Chapter Five

Just as I was getting into bed my phone notified me of an incoming email. I checked to see if it was the one I was expecting.

Here you are. Accounting info from the past twelve months.

And the link to the video we watched earlier. Just in case you want to watch it again.

I had actually tried to find the video, but without success. So I'd pulled up one of my favorites, in which the bottom was cuffed and blindfolded and the top kept him in a state of arousal for a long time before letting him climax, and jerked off to it, coming right when the bottom was allowed to.

Now I clicked on the link Vihaal had sent, and felt my desire return in no time.

I'd known at least a year ago that I was into men, as well as women. But I hadn't had the time to explore that discovery. And maybe I'd been in denial, thinking that all I liked was a different kind of porn. That maybe it was the novelty of it, and the theater of seeing two burly men going at it.

It had taken another month or two to realize I hadn't watched a straight porn video in a long, long time.

* * * *

Over the next few days, my thoughts kept returning to the two men who had put my body and mind into a whirlwind of desire and curiosity. They reminded me of Jacob and Sebastian, who were also married but seemed to have a more traditional idea of what that meant, even though they ran a kink club together.

Vihaal and Gideon were different, although they had the same sense of respect and care for each other. But there was something else. I was eager to find out more about the power dynamic between them—the way that Gideon seemed to defer to Vihaal much of the time, and that Vihaal had a natural sense of authority that I could sense when we were together.

It was obvious from things that Gideon had said— V does nasty things to me and I fucking love every minute of it —that the two men were kinky, with Vihaal being the Dominant. I wondered how it would feel to give over to someone in that way, to let them control and subdue me. I got hard just thinking about it.

Vihaal was a flesh-and-blood man who liked to control and dominate his partner. It was obvious now that he might want to do the same to me. The very thought of it caused my body to ignite like nothing I'd ever experienced before, and I had to do something else to take my mind off imagining the three of us together in a room and what that might involve.

So I'd started going over the financials that Vihaal had sent. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, everything looked fairly standard and well-documented. But I began to notice repeating vendor invoices for a company called Divine Treasures. Generally for small amounts—under five hundred dollars—except for a few that were bigger.

One invoice was for close to four thousand dollars.

The smaller invoices listed items such as fine linens, bedding, pillow cases. The big invoice was for ‘Various furnitures' which seemed a little vague for such a large purchase. All the other invoices for amounts over one thousand dollars contained very specific descriptions like ‘Vintage Victorian escritoire, circa 1854', or ‘Genuine marble bathroom fixtures, seventeenth century Italy'. It seemed odd to me that ‘various furnitures' would describe such a large purchase.

I found another invoice for Divine Treasures, for the exact same amount, again for ‘Various furnitures'. It seemed strange that Tarnish would purchase a different collection of furniture from Divine Treasures for the same price, but it was possible they had a contract to buy a certain amount of small antiques in bulk from the company.

I flagged these items, just in case. It was most likely legitimate, but Gideon particularly had asked me to check for strange invoicing errors or suspicious activities, and I wasn't going to let it go without an inquiry.

Everything else seemed straightforward, with detailed descriptions. The accounts lined up fine. It took me about five days to go through everything then another half day to write a detailed report outlining what I'd looked at and what the results had been.

I sent it in an email to Vihaal and received a prompt reply thanking me and saying that he'd have a look at my results in more detail on the weekend. It was very professional and he made no mention of our get together, or asked if I'd gone to the link he'd sent. Maybe he was busy, but it felt a bit cold after everything, and since it had been so long since we'd seen each other.

"Maybe I should call," I said to Toff. "Do you think I should call?"

He batted his spring toy and yawned, then flopped on the floor.

"Thanks. You're a big help."

It was very possible that they were waiting for me to make the next move.

I opened Vihaal's contact info on my phone. Then I stared at it for a few minutes, wondering what to say. How did you tell two super-hot men that, yes, you were interested in having sex—quite possibly, very kinky sex—with both of them? That you had decided to make the leap out of default heterosexuality into a bisexual wonderland through which you were expecting them to guide you?

I took a deep breath and hit Call.

Anxiety combined with horniness to make me restless as I waited for Vihaal to answer. Or for the call to go to voicemail, and what would I do then?

"Hi, Vihaal, just calling to let you know if you want to take me to the Bordello the next time you go, I'm down. Okay? Call me back."

Huh. I really hoped he answered.

"Hello, Angel."

I was not prepared for the way my body reacted to those deep, confident tones.

"Vihaal," I said, lost for words. "Hi."

"Hi," he repeated and I could tell he was smiling. "I'm so glad you called."

"Oh. Well, good. I'm glad I called, too."

Silence.

Say something, say something.

"Uh, so…I was wondering if…" I laughed nervously, standing up to go look out of the window. "I mean, I just wanted to say…oh my God. Fuck, this is so awkward."

"Shall I make it easy for you?"

"I'd love for you to try."

"Gideon and I want to fuck you."

I inhaled a sharp breath. "Jesus Christ."

"No, just us. He's not invited."

"Hardy har. You're hilarious," I said, my head spinning.

"And you're a beautiful, wonderful man. And we want more of you. If," he said, "that aligns with your wants." He waited a few beats. "Does it, Angel?"

"Yes. Fuck yes," I said, then realized what I'd agreed to. "I don't know about the… I'm not quite ready for…you know, this is all very…"

"When I say we want to fuck you, that doesn't necessarily mean intercourse."

"Oh. It doesn't?" I asked, an inflection of disappointment in my voice.

There was a chuckle. "Well, it can. But it can mean so much more."

"More?" I whispered, feeling shivers and shudders all over.

"Mmm. I'm thinking about more right now."

