“You.”  Alice shot back, “But you were.”

            “Were.”  Lara said, tossing down another swig of the drink, and grimacing.  “As in past tense.”

            “Yeah.”  Alice said, watching Doyle smile, teasing Susan’s ear.  Another song picked up, something even slower now.  Doyle seemed rather content in Susan’s arms, and Alice finally had the nerve to turn away.

            “You aren’t… in love with Susan are you?”  Lara asked, the thought tearing at her as she spoke it aloud.

            “Fuck!  No!”  Alice said, swallowing down the truth that perhaps there was a little bit of herself that was in love with how she felt when she was with her.  She sighed and let her eyes find Kit and Ivan, standing at the edge of the dance floor.  “Yes, Mistress,” she whispered to herself, remembering Susan’s last instructions to her.

*~*~*~*~*

            Tina remained at the table after Susan and Alice left.  She was feeling restless, not quite on the verge of anxious, just a little unsettled something brimming on her periphery.  Shane had been hustled off by Jo and her stunning date a few steps behind.  She would have followed, but there was something in Jo’s manner, the set of her jaw, the stiffness in her back, that made it clear her presence wouldn’t be welcomed, or even necessarily tolerated. 

            So she turned her attention back to Kit and Ivan.  Whatever had made the tension between the two of them so palpable seemed to have resolved itself.  Ivan was visibly uneasy in this setting, but he masked it well with his customary style and courtly manners.  Kit, on the other hand, was absolutely glowing.  She couldn’t take her eyes off him until Alice joined them.

            “Hi!” Alice said with a little too much perkiness, a grin a little too friendly.  Tone it down, Alice barked at herself.  She hadn’t wanted to leave Susan’s side but if she’d learned anything so far from her dealings with the Lost n Found owner, it was how to obey her without question.  There was an oddly comforting sense in doing that, even though it seemed to fly in the face of her natural independence and curiosity.  But Susan offered her something no one else could or would…a doorway to desires she never even suspected she had.  She wasn’t one to indulge in D/s or S/m fantasies and yet….