Page 421 of Lodestar

“Take what back?”

“Nothing, and I meannothing,is regular about you.”

Grinning, I shoved him in the side. “You’re already going to get lucky tonight. You don’t need to amp up the charm.”

“That’s just how I roll, baby.”

Because it was, I didn’t scoff, just shoved him again, but there was a wide smile on my lips, one that ate into any anxiety I was feeling about being back in a nightclub.

My last memory of one involved a collar, a leash, and being strangled by both as Hans had to stop me from jumping?—

I started to veer away from the recollection, not wanting it to diminish the excitement that filled me whenever I was around Conor, but I owed him an explanation.

That was our deal, after all.

Clearing my throat, I admitted, “You might not like what I need to do tonight.”

His hand clamped down around my knee. “Whatever it takes to help you heal, Star.”

There was that heartburn again.

Tears pricked my eyes at how easy it was for him to say that.

It made it easier to admit, “He liked to push my limits. Liked to offer me freedom so that it was more fun for him to take itaway from me. To prove that he owned me, that I was his. That my wants didn’t matter. ThatIdidn’t matter.”

“Bastard.”

My lips quirked up. “Agreed.”

“He liked to humiliate you, didn’t he? Taking you to these public places?”

“It was a whole subculture. Rich motherfuckers who bought humans and who liked to hang out with others just like them. I spent way too much time being degraded in front of other people.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

I huffed. “There are better things I could have shared.”

“This is a piece of your past. It helps me unlock every part of you.”

“Most of those parts aren’t pretty.”

He hummed. “Maybe not, but it all makes up the magic that is you.”

Biting the inside of my cheek at his words, I let my mind tick away.

Magic.

Did he think that was me?

That I was magic, not toxic?

Amazing how that made me feel lighter. More in control. Less directed by an urge I had to heal this sliver of my past…

“I’m surprised Savannah agreed to babysit,” he drawled as we approached the club where traffic grew thicker.

His words broke into my heavy thoughts.

“Kat’s got that project to finish,” I told him. “I just said she had to supervise and make sure she didn’t play on her Switch or go to bed past two AM.”

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