Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.
I was on one side of the center island. He was on the other. He walked, casually, rounding it.
I ran back toward the stairs.
The chase was something I kind of needed. Weirdly. It was probably something psychological about submitting to let go of my stress but fighting for my independence first. I didn’t know, exactly, but I craved the chase sometimes. It was so raw and visceral for me.
I was four or five steps up when I lost my footing and tripped.
He caught me before I landed.
My heart tripped, too.
“Fuck, Tia. What the fuck?” He scooped me tighter to him and stormed the rest of the way up, into the bed and sat, planting me on his lap.
My eyes were wide. My heart went splat.
“No more fucking chasing! You wanna fall down the goddamn stairs while you’re pregnant? Fuck!”
He was mad.
I was horrified.
I could’ve hurt our baby. I could’ve killed our baby with my stupidity.
I started to bawl. I put my hands to my belly.
His anger melted away. I felt it evaporate.
“I’m so sorry,” I cried, saying it not to him, but to our yet-to-be-born, yet-to-even-show baby.
“Oh God.” I sniffled.
He laid down and threw the blankets over us.
“We need to get our fuckin’ act together. The both of us,” he muttered.
I looked at his face. There was a tear on his cheek, too. He pulled me close and kissed me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No. I’m so s-stupid.”
“I love you,” he whispered hoarsely. “That was stupid but you’re not stupid.”
“I love you. We’ll get it together. Starting now,” I promised him, promised myself.
“How ‘bout some good old-fashioned vanilla for tonight? For until this baby is born?”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said and I smiled through my tears and kissed the tear on his cheek. And then we made slow, sweet, exploratory vanilla love. With a couple sprinkles on top. But no games, no chasing. No denying one another.
The next morning, at the breakfast table, I hesitantly asked, “Can I have the letter?”
“Of course, you can.” He looked at me strangely.
I went to his office and read it. I hadn’t entered his office yesterday after the incident with Nick and it was sitting on his desk. He must’ve picked it back up.
After reading it, I put it in the trash bin beside his desk and went back to the kitchen and popped bread into the toaster.
“You wanna see him?” Tommy asked.
I spun around. “You’d be okay with that?”
“Tia, this is your father. Not mine. It’s up to you.”
I pondered it.
“You want me to find out about visiting days?”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t wanna see him.”
“You sure?” He raised his eyebrows.
“No. I’m not sure. I’m not ready to make a firm decision. Just… just forget it for now.”
He gave me a tight smile and his eyes moved back to his laptop screen.
My phone rang. It was Ruby.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Hey! Wanna come to the mall with me and Beth?”
The mall. Ah, a simpler time. When I hung out at the mall.
“I can’t today, Ruby. But listen… can you do me a favor and stop talking to Nick about my life? You have no idea the trouble he’s caused.”
“Nick won’t be any trouble any longer,” Tommy muttered, walking by me, grabbing his keys.
“Hang on, Ruby. Let me call you back.” I ended the call.
“What did you do?”
“I told him to leave town. He doesn’t? I already said what’d happen if he doesn’t.”
“You meant that?” I asked.
He raised his eyebrows and didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.
Please Nick, leave town.
Tommy kissed me quick. “Going to the office. Dinner out tonight? Venetia? Movie?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Love you. See you at around six.” He kissed me again, slapped my bottom, and he was gone.
We never got to do a dinner and a movie. Turned out, that night, we had to get on a plane and go to Thailand.
11
Kruna Day 3
The partner meeting started at noon. It was closed door, no slaves present, so I didn’t have Angel with me. She was in our room, and I’d asked her to stay there.
Before I went in, I snipped the piece of one of her bras out that had the bug and stuffed it in my inside pocket. If they thought to frisk me at this point, better me than her. If they had eyes on our room when I’d done it, in the bathroom, then I was doomed.
Expansions to the building, more assets, more members. Possible plans to start a small US-based satellite branch of the club. A program, too, where members who were adequately vetted could have access to have girls sent to them for short periods of time. Gan Chen described it like borrowing library books. I fought the urge to break his face.
Some of the expansion plans were a few years out but they wanted to move forward soon to expand their stable of slaves, start the satellite branch, and begin planning for this lending program, which concerned a few members, but got voted in.