Page 83 of For the Sub

“The next day, we went to pick up his car. He was apologetic, wanted to thank me and make it up to me, so he took me to dinner. Despite the differences in our backgrounds, I convinced myself that we could make it work, that my caring would help him get better, see how much brighter life could be. Before long, we fell into a pattern. He’d get arrested or messed up, and I’d rescue him. He’d be remorseful and promise never to do it again.”

“But he always did,” Niles surmised.

She took a seat again, this time perching on the edge. “One Sunday, he took me to a family dinner, and his mom asked how we met.”

“So you told her.” Which also explained her reluctance to accompany him to the fundraiser.

“You should have been there.” After picking up her cup again, she sipped from it. “It was like a scene from a movie. His younger sister knew of the place. His mother put down her fork and pushed her plate away.”

“I can only imagine.”

“His dad raised his eyebrows and said he’d been there once or twice, and that infuriated Shawndra.”

“How dare he be human?”

“Yeah. Something like that.” For a moment, she studied the contents of her cup before looking at him again. “She told me to my face that I wasn’t good enough for her son. And she asked him why he insisted on dating an impoverished whore.”

“Fuck.”

In a much lighter tone, she added, “To make the story shorter, we never found out what was for dessert.” She gave a rueful laugh. “Because she kicked me out. At least Reyes left with me.”

“That was the night of the overdose?”

“No. We continued to see each other after that, but we avoided his family, something else she blamed me for—taking away her son.”

“She isn’t good at accepting reality,” Niles observed.

“Anyway, it was about a year later when we saw each other in the emergency room. She called security, told them I was a prostitute, and had me escorted out.”

“Jesus.”

“She was next of kin.” Brandy shrugged. “There was nothing I could do. I telephoned for updates, but she’d forbidden the nurses to answer my questions. When he called me the next day, he was, as always, sorry for what had happened, but said he was tired of fighting with his mother and was sure I understood that the class distance and my perversions made a relationship between us impossible.”

Even though she had the distance of years, anguish still laced her tone.

“Last I heard through mutual friends, he’s headed to rehab on the West Coast before he marries a hotel heiress.”

“I’m so fucking sorry.”

She put down her cup. “Live and learn. Right? I did. I know my place, and I stay in my lane.”

Her acceptance of the horror she went through pissed him off. How could she think she was less than anyone? Especially arrogant assholes such as the Northrups. “Not everyone is like Shawndra.”

“Of course you’re right. You’re nothing like them. Neither is Master Damien.”

As he looked at beautiful, sweet Brandy, Damien and Gregorio’s warnings took on a deeper meaning.

The pair weren’t just worried about her because of his past with Eleanor. They knew everything she’d been through with the spoiled Northrup heir. “You deserve someone better than Reyes.”

She didn’t respond.

“He was a fucking coward. Can’t stand up to his own mother. Doesn’t work. Never behaves like an adult. Seriously, Brandy, what kind of life would that have been?”

“Don’t think I haven’t tried to convince myself of that.”

She’d loved him and had been committed to their relationship.

Did the man have any idea how lucky he’d been to find that kind of woman?

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