A shadow fell over Violet, and she looked up at Felicity as the woman cocked her hip, folding her arms over her chest. “No luck?”
“That sub is not a sub.”
“Sure he is. Slap a pair of handcuffs on him, tickle his balls, and he’ll be putty in your hands.”
“He’s a damn Dom, Vi,” Ericka butted in.
“Technically, at this point he probably qualifies as a Switch.”
Felicity shook her head, lips twitching. “We should be pissed you set us up, but having gained a better understanding of the situation, it’s hard to be angry. He asked me to give you a message.”
A coil of dread tightened in her belly, but she kept her cool. “I’m sure he can deliver it himself.”
Ignoring her, Felicity smiled, adding a smug edge to it. “If he’s chasing you, Violet, can I offer a word of advice? Stop running. For one, that guy is a serious hunk of southern comfort. They—men—don’t get much better than that.”
“Not to mention the fact he is so hung up on you, no other woman exists for him,” Ericka chimed in. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Shot me down without hesitation, even with my charms at full throttle. He isn’t interested in playing the field, as a Dom or sub. He wants you, only you, any way he can get you.”
A scream was building in Violet’s chest, growing more violent with every person sticking their noses into her business and declaring Boudreaux’slovefor her. What the hell did they knowabout it—they hadn’t been there during the ten years she’d believed she was forging a relationship she honestly thought was constructed from love, trust, and friendship.
They sure as hell hadn’t been there for her when it all came crashing down and she was left picking up the fragments of her heart, soul, future.
She’d wasted ten years of her life loving him, clutching every whispered endearment to her breast and dreaming of the day he ignited their future with a proposal. Instead, he’d burned it to the ground by kicking her to the curb.
“He’s going to be disappointed then, isn’t he?” She met Merrick’s sympathetic gaze and wanted to smack him. For some reason, violence was becoming her go-to method of coping with this clusterfuck, and she needed to find a way to stop it before it began costing her friendships.
“Evander, did Doc Isaac figure out what was happening with the clinic theft?”
Instantly, all attention veered away from the argument beginning to spin between the three Dommes and landed squarely on Evander, easing some of the tension but creating more of a different kind—shock, outrage, disbelief mashed together.
“No one’s come forward to confess, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Violet gave Merrick a grateful smile and mouthed,Thank you.
He nodded, winked, then kissed his little owl’s hair when she snuggled deeper into him.
Unwilling to let it go, Felicity leaned forward, bracing her hands on the table top. “The message is… ‘Good attempt, Bennie, but it’s a swing and a miss. I’ve only got eyes for you, regardless of whatever temptations you throw my way. Be ready for consequences when you get home.’”
“For fuck’s—”
“Don’t blame the messenger, Vi. This ball is yours and it’s rolling the way you sent it. All I’m going to say is…” She glanced at Ericka, and there was longing in her eyes. “Whatever happened before, it can be forgiven if you really want a clean slate now. People change, hurt fades, but love—true love—never dies. That man loves you in ways we only dream about; he’s not hiding it.”
Ericka’s face appeared over her friend’s shoulder. “Totally agree. He called you his queen, Violet.”
Huh. He must have really pulled all the stops out if he’d managed to convince two experienced Dommes to buy into the ruse he was pushing on everyone, Violet thought bitterly.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” she replied quietly, trying to keep her tone level and not lash out at her friend for being so damn gullible, she believed everything a charming conman told her.
“You do that. Sorry to leave the party early, but we’ve got a client due in twenty.” Felicity leaned further over the table to kiss Violet’s cheek. “Don’t hide away for so long next time; we miss this pretty face—and get some rest, you look exhausted.”
Strangely, that hit her pride in a way she didn’t expect, burrowing deep. “Thanks.”
Ignoring the dry tone, Felicity winked and pushed back, linking arms with Ericka. “Remember what I said about the past, Vi. We all fuck up at one time or another.”
Violet couldn’t deny that; they were all human, they all made mistakes at some point in their lives, but how did she reconcile Boudreaux’s fuck-up in her own head?
She hadn’t turned around one day, out of the blue, and told him that he was inadequate for what she needed.
It wasn’t like she’d reached into his chest and ripped his heart out, still beating, before crushing it into a pulpy, dead mess.
