Page 68 of Disciplining Dana

For a moment she didn’t move, not even to wipe the new set of tears that tracked from the corners of her eyes. “You could’ve handled this differently,” she eventually whispered. “You could’ve talked to me first. Instead, you chose to do this. Humiliate me. Punish me.”

“Yes.”

Dana rose slowly. Kurt wanted to reach to help her, but something told him not to. He simply stood stiffly as she got up from her knees.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Dana…” Now he did reach for her, instinct overriding his initial reticence.

She recoiled. “No,” she choked out the word, her hand coming up to ward him off. “Don’t touch me. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

Fuck. Fuck, FUCK!

She spun, storming away. As she did, her final words were a hammer blow.

“I don’t even want to be with you.”

CHAPTER 17

Dana

Fucking… fucking… asshole!

Dana stalked through the Dungeon, heading toward the exit. A few couples were inside, but most seemed preoccupied with each other, which was good, because it meant as she marched past, she attracted little attention.

And she didn’t want attention right now because what Kurt had just done…

The fucking asshole.

As she stormed up the steps, the blood pounding in her ears and the heaving of her chest brought her to a halt. She clenched her hands, forcing herself to try to calm. He shouldn’t have the power to make her feel this way, to have this control over her except when she chose to give it to him. In the past, Dana had given Kurt control on her terms exclusively, but this time? This time he’d demanded, and she’d given in. And that—that sensation of the situation being completely out of her control—that was what had her standing here right now. Because even though her anger was writhing through her, another feeling lurked beneath the surface, too. A sense that was almost…

Relief.

Dana shook her head. No, that… that wasn’t possible. She couldn’t be feeling that. That didn’t make any sense. Anger was clouding her judgment. She needed to get her thoughts together, settle herself down, and push away the anger so she could come at this rationally, without emotion.

She glanced toward the bar. A drink. A drink to give her a moment to calm the chaos and turbulence in her head.

She headed toward the counter where only a few people were scattered along its length, and she’d barely taken her stool when the young woman tending approached.

“Evening! What can I get you?”

“Bourbon, please.”

“Absolutely. Any one in particular?”

“You pick.”

“Ooh! That trusting, huh?”

Dana smiled tightly. “That needing of someone to make a decision right now other than me.”

“Yeah, been there, done that.” The bartender smiled. “I’ll be right back.”

Dana drew a deep breath and released it slowly. Glancing back toward the steps from the lower level, she looked for any sign of Kurt coming after her, but he didn’t appear. At least the jackass was self-aware enough to know better than to follow her. She turned away and gazed down at the bar top, the overhead lighting reflected in bright dots on the dark glossy wood.

I can’t believe he did it.

But he had. And she’d let him. And the realization of both those things warred with each other inside her head, along with a question that applied to both.

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