Page 32 of Hearts of Stone

“And you should too.”

“How about a nice bath instead?” Harry stepped forward. “Unless you’ve got some objections, I’m gonna strip you off, put you in this bath, go down and grab several bottles of water and you’re gonna drink every single one of them.”

“Mm… bossy.” Daniel’s eyes slid up the other man’s form. “You wanna see me naked, big boy?”

“I want to see you feeling better,” Harry corrected. “Talk this out between yourselves. I’m grabbing the water bottles.”

We both watched him walk out the door, but when I turned back to Daniel, he pushed himself off the lip of the bath, splashing as he fell into the water, clothes and all and I think I knew why. His face screwed up as he settled back against the cool porcelain. The mask was dropped and something vulnerable, something pained rose up in its place, but with the water splashed on his face, I couldn’t tell what were tears andwhat were droplets. He dropped his head back against the bath with a clunk and then sucked in a shuddering breath.

“Danny—”

“I’m just coming down,” he explained, his voice corroded with tears. “Your minion is right, surprisingly. Mr Big is always shit with aftercare, but…” His breath hitched in his throat and then a shaking hand went to his eyes, one I reached out and grabbed as I squatted down by the bath. “He’s never dumped me at a fucking gate before.” When he opened his eyes I saw the tears running freely now. “Like how did he even know I was staying here?”

But neither of us got to answer that question, because Harry came walking in through the door.

I’ll give it to the man, he took in the drama that was taking place and didn’t back down. Instead he set up a chair beside the bath, put one bottle of water on it and then cracked the other’s lid and handed it to Danny.

“Drink it,” he ordered. “All of it.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

But I think both of us felt a moment of relief when Daniel took a long swallow of water.

“Could I have a word…?” Harry asked me, moving towards the door.

“If you’re going to talk about me, do it here,” Daniel said. “Don’t go whispering behind doors about me.”

“OK then.” Harry turned towards the bath. “Daniel is obviously engaging in some pretty heavy BDSM stuff.” My friend held his bottle of water up in a salute. “There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as he plays safe. That means being clear about what he wants and doesn’t want.”

“Oh, I was very clear about what I wanted,” Danny snarked.

“And choosing someone who’ll deliver in a way that doesn’t cause lasting harm to your friend.” Harry’s eyes locked withDaniel’s. “You know that, right? No matter what crazy shit the two of you get up to, he’s supposed to be there, to look after you once the scene is done, and help get you through the come down.”

“Come down?” I asked. It felt like the two of them were speaking another language.

“Whether it’s from the head fuck of it, or the physical response to impact play,” Harry said, his words so at odds with his gruff Aussie accent. “Endorphins get pumped into the sub’s system, making them feel euphoric for a while, right before they drop off. It can feel like you’re falling through the floor. No, several floors, over and over and right when you think you’re at the bottom, an abyss opens.”

All the spirit seemed to go out of Daniel then. His long fingers raked through his damp hair as he frowned.

“But whoever did this, they’re supposed to catch you when you fall.”

“I don’t do relationships,” Daniel growled.

“No one said you had to. Think of it as a transaction. They did this to you and that has consequences. They need to deal with them responsibly, not dump you at the fucking gates for me to find.”

I watched the muscle in Danny’s jaw flex, his eyes narrow, but when he jerked them up, it was to gaze into Harry’s, not mine.

“Fine.” His focus shifted to me. “Have a shower, Jade, and get dressed in something other than trackies, because, girl, you’re rich now. Time to start dressing like it.”

“If you could rustle up some breakfast, that’d be great,” Harry said. “Something with a lot of carbs, protein, salt.”

“Yeah, sure…”

I backedout of the room, unable to get that small sliver of bruised flesh out of my head as I went to my bedroom, but whatever Danny had gotten up to last night, I had my own aftermath to deal with.

I did as I was told, stripping off in the en suite of my room and when I did, I caught my reflection in the mirror. Not unexpected surely, but something about it had me pausing. I stepped closer, peering at the glass, before I saw it. My fingers went to my lips and found them swollen, redder than normal and around them was a rash. Beard rash? The skin on my chin and around my mouth was slightly rough to the touch. Then there were the marks on my neck. Not hickeys, but… as close to that as you could get without actually leaving anything permanent. But upon seeing those marks, I saw Danny’s overlaid on top of them and that had me jerking away.

But this was not the end of my odd discoveries. As I stripped off my bra, my breasts felt heavy and swollen, like I was about to get my period, and my nipples? They tingled as I pushed the bra cups down. They were pulled tight by the cool temperature of the morning, but that was normal. Sometimes the bastards felt like they could cut glass, especially on the way to work, but that wasn’t what I felt now. They were… tender. Like they’d been touched—

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