Page 26 of S is for…

“Hey, are you okay?”she asked the first woman, crouching down.

“No.”The woman with dark, curly hair swallowed hard.“Fuck him, and fuck the overseers for forcing me to scene with my ex.”

Joni frowned, and the woman pointed at herself.“I’m Diann.”

Joni raised a brow, wondering if they’d met, or if that was supposed to mean something.Then her brain kicked in, and itdidmean something.

The story of Diann and Peter, the bonded couple whose relationship exploded when he fell in love with her, but she didn’t reciprocate.It was a club urban legend, along with the story of the couple whose contentious divorce was the reason for many of the privacy clauses in the club contract.

“Oh, hell no,” Joni breathed.

“Yes, and that fucker…” Diann leaned her head back against the chair, moonlight painting her face and adding silver accents to her dark curly hair.“I mean normally I would love ‘serving’ commands, but he made me feel…” Diann made a distressed noise low in her throat and swiped at her cheeks with her hands.“I should have slapped him.”

“I mean…probably.”Joni pursed her lips.“Did you say ‘serving’?”

“Yes, you know, serving as furniture, serving other Doms, stuff like that.”

“Letter S?”Joni asked.

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

Diann blinked rapidly, her gaze sharpening.“What?”

“Apparently there were six of us assigned to the letter S.”Joni looked towards the doors that led inside.“What are the odds…”

Joni pushed to her feet and headed inside.After a second, she heard Diann get up to follow her.

The woman curled up on the lounge chair inside had her hair up in a bun, everything from the chin down swathed in a fluffy blanket.She was silent as she cried, the occasional tear tracing a path down her cheek.

Joni took a seat beside her, twisting to face the other woman.“Hey, honey, you okay?”

She startled, as if surprised someone was talking to her, though she’d watched Joni walk over.Diann plopped down in the chair across from them, her robe gaping to show off lovely breasts.Diann adjusted the fabric, pulling the robe closed, then wincing, and letting it fall open again.Sore nipples, maybe.

“Me?”the one with the bun asked.

Joni swallowed the urge to tease her, ask if there was another crying woman she could be talking to.“Yes,” she said simply.

“I’ll be fine.It’s just…sad.”

“What is?”Diann asked.

The woman looked down.“Being invisible.”

The words tore at Joni’s heart.“Honey, would you like a hug?”

She nodded.“I’m Laney.”

Joni shifted to perch on the arm of Laney’s chair, wrapping her arms around a whole lot of blanket with a human someone inside.Diann came over to kneel on the other side, resting a hand on the lump that was probably Laney’s knee.

Joni hugged her tight, felt Laney relax against her.

“I’m Joni,” she said.

“Diann.”

There was a pause as Laney looked at Diann.

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