Page 32 of Masters of Control

“As long as she leaves Iris alone.” Domi crossed her arms over her chest. “There’s no way she suddenly decided she was into kink and ended up at Marquis. It wouldn’t surprise me if she even knew Law was teaching the class.”

“I did tell her that he teaches the classes,” Iris admitted. “And no, she never seemed interested in kink before, but… I don’t know.” She threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t even know why I’m trying to defend her. I just don’t want to say something that gets back to her and makes her pissed off. I am so tired of the drama.”

“Because you know she’ll make drama.” Rae scowled. “If she does, I’m taking her down. I don’t care if I get kicked out of the clubs.”

“No one is taking her down and none of you are getting kicked out of the clubs,” Law interjected firmly, his stern gaze sweeping over everyone. “She is being given the same chance as everyone else, but if she does something that causes an issue, she will be removed from the club. In the meantime, if she’s interested in learning about kink, she’ll have the same chance to do so in a safe space, just like the rest of you.”

Rae made a rude noise while Domi did the thumbs down gesture, and Q had to do his best to hide his laugh—made even more difficult when he happened to catch Asad’s eye and realized the other man was doing the same thing. While neither Rae nor Domi was being particularly nice about Noelle, after hearing what they had to say, he couldn’t blame them either.

Noelle was telling a very different story from what they were, and he was inclined to believe them over her. Maybe because he knew them better, but it didn’t really matter why.

He was going to be keeping a much closer eye on Noelle.

“She really doesn’t seem to be causing any trouble in the class,” Connor offered. “She seems sincere about learning.”

Q kept his mouth shut. Connor hadn’t heard everything Noelle had told the other subs about Iris, and he didn’t want the ladies more irate than they already were. It was better to let Connor share his experience with adding any commentary.

“Of course, she does, because if she doesn’t suck you into her web, she can’t drink your blood,” Rae retorted.

“You should write that down for one of your books,” Domi told her. “That was good.”

“Noted.” Rae pulled out her phone and started tapping on the screen, making Avery laugh.

“Books?” Q asked.

“Rae’s an author,” Domi said proudly when Rae didn’t answer right away.

“I’ve written one book. I’m working on the second one.” Rae’s shoulders hunched a little, and he was pretty sure she was blushing, though it was hard to tell with her dark skin and her face half-hidden. “Sometimes, I use things either my friends or I say.”

“Oh, really?” Asad leaned toward her, flexing his biceps, despite the fact he was wearing a long-sleeve shirt that covered most of the show. Grinning at her, he winked. “I have a great idea for a sexy hero who’s known as the Persian Excursion.”

“Trust me, I already have that one written down.” Rae smirked at him. “I haven’t used it yet because I’m worried readers will think it’s too ridiculous to be realistic.”

“You know she writes romance, right?” Law asked with amusement. “That means a fictional Persian Excursion would end up in a committed relationship.”

“The key word being ‘fictional,’” Asad smirked. Then he frowned at Rae. “And I am not too ridiculous to be real.”

“Real life is stranger than fiction,” Avery quipped. “Things that happen in real life are often things that people don’t believe when in fiction. Like, did you know that Tiffany was a popular name in medieval times? But historical romance authors can’t use it because so many people think that it’s a contemporary name, and they get all up in arms about it being used in books set before the 1960s.”

“Really?” Connor actually looked interested, but then, he collected odd bits of knowledge. “How do you know that?”

“Saw it on social media and looked it up to see if it was true.”

“Story of my life,” Rae muttered.

“You want truth that’s stranger than fiction? Q and Sam went to the same high school, hated each other, then years later ended up at the same sex club, where they’re paired off for a class and now, they’re going on a date.”

“We didn’t hate each other,” Q protested, as all the ladies perked up, their interest zeroing in on him. Not because they were more interested than the guys, but because this was news to them. “We just… we were always competing for the top spot.”

“Oooh, second chance, former rivals to lovers,” Rae said, her eyes lighting up, and she started swiping more words onto her phone. Q scowled, but she didn’t seem to notice. “That’s good, got anything else?”

“He asked her to prom, and she said yes, then changed her mind the next day,” Asad said.

Q threw his hands up in the air and glared at Asad.

“That’s hardly important.”

“No, no, that’s back story, that’s good. So, rivals but crushes and now second chance lovers… I like that.” Rae grinned and Q shook his head.