Page 2 of Eddie (Romance & Revolutions #7)

Eddie

“Let me get this straight.” Silas crossed his arms over his chest as Austin’s head cocked. “You’ve come to the club in person and made sure we knew who you were because the guy you’re stalking wants to be restrained?”

“Yes, and to meet other people in the lifestyle.” For some reason my answer was what finally had him rolling his eyes. “I sent Austin his application and background check.”

“That you filled out.” Silas leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “But that’s fine because you’re stalking him, so you know what he wants.”

Again…yes.

“I filled it out accurately, including his experience levels.” Shelby wasn’t hiding anything from me.

“I’m not sure it’s stalking if it’s consensual.” Austin’s frown said he wasn’t positive about that, though. “Maybe it’s a new kink?”

I didn’t have an answer for that, so I kept my facial expression neutral and just waited. Austin liked hearing himself talk, so even if I didn’t say anything, the silence wouldn’t last long.

“I think we need to get a new working definition for that because I’m pretty sure we’ve got two others…and that might be what the twins are doing?” Austin wasn’t sure about that either, but I kept my mouth shut because they fell under not my circus not my monkeys .

“Agreed.” Silas’s frown seemed to get deeper. “But to fall under a kink it’s got to be consensual from both parties. Both, Trouble.”

Austin looked entirely too innocent as he nodded. “Of course.”

Who was he stalking?

No one he’d asked me to look at fell anywhere near kink levels of stalking.

He should know better than to make me curious even if he was crazy dangerous. But I had a better poker face than Silas’s troublemaking billionaire, so I wasn’t worried about it.

“We’re going to talk later, Trouble.” Silas was trying to look serious but I was pretty sure they’d just end up having sex…but again…it was a not my monkeys situation too.

“So I can meet Shelby?” In person. At the club. But adding that wouldn’t move things in my favor, so I didn’t elaborate. “He’s due in about five minutes because we’ve been going round and round about this for a while.”

They were stubborn and startlingly narrow-minded about how friendships should start.

“If I can’t, I need to go change his GPS directions to send him to the bookstore.” He’d like that. He needed some new books. “He won’t be pissed. I’ll just have Austin put money on his account to make up for the drama and I’ll figure out somewhere else to get his needs met.”

Because trying to redirect Shelby hadn’t worked.

In his defense, orgasms were important and he had terrible taste in men, so I could understand how he’d gotten to this point.

“I’m sure there are still some private dungeons in the area.” Yes, I wasn’t playing fair, but I was dealing with Austin, so I wasn’t worried about fair.

Just winning.

Austin’s face scrunched up earning a sigh from Silas.

Bingo.

“We have his background check.” Frowning, Austin looked down at his computer screen. “He seems like a nice sub.”

He was.

“He has poor choice in men when left to date on his own. Terrible.” No exaggerations were needed to make that point. “This is the safest place for him.”

Now Silas was the one frowning. “Maybe I misunderstood this but I thought you wanted to be his Dom.”

Technically I hadn’t said that.

“I know him better than he knows me.” That understatement had Austin giggling. “I’m not under any misconception that he’ll want me as his Dom.”

My expectations were firmly in the realistic category.

“But you want to be his Dom?” Silas wasn’t usually the nosy type even though he owned an adult toy store, but for whatever reason, my situation was making him curious. “You’re going to be okay if he wants to get to know someone else, though?”

Before I could answer, Austin jumped in again. “But we’re not supposed to try to introduce him to other people?”

They needed to be smarter if they were going to be this nosy.

“I’m going to show Shelby around the club.” Breaking it down into the obvious seemed to be the best plan. “If he wants to talk to someone we will. I think we’re going to spend time letting him get to know me but I’m playing that by ear.”

Because Shelby hadn’t seemed to realize he might have questions with that part.

He’d just been focused on the fact that Henry the Hacker could get him into a BDSM club and he could finally get tied up again.

“Does he know what’s on his limits list?” Austin was back to frowning at the screen. “You need to make sure he’s seen that first.”

So they were going to let Shelby join?

Silas made another dramatic exhale, but I waited to accept my win until Austin made a similar noise.

Perfect.

“You need to have a good conversation with him before you do anything.” Austin volleyed back and forth between glaring and shaking his head as he tried not to smile. “You need to make sure he knows what he wants too.”

