Page 11 of Masked Indulgence
Giving Gannon one minute to do anything was a stretch. He was a thinker, not a shoot from the hip kind of guy. “What?” He looked back and forth at August and me with a look of panic on his face. “I’m not that creative. You guysare.”
I looked at my watch then back at Gannon. “You’re wasting time,Gannon.”
August looked at his watch too. “The time is ticking away. Thirty seconds, Gannon, or we’re sticking with ClubX.”
“No! Wait—give me one more minute. I’m terrible under pressure.” Gannon pinched the bridge of his nose, looking as if he had to use all of his concentration to get a name to come to his businessbrain.
August wasn’t messing around and wasn’t going to give him any more time. “Nope, no extra time. And we’re coming in on ten,nine…”
I sat back, pretty sure the club would get the moniker I’d come upwith.
Gannon’s eyes popped open wide, and he looked as if a lightbulb had just gone off inside his head. “Swank!”
I had to smile; I liked the nameimmediately.
August nodded, and he also wore a broad smile. “Swank. I likeit.”
I chuckled. “Me too. Swank it is, then.” I looked at August. “Seems we’ve had a productive meeting, August. Time to get back to our real jobs. Catch you guys later in the week. Nixon, out.” I clicked off the screen and got up to get to my realjob.
There were a couple of things I needed to get to that day, and one of them looked to be lunch with my best friend, Shanna. Not business, but a necessary meeting nonetheless as it had been over a week since we’dtalked.
Shanna and I had met in kindergarten at our school in the tiny South Texas town of Pettus. She and I used to walk to school together, as her family lived a few houses down from mine. Our relationship had always been like a brother-sister type thing, with no romanceinvolved.
When I’d come out to California to go to Berkeley, she’d stayed home and gone to the community college there, the only thing she and her parents could afford. Shanna gained an associate’s degree but never got past that. Instead, she got her grandmother to teach her how to sew—and she became quite good at it. She begged me to let her stay with me in L.A., and soon after her arrival she secured herself an interview at Paramount Studios, landing a job as a costumedesigner.
Her stay with me was short-lived, as she was able to save enough money to move into her own apartment within a month. But she and I made a pact that we’d never brush each other off or put the other to the side. She was the only family I had out here, and vice versa, even if we weren’t exactly family. So whenever I saw a lunch or dinner with Shanna in my schedule, I made sure I didn’t miss any ofthem.
When lunchtime came, I met her at Providence to enjoy some seafood. She met me at the door, and I hugged her. “There heis.”
“I made it. Today has been one hell of a day.” I took her hand, leading herinside.
In no time at all they had us seated, and our appetizer of oysters on the half-shell was brought to us along with some white wine. She rocked back in her seat as she swallowed one of the oysters then looked at me. “So, you disappeared on me. I thought you and I might go trick-or-treating last night, just like we did in the old days. I’d dress up as a witch and you’d throw a sheet over your head and cut out a couple of holes for youreyes.”
“Yeah, I did do a little dressing up. I wore a mask, anyway.” I sipped my wine then ate an oyster as she looked at me with narrowedeyes.
“A mask, huh?” She kept on eyeing me. “In Portland, nodoubt.”
Shanna was one of the few who knew about my dabbling in the darker side of sex. And she absolutely hated it. So I was always a little leery of admitting to her when I’d gone. “Um, maybe.” I took another sip ofwine.
“And you hooked up with a random sub?” she asked, but quickly raised her palm up to stop me from answering. “No, I’m not going to make you lie about it. I know you did pick up a little tramp and screw her mercilessly while spanking her until herass…”
“Shanna, stop,” I hissed at her as I gestured around to the other patrons of the fine dining establishment. All conversations around us had gone silent as they honed in on what she wassaying.
She looked around before lowering her voice as she leaned across our small table. “But you did find a girl. You can’t lie to me, Nixon Slaughter. I’ve known you for too damnlong.”
“Okay, so I did find someone, and we had some fun. But my trips to Portland are a thing of the past.” I ate another oyster as she pondered what I’dsaid.
“Good. But what happened to make you decide not to go there anymore?” She eyed me again, scrutinizing my everyword.
“The club I belong to has been destroyed,” I told her, then shrugged. “So I have nowhere to go now to get myfix.”
“Good,” she proclaimed as she picked up her glass and held it, as if to toast me. “The sinful place is no more, and you can stop that little bit of evil you’ve been doing and get to finding the right woman foryou.”
“I’m not looking,” I said as our main courses—king salmon for her and vermillion rockfish for me—came to the table on a large round tray, carried by our helpfulwaiter.
“You’re not getting any younger, Nixon. Twenty-nine is barking at your door,” she remindedme.
So I reminded her of the same thing. “Neither are you, Shanna. And you’re only three months younger thanme.”
