Page 14 of Dominated By Love

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KLEVER

“Sage!”

I gave her a full thirty minutes before I got out of the car. I didn’t even want to try to imagine what she was dealing with internally. My only mission was to make it better. That was always my mission when it came to Sage. I moved down the hall until I heard the sound of sniffling. My heart sank because I knew she didn’t want me to see her crying. My heart broke because I knew, yet again, I was about to witness her crying over another man.

“Sage! I called her name again once I spotted her sitting on the side of her bed with her face in her hands. “Let’s go, baby doll.”

She jumped when my hand landed on her shoulder. Blinking rapidly, she reached up and swept the tears out of her eyes.

“I’m sorry. I sat down for a minute and got lost in my thoughts.”

“Where’s your bag?” I asked, looking around the room. There was a bottle of scotch and sleeping pills on the nightstand next to her, but I didn’t see a bag.

“I’m sorry, K. I didn’t pack it yet. I just—” She cut herself off, wiping her eyes again.

“Just point me in the right direction. I got it.”

Without a word, she pointed toward an open walk-in closet. I kissed the top of her head before crossing the room to the closet. I spotted several designer duffel bags and grabbed the first one I came to, along with a couple of sundresses from the closet. I didn’t bother her again as I moved over to a dresser and opened the top drawer.

My instincts seemed to be correct when I discovered that it was her underwear drawer. I pulled out a couple of sets of panties and bras, making sure that they matched. Not that it was important, but I remembered hearing a woman say that she felt more confident when she wore matching lingerie. If it were up to me, Sage wouldn’t need any of that shit, dresses included.

Just for the hell of it, I got a couple of T-shirts and a pair of shorts. Honestly, I didn’t want to bring anything that another man had bought for her. Since it wasn’t even five in the morning, there were no stores open. I figured she would need something.

With that in mind, I headed to the bathroom and grabbed her soap. As I headed back to the room, I noticed a satin bonnet and headscarf on the counter. She was wearing braids, so I knew she would want to keep them fresh. After tossing them in the bag, I walked back out to the bedroom.

“You didn’t have to do that, K.”

“You don’t have to keep saying that. Everything I do for you is by choice.”

“Thank you,” she said with sad eyes that further broke my heart.

“Was there anything in particular you wanted to get?”

“The hell out of here.”

Her soft chuckle thawed a little of the ice in my heart. She picked up a sheet of paper from the bed as she stood. My eyes zeroed in on the red letters at the top of the page, and I couldhave been set on fire. Before I knew it, I’d snatched the form out of her hand. She didn’t need that kind of stress right now.

“Fuck me, K. Right here in this bed,” she said, pulling my hand to stop me.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I need you.”

“I know, baby doll, but not like that.”

“You asked me if I needed you. You don’t get to tell me how I need you to show up for me.”

“In this case, I do. You’re hurting right now, so I know you may not be thinking straight.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my thinking. You’re just being a little bitch. You can’t keep punishing me for doing what I felt was right, Klever. If you’re going to punish me, I need you to do it in your special way. Because I don’t want to be in my mind right now.”

“Punish you?” I chuckled. “I just bailed you out of jail, baby girl. You’re punishing yourself at this point.”

“Whatever. I can see how much you hate me in your eyes. You can barely look at me. I know you’re still mad about me going back to Jaylen.”

“Why wouldn’t I be mad about that shit, Sage? Come on now! Be honest with yourself. You should be pissed too. I don’t have to hate you, baby. I don’t have to punish you. You’ve been punishing yourself for years by putting up with him after all this time when you know how I feel about you. When you know you deserve so much better. You had no fucking business letting him have you for so long.”