Page 13 of Merrick

Wilder

Wilder spentthe whole morning at work thinking about Merrick. He was driven to the point of distraction, finally giving up an hour before lunch and firing off a text message to his friend Justin.

Are you free for lunch?

Justin

I can be.

Please.

Just me or all three of us?

It was a fair question. His friend Justin had two husbands, Micah and Keith. The three men had been committed to each other for years before Wilder met them at Rapture, and while he didn’t think multiple partners were something that would work for him in the long term, he admired the ease in which those three came to it.

Just you.

Tell me where to meet you.

Wilder picked a cafe halfway between his office and Justin’s house, then powered down his computer and headed to the car. Traffic on the way to lunch was horrible because traffic in LA was always horrible, and when Wilder arrived, Justin was already there. He’d gotten them a table and ordered Wilder an iced tea, which he appreciated. Like him, Justin was dominant, but unlike him, Justin didn’t have to deal with the complexities of not being a top.

“You look distressed,” Justin said as soon as Wilder sank down into his seat.

“What gave it away?”

“Your eyes are a bit frantic.” Justin waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “And your hair is not quite as styled as usual.”

Wilder frowned and reached up, patting his hands along his hair to realize there wasn’t any product in it. Of course there wasn’t, because he’d forgotten to put some in after his shower…too distracted with Merrick in his kitchen making coffee.

“That’s fair,” he grumbled.

“So what’s wrong?”

“I met someone.”

Justin arched a brow and two seconds later, a waitress appeared, setting down a club sandwich in front of Justin and a Caesar salad in front of Wilder.

“How long were you waiting for me?” Wilder asked, unrolling his napkin to get to his silverware.

“Not long.”

Wilder cleared his throat, pushing some of the salad around before stabbing leaves onto his fork. He and Justin were so similar in the ways they approached dominance that it sometimes scared him to see himself so clearly reflected in another person. Dominance wasn’t something he’d ever had towork for. It always came naturally and easily to him. There were plenty of doms who wanted to posture and pretend, but that had never been Justin and it had never been Wilder either.

“Well, thank you,” he mumbled.

“Tell me about this someone,” Justin prompted, pulling a toothpick with a curly and colorful plastic top out of one of the quarters of his sandwich. “I’ve known you awhile now, and I don’t think there’s ever been asomeone.”

“I went to Rapture last night, met him there.”

Justin huffed out an amused breath. “On a Wednesday.”

“I know.” Wilder let out a long breath and looked at his salad instead of his friend. “A free use top.”

Justin whistled.

“I know,” Wilder said again. “Free use top with a ball gag in his mouth and a strip of condoms by his thigh.”

He glanced up in time to see a huge smile split across Justin’s face.