“Then I’ll fucking make sure I am. Hell, if I have to, I’ll come with you and sit in the car to make sure you don’t have to go through this alone. If you need me, Noah, I’ll be there. Just say the word, and I’ll do it.”
He swallows and nods, then rests his forehead against hers as his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her in. “Fuck, you’re too good for me.”
“She’s too good for both of us,” I add, chuckling.
“Is she okay?” Noah asks, looking up toward the stairs.
Ronnie disappeared about two hours ago, claiming she was going to take a shower, yet she still hasn’t returned, and I was honestly starting to get worried as well. Despite her repeatedly saying she’s okay with what happened this morning in the elevator, it’s still hard for us to take her word, and we’ve been trying to give her a bit of space. Hence why neither of us has gone up to check on her despite thinking about it for the last hour and a half.
“I wouldn’t know any more than you do.” I shrug from where we’re seated on the couch watching TV. “She keeps saying she is, but we’re not in her head, so it’s hard to tell.”
“So she didn’t say anything to you while I was gone?”
I shake my head. “Nothing aside from telling me we need to stop worrying about her.”
Noah snorts. “Like hell if she thinks we will.”
“Precisely what I said.” I chuckle.
Just then, the sound of delicate footsteps coming down the stairs catches our attention.Because yes, we muted the sound on the TV one hour agoto make sure we could hear her if something was wrong. Holy shit, we really are obsessed with her well-being.We both turn in our spots to see her walking over to the kitchen island with a bag in hand.
She sets it down slowly, then lets out a breath and looks our way. “Could you boys come here, please.”
We frown at each other before standing and walking over to her. Noah looks from the bag to her, then back to the bag. “What’s going on?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since this morning,” she starts.God damn it, I knew she wasn’t really okay.“Mostly about something I said to you,” she looks at me, “about how I’ll never truly be able to deal with my fears if I don’t face them.”Where is she going with this?
“But also concerning a comment both of you made today, about how I may not be at a stage where I trust you enough to do things that scare me.” Ronnie looks down at the ground and shakes her head. “But that couldn’t be further from the truth. I do trust you both, more than I’ve ever trusted anyone else in my life, in ways that I didn’t even know I was still capable of trusting.” She turns her gaze to the bag next. “That’s why I brought this down with me.”
“What’s in it?” I ask, trying to look inside, but I’m not close enough to see what it contains.
“Do you remember when I went on that little shopping spree with Em and bought a whole bunch of things with your card but pretended I didn't?” She smirks when Noah and I laugh.
“Oh, trust me, we remember very well.” Noah smiles at her and folds his arms over his chest.
“Good. As you recall, I went to a few… specific boutiques, and I’m sure you were both dying to know what exactly I had bought.”
“Still very curious.” I chuckle.
“Well, you won’t have to wait much longer.” She finally turns toward the bag, placing her back to us, and reaches in with both hands.
I can hear packages being tossed around, and with the size of the bag, there’s clearly a lot of things in there. Finally, she grabs hold of something and stops moving. I see the way her shoulders stiffen slightly, the way her back moves as she takes in a deep breath. But the thing I notice the most is how her hands tremble as she finally removes them from inside the bag. My eyes widen instantly when I see what she’s holding, and a quick glance at Noah tells me he’s just as shocked.
Ronnie lays them out on the countertop and faces us once more. “Three years ago, I promised myself that I wouldneverallow another man to tie me up or putme in a position where I had complete loss of control. That I wouldneverEVERallow myself to trust a man to a degree where I would give him permission to do such things to me.”
She picks up the first item to her left and lifts it. “I am not ready for this one. I’m not saying it’s a hard no, but it won’t be any time soon.” Despite the hint of a tremble in her voice, she speaks with confidence.
Vixen sets down the blindfold and instead picks up the next items in each hand, a pair of leather handcuffs and what looks like satin bondage restraints. She slowly takes a few steps forward until she’s standing right in front of us.
She holds out the handcuffs to Noah, then the satin ties to me. “This is me trusting you with more than just my heart. This is me showing you that I do trust you with my mind, my body, and my soul,” she whispers.
We both take the items from her hands, looking them over without a clue what to say. “You want us to… tie you up?” Noah asks, feeling as uncertain as I do about this.
“Yes.” Vixen nods.
Sliding my fingers over the soft material, I feel a frown forming and find myself shaking my head. “No… I won’t do this.”
“Gabe…” She steps toward me, but I shake my head again and bypass her, putting the restraints back on the counter.
