“What made you realize you weren’t vanilla?” Somehow, I find myself growing interested in what this man has to say. Maybe it’s b
ecause I don’t actually want to drown my sorrows in alcohol tonight.
“A girlfriend got me into it, actually,” Edgar says. “She wanted to try tying me up.”
“And you let her? How open-minded of you.”
“As it turns out, neither one of us liked it very much, but then I suggested we trade roles.”
I chuckle. “And how’d that go?”
“Well, I’m here now,” he says. “And I’ve been trained in just about every aspect of BDSM.”
“Just about?”
“We all have our limits.”
“Isn’t that the truth?”
We’re quiet for a few minutes, just looking at all of the scenes happening. From our space at the bar, we can see a couple of the stages. Almost everything is Christmas-themed, including the naughty Santa and the Mrs. Clause who happens to be a dominatrix. June really outdid herself tonight.
“So, spending Christmas at a sex club,” Edgar says. “I take it you’re not with anyone at the moment.”
“I’m single.”
“As am I,” he says, but Edgar sounds a little sad about that.
“Are you okay?” I ask. Maybe I’m not the only one having a rough night. “I realize I’m being kind of a dick, and I’m sorry, but if you want to talk, well,” I motion to myself. “I’m here, man.”
“That girlfriend I mentioned?”
“Mmhmm.”
“We got married,” Edgar says.
“Okay.”
“She recently passed away,” he tells me quietly.
Then it all sinks in. He just moved to a new place and it’s his first holiday without his wife. It’s his first time in a club without his submissive. It’s his first time being a single Dom.
And it’s Christmas.
“I’m sorry, Edgar. That sucks.”
I wish there was more I could say, more I could do.
“Me too,” he says. “I miss her terribly.”
“She sounds like a really wonderful woman.”
“She was,” he tells me. Then Edgar lifts his own glass, and despite his earlier admonishment about drinking too much, orders us each other drink.
“To Christmas,” I say when the drinks come.
“To forgetting,” he says.
Chapter 3