Page 86 of At Her Pleasure

Vera’s hand gripped hers, a brief squeeze. “Then he doesn’t know you as well as he thought. Because you didn’t, and you wouldn’t. We all know it. He knew who you were. He doesn’t necessarily know what you’ve become. And the same goes for him. Would the man you knew have pushed you like this?”

“No. But he does know me, Vera. He still knows me.”

“Then he needs you now. He needs his Mistress. He’s cut wide open,” Vera added, low. “And I’m not talking about what you did with your knife.”

Cyn didn’t disagree. Somewhere below her anger at him was anger at herself. Even subs who knew how to protect themselves could slip or stumble. Especially if she was pushing hard on their boundaries, the door to those dark places.

She’d considered that could happen to him, but she hadn’t anticipated the full effect. She’d mired herself in assumptions about their past and ignored the impact of the things she didn’t know about his life.

She should have anticipated, should have watched out for him. At any level, a power exchange could morph, evolve. Disintegrate a person’s walls until they stood, raw and vulnerable, even more than the day they were born. Leaving them shivering, no protection.

Fuck that. He had protection.

“Enough.” Abruptly, she advanced on the handful of watchers lingering outside the Pit. “Move along. This scene is no longer public. Take your asses elsewhere.”

Most scattered, understanding. The loud-mouthed Mistress was still there, looking like she was taking it in her head to be offended, insist that since it was on the public floor, Cyn didn’t have the right to insist on privacy.

“I can introduce your teeth to my boot if you need clarification.”

“Are you threatening me?” Her eyes, enhanced with contacts in the same Valentine red, narrowed, her matching long nails curving.

I don’t do girl fights, sweetie. I’ll break off those nails and feed them to you.

“Go run to management. But leave this fucking area.”

She tried to stare Cyn down, but Cyn knew the signs of someone who’d never been in a fight that actually turned physical. Whereas Cyn’s first gang fight had been when she was twelve. She’d used a brick to smash the knife-wielding hand of a girl about to stab a fellow member.

The Mistress stomped away on her high-heeled boots while muttering. Softly.

Cyn turned at a scraping noise. Olivia had apparently dispatched Janus on an errand. He and Greenman were returning with freestanding panels. They were setting them up along the outside of the Pit to shield the area from passing eyes.

Ros had risen from her seat. Tiger had come down from the mezzanine. When he reached the railing on the other side, Skye put her hands on his shoulders, his at her waist as he lifted her to the floor. Lawrence was beside Ros.

Cyn moved outside the panels, where she could still see Mick but speak to her friends. The key pressed into her clutched palm.

“Thanks for being here.”

Ros nodded. “If you need me, I’ll be in the lounge. Unless there’s something you need now.”

“No, Vera is enough. Thanks. Just…thanks.”

Abruptly Cyn pivoted, disappearing behind the panels.

Vera and Ros exchanged a significant look with Skye. Then Vera told them what Cyn had said, about Mick knowing her soul.

“She’s not usually the romantic of the group,” Lawrence commented.

“She’s not. Cyn’s soul is not a pretty place.” Vera’s expression was troubled. “If he sees it without flinching, accepts it, my guess is his own is a mirror. What we saw tonight confirms it.”

Ros met Vera’s gaze, more than one significant thing in the silent communication. Skye nodded at their look, on the same page. But for right now, only one thing mattered. “Stay with her,” Ros said to Vera.

“Count on it.”

“Tiger and I will hang here,” Skye signed. “She might need help with him.”

Vera noted the two med-tech subs had moved back as the panels were set up. Before they’d been set in place, though, their concerned eyes had been fixed upon Mick. Their eagerness to help was obvious, but so were other things.

His bound position, even in his current shape, gave admiring eyes time to study his naked form. Vera thought it might be wise for them to keep both their emotions and ogling toned down. Cyn’s mood seemed exceptionally… territorial.

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