Page 95 of Security and Submission
Knocking on the bedroom door made her jerk her head up. For a moment, she hesitated. She wasn’t wearing her makeup, but Zeus had already seen her looking far worse.
“Yes?” she asked, walking over to open it and peek out.
Zeus stood on the other side. The hallway was dark, so the only light on him came from the bedroom lamp, casting long shadows over his face and body.
“Just wanted to let you know that I checked on Sarah and she’s doing well.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you.”
They both stood there for a long moment, just looking at each other. Yasmine’s mouth felt like it was drying up. She wanted to say something, something that would make everything better… but she couldn’t think of what.
“I’m sorry,” she said finally.
He looked away. Rolled his head to the side. Looked back at her.
“Thanks.” Another beat. “Good night.”
“Good night.” Her heart sank into her chest as he turned away and went down the hall.
She was about to close the door when she realized Tiger was sitting in the hallway, staring up at her, right behind where Zeus had been a moment before, his head cocked to the side. Zeus must have taken off his collar for the night, which meant he’d moved silently, and she hadn’t seen him at first.
Yasmine took a step back.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked the dog, who immediately got to his feet and trotted into her room. Jumping up onto the bed, he spun in place three times, ending curled up with his head on his paws, facing where she was standing in the door. “Well, all right then.”
She had to admit, the idea of having the dog beside her did make her feel safer. But she also felt kind of guilty that Zeus’ dog had just abandoned him for her. Even though it wasn’t like she could control the dog.
Leaving the door to her bedroom open, so Zeus could call for Tiger if he wanted, or so Tiger could change his mind and go to Zeus, Yasmine went to the bed and crawled in. Tiger’s body was a heavy, reassuring weight on the comforter, and he let out a little sigh as she got into place and turned out the light.
He didn’t move. Zeus didn’t call for him.
Completely exhausted by the events of the day, Yasmine closed her eyes. She almost felt like crying, but she was too tired to summon any tears. Instead, she felt herself plummeting down into the dark, so wrung out that she literally couldn’t stay awake.
Zeus
Now his dog had betrayed him, too.
Which felt overdramatic but also felt true. Tiger didn’t usually leave Zeus’ side to sleep, even when Zeus had a guest in the guest bedroom.
On the other hand, Zeus had never had a guest in the guest bedroom who had been through as much as Yasmine had tonight. Tiger probably sensed her emotional upset. Maybe even her need for safety. And he was responding to it.
The same way Zeus wanted to respond to it yet couldn’t bring himself to. His whole chest hurt as he lay on his back, staring up into the darkness of his room. Knowing that his girl and his dog were just down the hall.
But she wasn’t really his girl.
Hadn’t really been his girl.
And she hadn’t needed him as much as he’d thought. She’d had an entire team of security that would have jumped to help her. Even if her ex-fiancé hadn’t—and Zeus didn’t believe for one second that Mason wouldn’t have protected her—there was still everyone else. She was friends with all their significant others, as well as Claudia.
Which begged the question of why she’d stayed with him.
Why hadn’t she called her friends?
He reviewed the scene at Yasmine’s house in his mind, once Claudia had shown up. Claudia had said that Yasmine had been keeping things from her, which backed up what Yasmine had said about not telling her friends about Zeus. A revelation that gave him very mixed feelings.
At least he wasn’t the only one in the dark. On the other hand, the fact that she’d been keeping him a secret from her friends didn’t sit well with him, either. Noelle had also kept a lot of secrets. So, had his mom.
This was probably different, though. Noelle hadn’t really had other friends to keep him a secret from; she’d only been keeping secrets from him. And Yasmine only thought of him as a fuck buddy, something he hadn’t yet had time to change her mind about—and wasn’t sure he wanted to anymore.
