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He didn’t glance at me, and it wouldn’t have made sense if he had. I knew I had been a walking red flag in many areas, but that hadn’t been one of them.

“Okay.” Ev nodded to himself.

He really needed to shake something loose before he gave himself an ulcer. I had experience with those, too.

“The demo was hot,” León mentioned, his gaze coming back to me and Jaime.

It was hard for me to not get too distracted staring at all the ink covering his arms, neck, and every other part of his body—which in turn made me self-conscious at times. It didn’t feel as hard today, or maybe it was simply because I didn’t feel like I had anything to contribute other than a head nod.

“He spanks harder than you do.” Jaime, not surprisingly, had to open his mouth.

I should’ve brought a gag with me.

León leaned forward. I knew whatever he said next would be intended to rile my pup up. It was what they did. León didn’t rise to bait in the thoughtless, impulsive ways the brats in the club did, but he enjoyed stoking the fire more than most.

I was surprised when he made things official with Carlos. Danny was one hundred percent a brat, probably on Jaime’s level, but Carlos fell on the more obedient side of the sub spectrum.

“Wanna test that?” León drawled. “Get on the table over there. Tony can take one cheek and I’ll take the other.”

I cocked my head to the side. I’d never once played with León, and I knew he demanded more prep before co-topping with someone.

That said, the mindfuck the sheer image would give the pup was more than enough reason to not put a stop to it.

“Excuse you, do I look like I have a death wish?” Jaime scoffed.

Then, finally, he scooted down from the arm of the couch and landed half on my lap, half on the couch. Leave it to him to not even sit down on someone’s lap properly.

I still wrapped an arm around his waist—and noted the way Sergio tracked the move. Sergio wasn’t the most observant in the group—not even close—but he had his moments, too. Especially when he got it in his head that it was his place to protect someone.

“Do you want me to answer that?” I registered León’s retort in the background, as well as Jaime’s huff.

Sergio seemed satisfied with whatever he saw, his attention shifting back to include Ev into the fold.

I went back to relaxing into the couch and let the conversation flow around me. León kept an eye on me for a minute or two, but he was soon distracted by Danny.

It wasn’t the best night I’d ever had—it didn’t rank anywhere near—but maybe it was okay. Maybe I needed to get through tonight to reach those other nights when things actually felt good. Erika was always talking about the power of community. Maybe it was time to see what the hell it was all about.

TWENTY-THREE

jaime

Tony grabbed me by the collar the second I opened the door. I trusted him to have checked there were no neighbors snooping, but I still rushed to shut the door behind him.

“I missed you, pup.”

My breath hitched.

We hadn’t seen much of each other the past couple of weeks. With finals, I’d been busy cramming all night and Tony had been busy grading.

It sucked. In an ideal world, I would’ve gone to his place—since it was quieter—and he would’ve been tending to my every whim while I worked on beating deadlines and finishing last-minute projects.

So much studying, too.

I didn’t think I was the type who left all their studying for the very last minute, but I admitted it had been a close call.

My head throbbed. I was still recovering, which meant I was more than ready to go down on all fours and let him take over while I ran around.

“Of course you did.” Didn’t mean I wouldn’t show him I hadn’t softened up.