Page 5 of Entertaining Distraction
3
As he poured a glass of draft beer for one of his mid-day regulars, Mike glanced up when the front door to Donovan’s swung open. His gut churned, and he tried to act as if nothing was wrong as Nick strode into the bar, drawing many appreciative looks from the women around the room, young and old. The youngest Sawyer brother was six foot and about two-hundred pounds of pure muscle. Like his siblings, his hair was jet black, which offset his startling, blue eyes. Even though Mike was straight, it was easy to see how Jake had fallen for the good-looking guy.
Since Mike had called Nick and asked him to stop by for a chat—without Jake—it wasn’t a surprise he was here. But as he took a stool at the bar, Mike was starting to regret calling him in the first place. He tried to act natural as he gave old-man Jeffers his beer. “Hey, Nick. What’ll you have?”
“Bud Light is fine. What’s on the specials today? I’m starved.”
Mike snorted as he grabbed a beer bottle from the cooler and a daily menu—the guy knew the regular menu by heart. “What? Doesn’t Jake feed you? You’re always starving when you come in here.”
“Actually, he had to fly up to D.C. with Ian yesterday for some meeting about one of TS West’s contracts.” Jake had spent a year and a half out in California getting the West Coast team set up while Nick had been finishing up his last tour with the Navy before retiring and joining his brothers in Tampa. From what Mike had figured out from conversations he’d heard when visiting the Trident compound, that meeting was, most likely, someplace inside the Pentagon. “They won’t be back until tomorrow, so I’m on my own.”
Scanning the menu, he chose the daily burger special, then took a swig of his beer as Mike entered the order into the computer behind the bar. When he turned back around, Nick eyed him curiously. “So ... what did you need to talk about—without Jake?”
Mike glanced up and down the bar. “Um ... not here.” He raised his voice. “Hey, Missy, I’ll be in the party room if you need me.” The daytime bartender waved at him as she took an order from one of the waitresses. Grabbing a beer for himself from the cooler, he cocked his head toward the room on the other side of the restaurant, and said to Nick, “Let’s go in there.”
The younger man followed then took a seat across from him at a table at the back of the party room. Throughout the week, it didn’t get much use, but during lunch and dinner on the weekends the overflow from the dining room ended up in there unless there was a scheduled event. Unsure of how to start the conversation, Mike asked, “So ... how are you doing?”
Nick arched an eyebrow at him. “That’s what you wanted to talk about? Let’s skip the bullshit—what’s bugging you?”
Taking a deep breath, Mike let it out slowly. He couldn’t look Nick in the eye, instead his gaze was on the beer bottle label he was picking at with his fingernail. “How ... How did ...” He swallowed hard. “How did you know you were ... um ...”
“Spit it out, Mike. How did I know I was gay?”
He shook his head. “No ... not that ... um ... how did you know you were a submissive?”
Silence filled the air. Seconds passed by until Mike finally couldn’t take the suspense anymore and raised his chin. He didn’t expect to see Nick’s mouth opening and closing while surprise and bewilderment filled his eyes.
Finally, Nick gave his head a shake and ran a hand through his short hair. “Sorry, Mike. That’s got to be the last question I ever expected to hear from you. Give me a minute to switch gears here.” He took a swig of his beer. “Okay, how did I know? Um, I didn’t ... not until Jake and I hooked up after Dev and Kristen’s wedding. Jake did his Dom thing and, I don’t know, it just felt right. Trust me, I was confused as all hell. I’d never been in a relationship like that before—or even had a one-night stand like that. It was definitely different, but like I said, it felt right. Why are you asking?”
He should have known that question was coming, but it still took him a moment before he could admit to Nick and to himself what had been going through his mind for the past three days. “I ... ah ... shit, how do I say this? Charlotte was here the other night ... after closing ... and ... uh ... she came onto me ... I guess—”
“Wait—what do you mean she came onto you? Charlotte doesn’t date outside the lifestyle, as far as I know.”
