Page 35 of Champagne Charade

Still, I could see he missed it.

“We're glad you're coming with us,” I said again, as we all took a seat to wait. Brandon had managed to get himself in between us, so he was our center of attention. “We're going to have a great time in England. And…if you need to talk about anything, we're here for you.” Damon shot me a look over Brandon’s head as Brandon poked around in his carry-on bag, and I shot him one right back.

With a little shrug, Damon gave in. “Yeah. We’re here for you. Whatever you need.”

It was my turn to glare as I had visions of Brandon crying in our bedroom all night because he happened to be single this New Year’s Eve.

“Thanks,” Brandon said, his voice laced with gratitude, and sat back up with his phone. “I appreciate it. It's been a tough year, but I'm trying to focus on the positive. And being with friends definitely helps. But I’m going to manifest the Dom of my dreams, just wait and see. I’ve already started scoping out the situation over there on Punishr.”

I couldn’t stop my snort. “Um, okay, then.”

“It’s alright for you,” Brandon said with an injured air. “At least you have a Dom. Although…his eyes hovered around my neck. “I see you don’t have a collar yet. You should get on that, sir,” he threw over his shoulder to Damon, and then turned his attention back to his phone. He missed the look on Damon’s face.

I had to look away to avoid cracking up.

“Jonny doesn’t have a collar,” I pointed out, when I’d regained my composure.

“Jonny’s got himself a ring,” Brandon retorted, eyes fixed on his phone.

Damon pulled out his headphones and settled them firmly over his ears. “I’m gonna catch up on some podcasts while we wait,” he said vaguely.

Brandon wanted to know where we were sitting, and pouted hard when we compared seats and found there was a lot of space between us. I saw relief in the side-eye glance Damon gave at Brandon’s e-ticket, and I couldn’t help feeling happy about it myself. We caught each other’s eyes as Brandon’s attention was swallowed up by his phone, and I winked at Damon.

Love you, I mouthed at him.

Love you more, he mouthed back, making me grin.

And as Brandon went on flicking through his options on Punishr, I pulled out my own phone and sent a text to Jonny.

Operation Set Up Brandon might be on after all. See if Ollie and Elliot know anyone in the area?

It only took two seconds before Jon’s response came through.

On it.

~THE END~