He chuckled and shook his head. “Truth be told, I’m not close to any of the founders. Lucas would be the exception. He’s into bondage too.”
Made sense. From the stories Nate had brought home from these events, I knew his focus had been on establishing a bondage crowd at Mclean, and it sounded like he’d made progress.
I grabbed his hand and threaded our fingers together, and…for the first time, I felt a pinch of envy. Nathan had gone out there and pursued his passions. He shared names of people he called friends now, people I’d never even met—and two of them were coming to the wedding tomorrow.
Mclean House was apparently a predominantly gay community—as in gay men—but everyone was welcome, and Nathan had grown close to a lesbian couple.
I wanted kinky friends too. Friends I didn’t have to drive five hours to see.
“All right,” I said. “Time to remind people I can actually be social.”
“I have a name, love.”
I snorted and shook my head in amusement.
We entered the bar together, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the music wasn’t too loud—because yeah, I’d reached that age. I didn’t wanna have to yell in order to be heard.
The place was packed but seemed kinda chill, with dim lighting and the interior painted in dark reds, purples, and oranges. Nate gestured toward the back, and I followed him to a more secluded area behind a purple velvet rope that sported a sign.Private party.
A young woman greeted Nathan and checked our names off a list before we could pass.
Some fifteen, maybe twenty, people were mingling in the private area, and they had ordered bottle service for the low tables. The edges were lined with cushy sofas, and the artwork on the walls was of soul musicians.
It didn’t escape my notice that several people greeted Nathan with smiles and indications that they wanted to talk to him when he had a moment. They knew him here. He was part of the community.
He leaned in close and spoke in my ear. “I wanna introduce you to Reese first. I have a feeling you’ll like him.”
All right, then.
He must’ve spotted the man, because we headed directly for a far corner where I spotted two tall men chuckling and drinking beer, and a carbon copy of one of them was seated on a sofa, looking like he didn’t wanna be here.
“Reese! Colt!” Nathan reached the men, who glanced at him and smiled.
“Hey, Nate, how are ya?”
“Glad you could make it.” Reese shifted his gaze to me. “Is this the elusive hubby?”
“This is my Ash, yes,” Nate chuckled. “Only took me six months to recruit him!”
“It’s possible I forgot I don’t have to spend every Friday night on the couch,” I said, extending my hand. “Nice to meet you both.”
Reese smirked and shook my hand firmly. “You too, man.”
“Yeah, welcome to Mclean.” Colt shook my hand next. “Will you be runnin’ the bondage community with Nate?”
“Fuck no, I was born without patience,” I replied.
“He’s more of ahunt them down and beat them into submissionkind of player,” Nate divulged with his own smirk.
Hey, if the shoe fit.
“My kinda man,” Reese laughed. “Plenty of us here. What’s your poison?” He gestured at the nearest table that had two ice-filled beverage tubs with beers, booze, and mixers.
“Seeing as we’re getting hitched tomorrow, I better stick to beer.” I grabbed a lager and twisted the cap off.
“Well, hey. Congrats.” Colt tipped his own bottle in our direction.
“Cheers,” I said.
