Page 57 of Secret Submission

It wasn’t until later that she realized the little things—like not letting her enjoy the movies she wanted to watch with him—were signs of bigger underlying problems.

There hadn’t been anything like that with Connor so far.

Connor

A long tentacle reached up out of the water, and then another… and another… and another… it wrapped around the boat as screams filled the air, the terrified occupants bumping into each other on their way to a watery doom.

“I thought this was a megalodon movie,” Asad said, frowning, looking up from his phone. “Why is there a kraken? Where did that come from? What did I miss?”

“Maybe it’s a megapus?” Q suggested. “You know, like sharktopus? We haven’t actually seen anything except the tentacles.”

They were all gathered on Connor’s couch, taking a guy’s day. So far, that meant eating food and watching a double feature of megalodon movies.

“This is nothing like the books,” Law muttered, then sighed. He’d been repeating that same complaint throughout most of the movie, though he seemed to be enjoying the utter ridiculousness. Apparently, the first movie followed the book more closely. Law raised his voice, even though he wasn’t seated that far away from Asad. “You’d know what was going on if you were actually watching instead of staring at your phone.”

“Hey, I enjoy bad shark movies—or bad megalodon movies—as much as the next person, but I don’t usually consider them movies you have to pay close attention to,” Asad countered. “I just…”

“He’s looking at strap-ons,” Connor said after leaning over to get a peek. They were easy to identify because he’d been looking at similar things recently. Not to buy, since he was sure Mistress Julie had her own, but just to get an idea of what was out there. He frowned. “Why are you looking at strap-ons?”

“Why shouldn’t he be?” Q asked. “Hold on.” Grabbing the remote, he paused the movie.

“Oh, yeah, because we don’t want to miss anything,” Law muttered again. He seemed to be taking the epic lack of science-based plotting in this particular movie very personally. “Then the movie might not make sense.” The sarcasm lacing his voice made Connor chuckle.

The movie already didn’t make a lot of sense, but he was enjoying it that way.

“I didn’t mean to make this a thing.” Asad dropped his phone in his lap, running his fingers through his dark hair as he lifted his head to look at the screen again, where it was frozen on people creeping through the island jungle. “Start the movie again.”

“No, no, which strap-ons were you looking at?” Q turned around from where he was sitting on the floor. “Maybe I can offer suggestions.”

“Are you getting a strap-on for Morgan?” Connor asked in surprise. Yeah, they’d talked about the whole pegging thing, but it wasn’t like he’d actually thought Asad would go through with it. Even if he didn’t like being left out of things.

“No, he’s not,” Law said firmly. “He’s just letting himself be influenced by Q.”

“No, he’s not,” Q argued back in an uncanny echo. “He’s interested in something, and you should support your friend in things that interest them, even if they don’t interest you.”

“I’m supporting him in not being unduly swayed just because one of his friends wants to make a club around a single sexual act.” Law glared at Q from where he was sitting in the corner of the sectional, crossing his arms over his chest.

It was the battle of the balds.

Somehow, Connor managed to keep a straight face when it popped into his head, which he was grateful for. He did not want to have to explain that thought to his friends. Neither of them was particularly sensitive about being bald—in fact, they teased each other about it constantly—but there were some undercurrents to this conversation that he couldn’t figure out, and he didn’t want to get in the middle of.

“Okay, well, while you guys are figuring out whether I actually want my girlfriend to peg me, I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Asad said, getting to his feet. “Might as well since the movie is paused.”

Q gave him a thumbs-up while Law sighed and uncrossed his arms. As soon as Asad was in the bathroom and out of earshot, Connor looked back and forth between the other two.

“What is going on?” he asked in a low voice. “Why do you both care so much whether or not Asad buys a strap-on?”

The other two looked at each other, guilt creeping into both their expressions.

“You can’t tell Asad…” Q kept his voice even lower than Connor had. “We made a bet.”

“You what?” His voice rose on the second word; he couldn’t help it. They were betting on whether Asad decided to be pegged? What the hell?

On the other hand, how very like them.

“Shh!” Law and Q shushed him at the same time.

“It’s harmless. He’ll make the decision on his own,” Law said, leaning toward them so his voice wouldn’t carry down the hall and through the door where Asad was.

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