Chapter 13

13

Connor

Julie: Dinner this Friday at six?

Connor: Yes, Ma'am .

Julie: Marquis is booked up.

Connor: Just dinner is fine, too. We can always go somewhere afterward.

Julie: Stronghold?

Connor stared at the text message as though it was about to jump out of his phone and bite him.

He wasn't sure he was ready for that. Even though his friends had been accepting. Even though his friends' girlfriends had been accepting.

After Friday night at Marquis, he hadn't gone to Stronghold over the weekend. If someone asked him why not, he wasn't sure he'd be able to explain.

Maybe partly because he liked Marquis better. The privacy. The room to sleep in afterward. Falling asleep holding Mistress Julie had resulted in the best sleep of his life. Other than waking up with one of his arms also asleep. But it hadn't mattered because he'd been so damn happy.

Even that she'd had to rush off to help her parents didn't bother him. He'd been able to hear the phone call—her mom talked kind of loudly—so he knew she wasn't blowing him off.

None of that bothered him. The idea of scening publicly at Stronghold—just the idea of walking in and having to face everyone he'd been lying to—he wasn't sure he was ready for that yet. He knew that eventually he would have to, but eventually didn't mean ‘now.'

His phone dinged again.

Julie: We don't have to scene there; we can just hang out at the bar. Or we can go somewhere else if you're more comfortable.

Dammit. Now, he'd disappointed her. Was he really going to put off being at Stronghold just because of his own insecurities? Especially when it was clear that was where she wanted to be?

She'd already done Marquis twice for him. Now, he needed to give.

Connor: Hanging out at Stronghold would be fun.

There. He hadn't said he wanted to scene there. Just hang out. That was hopefully clear enough.

He stared at his phone for a long moment. That was probably clear enough, right? He didn't need to outright say he didn't want to scene. Besides, they were supposed to be dating and getting to know each other, not just scening and having sex. People dated without scening.

They didn't usually go to a sex club for that date, though.

Maybe he should say something.

"Whatcha doing?"

Connor jumped, spinning around guiltily and tucking the phone behind his back as his thumb hit the button on the side to turn off the screen. He looked down at Sandra, who was standing just behind him, hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised. As usual, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, so none of her suspicious expression was hidden.

"Nothing."

It was the wrong thing to say. Sandra's eyes immediately widened, sparking with interest.

"Oooh, you were texting her, weren't you?"

"I'm on my break," he replied, rather than answering the question, stepping to the side to move around her. Not that Sandra let him. She stepped with him, hands still on her hips, keeping herself between him and the door.

"Obviously." She narrowed her gaze. "You're in the breakroom. The question is, why were you in the breakroom, nowhere near the table, and instead over by the wall, hunched over your phone."

Because he'd been texting with Mistress Julie and doing it completely out in the open had felt wrong. Not just because he was at work, either.

"I just had to check something on my phone, and I happened to be standing there." It was sort of true. He hadn't intended to look quite so conspicuous, but after throwing out the trash from his snack, he'd felt his phone go off, and he'd stopped moving to check it… then turned toward the wall when he'd seen who it was.

"Hey, Connor… can I ask you a favor?" A pretty blonde poked her head in the door, smiling her brightest smile. Inwardly, Connor groaned. Whenever Beth wanted a favor, it was usually a pain in the ass.

"He can't do it," Sandra said without turning around, and Beth's face fell, turning sad and pleading.

"Well, I don't know what it is yet. What do you need, Beth?" he asked, moving around Sandra again. This time, with a witness there, she didn't block his way. Which meant he owed Beth since she was saving him from the Sandra Interrogation.

"I have Mrs. Malley this week every day at five. Would you mind taking her instead, so I don't have to rush to pick up Robert?" Robert being her son, who needed to be picked up by six fifteen every day. With most clients, a five o'clock appointment wouldn't be a problem for that, but Mrs. Malley could be… difficult.

"Sure, no problem."

Behind him, Sandra made another aggrieved noise as Beth brightened.

"Thank you, Connor! I'll go tell Aubrey to make the change!" She scurried away, as if afraid he was going to change his mind. Or maybe that Sandra would intervene.

"You're too nice. You know that, right?" Sandra asked, following him out the door into the main room, around the equipment that was scattered throughout. She kept her voice low, though, since there were a few clients being run through their stretches on the other side of the room.

He shrugged.

"I don't mind." Yeah, he'd need to stay an hour later than he normally did, but that was fine. It wasn't like he had anyone to rush home to. Beth's husband apparently wasn't around much, or very helpful, so he could help make her life a little easier.

"You should have at least had her trade one of her morning clients with you."

"But then she would have to rush here after dropping Daniel off," he replied reasonably. He knew because there'd been times in the past when he'd taken an early morning client off her hands. "I like helping. It makes me feel good. And you do want me to feel good, right?"

Sandra was silent for a moment before she grumbled, "I hate it when you do that."

He grinned, still heading toward the front. He'd just felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, which meant Julie had probably texted him back, and he wanted to see what it said. Sandra couldn't follow him into the bathroom.

"Where are you going?"

"Bathroom."

She made another disgusted noise but peeled off. Connor didn't fool himself into thinking that was the end of it. She'd be back to bother him about his dating life and probably about being too nice again. He didn't mind. It was nice that she cared.

As he passed by the front desk, he waved to Aubrey and Beth, both of whom waved back. Aubrey gave him a look that made Connor think he agreed with Sandra about being too nice, but it really wasn't a problem.

He did need to let Julie know he'd have to move their date to seven, though.

