Page 33 of The Menagerie

“I was the one who had to come get him.”

“Oh yeah?”

Rowan nods. “He was in pretty rough shape.”

“You a paramedic or somethin’, then?” Mal asks, flooding Rowan with a surprising rush of warmth.

“Yeah, actually. Most people guess EMT.”

“There’s a difference?”

Oh.

“Yeah. Paramedics can do more treatments before the patient gets to the hospital than EMTs can. Putting in IVs, prescribing drugs if we know the patient’s history, that kinda stuff.”

Mal picks up the final piece of bacon on his plate with his fingers and folds it into his mouth. “Got a bit of a God complex, huh?”

Rowan shrugs. “I like helping people.”

Mal doesn’t reply with anything other than a quirk of his eyebrows. He wads up a napkin and wipes his hands before sitting up straighter in the booth, clearing his throat.

On to business, then.

Rowan decides to speak first. “So, uh, how does this work, exactly?”

“Dom/sub shit?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s different for everyone, obviously. But for us, it’d prob’ly be a once or twice a week thing at the club.” Pausing, Mal asks, “What membership level do you have?”

“Silver.” Rowan doesn’t know why, but a twinge of embarrassment creeps into his cheeks. Thankfully, Mal doesn’t seem fazed by it.

“’Kay. We’ll do once a week, then. Saturdays good for you? Same time?”

“Yeah, that works.”

“You really never had a sub before, huh?” Mal asks after a brief pause, nibbling on the crust of a toast triangle.

“Not anything long term, just a coupl’a exes and hookups.”

“Nothing at the club?”

“Uh, well I joined today, so no.”

“No shit?” Mal’s eyebrows quirk up again. Rowan likes how expressive they are. “Figured you were new since I hadn’t seen you around, but I didn’t peg you for a first-timer.”

Rowan doesn’t tell him that he’s not really a first-timer when it comes to the club scene. Only the nonsketchy, legitimate,legalclub scene. Instead he brilliantly says, “Well, you’ve got a dick, so you wouldn’t need to peg me.”

The flat stare he gets in response makes him bite his bottom lip.

“That your way of saying you bottom too?”

“No… well, Ihave, and I like it every once in a while, but mostly I top. What about you?”

“Eh. Get an itch to top occasionally, but I like havin’ somethin’ up my ass too much to do it all the time.”

“Cool.”

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