Fool for Love (Believe #2) (48 page)

Blowing out a breath when I find her in front of me, I lean across the bar to hug her briefly.

“Hi, doll,” she greets me as I let her go.

“Hi, sweetie. You look gorgeous, though slightly…different.”

She laughs as she looks down at her flaming-red strapless dress.

“That’s the point, but I’m actually just passing through.”

“Oh? Can I get you a drink?” I glance to my right to check that everybody is covered, and wait for her.

“Just a Cosmo, please, hon.”

I nod. “Where are you going tonight?” I shout to be heard above the noise and turn to find the ingredients.

“I’m off to meet up with Safiro and his boy toy, Dex, at
‘FDB’
. Fred might be there, too. I think he’s bringing his latest conquest – a girl called Cassandra.”

Regret fills me when I realise that it’s been so long since I’ve been there. Since I’ve seen my friends.

“Please tell Safiro that I’ll stop by on my next night off.”

I turn briefly to face her, and she nods in understanding.

“Sure, no problem.”

I finish preparing her drink, and with a small flourish in jest put a pink umbrella in it.

She laughs when she sees it.

“Cute. So…” She takes a sip from the drink and the laughter fades from her eyes. “How have you been?”

I rest on the bar and lean towards her, and she mirrors my stance.

I ignore her question because I have to get something off my chest first.

“I’m sorry for the way I just left the last time you saw me, Morgan. That wasn’t fair.”

She shakes her head once and arches her brow.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Suzy. I told you that I knew you didn’t return my feelings, and that’s alright.” She puts a hand on my cheek. “Stop apologising, and answer my question instead.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she stresses and sits back.

Feeling more reassured, I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Alright, then.”

I tell her about Garrett and me. About my growing feelings for him. How him being a Dom has affected me. And about how my struggles with my sexuality have dimmed because I refuse to label myself.

“Love is love, right?” I finish.

She nods enthusiastically.

“Fucking A,” she laughs. I join her, relieved that I have my friend back.

“We need to meet up soon for coffee,” Morgan says, finishing her drink before she steps down from her barstool.

I nod, and then frown when she stops in her tracks, her eyes widening. I turn to follow her gaze, and unease settles in my stomach when I find that the centre of her attention is Rowan who’s standing at the entrance to the hallway that takes him to his office. He looks alert, sharp, as he scans the club, no doubt looking for a sub that’ll satisfy him for the night.

“Morgan –,” I start.

“Hot damn, he just gets hotter and hotter every time I see him,” she breathes.

I turn to scan her face.

“You never did tell me how you know him?” I ask her.

“Mmm, we had a little fling before we met, doll,” she murmurs, clearly still taken with the sight before her.

“Really? I didn’t think he’d be your type…”

That breaks the spell she seems to be under and her head turns to face me. She licks her lips.

“Honey, when a man like him knows how to fuck a woman, and fuck her to oblivion, he becomes said woman’s type. Believe me.”

I widen my eyes, my mouth falling open in shock.

“That good, huh?”

“Mm-hmm.” She looks down and runs a hand along her hip, fiddling with her dress.

“Hon…what are you doing?”

Slowly, she looks up at me, a devious smile covering her lips, and more unease fills me.

“Why, I’m going over to say ‘hello’, of course. And then I plan on taking him home later for round two. Or three or four.” She purses her mouth. “Actually, I can’t remember which round, because we weren’t exactly sober last time we met.”

I grab her arm as she’s about to leave.

“Please be careful,” I urge her. She frowns at me. “Please don’t take anything he wants to offer you…”

“What do you mean?” she asks me, clearly puzzled.

I pull on her arm until she’s as close as she can get with the bar separating us. I turn to whisper in her ear.

“If he asks if you want any drugs, say ‘no’, please.”

Her head snaps back, her lips forming a small ‘o’, and I nod.

“Promise me.”

Uncertainty fills her eyes and she gives me another kiss in goodbye. Without another word, she leaves, and I watch Rowan’s arrogant smirk when she stops in front of him.

“Suzy, can’t you see we’re busy?” Valerie rushes past me.

I take in the line of customers in my station.

“Sorry,” I mumble.

The bad feeling in my stomach grows stronger when I see Rowan putting an arm around Morgan’s shoulders, and he leads her up the winding staircase. They disappear from my sight when they enter one of the private rooms.

With a heavy heart, I go about serving my customers; but for the rest of my shift, I keep glancing in the direction of their room, worrying about my friend.

“So, it’s been a while,” I muse as I sit down in a chair next to the window opposite the entrance. Morgan’s back is to me as she takes in the four-poster bed with the red and black satin sheets.

“Yeah, I guess it has.”

“Do you want a drink?” I ask her as I push up in my seat. She shakes her head.

Fair enough.

“Mind if I get one?”

It’s not really a question, so I don’t wait for her answer.

I wonder how she knows Suzy, though. I try to convince myself that finding out more about my little waitress is the only reason I asked Morgan to come up here with me.

However, I stop pouring the scotch and take in her form again.

“If I remember correctly, you were a wildcat between the sheets.” I pick up my glass and then stand up to walk towards her.

She chuckles and finally turns around to face me.

There’s a smirk on her face that I’d like to wipe away with my cock, but I can be patient.

“I am,” she concedes.

I have to admire her for her confidence.

Fuck, it’s a turn-on.

“And if my memory serves me right, you begged me to tie you up and then fuck your brains out,” she purrs before she licks her lips.

I freeze.

There are two parts waging war inside me.

The one that says that the man never submits to the woman.

And the other that yearns to give in just
one. More. Time
.

“Kneel,” she points at the floor, and my hand holding the glass tightens. I’m enraptured by her unwavering gaze, almost putting a spell on me. As if no longer in control of my own limbs, I do as she says.

Her gaze softens a little, and a rush tears through me at her appraisal. But then it’s gone.

“Eyes down, Rowan,” she commands.

I close them briefly and lower my head.

I do as she says. I submit to her, giving in to my dark desires.

One last time.

T
HE NEXT FEW WEEKS
fly by in a haze.

I don’t think much about the past, and I definitely don’t worry about the future.

The first part is easy – the second, not so much.

Living with Garrett is easy, effortless. Now that he’s no longer avoiding me, and he seems to have found some kind of semblance of peace, he’s different in some ways.

He can still be moody and difficult, of course.

I sometimes find myself calling him “Grump” when he’s being particularly moody, and that seems to be my cue to either run fast or give in to his sexual demands – because whenever I do call him that, he gets this stubborn gleam in his eyes that I’ve come to recognise as his Dom persona taking over. It’s subtle. Calculating. Intense. He lets his wolfish tendencies take over, and he always catches me.

Punishing me for being
‘obstinate’
as he calls it.

Needless to say, I don’t mind. Far from it. But I haven’t told him that, nor do I think I have to; he’s already more than aware of the fact that I love his idea of punishments, and I give just as good as I get.

I’ve never been happier in my life.

Or I was, until I open my email one Saturday morning to find one from my mother waiting for me. I’ve been dodging her calls and texts since we last spoke, even though I know I promised myself to call her. To make amends. Or to make my peace with her, at least.