Page 335 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Megan spoke up. “I heard he collared a girl a few weeks ago. Is that true?”

Lindsay nodded. “They’ve been together for years. It’s a long story but she accepted his collar in exchange for something.”

“In exchange for what?” I asked, unable to help myself.

Lindsay met my eyes, and there was a warning in them. “Freedom.”

I dropped the subject.

We talked for a little longer, and I ordered a burger, and then chatted with Simon when he showed up. Jenny came in for a little while too, and I introduced her to everyone I knew, making sure to loudly proclaim that she was looking for a tamer. She tried to get me to shush, but I shot her down. “You won’t find one unless people know you’re looking!”

She blushed and whined, shuffling her feet.

Eventually I went home, hoping Reuben would be back from his meeting. He wasn’t. I bummed around the house and ended up tying the ribbon around my neck again.This time, I tied it just a little tighter.

He hadn’t texted me or called me since earlier. Now that I was at home alone with nothing to distract me, I worried he was mad at me for something. After all, he’d been so short with me earlier. I sent him a text.Sir, are you okay? Have I upset you?

He didn’t respond. I saw that he read the message though. After ten minutes, he still hadn’t answered.

I got on Tik Tok and tried to distract myself, but it wasn’t working. I was starting to crash, and I knew I couldn’t stop it.

I sent him another text.Sir, I want you to know if I’ve done something to upset you, I didn’t mean it, and I’m really sorry. I hope your meeting is going okay. I’m really down right now and I think I’m crashing. So I might be a little bit of a mess when you get home.

I got a text from him.Will call in 5 min.

I tried not to cry while I paced, tugging on the ribbon around my neck, and fingering the chains around my body.

He doesn’t hate me. He can’t hate me. I’m just down, probably crashing from our scene two days ago. It was really intense. But why would he be so short with me today? He sounded like he was mad on the phone.

My mental spiral got worse and worse, and I tried to stop it, but it wasn’t working. About seven minutes later, my phone rang, and I could barely answer it.

“He-hello?”

“Hey. Are you okay?”

I burst out in tears. Stumbling and struggling to talk, I tried to explain that I was worried that he was upset with me, and that I had done something to irritate him.

“Oh... Alice.” I could envision him pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, baby. I’m not disappointed in you. What on earth did I do or say to make you feel that way?”

I hiccupped and stammered as I tried to speak. “I just... you were really, um, short with me, earlier, on the phone, and when you texted me, you were just really short, and you didn’t use any emojis.”

“I... didn’t use emojis, so you think I’m mad at you?”

“Yes!”

“Oh dear.” I heard a door shut. “Alice, little bug... I’ve had an awful day. I am not at all mad or upset atyou. I promise.”

I sniffled and tried to breathe, his words like a warm blanket wrapping around me. “P-promise?”

“Pinkie promise.”

I let out a cough of a laugh. “Okay. Um... why was your day bad?”

He sighed, and I heard the groan of a chair. “I am currently stuck in a private room of a restaurant, arguing with some of the leadership from one of the casinos. One of the higher managers was running a money laundering scheme, and we just caught it today. And that wasafterthe disaster of the hotel inspection. It was bad... health code violations, expired food... and one of the managers threatened to fire an employee for calling out because her grandma died and she wanted to go to the funeral.”

“So that’s what the flowers and the gift card was for?”

“Yes. You saved my ass today, taking care of those details, and rescheduling my meetings. I would not have had time to do all that. I appreciate you, Alice. And... I’m sorry I was short with you and spoke in a way that made you feel like I was frustrated at you. I was frustrated at other people, and I took it out on you. I don’t want to do that. Please forgive me, little bug.”

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