun night. Stick around,” Laurent said, and his tone softened.
Worry edged in around everything else going on in my mind. I hadn’t considered that Vic might take Max into the playrooms, though why I hadn’t, I couldn’t say. Maybe I hadn’t wanted to think about it. There were so many potential issues with the playrooms, specifically Max in one, that I didn’t know where to start. He hated public restrooms—how would he react to a room where countless men had fucked and sprayed cum? Cleaned or not, I was suspecting he wouldn’t enjoy it.
I spun back around and Laurent’s pleasantness slipped a notch. His smile turned wary.
“I need to go back there. I brought my… my friend in, but I’m worried he won’t be okay. He was with Vic.” I glanced past him into the hallway and could barely make out the doors through the shadows.
Laurent’s smile bounced back to the reassuring one. “He’ll be fine. I just saw them go in together. Vic will treat him right. Look, a table opened.” He pointed, and I glanced that way for a second. His obvious sympathy pissed me off even more than I had been earlier when Vic was touching Max. Was I completely transparent tonight? I couldn’t afford for that to be the case, but here I was, acting like a fool anyway.
“I’m going back there,” I said.
Laurent gave me a look that clearly said I was being an annoying pain in the ass, with only a twist of his lips. “I’m not supposed to do that.”
“I’m worried. Can’t you take a break or something? What room are they in?”
“He took him into the Littles room because it was the only one open.” Laurent scowled. “But I already said you’re not supposed to go back there.”
That information had me relaxing a bit because while I didn’t play that way, I’d been in the Littles room to check it out before and see what I was missing in life, and there wasn’t anything dire in there. A couple of paddles, maybe, if I remembered right.
“You’re not going away, are you?” Laurent gripped my shoulder, but in a friendly way that was much nicer than Shannon had been.
