Page 179 of Masters of Pleasure
“Maybe for you,” Zach cut in with a snort.“The rest of us appreciate a peaceful club.”
“Says the sadist,” Mitch muttered.
Law chuckled.As much as he wanted to leave Stronghold and text Iris to find out if she would tell him about her change in plans, he made himself relax.There would be enough time for that later.
Iris
Perched at the bar with Domi and Rae, wearing a cute sundress and her hair pulled back from her face, martini in hand, Iris was really glad she’d made the decision to text them.Making friends had never been her strong suit, but they’d made it so easy, and even though she knew they’d been besties for a really long time, they made sure to include her.Even when they had to explain their inside jokes, which mostly seemed to revolve around shows and movies they’d watched.
“You’ve never heard of Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog?”Rae asked, mock outraged.Tonight she was dressed in a super cute green tube dress that clung to her curves.As usual, she’d matched her outfit to the few colorful braids she had threaded through the mass of brown ones.Beside her, Domi was wearing a little black dress, but with heavy boots and a ton of makeup to complete her pixie-goth look.Even though she was tiny, several guys had already eyed her, then edged away, realizing that she was not to be messed with.
“Sorry?”Iris shrugged her shoulders, hands open wide.
“You don’t have to apologize just… girl, we are going to have so much fun educating you.”
“Cheers to that,” Domi chimed in, raising her glass.Rae clinked it, then they held out their glasses to Iris.Giggling, she clinked their glasses with her own.
Whatever, if they wanted her to watch it so badly, she was down.Sounded like fun.
“How are we doing over here, ladies?Everyone behaving?”Shane, Iris’ favorite bartender at Marquis, sidled up on the other side of the bar, smiling at them.He was a total sweetheart and pretty handsome for an older guy.In some ways, he reminded her a little of Master Law, except Shane was white and Master Law was Filipino, but they both had the same bald head and salt and pepper goatee.
“Misbehaving is more like it,” Domi replied, winking at him.
“Hey, Shane, you’re a guy,” Rae said, leaning forward on her forearms and making him chuckle.
“Why yes, yes, I am.”
“We have a situation here,” Rae continued, pointing at Iris, who groaned as she realized where Rae was headed.They were a couple drinks in, but not enough to keep her from blushing hotly.“We need a man’s opinion.”
“Okay, hit me,” Shane replied, leaning on the bar from the other side, his expression becoming much more serious.
“You’re straight, right?”
“Right.”
Great, this just kept getting better and better.Iris tipped her head back, taking the rest of her martini as a shot.Couldn’t hurt, right?
“So, if you saw a woman you knew, having lunch by herself, and you went to speak with her, then ended up sitting down and talking to her for half an hour… then asked her to an event the following week… that’s you asking her out on a date, right?”Rae didn’t break eye contact once, and Iris groaned.
“It’s more complicated than that,” she said.“You forgot the part where he felt sorry for me because no one ever invites me to… events because of my brother.”
“Ah…ah.”Shane’s expression flickered with understanding, his second ‘ah’ making it clear he’d figured out what ‘event’ was code for.Considering that what happened on the second floor of Marquis was the worst kept secret among the first-floor staff, she wasn’t surprised.
“It’s not that complicated,” Rae argued.“Right, Domi?”
“I mean… it’s a bit more complicated than you made it sound,” Domi said.Iris nodded her head firmly.“But I don’t think it’s as complicated as Iris thinks.”
Just then, Iris’ phone buzzed with a text message.Who would be texting her now?Crap… Noelle, but when she pulled it out of her handbag, it wasn’t Noelle’s name on the screen.It was Master Law’s.
“Oooh, what did he say?”Domi and Rae were leaning toward her, trying to see more of her phone screen.Nosy bitches.Iris laughed, shaking her head.
“Well, give me a second to look at it.”
On the other side of the bar, Shane straightened up, chuckling.
“Let me know if you need me for anything else, ladies.”
“Hey, you never answered our question… oh, never mind.”Rae sighed as Shane walked away, not looking back.Smart man.
