Page 65 of Bear’s House

But before we got started, I went around the place saying hi to my friends. Henry was there along with Lucy and a Black woman with braids I didn't know, who seemed to be a Domme.

"Hi, guys," I said.

"This is Naomi," Henry introduced her. "Domme, first time here too. See, JJ? Everyone's bringing new people tonight. You're not the only one making friends."

"I never said I was the only one," I said, a little offended.

I didn't want to tell them what I was planning — I wanted the identity of the surprise to stay a surprise.

We gathered at our usual table and started chatting. Henry was dressed as a vampire, and that also wasn't creative at all. Lucy was dressed as a cat — a black bodysuit, little ears, and whiskers drawn on her cheeks with eyeliner.

"I heard there's gonna be candy for the littles," Mikey told me, excited.

For the first time in a long while, he'd followed me over and come to stand near where my friends were — usually he stuck close to Daddy. Maybe he was a little nervous because he knew about my plans for that night.

"Candy, Lucy?" Henry asked.

"Always," she answered very seriously, like it was a ridiculous question to even ask.

I found it funny, but I couldn't really focus on it — my head only had one thing in it.

"JJ," Sawyer said quietly, coming closer to me while the others talked. "We need to talk about this again."

"About what?" I asked, pretending not to know.

"You know what about. Bella. Max. All of it."

"We already talked about this. You agreed to help."

"I agreed to help if Max had actually consented," he said, eyes narrowing. "Does he know exactly what's happening tonight?"

"He knows I might help him get into a scene if he chickens out, because he specifically told me I could. And we talked about the possibility of a surprise second Dom joining or taking over if he was comfortable with that. He said he liked the idea."

"And Bella?"

"He hasn't agreed to Bella yet because he hasn't even met her," I admitted. "She's going to talk to him herself."

"Then it's not decided yet."

"I know."

"JJ."

"I know," I repeated, more defensively than I meant to. "If he doesn't like her, there's no scene. If he doesn't want a surprise anymore, Dominic doesn't get involved. Gustav is going to talk to Dominic separately anyway. I'm not throwing Max onto a piece of furniture and yelling surprise."

Sawyer stared at me for another second.

"Don't talk him into saying yes just because you want this to work."

That one irritated me, mostly because it landed a little too close to something I knew I was capable of doing without meaning to.

"I'm helping him."

"I know you are," Sawyer said, and his voice softened. "Just make sure you're helping him do what he wants, not what you want for him."

I didn't answer that.

He didn't say anything else either, but the words left a weird knot in my stomach that I couldn't completely ignore.