Page 6 of Freed
~Four~
ROMAN
Somehow, I needed to show Lanie there was no reason she should ever be afraid that she would get punished for expressing her feelings. My only desire was to make her happy. Even though I loved her submissive side, she had to know that it wasn’t as important to me as her happiness. I’ve had my share of submissives, but Lanie was different. She was fragile and needed to be handled with care. With everything she had gone through, I felt I needed to treat her like fine crystal. At any moment she could shatter, and I might not be able to put her back together.
Las Vegas wasn’t all about the enormous casinos or trying your luck at the tables or the slots. There was so much more that it offered. Instead of venturing downtown, I decided to take her on an educational tour. It would be fun seeing the Hoover Dam and the Grand again. I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid. It was time to put the bad memories to rest and start new ones with Lanie. Even though my grandparents did a great job raising me in Portland, I still felt my roots were here in Vegas.God, how I missed them.
Lanie stepped into the study and pulled me from my childhood memories. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
I turned to face her and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was beautiful. She was wearing jeans and a light sweater the accentuated her curves perfectly. If I hadn’t promised to get her out of the house, I would have taken her right then. When I stepped up to her, I realized just how young she was. The only makeup she wore was light pink lipstick. Her lips were kissable and needed some attention, at the very least. Lowering my head, I kissed her lightly. “Change of plans. I want to do something special since this is our last day in Vegas.”
“I don’t care where we go as long as you take me away from this house for a while.”
There was no mistaking her excitement. Lanie deserved this. She had been so patient about staying out of sight. “Okay, then let’s get going.”
Lanie skipped to the car as I held on to her hand. As hard as it was to hold on to her, I couldn’t bring myself to let go. If I knew how, I would have skipped with her. It was nice seeing her happy again. This was the Lanie I remembered.
♥ ♥ ♥
The drive to the dam seemed a lot longer when I was a kid. Maybe it was because all Lanie did was ask questions about where we were going. When I finally broke down and told her, she continued her questioning, only this time it was about the dam. I guess I should have paid attention in my Social Studies class because the only thing I could tell her was that the dam was built in the early 1930s and that it was named after President Herbert Hoover. I did reassure her that she could find all the information about the dam once we got there.
“Have you ever been to the dam before?” she asked. I could feel the emotions flood my body just like they did when I was a kid.
There was so much of her life that I knew, but she knew very little of mine. I knew that Lanie was the woman that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, so maybe it was time that she knew more about me. “I’ve only been here once. When I was a kid.”
“How old were you?”
“Ten.” The events of that tragic day reappeared, even though it wasn’t the family trip that brought back the memories I wanted to forget. It was what happened afterward that made it difficult to talk about. “Dad rented a motor home through an online RV site so that Grandpa and Grandma could go with us. He thought it would be a great way to spend the bonus he got for landing one of the biggest accounts the company he worked for had ever had. With a car in tow, we headed out to see some of the US. It was the beginning of our trip and the end. It was a trip of a lifetime. Mom and Dad decide to take the car into town and pick up a few things while I stayed at the campground with my grandparents. Some college kids decided it would be a great place to spend their spring break. The driver’s blood alcohol was twice the legal limit, and when he crossed the line, he did it at the same time my dad was coming around the curve. Mom and Dad died instantly when the car rolled down the embankment.”
“I’m so sorry, Roman.”
Looking over to Lanie, I saw her eyes were filled with tears. The last thing I wanted was to cause her to cry. Squeezing her hand, I lifted it to my lips. “It was a long time ago.”
“What happened to the driver?”
“Hopefully, he’s sitting in a cell regretting his choice to get behind the wheel after drinking and taking two innocent lives.”
I never told anyone what happened to my parents. Then again, no one pushed for an explanation. For some reason telling Lanie made me feel better, even if it was the worst day of my life.
“I guess we have that in common. We may not have parents, but at least we have each other.”
Her words hit home. She couldn’t have been more right. There was a tremendous amount of emotion inside the car, and the only way I knew of to release it was to fill it with something else. Turning off onto the next side road, I put the car into park and looked over to Lanie. A release was what we both needed.
