Page 34 of First Time

“He’s the perfect man for you.” Chantelle sounded nonchalant, but I could tell by her calculating gaze something brewed in her brain.

I didn’t comment, allowing her center stage to say whatever she thought I needed to hear.

“You’re a true submissive in every way, and he’s a gentle dominant uninterested in inflicting pain.”

An ache spread through my chest at the memory of his kindness and soothing touches. Sipping my coffee, I remained silent, the unrest of desire and shame swirling through my thoughts.

Chantelle huffed an exhale. “Aren’t you tired of the abuse, Becky? Stephen isn’t going to ‘get better’,” she said, adding the quotes around the words I used to claim weekly back before he’d cut me off from my cousin. “He’s spiraling out of control to the point where I’m starting to fear for your life.”

“How would you know that? You and I haven’t spoken in months,” I murmured.

“And whose fault is that?” she snapped. “To answer your question, I’ve seen the latest videos he uploaded, and quite honestly, I’m surprised the websites he’s posted to hasn’t removed them. He’s an asshole, not a Dom. Stephen is nothing but a selfish prick who gets off on hurting and humiliating you.”

My throat grew tight, and I lowered my head, unable to argue in defense of the man he’d morphed into the previous couple of years.

“His actions toward you are not born of love,” Chantelle pressed, and I could hear the scowl in her voice. “They’re from of a sick mind who needs serious help—beyond what you being a slave to him will ever help heal.”

My vision hazed as tears welled in my eyes. She didn’t lie, but I couldn’t stop trying. “He’s all I’ve ever known, the only man who has ever shown an interest in me—”

“Bullshit.”

I met her hard gaze, wondering what planet she thought we walked on.

“Daniel got hard as fuck while tying you up in his ropes.”

An unsteady inhale filled my lungs as I got ahold of my emotions. “That was during a session in your BDSM club. A scene. Nothing more.”

“Remember the way he looked at you? The way he touched you?” She leaned toward me, gaze intense. “The words he said to you…so beautiful. So soft. My sweetness. That’s not just a man playing a role, Becky.”

Warmth filled me as his voice echoed in my memory. “H-how do you know what he said to me?”

“I have cameras and mics throughout the club, sending live feed to my computer,” she stated without apology.

I shifted on the soft mattress beneath me, heat once more rushing to my face. “You watched him tie me up?”

“I also saw him lift you off the ground without effort and set you soaring. I heard you climax for the first time, free as a fucking butterfly while bound by him.”

My throat tightened again, keeping embarrassment at bay. He had sent me into subspace, also something Stephen had never managed to do.

“Daniel wants you, but he’s a gentleman and won’t say or do anything until you make the decision to leave Stephen and start your life over.”

Her declaration took a while to compute…but I couldn’t begin to imagine she spoke the truth.

“Why—how...” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What makes you think that?” I asked once I gathered my thoughts.

“He told me.”

I slumped against the pillow behind me, my body deflating even as my heart rate accelerated. “No.”

“Oh, yes.” That sly grin I’d grown wary of when we were little kids lifted her Botoxed, plump lips.

A lightbulb went off in my brain, and I suddenly knew my cousin had instigated the entire event that had led us to that point. The giveaway Stephen had never entered. The prize of a two-night pass to her BDSM club. The knowledge that Stephen would offer me up as a volunteer because he was just that arrogant.

All to point out what I had been aware of but ignored—Stephen had crossed over lines while taking me through scenes. The power dynamic he denied that Master Cooney had made known to me the first night he’d tied me up on stage.

“You want me to leave Stephen, don’t you?” She’d never thought Stephen was good enough for me…and she’d taken his ignorance of the real lifestyle to make him appear like a fool. More than a little anger stirred inside me at her actions, but I withheld from lashing out.

“Yes. And, when Daniel comes back around to pursue you—and he will—I pray to God you’ll be wise enough to hold onto him and never let go. He’s a rare one, Becky. The type dreamers dream of. The kind of man women wished whispered poetry in their ears.”

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