Page 14 of His Middle

Sawyer moved closer then placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry you’ve been struggling so hard on your own. But I promise I won’t leave until you’re feeling sure of yourself and have a solid plan to move forward. Plus, I’ll always be a phone call away if you run into any problems, all right?”

Noah peered up at Sawyer. “Yeah?”

Sawyer’s warm smile beamed back at him. “Absolutely.” He removed his hand from Noah’s shoulder and made a fist. His pinkie finger poked out. “Pinkie swear.”

Noah chuckled. How did Sawyer do it? His heart instantly lightened.

“Pinkie swear.” He hooked his finger with Sawyer’s.

After a quick shake, Sawyer let go then gestured to the hallway. “Shall we continue with the grand tour?”

Noah grinned. “Follow me.”

They arrived at the first of the smaller rooms and Noah flipped on the light switch. “This is the underwater room. Sort of aFinding Nemokind of feel.”

Sawyer gazed around the room, his jaw slack. “I’ll say. This is incredible.” He regarded Noah. “I’ve never been in any of the party rooms before.” Sawyer gestured to the wall murals. “Did you do these?”

Noah’s cheeks went hot. “Well, I sketched it out. But my dad and Arlen helped with the painting.”

Sawyer shook his head. “You have a real talent.” He stepped closer to the coral reef wall. “The detail is fantastic. The clown fish, angel fish, seahorses… I love all the color.” He straightened with a grin. “I’m not sure which wall I love the most.” He pointed to the wall at his left. “The sharks.” Then the right. “Or the mermen.”

Noah’s face hurt from grinning so hard. “Check it out. It does the same thing as the main room when you turn on the black light.”

Noah adjusted the lighting and Sawyer’s jaw fell open again.

“That’s gorgeous.”

“Now watch this.”

Noah flipped another switch and a blue, wavy light shone across the wall, undulating around the room as if the images were alive beneath moving water.

Sawyer gasped then turned to him with a smile. “Is this all you as well?”

Noah ducked his head, overwhelmed by the praise and Sawyer’s obvious admiration.

“Well, my idea to add them to the room. I found all these cool light projectors online when I was searching for Halloween decorations one year, and I thought how awesome they’d be for the party rooms. Wait till you see the galaxy room.”

Sawyer’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?” He grinned. “I need to see that now.”

Noah shut off the lights in the undersea room then led Sawyer to the other smaller one. They were still fifteen by twenty spaces, but the larger one was twenty by thirty. They’d needed the extra square footage to accommodate the play accessories.

Once they reached the galaxy room, Noah went straight for the special effects. All four walls were painted as if you were floating in outer space. Of course, Noah had added his own special touches such as alien space craft and shooting stars to go along with the requisite planets.

Sawyer’s mouth was once again agape as he stood in the center of the room and whirled around as if not sure where to let his gaze land.

“Holy…” He turned to Noah. “I’m running out of words to express how fantastic this is.” Sawyer shook his head. “Do you advertise these spaces? I mean, not only as part of the club overall, but these actual rooms?” Sawyer rubbed his chin as he went back to staring at each wall. “Because these should be booked all the time. You could be making bank.”

Noah turned on the regular lighting. “We have a standing ad in the local entertainment weekly that mentions the themed party rooms. And we have the same ads on some kink sites and kink travel sites. Not specifically, but they all mention they’re in the club. I’d have to check, but they get booked regularly. I’d say around a few times a month.”

Sawyer pressed his lips together. “Not anywhere near enough. What about play dates?”

Noah scratched his head. “Well, we have the scene rooms upstairs, but we don’t allow more than two couples, or a throuple in there at a time. The spaces are a lot smaller. We basically save these for special events.”

“I’ve used those scene rooms and they’re very nice.” Sawyer waved his hand around. “But they’re too small for a real play date with a group of littles or middles, and they aren’t anywhere near as amazing as this.” Sawyer narrowed his eyes as if in deep concentration. “And if I remember correctly, only bottles and sippy cups with juices are allowed in those rooms. No food or snacks.”

Noah nodded. “Yeah. That’s why we have the eating area downstairs.”

Sawyer regarded him intently. “You’re leaving a lot of money on the table, Noah. You could be offering members a special play date package at a reasonable fee that would include little extras like a packed lunch or selected snacks, same as you would for a party. I’m sure we could come up with some other amenities, like craft time or the like, that could be added on. We could make up a brochure with photos of the rooms, something separate from the general club ad. That way, the members would see the value in an additional payment beyond their membership fee.”

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