Page 21 of Unzoned

"Carissa." He ran his fingers through his hair and headed toward the bathroom. New Year’s Eve was upon them, and he had one last meeting before he could enjoy the evening. If he could enjoy the evening. Without Jade at his side, the party held little interest to him.

"You have to do something about Jade."

His ears perked up. "What's wrong? Where is she?" He darted back into his bedroom ready to grab his keys and fly down to the parking lot, pants or not.

"Calm down. She's fine. Well not fine, but safe."

"What's going on? I thought she had the morning shift today?"

"She does. She's at work now. Look. She knows she's wrong. She misses you and is being so fucking stubborn I’m ready to clock her over the head with a pan and drag her to you."

A small sense of relief mingled with a darker sensation. He didn't want her suffering, even if it was her own doing. It wasn't for her to cause herself grief. That was his job.

"Out with it." He demanded. The past two days had worn him down; he didn't have the energy to be sweet with Carissa.

"She's not eating, she's not sleeping. She thinks she's completely ruined everything. I told her to talk to you, I told her that's not how these things work, but she won't listen- said she blew you off too many times."

Jade would bury herself in sorry and guilt if he let her. And he wouldn’t do that. He would help her, guide her right back to where she belonged.

With him.

"Did she ever find a dress for the party tonight?"

"What? No, I mean, she has one but she's not planning on going."

"That's fine. Can you be at her apartment when she gets home from work? To help her?"

"I just told you, she won't listen to me, what am I going to help her with?"

"She's going to have to make a decision, it's not going to be easy and I can't be there for it. She'll need you."

"Why?"

"Because you're her friend. And you're a submissive, you'll understand."

"Did Jamison say something?" Her tone sharpened.

"Jamison? No." He didn't need more drama at the moment. "He hasn't said a word, why?"

"Nothing. I'll be at her apartment when she gets home. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to be waiting for her answer."

"You make no fucking sense."

Chapter 13

Jade shoved the key into her apartment door, balancing the bag of groceries in one hand and fighting her purse strap on the other arm. As the key finally turned, the door swung open.

"Shit!" Jade stumbled forward but managed to catch herself before falling flat on her face.

"Sorry." Carissa rushed to grab the bag of frozen appetizers and wine from her arms, peeking inside. "Planning a pity party for one?"

"Don't start." Jade shut the door and bolted it while shucking off her winter coat. "I'm hungry and thirsty. Mini Quiche and white wine seemed the way to go." Or depressed and hopeless, whichever description worked best to keep Carissa from continuing.

"Whatever. I don't think you'll be needing them though."

Jade followed her to the kitchen and pulled the hair tie from her hair and running her fingers through it. "Oh, yeah? Why's that? Decided not to go to the Dark Lace New Year’s party tonight and stick with me?" Not that Jade wanted or needed an audience to her curling up into a ball on her couch and stuffing her face until the sadness started to fade. Though seeing as she'd pushed away the one man in her entire life that she loved, she figured it might take more than what she had in the grocery bag.

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