Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
I’d brought one suit too since we’d be away over New Year’s, and Mack had told me there’d be a nice dinner.
“To Florida in the middle of winter, baby.” He held up his water bottle.
I grinned and butted it with my own. “To eighty degrees and the Everglades.”
That made him laugh. “Go figure, you’re excited about a swamp.”
I absolutely fucking was. I’d packed for that too.
The last twenty-four hours had been crazy, and it wasn’t until now I could take a deep breath and try to relax. I was on my way. We were on our way. Florida was happening. Macklin wanted me with him, and he’d gotten the green light to bring me.
Admittedly, it would be nice to put faces to the names I’d heard so many times. So far, I’d only met Corey’s three partners. I didn’t count his ex. Fucking asshole. He was gone anyway. He’d moved to Denver.
“So remind me who’s going,” I requested. “Some new member invited you all down there—and I remember you mentioning Colt and Lucas and their Little, Kit.”
Colt and Lucas were two of the whopping eight founding members. I recalled a set of twin Sadists too.
“Correct,” Mack confirmed. “Then the Tenley triad. River and Reese—I told you about the twins—and their sub. You’re gonna like Shay. You’re gonna like everyone.”
I chuckled. I was definitely looking forward to meeting new kinksters. My own community was…a fucking shitshow. Drama all the goddamn time. But I still loved them—all my buddies were there. Hence declining Corey’s constant invitations to join Mclean House. Or House Mclean. I wasn’t sure on the name. Mack said the former, Corey the latter.
To me, the hell I knew was better than the hell I didn’t. So despite the drama…I wasn’t going anywhere, not when it came to active membership. But if I could have some fun on the side with people from Mclean, I was all for it. I was a social butterfly right out of the gate, and then the energy drained from me until I didn’t wanna see anyone else for a year.
“And you’ve promised no drama whatsoever,” I stated.
“None. You don’t have to worry.” He smiled. “We’re a good crowd.”
Fantastic. “I guess they have to be if you’ve slept with all of them and they’re still around.”
He rumbled a laugh and dropped his forehead to my shoulder.
I grinned.
“Not all of them.” He had to nitpick. Then he grew pensive. “Well… No, not all of them. I haven’t slept with Shay or Ty.”
“Who’s Ty—oh, the new member?”
He nodded. “Hot. As. Fuck.”
Got it. I’d known a hot-as-fuck Ty once upon a time. He’d actually gotten me hooked on the world of reptiles. But that was about the only fun bit of his quick appearance in my life. The rest of the story ranked up there among the worst moments I’d ever lived through.
He was the whole reason I never enjoyed sharing my coming-out story.
Oh, me? Well, I dated this girl in high school, and then she introduced me to her dad, and I realized I was gay and would much rather make out with him than his daughter.
I’d been so fucking embarrassed by my reaction, even though only Corey had seen through me. I was a year older, and he’d introduced me to one of his best friends, Marina, in his grade. I’d loved her feistiness and hadn’t hesitated to ask her out. But yeah…
I’d managed to keep my shit together for a while. Long enough for Ty to leave a reptile mark on my brain.
He was one of those fun, cool dads who’d had a kid way too young. Corey had been mildly obsessed—not just with him, but with the pizza rolls Ty would put out on the counter for Marina and her “little friends.”
It was best not to think about that period of my life.
Reptiles were safer. Reptiles didn’t care if I made a fool of myself.
I cleared my throat and shook away the memories. “I hope I get to see a Burmese,” I said. “I’ve never been that far south in the US, unless you count two thousand documentaries on YouTube.”
Macklin chuckled.
“What about you?” I asked. “Have you been there before?”
“The Everglades? Not really. I guess we’ve driven through a part of it, but… Plenty of Key West, though. With…you know. He who shall not be named.”
Ah. Walker.
I took a swig of my water and glanced out the window, wondering if I could get Mack to open up a little. He didn’t like talking about Walker, but things felt unfinished. They were clearly not done with each other.
Despite that they’d supposedly broken up four years ago.
Four years was a long time.
Four years ago, Mack had been twenty-six. Which was where I would be next year. And they’d been together for a very long time too. He’d summed it up briefly with “a whirlwind romance that started when I was eighteen, and we were almost as obsessed with each other as we were night and day and wanted different things in life.”