Page 36 of A Little Discovery

He hands me a tablet pre-loaded with forms for me to read over and sign. While I look them over, Spencer answers his questions.

“He goes by Lucky and I’ll show him around. Don’t worry about finding a replacement for the desk or a tour guide, C,” he says. He shoos the others into the club proper telling them, “Lucky and I will wait for Toby. I got his gear with me here. We’ll join you in a little bit.”

Shiloh hesitates, but Scott and Jace manage to nudge him through the doors into the club.

Teddy, or Theodore, shakes his head. “Kitten still needs his emotional support puppy, doesn’t he?” he mutters.

“He’s getting better,” Spencer replies as I hand over the tablet with my signatures.

Clarence raises his eyebrows and shoots a glance between me and the man talking to the bouncer but doesn’t say anything. I nod. Where it asked about area of interest, I filled out that I think I am a little. Where it asked about relationship status, I wrote in “Single but hoping that changes tonight.” I haven’t told anyone about my feelings for Spencer yet, but I couldn’t help it. I needsomeoneto know that it isn’t just spur of the moment.

The man behind the desk gives me an encouraging smile right before the doors fly open to reveal our eager puppy.

“Sorry I’m late,” he gasps out. “My driver refused to stop when he saw what the address was. He tried to lecture me on the dangers of places like this and I had to get out at the bar and walk it.”

I can feel the anger rolling off all three men in front of me and it scares me a smidge. I wouldn’t want to be that driver right about now…

Toby waves off their concern as he stands back up to his full height and laughs. “It’s not that big of a deal. You know me. I always have energy to burn.”

SPENCER

Part of me wants to run out and hunt down the asshole driver that abandoned our pup on the side of the road just because his destination was a kink club. But one look at Lucky’s face makes me tone down my anger. Clarence follows my gaze and quells his own rage enough to where it is only visible to those who know what to look for with him.

Theo needs the slap Clarence lands on his chest for him to snap out of it. The big man looks more apologetic than he did when he was talking about using the restroom earlier.

“It doesn’t matter if you have the energy,” Clarence admonishes Toby, coming out from behind the desk to bop him on his nose. “It’s not right to leave a cute pup like yourself on the side of the road. Nor is it right for a pup to be walking along the side of a busy highway for a quarter mile on a barely six foot wide shoulder.”

I walk over next to them and grasp Toby’s shoulder. “There is a reason we walk through the woods and not along the road even though it might be faster. The highway isn’t safe to walk, especially alone.”

The pup hangs his head and whimpers out an apology. I can’t take him being sad, so I thrust his bag of gear into his arms.

“Let’s go to the changing room so we can introduce Lucky to the Devil’s Club and all the fun inside, alright?”

The rest of us laugh as Toby immediately perks up and starts bouncing and skipping his way to the doors into the club. I just hope this isn’t too much for my boy. Even if the club isn’t for him, I hope this doesn’t make him want to run away again.

After getting Toby decked out in his “public wear” gear, we head into the central area of the club. The owner set the place up with a lounge area toward the front of the building where if anyone somehow managed to get a look through the one way mirrored windows, they would only see some scantily clad people hanging out.

There is a bar, but due to the nature of the business, only non-alcoholic drinks are served here. If people want alcohol, they are directed up to Mac’s up the road. The owners here have a great deal going with Eli for that one. Jace and the bartenders here, Ash and Sam, swap recipes for drinks all of the time. Plus, they will fill in at Mac’s and vice versa when people need extra time off.

After about an hour of hanging out in the lounge, the guys start to split off to the various rooms. Shiloh and Toby head to the pet playroom. Toby will either find another pup to wrestle with or he’ll run around the obstacle course until he’s worn out. Shiloh usually curls up on a bean bag chair to watch. Usually, I go withthem to make sure Shiloh isn’t approached by anyone we don’t know, but Eric follows them this time.

“Give the baby boy the grand tour, Daddy Spence,” he waves me off. “One of you will relieve me in a little bit so I can have my own fun. Besides, with my nemesis out front, I have no one to show off in front of for a while.”

Eli slips into the impact-play room while Jace heads to the bar to talk to Sam and the new guy. Scott looks torn between following Jace and going off on his own, so Jay puts him in a headlock to give him a noogie.

“Hey! What’s that for?” Scott grumbles when he gets free.

Jay shrugs and asks, “You going to the playroom, or do you have a need to top tonight?”

Scott adjusts his glasses and harumphs before stomping off toward the playroom designed for the age players.

“Play it is,” Jay chuckles as he casually strolls after our moody middle boy.

Turning back to Lucky, I notice his attention is fixed on someone across the room. Following his gaze, I notice Judge Roberts with a woman his age next to him on a sofa near the windows. Lucky doesn’t look happy to see him here, and I don’t want this to be what puts him off of discovering more about himself. I’m about to suggest we head to the playroom ourselves when the man spots us. He says something to the woman next to him before he gets up to head our way.

Lucky tenses beside me, but his face empties of all emotion. I haven’t seen this look on his face before, and it almost scares me. Is this how he lived, hiding everything from everyone? My heartbreaks a little more for what he suffered before finding us.

“Spencer Wright!” the judge greets me warmly before turning to the man next to me. “And this must be Lucky. Your grandfather speaks very highly of you, young man.”

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