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Chapter One
Huxley
Most of the time when people died, they were just dead.
There had been more than one time in the past year when Hux had wished he’d just fucking gotten it over with. Tonight, though? He was exceedingly grateful that by some combination of the miracle of science, the grace of god, and the grim reaper himself likely being intimated by the force of nature that was his twin, Lowell, he was still here.
A second chance. A new lease on life. Whatever you wanted to call it, he was about as fully recovered from the massive heart attack that had literally killed him a year ago as he would probably ever be. Which wasn’t 100 percent but he shouldn’t complain. It was damn miraculous and he’d been lucky. Dead and then not dead.
When his brother was being a grumpy prick—which was often—Lo would sometimes tell Hux he was a zombie. Which didn’t actually make any sense—everyone knew zombies were undead which was different from having been dead and then brought back to life. Hux was clearly a revenant.
But if Lo wanted to work through some of his own trauma from that dark day by calling Hux a reanimated corpse, that was fine. There were worse things to be.
Especially because it turned out that being undead did not disqualify one from becoming a member at Clover City's best fetish club. Not that there had been a check box or anything, but they must know. Because everyone in Clover City—and, hell, most of Connecticut—knew. And from what he could tell, the guys who owned the club might not be politically engaged in the phone-banking and putting-out-yard-signs kind of way, but they knew people. And power.
Hux tried to refrain from rubbing the scar that bisected his chest as he walked down Pine Street. It didn’t hurt anymore and it had faded and flattened from when it had been angry and swollen and red, but he stillfeltit. All the time.
At last he reached the door to Hive and pressed the buzzer. The first time he’d been here, walking up to the plain black door had felt almost anticlimactic. He’d been waiting his entire adult life to go to a fetish club and the unassuming brick mid-rise did not scream “fantasies come true here!” Probably for the best since privacy, anonymity, and discretion were valued in places like this, but still. Couldn’t there be a wrought iron flourish on the door or something?
But then again, Hux knew better than anyone else that the outside of a person so rarely reflected the inside. Why should it be any different for buildings? Maybe it was cliché, but it was still true: it was the inside that counted.
After a of couple seconds, the door buzzed in response and he pulled it open to duck inside. Once he swung the door ajar, the heat and the smell of the place drifted out. He felt the blood head to his dick just from the faint mix of sweat and sex and leather that worked its way into his brain like tendrils of a climbing vine. Yes, it was definitely the inside that counted.
* * *
Tamsyn
“I’m so jealous.”
Tamsyn shook her head and rolled her eyes while shutting and locking her car door.
“Are you kidding me? You’re engaged to a cowboy who’s a total daddy and adores you. You won the littles’ lottery, what on earth do you have to be jealous of?”
“I mean, I’m not jealous of the single thing. At all. Reid is…”
Maddie sighed on the other end and Tamsyn could picture the cartoon hearts popping out of her eyes. Her best friend was so smitten with her daddy it was disgusting. Or it would be if Tamsyn didn’t know what a long, hard road Maddie had traveled to get here, and how deeply she’d been mired in grief that still nipped at her heels.
Her bestie was a kind and good-hearted person and deserved to be happy. Tamsyn was genuinely pleased that she’d found Reid. Also a bit smug since she’d helped shove those two together like Barbie and Ken dolls and made them kiss.
“But it was fun to be at the Ranch and have other littles around, and also have access to the dungeon and playrooms. I can’t wait for our honeymoon.”
“Slow your roll, there, Cinderella. You have to plan a whole wedding to your Prince Charming first.”
“Yeah, but I have the best maid of honor in the whole entire world so I’m not worried.”
Tamsyn made her way across the parking lot and to the door of the club. Luckily it wasn’t cold so she could take her time wrapping up her usual Thursday night chat she had with Maddie before she went inside to join the newbies mixer she’d signed up for.
“Mm-hmm. Well, your maid of honor just arrived at her new kink club so I’ve got to jet.”
There was a squeal so shrill it had Tamsyn holding the phone away from her ear. It was nice to see Maddie so much happier and more animated since she’d been with Reid, but would it kill her to be a little quieter?
“Have the best time, and I hope you meet someone who is the most perfectest daddy ever. Except Reid, of course.”
“Of course,” Tamsyn echoed.
It wasn’t that she was envious of Maddie for having Reid exactly—sure, her BFF’s fiancé was handsome and doted on her. But when she, Tamsyn, looked at the cowboy turned mechanic, she didn’t feel lust. More like fondness and almost kinship because they both loved Maddie so damn much. Definitely friend-shaped, which was perfect.
But it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to find someone who complemented her the way Reid made Maddie nearly whole. Someone who enjoyed and played with her middle as much as Reid adored Maddie’s little part. No, that wouldn’t be terrible at all. Having a partner like that was the only thing missing from the life she’d built.
