I turned on my heels and headed for the back entrance where I could make an escape without having to answer to Trevor or anybody else, more specifically Dallas. He said I was allowed to leave whenever I wanted since the contract was not legally binding despite the formality of actual signatures. He said he wouldn’t judge me if I chose to walk away, if I didn’t like my experience. I think that was more so out of anticipation that his preference for a morekinkylifestyle would be too much for me, or that I wasn’t ready for the intensity of the sexual endeavors.
I was fuming, full of sadness, confusion, shame, and anger, all a mess of intense emotions now fueling the urge to walk away, pushing me closer towards the door that led to the alleyway outside.
Then it hit me: nobody actually had any knowledge about ourcontract, and nobody knew who Dallas really was without his mask…sohowandwhywould anyone link the two of us together to think that these photos had the power to hurt me? Were the photos some sort of plot to get me to leave Dallas alone? Or worse, to get me alone?
Fallen hard…
Dallas
“What the fuck do you mean she isn’t there? How did she slip by you?” I snapped through the line when Trevor told me Delaney never left the building at Exhale Publishing. He dropped her off at 8 A.M. but now it was just about 6 P.M. and she still hadn’t left her office.
“Get in there and find her. Now!” I demanded fervently before ending the call. Trevor had been outside her office assigned to monitor absolutely every person who entered and exited her office building.
After what happened last night, I couldn’t risk her getting hurt over something that didn’t even involve her. I paced my office back and forth, wearing a damn hole in the floor with my anxious march as I thought of my next plan of action. Teddy must have lost his mind if he thought I’d just lay down and let him continue to hurt the people I love.
I’d rip him to pieces if he even laid one finger on Delaney. Maybe theywere right, maybe I should have taken care of him in the beginning but I had a heart for the miserable bastard. I mean if everyone had given up on me when I was a mess, who knows where I would be today?
I was torn from my thoughts when a text came through on my cell from Trevor. It was a picture of scattered photos of me and Lindsey the night she showed up at my condo. The way the photos were taken it seemed like the motive for her visit was to make it look like I was messing around on Delaney.
I knew her little act was a scam, a ploy for something bigger. Now, Delaney’s missing and she’s obviously seen these photos. She must have gotten upset and snuck out. I knew exactly where she would be.
I typed out a text as I walked out of my office. Jacob, who was sitting at the bar chatting with a few of the dancers, stood when he saw me coming.
“We are going to Delaney’s house. Now.” I snapped, walking past him through the front door of my club.
“Dallas, what’s going on?” Jacob questioned catching up to me as I approached the SUV that was parked in its usual spot.
“Just get me to Delaney.”
I needed to get to her so that I could explain everything. My stomach was a ball of nerves as the thought that she might not believe me crossed my mind. If she actually thought I was seeing Lindsey and refused to believe otherwise, I didn’t know what I would do or say.
As I sat there planning out how I was going to approach this situation, the realization hit me hard: why do I care so much? If she were anybody else, any of the other Subs I had taken on, walking away and starting over would be simple, easy even – but with Delaney, I felt the need to fix things, to make sure she knew it was only her that I desired.
I smiled, finally hearing for myself what my heart had been telling me all along…
I had fallen for Delaney.Fallen hard.
* **
We pulled up outside Delaney and Lacy’s house. I jumped out before the car even stopped, eager to get to her, to hold her, not even fazed that I wasn’t wearing my mask and for the first time she would see me for me.
Racing up the stairs taking two at a time, I didn’t stop at the door. I turned the knob and barged in, meeting a loud gasp from Lacy who stood in the kitchen with a cosmetic face mask on while eating from a tub of ice cream. Her eyes were wide and full of shock. I was confused for a moment until I remembered I wasn’t wearing my mask. Lacy had never seen me without it, either.
“Lacy, it’s me Dallas, where is Delaney?” Her startled face changed instantly.
“What do you mean?” She snarled. “She was supposed to be with you.” She reached for her cell that was sitting on the counter in front of her. She dialed Delaney and put it on speaker. When the phone went to voicemail, my frustration turned to concern. Delaney wasn’t a girl of many friends, she had one person she talked to, one person that she confided in and that was Lacy.
“What did you do to her, Dallas?” She stood there with her hip cocked and her head tilted.
“She wouldn’t have run off if you didn’t seriously fuck up.” She spit out her words like daggers.
I opened my mouth to respond to her very valid accusations when my phone dinged with another message. This time from an unknown number.
My heart sank as I read the words that crossed my screen.
‘Sometimes the choices we make affect others more than we even realize. And those choices deserve to be acknowledged.’
The exact words that were used to heed a warning with Twyla. Without saying another word, I turned and rushed to the SUV that Jacob was waiting in.
