Page 1 of Connor and the Dragons

CHAPTER 1: CONNOR

“Last call, everyone,” I said, flipping on the bright house lights and watching the last few groggy patrons blink and look around. It was Tuesday night, and the bar was nearly empty. I’d been ready to leave for at least an hour.

Dave, a contractor who hung out at the Glass Dove whenever he and his wife were fighting, pushed his glass across the bar with one finger, hopeful.

“One more, Con. A short one.”

“Nope. Cutting you off, Dave. Time to head out.”

“You’re a cruel man.”

“Call for a ride. Or do you need me to?”

“I got it,” Dave said, pulling out his phone.

“Ready to cash out?” I set his card and receipt in front of him.

He grumbled and signed just as my pocket buzzed. I reached for my phone, frowning when I realized the vibration wasn’t coming from it.

“A rainbow case with kittens on it,” Dave said. “Bold choice.”

“It’s my younger brother’s phone,” I said, trying to shake off the worry. Sky knew I was at work, why hadn’t he stopped by to get his phone? I swiped a notification from his boss off the screen as Dave slid his receipt across the bar and headed for the door.

I liked Dave. I liked most of my regulars. The bar was a dive, popular with college students on weekends, but on weeknights, it attracted the typical mix of slightly fucked up and lonely people you’d imagine would be in a bar at one in the morning on a Tuesday.

Lately I had started to suspect I was one of the lonely people. I was defending my dissertation in the fall, which meant four shifts a week and research and writing and almost nothing else. Somewhere in the last year I had stopped being able to remember why I had decided to go for my doctorate. I loved the research, loved the puzzles, and loved teaching people how to do ciphers, but I wasn’t this into academia.

I just didn’t know what else to do with my passion.

Somewhere in that same stretch, my ex-girlfriend had told me, kindly, that she needed a dom who was actually available. She was right, which was the annoying part. I couldn’t ask someone to kneel for me if I couldn’t give them my time, and the entire dissertation process was all work and school and very little sleep.

Sky’s phone vibrated again, and I frowned down at it. A coworker of his, a big friendly bouncer named Leo, had dropped it off at our apartment right as I was leaving, and I’d texted Sky’s best friend Pip to let him know I had it before heading to work.

Sky left his phone places the way other people left umbrellas or water bottles, and I tried to tell myself not to be too concerned. Then the screen lit up again in my hand, showing me a stack of missed messages, all from WADE (BOSS). They got angrier as they went.

Wade: You’re on in 20.

Wade: You’re on NOW.

Wade: Kid, this isn’t cute. Call me.

Wade: Where the hell are you?

I stared down at it while the noise of the bar dropped away. Sky hadn’t come home last night. He hadn’t come to the bar to grab his missing phone. And now he hadn’t shown up for work, either.

Heart pounding, I swiped up, typed in Sky’s password, and dialed Wade’s number, holding up a finger to signal to a guy with a tab that I needed a minute.

Wade answered on the second ring. “Where the fuck are you, kid?”

“Hi, Wade? This is Connor, Sky’s brother. You don’t know where he is?”

There was a pause while the man on the other end recalibrated. “He didn’t come home?”

“No. When did you last see him?”

“Last night. He worked our opening, and nobody’s seen him since around two. Found his phone in the bathroom this morning, and I figured he was ducking my calls.” Ice rattled in a glass on his end. “Look, I’m sure the kid’s…”

“I’m coming down to the club. This isn’t like him. Give me fifteen minutes.”