Page 116

having met the man, he’d pegged Jack’s mission statement. The younger generation might never

understand how hard it was for those of us who had reached a certain age to explore.

“And it’s not an issue that we’re here?” Edward asked as he looked around. Yes, the clientele

was primarily gay men, but I knew for a fact there were more women in the back. “April’s a tough

girl, but I don’t want her to feel out of place. We could have come down when the club wasn’t open.”

“No, you’re fine,” I reassured him. “Just…maybe… Look, this is awkward as fuck, but if you

really want to see the rest of the club, let me know. I’ll get you clearance for a night when Sam’s not

working, and I’ll keep him far away from here.”

“That obvious?” I resisted the urge to laugh. I might be gay, but I’d still picked up on the kink

vibes radiating off Edward and his wife. The man looked like he’d walked into a fantasy, but he

couldn’t do anything about it because his son was one of the managers of the club.

“A little bit,” I hedged. In all the scenarios Sam’s mind had conjured about how this weekend

could go wrong, learning about his parents’ kinky tendencies was never on the list of possibilities.

“But I mean it. Jack runs a great club. Even if you ran into people you meet tonight, they’d never tell

Sam about it if you choose to come back another weekend.”

“I’ll have to remember that.”

I could have jumped over the bar and kissed Corey when hefinallycame over to take our orders.

When Edward handed over his card, I said, “Corey, this is Sam’s dad. His parents are in town for

Sam’s birthday and they wanted to see where he worked.”

To his credit, Corey understood what I was carefully not saying. He gave me a quick nod before

turning to Edward. “It’s nice to meet you. Sam’s a great guy. You should see what he’s done with the

playroom. Half the people in here tonight are here so they can play in there later.”

I nearly choked on the water Corey had set in front of me. The playroom was something that

would forever be associated with Sam. I hadn’t even considered what it would be like to escort his

parents into the space where we’d met. It was the sort of hallowed ground I couldn’t imagine sharing

with them.

“Well, we’ll have to take a look,” Edward said. He was either ignoring my discomfort or

completely oblivious. From the little I knew of him so far, my money was on the former.

We ordered our drinks and conversation ebbed as we waited for Corey to fill our order. This

was, without a doubt, the oddest interaction I’d had with a partner’s family, not that there had been