A buzz of activity near the patio doors broke the quiet.
Mateo emerged with crutches tucked beneath his arms and a cast running the length of one leg. Three submissives surrounded him, bending over backward to help before the poor man made it halfway across the patio.
“You shouldn’t be carrying your own drink, Master M.”
“I’ll go clear a spot on the couch for you.”
“I’ll get a pillow to prop up your leg.”
Mateo sat down and blinked once as someone shoved a pillow behind him while another appeared with a fresh bourbon and a third fussed over whether he was comfortable enough.
The dark amusement spreading slowly over his face made Cari snort quietly.
“He’s enjoying this entirely too much,” she murmured.
When Mateo raised his glass for a sip, he winced.
“I think my shoulder’s bothering me now, too.”
Two subs immediately moved to massage it then argued over who had been there first.
Dev smothered a laugh.
“They’ve created an entitled monster. He’s going to milk it until the cast comes off.”
“Please,” Cari said dryly. “Mateo came that way.”
Her gaze drifted farther down the patio.
Rafe and Boone occupied one of the high-top tables near the outdoor bar, Callan sitting between them nursing a beer while what appeared to be a very serious debate unfolded.
Boone lounged in his chair, cowboy hat tipped low, one boot hooked on the rail beneath the table while two submissives hovered nearby, pretending not to stare at him and not doing a very good job of it.
One finally gathered enough courage to talk to him, which earned her a devastatingly slow grin and a murmured response that turned her bright red while her friend nearly choked on her drink.
Rafe remained his usual quiet, unreadable self, broad shoulders relaxed as he listened to Callan argue passionately about a tech-related issue. Unlike Boone’s easy charisma, Rafe drew attention purely by existing. Dark. Still. Mysterious enough that submissives kept finding excuses to wander near their table, only to lose their nerve when he looked up.
Callan, meanwhile, seemed completely oblivious to all of it. “I’m telling you, the encryption structure was elegant,” he insisted.
Boone took a drink then drawled, “Buddy, I understood maybe six of the thousand words you just said.”
One of the submissives asked Rafe softly if he wanted another beer.
His eyes lifted to hers. Quiet. Intent. And the poor thing nearly melted into the floor before hurrying away to fetch it.
Cari laughed under her breath. “Okay. So, it’s an unusual sort of family. But no matter our dysfunction, we take care of our own.”
Dev brought her hand to his lips. “How did you get so wise?”
“You must have rubbed off on me,” she teased.
When the sub returned with Rafe’s beer and, as a thank-you, he pulled her down beside him for some quiet time one on one, Cari mused aloud, “I wonder who’ll be next.”
Dev chuckled. “You won’t stop until every dom and sub around here is paired up, will you?”
She smiled innocently.
“Is it wrong to want my friends to be as happy as we are?”
