Page 22 of Masters of Control

Truthfully, Q wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he returned Sam to her friends. He didn’t really want to hang out with that particular group, but he didn’t want to leave Sam’s side.

It turned out he didn’t have to make that decision. The group Sam had been sitting with had dissipated, and now only Morgan and Amy were there, chatting with a Dom he vaguely recognized—Master Zach, who was Master Kincaid’s boyfriend but who also platonically scened with Amy, who was engaged. Q perked up. He’d wanted to talk to Zach since he was a Switch, even if he only submitted to Kincaid.

“Hey, where’d everyone go?” Sam asked with a laugh as she and Q walked up, catching their attention. Everyone smiled up at them, and Q gave a little wave as he sat down in one of the comfy Lounge chairs, pulling Sam onto his lap with him. She squeaked delightfully but didn’t fight him. Not that it would be easy with the blanket she still had wrapped around her.

Q was holding onto her clothes, which he tucked between him and the arm of the chair. She didn’t need them back yet.

“Marissa decided to go home because she has to be up early tomorrow for a flight, Caroline went to scene with Master Ryan, and Noelle with Master Trey.” Morgan rattled off everyone’s whereabouts without the slightest hint of envy, and she didn’t seem at all bothered not to have been chosen.

“Oh good, I’m glad Noelle is getting to scene,” Sam said with a sigh of relief. Q wondered if she was feeling a little guilty about having left Noelle on her own, even if she’d been with other subs. Well, if she had been, hopefully she wouldn’t now.

“You two looked like you had fun.” Amy smiled at Sam with understanding.

“We did. Since she’s going to be in charge of me during class, it was nice to get a turn being in charge here,” Q joked, winking at Sam when she glanced at him. She stuck her tongue out, and he chuckled.

“So, you’re both switches?” Amy asked curiously, peeking at Zach before focusing on them.

“Seems that way,” Q said easily. He also had one eye on Zach, curious about the other man’s take on things. Q didn’t know anyone else in the club who was a Switch other than him and Sam. “I guess I’ll find out at the end of the class, but I knew after the Dom class I wanted to try the other side.”

Amy looked at Zach. Lounging in his chair, the switchy-Dom pretty much only had eyes for the petite blonde.

“Is that how it was for you?” The curiosity in her voice had thickened, and it seemed like she’d been waiting for the opportunity to bring it up. Which was good for Q. He’d have to thank Amy later for asking for him because that was exactly what he wanted to know but wouldn’t have felt comfortable enough to ask.

Since Zach and Amy scened together regularly, they obviously had a different relationship, but she must not have asked him about this before. Zach ran his hand through his dark hair and let out a sigh, taking a moment to think before he finally answered her.

“Not really.” Zach shrugged one shoulder. Looking away from Amy, he turned his gaze toward the ceiling while she remained intently focused on him. “I took the class, but I didn’t feel like I was missing anything afterward. I’m pretty sure my interest in submitting is Kincaid-specific.”

As was his interest in men, though he was silent about that. Q knew from club gossip that Zach had considered himself straight before he and Kincaid had gotten together, whereas Kincaid had always been openly bisexual. Even if Zach’s interest in submission was person-specific, Q was still curious.

After all, he couldn’t imagine submitting to just anyone, either. Even with Sam, his desire to dominate her warred with his interest in what it would be like to have her dominate him. He had fantasized about a faceless woman dominating him when he’d first started thinking about the other side of things, so even without Sam, he would have been interested.

Now, though, he was having trouble picturing anyone other than her.

Try not to fall in too deep right away, Romeo.

“I guess that means you’re never going to let me turn the tables on you, huh?” Amy teased.

“Absolutely not, naughty girl,” Zach said, flashing her a smile that was silky with erotic threat.

If Q didn’t know that Amy had a fiancé and Zach had a boyfriend, he might have thought they were flirting, but he knew little about playing platonically outside of a class. The two of them had been scening together for a while, so it made sense there would be a level of intimacy.

Though it did make him wonder if maybe he and Sam were only feeling intimacy because of the scene they’d just done… or if they were pushing something that wasn’t really there because they knew they’d be working together. It had been a fast turnaround for both of them, but he also knew he’d been holding onto a high school grudge, and she had, too.

Maybe if he hadn’t been so quick to snap at her when she’d shown up to the Dominance class, there wouldn’t have been any friction between them. Or they could have jumped straight to the good kind of friction like they had tonight.

He shifted her on his lap again, aware her plush bottom was pressing against his erection and making it difficult for him to think about anything but sex with her… and that was not happening right now.

“Hey, there you are!” A heavy hand clapped down on Q’s shoulder, making him jump. He looked up to see Asad grinning down at him. “And the beautiful Samantha. I can understand why you ditched us.”

“I didn’t ditch you,” Q said, holding one hand up for Asad to shake, followed by Connor. He noticed Sam didn’t protest at Asad’s use of her full name.

Charming fucker.

“We would have understood if you had,” Connor said, smiling as he sat down next to Morgan, who immediately perked up and smiled back at him. Rather than finding his own seat, Asad perched on the arm of Morgan’s chair, planting himself directly between her and Amy and giving both of them his best grin. Amy smiled back at him, and Zach frowned.

Sam giggled and snuggled in closer on Q’s lap.

It was an odd mix of people, but they ended up having a good time talking. Caroline didn’t return, but eventually, Noelle did. Trey gave Zach a nod as he dropped her off. She didn’t have quite the same happy, satisfied appearance Sam did, but she was grinning and perfectly pleasant, so Q figured she’d had a good time. He was able to relax as long as she didn’t bring up Iris or anything else that might cause an issue.