Her head tilts as she gives me a stern glare. “Hunter, I’m being serious. If you haven’t noticed, it’s probably because you’ve been around him so long, you’ve gotten used to it. But I see it. I’m sure everyone sees it.”
“We’re just friends…”
“Yeah, I know. But you can still be in love with your best friend.”
“In love?” I reply in shock. “We’re talking about the same Drake, right? The man sleeps with more people every year than there are days on the calendar. He has no interest in being tied down or matched up with anyone. Drake doesn’t fall in love, Isabel. Come on…”
She doesn’t bother arguing with me, but the expression on her face says enough. The tight-lipped grimace and soft eyes mean she’s just waiting for me to hear myself.
Wait a fucking minute…is she right? Drake has feelings for me? And that’s why he won’t settle down with anyone else?
I let out another long sigh. “And I fucking kissed him! Oh my God…” I groan.
“Yeah…”
“Fuck.”
“Which is why I asked…how did that little experiment go?”
She’s asking if I liked kissing him. If I would do it again.
This is all too much. It was just supposed to be a kinky fantasy fulfilled, and now I’m thinking about asking my wife to open our marriage to my best friend and then thinking about my best friend in a sexual way, and I don’t know which way is up at this point.
“Hunter?” she asks, when I don’t answer.
“I liked it,” I stammer. “I really fucking liked it, and I got hard as hell and I was kinda disappointed when it was over.”
She bites her bottom lip hard as she tries to stifle a smile.
“It was just a kiss,” I add.
“I know. But maybe…”
Oh God. I don’t like the mischievous look on her face. Can’t she tell this is all a little too much for me, right now?
“Maybe when you’re at the club tonight…you could see how you feel about more than just a kiss.”
“No,” I snap. “No. I can’t even think about that. Plus…what if he gets the wrong idea? I don’t want to hurt him.”
She’s staring at me again, as if she has all the answers, and let’s be real, she probably does. But I’m afraid to know what they are.
“Baby, I’m not sure what the wrong idea is. And I don’t think you do either.”
I don’t reply as I mull those words over in my head. Eventually, she crawls off my lap and fishes out the comfiest clothes in her suitcase, rolls her hair into a bun, and snatches the smutty romance novel off the side table to take with her out to the living room.
Meanwhile, I have to get ready to go to the club. Where I may or may not get to second base with my best friend.
Drake is being quiet again as we get out of the car. He didn’t say a word on the entire drive over, and I know it’s because of what happened last night. But even when things are tense between us, he’s usually a chatterbox. I guess this is just a different kind of tension.
The club we’re touring tonight is called Pitch, and no, it’s not a baseball-themed sex club. The name refers to the lighting. Most of the club is saturated in pitch-black darkness.
I’m meeting with a man named Mario, who is part owner. Like us, this club is owned by a team of people, and out of all of the clubs we’re touring this week, this is the one I’m most excited about. As we step inside, I notice the lobby is much like Salacious. Black curtains and a small space, where one woman stands ready to greet us.
“Welcome to Pitch. Are you members?”
I adjust my tie as I step up to her podium. “I have a meeting with Mario at ten.”
“Hunter,” a deep voice calls as a tall, handsome man appears through the black curtain. “I saw you coming in on the cameras.”
“Mario,” I reply, shaking his hand. Unlike some of the more uptight clubs we’ve been in, he’s friendly and a little casual, enough to settle some of my nerves.
“This must be your…partner?” he asks, reaching a hand toward Drake.
“Drake Neilson is a friend of mine. He’s head of construction at Salacious and has been touring clubs with me.”
“So nice to meet you, Drake,” Mario says, smiling at him with those bright white teeth, and I feel mine clench at the sight.
“Nice to meet you,” Drake replies with a little less enthusiasm than he usually does. Drake has always been a people person, so I can tell something is up with him today.