Competing for the Dominant

Eighteen

Payton gave me a small smile and nodded as Alex sat back down. Alex gave me a small nod and turned to Payton. The two of them conversed and I allowed my mind to wander.

"So, Quinn," I blinked and focused on Alex in front of me, "How was your night with Master Knight?"

Payton's eyes got a little wide and they whispered, "You're with Master Knight?"

"Uh, yeah. I am. But we've only just recently got together. And as for our night together, it was fine,"

"Just fine, huh?" Alex's smile turned to a smirk as he teased me and I pushed his shoulder slightly.

"Okay, it was a lot better than fine, but that's my business, thank you very much,"

Alex was still smirking, but he backed off as the waiter came around with our food.

While we ate, Alex kept trying to work up a conversation with Payton, but they always seemed to have their mouth full when Alex said something. Despite the struggle, Alex kept calm and relaxed, never getting frustrated and I applauded him for that. I did not have the patience for anything, but I suppose since he was a therapist, he had to continuously be patient and chill for his patients.

Payton, to their credit, did a fair share of talking, especially when Alex directed the conversation to math. Alex was trying to figure out the tip and Payton grabbed the receipt, easily writing down a tip and total without having to use a calculator.

They sheepishly handed the receipt back, bowing their head, but Alex was grinning, "How did you do that? I can never figure it out,"

"Uh, well. I was, um, I was in the math club in high school and I've taken up to AP calculus. Math is very easy for me. Always has been, actually. I was never bullied about it though. In fact, the school I went to revered clubs because our sports teams sucked,"

"That's awesome. Points for having a school that didn't revere sports too," I said and Payton shrugged.

We walked out and stood around for a second before, to my surprise, Payton stuck out their hand and said, "Thanks for talking to me, Quinn. I look forward to getting to know you better,"

I shook their hand lightly and smiled, "Of course, Payton. Like I said, if you ever want to talk to someone, I'm free and I'm sure the rest of the bartenders would love to get to know you as well. Just gotta be wary of Annie. She will pounce with no warning,"

Payton giggled slightly and leaned in towards Alex, "Best if I avoid her then,"

Alex snorted, "Miss Annie is not that bad, but she is learning from her mistress. Anyway, I don't want to keep you from Master Knight any longer. I'm sure you two have some things to discuss. Thank you for meeting us for lunch, Quinn. We'll do this again and maybe we can invite the other bartenders,"

I nodded and jogged towards my bike, calling Daniel as I did.

🖤

As I knocked on Daniel's front door, I could hear him talking and he ushered me in, putting a finger to his lips. He pointed towards his office and then headed towards the kitchen.

"No, no. It's fine. Yeah, I understand. Let me get the paperwork started and then when you get here, we can finish everything. Uh-huh. Okay, Morgan. Bye,"

Daniel came around the wall and sighed, "I'm sorry about that. Old friend is coming back and he's interested in being a member of the club, so I'm trying to get it all figured out. How was lunch?"

"Oh, it was fine. Payton is a little shyer than I had anticipated, but I'm sure they'll warm up to the rest of us in no time,"

Daniel nodded, thumbing through some folders and pulling out a couple of papers, "So, I was thinking maybe we could do dinner tonight instead? I want to discuss some things with you and I would like to get it done sooner rather than later," he looked up at me and smiled.