“I do have a metal solder, jackass, and some wrenches and screwdrivers. Do you want me to fix the clock or not?”
I waved my hand in apology—jewelers’ tools were so petite—and looked around the empty club. So many horny memories, and one really disturbing one. I wished I could enjoy The Gallery together with Alice, but I was apparently too jealous and possessive. “Fuck,” I muttered to myself.
“What?” asked Fort. Every sound echoed in the quiet dungeon.
“Nothing,” I replied.
I heard a grinding noise, an alarming clang, and a curse from Fort, but then he yelled down, “Everything’s okay. Just getting in there.”
“Yeah, you’re good at that.”
He laughed. “I try my best.”
“Hey, how’s the wedding planning coming along?” I didn’t want to distract him from his work, but I also couldn’t stand to look at the dungeon around me.
“Planning’s going great,” said Fort. “Going to be medium sized, lots of food, open bar, and Goodluck’s insisted on doing the decorating.”
“Holy crap.”
“I know, it’s going to be a riot.” He looked down, his expression bemused, as it always was when we talked about Juliet’s crazy boss. “He volunteered his cat, Mr. Snail Shell, to be the Best Man, but I told him the job was taken. I would have picked you but—”
“I know, you’ve known Devin longer.”
“Yeah, and he’ll probably give a jollier toast at the reception. You aren’t known for your uplifting speeches, although you play a mean violin. Can you play during our service?”
“I’d be happy to.”
“And Ella’s going to be Juliet’s Maid of Honor. Speaking of which, Dev’s going to pop the question any day now. The lessons sealed the deal.”
“What lessons?” Another loud clang was followed by a grinding sound, and I had to repeat my question. “What lessons?”
“Flying lessons, man. For Ella.”
“No way.”
“I swear to God, it’s true.”
“But she’s petrified of flying. She always has been.”
“Not anymore.” Fort grunted, turning a gear and tugging it off the clock face’s massive spindle. “She fell in love with a pilot, now she wants to do pilot-y things. People change.”
There’s nothing wrong with changing. That’s what Alice had told me Saturday night. She’d changed me in so many ways over the past few weeks, I hardly recognized myself. “Who’s giving her the lessons?” I asked. “Devin?”
“Yeah. He went back and forth in the beginning, didn’t trust himself to do it. But in the end, he couldn’t pass the responsibility off to someone else.”
I stared up at the clock, watching it come to pieces. I trusted that Fort could put it back together; he was the son of one of the world’s foremost jewelers, after all. He took the box from his pocket and removed the piece that was supposed to fix everything. It was hardly bigger than the tip of my thumb. He adjusted the work light belted to his head and leaned closer to study the clock’s inner workings.
“Oh, yeah,” he muttered to himself. I didn’t know if it was a good or bad oh, yeah, and I didn’t want to ask.
“Hey, Milo,” he said as he fiddled with the clock’s innards. “I meant to ask you about Saturday night. You and Alice cut out of here pretty quickly. Was everything okay? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”
“I hope I didn’t overstep when I came over. I was trying to help.”
“I know.” I kicked at the polished floor. “No one overstepped. I just didn’t…” I paused. “It didn’t feel the same, being there with Alice.”
“Yeah, I know. I was that way with Juliet. I’m still that way. It’s like when you’re a kid, and you have your favorite kind of candy clutched in your fist. You know it’s polite to share, but you don’t want to fucking share, because it’s your favorite treat and there’s only so much of it.” He chuckled, picking up one of the gears he’d taken off earlier. “It was pretty clear to everyone who knew you that you didn’t feel like sharing Saturday night.”
“I have never, ever felt the way I felt on Saturday night.” I moved closer, watching Fort root through his belt for a very small screwdriver. “Alice was worried because she didn’t know what went wrong, and I was like, what went wrong is that I love you too much.” I let out a self-deprecating laugh. “It’s new territory for me.”
“Maybe so,” said Fort after a moment. “But it’s good territory. What did Alice say when you told her you loved her?”
“She was happy, but she already knew. She’s known for a long time.” I shook my head. “I don’t know, man. I’ve come to The Gallery for so long. I’ve been ‘that person’ here for so long.”
“What person?”
“The heartless sex fiend. The relentless sadist who loves sharing women. She says it’s okay for me to change—”
“Of course it’s okay.” Fort laughed. “Ella the flightphobic scientist is learning to fly an airplane. Devin the playboy is shopping for engagement rings. And I’m getting married—” He made a comical, alarmed sound. “In five months, my friend. I guess the question is, are you okay with changing?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even have to think about it. “For her, because of her, yes, I’ll change. But it sucks, you know, not being able to come here anymore, because I think she was into the atmosphere, and th
e uniform and everything. She’s turning into quite the little maso submissive.”
“Not shocking, in your hands.” He let out a sigh, hooking his fingers in his toolbelt.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing. I’m just thinking… This clock has been broken forever, right?”
I nodded. “Since The Gallery opened.”
“And the rules have also been the same since day one.” He picked up one of the larger gears, adding it back to the center. “Do you know anything about potential and kinetic energy?”
I frowned up at him. “What the fuck, man?”
“Forget it. Listen. Maybe I’m fixing this clock now because the time for standing still is over. Like Alice told you, it’s okay to change. It’s okay for me to change, and Dev to change. It’s okay for you to change.”
“It’s just a clock.”
Fort took a step back and started pushing the hands from their longtime position at 7:45, to the current time, which was just after noon.
“It would be a simple change, wouldn’t it?” he called down to me. “Instead of Any submissive brought into The Gallery shall be considered communal property blah blah blah, shorten it to Any submissive may be shared in any way her sponsor desires. Strike the part about communal property. It’s barely a rule change, just a refinement.”
He made it sound simple, but it wasn’t. “It’ll change everything about The Gallery.”
“Will it, though? Some members are into sharing. Some aren’t. Some want to share on certain nights, but not others. It’s always been a dance of consent. Remember the time Devin attacked you for slapping Ella?”
I grimaced. “Remember the time you glowered at everyone who looked in Juliet’s direction? That’s why no one tries to play with her anymore.”
“Exactly. The practice of discretion has already been going on.” I heard a buzzing sound, and Fort flinched and shook out his fingers.
“You okay, man?”