Page 56 of Dominated

“This is our good-bye.”

His statement echoed in my head.

My chest.

Over and over and over again.

Each time, the ache increased.

And each time, Bale held me tighter.

Soon, this would just be a memory—our two evenings together, this embrace.

The kiss that I’d just ended.

How can I hold on to him for longer?

How can I hold on forever?

How can I make him change his mind?

Because I cared about this man.

My feelings were stronger for him than they’d ever been for anyone else.

“This has to be our good-bye,” he added.

There was no negotiation.

No conversation.

No question.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a question? A decision? Hadn’t he said something about that?

“What about—”

He put his finger on my lips, silencing me, locking our eyes. A beat passed, and his expression emphasized the importance of whatever he was about to say. “Get dressed. We’re going upstairs to your apartment.” Instead of me climbing off his lap, he lifted me and placed my feet on the floor. “Hurry.”

I rushed over to my clothes and quickly put them on while he did the same.

The moment our bodies were fully covered, I took him by the hand and led him through the back of the club and up the stairs to my apartment.

A place I’d never told him about.

But a place I wasn’t surprised he knew of.

Once we were inside and the door was locked behind us, he pulled something out of his pocket, and he began to hold it in the air, aiming the device toward the corners of the room.

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer me until he returned to my side. “I was checking for bugs.”

Bugs?

As in the ones that could be planted in my apartment that had the capability of listening and seeing—not the ones that had legs and crawled or flew.

“Are there any?”