Page 28 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

I bit my lip, knowing exactly how hard I needed to bite to draw blood. That little bit of pain, the clarifying release I needed was so far away, and biting my lip wasn’t enough, but it might help me be able to walk upstairs to my room without making a scene.

He fished another tootsie pop out of his pocket. The cherry ones, just like I preferred.

My emotions clarified, refocusing slightly, enough for me to take the lollipop and smile. “I knew you liked me,” I whispered, and stretched up on my tip toes, planting a quick kiss on his cheek.

Then I ran upstairs for a shower and a cry before I did something really, really stupid. Like fall in love.

Chapter 7

The holidays were abusy time for me, and I didn’t see Alice for several weeks. I had a Christmas Eve party planned at The Lounge, and was excited to see my friends again, but that afternoon I got a text from an unknown number.

Unknown number: Mario Kart.

Reuben: Who is this?

Reuben: Rachel?

Reuben: Are you okay?

No response.

Mario Kart was a safeword one of my girls used, because it was a videogame her and her father used to play together. It was one of her only good memories, and I’d never heard anyone else use it before. If it was Rachel on the other end of that phone, that meant she was with Pete. I gave him a call.

“Reuben, hey!” He answered on the third ring. He sounded a little tipsy. “Merry Christmas.”

Pete was an old friend of mine and a longtime member of The Underground and of The Lounge, though he’d gotten in a fight with another good friend of mine, and I’d told them both to stay away for the time being until things settled down and we got the stories straight. I’d called him later to figure out what happened. Apparently, his slave had ghosted him, and losing her had really messed him up.

I’d sent Rachel to his place for the holiday because she was excellent at running parties and entertaining. She didn’t want to move to a caregiver, but she was getting stir crazy sitting around The Weston House, so we’d agreed to have her stay with him for a short time, mostly to test the waters on her confidence and independence. I knew Pete needed company after his slave ghosted him, and I thought it would be a good distraction for both of them.

“Hey Pete, how are you?”

“Not bad. We’re having a little get-together here.”

“How’s Rachel doing?”

“Oh, she’s doing great,” he laughed. There was something in his voice that made my skin grow cold.

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