“She offered to introduce me to it ... she wants me to submit to her.”
“Charlotte?” Nick’s eyebrows were almost up to his hairline. “Mistress Chinamade an appearance and offered to ... um ... okay ... wow. Okay, so I guess my next question is ... how do you feel about that? Obviously, you’ve given it some thought since we’re sitting here discussing it.”
Mike shrugged. “Yeah, I’m attracted to her—I’d have to be dead or gay not to be—but I ... I don’t know about this getting on my knees shit—”
His words were cut off when Nick threw his head back and barked out a laugh. “Ha! Oh, shit ... this is too funny ... wait ... give ... give me a minute here.”
Nick’s cheeks turned red as his shoulders shook. It took a few moments for him to get himself under control. At first, Mike was annoyed, but then he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. “All right, jackass ... knock it off and help a guy out—I’m out of my element here.”
“Oh, shit ...” He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay ... okay, sorry. Um ... all right. I’ve gotten to know Charlotte over the past few months—despite being a bit of a sadist, she’s really cool. I know you’ve figured out that the lifestyle isn’t a bad thing, but I get the impression you still don’t realize it’s a good thing for many people.”
When Mike nodded, Nick continued. “Jake and I were at a munch at the club we belonged to in San Diego—a munch is a get-together for newbies or people interested in the lifestyle to meet and talk to experienced subs and Doms. There’s no play, just question and answers. One of the male subs there gave a great explanation of the lifestyle. He compared it to the military—which, being in San Diego, helped a lot of people get it. In the military, there are two types of people—officers and the rank and file. Officers, obviously, issue the commands—they’re the leaders, or Dominants. Rank and file are the followers, aka submissives. One without the other means nothing works—the dynamics of the squad won’t work unless both parties perform their roles and duties. No matter what, there are those who won’t be able to function without that leader—they know how to follow orders, but when it comes to planning a mission, they’re lost. For the leaders, if there’s no one to follow their orders, then they’ll lose the battle. Can’t lead if no one follows.
“The same goes for a D/s relationship—it won’t work unless the Dom and sub have mutually agreed upon roles that they stick to. Doms take the lead, ensuring their subs are taken care of and do everything they can to make sure their subs are protected. In return, the subs agree to hand over the responsibility of play and other aspects of their lives to their Doms. For those not in the lifestyle, it might seem that the Doms have all the control, but in reality, it’s the subs who have the ultimate power, through their limit lists and safewords, and those need to be respected at all costs. Same goes for the military—if there’s no respect and trust, the subordinates aren’t going to follow the leaders. They’ll do the minimum required to avoid being put on report or court marshaled, but the moment the shit hits the fan, they’re going to turn tail and run. It’s not cowardice, but self-preservation. Most rank and file will never be leaders. Most subs will never be Doms. They can try, but I guarantee, once they can put their lives in someone else’s hands again—someone they trust—they’re relieved.”
Nick paused and took another sip of his beer as the daytime waitress brought his lunch in. “Need anything else, Nick?” she asked, placing the plate, piled high with the burger special and fries, and a bottle of ketchup in front of him.
“Nope. Thanks, Joanie.” When she left the room again, Nick picked up a french fry, popped it into his mouth, and grabbed the ketchup bottle. “Does any of that make sense to you, or did I make you more confused?”
Mike let everything his future brother-in-law said sink into his brain, before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “No, I think you gave me another way of looking at it.” He snorted. “I was so caught off guard I told Charlotte I didn’t want to be her wimp.”
Pausing with his burger an inch or two from his mouth, Nick’s eyes went wide. “Damn, I wish I’d been a fly on the bar for that. What’d she say?”
“She asked if I thought you were a wimp for submitting to Jake.” He quickly held up a hand, not wanting the younger man to think he was putting him down. “I don’t—that’s the last word I’d ever use to describe you or Jake. But it’s different with you and him.”
