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“I met someone.” He admitted. “Her name is Clover, and she is everything I’d ever want in a partner.”
“Holy cow Case. That’s fantastic!”
I always assumed he’d always be a stone that gathered no moss. Though I knew he’d been restless. For some time now, he worried he’d never find someone who was a perfect fit for him and his life.
“Where did you meet her?” I asked, passively watching the group of six walk toward a horseshoe shaped booth just over Casey’s right shoulder.
Margaux sat between her two men, facing toward me. Her friends sat on opposite ends of the booth, their backs to me. I thanked whatever stroke of fate had conspired to get us at the same, super popular restaurant, on the same night, and then sit us close enough that I could observe her from a distance.
“At the club.” Casey answered with a sheepish shrug.
It was Casey who got me into Club Sin. He was a long-standing member of their New York branch. Some years ago, while I was finishing my PhD, Casey paid me a similar visit. I’d just broken up with my then girlfriend because she said I was too bossy. That she didn’t like how controlling I got. I’d been so confused. Thought she’d been into power dynamics. Casey told me about the club he and his friends belonged to, and even paid my membership fees, since I was a starving college student.
“At the club?” My eyebrows raised, unbidden. I hadn’t meant to broadcast my surprise so clearly, but the way I understood it, Casey and his friends like to share.
“How are Odin and Joaquin taking the news?” I asked, “Will they have to find someone new to scene with?”
“Thank you, Fraser, but I’m perfectly capable of ordering according to my own tastes.”
I heard her from the next table. Her voice cut through all the ambient noise from the restaurant. Direct, no nonsense. The voice one would use on a bratty sub. Except she wasn’t speaking to one of her toys, but one of the men who sat across the table from her. Her “toys” looked quite panicked at the potential confrontation.
“Anyhow, Mom and Dad didnottake the news well. I’ve never seen such disappointment on their faces, Gideon. I honestly worry I’ve broken them forever.”
While listening, I missed something huge. Shit. What was it about that woman?
“Didn’t take what news well?” I asked, embarrassed to have missed his whole confession.
“Jesus Gideon, seriously? I’m pouring my heart out over here, and you’re what? Checking text messages? People watching? Is there somewhere you’d rather be right now? I thought you looked forward to these dinners as much as I did?”
“Casey, I’m so sorry. You’re right. I don’t mean to split my focus. Work is weighing heavy on my mind. But please, tell me again, and I promise I am fully present.”
My brother was usually not an impatient person. So many people use the word “teddy bear” to describe Casey frequently. His short fuse worried me into hyper, focusing on our conversation.
“I told Mom and Dad about Clover. How we were committing to a relationship and wanted to have a baby real soon. Mom and Dad…” He forced a gust of air from his lungs, and made a blowing up gesture with his hands.
“I don’t understand. They should be over the moon. A grandkid to spoil? What’s the issue?”
“Jesus. You really haven’t heard a word I said tonight.”
He looked over his shoulder at the table behind us. One of Margaux’s dates, the taller one with the glasses, placed his jacket over her shoulders the moment he saw her shiver. He caressed her face with such tenderness when she turned toward him to say thank you. Shit, the interaction made my chest constrict. I wanted someone to take care of. To look at me the way they looked at one another.
“Who is she?” Casey asked.
“Who?”
“The one you haven’t stopped staring at since we sat down. The blonde.” He directed his head in the table's direction.
With a resigned sigh, I told him. “Her name is Margaux. She’s a Domme at the club. Those are her pets.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Casey asked. “Don’t tell me you don’t think it’s acceptable for polyamorous couples to socialize or express their affections in public, too?”
“Too?” He confused the shit out of me.
“There is a pin in the conversation about Margaux.”
He said loud enough that the woman in question directed her attention our way.
“She’s looking right at us.” I hid the comment behind a sip from my water. “Thanks for putting a spotlight over us.”
