Both of them turn purple and shift apart as if I’d caught them naked. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.Brenna elbows me and I leave off teasing the kids in favor of grabbing the beers Brenna brought, a knife, and a lime. Then I show Brenna one of the best features of my apartment. Between the fridge and the half-bath, there’s a door that looks like a closet. I open the inner door, key in the passcode to the outer door, and open it out onto the building’s fire escape.
I had the landing on my floor widened and strengthened to make a porch. There’s a tiny table, two bench seats, and a planter bursting with Black-Eyed Susans in gold and red to screen the landing from the street. True to the decorator’s claims, the flowers bloom all summer. The planter’s always humming with bees; small birds I don’t know the names of come in the mornings and evenings.
“Those are nice,” Brenna says, nodding at the planter as she takes a seat and stretches her legs out on the padded bench.
“Yeah. I didn’t know anything about plants when I moved in here, but I really like having the flowers out here and the trees in my bedroom. It makes the air feel cleaner. Probably crazy.”
Brenna shakes her head. “Probably true. Plants give off oxygen. From what I could see, you’ve got a little jungle in your bedroom. It might make a difference. Anyway, you didn’t ask me here to talk about your plants. Ask me anything.”
“Anything?”
“I didn’t say I’d answer everything, but yeah, ask. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Okay, let’s start with what you said inside. You’re submissive but you’re not my submissive. What’s that mean?”
“It means that just because I’m submissive, doesn’t mean I agree to submit to you or any Dom in particular. Submission has to be earned. It’s a little different with the club. The Doms there are vetted and trained already, so I’ll usually submit to them with just basic negotiation. But there are a few Doms there I won’t submit to, either.”
“Why not?” I ask, taking a sip of my beer and feeling the rabbit-hole yawning at my feet. There’s so much I want to know.
“I don’t get along with them or I’m not into the things they’re into. Just because they’re Doms doesn’t mean I like all of them.” She laughs her low, warm laugh. “Plenty of personality clashes between Doms and subs at the club, just like anywhere. Has Logan taken you?”
I shake my head. “He’s invited me, but I’m not sure I’m ready. Rick’s friend Daisy was talking it up last weekend. I gather you know her. She mentioned you.”
“Yeah, I know her. I held her hair when she was puking into the sink last night.” Brenna’s smile twists at the memory. “She’s a sweetie. I know she doesn’t look it?—”
I wave that off. “I agree. And I don’t hold being Rick’s friend against her.”
“Yeah, no, me neither. Rick’s party went really bad. I understand you didn’t want to say anything in front of Theo, but I’m guessing you’re more than just Logan’s old friend from the Navy?”
I nod. “I handle most of the IT side of Logan’s investigations.”
“He is utterly clueless when it comes to computers. Well, social media and networking, anyway. I remember when he tried to set up a chat group for the house submissives. It was a disaster. Austin and I finally took pity on him and did it. And Emily says he’s on InLinked. I mean, come on.”
I smother a chuckle in another sip of beer. “Yeah. So, I noticed you didn’t get him coffee or tea. Any reason why not?”
“This is kind of a gray area,” she says, drawing up a knee and resting her elbow on it. “Submission’s a spectrum, okay? I’m on the service submissive end of the spectrum, which means I get off on performing personal services for Doms. Usually that’s part of a negotiated scene. But this morning, I was surrounded byDoms who top me pretty regularly and I just kind of fell into it. Another submissive might not have or might have gotten coffee just for the Dom topping her at the time.”
“But not Logan?”
She takes a sip of beer. “No. Look, Logan and I aren’t pally. I know he’s your friend, but he barely tolerates me. I try to stay out of his way. Also, he and Emily are exclusive. I wouldn’t generally do service sub kind of things for a Dom who is exclusive with another sub.”
“But you did for Jiro,” I observe.
She squirms. “Yeah, okay, you caught me. I try to stay under Logan’s radar. Please don’t tell him, okay? I just don’t want him to prevent Emmy from spending time with me. Not that I think he would, but, you know.”
I make a locking gesture over my lips. “I don’t think he’d do that, either, but just for tonight, let’s say everything said here stays between the two of us.”
Mischief dances in those deep brown eyes. I don’t think she minds having a secret from Logan.
“Sounds good.”
“Tell me about Theo owning your ass until midnight tomorrow?”
“Okay, now that’s a good question. Theo and I negotiated a scene earlier in the week. He’s a big fan of something called humiliation play or erotic embarrassment. So, the idea of the scene was that he gave me some tasks to do at the club. I can’t tell you what they were because there’s stuff about the club I’m not allowed to talk about to non-members, but let’s just say they were designed to embarrass me in front of an audience, or it was embarrassing if I failed?—”
“Just a sec. I get why that might be fun for Theo.” And my blood’s running warm at the idea. “What do you get out of it?”
Brenna rubs her thighs together as she wriggles on the bench. “It’s a turn on. Don’t ask me why, it just is. And it’s a challenge to see if I can do the things he wants me to do. So, it’s kind of a double-whammy. I win if I succeed, and by succeeding, I get my Dom’s approval, and we were doing the scene in front of an audience, so I get their approval, too. See?”