Silas rolled his eyes. “And that everything is consensual.”

“Of course.” Waving his hand, Austin nodded. “Yes. Consensual stalking and restraints. Everyone needs to be on the same page.”

“Even if it’s a weird one.” Letting out a long breath, Silas frowned. “I’m going to meet him with you.”

Austin was right…the man liked to worry about ridiculous things.

I could take care of Shelby.

I’d been doing it for years.

“Fine.” Hopefully. “Just don’t glare at him. He’s not used to Doms that are actually Doms. He’s only met alpha wannabes, and he’ll get distracted with the whole glare and frown thing.”

“Let’s go.” Standing up, Silas gave Austin a firm glare. “If this goes badly, you’re going to owe Shelby a huge apology because one from his stalker isn’t going to mean a damned thing.”

Ridiculous.

Of course it would…he knew I only wanted what was best for him.

Silas was in a ridiculous mood, however, and it wasn’t worth the argument to point out how wrong he was.

“Should I go meet him too?” Austin looked down at his dress and fluffed it. “I’m wearing panties, so he won’t be embarrassed.”

His logic was questionable sometimes.

“He’s never met a celebrity. He’s not crazy into the gossip channels but he actually got into an argument on social media last year defending you. I think easing him into meeting you might be a better idea. I haven’t mentioned you before, so he’ll be surprised.” At the very least.

“He’s not surprised to have a stalker but he’ll be surprised to meet Austin.” Rolling his eyes again, Silas waved his hand toward the door. “You guys are ridiculous.”

Austin just beamed. “I love you too.”

My relationship with Shelby was definitely saner than their relationship with each other, no matter what they seemed to think.

But it was time to meet Shelby out front, and from what I’d seen on his GPS, he’d be very close. So I followed Silas out toward the front of the building, letting him think he was in charge since it made him happy.

I didn’t care about his mental state one way or the other, but Shelby would so that was what mattered.

I wasn’t sure Silas would be able to pretend to be a laid-back alpha but he seemed to get into the spirit of the game by the time we’d made it to the foyer. He wasn’t smiling but he’d stopped looking like he ate small omegas for breakfast.

But there wasn’t time to work on his acting skills since I could see Shelby’s small compact pull up in the parking lot.

It was showtime.

“Don’t scare Shelby.” I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get him back to the club if he got the fuck scared out of him and the regular dating sites weren’t going to work.

“I won’t.” Silas sounded more confident than he should have but I didn’t point that out as Shelby bounced out of the car and started talking to himself as he swung the small duffel bag he was carrying.

I didn’t have the right equipment on me to be able to hear what he was saying but that was because Austin made me promise to leave anything electronic in my car. He had serious trust issues but that also fell under the not my monkeys category.

“He’s really happy to meet his stalker.” Silas ignored the giggle coming from the front desk behind us and I ignored him.

Shelby was much more interesting and just as adorable in person as he was through his computer.

He was also confidently telling himself that Not-Henry wouldn’t steer him wrong if I was reading his lips right.

“Do I even want to know what he’s saying to himself? What the fuck does he think your name is?” Silas seemed to think I was going to answer his questions but he was wrong about that.

Shelby had arrived.

“It’s going to be fine. Worst-case scenario, you apologize for being lost.” The advice in his adorable peptalk as he walked in the door wasn’t wrong and it even made Silas smile. “Oh.”

His deer-in-the-headlights look when he glanced between Silas, the omega at the front desk, and me was adorable, but my favorite part was the way he straightened and studied everyone.

“You are not Not-Henry.” His confident statement made Silas cock his head which added to Shelby’s sureness. “Not-Henry doesn’t smile either, but you do not work behind a computer most of the day.”

Mumbling something to himself about hours in the day versus hours at the gym, he peeked around me at the giggling twink at the front desk who was actually kind of badass.

“Nope. Too happy. Nice to meet you, though. I need friends who don’t think I’m weird.

So I’ll be saying hello again on my way out. ”

Of course he would.

Shelby dated terribly but he liked people and would talk to anyone.

The whole situation was just so very Shelby that I was smirking by the time he got back to me. “Hi, Not-Henry.”

“Still not Henry.” My response had him trying not to smile.

