Chapter Twelve
An hour before dawn,Elizabeth’s phone woke her, and she nearly fell out of bed fumbling for the device. As she read Alexander’s message, her heart cracked intwo.
I arranged the meeting for Thursday. Be outside your flat at 11. A car will bewaiting.
A car. One without Alexander init.
Elizabeth moved through the rest of morning in a fog. Not even Seattle held enough coffee to make her feel human. After a long run, she forced down another cheap burger and fries, then visited her financial planner. When she returned to her room after the long and stressful meeting with her lawyer, she took a chance and fired off a text message toAlexander.
I’m sorry. I thought if I handled this on my own, we’d have a chance. I was wrong. I missyou.
She paced and tried to read, chided herself for being needy, and then chided herself again for chiding herself. On the off chance she hadn’t thrown away the relationship before it had a chance to flourish, she spent the evening learning everything she could aboutBDSM.
The Dominant in the scene has control at all times, but the true power lies with the submissive. In a mutually respectful D/s relationship, the submissive can always end things with an agreed upon safeword or gesture. In this way, it is the sub who has the power for the Dominant can do nothing (and should do nothing) without the sub’s total and informedconsent.
Alexander’s words came flooding back to her.“If you say ‘red’ to me, at any time, it means that this allstops.”
Her eyes burned. The clock ticked over to eleven, and she shut her laptop. After glancing at her phone one last time and fighting a losing battle with her tears over Alexander’s silence, she turned off the light and tried tosleep.
***
Alexander turned his new phone over in his hands. The hunk of glass and metal held no appeal without Elizabeth to talk to, and though he’d tried, more than once, to find a suitable reply to her text, each attempt had left himcold.
“I should have gone directly to the airport,” he muttered on the way home from the cinema, where he’d passed a horrible two hours trying to distract himself from the complete cock-up he’d made of theirrelationship.
“I’m sorry, sir?” Thomas met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Did you saysomething?”
Alexander ran a hand through his hair. “Nothing of anyimportance.”
“Mr. Fairhaven, perhaps this is too forward, but are you all right?” The driver gave him a quick glance as they idled at astoplight.
“I’m afraid I’ve made a real mess of things with Elizabeth,” he replied. “I’m not sure I can fixit.”
“Shall I take you to herapartment?”
If only life were that simple. “No, she went toSeattle.”
“The airport, then.” Thomas flicked the turn signal, his gloved hands tightening on thewheel.
Alexander shook his head, then turned to stare out the window. The city, for all its beauty, felt empty without Elizabeth in it. Despite his promise to her, he’d done a little research on Harry Carter, Phillip Pastack, Leonard Hayes. Pastack had just turned eighty and retired, but he’d been a career military man with three cases of sexual harassment and two wrongful termination suits to his name—all settled out of court long before trial. Carter was clean, other than some unpaid parking tickets, but Hayes… Something rubbed Alexander the wrong way about that man. His father had embezzled millions as a stock broker in the seventies. How far did Leonard’s apple fall from the father’stree?
With a sigh, Alexander checked his phone again.Nothing.
You should have known. Her sacking. The avoidance every time you asked her what was wrong. You’re a fucking dolt, and you’ll be lucky if she gives you the time of day when she comesback.
The chasm he imagined between them had grown so wide, he wasn’t sure he could ever bridgeit.
“Sir?”
Alexander rubbed his temples as Thomas held open his door. “You have someone special in your life?” he asked his driver as they stood nearly eye-to-eye.
“We’ve been together for six months, sir. I’m going to pick her up from work in a few minutes.” Thomas’s eyes lit up, and he smiled. “If it’s not too forward, may I make a suggestion,sir?”
At this point, Alexander would take suggestions from anyone who’d managed to make a relationship work. “Ofcourse.”
“Samuel can arrange for flowers or agift.”
“No. I’m afraid I must earn her forgiveness the hard way.” He turned to head up the stairs but paused with his hand on the railing. “Thomas?”
