Alex lifted a glass in Bass's direction. "I don't know. I'd say you're not doing too badly. The idiots who tried to mug me might think differently, but to me that's actually a point in your favor."

If he was thinking in terms of Dominants and Submissives or in terms of the advantages being friendly with a club manager might net him, maybe the words would have been calculated. Maybe he'd have been trying to use Bass towards his own ends - and maybe all of their ends - of getting the hell out of this place. He wasn't above being underhanded when he needed to.

But at the same time, while a part of his mind was already starting to work on those things, mostly he was just tired from the emotional onslaught he'd been put through the last who knew how many hours.

So the next question was as honest and sincere as his suggestion that Bass wasn't as bad at making friends as he claimed to be. At least not with Alex.

"Got any suggestions on who to ask?"