Page 62 of Bad Enough

“All right, let’s get down to the shitstorm of the last twenty-four hours.”

Yep, that was Kai. No pleasantries. Just right to the heart of the matter.

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“I’m not talking about your stalker,” Kai fumed. “I’m talking about the rhinocer-ass in your house as we speak.”

There was a guffaw of laughter in the background.

Must be Mr. Intense.

“That’s a new one. Nice.”

“Thanks. I thought it was brilliant, myself. Seriously, Syl, you better start spilling. TB just stood there like a freaking monolith when I yelled at him yesterday; Waters won’t tell me jack-shit, and all because my best friend can’t be bothered to tell me she’s hooking up with possibly the scariest man on the planet?”

“He’s not scary.”

“You have no idea how incorrect that statement is. But don’t you dare defend the turd-gobbler. Tell me what’s going on, and I mean tell me right this minute.”

There was more laughter in the background.

Sylvan sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about starting with how you met the man when you never leave your house?”

“I leave my house.”

“Oh, really? When? Tell me when the last time was?”

“Yesterday.”

Kai growled.

In the background, Sylvan heard, “She’s not wrong, babe.”

Sylvan frowned. “Have you got me on speaker?”

“No. He just hears everything. Now. Stop deflecting. When was the last time before yesterday, smartass.”

“Better smart than dumb,” Sylvan quipped.

“Syl… I mean it. Quit fucking around.”

There was a long pause. Kai simply waited her out, knowing she’d need to get her thoughts together. It wasn’t like she wasn’t going to share. It was just that she needed to put things together in an orderly fashion, like a plot.

“Remember how I told you I felt that the Primal and Prejudiced series had run its course, and I wanted to try something new? Well, I decided to do some research.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Then Kai hesitantly asked, “What kind of research? What did you do?”

“Nothing! I mean, not at first.”

“At first?” Kai squealed. “Sylvan Jones, do not tell me you went to a BDSM club and got all freaky.”

Sylvan heard a groan in the background and a mumbled, “I need to take a walk, or I’m never going to be able to look TB in the eye again.”

“Bring me a Zinger,” Kai told the retreating voice. “Okay, we’re out of Zingers, so he’ll be gone for a little bit while he hunts for something we don’t have. Spill it. And I mean everything.”

Sylvan pulled her feet up into her desk chair, sitting sideways. Whenever she was feeling frustrated with her writing or got herself stuck, the bunched-up position helped her refocus. Now she used it as a means to settle in to explain what happened. “I got chatting in Messenger with Miss Tabby from the Reader’s Group. It got to where we were chatting daily, and then we started talking on the phone. She admitted to owning The Library, that exclusive BDSM club in the city, and that maybe she could hook me up with one of the Dominants who could help me research. I told her I wasn’t comfortable coming down to the club, but I’d love to talk to someone online. She said she had the perfect guy in mind because he was gone a lot on business, and that would allow us, potentially, to still talk to one another if he was on a business trip.”

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