He couldn’t help but wonder if they really knew what was going on with him, although they seemed confident they did. Were his doubts and anxieties really so common they had been expecting him to need a confidant at some point and could they really anticipate his issues?

“If you need ever someone else to talk to and Freddy’s not around, my boy is always available for a chat,” Vincent said with an encouraging smile.

“Thank you,” Luke said, feeling a little off kilter, as though he’d entered an alternate universe where everyone seemed to know what was going on except him. They were all supportive though, which made him feel a little better.

To his surprise, Freddy didn’t lead him to the Lounge area—which was where most submissives usually headed. It was fairly crowded for a Thursday night, but the bar was a little bit less so. Apparently more submissives had shown up this evening than dominants, which was a little unusual. Luke had noticed it was usually the other way around.

Freddy veered immediately to a table on the far end where the bar was the least crowded. Looking around, Luke realized it had the worst view of the Lounge where the other submissives were lounging. He didn’t see any of the Dommes or male submissives on the floor currently and didn’t know if he was relieved he had Freddy to talk to immediately or if he wished he’d been able to procrastinate and put off talking to someone a little longer.

A pretty blonde immediately popped up next to their table—Luke couldn’t remember her name, although he’d seen her serving in the club before—and took their drink orders. Rum and coke for Freddy, a shot of whiskey and a beer for Luke. He figured he could use the alcohol boost for the conversation ahead.

“So,” Freddy said as soon as she turned away. “What would you like to talk about?”

Luke stared at him for a moment before a slight feeling of disgruntlement rose up in him. He leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest a little defensively. “Well it seems like everyone seems to think they know what I need, so why don’t you tell me what you think it is and I’ll tell you if you’re right.”

Unperturbed by Luke’s slightly aggrieved tones, Freddy just grinned widely at him. “It looks to me like you’ve hit the point of ‘am I really submissive’ and, or ‘is it okay for me to be submissive.’ Might have something to do with what you did in class, but basically you’re questioning if all of this is what you really want.” He waved his hand, indicating the club as a whole to denote all of what he was talking about.