Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“And close your eyes,” Beau murmured.
Right then and there, Nora’s gaze landed on me. I felt the connection like two wires with magnetic tips rushing together with a snick. And the sensation didn’t fade as she closed her eyes and released a long breath.
“Gorgeous. That’s so good,” Ivy praised. “You have great posture, Nora.”
Fuck, I had to get away from her if I was gonna be able to do my job. I cleared my throat and averted my—
“Penelope?”
No.
I froze at the sound of Ella’s voice coming from behind me. Why the fuck was she here? I didn’t wanna face her. I didn’t want the anger and the hurt to come rushing back. At a complete loss about my future or not—fine, I could live with that—I’d dealt with the past. We were so done.
I drew a breath and braced myself mentally, then reluctantly turned around and came face-to-face with my darling cheater of an ex-girlfriend.
No changes, at least. It felt weird to see her, and I’d half expected her to look different, though I didn’t know why. It was the same old her. And no hurt. Yet. Or anger. Just annoyance because she was here.
She took a few tentative steps forward, and a sub snuck between us on his way somewhere.
Suddenly, I would give anything to get back to watching Nora. She was…the opposite of what I had in front of me. Nora was a breath of fresh air. Ella was tainted by her betrayal. Her blond hair and brown eyes that’d once reeled me in just made me see another woman’s hands on her. I could picture Ella’s expression contorting in pain and pleasure while she was with someone else.
Weirdly enough, it didn’t bother me as much as it had a few months ago.
I was simply…over her.
What a fucking relief.
I exhaled and folded my arms over my chest. “Make it quick. I’m on DM duty.”
To be honest, I couldn’t see this working out. We couldn’t share this community. She had to go. She had to realize this was a dead end.
Her gaze flickered with uncertainty. “I know. I was, um, just wondering if we could talk after the party?”
Talk about what?
“I have plans.” It was the truth. “What’s there to talk about?”
I caught one of my big oafs moving in the background—Colt, and he mouthed, “You okay?” to me.
I nodded subtly, grateful for him. He nodded once in return and got back to what he was doing.
Ella didn’t conceal her disappointment. “I want to say us, but I get the feeling you’re just gonna say there is no us.”
“I’m glad you get that feeling,” I replied. “Honestly—” Fuck. I saw someone get upset over by a St. Andrews cross, so I told Ella she’d have to find me later. I hurried over there and stayed behind the Top for the moment.
This wasn’t part of the event; the Top and his sub were playing on their own, and it was easy to see the boy wasn’t a fan of restraints.
I gently put a hand on the Top’s back as he dug out a flogger from his duffel.
He startled and glanced back at me.
“Safeword reminder right now, please,” I told him, gesturing to the sub.
The Top turned to his boy again, visibly concerned, but he didn’t appear to be surprised by the sub being distraught. “What’s your color, baby?”
The boy sniffled and clenched his fists. “G-green. I promise.”
So far, so good. “Does he ever struggle to safeword?” I kept my voice down so only the boy’s Top heard me. I’d seen them around before, so I knew they’d been together for a while.
“Not at all,” the man assured. Then he furrowed his brow. “Maybe I should’ve given a heads-up before…? We’re trying to work past one of his triggers, and he feels more comfortable in a crowd.” He held up the flogger. “This is to distract him. He loves being flogged.”
I’d heard what I needed to hear—for now. I thanked him—and apologized for interrupting—and then I walked away so I could watch from a safer distance. The boy hadn’t been shocked out of the scene, and that was good. Interrupting Tops had to happen occasionally. But these two appeared to have a solid dynamic. I kept an eye on them as the Top started flogging his boy, and the shift was pretty immediate. The sub went from trembling and whimpering to finding a comfort zone in the thuddy pain.
My shoulders lost the last of their tension when I heard how communicative the Top was. He praised his boy a lot, said he was proud of him, and spoke of his progress.
“I’m doing it, Daddy,” the boy chuckled tearfully.
“Fuck yeah, you are.” The Top was clearly proud. “You wanna go get ice cream now, or—”
“A little longer.” And the boy was determined.
I’d seen enough now too.