Silas seemed to think we were insane but he kept that mostly to himself as he waited quietly for Shelby to respond. “You’ll be Not-Henry forever at this rate. I’ve called you Henry the…”

Pausing, Shelby looked at our audience again. “I’ve called you Henry for so long it’s stuck. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to remember another name. I can try, though.”

“I’m not the pizza delivery guy.” My response had Silas and Shelby both rolling their eyes but for completely different reasons.

“That’s not fair. He has a thick accent. I’ve tried to figure it out but I can’t even narrow down what country he’s from. Every story about his family has them in different parts of the world. He’s either fucking with me and from Jersey or he’s from everywhere .”

From everywhere.

“How about you just make sure not to tell him anything personal and don’t ask specific questions about his family?” That guy really should not have been sharing as much as he did. “And don’t worry about his name. It’s six inches long and he actually tells everyone else to call him Bob.”

He just seemed to have a thing for Shelby but the slightly weird beta was nowhere near dominant enough to ping Shelby’s curiously skewed Dom radar.

“Bob?” His eyes went wide. “Mrs. Simpson upstairs keeps calling him that. I thought she was just being racist. Oh dear. I’m going to have to be nicer to her.”

As Shelby muttered to himself about bringing the crazy lady cookies, he gave his head a shake and stood straighter, focusing back on me before long. “I’m glad you’re real, Not-Henry, and I’m really glad this place is real. But why do we have an audience? It’s weird.”

“How much caffeine did you have today?” I was starting to hate the fact that I didn’t even have my phone on me. “You hadn’t bought any earlier and your groceries don’t get delivered until tomorrow.”

His guilty look had me sighing, but the way he rocked back and forth on his feet like a naughty toddler made me want to smile. “I used my spare change. You haven’t been keeping track of that.”

Brat.

“How much coffee?” He had an addiction that was slightly at the unhealthy level and it took a lot of effort to make sure he could only buy enough for two cups a day. It’d also taken a lot of effort to get him down to just that much caffeine.

Looking everywhere around the room except at me, he finally shrugged. “The big one with the weird name.”

For fuck’s sake.

“ Shelby .” I was going to have to redo my software to make sure I was taking spare change into account. “What did the doctor say?”

“ You’re reading his medical charts ?” Silas’s normally deep voice had gone almost screechy, but I kept my eyes on a very guilty-looking Shelby.

“That my heart doesn’t like caffeine and I need to make better decisions.” The doctor’s explanation had been a lot more thorough based on his notes, but it’d basically boiled down to Shelby’s body not processing caffeine the same way most people’s did.

It’d actually seemed to be more common in omegas than I’d realized, but Shelby was stupidly stubborn when it came to some things.

“Did you make a good decision?” I clearly hadn’t been watching him closely enough. “Well?”

“No.” Still looking like a wiggly child, he pouted as he finally turned his gaze in my general direction. “But I was nervous and excited and I didn’t have to use my car to get coffee, so I knew you wouldn’t figure it out. You haven’t been tracking my steps recently.”

That was going to change as soon as we left the club.

His dramatic sigh said he realized that. “Fine. I’ll be better.”

He’d better because I had no desire to lose a friend just because he had an unhealthy relationship with something that might kill him. “Yes, you will.”

Silas was still a bit behind in the scheme of things. “ His medical charts ?”

It was my turn to roll my eyes as Shelby just looked at Silas with a confused expression on his face. The hypocrisy was too much for me, though. “Tell me you wouldn’t do that to Austin if you could get away with it.”

“That’s not the same thing.” Silas damned near growled out the words. “He’s mine and you haven’t even met Shelby in person until today. He doesn’t know your name and now I don’t know if I can say your name.”

He worried too much.

“I know a lot about Not-Henry.” Thankfully, my overcaffeinated friend didn’t seem bothered by Silas’s outbreak…

probably because he’d dated people who were more unstable.

“He likes cheesecake and his favorite color is blue but he likes lots of shades of blue and he likes making me eat healthy things and he’s bossy and keeps me from spending money I shouldn’t and he tried helping me date, but that didn’t work out, so we ended up here but that was because I was kind of pushy. ”

Yeah, he wasn’t wrong about that…it didn’t seem to be helping Silas, though.

Maybe he didn’t understand that Shelby needed me?