Page 136 of Masters of Pleasure
Avery
When her phone buzzed, the bit of happiness Avery had started to feel curdled in her stomach, her heartbeat picking up and pattering non-stop.
“Is it him?”Domi asked, perking up where she was snuggled with Mitch.He’d been invited in to join them when the night had begun to wear on.Avery had felt bad about keeping him from Domi’s side on one of their nights together.
“Yeah.”She summoned the bravery to open the message, given a slight courage boost by her friends.She wasn’t sure what he was going to say but hoped it wasn’t too terrible.After reading the message, she frowned and went over it again.“He says he wants to meet me at Marquis on the second floor tomorrow afternoon.”
“Uh oh,” Rae murmured, making a spanking motion with her hand.
Avery frowned at her.
“He wouldn’t.He can’t, right?This was work and had nothing to do with our relationship.”Her gaze skittered over her friends’ faces before landing on Mitch.The big blond looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin.Normally a goofball, it was odd seeing him so serious.
“I don’t know.If Domi did something detrimental to herself, whether or not I have any say, we’d still be having a… discussion.”The smile that pulled at his lips was more sadistic than mischievous, unlike his usual smile.“I would say running out on him pre-shift qualifies.He may have taken care of it both personally and professionally.”
Iris scowled.“That’s not fair.”
“Who says a Dom has to be fair?”Mitch asked, his expression lightening.He winked at Iris as he palmed Domi’s ass.She elbowed him, and he made a grunting noise.
“You can always tell him no,” Iris said, turning her nose up at Mitch and focusing on Avery.“You don’t have to go.”
No, she didn’t.
She didn’t really want to.
She didn’t want to lose Nick, though, and Mitch was right.Theirs was both a professional and personal relationship.Nick was the Dom.If he wanted to talk about the personal part first, that was his prerogative.
“Look at her expression.She’s going.”Rae shook her head.“We’ll pray for your ass, and I mean that literally.”
That Avery could still laugh, despite everything, made her feel maybe everything would be okay.Taking a deep breath, she sent Nick back a text, telling him she could be there at two.
That should give her plenty of time to freak out beforehand.
ChapterTwenty-Five
Avery
Not sure what to expect,Avery walked up the stairs to the second floor of Marquis.For the first time, she didn’t hurry, didn’t feel like she was sneaking around… yet it didn’t matter.No one saw her, which made her wonder if the previous times she’d been anxious about going up to the second floor had been a wasted effort.
No.Chad found out somehow.For all I know, he saw me headed upstairs.
She’d probably never know, and right now, she didn’t have the energy to hide.
Besides, in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, everything was pretty slow.There were only a few front-of-house people still on, and most of them were hanging out in the kitchen.By now, Avery had no doubt literally everyone in the restaurant knew she and Nick were a couple.
A freaky couple.
Stop it.
If you won’t let anyone call Domi, Rae, or Iris freaky, don’t do it to yourself.
Yeah, easier said than done.Why was it so much easier to stand up for her friends than for herself?If someone had said something like that to one of them, Avery would have been shrieking with rage, not running in fear.
Talk about frustrating.
When she reached the top of the stairs, no one was there.It was weird walking through the door into the club part when there was no one behind the front desk, but Nick’s text had said to meet him inside.
Since she had a shift after this, and he hadn’t told her what to wear, she’d gone with her chef pants, a tank top, and a light hoodie.Her chef coat was in her car, waiting for her to be done.Walking into Marquis wearing that was even weirder, but she hadn’t wanted to come prepared for kink when she didn’t know what she would get.
