Page 76 of Gratification in Gluttony

Neither confirming nor denying, Willow simply waggled her head and smiled, sharing a knowing look with Glyma. Zef’s brows drew down, like they were deep in thought.

“Kink is not inherently sexual,” they finally said. “I watched a fascinating documentary about bondage a few years ago, and so many participants agreed that, while it deepened intimacy, it did not always have sensual connotations.”

“It’s true,” Glyma agreed readily. “I had a friend in university who enjoyed rigging, and she practiced on me a few times. But it was never sexual for either of us. I did feel closer to her though.”

Willow sliced human mint leaves to garnish her tarts. “That makes sense. It takes a level of trust and connection to be that vulnerable. Depending on how they tie, you can be left entirely incapacitated. Intimacy seems like a natural outcome.”

“It is an artform to be sure,” Zef said. “The elegance of the knotwork and the patterns left on the skin. It can be very aesthetically pleasing.”

“I got tied up once,” Toni chimed in. “Though that was for sex. Handcuffs. Not much elegance there.”

“Did you enjoy being immobilized?” Zef asked curiously.

Toni thought about it. “I mean, I wasn’t entirely, like, trapped. I was still a very active participant. I just couldn’t use my hands.My jaw was very tired by the end of it. She rode my face for, like, an hour.”

“I love when Quin rides my face,” Glyma said dreamily.

“I would like to change the subject now,” Zef said.

The kitchen doors opened, and Gem walked in, stopping short when he spotted Toni. “There you are! Did you come in the back?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the employee entrance?”

Gem frowned. “But you always use the front door.”

“What is this? An interrogation?”

Toni hadn’t meant for it to come out as harsh as it did, especially when Gem flinched. “No, I just thought maybe you’d called in sick or something. And I haven’t heard from you all weekend, so I was worried, I guess.”

“Don’t gotta worry about me, Gemmy. I was just busy,” Toni dismissed casually.

“Right,” Gem whispered, glancing down at his hands for a moment before he seemed to shake off whatever weird vibe he was putting out. He smiled widely and gestured toward the front. “I’ll just get back then.”

As Gem disappeared back through the doors, Toni refocused on cutting the dried hunlet for their most popular selling sandwich. The kitchen was silent for several long seconds, and he paused in his chopping, looking up to find Glyma, Willow, and Zef staring at him.

“What?” he asked, and all three turned back to their own activities.

“Nothing,” Glyma said in the way Toni’s sisters had always saidnothing. When it really was something, but he never knew what.

Later, with only two hours left on his shift, Toni finished his last tasks in the kitchen before joining Gem behind the counter. The Araknis was cleaning the espresso machine, hands and eyes multitasking in a way that always amazed Toni. But Gem was always multitasking in some form or another. His brain needed that kind of stimulation or else he’d get jumpy and fidgety and borderline manic.

Toni was the opposite. He’d fixate, sometimes so narrowly that the rest of the world and responsibilities would fade away. He’d gotten himself in trouble a time or two because his laser-focus would shut out everything else, to his detriment. Or the detriment of others.

“Hey,” he said as he hopped onto the back counter.

“Hey,” Gem said without turning to look at him, hands moving almost too quick to track.

“You okay?”

“Mhm.”

Toni frowned, stretching out a leg to nudge Gem’s ass with the tip of his boot. “Hey.”

With a huff, Gem straightened and turned around. “What? I’m busy.”

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