Page 36 of The Menagerie

“Right,” Rowan manages, clearing his throat. “Uh, me too, for what it’s worth.” The seemingly approving look Mal gives him nearly sends Rowan to the floor. “What, uh, what about planning out scenes?”

“A general idea’s good, but I like to be surprised,” Mal replies as if he hadn’t sent Rowan’s brain into a tailspin. “Don’t need to practice every fuckin’ thing you say.”

“You want me to pick stuff to do each session, or do you wanna tell me ahead of time?”

“Mmm… bit of both. I’ll text you before Saturday and let you know any specifics I’m feeling, and you can fill in the rest.”

Sounds pretty perfect to Rowan. That way he knows whatever they do will be something Mal will like, but with enough freedom to keep things interesting and not so rigidly structured.

“That works. Are your safewords always the color system, or did you do that only for the gangbang?”

“Colors, yeah. Hate actual words. Don’t need to be callin’ out my fifth-grade math teacher’s name while I’m gettin’ fucked. You good with that?”

Rowan snorts but doesn’t say that he could pick something that’snothis old teacher’s name. He’s fine with colors, though. It makes it easier.

“Yep. How about if you’re gagged or something—do you have a clicker, or is that somethin’ the club has?”

Rowan’s never actually had to use one before, but he did read about them during his short research phase while he was applying.

“I have one. I’ll bring it each time just in case.”

“Cool. Do you usually use stuff provided by the club or bring your own?”

Mal rubs a hand across his face, and Rowan fixates on the ink on his fingers a little longer than strictly necessary for the quick gesture. Thinks back to the sight of them wrapped around his cock, guiding him into his mouth—

“The club has pretty much everything, but I do have my own collection’a shit that I like using. Occasionally I’ll use some of the club’s stuff if they have a model I like better.”

“’Kay. I’ll prob’ly have to take a look at what they have next time so I know what the options are.”

Mal nods, and Rowan’s struck with another question.

“How do you wanna deal with room reservations, by the way? I don’t have the booking app that Clover mentioned yet, but I can get it later.”

“It’ll be easier if I do it. I get priority for pretty much everything.”

Rowan feels his eyebrows shoot up at that. Guess he really is a VIP.

“That a membership perk?”

“Eh, kinda. Been there for ages, and the twins are pretty good to me.”

Damn. He’s insanely curious, but they still need to stick to business.

“Cool. And what about aftercare? You didn’t say much about it earlier and kinda seemed surprised by it.”

Mal shifts in his seat and bites the inside of his cheek, making his lips pucker to one side. Rowan’s suddenly filled with a twinge of dread that he doesn’t actually do any kind of aftercare, which can be incredibly dangerous. Thankfully, Mal replies quickly.

“Depends on the scene, I guess. But uh, usually just staying close, talking me down. Soft touches if we do any kinda impact play. Pretty much what you did earlier.”

“’Kay. How about cleanup? Do you wanna do that yourself?”

The wince on Mal’s face is almost enough of an answer in itself. “Yeah. Don’t need anyone wipin’ my ass till I’m a geriatric.”

Rowan snorts in response and makes a note in his phone. “Got it.”

“What about you?”

“About me… cleaning up?”

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