Page 304 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Alice stared down at her feet, sipping her watered down juice and refusing to look at me. When I heard the straw bubble at the last remnants of the cup, I reached out to take the empty cup.

Alice leaned over and put her cheek against my hand.

“Still want to go home?”

“No, Sir. We can stay. I just need a minute.”

“We can go, Alice. It’s okay. I won’t be mad.”

“No, I’m fine. I just need to let the rest of this pass, and I’ll be fine in a few more minutes.”

“Can I sit with you?”

She nodded. “I would like that.”

I climbed into the car and sat beside her. She tilted herself sideways and laid her head down on my lap, and I stroked her hair. Both of our favorite places to be... it was becoming more than a habit. It was becoming a ritual.

I loved so many things about this crazy girl. I loved the way our dynamic continued to change and evolve and develop, and how she threw something different at me every day. I loved how she seemed to need me, love me, and hate me all at the same time. I loved that she wasn’t afraid of me, that she wanted more of me the more I opened up to her.

Both of us got a text at the same time, breaking the silence and the comfort of our refuge. She sat up and looked at her phone, and I opened mine to see the message.

Alex Victor: In custody. He hit her across the spine with a cane. Clear evidence of bad play. She is okay and more upset that I disrupted the session than anything. Talk soon... this isn’t over.

“He hit her across the back,” Alice whispered softly.

I clenched my jaw.

“Isn’t that, like, super dangerous?”

It was sometimes hard to draw the line between safe play, and edge play. Most kink was dangerous in some way, but some of it was just downright wrong. Caning across their spine, hitting their neck, tying them too tight in an area that could cause nerve damage... those were all things that were evidence of not only bad technique, but an uncaring partner.

Alex caught the evidence needed to initiate arrest for assault. With the other testimonies, it would lead to a trial.

“Okay, I’m ready to go in now,” Alice said, looking up at me.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Woodrow, or as Lindsay calls him, ‘Dick-drow,’ is going away to prison. He isn’t after me. And I have you by my side. I’m good.”

She looked good. She looked excited, even. “I wonder what Sophie is making for lunch.” She cocked her head and looked up at the sky through the window in a cute childlike manner.

“I’m not.”

“What?”

“I’m not good to go in yet.”

She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me, alternating my cheeks, my nose, my forehead, my neck, and my lips, covering me with kisses until I couldn’t help but smile. There was just something so sweet and adorable about her attempts at cheering me up. And it wasn’t her trying to seduce me to distract me, or give herself a dose of happy chemicals. It was just her being sweet.

She continued her efforts until I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Okay, okay, I’m good. Let’s go.”

“Hehe. Yay. I fixed the lines.”

“What lines?” I climbed out of the car and helped her down.

She stood up on her tiptoes and reached her hand up towards my face. I had to bend over for her to reach, but she brushed my forehead with the tip of her finger. “I made the lines go away.” She grinned widely, her eyes lighting up with excitement and satisfaction, and then turned and scampered off into the house. I heard her cry of delight as she saw Sophie and threw her arms around her.

Every once in a while, the little girl inside her poked her head out. I watched her and Sophie giggle and laugh on the front porch, whispering conspiratorially and glancing my way.

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