I slumped my shoulders, trying to resist the urge to slip down and under the table. He was going to make me say it, wasn’t he? “Bondage—” The server came and dropped off our waters. I froze in place, watching as she placed each glass, hoping that she hadn’t heard me. Before she left, Dr. Evans flagged her down, and said something quietly to her, then faced me. Once we were alone, I whispered the rest, “Discipline, dominance, submission. You know the rest.”
I drank half of the water before he could ask me anything else.
“Speaking of which,” I said, and he straightened, as if I would say something cool, but instead, I had an agenda that had nothing to do with BDSM, at least not directly. He didn’t need to hear the silly details about how I had read about submissive women being put on display and being so desired that their dominantshadto conquer them. How that made me hot inside. How I imaginedhimtaking me like that. Dr. Evans. But that wasn’t what I needed to say. “Will you help Hazel go back to the Afterglow?” I asked. A surprised look came over Dr. Evans’s face. “Apparently, something happened, and now she doesn’t feel welcome there, even though she wants to go back.”
“There are plenty of other non-Afterglow events at the club,” he said.
“But she wants to be part of their group.” I could tell, even if she hadn’t said it. And maybe I wanted to help, to do something with Dr. Evans outside of the contest. Together. Like we were doing now.
I wanted to do so many other things with Dr. Evans. Beyond arguing over theorists. Beyond a simple spanking over a covered ass.
“Did she tell you that?” he asked.
I shook my head. “It’s an educated guess. The only way to gain redemption is to face what’s been wronged, head-on, right?”
And then, beating all odds, Dr. Evans surprised me. “I’ll help.”
“You will?”
He stared off into the distance as he thought over something in his head. “What happened with Hazel is complicated, but if we escort her, reintroduce her to a few key people, and win them over, then she’ll be accepted in time.”
I had thought for sure that Dr. Evans would tell me no, that Hazel had nothing to do with him, that there was no reason to help her, or to help me. That unless it had to do with the contest,hehad nothing to do with me. But he had accepted the request and he had said one word that tied it together:we. We would help Hazel. Together. Like we were equals.
“I’ve been tutoring Hazel for the last few weeks. She can be difficult, but what happened—” he paused, sighed, then continued on, “I have a hard time believing she did anything malevolent on purpose.”
“It’s that bad, huh?”
“I may have to see if my friend Zaid is in town. Ask if he’ll offer her protection when we do this. He’s a retired security specialist.”
I had no idea what a security specialist was, but when the server brought the tray, I forgot about it. She sat the entrees in the middle of the table: two deep-dish bowls, a set of shiny brown noodles covered in a swirling red drizzle, and the other full of creamy, cheesy macaroni, thin slices of mushrooms dotting it like berries on a bush. I wanted to devour both dishes instantly.
“I thought I only ordered one?” I asked.
“I changed my mind,” he said. “My treat.” He pushed one of the bowls towards me, and grabbed the other. “Once you’re ready, we’ll switch.”
It seemed so coupley to do something like that. Romantic, even. “Seriously, Dr. Evans?”
“Why would I joke about that?” He smirked and nodded at my dish. “And call me Nate.”
I looked down at the noodles and smiled to myself. “Nate,” I said.
And we shared the dishes, switching mid-way through, and I’ll admit, it was pure heaven. Not the flavorful dishes, or the jarring decor that made the whole night feel other-worldly, but there was something else that made me like everything at that moment. And it had nothing to do with the food. It was about him. About Nate.
But I ignored that train of thought. Maybe it meant that we’d be okay as partners. We might even be good together.
