It wasn't his fault. Not really.
They were mid-date when Logan called. He and Asha were working a job for the S1W and needed help getting out of a sticky situation. Of course they'd help; it was what they did.
Didn't mean she had to like it, though. For some reason, she'd been irritable tonight, and despite his questions and less than sneaky attempts at getting a hint to the reasons for her foul mood, Alec could not discern why Max was so upset.
He could feel her anxiety as he climbed on the bike behind her and hesitantly put his hands around her stomach to hold on.
Max scowled from the front seat, he was sure of it, and as they neared the event, Max pulled off to the side road and demanded to know why he hadn't told her it was a fetish club.
Alec feigned he hadn't known and looked behind her toward the local shop Sextasy, which sold all kinds of naughty paraphernalia, including lingerie, teddies, leather, BDSM collars and chains… pretty much every possible thing to get you up, get you off, turn you on and turn you out. He lifted his eyebrows playfully.
She punched him hard in the arm and gave a comment about how he was lucky she liked him. He'd be in so much pain if she actually hated him. He cracked that she should save the pain play for later; they needed to get Logan and Asha out of there, first. Reminding her of her responsibilities always pissed her off.
With a killer red leather outfit acting as her second skin, Max entered the club from the back and went to meet Alec inside.
The music was terrible, the people weren't much better, and when they'd finally found Asha and Logan, the transgenic twosome got more than an eyeful of Logan's mostly naked body.
He was covered in welts from whiplashes and had lipstick marks around bites, and was fixed with a ball gag. Alec looked over to Asha, impressed. Max looked to Logan with the question in her eyes betraying her surprise at his attire, as well as the erection he had pressing against his black patent leather speedo. His eyes glanced over all exposed parts of her skin in surprise.
Alec wondered aloud why Logan called them to begin with, since it looked like they were doing just fine. He smirked at Logan, whose arms were tied above his head. He looked so uncomfortable.
Asha spoke up, telling Max that the man they were after asked for two Dominatrices, not a Dom and her Gimp.
Alec burst into laughter and Max punched him again, staring him down threateningly and as if she hated him just a little bit for what she had to do.
Max linked arms with Asha and took off toward the mark.
Alec hung back, slinging an arm around Logan's shoulder, and as the men watched the blonde and brunette sway away, lamented at their shared 'misfortune.' He punctuated it with a rough slap on the back, directly on one of Logan's bite marks, causing the older man to wince.
She hadn't spoken to him at the club. She hadn't spoken to him when they mounted the bike and rode home. She hadn't spoken to him as they prepared to go to bed.
Finally, as Alec pulled off his shirt and tossed it to the chair, he broached communication. "Maxie," he drawled slowly, watching wistfully as she turned away from him to change out of her sweater into a camisole. She inched her jeans down and stepped out of them.
Yep, it's time, he thought.
She slipped between the sheets and lay on her side, back to Alec.
He stuck his hand in his pocket, hoping she didn't hate him for tonight. It wasn't his fault she had to play Dominatrix. He undressed and turned off the light. He slunk under the sheet and scooted up to her, leaning on his elbow. He snuck his arm around hers and nervously pushed his hand toward her face.
"Happy Anniversary," he mumbled, knowing she thought he'd forgotten.
He felt her take a breath, then start to turn over. Once he saw her tearful eyes, he brought his hand back between them, the shiny ring pinched between his thumb and forefinger. "Marry me."