Page 15 of Marking Micah

“Do you? Do you trust me through and through?”

“Yes. I trust you. I promise, Arrow.”

“It’s not a test, Micah. If you’re having any trust issues, it’s okay—okay if I’ve done something to cause it, okay if it’s just because of your own stuff. But if it’s something I’ve done or said that’s made you feel unsafe in any way, we need to talk about it before we go to the dungeon, before we’re in scene. And I promise I will be open to hearing it, no matter what the root of it is. I just want you to know that; that you don’t have to hold any information back.”

How was he the perfect Dominant? The perfect man? Who else on the entire planet would say these things to her, and mean it?

“No, no, Arrow. I really do trust you. You’re one of the few people in the world I know I can trust utterly. If I have anything holding me back… well, we’ve talked about it already, and I think you know what my issues are. But I also trust you to take me through them here. And honestly…” she paused, trying not to look directly at him, afraid he’d read too much in her eyes. “That’s not something I could say about anyone but you.”

He smiled. “Good. Because once we hit the dungeon tonight you’re definitely going to need to trust me through and through.”

“Shit,” she muttered, her nerves zinging again.

“What was that?” he demanded.

“Nothing, Sir.”

He grinned and let go of her chin. “That’s better. Now, we should talk.”

“Final negotiations?” she asked.

“Not at the moment; we’ll do a brief overview this evening before we go. But I do think we need to have some frank discussion about the emotional issues you’re facing.”

Her heart instantly began to pound and sweat broke out on her forehead.

“But you already know what happened. You were there, Arrow,” she said, hating the whining edge in her voice

“Yeah, I was. And I know what I saw, but it’s impossible for me to know everything you felt, or how you feel about it all now, aside from the lingering anger you mentioned earlier.”

“How I feel now is… that I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“I get that. But do you understand why we have to?”

She nodded and sighed. “Yes. I guess I do.”

“Okay. Good.” He took her hand, and his was big and warm and reassuring. “So, I know what I saw that night. I saw you being suspended a good six feet up. His rope work was good, but then I saw the bondage frame collapsing. And when Brett hesitated, I jumped in and tried to grab you, but I was too far away to get to you before you hit the floor. What else do you remember?”

She shrugged, her eyes swimming with tears, her head beginning to buzz. “It’s pretty fuzzy. I felt… I knew something bad had happened, but I wasn’t quite clear on what, exactly, and it was all so fast I didn’t even have time to be afraid. I guess I was in shock? Then just… pain. My ankle, my shoulder, and myhead hurt so much. There was this weird sort of liquid sensation, and everything was… muffled. Like I couldn’t hear past the roar of blood in my own ears.” She had to stop, and he squeezed her hand.

“Take your time, Micah.”

“Okay. Okay.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, just as her therapist had taught her. “So um… I only have these sort of vague, flashing images of the EMTs and the ambulance. Then nothing until I woke up after the surgery, and you were there.”

He smiled at her. “And do you know what your first words were?”

She shook her head. “You’ve never mentioned it before.”

“You asked if they’d had to shave your head for surgery, and if I thought you were still pretty.”

That made her laugh. “I did not!”

“Oh, yes, you did.”

“And what did you say?”

“I told you they’d had to shave a very small spot to go in and take care of the brain bleed, but that I’d always find you beautiful, no matter what.”

He stared at her for a few long moments, and she swore his eyes were filled with emotion.

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