Page 94 of Bound By Words

“He was barely keeping calm with me in there. He didn’t need an audience,” Em chuckled.

“I’m sure Chase loved it. That girl is fearless,” Kelly giggled. “I knew any woman who could get my brother to wear leather pants must have some kind of magical powers.”

“I still remember when Grace started eyeing him. I thought he was going to bolt out of that building before he saw anything,” Tal giggled but abruptly stopped with a shake of Emory’s head.

No matter how much I’d tried to hide from my problems, I knew it was time to come clean to Kelly about the one person from my past I’d been vague about.

NATHAN

Boston

“Is Grace a friend of yours?” Kelly asked, sensing the tension in the room.

I hadn’t given her a name, but she knew the gist of what had happened before I ended up in Connecticut with her. “No,” I answered calmly, turning her palm over to trace it with my finger as I glanced down at her. “I wouldn’t call her a close friend. But she was my Domme for a while.”

“Sorry,” Talia apologized, looking a little guilty for the turn in the conversation, but I wasn’t going to hide anything.

“Don’t apologize. I’m not worried about it,” I waved away her concern, turning to face Kelly. Reaching up to push a lock of Kelly’s hair behind her ear, I took a deep breath and told her the truth. “She’s a rope top but into humiliation and degradation. She’s polyamorous and has quite a few pain and pleasure subs. So when she does a showcase, she puts on a show.”

Kelly’s eyes widened at my admission, her mouth falling open softly. “And you had a relationship with her?”

“I had an arranged play-only agreement with her. We weren’t romantic.”

“Is she the one who…?” Kelly trailed off as she looked over at Emory and Talia and then back to me.

I nodded once, squeezing her hand. I appreciated that she was protecting my privacy.

“So you told her but not me?” Emory asked, leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms. He narrowed his eyes, trying to look intimidating, and I heard Kelly inhale a nervous breath next to me.

“Well. She keeps my secrets,“ I teased, “and I just hadn’t had the chance to tell you before I left. Kind of awkward to talk about in a text message.”

“Are you going to tell us now?” Talia smiled, probably getting worked up as I faced off against her partner. She loved it when Doms got all alpha male in front of her.

Looking over at Kelly, she gave me an encouraging nod, silently supporting me.

“Marisa is pregnant,” I told them, watching Talia’s eyes widen. She opened her mouth to respond, but I held my hand up.

“She convinced Grace it was mine, and Marisa gave her some questionable audio recordings. Grace made me listen to Marisa with some guy while I was suspended. The man was growling in my earbud about how he enjoyed having her while she was pregnant with another man’s baby. Then another one of her crying and pleading with Grace to help her since I was abandoning her with my baby.”

“What the fuck? That chick is full-on psycho,” Tal blurted out, and Em frowned. Kelly didn’t seem fazed by her comment.

“I safe-worded and broke things off with Grace. Walked out and left for Evan’s the next day.”

Talia smiled, raising her eyebrows as she gave Kelly an appraising look. “Where you ran into the woman you’ve secretly been obsessed with for months.”

Kelly smiled nervously, leaning into my side again, laughing a little at Tal’s comment.

“Talia,” Emory sighed, shaking his head.

“Well, he has,” she defended, bouncing in her seat a little. “And now she’s here to play.” Talia clapped her hands together, and I looked down at Kelly. She bit her lip, looking a little nervous as her cheeks tinged pink. I knew it wasn’t from the wine because she hadn’t touched hers the entire meal, opting to drink her full glass of water, smirking at me every time she returned the glass to the table.

“Don’t scare her,” Em laughed, his serious demeanor finally cracking a little.

“But it’s perfect,” Talia said, looking at him expectantly. “Now she can come with us on Friday.”

“What’s Friday?” I frowned, looking over to Em.

“Don’t worry, G isn’t invited,” Talia started, smiling widely. “We’ve been invited to a party out in the burbs. A Dom Emory knows is looking to show off his new house and fiancée. He extended the invitation to you also.”

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