“You know what?” Alicia finished wiping away her tears and opened her schedule book. “I’ve got this thing tomorrow afternoon that you should do with me. Would much rather have you there for this than my assistant I still barely know.”
“Oh? What kind of thing?” Candice put her hands on her hips. “Is it sexy? Because I know sexy.”
“It’s definitely… along those lines.” Alicia pointed to the name in her book.
“Uh-huh. Oh, I know who that is.” Candice grinned. “Do Iknowwho that is!”
“Figured, in your line of work. Besides,” Alicia flipped the book shut. “I could use someone I trust while I navigate some of this crazy shit.”
“I’m guessing you exploring the world of domination and submission isn’t exactly a secret you’re keeping.”
“Hilariously enough, it is the one thing I don’t have to be hush-hush about.”
“All right. I’ll go with you. I have to edit anal porn at eleven, but then I’m free.”
Alicia looked askance at her friend. “Sometimes I forget what you do.”
“Sometimes I forget whatyoudo!”
They parted with a smile that afternoon. Alicia was grateful for that – she was also grateful for still having one person she could be blunt with. Who wasn’t her wife, anyway.
“Oh my God!” Alicia sat on the edge of the bathtub, towel falling loosely around her body. “Danica!”
She called Danica’s name no fewer than three times before she finally appeared in the bathroom, half undressed and en route to taking her turn in the shower. When she saw her disheveled wife wobbling on the bathtub, she leaped forward, catching her before she could pass out and get a concussion.
“What’s wrong?” She lifted her head, and that only made her woozier. “Alicia!”
Danica was on the verge of shouting for aid when her wife responded. “Panic… pan…”
She stood with Alicia in her arms, her body both limp and struggling to enter the safety of her embrace.Please let me breathe again!Alicia hadn’t had a panic attack in years. Not since the last time her bank account was almost bled dry and she had no idea when the next funds were coming in. I can’t breathe…
Throughout her shower, she obsessed over everything going on. Her marriage, her future as a wife and mother, the man who wanted her dead if she couldn’t get her to leave on her own…
Money.Money, money, money.
Her parents and their distant disapproval. Candice calling her a bitch that she didn’t know anymore. The threat hanging above her head if she didn’t perform the way Danica required.
In bed. In marriage. In business. In life.
Danica placed her gently on their bed. Alicia was cold now. Shivering so hard that her wife wrapped a thin blanket around her while smoothing away her wet hair from her face.
“Please, don’t go.” Alicia snatched her hand. Could she drain Danica’s energy? She would try. “Please, don’t leave me alone.”
The last thing she wanted was to be left alone. The deeper Alicia delved into this crazy world, the easier it became to feel so damn alone. No wonder Danica was one of the most stoic, closed-off people she had ever met.At least she grew up like this. She knew how to handle it. Not Alicia. She wasn’t used to not being close to the people she surrounded herself with.I don’t even know Lissa’s last name. A woman was living in her house who cooked and cleaned for her, and Alicia didn’t know her last name! There hadn’t been time to learn it!
“I’m right here, precious.” Danica curled around her.This shouldn’t make it easier to breathe, but it does.Smelling her and feeling her eternal heat against her body were the only things that could calm Alicia down right now. “Nothing bad will happen to you. I won’t let it.”
“The shares and the…”
“Don’t worry about any of that. When you come home, you’re not allowed to worry about that. That’s my job.”
“You can’t shoulder it all.”
“Better me than you.” Danica gently kissed Alicia’s lips, a hand curled around hers. “When you come home, I want you to only think of things that give you comfort. You have to separate work and home more than you ever have before. I’ve dragged you into this stressful mess. Promise me I didn’t make a mistake. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I caused this.”
“I could have walked away.”
“You didn’t. I will forever be grateful for that.” Danica rubbed her back, a gesture that was more relieving than romantic. “Yetyou need to take care of yourself. Tell me what I can do to make you feel better.”
