Page 24 of Degrees of Control

“A month ago, Medicine Woman. So did Hunter make any requests while you were exchanging proof of your uncontaminated genitals?”

“Nicely put. Yeah, he wanted me to wear stockings and heels.”

Sophia and Jordan exchanged looks.

“What?” Hayley and Charlie asked in unison.

Sophia pursed her lips. “How did you feel after he kicked you out? Not dirty or used or anything?”

Charlie laughed. “The point was to feel dirty and used, but I didn’t feelbad. It was exactly what I wanted. I was kind of thrilled I’d had a bona fide submissive experience. I still am.”

Her friends’ faces relaxed and Charlie was relieved. As Sophia pointed out, they weren’t kinky like she was so it made sense that James dominating her and telling her what to wear sounded like the behavior of an asshole, not an amazing lover.

“I know it sounds weird, but it was hot. Sometimes just watching porn makes me feel like I need a bleach-bath, but it wasn’t like that with James. It was everything I’d hoped it would be and kinda different at the same time.”

“Good-different?” Sophia asked.

Charlie smiled sadly. “It was the best sex of my life.”

With a pang, she recalled the way James looked beneath her, his mouth slack, his hazel eyes blazing like fire as he forced her up and down his cock. It wasn’t fair, she’d had boyfriends who bought her roses and hot air balloon rides and who worked their asses off for her in bed. James Hunter had fucked her on his couch and then his carpet with sour mash whiskey on his tongue and he had still eclipsed everyone that had come before him by a country mile.

“So are you gonna see this sex god again?” Hayley asked.

Charlie looked at the table. The coffee stain really was quite fascinating. Up close, it was kinda shaped like a piñata…

“Charlie?”

“We already made plans,” she mumbled. “I’m going to his place on Wednesday.”

Sophia leaned across the little gold table and seized Charlie’s hand. Her bracelet rested in Charlie’s gnocchi. “Honey, I love you and I have no problem with you seeing James, but if this is gonna be more than a one-night thing, you need to be careful.”

Charlie’s stomach sank. She’d been expecting this speech but that didn’t make hearing it any easier. “Why?”

Jordan grabbed her other hand. “Because you always see the best in people.”

Clearly they’d already discussed this without her. “What’s so bad about seeing the best in people?”

“Nothing, we love that about you,” Hayley said quickly. “It’s just some people are dicks who don’t deserve your kindness or the benefit of the doubt. Like Dale, for example.”

Charlie frowned. “Me hooking up with James has nothing to do with Dale. He’s the exact opposite of Dale.”

Sophia clutched her hand tighter. “We know, honey, but you’re sharing this huge, new experience with him and that makes you vulnerable, something you can’t afford to be because he’ll eat you alive.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “You guys are making him sound like Dracula. How could someone so perceptive about my needs be so ignorant about my feelings?”

As soon as the words fell out of her mouth, Charlie was embarrassed. Shedidsound like the kind of naive idiot who needed to be warned about players like James.

Sophia frowned. “Seriously, Charlie, do you want stories? Because I can give you stories. I can tell you all about the parties and the threesomes and the model girlfriends who got dumped the second something shiny and new came along. Do you want to hear that mess?”

Charlie’s heart stabbed a little warning. “No.”

Sophia nodded. “Good choice. Look, I can admit he’s handsome but the boy is a danger to himself and others. The night you guys met you didn’t go home with him and he found someone else to fuck in about five seconds. He’s a slut. He has man-pain issues.”

“What do you mean he has issues? Is he okay?”

Jordan raised her face to the ceiling as though calling on a higher power. “She’s doing it again.”

Hayley seized the back of Charlie’s head and brought their faces so close their noses were almost touching. “Charlotte Bell. It’s me, Hayley, your best friend. Listen to my voice. Do not concern yourself with James Hunter’s bullshit problems. You have one job and that is to ride his dick like it’s the 1999 Tour de France and you’re Lance fucking Armstrong. Do you understand me?”

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