"Yeah, me too." I swallowed. "Do you mean the kinky stuff?"

Another beat.

"Do you want me to mean the kinky stuff?"

"Yes."

"Then, yes, I mean the kinky stuff."

"Holy fuck," I said.

He laughed. "I'm thrilled by how you're reacting to this conversation."

"Vihaal…"

"Yes, Angel?"

"I've never…this is all going to be completely new to me. I'm going to need you to…" I swallowed again. "Start slowly."

He chuckled. "Oh, my darling. I'm very good at drawing things out, don't worry."

I thought about the video I'd watched with the Dom who had teased his submissive for so long and my mouth went dry.

"Fuck."

"Look, Gideon and I have a session booked in the Bordello on Friday…"

"Yes," I said.

"Pardon?"

"I want to go with you."

"Why don't you join us in the gaming parlor. We can have a drink and discuss…everything."

"You don't want me to come to the Bordello?"

"Angel. Of course I do. But I'm not sure you're quite ready for all of that. You just asked me to go slow."

I had asked him to go slow. What the fuck was wrong with me?

"Yes. You're right. Drinks in the gaming parlor sounds great. I'd love to."

"Excellent."

"Except. Fuck," I said, remembering that my car was out of commission.

"Hmm?"

"My car's in the shop and it might not be ready this week."

"That's fine. We'll come and get you. Text me your address. And, Angel?"

"Yes?"

" I. Can't. Wait. "

* * * *

I couldn't stop thinking about Friday, but I didn't know what to wear.

I didn't own anything particularly fancy, besides a few business suits. My fashion tended to be on the conservative side, although now that I was stretching the definition of my sexuality, it might be time to expand my wardrobe. Except I didn't know where to begin and it was too late to find anything for tonight.

The men who went to Maverick Molly's tended to dress well. Probably because it was supposed to be a Victorian gaming parlor, and harkened back to a time when people of a certain social class dressed up to go anywhere.

Surely I could dress myself. But I'd been standing and staring at my closet for much too long, thinking everything I had was too plain for a night out at Maverick Molly's. Why hadn't I realized this sooner than the day of? Although, without my car, I wouldn't have been able to go shopping anyway.

I started pulling things out of my closet and trying to figure out what might go with what. I didn't realize the time until I got a notification and a text.

It's Gideon. We're outside. Are you ready?

I was standing in front of my closet in my boxer briefs and a button-up shirt that I hadn't fully committed to. I texted back.

Sorry, I'm not ready. I don't have anything to wear. Can you help?

A reply came soon after.

Of course!

When I opened the door, a cold blast of air came in with Gideon, who looked me up and down and grinned.

"Hello!" he said, gaze zeroing in on my lower half, where the cool air from outside raised goosebumps. "I see you've got a start."

I gazed down at my state of undress.

"Oh, fuck. Sorry," I muttered, closing the door behind him.

"No, no, don't apologize. I'd suggest you wear that to Molly's but I wouldn't be able to keep the other men off of you," he said, taking off his blue cashmere coat and hanging it on one of the hooks by the door. "Or Vihaal, for that matter."

The cats had come to see what all the hullabaloo was about.

"Oh my gosh! Your kitties! That must be Mr. Mistoffelees," Gideon said, nodding at the correct cat, who took up a spot on the half wall to observe him with disdain.

"Yes. And this is Rummy," I said, leaning down and picking up my sweet girl, who purred and regarded Gideon with curiosity.

"She's soooo pretty! And Mr. Toff is such a gentleman!" He glanced at his surroundings. "This is such a cute place!"

"Thanks."

He kicked off his boots and stepped inside, reaching out to let Rummy sniff his fingers, then giving her a gentle tickle on her head. She made a little mewl, which was a sign of her approval.

"Vihaal doesn't have to sit in the car. He can come inside…"

"Oh, he's fine. He's listening to the radio," Gideon said, fluttering his fingers in the air. "Some classical concert, I don't know. Anyway, he knows that when it comes to fashion choices, it's best to let me work alone."

I put Rummy down.

Gideon clapped his hands together. "Where's your closet?"

I took him upstairs.

After perusing the minimal amount of clothing in my closet, he turned to me. "Oh, sweetheart. You need to buy more clothes."

His use of the endearment gave me a soft, safe feeling.

"Clearly."

"Okay. Let's see what we can figure out." He pulled a pair of dark gray suit pants out of my closet. "We'll start with these. Do you have T-shirts?"

"Yes. Here," I said. Rummy jumped up on the dresser and meowed.

"Oh, look, she likes me!" Gideon exclaimed, obviously thrilled. He leaned down to her level. "Don't you, sweet thing? You think I'm all right."

"Of course she does. You're wonderful."

He blinked at me. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

I smiled, and at the look in his eyes, I simply wanted to get going.

"Should I wear a suit?"

He frowned. "Oh no. No. A suit would be all wrong. At least, a business suit would. Do you have any, like, fancy suits?"

"Uh. Nope," I said.

"Hmm." He rifled through one of my drawers and pulled out a black turtleneck. "This is perfect."

"Really? For a club?" I'd always thought of turtlenecks as things to wear at home, when you were cold.

"Are you going to argue with me, Angel?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Fuck no. You know more about fashion than I do."

He grinned. "Oh, we are going to get along just fine!"

He looked me over like I was a tasty snack.

"Right then. I'm going to go downstairs." He stepped closer and gave me a look like he wanted to eat me. "Get dressed, and come along."

After he'd left me alone, it was as if a summer storm had suddenly died. The air still crackled with his presence. I changed my shirt and put on the dark gray pants, using a black belt Gideon had selected, and looked in the mirror.

Holy shit. I looked like someone else. But I also felt more myself than ever.