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“It might be fun to go out,” Andrew said. “It would be like thumbing our noses at the ‘fake holiday’ you’re grumbling about.”

“It’s a sex club,” Annabel said. “Geared towards making all men happy. I’m not interested in looking at a bunch of skimpily dressed women.”

“It’s not all skimpy clad women,” Ryan said. “It says here there are dungeons and other activities in there.”

“We could check out what they have and see if we want to add to our own,” Andrew suggested.

Annabel didn’t want to go. She thought of men getting lap dances and women stripping for men. It felt demeaning to women. “If you want to go to a strip club, go.”

“It’s not a strip club,” Andrew replied. “It’s classy but they have themes. They did an Alice in Wonderland theme.”

“It’s fun and adult,” Ryan said. “Look. There’s a requirement everyone wears a mask. This will keep it anonymous. We dress up in black tie. We can bring a date or not.”

“No commitments,” Andrew glanced from Ryan to Annabel. “We could just go, see what it’s about, and go if you hate it.”

“It’s not my type of thing,” Annabel said. “You’re welcome to go if you want.”

“We want to go with you,” Ryan insisted.

“I appreciate that,” Annabel said. “It’s not my thing.”

“You haven’t been to this type of club before,” Andrew said. He saw her stiffen. She picked up the debris from making love in front of the fire. “Annabel?”

“Huh…” Annabel returned the dirty dishes to the kitchen. Ryan rose to help her but she shook her head.

“What?” Andrew asked.

“Every time a man has said that to me, it’s because I wasn’t doing what they wanted,” Annabel said. “In the past, I’d let them goad me into doing something I didn’t want to do.”

“We’re not trying to make you do something you don’t want to do,” Andrew said.

“Feels like it,” Annabel said. “I’m not interested. If you want to go, you’re adults and are perfectly able to go on your own. It’s three days away. Go. See if you can find someone you like better.”

“We’re not looking to find someone better. We already have who we want. We want to go out in public as a trio,” Ryan said.

“Out. Like people know the three of us are together,” Andrew said.

“We go out in public all the time,” Annabel said.

“As business associates,” Andrew reminded her. “You have every right to control the narrative of your life through your PR.”

“No one’s ever asked me to define our relationship,” Annabel said.

“How would you define our relationship,” Andrew pushed.

“We’re together,” Annabel said.

“For sex,” Andrew said. “You like bossing us around.”

“Is that what you think,” Annabel asked.

“He didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Ryan tried to sooth over the heated words.

“I’ve been clear. I’m not interested in another alphahole,” Annabel said.

“We’re not alphaholes,” Andrew bit back.

“Edging into one,” Annabel noted.

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