“He tied my arms to thebed.”
“Uhh, I’ve always wanted a guy to do that to me.” Avery leans closer, her mouth slightly parted. “What happenednext?”
“He cuffed my ankles to a spreaderbar.”
A huge smile stretches on her face. “I assume that a spreader bar is what it soundslike?”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. You can’t close yourlegs.”
Avery grins bigger. “Holy… shit. Okay. Keepgoing.”
“He applied nipple clamps next. And those fuckers weretight.”
“Nipple clamps? You’ve got to be kiddingme.”
I laugh inside because I can easily imagine what I would have thought about nipple clamps in my pre-Tristandays.
“No joke, Ave. And then the blindfoldcame.”
Avery closes her eyes and holds up her hand. “Hold on. Give me a second to absorb all ofthis.”
She sits there for a moment listening to the song and then puts her hand down. “Okay. Tell me all about that man’s devil-penismagic.”
“He’s a Dom… and a sadist.” I’ve never told her about the sadist part. “I expected him to inflict pain and push me harder than ever before, but that’s not what happened. He was gentle and loving, and what we shared that night was like nothing that we’d ever experienced together. It was magical and I lovedit.”
Avery’s face tenses. “It sounds like a great night. I don’t understand theproblem.”
“Tristan told me he realized that night how desperately he wanted to stop me from leaving him. And he made a decision about how he was going to ensure that I didn’t.” Forming the words to tell Avery is more difficult than I thought it would be. “While I was tied up and blindfolded…” I point to her phone. “…With that song blaring, Tristan put his hand inside of me and grabbed the string on my IUD… and he pulled itout.”
Her eyes narrow and her head tilts to the side while her mouth forms a wide O. “He pulled out the only thing preventing you from gettingpregnant?”
“Yes…a month ago. And he just told me thismorning.”
“Oh fuck.” I see the realization form on her face when her eyes nearly bug out of her head. “Oh… fuck. You could be pregnant. Have you taken atest?”
I thought about it on the drive to Biloxi, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop and buy one. “No. I’m too fucking scaredto.”
“You have to take a test.” Avery walks out of the kitchen, moving toward the front door. “Come on, Em. We’re going to thestore.”
I can’t move. My feet feel like they’re bolted to the floor. “I don’t think it’ll do any good. I had a period right after he took it out and it’s not time for my next oneyet.”
“What’s it going to hurt to take atest?”
“I just don’t see the need in doing it if it’s too early for it to be accurate. I’m not in a place where I can afford for my emotions to be jerked around with a falseresult.”
“I guess you’re right. Getting inaccurate results would make this even worse.” She shrugs. “Sorry. I just got a little carried away, Iguess.”
“Ave, what am I going to do if I’m pregnant byhim?”
She sucks in a deep breath and blows it out through compressed lips. “Well, I know that you’re really pissed off at him right now, and you have every right to be, but you love this guy. To me, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to have a baby with a man you love andadore.”
“It’s really hard to remember how much I love him while I’m so pissed off athim.”
“Well, that’s definitelyunderstandable.”
I think Avery could be getting caught up in the romance part of the story—the whole have-a-baby-and-live-happily-ever-after thing—while forgetting about the betrayal part. “He swore to me that he’d never make a life-altering decision without my input, and he’s gone and done it again. He lied tome.”
“By your own account, Tristan is a control freak who doesn’t stop until he gets what he wants. And he wants you. Are you really that surprised that he would do something likethis?”
