“Eli Campbell, managing partner of Chambers and White, walked into the break room carrying an empty mug. Partners seldom entered the room, but Eli was the exception. He practiced “management by wandering around.” Chatting with the staff while pouring his own coffee or biting into a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut gave him an insight that none of the other partners had. Unlike the other partners, he was friendly, outgoing, and approachable when in the office. But, that was a practiced facade.”

“Eli likes to explore with other people different kinds of sex that his partner doesn't enjoy; he says, 'It enables me to show different aspects of my sexuality to those who appreciate them most.”

“The training part," I guessed."Yup. You're going to be Dimitri's partner."A moment of funny silence fell, probably not noticeable to anyone except Dimitri and me. Our eyes met."Guarding partner," Dimitri clarified unnecessarily, like maybe he too had been thinking of other kinds of partners.”

“He lived in chambers that had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again.”

“It was easy to find a sexual partner any time he wanted; friends, on the other hand, were a rare and precious commodity.”

“Men and men, men and women, whatever the permutation, in the end one partner usually feels more than the other and that partner usually suffers for it.”