Page 231 of Masters of Pleasure
Domi:Why should you feel guilty?Like Rae said, it’s not like she was talking to you, anyway.
Rae:She probably wanted Iris there, so she could ignore her.You can’t ignore someone who’s not there.
Avery:Maybe she really felt lonely?Not that I’m saying it’s okay that she took it out on Iris.
Domi:Mitch says you shouldn’t feel guilty.
Rae:Maybe she’s a cunt rag.
Domi:Rae!
Rae:I’m just saying.
Avery:She seems like a very unhappy person, but that doesn’t mean you should let her make you unhappy as well.
Now Iris felt bad.Maybe she’d been overplaying how Noelle had been.Did she really deserve to be called a cunt rag?
Yes.
Iris ignored the little voice in her head that sounded far too much like Rae for comfort.Part of Rae’s biggest problem with Noelle was she didn’t like the things Iris had said about Noelle.But Noelle had been a really good friend, too, even if she’d been difficult recently.Rae and the others had only seen and heard a lot about a small part of that of her relationship with Noelle.
Iris:She’s not really unhappy most of the time
Staring at the text, Iris deleted it before sending it.That wasn’t really the truth, was it?Maybe it had been at one point, but lately, Noelle never seemed happy.She tried again.
Iris:I think she’s having trouble adjusting to me making new friends and feeling left behind.I think I’ve given you all the wrong impression of her, and that’s my fault.
Even though her stomach twisted, she sent it.She didn’t want them to think badly about her, but she didn’t think Noelle wasthatbad.
Rae:Nice try, hun, but I think you’re blinded by your long friendship with her.I think we have the right impression.
Avery:It was weird that she encouraged you to go out, then turned down the invitation to join us and picked a fight about it.
Domi:I don’t know if you noticed, hun, but even when we were all hanging out together, she kept saying things to make herself look good and you… not bad, but not as good as her.It was off-putting.
Iris had noticed but thought it was all in her head.Domi now saying it, too, meant she hadn’t imagined it this time.Maybe she hadn’t imagined it in the past, either, when Noelle had accused her of being too sensitive.
Rae:You’re still coming to Stronghold tonight to hang out with us, right?Avery got the night off!You can’t miss that.
Iris:Holy crap, Avery got the night off?No, I definitely can’t miss that.
She didn’t want to, either.Despite what she’d told Law about not coming over today, she felt trapped in her room.She didn’t want to bug him, so she was going to deal with it, but only because she had Stronghold to look forward to tonight.
Law
When he got home, Law started second-guessing himself.Last night had gone well.Really well.Iris was everything he wanted.
But was she everything he deserved?It sure didn’t feel as if he deserved her.
Did she deserve to be saddled with someone like him?
The doubt creeping in was hard to ignore, no matter how distracting Whiskers was, demanding attention after being left alone for another night.Every time he stopped petting her, as his thoughts distracted him, she head-butted his face.That helped a little.
“Sorry, Miss Princess,” he murmured, scratching under her chin and warily watching in case she suddenly decided she was done with him.Chin scratches were particularly risky, but when she was in the mood, she loved them more than anything.“Maybe I’ll see if Iris wants to sleep over here next time.”
The moment the words were out in the world, panic tightened in his chest.
He hadn’t had a woman sleep over—ever.
