“Jesus Gil, you’re such a work-a-holic. Not everything should be linked to your work.”
“It’s not because of work, you dork. She’s called Mistress because she’s the real Dom in this house and all the humans are just her puny subs.”
Laughter leaves my mouth as I step further into the room. I let myself fall down on the plush couch that almost swallows me whole. Glad to have a new minion, Missy gets up from her spot and curls herself up in my lap, demanding cuddles, and I’m more than happy to abide. A sound like a running motor fills the room once I start stroking her, and she presses her head in my hand, actively seeking out the best scratches.
“You like that, don’t you?” I ask her in my best cat voice. “You’re just a little cuddle bug.”
The couch cushions dip when Gil sits down beside me, one of his knees falling open and touching my leg.
“As I said, she’s the real Dom and she just made you her newest cuddle bitch.”
“There’s worse fates in life, Gil, get with the program.”
“You’re so pussy whipped,” he jokes and I roll my eyes.
As I sit there, giving in to all of Missy’s demands, I finally look around and see Gil’s apartment. Somehow it’s exactly what I expected but at the same time, it’s not. It’s not too big, which is perfect for a bachelor living in Kinseltown, but has enough room for him to live. The interior is absolutely not what I expected. While the apartment is right in the middle of Kinseltown and the whole building yells modern day urban apartments, his place is very homey. There’s a warm oak floor, with white furniture and mostly dark blue and grey accessories. I hadn’t expected Gil to have accessories at all, but he has. I even spot some candles. What surprises me the most, are the three book cabinets that stand in the corner of the room and are filled to the brim with books. I almost jump up to go have a look at what he’s reading, but at the last moment I remember I’ve got a little purring buddy on my lap.
“You read!” I yelp as I look at him and see him grinning at me.
“You didn’t think I only worked, right?”
I have actually kind of thought that but I don't tell him that. His brown eyes focus on me and I feel caught. I get the nagging feeling he knows exactly what it is that I’m thinking. Whatever, as long as I don’t confirm it, I can deny it. My eyes go from his eyes to the silver ring in his nose and end up on his full lips, that I find grinning at me. It dawns me that I don’t know that much about Gil. Sure, I know that the sound of his voice is enough to make me push all my boundaries, but that’s not really knowing him. I figure this is the perfect time to get onto that.
“What kind of books do you read?”
“Mostly detectives. I like the puzzles and the suspension. If you throw in some story about a serial killer, I’m hooked.”
I hum. I barely ever read anything in that genre. Not enough romance to my liking, too many bullets and way too much blood.
“Well, we’ve got enough dark stuff going on right now with Celia. So I’m not reading books about anything like that.”
Missy starts clawing my legs and I try to get her little nails out of me, because damn, those things are sharp.
“Let’s hope it’ll all be over soon, and we can go back to normal,” Gil reacts as he stands up and walks to the little kitchen he has. I really hope everything will be over soon, but it’s getting harder to keep that hope. My stomach turns.
“Coffee?”
I give him a questioning look. He huffs as he starts making coffee. “Right, stupid question.”
He opens some cabinets and starts up the coffee machine. It’s one of those fancy ones with real beans. Visiting Gil’s apartment is making me like him more and more as he changes into someone more than just the kind owner of a BDSM establishment. Now he’s also a cat-person and a reader. It gets me excited to find out even more about him.
“How did you become friends with O and Jonah? I don’t remember you from before I moved away for college.”
“That’s because I didn’t know them then,” he says matter-of-factly, as if that answers everything I just asked him.
“How did you meet then?”
“We went to the same college. I met them at a party Jonah planned, even though I still don’t understand how he managed to plan a party so soon after starting. It took him around two weeks to become known as the go to guy for a good party.”
Having known Jonah in high-school, I can exactly understand how he pulled it off. He has an inviting personality that just reels people in.
“I attended high school in Kinseltown but I was the only one of my high-school mates to go to college after. The rest of them started working immediately, so I knew nobody that attended college. I figured that going to a party would be the fastest way to make friends.”
The smell of fresh coffee reaches me, and makes me perk up in my seat. Gil starts making a coffee for himself as he keeps talking. Out of all the boys, he’s probably the easiest to talk to, offering up everything I want to know as if it’s nothing.
“First night I got there, there was a girl being harassed by two boys that wouldn’t take no for an answer.” He frowns when he tells me, as if he’s remembering vividly what happened. Then a smile appears on his face. “I was this little scrawny kid back then, but I stepped in to help the girl nonetheless. It’s just the way I’ve been raised, you know? O and Jonah got wind of what was happening and helped me kick those guys out. It was the connection we needed to become friends.”
My mind makes up a visual of a little Gil, helping a girl and fighting two giants, which makes me smile. That’s a good story and a good basis to become friends on. I had met a lot of friends with less good stories. Met in class, became friends. Gave compliment about shoes, became friends. Helped with missing chapter, instant friends.