Julie

Escorting her most recent patient out of her office, Julie smiled and waved before closing the door behind him and letting out a deep sigh. Not because of him, just because she was tired. It had been a long day, and she needed to call her mom back. She'd seen the call come through while she was making the next appointment for Tristan.

She hadn't talked to her parents since Saturday—five days ago—so she knew she wouldn't be able to put it off.

Granted, her mom hadn't reached out since then, either, probably waiting for Julie to cool off. Sometimes, Julie wondered if her mom thought Julie would forget everything if she let a few days pass, even though it had definitely never worked that way before. Just thinking about making the call had her feeling uncomfortable, but it was necessary.

If she didn't call back today, it would be even worse the next time they talked.

Sitting down at her desk, Julie closed her eyes and leaned back. Counting to four as she breathed in, she held the breath for another four beats, then slowly let it out as she counted to four again. As she did, she focused on trying to imagine the numbers in her head, clearing the rest of her mind as she calmed her nerves.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Four.

Good. Now, she didn't feel quite so jittery.

Box breathing didn't always help, but often it did. Taking a walk and doing it usually helped even more, but she only had fifteen minutes until her next client. It was probably a good time to call her mom back… after she wrote a few notes about her discussion with Tristan.

By the time she was done, there were only ten minutes until her next appointment, which was perfect. She had a good reason to keep the call short. If she waited until after this appointment, she'd have all evening to talk. It was better to do it now.

Listening to the phone ring, she wasn't sure whether she was hoping her mom would pick up so she could get the call over with or hoping her mom wouldn't pick up so she could just leave a message and feel like she'd done her duty. It ended up being a moot point after two rings.

"Hello?" It didn't matter that her mom had caller ID on her phone. She always answered as if she wasn't sure who would be on the other line.

"Hello, Mom." She did her best to keep her voice neutral and not to sound like she was bracing for her mom's response. "I saw you called and wanted to call you back. I only have a few minutes before my next appointment, though."

Her mom made hmphing noise but didn't protest.

"Your father and I want to meet your new… boyfriend." She said the word like it was dirty. "Bring him to the family cookout next weekend."

"What?" Julie froze. That was the last thing she'd expected to come out of her mother's mouth. An admonishment for the way she'd left, sure. A series of questions about Connor, absolutely at some point. But an invitation for him to come meet the family?

"This… man… he is important to you, yes? So he should come meet everyone. Unless, of course, he is not important to you." Or does not exist. There was more than a little challenge in her mother's words.

Either Connor was made up, or he wasn't actually important enough to invite to a family event. The problem was, Julie did think he was important… at least, he could be important. So much potential was there for something amazing between them. But her family could be a lot .

Especially the whole family. All at once.

With her parents there watching his every move and mentally comparing him to John.

Talk about pressure.

"His name is Connor. I can ask him, but it's kind of short notice. He might already have plans." If he was smart, he'd already have ‘plans.' Julie rubbed her forehead, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the desk. Just like her mom to know how to give her a headache in two minutes flat.

Her mom sniffed.

"John always made time for family."

"That is a complete rewrite of history," Julie said flatly. "Should I be worried about memory loss, Mom? Do I need to talk to your doctor?"

"Do not be disrespectful, Julie. No matter how old you are, I am still your mother," her mom scolded, neatly avoiding answering the question. Uh-huh. "If not this one, then the next one. Your aunties want to meet him, too."

"You told the aunts?" She didn't know why she was asking. Of course, her mom had told her sisters, Julie's aunts. Her entire family was terrifyingly codependent. Some small part of her had hoped her mom wouldn't tell the aunts, though, if only because it might break the illusion that she and John would one day get back together.

If her mom had told the aunts, that meant she was serious about meeting Connor as soon as possible, and she was gathering allies. Crap.

That also meant all of her cousins were going to know, too. If she didn't bring Connor, she'd be getting the full-court press.

"Of course, I told them." Her mom sniffed again. "This is the first man you've dated since John. At least, the first that you've felt was important enough to tell me about."

There was that word again. Julie's chest clenched.

Connor was important. Which was why she didn't want him chased off.

"I'll ask him if he can make it." And make sure he didn't feel too pressured, even though part of her wanted to panic at the idea of being surrounded by her nosy family, all asking questions about her new boyfriend. Especially her cousins. They were so nosy, they were probably already trying to find out who he was and look him up.

Maybe she shouldn't have told her mother his name. Just a first name was all her cousin Sandra needed most of the time. She was the reason Julie had so much of her social media on lockdown. That girl should be working for the FBI.

"Good. I won't take up any more of your time. We look forward to meeting this… Connor." Her mom really was good at making someone's name sound like a mortal insult.

Julie made a face as she hung up the phone, very aware that her mom had also acted like meeting him was a foregone conclusion. She still hadn't even told Connor that she'd told her parents about him. They hadn't discussed when that would happen. Or maybe it didn't need to be a discussion? Maybe he'd already told his parents about her.

Though, from what he'd said about his family, he probably hadn't flung the information at them like a slap after they'd sprung an ex on him. And she was pretty sure he hadn't been married before. She'd told him her parents were still friendly with her ex, but she hadn't really gone into detail.

Hopefully, their date on Friday didn't go off the rails. He'd already hesitated about going to Stronghold with her, which she tried not to be hurt by. It might not have even been hesitation. Maybe he'd just had to talk to someone. They had been texting while he was at work. Maybe the gap in response time hadn't been about that at all. There'd been another gap after that, an even longer one.

Though, he had made it pretty clear he didn't want to scene at Stronghold.

Not yet , she told herself sternly.

It wasn't anything personal to her. It was about him.

Yeah. Time to do some more box breathing before her next appointment. But at least the call with her mom was over. Now, she just had to face all the repercussions.