Page 148 of Entangled

I look at the ropes and chains and silks and cuffs. “Would you have me tie her up and spread her out? Do you know it makes me hard, to think of how those delicate limbs wouldstrainat the joints? Perhaps I can wrap my ropes around her slashed wrists? Would you prefer that?”

He stiffens, tensing.

“Shall I tease her pretty clit with my knife? Flog her bruised back? Maybe if I?—”

“Stop,” Beaumont snaps, and I fall silent, exhausted, aching.

“I cannot be different.” I swallow, sad and hollow. “I tried for Soomin, I truly did, and it hurt us to the bone. I had some early hope with Eden. After she was with Jaykob, I thought,perhaps. But during that chess game, I was only honest with her. I told her the lightest part of my darkness—and itfrightenedher.” I settle against the cabinets and murmur, “I can only imagine how much worse it would be now.”

I stay there, thinking, until finally, Beaumont comes to lean against the cabinets beside me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

I sigh. “You’re a naturally caring person, Beaumont, but you lack empathy, and you overstep boundaries. This is one of them.”

“I lackempathy?”

“What did you say to Dominic earlier today?” I ask, and his mouth snaps shut, his jaw settling into a willful line. “You did damage, whatever it was. I hope you realize that. Losing Eden terrified him. Gaining the civilians has done almost as much. He is trying very, very hard right now to grow into who he needs to be for her and for them—and to finally share the load he carries. You’ve carried bitterness about Heather with you for years, but be careful not to let your anger about the past destroy the happiness you might find in the present.”

With every word, Beaumont grows stiffer and stiffer. “Oh, and I’m the one crossing boundaries? This is none of your business, Jasper.”

“Perhaps not. But he is my friend, too.”

It’s past time we started acting like it. We’ve all spent far too long ignoring our problems for the sake of keeping the peace.

There won’t be true peace until they’re resolved.

Beaumont is perhaps the most stubborn patient I’ve ever dealt with. He’s charming about it, usually, but where Dominic is quick to highlight and attempt to quash any real or imagined flaw in himself, Beaumont often refuses to see his own at all.

“I told him I didn’t want him with Eden,” he says finally. Defensively. “Our relationships keep failing, time and again, because he never connects with them—not past surface level. He’s doing the same thing with her. Just holding back, never giving her anything to work with. I’m done.”

“Ah.” I try to think how to word this delicately. “Your bond is important, Beaumont. The two of you work seamlessly as partners, and it’s beautiful to see... but while compensating for one another’s weaknesses has made you a strong unit, it’s perhaps also meant that you haven’t invested time into working on improving them. It might be time to start.”

His jaw sets stubbornly. “Tellhimthat.”

I rub the growing tension between my eyes and decide to let it go. Beaumont does usually get there in the end. He has too kind of a heart not to try. It will likely just be a long and bumpy journey.

We stay there in silence together for a long time, lost in thought.

Until Beaumont rubs the back of his neck. “Now, honestly, this might be an awkward time to ask, considering this conversation and all... but you wouldn’t have an anal training kit at hand, would you?”

Slowly, I turn my head to stare at him.

He raises his hands at whatever devil he sees in my gaze, standing up quickly as he chuckles. “Okay, it’s a bad time. I can understand that.”

He’s going to open her up, every part of her. He’ll rub lubrication into her sweet pussy, between those pale cheeks. He’ll rub his fingers inside her tight little rosebud and prepare to split her with his cock.

She’ll almost definitely cry a little, the first time.

I close my eyes and breathe out. “I loathe you.”

“Yeah, that’s right and fair,” he says agreeably.

Standing, I open one of the cabinets and a light flicks on. I pick over the three boxes I see and take the one from the bottom.

“This one.” I hand the box to Beaumont. “They’re all unopened, of course.”

His eyes drop to the cabinet. “Can I see the others?”

“No.” I can’t control how possessive the word is. It has a mind of its own.

---