Page 54 of Their Domme

Oli whistled softly. “I’m so fucking glad I’m not her, but man, I wish I had been there to see his face when they realized Nic stole his keys.”

“And she let Wrenn go with her.” I chewed my bottom lip as I pulled up Alexei’s contact info. “I’ll let the others know.”

Oli pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I’m going to grab a few things, then I’ll be ready to go.”

He got up and slipped away, probably to his room, just as Alexei picked up the call.

“Bodhi? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know if Sacha or Rhodes reached out, but the Germans are taking over the camera search. They’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Why?” Maksim’s hard voice yelled out in the background.

“What’s going on?” Alexei followed up.

A small smile tugged at my lips. “Nic stole Sacha’s car and is headed to Vermont with Wrenn.”

There was dead silence before I heard Maksim burst out laughing, and even Alexei chuckled. I didn’t think Sacha would appreciate this reaction, so it was a good thing we were getting it out of our systems now. But itwashilarious. Unlike last month, we knew where she was going, so there was less stress. I mean, deep down, was I happy that she had left without us? Fuck no. But Nic would come back, and I’d eventually need to talk with her to reconnect after her long absence.

“Need us to pick you two up?” Alexei finally managed to ask.

“That works for us. Oli is getting a few things together right now,” I replied, looking back when I heard something fall. “I need to go check on him.”

“I’ll text when we’re outside.”

I wandered through the hallway to the bedroom Oli and I shared. The room was in complete disarray. My hands clenched, itching to reach out and start fixing it, but I restrained myself, barely, as I watched my boyfriend dig around under the bed and shove things into a bag.

“Oli?” I asked softly.

He didn’t stop what he was doing, but he quickly looked over his shoulder. “Almost done. Sorry I dropped my laptop earlier.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, curious what was going through his head. Sacha never pulled Oli off of a job once he started; usually, he would get defensive, saying he could handle it and no one could do it better than him. “It’s been a lot with Nic coming back.”

“I don’t really know if we can count it as coming back if Sacha and Vas kidnapped her off the street to bring her back,” Oli countered, but he sounded amused. He hummed quietly as if he were turning everything over in his mind. “We fought about it this morning. Some talking, mostly fucking. Not everything is okay, but… Fuck, even when I want to smack her, I want to kiss her. She’s infuriating.”

A faint chuckle escaped me as I walked over and sat down on the floor beside him. He was grabbing laptops and some weapons he had under the bed. Careful storage was not Oli’s thing. “Nic is a force of nature. She likes the strong emotions she brings out in people.”

Oli shot an arched look my way, and I had a feeling I knew what was coming. “You haven’t been alone with her since she got back.”

“She just got back yesterday,” I deadpanned. “And there are a lot of us that want time with her. I’m not going to push my way past everyone.”

“You were so set on her coming back, never faltering. I didn’t think you’d hold back when she came home.”

I didn’t respond right away, his words opening up a question in my mind.Was I holding back?I was. I knew she’d come back, and that faith hadn’t wavered once in the month of her absence, but the idea of her being pregnant and the reality were two very different things. I wasn’t like everyone else in this group—violent, brash, and over-the-top protective. What could I provide for a baby, much less two? What if I ended up being like my mom or my aunt when it came to the kids? I’d never forgive myself. How could I do this? It wasn’t that I wanted to avoid Nic, but she and the babies were a package deal now. I couldn’t be around her, close to her, without thinking about what she was growing inside her.

“Bodhi…” Oli’s hands on my face made me jerk, and he gently shushed me. “You are nothing like her. You are fucking amazing.” My cheeks heated, and I looked away from him when I realized I had spoken aloud. “Don’t look away from me,” he urged me, forcing my chin up so I had to meet his gaze. The soft expression on his face showed me how much he loved me. “You are nothing like those cunts, and because of them, you’re going to be amazing. Hell, you’ll probably be the voice of reason, and god fucking knows those babies are going to need a softer presence than what the rest of us can offer, Nic included. You are going to be perfect.”

“I didn’t think this would ever happen,” I told him softly, almost tripping over my words. “But what about you?”

“No, Bodhi.” Oli shook his head at me, his mouth tightening. “My shit doesn’t make yours unimportant. Don’t change the subject. Right now, this is about you.”

“I just don’t know what I’m feeling or thinking when it comes to the pregnancy. There are enough hot heads in this group that I should get my mind wrapped around everything before I say something I’ll regret,” I told him, thinking over every word as I said them.

“Smart,” Oli replied. “Likely for the best since all of us are probably having the same fight with her, over and over again, about her ghosting. As long as you’re okay, though?”

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, losing myself in him for a minute. I needed him to know just how much he meant to me. The fact that he got me and the way my brain worked… I loved that about him. He kissed me back readily, his hand palming the back of my head as he pulled me close and took control of the kiss. His tongue flicked along my lips, and I opened up to him, letting him deepen the kiss even though we didn’t move to take it any further than that. We had a girlfriend to chase down, and her stalker was losing control. There wasn’t much time to waste if we wanted her to be safe.

He pulled back from me after a few minutes, resting his forehead against mine and closing his eyes. For the first time in a long time, he looked content, and that made me smile.

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