Page 97 of Gamble
His glare was so intense she couldn’t maintain eye contact. Her “I’m sorry,” coincided with her gaze moving down to the carpet between them.
She felt her frustration growing. This wasn’t going how she’d planned it at all. She had to try again.
Forcing herself to look back up at him, she used her best pleading look to add, “But I don’t understand what the big deal is. Chase’s mom said she could watch the kids that night, and…”
“This has nothing to do with you not having that night off. If you want to plan a date out for Valentine’s Day, plan away. Now that the kids are getting older, I told you, you can take more nights off if you want to, just so long as they’re on the calendar and…”
“This isn’t about just getting a night off,” she said, stupidly cutting him off.
His eyes turned another shade darker. “Is this about Black Light again? Because if so, I’ve already been more accommodating than I ever thought possible where you and the club are concerned.”
Kelsey didn’t doubt that he believed that, but the truth was he’d caboshed any and all chances of her having any fun at the club before she’d ever stepped foot inside.
“I appreciate that you’ve given me the chance to visit the club on nights when you, Emma, and Chase won’t be there, but don’t think I don’t know what rules came with your concession.”
He looked offended. “I never gave you any rules, well other than the fact that I never want our paths to cross while you’re there. I may not have a sister, but I can only suspect that I’d feel the same way about watching my sister getting down and dirty over a damn spanking bench.” Jaxson shuddered.
Kelsey’s heart warmed at Jaxson’s obvious brotherly concern, but she needed to call him out on it. She did her best to keep her tone respectful. “You may not have given me any rules,but you sure as hell gave Elijah and the other DMs instructions, and don’t try to tell me that you didn’t.”
Jaxson at least had the decency to not deny it.
“Like I said, you are important to me… to all of us… So yes, I may have asked the guys to keep an eye on you, but it was only for your protection. You are young and…”
“I swear to God, I’m going to scream if you call me innocent again.”
Kelsey wasn’t exactly sure where her confidence was coming from. She almost never had the gumption to go head-to-head with Jaxson, but that was just a testament to how badly she wanted to participate in the next Valentine’s Roulette event.
“Well, aren’t you innocent?” he asked, clearly uncomfortable with this conversation.
“If I am, it’s only because I haven’t had a chance to… “ To what? She wasn’t a virgin, and since Emma was aware of that tidbit, she had to assume Jaxson and Chase were as well.
Words were failing her. She was wilting under Jaxson’s glare.
She had to try another tactic. “Listen, I appreciate that the guys at Black Light look out for me, but they see me as a little sister, too, which means that not only do they refuse to teach me anything, but every single Dom that approaches me while I’m at the club gets run off for one reason or another. ‘He’s too old.’ ‘He’s too rough.’ ‘He’s too inexperienced.’ There is always a reason why I’m left on the sidelines, just watching.”
Jaxson ran his hand through his hair like she’d seen him do hundreds of times when he was trying to stop himself from going all-out hard-core Dom on Chase and Emma. She knew she was playing with fire.
“What’s wrong with watching? It’s a good way for you to tip your toe into the lifestyle,” he reasoned.
“I’ve been tipping my toe in as you say for over a year now and so far, the most exciting thing that happened was a super lame spanking that lasted less than two minutes.”
The redness coming to Jaxson’s face gave away just how uncomfortable he was with where their conversation was going. She didn’t miss his longing look at the door to the garage, clearly hoping for Emma to get home and take over this emotional conversation.
“How do you know it was lame?” he finally argued.
Kelsey couldn’t help but laugh. She’d rarely witnessed Jaxson Cartwright-Davidson as naive as he was presently being.
“You do realize I’ve been living under the same roof with the three of you for over four years, right? The walls are not as thick as you seem to think they are.”
Before he could respond, the sound of the door from the garage into the kitchen opening told them the rest of the family was home. Kelsey didn’t miss the look of relief on Jaxson’s face because he knew there was no way they could carry on their conversation in front of the kids.
“I get to use the iPad first,” Andrew shouted at his sister who was running through the kitchen a few feet ahead of her brother.
“Not if I get there first!” Alicia responded over her shoulder, dumping her unicorn backpack in the middle of the living room floor so she could run faster.
“Hey, where’s my hug?” Jaxson called out to them.
The kid’s “Hi, Papa!” was in unison as neither stopped running.
