Page 139 of Bound By Words

“I love your Nana,” Kelly laughed as she squeezed my hand. “But my parents would lose their shit if I didn’t let them visit. You’d think I was terminal from the way they’ve been hovering. Thank goodness Chase’s morning sickness finally appeared, or they’d never have left.”

“I’m sure Evan is loving the extra attention,” Sam chuckled as he sat back in his chair, Kristine joining him in the seat next to it, the two interlacing their fingers as they chatted with Kelly. I hadn’t spent much time around them, but I knew they’d been good friends to Kelly over the last few months. “But I can totally picture him playing tea party.”

“Like you’re any better,” Kristine laughed, pushing her shoulder playfully into Sam’s. A shiny diamond glinted from the sunshine streaming in the window. “You forget I’ve seen you play with your nephews. Talk about a pushover.”

“What the fuck is on your finger?” Kelly gasped, her head swiveling toward me, eyes wide before they returned to the bickering couple.

“Oh, that,” Kristine laughed, holding her hand out toward Kelly.

“Sam asked me when we went to the cape to get some things for Nana and Piet. This romantic fucker took me for a walk at sunrise and dropped to one knee in the surf.”

“That water is cold first thing in the morning,” Sam chuckled.

“So about that favor you owe me, Kristine,” Kelly started as she squeezed my fingers, smiling widely. “Now seems like a good time to cash it in, considering you two are getting married.”

“Oh frick,” her friend laughed, cringing before she looked over at Sam, who clearly had no idea what the two women were talking about judging by the frown on his face. “I knew you wouldn’t forget about that.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not that bad,” Kelly laughed. “Have you two given any thought to upgrading from a one-bedroom apartment? I might have a good opportunity for you to pick up a two-bedroom condo in your neighborhood at market value.”

NATHAN

3 MONTHS LATER

Boston

It took two months for Kelly to settle all the details of her move and get her condo sold to Sam and Kristine. They were more than happy to make a quick sale to take over her mortgage, and Kelly was anxious to get out of Chicago. Deacon was accommodating, giving her a month of paid leave to get herself packed and settled. He wasn’t as resistant to the move as I’d feared he might be, telling Kelly he was happy with her work while she’d been gone, so he didn’t see any reason why her working remotely couldn’t become the norm.

She’d still need to make the occasional trip back to Chicago, but I fully intended to travel with her, and she had Kristine and Sam to keep her safe if I couldn’t. Tom and Charley had also offered up their guest room if Kelly didn’t mind a screaming baby for a next-door neighbor.

After meeting with the Cook County prosecutor, Kelly had convinced them to give Trent a plea deal. He’d spend eighteen months in prison for the aggravated assault and stalking charges and another eighteen months in a psychiatric center to satisfy his incarceration terms.

If he had any issues while incarcerated or hospitalized, they could revoke the early release, and he could spend another eighteen months in prison before serving his full sentence. Kelly had made sure the psychiatric treatment was mandatory at the end of his sentence, regardless. He seemed remorseful when the lawyers met with him, but I still refused to let him have anything to do with us outside of third-party communication. He faced at least five years in prison if his case went to court, so he complied with everything. He was lucky Kelly was compassionate because things could have easily gone the other way.

Despite not wanting anything to do with him, my older brother insisted on paying for his lawyer out of our grandfather’s trust, knowing that while Trent had made some colossally big mistakes, the formerly Bradley Harrison the Third was still our little brother. My sister had broken the news to our mother, and thankfully, she hadn’t relapsed, instead telling my sister that she was sorry things hadn’t turned out differently. I knew she always harbored some emotional guilt for refusing to take Bradley in as a toddler, but she wasn’t fit to care for him then, and neither was I. Maybe with time, we could all learn to heal from the scars my father had left us with.

“Come on,” Kelly insisted, tugging my hand as I locked the Bronco doors and stepped over the curb to the sidewalk. “They’re waiting. You know how Em feels about tardiness.”

“He can keep his pants on. We’re not late yet.”

“Quit stalling,” Kelly pouted as she dragged me toward the door to the photography gallery at the storefront of Emory’s studio.

I knew she was right. I was stalling, but I still had trouble accepting that she was ready to start her rope training. She’d been a quick study with knots, tying up herself and all our furniture in her spare time. It wasn’t uncommon for me to come home from work to find her wearing nothing but a rope and a smirk.

After unpacking her boxes in the apartment, half of her things ended up going into storage or to Connecticut to be used in the almost complete guest house on Evan’s property. Once her nephew was born in a few months, I knew we’d be spending most of our weekends in the country.

She’d had me build her a small desk nestled against the living room window, taking up residence there or on our bed while I was at work. I worried about her being alone all day, but Trent was now serving his time, and I knew my building was secure. It also incentivized me to work normal hours and not burn myself out as much as I used to.

“I’m sorry, sunshine. I know you’re ready.” Leaning over to kiss her cheek, she smirked at me, reaching back to tap me on the ass. She’d convinced me to slip in my little friend before we left the apartment, and I was anxious to see what it felt like while I was partially suspended.

Emory had agreed to mentor Kelly as a rigger, and the two of them had been working on partial suspension techniques for the last several weeks. Today was the test of her skills, so I was her rope model, even if it made me nervous. It’d been months since I’d done suspension work, and the memories of my last scene with Grace weren’t ones I wanted to revisit despite forgiving Marisa for her behavior.

I’d also been finding it hard not to be extremely protective of Kelly. Talia introduced her to her friend Max, who was a crisis counselor. She’d been amazing at helping her work through residual trauma from the attack. Seeing Kelly suffering from insomnia and crying after the first time she’d initiated some intimacy between the two of us since the assault killed me. I’d let her lead, not wanting to risk triggering anything, but I knew she was frustrated by some of the things she’d liked before the attack, now making her skin crawl.

The first time I’d jokingly tugged on her ponytail, she’d ended up on the bathroom floor sobbing. I felt like shit for days afterward, keeping my touches with her wholly gentle, but she’d been upset I was holding back from her.

Over the last few months, it was a balance between her pushing her boundaries in the safety of our bedroom and letting herself heal without extra pressure. Surprisingly, we’d discovered that light impact play helped her start to enjoy my touch again in the playroom. She’d also taken the lead more and asked to top and regain some of the control she’d lost over her body.

She was always gentle with me, but seeing her take the reins still thrilled me. Kelly was never going to have trouble channeling her dominant energy.

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