Page 46 of Bottoms Up
“N’awlins and Vegas,” Heather said with a smile. “What a fun vacation. Did you do any ghost tours?”
“I did a haunted museum thing,” Silver told her. “Creepy, but I don’t know about haunted.”
We chatted the whole way to Vegas, and then said our goodbyes when she dropped us off at the airport before returning to Chattanooga to her men.
“One of her men is my therapist,” Julian told me on the walk from the plane to the limo.
“Yeah, but Kirsten assures me he won’t have talked to Heather about us.”
“I didn’t figure he would, but it’s still a little weird.”
I wanted to steer away from difficult subjects, so I said, “I’m looking forward to spending time with Lauren, Gavin, and Nick.” I see them when they visit Homewood, but it would be good to spend time with them in their city — to see where they live, meet their people.
He nodded. “I have a gift Kirsten gave me, something appropriate to give Gavin as a gift — a framed picture of Lauren as a child, before Kirsten adopted her.”
“And you gave expensive whiskey to Augustus. Does Marco get gifts from all the vampires who visit Chattanooga?”
“He has someone who acts as host to them, or he’d never get anything done, but yeah, there’s a storage area with all the gifts Marco doesn’t want. It’s where I got the whiskey to give Augustus. Really important people, Marco has to make time to greet them and sometimes spend an evening with them. Augustus is more of a friend, so Marco sees him personally.”
“Which means Augustus and Blaze had to see us personally?”
“Oh, no. They saw us because Blaze wanted to meet you. Had nothing to do with me.”
The limo pulled us up to the front of an impressive building, apalaceindeed. A doorman opened our door, and Lauren greeted us. “Welcome to Vegas, and to the Universal Palace Hotel and Casino. It’ll be easiest for us to go straight to thetheater from here. I have your room keys I can give you now, and I’ve assigned a bellhop I trust to get your bags to your room.”
“Of course,” I told her. We climbed out of our car, watched as a bellhop piled our bags on a cart, and then followed Lauren to another limo.
Once we were all inside and moving, Lauren said, “Sorry to have to rush like that. I thought we’d have thirty minutes to get you settled before we had to leave for the theater, but I’m told the talent is being a diva. Not the first time I’ve had to intervene for the traveling tours.” She glanced at Silver. “Present company not included. Your team was mega professional.”
“Good to hear, but I have absolutely nothing to do with that. Will and his people handle all the organizing. I just have to show up and play guitar.”
“We all know there’s more to it than that,” I said.
“We do,” Lauren said. “Security will get you to our private box. Gavin will try to show up sometime during the latter part of the show. Nick is dealing with a problem in Laughlin, and he isn’t likely to be back in time. I should be with you for the start of the show, but if I’m not, it shouldn’t be long after the start.”
As promised, we were taken to a luxurious box, hanging from the balcony, dead center of the stage. Plush chairs, floor-length curtains, cold drinks already waiting. I sat in one of the chairs, and Silver curled into my lap, facing me, her legs tucked around mine like she used to.Before.
“Serious talk?”
I nodded, bracing.
“Other than both of us playing with Billy when you fed before we left, we haven’t had sex since your test — I mean, not with each other.”
No, because I’d ordered him to go down on her while I’d fucked his ass, and told him he wasn’t getting relief until she’dhad seven orgasms, and if he didn’t do a good enough job, he wouldn’t be allowed to orgasm at all.
I’d taken charge of Billy, and I’d seen to Silver’s pleasure, but I hadn’t taken charge of Silver yet, not since I was free.My own man.It had to happen, and the sooner the better, but it hadn’t felt right, yet, when we were home.
And now, even with the oath behind me and more power than I’d expected pulsing through my veins, something still felt fragile. Like we were waiting for the moment to click back into place — except the moment keptnot coming.
“We weren’t exactly in bed together in the nights leading up to us leaving, and then I thought it might happen in New Orleans,” I told her, trying to figure out how to explain without it sounding like an excuse. “I even thought you might be getting tipsy to help things along, but then you got completely drunk and passed out, which was fine — I had a blast with you last night, exploring at least half the bars in the French Quarter.”
I kissed her forehead. “We needed that, last night. Bonding and having fun together.”
She leaned into me, her head on my chest. “It’s possible I did that to sidestep the awkwardness. Maybe. I don’t know. I didn’t think so at the time, but if I was still seeing a therapist, that’s what they’d probably say.”
I rubbed her back. Kissed the top of her head. “So what do we do to keep it from being awkward?” Because she wouldn’t have brought it up if she didn’t have a solution. I know my Silver.
“I asked Lauren, earlier, if we could have the use of one of their dungeon rooms. She said we could use the playroom on the top floor, in their private area. I propose we use it with the same rules we did…before. So I take my clothes off right inside the door, and you’re in control until we leave the room. Same rules we had before Marco changed the rules on it.”
