“Marlena,” Jude said, rubbing his hand over his brow. “None of this matters. Because youareengaged, right? Andthatis my hardest limit.”
Before I could say another word, there was a quiet knock on the door. Jude pushed a sigh through his tight lips and rushed to the door to open it. Ash stepped silently into the room, his gaze fastened onto mine. Intense blue eyes that scrutinized me in the most unnerving way.
Jude flashed me a weak smile, standing in the doorway, almost as though it could offer him some sort of protection. Some sort of shield. That doorway was his sanctuary, his escape away from me. “If you need me, I’ll be in that room. You can look out there and see me at any moment. You can text me. Or just tell Ash and he’ll come and get me.”
I shivered, hugging my arms into my chest. Why Ash? Of all the Dominants out there in that public flogging room, why did Jude want me to do this with the one other man in this club I would have to see on a daily basis if I got this part?
“Ash is my best friend,” Jude said, answering my thoughts. Was I that readable? Was I so transparent, that my questions were written all over my face, unspoken? “I trust him with my life.”
I nodded, but said nothing more as Jude left.
The space between us was thick and wrought with tension as Ash sauntered toward me with practiced casualness. But I knew better. He wasanythingbut casual. Each smooth step was calculated and controlled like a tiger in the wild moving in on its prey.
“I’m surprised you told him,” Ash said.
Panic climbed up my throat and with my mouth open, I gave a little gasp. How did Ash know about Omar and me? I jerked my chin up to look at Ash and his eyebrows cinched together in the middle of his face. “About our discussion last night,” he clarified. “How you wanted to feel another Dominant’s force.” I released a quiet breath.
Right. Of course he knew nothing about me and Omar. That was my own stupid, self-sabotaging paranoia. “And I’m surprised you didn’t,” I returned. “Tell Jude about our dinner and what happened.” I’d been certain all night last night that Jude was going to storm in at any moment and yell at me. Kick me out of the club.
He shrugged. “I would have eventually. I just wanted to give you the chance to tell him first.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”
Ash snorted and twirled a riding crop that was in his hands. “Because I had to be the one to tell him last time and I never want to be the reason my best friend’s face crumples like that ever again.”
“You’re the one who told him? About Layla?”
Ash’s eyebrows lifted at the mention of her name, disappearing beneath a dark patch of hair that had fallen over his forehead. “He told you about Layla?” Ash sounded skeptical.
“A little,” I admitted. But I wanted to know so much more about the woman who crushed Jude’s heart. Wanted to know why Jude had tensed up when those tourists came through Silhouette on the backlot tour and why Eve hated him so much.
Movement on the other side of the mirror caught my eye and I watched as Jude moved through the crowd, from the bar to a leather armchair in the corner. Lowering into it, his eyes remained on the mirror. Burning into me as though he, too, was watching me.
“God, I could use a drink,” I murmured.
“Would Jude be okay with that?”
I thought back to the public flogging. “He told me I could have one tonight after I finished my sparkling water.”
“And did you finish your water?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s easy enough,” Ash said and moved to a small cabinet in the far corner of the room. “Normally, I wouldn’t give another Dominant’s submissive any alcohol—that’s a pretty big no-no… but if he said you could have one, I don’t see the harm.” Ash tugged open the carved wooden door and pulled down two tumblers. “What’s your poison?”
“Woodford on the rocks. Or any bourbon they have is fine.”
Prior to that, his face had revealed nothing. A stoic trap, ready to catch anything that dare cross his path. But now? Surprise etched across his features. “Bourbon, huh?” He pulled a bottle off the shelf and dropped a few ice cubes into my glass. “I’m surprised. I would have pegged you for a Cosmopolitan girl.”
I snorted. “The only things I like pink are my lips, my shoes… and after this week? Maybe my ass.”
He tipped his head back, laughing and delivered me the bourbon, touching the edge of his glass briefly to mine. “I’ll drink to that.”
I lifted the edge of the glass to my lips, drinking down the cool, spiced bourbon. After a few sips, I crossed to the window, looking out at the party happening around Jude. He wasn’t participating. His eyes were steadfast, latched onto the mirror. He sat straight in the leather chair, one leg crossed over the other with a martini in hand. One finger drifted mindlessly across his bottom lip, like he was deep in thought. “How often does he go out into that room?” I asked.
I heard Ash walk up beside me. “Before Layla, never. But part of Layla’s kink was voyeurism. She always wanted to go to the public areas and he bent one of his soft limits for her.”
I swallowed hard, taking another drink from my bourbon. “Like he is tonight—with me.”
