Ryan: Nothing. That was it.
April: That was it?
Ryan: Yes! That was it!
Kim: Still hate the bitch.
April: Ryan, don’t play middle school games with Russell. Please don’t take offense to this or mistake my meaning…but you can’t get into mind games with a trained psychologist who happens to have a sadistic side. No offense, Ry-Guy.
As I re-read what April had typed, my doorbell rang. I frowned and looked in the direction of my front door at the same time my cell phone vibrated.
Russell: It’s me.
Oh, shit! I quickly typed back to the girls.
Ryan: So, the sadistic trained psychologist just showed up at my door. Gotta go!
April: Talk to him!
Kim: And let him fuck you good!
Kim: Or blow him!
Kim: But don’t get fucked and then blow him. Unless he cleans.
April: Kim!
Kim: What?
I logged off, closed the laptop and set it on the couch cushion next to me. I jogged to the door and opened it. Russell stood there rotating the key fob to his SUV between his fingers and the corners of his mouth turned up just enough to grin.
“Hi,” I greeted and stepped to the side so he could come in.
It suddenly dawned on me that maybe I was in trouble, or that he was here to break up with me in person. I pushed my hands into my pockets and shifted nervously on the balls of my feet. He doesn’t make me nervous, but I was nervous as to why he was here.
“I owe you an apology for what happened at the club, Ryan,” Russell apologized.
I raised my eyebrows and stopped shifting on my feet.
“What? No, you don’t. I owe you an apology for not focusing and messing up in front of your club friends,” I countered.
“No, Ryan. We have had this discussion before; you do not apologize for the way you react to things. Those are things you can’t control.”
“But, if I had focused better, my head wouldn’t have gone back.”
Russell walked closer and rubbed his hands up and down my shoulders while he looked in my eyes. His eyes were always so calming, even when I worried that he was mad at me.
“I don’t feel good about how we left our evening. I feel that there are things on your mind, and I know how your mind works, Ryan.”
I frowned and looked away. I quickly thought back to what April had said to me about not getting into mind games with a trained psychologist.
“Ryan,” Russell said my name calmly and the patted his chest. “Right here, my boy. You’re overthinking again and that mind of yours can run like no other. Talk to me, Ryan.”
I focused on his chest until I felt myself calm down, then I raised my eyes to his.
“I just…I know it’s not my business…but I was wondering who she is…Claire,” I mumbled and then took a deep breath. “Who is Claire?”
“Claire used to be a bottom that I topped many years ago. I was a much younger man when I topped her.”
