“Give me a sec,” Freddy said, flashing Luke a reassuring smile before picking up the desk phone. Luke had a fleeting thought about running away… but Freddy had already taken his coat, shirt, and shoes. If he’d brought in the club clothes he’d worn during class at Marquis he would have been able to change in the locker room rather than effectively trapping himself by handing over his stuff. Freddy smiled at Luke as he started speaking to whoever had picked up the phone. “Hey hun, can you come cover the front desk for me for a bit? I have a subbie in need of a talk.”

Luke tried not to feel weird about being called a subbie. He didn’t think any less of the other submissives when they were called by the affectionate diminutive, so he didn’t know why he had the odd worry that others would think less of him for being called a subbie. Then again, his nagging worry about what others might think of him were part of why he’d wanted to talk to someone in the first place, second only to his worry over struggling with submitting.

A moment later Lexie came out of Patrick’s office, wearing one of her boyfriend’s huge shirts to cover her slim body, and Luke wanted to run away even more. Her blue eyes looked huge in her heart-shaped face, and her short black hair was mussed, making him think it was likely the two weren’t just working back there tonight. Then again, they seemed to mix their work with pleasure on a regular basis. A pang of envy joined the mix of anxiety and self-doubt already churning away inside of him. He was starting to feel like a cat with its fur rubbed the wrong way.

She smiled at him, in very much the same way Freddy had, which soothed some of the unsettling feelings making his skin itch.

“Hey Luke! I was wondering when you’d be by for the talk.”

“You were?” he asked stupidly, feeling odd. It occurred to him that both Freddy and Lexie seemed to already know—or think they knew—why he was there.

“Oh yeah, not too many newbies make it through their first few months without needing someone to talk to,” she said with a smile. “Freddy’s good, he’ll take care of you.”

“Thanks sweetheart,” Freddy said, batting his eyes at her before gesturing to Luke to precede him to the door into the club.

The man on duty tonight as bouncer was a dominant named Vincent, whom Luke had seen around Stronghold with his long-time, collared sub named Mathew. Vincent smiled at Luke too, the same kind of smile Freddy and Lexie had given him. It was almost like he’d entered some kind of initiation rite he hadn’t known had existed till now.