Writes of Submission (21 page)

A few minutes later, they were ready to begin. Dante went first, with Nikki following and Kane bringing up the rear. Dante shouted instructions and encouragement to the others, who seemed to be keeping up with no difficulty.

Then, from just behind him, there was an alarming noise and the sound of Nikki screeching in panic. Dante grabbed for his brake, nearly throwing himself from his bike in his haste, and tossed it down. He turned to see Nikki lying next to a tree, her bicycle off to one side, and her face contorted in pain. Kane was kneeling next to her, his hands fluttering around her as if he wanted to pick her up but didn’t know whether it was okay to touch her or not.

“What happened?” Dante raced back, joining him. “Is she okay?”

Nikki moaned, putting a hand to her head. “Do I look okay?”

“Don’t move. I’ll go call an ambulance.” Dante hesitated for a second, reaching out but then pulling his hand back. The only thing he knew about first aid was not to move someone who might have a back injury. He ran, nearly colliding with a large tree when he looked back at a helpless Kane hovering over the crumpled form on the ground.

* * * *

“Just a simple bike ride.” Nikki gave Kane the nastiest look she could muster as she let Dante help her out of the car. Her leg with its new ankle brace stuck out awkwardly and the pain meds made the world wobble dizzily around her. She must have swayed, because she felt Kane’s hands as well as Dante’s grab for her. There were suddenly men surrounding her, all of them holding out hands to keep her from falling. It was like before, when the paramedics had all been looking down at her as they loaded her into the ambulance, and she was confused for a minute before she remembered that she was back at Clifftop now. There were two young men there that didn’t seem right. She tried to smile at them, fuzzily trying to remember who they were and why they would be helping her. Tony and Chuck, that was it, and they had been the two boys at the party last night, the ones with the tails. She felt woozily proud of herself.

Chuck, it had turned out, was a local police officer. He had called Tony while they were at the hospital to come and give them all a lift back to Clifftop.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Kane’s voice was next to her and she was vaguely aware that he had an arm around her back. “But it’s not all my fault. Remember, Dante was the one who convinced you to go off-road.” His face refused to come completely into focus but it seemed to be too close. She tried to lean back to see if that would make it clearer, but instead the arm on her back tightened.

Suddenly she was aware that her feet were no longer on the ground. She was being carried up the front porch steps and into the house and a concerned Allie was holding open the door and fussing over her.

“I do blame you.” She tried to lift a finger to point at him, but his face was too close and her arm seemed to be trapped somewhere that she couldn’t quite pinpoint. It didn’t hurt, so wherever it was seemed to be okay in terms of bones and tendons and joints and things.

But then she might not hurt anyway. They seemed to have given her some pretty powerful meds. She wondered in a foggy way if she should worry about that, maybe ask someone to hunt for her arm and make sure it wasn’t being bent or twisted in ways that she would regret later.

Dante was doing some kind of anxious dance around them, looking like he actually was in pain. Maybe she should share some of her meds with him.

“I’m so sorry, Nikki.” He moved aside so they could make their way up the stairs. She tried to look around Kane to assure Dante that she wasn’t angry at him. But Kane’s shoulders were just too wide and she couldn’t see anything but the red of that goofy T-shirt. She tried to remember what it had said but couldn’t. Something about caffeine.

“I’m going to need some caffeine to get my writing done today,” she mused. There was no way she could type in the condition she was in now.

The chest she was leaning against rumbled. “You’re not going to be doing any writing today, sweetie.”

Oh, yeah. She’d forgotten about Kane and how mad she was. She tried again to pull out her arm, but it was useless. Instead she settled on a scowl in the direction of where his face floated above her. “Whose fault is that?”

“Technically it’s yours.” He angled her into her own doorway and put her very gently on the bed. “You should have listened to Dante about being careful with your brake. If you hadn’t grabbed it like that you wouldn’t have gone flying over the top of your bike.”

“Stop evading blame.” Evading. That was a good word. She should try to work it into her writing today. Her eyes seemed to want to close, but she wasn’t done yelling at Kane yet. She fought with them momentarily and then decided it wasn’t worth the effort either. At least her arm seemed to be back now. She flexed her fingers to make sure no damage had been done.

The bed shifted as if someone had sat down on the edge. “How exactly is this my fault?”

“You brought the stupid bikes here.” She opened her eyes and glared at Kane, daring him to argue. It was an unassailable point. He couldn’t deny it.

“I know. I’m sorry you got hurt.”

“No, you’re not.”

He chuckled. “Why do you say that?”

Why had she said it? She wasn’t completely sure. He hadn’t been as much of a dickwad as she’d expected him to be. But the way he looked at her always made her uncomfortable, as if he were trying to decide whether to laugh at her or not. It just felt like she should be mad at him and the bikes seemed as good a reason as any.

She tried to shrug, but the action sent a strong jab of pain through her head. She winced, closing her eyes against the light, which suddenly seemed too strong. Peace. Peace and darkness were what she needed.

“Get some sleep now.” His voice was soft and there seemed to be a hand brushing the hair off her face. She hoped it was Dante’s. She wasn’t angry at Dante, for some reason. Dante was sweet and cute and fun. He didn’t criticize her writing. Sure, he made them do odd things like yoga and hiking. But the bikes were not his idea. That was the important thing.

“Yes, Sir.” The words seemed to be stumbling around in her mouth, coming out in a jumbled mess. She wasn’t even completely sure what she’d said.

“What?” The hand, that nice warm hand, was caressing her cheek now. Nikki didn’t seem to care anymore who it belonged to. She turned her face and smiled as fingers trailed gently over her skin, leaving her with a cozy feeling that made it easier to ignore the question and sink into soft darkness.

