She nodded. “They’re kind of the same, with one key difference. It’s like the Dom is the one driving the car, the one giving the commands. A Bossy Bottom would be the backseat driver complaining about everything, shouting directions without knowing where to go or what to do. Bossy Bottoms just want. A Power Bottom is the one in the passenger seat with the navigation, is familiar with the area, telling the Dom where the next turn is, looking out for cops, things like that.”
My eyes went wide, and I took a sip of my sweet orange drink. I felt like my mind had been blown.
“How do you… how do you know all this?” I asked her.
“I read books on it,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“What kind of books?” I asked, thinking of my collection of gay kink books. “I think I’ve been reading the wrong ones.”
Before she could answer, Victoria returned, followed by an older man that resembled a younger Burt Reynolds. Like everyone else in here, he was dressed in black. However, I could tell by the material, the cut, and the fitting that the suit he was wearing was a few thousand dollars.
“Oh, hi Fenwick!” Lily greeted brightly. “This is my friend Luke.”
“Luke! I don’t think we’ve been introduced, but I like you already!” he said, turning towards me with a gentlemanly smile.
I expected him to give me the look. The not-so-subtle look that men gave me to indicate their interest.
I was used to it, and it gave my ego a little boost.
But I was surprised when he didn’t give it to me. I didn’t pick up a single vibe from this older guy other than smooth friendliness.
“Nice to meet you,” I said to his smiling face.
“Where’s your Dom?” Lily asked. “Fenwick’s the guy to ask about any and all things rigging.”
I scanned the room, trying to pick out Adam. He was good at blending in when he wanted to, almost to the degree of being invisible. Once when I asked him how he managed to hide in plain sight, he just shrugged his broad shoulders and said simply, “I’m a cop.”
He must have been Cop-Adam now, because he was nowhere in sight.
Adam
I stood in the shadows, trying to become one with the wall as I carefully watched the crowd.
It had been driving me nuts for the past few days at work that we still had no leads on who the serial killer was. He never left anything behind...
Except that silver stud.
Forensics scanned it for fingerprints, and it came up empty of course. But I knew something that the vanilla people I worked with didn’t know:
I knew that the stud wasn’t an ordinary button. It was the exact size and shape of the studs on some of my Dom gear. Which led me to believe that someone in this community was the killer.
And it made me hate myself for doing it, but I was watching Luke to see who would go up to him. Since the killer had a type and that type was Luke, I could almost guarantee that if the killer were in this room, they’d be watching him.
My eyes wandered around the room slowly, lingering on each head. Going into hyper-observant mode, I took note of whose eyes were going where. What their hands were doing. The way their postures were. Who was standing closest to the door to make a quick escape.
And most of all, who was watching Luke.
Which, I wasn’t surprised to see, most of the men — and women — in here were sneaking glances at him.
Seeing him standing there talking to Lily like that from across the room as an observer was a completely different experience than up-close. He was slim, and his skin was so pale it was porcelain. The way his gaze instinctually dropped when Lily asked him a question…
Well, it was enough to get any guy going, let alone one with Dominant desires.
The back of my neck prickled, and I saw two people make a beeline to Luke and Lily.
One of them was Lily’s partner — the one with the platinum high-fade haircut. The other was a man with salt and pepper hair in a nice suit.
They joined Luke and Lily leaning against the bar and began to chat.
My eyes narrowed as I watched Suit Guy’s body language. There was nothing that showed any sign of attraction to Luke. He was probably the one person in this bar that was purposefully avoiding any eye contact or body language that might indicate flirtation. He was careful, that one.
But the tingling on the back of my neck knew better. At that moment, I knew on some intuitive level that the man talking to my fiancee right now was the killer.
And that he planned to kill Luke.
“Adam! You’re back!” Luke said when I rejoined the group.
It took a significant effort to prevent my nostrils from flaring. I had to remain calm and composed, or else this guy would catch on.
He was careful. Too careful. Any hint of danger, and I knew he’d flee.
“Sorry, my stomach was upset,” I lied quickly.
Luke handed me my Old Fashioned, the ice now almost completely melted.
I wrapped my fingers around it, already planning on finding a way to dispose of it without anyone noticing. I needed a clear head.
The adrenaline was coursing through my veins as I was hyper-aware of every moment, every micro-expression on this guy’s face. It took a herculean effort not to narrow my eyes at him.
“You feeling okay, babe? Did you want to go and lay on the couch for a bit?” Luke asked, concern thick in his voice.
“No, I’m good now. Maybe in a bit,” I said. I needed more time to check this guy out; find out as much information as I could as subtly as I could.
“Well, alright. Just let me know when you want to head out,” Luke said.
Suit Guy was watching me curiously.
Since I’d been around criminals almost my entire adult life, I knew that
