Page 30 of The Laughing Game

“Of course. I’ll just text Sebastian. He’s in the office.”

“I’ve not met you before,” Vihaal said. “I’m Vihaal Petrovsky and this is Angel Barnett. The young man at our table is Gideon Foster. Vihaal and I are already members, and Angel would like to sign up.”

They extended a hand to us. “I’m Darya. My pronouns are she/her.”

“Excellent. He/him,” Vihaal said. “Angel?”

“He/him,” I said. “Thanks.”

“Wonderful. Give me one moment and I’ll have Sebastian come and get you sorted,” Darya said, picking up her phone from under the bar and tapping its surface.

It wasn’t long before Sebastian came into the gaming parlor and walked over to us. His eyes went wide when he saw me standing with Vihaal.

“Well, well, well. You look great, Angel. Wait, is that…eyeliner?” he asked, squinting.

“Maybe,” I said, grinning.

He laughed. “Super-hot! I love it.”

“Gideon convinced me to give it a try.”

“Well, it works.” He turned to Vihaal. “I see you finally convinced Angel to check out the parlor. Where’s Gideon?”

“Over there,” Vihaal replied. “Seems to be entranced by whichever molly boy is speaking to him at the moment.”

Sebastian looked over at our table.

“Oh, that’s Toby. He has a way of entrancing pretty much everyone,” he said, returning his gaze to Vihaal. “What can I do for you?”

“Gideon and I decided we wanted some voyeuristic company in the Bordello this evening. And Angel here seems willing to indulge our taste for exhibitionism.”

I looked at the floor, but I couldn’t help smiling. Talk about going from zero to one hundred. I glanced at Sebastian.

“You fucking liar,” he said, glaring at me with mock irritation. Then he raised the timbre of his voice in a way that sounded nothing like me—I hope. “Oh, I’m straight, Sebastian. We’re just friends. They took me out to dinner. Wait, have they been trying toseduce me?” He put his hand to his chest in mock surprise, then laughed gleefully.

I narrowed my eyes as Vihaal gazed on with much amusement.

“Very funny,” I said. “I don’t sound like that. And that isn’t what I said.”

“That’s pretty muchexactlywhat you said.” Sebastian held up his hands. “Never mind. I’m glad things have moved forward. It’s about fucking time.”

“Yes,” Vihaal agreed. “Gideon and I are thrilled.”

“All right, all right. So, I’m curious,” I said, shrugging.

Sebastian lifted his hands. “Hey, you don’t have to explain it to me.”

I filled out and signed some electronic documents, then a card was printed for me.

“Thank you,” I said. “I can cover the cost of my membership.”

“Nonsense,” Vihaal dismissed me with a wave. “I’m happy to do it. It’s on my account, yes, but you can come here on your own or with someone else.”

“Whoa, whoa,” I said, staring at him in shock. “I’m not gonna come with anyone else.”

“What I mean is, there are no restrictions. And if we were to, God forbid, come to a disagreement, it’s very easy for Sebastian to take it off my account and create a separate account for you. Isn’t that right, Sebastian?”

“Yep. Simple as anything.”

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