Page 122 of Play Fast (Brooklyn Dawn 2)

Twenty-Four

It was almost nightfall when the sound of gravel rolling under the tires of my truck outside had me leaping to my feet. I looked around the place, quickly fluffing throw pillows and kicking my discarded song pad under the sofa.

Fuck, I hoped I’d done enough.

The truck stopped. I watched Daisy climb out, wearing some short skirt thing that left almost her entire legs bare. I swallowed and willed the pike in my jeans to cooperate. She wasn’t going to make this easy on me.

She seemed to be talking to herself as she stomped up the steps. She paused briefly beside the sign I’d fixed and hung so proudly, mumbling again before reaching into her bag and pulling out something pink.

Only when I opened the door to greet her did I realize the object she was brandishing like a weapon was a large vibrator. Or dildo. Whatever, it was a woman’s preferred bedtime buddy.

“Hi?” It was all I managed before she poked it against the screen door.

“You see this?”

“Yes?”

“You have been replaced. And before you ask if I’ve been drinking, no, I have not. I am perfectly sober. I just want you to realize that nothing you say can change what I have in my life now. I can afford to be much more choosy.”

I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or call the furniture store to return everything I’d bought.

Clearing my throat, I crossed my arms. “You saw the sign?”

She snorted. “You crossed out Fisher’s Rest and wrote Daisy’s in black sharpie. Is that supposed to impress me?”

“It was not sharpie. It’s black acrylic paint I had to get at the women’s craft store.”

“The women’s craft store? Is that a new kind?” She pushed on the screen door, and when it didn’t open and I didn’t invite her in, she jammed the key I’d given her into the lock. “Stand back.”

I did as she asked so I didn’t get knocked unconscious by the door. In her current mood, anything was possible.

She stepped inside without even looking at all my hard work and pitched the keys I’d given her across the room. “You know what happened to me today? I got fired.”

“What? Lila fired you?”

“I don’t work for Lila anymore, in case you’ve forgotten. Because I was stupid enough to give up on my dream job just because you’re a giant oaf without a sense of compassion.” She tossed the vibrator the same place the keys had gone.

For her sake, I hoped it had a soft landing.

“Do you have any clue what it was like for me to wake up alone after what we had together?”

I started to answer, then shook my head. “It was a mistake.”

“A mistake. You took me to the highest heights I’d ever known and then you let me drop all alone. I read up on it, you know. And you did every part of it wrong except the orgasms.”

“Read up on what?”

“The whole dominance and submission game you were playing. Except it isn’t a game. Real people have feelings, and they get hurt. Never mind physically. Do you even know about sub drop or aftercare? Do you even grasp those words? Because I didn’t. I had no idea what you were introducing me to, but I loved it and I loved you, so I trusted you.”

Her words were pingponging through my head too fast. I couldn’t keep up. But one word echoed beyond all the rest.

Loved.

Past tense. It was fucking too late.

She rubbed the side of her face and shut her eyes, letting her bag drop at her feet. All at once, her exhaustion seemed to cave in on her, as if she’d driven up here on no sleep and nothing but anger to keep her going.

It took everything inside me not to reach for her. To pick her up and cradle her and love her the proper way I should have done long before this.

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