* * * *

“So what happened?” Allie asked as Dante came up to join her on the front porch after loading his and Kane’s bikes in the back of the rental truck. The bike rental guy was inspecting the damage to Nikki’s and pronouncing it minor. It seemed as though Kane had paid for insurance. Definitely the smart thing to have done, considering everything.

“We were doing really good,” he began, sitting next to her. “We’d gone three or four miles and she was doing great. They were talking about their plot and I think they’d gotten to a turning point. It was great to listen to them. One would make a suggestion, then the other would take it and run. They’d play off each other, back and forth, until the first simple little idea had turned into a really good plot twist. I’m kind of wishing I was a writer now.”

“The accident?” Allie prompted.

“Oh, yeah. So then we were on the way back and there was a path off the road. Nikki had been really good, confident on her bike, so I asked if they wanted to try off-road. I don’t think either of them was really excited, but they were at a point where they were trying to impress each other, you know? Nikki said she was up for it if Kane was, and of course Kane couldn’t let that go, so I gave them some pointers on how to ride downhill. It wasn’t that steep, but there are some things you really have to keep in mind, like not panicking and jumping on your brakes. Unfortunately, I think Nikki got a little freaked out and that has to be exactly what she did. The bike flipped and she went flying.”

“Poor thing.” Allie clicked her tongue and glanced up, as if she could see Nikki sleeping upstairs.

The truck drove away and Kane joined them, leaning against the porch railing and crossing his arms. Allie gave him a thoughtful look. “So why is she so mad at you?”

He shrugged with a short bark of a laugh. “Fuck if I know. I guess any reaction is better than none, though.”

“I have a theory about that,” Allie said. “If she’s starting to think of you as a Dom, Kane, then she might be considering you as responsible for her well-being. It could feel like you let her down, by allowing her to do something dangerous.”

“Hmm. I don’t know if I like that.” Dante frowned. “Does that mean she likes me less, since she’s not mad at me?”

“No, it just means that she doesn’t see you as an authority figure yet, someone she’s trusting with her safety.” Allie nodded toward Kane. “He’s the one that’s been doing the Dom thing, right?”

“Yeah. Is that what she wants?”

“Well, she does like to read about it,” Allie pointed out. “That probably means it appeals to her on some level.”

“So do I need to become a big, bad Dom, too?” He squinted up at Kane. “How would that work?”

“If we’re going to take this relationship seriously, that’s something we’ll have to figure out,” Kane said. “Do you want to be a Dom? Does Nikki even want two Doms? Maybe she’d rather have one guy that doesn’t issue orders.”

“Could you deal with that?” Allie looked at Dante. “Most organizations work best when there’s one boss. Look at our house. Brad is an important member of our family and he takes care of all of the financial stuff. But Karl is in charge, and Brad has come to accept that. Could you be in that kind of position?”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Dante said. “I’ve never considered something like this before.”

“What about you, Kane?” Allie watched the expression on his face. He was worried, she thought. “Have you been in a poly relationship before?”

“Not the kind where everybody was around each other all the time,” Kane said.

“What other kinds are there?” Dante sat back. Allie thought that position probably gave him a better view of Kane’s face. He might be wondering if Kane wanted Nikki for himself, she thought.

“There are as many different ways to do poly as there are people doing it,” Kane said. “Some people just do it as a loosely-connected network, where people get together either casually or on set schedules, but rarely in groups. Some form households and live together, like Allie and her guys. I’ve always wanted to try something like that, but the chemistry has never been right before.”

“Do you think it’s right now?” Dante’s voice was cool, but his fingers plucked nervously at his shirt.

Kane was silent for a minute, shifting slightly so he could gaze out over the lawn into the woods at the far side. When he spoke his voice was serious, almost tense. “I would have thought so. We’ve all been getting along together well and the writing is going even better than I’d hoped.”

“But?”

“But the situation seems to be different than I’d thought.”

“Why do you say that?” Allie asked.

Kane turned grave eyes on her. “Because when Dante was waiting for the ambulance, she told me something. She was a little woozy from the pain of her ankle and hitting her head, but sometimes that’s when people are the most honest, right?”

“What did she say?” Dante leaned forward.

He sighed slightly, turning to look back out toward the trees. “She told me she’s in love with you.”

Chapter 18

Dante could barely contain a whoop of joy. Nikki had said she loved him? That was too good to be true. He’d been more and more aware over the last few days of a creeping feeling that he wasn’t going to want to walk away from her when their time at Clifftop was over. But—

Allie’s voice cut into his happiness. “Did she say how she feels about you?”

Kane shook his head.

“Do you love her?” Allie’s voice was soft and Dante realized how awkward this situation could easily become. Kane and Nikki were writing partners. Kane was obviously in love with Nikki. If she didn’t return his love, could they still work together? He could try to brainstorm with her like Kane did, but he knew realistically he would never be able to fill those shoes.

“Yeah,” Kane said finally. “But if she’s not interested, then I’ll back off. You don’t have to worry about me trying to horn in where I’m not wanted, Dante.”

Allie looked from one to the other. “You don’t know she’s not interested. Like you said, it was probably the pain and disorientation talking. If she blamed you for the accident she might just not have felt like saying anything affectionate to you at the moment. I know I’ve had times where I was so angry I didn’t want to say it to Karl, even though I’ve never stopped loving him.”

“Maybe.” Kane stood up. “But until I know that for sure, I’m going to have to go on the assumption that Dante is the one she wants. I guess the threesome stuff was too much for her after all. Congratulations, man.”

“Um, thanks.” Dante’s stomach fell as he watched Kane walk into the house, his face dark. Somehow the joy he’d first felt at hearing that Nikki loved him wasn’t enough to cancel out the guilt he felt now. He looked sheepishly at Allie, as if he’d been caught in some deception. “What do I do now?”