Page 108 of Masters of Control

Some of the photos had been of him and a woman having sex in a backyard. Whose backyard, she had no idea, but it hardly mattered. He’d completely fucked himself over with that. Well, not completely, there were still a few things they could quibble over, but none of it would be worthwhile monetarily, not really. He would pay more in legal fees to fight it than he would to just pay her.

She probably shouldn’t feel happy about that, but he was a giant dick getting his just desserts, and it wasn’t easy for her to feel sad about it, either. Mostly she felt sad for herself because Donaldson Sr. wanted her to do the impossible. Again.

She wanted to call someone and talk things out so badly, but she didn’t know who. It was a sad realization that her job had not only sucked out her soul, but it had sucked all her friends away as well. Not that she’d ever had a ton of them.

Introvert, party of one.

She used to have a few really good friends. Her people. Over the years, she’d slowly stopped seeing them. Stopped talking to them. Sure, they might be there if she called now, but they’d also be full of ‘I told you so’s,’ which was not what she needed.

There was really only one person she could call.

Sighing, she picked up the phone while she waited for her food.

“Hello? Camille?” Julie’s warm greeting washed over her like a balm. Julie wouldn’t say ‘I told you so.’ Not about the job, although she’d be perfectly happy to about Camille’s love life.

“Hey, Julie. Sorry to bother you.” Camille hesitated because she didn’t know how to jump to what she wanted to say.

I had an amazing scene with Freddy the other night, and now he probably thinks I’m evil.

Ugh.

“No worries. If you’re calling about your membership application, I can tell you that you got in,” Julie replied. “I’m with Law and Olivia right now, and we’re discussing whether you’d need to take the class. I’m happy to keep standing in as your sponsor if you’d rather jump right back in.”

“Definitely.” The introduction classes were good things, but Camille didn’t need them. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to show her face at the club anytime soon, not after this afternoon. The classes were at Marquis where Freddy worked. He’d be a lot harder to avoid there. “Thank you.”

“No problem. We don’t do the sponsorships too often, but since I knew you from before and I know you have plenty of experience, it’s just about getting you back in the saddle. I want to hear all about the other night when you have the time, but I’ve got to get back to this meeting.”

“Of course… when you’re done, can you give me a call back?” Camille hated the plaintive note that entered her voice, but she couldn’t keep it out entirely. Her emotions were all jumbled.

Yes, she wanted to be a member, and she wanted to get back into kink.

However, she wasn’t sure she could face Freddy again.

If she could erase his knowledge of who she worked for, she’d want to scene with him again, but there was no putting that cat back in the bag.

“Sure, do you need to talk now?”

“No, it can wait if you’re in a meeting.”

“I’ll call you as soon as I’m out— Oh, hey, what’s this?” Julie’s voice changed, filling with confusion, which made Camille sit up. She couldn’t see whatever Julie was seeing, but she wanted to know, too.

“Flower delivery for Julie Kim.” The reply was harder to hear but still audible, and whoever was talking was obviously amused. “Arrived downstairs just a few minutes ago.”

“Who the hell even knew you were here?”

“Calm down, Law. I’m sure plenty of people do.”

“You can’t tell me this isn’t a little creepy.”

“It’s a little weird that whoever keeps sending these things knows when I’m here, but it’s not that creepy. There are a lot of people who work here. It’s not like I’m invisible when I go in and out. It’d be a lot creepier if things started showing up at my home address.”

Ah, yes. Camille relaxed back against the couch. She’d heard about Julie’s secret admirer. Julie occasionally got a delivery at Marquis, usually food or flowers, and a note that contained a compliment but no signature. It sounded sweet, but she could also see why Master Law, who taught classes at Marquis with Julie, thought it was creepy.

She remembered lots of kids and teenagers being into secret admirer stuff when she was younger, but most of them had left that behind when they hit adulthood. Now, it seemed more like a stalker thing, but Julie was right when she pointed out that everything was coming to her at Marquis, not at home, which might have felt like an invasion of privacy.

The masculine voice muttered something she couldn’t quite hear.

“Camille? Sorry, got a flower delivery.” There was a little note in Julie’s voice that made Camille think her friend was happy to get another delivery, and that made Camille happy for her. She remembered Julie as having a reputation as a hard nut to crack when it came to relationships. Whoever was wooing her was doing a damn fine job so far. “I’ll call you when we’re done with the meeting?”