“Not physically, no,” he said, still facing the wall.
“Did you not stop with her safe word?”
“Of course not,” he snarled. “I always respect the safe word.”
“Then what? What did you do to make her hate you so much?”
“I tried to force her to be someone she’s not.”
I was silent, waiting for more of an explanation. But it never came. “Someone like… Layla?” I pushed. I knew I shouldn’t. I could see his discomfort, even though he was good at hiding it. And part of a submissive’s job was to look out for the well-being of her Dominant—but wasn’t part of his job to be open and communicative with me, too? I gulped. We were both failing—already.
“Yes.”
“You don’t want to talk about it?” I prodded more.
“No.”
More silence. I never thought that silence could be deafening—but this was. The silence was actuallyloud, roaring between us. “Okay,” I said, taking a careful step toward him. Jude eyed me warily, his gaze never once leaving mine. “I can drop this for now…ifyou promise me that you will eventually tell me the whole truth there.”
His jaw ticked and I could practicallyfeelhim thinking.
“I deserve to know your whole story,” I said. “It’s part of this trust thing going both ways.”
With that, his stony expression softened. His down-turned mouth lifted briefly into something that couldalmostbe called a smile. With a sigh, he said, “I promise I’ll tell you everything. Just not right now. As you can imagine, it’s not fun reliving some of your darkest moments.”
I nodded, but didn’t press the issue anymore. He knew where I stood; he promised to tell me. That was all I needed for now. “So what’s next on our agenda?”
That almost smile curved into an actual smile and he stepped into me, pressing his lips gently to mine. “I’m going to tuck you in for a much needed—very earned nap. And when you wake up, you’re going to get dressed up for me. Chloe brought some clothes for you to wear. I took the liberty of hanging them in your closet and there’s a small bag of makeup on the counter. Put that on, along with that wig you brought.”
“My wig?” I drew back and his arms at the small of my back held me firmly in place. “I thought you said I had no use for that within these walls.”
“And I meant that,” he said. “But we’re not staying inside these walls. Tonight, we’re taking this downstairs to the LnS Club.”
