Page 110 of The Menagerie

It makes him snap his head toward her and Mal, and he catches a smile form on Mal’s face, followed by a huff of a laugh.

It throws him completely for a loop. Old times? What doesthatmean, coming from Camilla and in this context? He knows Mal has never worked at the Menagerie, so it can’t mean that he taught a class or anything like that. So really… that only leaves one possible option, and it makes his head spin.

Coils in hand, Rowan returns to their table, mind racing. He watches the two of them laugh together, the rest of their conversation too quiet to hear. Something that feels a hell of a lot like jealousy twists itself in Rowan’s chest, making his fingers clench around the rope until his knuckles turn white.

When Mal returns a minute later, Rowan doesn’t hide his gawking.

“What?” Mal asks, eyeing him with his eyebrows knitted together.

“Did you…,” Rowan starts, trailing off as he thinks better of prying. It’s none of his business, and Mal’s made it pretty clear that personal information is squarely off limits.

“What?”

Fuck it.

“Did you used to scene with Camilla?”

Mal takes a deep breath and sighs it out through his nose, almost like he’d been expecting the question but hoped it wouldn’t come. But he surprises Rowan when he answers.

“Yeah. When I first joined.”

“Was she your Dom?”

“No, I was hers.”

Rowan knows his eyebrows shoot up, but he can’t help it. Mal’s definitely a scrappy fucker even as a sub, and Rowan doesn’t doubt he would make a good Dom if he wanted to, but he’s never expressed any interest in switching their roles. Or inwomen, for that matter.

“I thought you said you weren’t bi, though?Ora switch?”

Mal rubs absently at his eyebrow, slicking down the already pristine hairs.

“I’m not.”

“So were you still figuring shit out back then?”

Mal gazes toward Camilla, where she stands helping a couple pick out which type of rope to use. “Was scared shitless when I first came here. And I didn’t wanna… I dunno, admit what I liked. Camilla helped me figure that out after only a couple months together.”

“Oh….”

“Think she clocked me right away, though,” Mal admits.

“Why’s that?”

“Our dynamic was pretty standard, but after a couple sessions she started… pushing back more. Bein’ more aggressive and demanding. Kind of a bitch, honestly, but still within our boundaries.”

Rowan has a hard time imagining the bubbly woman as beinganythingbut perfectly pleasant, but as he’s learned with Mal, people can surprise you, especially when it comes to kinks. After all, her twin, Clover, is much more serious, so it isn’t actually all that hard to imagine when he thinks about it for more than a second.

Mal lets out another one of those huffy laughs, staring down at the table absently like he’s remembering. “One day she suggested we switch, and the rest kinda speaks for itself. Took me longer to admit I wasn’t actually into chicks.”

Rowan doesn’t know what to do with that information, but he glances at the blond, the bitter taste of jealousy in his mouth sweetened only by the secondhand gratitude he feels toward her.

“Everyone ready?” Camilla asks aloud, now that all the couples have returned to their stations.

There are murmurs ofyesandyeah, and Camilla dives in to a thorough yet quick overview of the many types of knots used in shibari—single- and double-column tie, granny knot, reef knot, X-friction, half hitch, square loop…. It seems like an endless list for different situations, a few of which they’d be trying out tonight. But Rowan greedily drinks in the information, committing the names of every tie to memory to practice later on his own.

“A quick note before we begin tying,” Camilla says. “Even though it isn’t always sexual, shibari is an incredibly intimate act and a profound display of trust, even in the simplest binds, so it’s natural to get worked up while practicing. But please keep it in your pants for the duration of the class. If you feel youneedto leave, you’re welcome to.”

Once again, Rowan finds his concentration shifting to Mal. If it weren’t for the fact that hewantsto learn this shit, he’d be tempted to drag him upstairs right now.

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