Page 112 of Regal Feather
“Okay, why are you back here then?”
“They drove me back,” I mumbled. “I was worried.”
“Worried about what?”
Now he did pull back. I didn’t fight it too much, but it took some effort not to scowl at him like a petulant child.
Maybe I’d been more coddled than I’d thought. Maybe I was more of a brat than I thought, too, and not necessarily in the kinky way.
“I shouldn’t have gotten out of the car like that.”
“Yeah, not your greatest moment.” His gaze darted toward Carlos and Danny again, hesitation clouding his features before he set his jaw once more. I hated it. I hated how he made himselflook stronger, bigger, than he actually wanted to be. I hated that I couldn’t do shit about it without the risk of ruining something else. “You didn’t have to leave just for that, though.”
“I did.”
Obviously, I wasn’t going to say anything about what Carlos said. It was hard enough to keep myself from thinking about it too hard. The idea of it had me choking on air, fighting back tears that I wouldn’t be able to explain.
“If you’re good, we’re going to head off,” Danny said. I glanced back. He finished his glass of water in one large swig and dried his mouth with his forearm. “Unless you want to head back to the club?”
“No, it’s good. Thanks, Danny.”
It was easy to promise him that I’d text him if I needed anything. Even easier to ignore the look Santos and Carlos exchanged before giving each other one of those nods that I never understood men gave one another.
“What about your workshop?”
I shrugged. “I suppose I’ll text Erika tomorrow and we can reschedule it.”
It wasn’t as if the club’s activities were a formal, contractual thing. Erika might not like it because she was all about discipline and following the rules, but she’d understand. Or maybe I’d run out of luck with her, too, and she wouldn’t, but I’d deal with that when the time came. Right now, my focus was on Santos and how he was touching me, but the touch didn’t carry the warmth I was used to. The strength.
It was wrong.
Maybe I could’ve asked Danny to stay, but… No. It was bad enough that I knew I was a coward. I couldn’t deal with someone else knowing it, too. Whatever they had to be thinking about me would have to be bad enough.
“Babes, I…” He ran a hand through his hair. It was longer now, but I knew he wanted it much longer, that his curls weren’t anywhere near as defined as he wanted them. “Will you come to therapy with me?”
“W-what?”
That was not what I’d expected.
“It’s on Tuesday, and I don’t know, maybe she’s not okay with it, but I read that sometimes they let you do that.”
“Like couples’ therapy?”
Santos winced as if I’d slapped him. It was sort of how I was feeling, the shock forcing me still. Quieting my thoughts in a way that bordered on disturbing.
“No, no… Well, I don’t think so? But sometimes you can take someone to therapy when you need to explain something, and you need help doing it or extra support? I think. That’s what Reddit says.”
“Since when are you on Reddit?”
Santos shrugged. “It has good porn gifs.”
“Uh-huh.”
Good porn gifs.
Right.
I wasn’t going to touch that with a ten-foot pole.
