Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
“Was there anything else you wanted me to put on the list, buddy?” Max asked. “I’m gonna run errands after work tomorrow.”
Alex pushed up his glasses and glanced over at Max. “Just the markers, specifically orange and green.”
“Orange and green, understood.” Max made a note in his phone. Then he grabbed the tray I’d prepared with vegetables, and he placed them in the oven. “Remember to utilize Uncle Reid for economics. He’s great at that stuff.”
I smirked, fully aware of what he was doing, and inclined my head. “Utilize me whenever, son.”
Alex grinned and scrunched his nose. “All you do is complain about taxes.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, that’s not entirely correct, is it? I bitch about them when the money isn’t going to the right places. I think people are way off the mark when the arguments boil down to just raising or lowering taxes.”
He pursed his lips and nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense.” He shrugged. “You already helped me score an A on my paper on market supply, so I’d definitely come to you before Dad.”
I chuckled. “Hear that, Max?”
He smiled wryly. “Uh-huh.”
Alex cocked his head and shifted in his seat to face Max better. “This is the third time today you’ve told me to turn to Uncle Reid for something. Like I don’t already know? Am I too high-maintenance for you?”
That cracked me up. The boy was sharp. He was onto Max’s unnecessary scheming.
“Of course not,” Max replied vehemently. “I was just…”
Nervous. He was nervous.
“Ignore me,” Max finished.
I didn’t know why he was nervous about telling Alex that we were together, though. Alex and I had a good relationship. We texted memes to each other, for fuck’s sake. It didn’t get better than that. In my day, that was the equivalent of my wandering aimlessly around Gramps’s garage while my old man tinkered with his car there. We hadn’t spoken much, but I’d eyed the walls of tools, checked the shelves with paint and thinners, and watched Dad pretend he knew something about engines. Quality time well spent.
Today, it was meme culture.
Alex shrugged and went back to studying, Max concentrated a little too hard on the cooking, and I rolled with the punches. I’d told him we didn’t have to have this conversation with Alex today; we were in no hurry, but he’d said he wanted it out of the way so we could start spending more time at my house.
I went to Mclean House’s website and figured it was time to check off the next item on my list.
Become a member in their online forum. We’d get to the paid membership eventually, so we could attend events out at their property, but I wanted to lurk a bit in the background first. Or rather, I didn’t want Max to think I felt an urgency to belong to another community. All I wanted was an upgrade of our social circle. With our out-of-towner friends so far away, we needed locals to hang out with.
Choose your handle.
I took another swig of my coffee and went with the same username I’d had on our shitty Discord server for Old Town. Max had once picked it for me after approximately seven beers.
BruiseMassIndex.
It was about as cool as the one I’d chosen for him, @404NotFound.
Maybe he could change that now…
I’d sure as fuck found and claimed his overthinking ass.
Once I had an account, I searched for him, knowing he’d registered a profile a few years ago.
Sure enough.
I sent him a friend request before I began hunting down the others I knew at Mclean, mainly some of the founding members and the ones they’d stolen from us. Nora, Lane, Corey, Lin, Beau…
Their online community was impressive. A Sadist could get used to sneaking information here. Members wrote their own journals and shared interesting information in the discussion threads.
Their event schedule was packed too. Demos, club nights, bondage sessions, big events and small, and chill get-togethers. Three kinds of monthly munches. One where the entire community was welcome, hosted at Macklin’s on K Street—good restaurant—one for the Mclean Littles, and one for rope enthusiasts.
The more I read, the better I felt about us moving on from Old Town. This was what we needed, a solid community where Max and I could get to know new people, dip our toes in the nonsexual end of the pool for casual play with masos—and they actually had a pool too. But for as much as I was beginning to look forward to a more active social life, I hoped Max didn’t want to venture further in terms of play with others. I finally had him. Lord knew I’d waited in line long enough.
“Alex?”
“Um, yeah…hold on.” Alex finished typing what he was working on, then glanced at Max. “What’s up?”
I looked at him too, and I saw what he was gearing up for. He cleared his throat and threw a dish towel over his shoulder.