“I make him lose his shit,” Starling says bluntly.
A soft smile tips the corners of the usually stoic doctor’s lips.
“I’ve never done what he expected me to do, and that’s always been a struggle for him. If he could, he’d take over every inch of my life. He’d control what I wore, where I went, and who I spoke to. But I won’t let him, and that’s hard for him to understand. In Sebastian’s head, I’m his, and I have been since the first time he saw me when I was a freshman. Even though I lovehim and married him, he’s years further into this relationship than I am, because as far as he’s concerned, we’ve been together since he decided I was his. He made plans for our life together when I was fifteen years old. He told his family about me, decorated a bedroom at his parents’ house for me. He created this relationship in his head before I even knew who he was. I was so guarded and angry and scared of everything when I came to Kingsacre, but Sebastian just kept living our lives like we’d been a couple for years, not like I’d moved to the other side of the country to get away from him. He has always, and probably will always be more sure of our marriage than I am, because he’s been in it for three years longer than I have.”
Hearing her spell it all out makes my dick harden and my stomach drop. She’s right. I never stopped considering her mine, even when I didn’t get to see her and she was living in Maine with her dad. I contemplated kidnapping her and bringing her home a million times during those three years we were separated, but as she never attempted to date or move on from me, I allowed her the time and space, even though I hated every moment of it.
“Do you feel like he still dismisses your feelings?” Dr. Sally asks.
Smiling softly, Starling scoffs. “I stopped letting him dismiss me around the time that I helped Bunny leave Hunter. Seeing her walk away from a man who was manipulative and controlling forced me to confront the way Sebastian has treated me. I think knowing that I helped my friend leave and that if I chose to, I could walk away from him made him realize that we couldn’t keep going on the way we had. Since then, I’ve refused to allow him to walk all over me.”
“Yet you enjoy being sexually dominated by him?” Dr. Sally probes.
“Sex is sex. I can enjoy being told what to do while I’m naked, without having to accept that he always has to be in control of everything else.”
Dr. Sally’s lips spread into a wide grin, and she nods. “Yes, you can,” she agrees. “I’m so happy that you’ve accepted and verbalized that feeling. Do you think that Sebastian feels that way?”
At the doctor’s reaction, Starling blows out a breath and visibly relaxes. “I think he does. We had a situation happen this week, and instead of trying to take over and insist that he deal with it, he listened to me. They all listened to me, and they took on board what I said. Honestly, I didn’t really realize how much I needed them all to acknowledge that my opinion and suggestions are valid too until they did. Sebastian, Evan, Hunter, and Clay have always felt like a package deal. They might not be biologically related, but they have a bond that’s closer than simply siblings. They’re brothers by choice. They’ve always told me I’m one of them, but for the first time, I felt it. I felt like I was actually part of this group, and not just because I’m Sebastian’s wife, but because I’m truly one of them.”
“That’s brilliant, Starling. I’m so happy to hear that. And the situation, is that something that you need to talk about?”
Holding my breath, I wait to see what she’ll say, but instead she shakes her head. “It’s nothing. We’re handling it.”
The doctor asks Starling some questions about Cassidy, but I zone out, smiling as I exhale a relieved breath. My wife is okay. She’s happy. She’s becoming the person I’ve been trying to stifle and prevent her from being, and I’m proud of her. I’m not sure I could have coped with her evolving into this strong, intimidating woman two years ago, but now, I’m more than willing to allow her the freedom to kick ass and take names, as long as she’s willing to obey my every demand when it comes to sex. It’s a compromise I’d never considered before, but now that I thinkabout it, it makes complete sense. As does my decision to tell my wife she’ll be getting pregnant as soon as we’ve sorted out this Courtney mess.
Instead of staying in my office and working, I change into swim shorts and am lying out by the pool by the time Starling gets home. Crooking my finger, I call her over to me, then drag off her panties and guide her to sit on my face, all without saying a word.
Like the perfect little bird that she is, she climbs on top of me, holding the lounger to keep herself in place while I eat her cunt like it’s my favorite meal. I don’t stop until my face is soaked in her arousal and my dick is so hard, I come down her throat the moment she takes me into her mouth.
“Has Clay found out anything about where the pictures came from?” Starling asks me.
“I haven’t heard anything, but everyone is coming for dinner, so we can ask him then. Has she messaged you again?” I already know the answer, because I cloned my wife’s cell years ago so I can see all of her incoming and outgoing calls and messages as well as her socials. But I still ask anyway, never fully admitting to how obsessed I am with her.
“No. I put a Google Alert for any new images that we’re tagged in, but I have no idea how to find out if she’s uploaded the pictures to any porn sites or anything.”
“Clay has made sure that if she tries to upload them anywhere, the files will become corrupt. No one will see them, Little Bird, we’ll make sure of that,” I assure her.
“What if she has them saved in other places?”
“He’ll find them. He’s the best. You know that.”
Humming in partial agreement, she rubs her cheek against my chest, then freezes. “Oh my god, we’re naked. I just sat on your face, then gave you a blow job, naked. What the hell iswrong with us? This is where she took pictures of us last time. Why are we out here?”
Throwing herself off me, she stumbles to her feet, grabbing her clothes and holding them to her chest as she rushes into the house. Glancing around, I narrow my eyes as I scan the yard for an idea of how anyone could gain access and take pictures of us without us seeing them. But all I see are the discreetly placed security cameras and mature plants that hide us from the beach beyond the end of the yard.
Sitting up, I swing my legs to the floor, then stand, pacing slowly over to the gate that leads onto the beach before turning and putting my back to it. This is the only position a photographer could be in without gaining access to our home, but it’s the wrong angle.
In fact, now that I try to remember the pictures and videos, all except the ones of Starling sucking my dick in the golf cart seem to have been taken from a higher angle. Looking up at the sky, I question if a drone could have stumbled over our property and just happened to see Starling and me being intimate, but if it had, the pictures would have been from directly overhead.
Walking into the house, I climb the stairs and find Starling in the shower.
“Where’s your cell?” I ask her.
Shrugging, her eyes drop to my dick, but I smile, then walk back into the bedroom to look for her purse. Finding it in the living room, I open the message exchange with Birdsflyhigh, gritting my teeth at the message where Courtney tells Starling she needs to divorce me, and instead scroll up until I find the pictures and videos of us.
Looking at each one in turn, I notice something I hadn’t considered before. Apart from the one of us on the golf cart, they all seem to have been taken from a similar raised angle. Scoffingangrily, I move from room to room, working my way through each picture.
“What are you doing?” Starling asks, padding downstairs in a thin T-shirt and jean shorts, her wet hair hanging over her shoulder.
