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“Uh?” Kara tilted her head up.

Sergio watched me, too. To be fair, I couldn’t tell where I was going with this either, so it made sense. I would be paying attention as well, wondering when their brain had started short-circuiting like this.

Ugh.

“And he doesn’t appreciate himself either.” I scoffed. I got riled up easily. That was another understatement. “Like, I don’t think you all realize how entrenched the gender critical movement is in academia. I literally can’t have two classes on a row without getting into a so-called debate with a professor or having to bite my tongue while someone voices the shittiest take. What Tony has done on that stage? I can count with one hand the number of professors in this country who would do it, and they’re all focused on LGBTQ+ issues. Tony isn’t, but he’s done it, and that’s a big deal, dammit.”

I twisted my hands together. I never quite knew what to do with myself after an outburst.

“And he doesn’t see it that way?”

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously he doesn’t. He’s just annoyed that he’s going to be the face for trans rights now or something.”

It sounded worse when I said it. It was too bad that I didn’t care enough to fix it or soften my words. My stomach churned in protest, but that was easy to ignore. I was used to it.

“It makes sense,” Erika said. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, only that she looked to be deep in thought when I glanced up. Then again, Erika was always thinking ten steps ahead of everyone. She might’ve chilled a bit since making it official with Eli, but control was the name of the game for her. “I agree that he probably deserves more credit, in general, but this will be the second time in not that long where his face will be splashed all over without his consent.”

I gaped.

Shit.

Wait.

Was it really the same?

“He could’ve not answered.”

“I don’t think he saw it that way,” Erika argued. “How would you have reacted, if he just sat there, silent, while all those other men went on and on about their views?”

Fuck.

“But—”

I stopped myself. I would’ve gone off on him. Of course I would have. Not only that, he knew it was my question. I’d called to warn him I’d submitted a question about trans rights. He must’ve been expecting it the entire time he’d been sitting at the table.

“You can’t pin this on Jaime, Ma’am.” Sergio jumped up from where he’d been by Abel’s side. “Respectfully.”

I snorted. Sergio was the kind of sub who thought he could get out of shit by tacking on arespectfullyat the end of every other sentence. It did work sometimes.

“It’s not just you, Jaime.” Erika patted Eli’s shoulder as she spoke. I didn’t recognize what signal it was, but Eli got up fromtheir place on the floor and headed to the kitchen. I was about to ask Sergio if Eli played as a slave at their place too, but Erika kept talking. “I would’ve torn him a new one, too. Everyone in the club, really. It’s not about you running your mouth for once.”

“Hey!” Sergio and I said at the same time.

We exchanged a grin.

Yeah, Sergio might be a bit too much to be around at times, but we had each other’s back.

“My point is…” Erika rolled her eyes. I bet she was thinking something along the lines of how neither of us had any manners. I couldn’t say I cared. “I don’t think he even questioned not speaking up, knowing what he does now, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he is going to be the talk of the town again. I’m sure you’ve noticed he doesn’t like it when he’s not in absolute control.”

Huh.

I pursed my lips. The rebuttal was there to tell her how much I thought he enjoyed not being in control—or, at least, the tug-of-war game that came with having that control threatened—but I clamped my mouth shut. It felt too personal, too invasive. Despite everything else, Erika had a point. I wasn’t about to take away more of Tony’s choice to consent to shit.

Maybe I’d just—lightly—tease him sometime in front of the others. After discussing it with him, of course.

TWENTY

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