Page 17 of Secret Submission

Iris stopped dancing, pulling away slightly from the hug, though she still kept her arms around Connor. Well, as much as she could, considering he was too big for her to be able to reach fully around him, even when she was snuggled up against him.

“Yes.” Connor braced himself, but Law just stared at him.

His nostrils flared.

“Oooh, he’s super mad,” Iris said, though she didn’t sound scared. If anything, she was taunting her boyfriend. “His nostrils only do that when he’s super mad.”

Law’s angry gaze flipped to her, and Connor immediately shifted so he was slightly in front of her. Not that he thought Law would really hurt her, and he was pretty sure she was trying to draw her Dom’s ire away from him, but he didn’t need her to protect him. Subs stuck together, and she was trying to help, but he’d feel awful if she took a metaphorical hit meant for him.

“It’s not a secret anymore, though, since she knows. And now, you know. And probably by tomorrow, everyone else will know since she told Olivia and Camille today, which means Freddy and Luke will know soon, too, if they don’t already.”

“Also, because Sam is texting all her friends right now,” Q said dryly, interjecting and giving Connor a moment to take a breath. Once the words had started coming out, they had been surprisingly hard to stop.

“I am not! I mean, I am, but not about this.” Sam looked up from where she was seated at the kitchen table, phone in her hand. “Noelle and Master Damian broke up. That’s all that’s being talked about, I swear. Though if I could tell them that I know who the secret admirer is, it might help to cheer her up to be one of the first to know.”

“Sure, go for it,” Connor said tiredly, waving his hand. At this point, the more people who knew already, the fewer people he had to tell himself. They could get it all talked out among themselves without talking to him about it, hopefully. The less he had to talk about it, the happier he’d be.

It was too much to hope that everyone would completely leave him and Julie alone, but he’d prefer not to have to answer questions. Plus, if it cheered someone up, great. Noelle could be difficult at the best of times, though he knew he was a little biased since when she was making difficulties, it was usually for Iris. There were plenty of people in the club who didn’t have a problem with her, and she’d been doing a bang-up job of painting Iris in a bad light with those people.

He gave Iris a little squeeze, knowing it would be difficult to hear about Noelle. She completely respected that Sam was friends with her ex-friend and never complained about it, but he knew it made her antsy. Noelle had been a pretty shitty friend, from what he understood, and after joining Marquis, she’d done her best to make it appear the opposite. Recently, she’d even accused Iris and her friends of bullying her because they were ignoring her… which apparently, in her mind, they weren’t allowed to do.

He knew part of the reason his brain was getting sidetracked with Iris’ issues was because it was so much easier than focusing on his own.

Like the way Law had gone back to glaring at him.

“Why didn’t you just tell us?” Law asked, sounding affronted.

Connor blinked. Maybe Law hadn’t realized that he’d used things Law had told him to know when to send the gifts yet. That’s what he expected Law to be the most upset about.

“That I was her secret admirer? I wasn’t sure how you’d react. You seemed pissed that she had one.” For a little while, he’d almost wondered if Law had a thing for Julie himself, but that hadn’t fit. Eventually, he’d realized Law was just being really protective, but since Connor knew who the secret admirer was and that Julie was in no danger, it had been kind of fun watching Law fuming every time she’d gotten a gift.

There was no way in hell he was going to admit that to Law, though.

“That you had a… crush on her.” Law stared at Connor like he was the one making no sense.

Connor was having a little trouble following Law’s conversation leaps.

“Julie and Connor, sitting in a tree,” Asad started singing.

“Morgan, can you shut him up?” Law tossed a piece of pepper at her as he spoke.

She caught it smoothly and shoved it in Asad’s mouth. He grinned, crunching down on it but also catching her wrist in his hand and holding her fingers in front of his mouth for him to nip at once the pepper was in his mouth.

Law was already hyperfocused back on Connor again.

“Why didn’t you just tell us you were the secret admirer so I wouldn’t be so worried?”

Oh. Right. That made sense.

“Because I wasn’t sure how you’d take knowing that I’m a sub.” There, he’d said it, out loud, to the people most important to him. No ‘think.’ No hedging. He’d said he was a sub. And it felt scary and good at the same time. It felt right.

“Why would I care that you’re a sub?” Law threw his hands up in the air, one of them coming down to scrub over his bald head in frustration. “I mean, of course, I care because I care about you, but not in a bad way.”

“Is it because everyone thought you were a Dom?” Q asked, his voice full of sympathetic understanding. Connor nodded, relieved that one of them got it. He should have realized Q would get it first—after all, he’d thought he was a Dom at first, then realized he was a switch. Of course, being a switch meant he was both. People hadn’t been completely wrong about him like they were with Connor.

“I… I didn’t want to tell you that you were wrong.” He snuck a peek at Law. It was hard to tell what the other man was thinking. “Or that I wasn’t like you. Or that I wasn’t the person you thought I was.”

“Oh, buddy, you’re still the guy we thought you were.” Asad released his hold on Morgan, coming over to nudge Iris out of the way. She went willingly, though she stood off to the side, looking over at Law, appearing to be ready to jump back to Connor’s side if she felt it was necessary.

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