Page 140 of Masters of Control

Camille: Thanks! It’s going to be hard to wait another week for my next interview.

Freddy: Maybe I can help make the time pass faster. Do you want to do another museum this weekend before dinner?

Camille: I’ve heard good things about the Spy Museum…

Freddy: YES.

She laughed at his answer, then winced when someone knocked on her door. Thankfully, it was just one of the paralegals with a question, but it was another nail hammering home how badly she needed to get out of there. Who worried about laughing at work?

People who worked at Donaldson, that was who.

It almost made her feel a little guilty about the people she’d be leaving behind, but she couldn’t make the choice to leave for them. They had to make it for themselves, just like she had.

Freddy

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me any of this.” Lexie threw her French fry at him. “How could you not tell me any of this?” There was some real hurt behind her joking, which made Freddy feel terrible.

He looked down at his plate. Part of him wanted to shrug off her question, to not give her a real answer because that was what he was used to doing, but he also knew that was how he kept people at a distance. She would know she was being shrugged off and would respond accordingly.

Worse, he now recognized it, and he’d be doing it on purpose, instead of without realizing it. Which meant he’d be hurting her feelings on purpose.

“It’s come to my attention that I’m not a very good friend,” he started hesitantly.

“Oh, please, you’re an amazing friend. You’re always there for all of us. You have a great listening ear and one of the best shoulders to cry on, and you’re one of the few people who will protect me from Patrick.” Lexie picked up another French fry but didn’t throw this one, opting to eat it.

Freddy had to laugh. As if she needed protection from her hulking husband. Sure, Master Patrick was the owner of a kink club, and they were in a twenty-four seven total power exchange relationship, but he adored the ground Lexie walked on. She was a brat for the fun of it and had total trust that her master would never truly harm her. Though pain could be part of a scene, it would only be in the ways she’d agreed to at the beginning of their relationship and signed a contract for. A contract that could always be renegotiated if she changed her mind.

“Yes, the many times I’ve had to throw myself to your defense,” he teased, the mood lightening for a moment before he sighed. “But, yes, I’m great at being there for other people. I am not so great at letting other people be there for me. And friendships are a two-way street.”

Opening her mouth, Lexie frowned and closed it again, her bright blue eyes unfocusing as she thought about what he was saying. With her black hair and startlingly long lashes, her eyes were even more piercing than his own, and that was saying something. She was a force to be reckoned with, packed into a petite body, which sometimes made her seem like a chihuahua who was trying to play with the big dogs.

The thing about Lexie was that a lot of the time, the big dogs willingly followed her around.

“Okay, I can see that,” she said after a moment. “So, that’s why you didn’t tell me about Mistress Camille.”

“Partly. I’m not really used to talking about myself with people or making myself vulnerable in any way. If I told you about her, then things didn’t work out, I’d have to tell you about that, too.” He shrugged, more because he was trying to shrug away his own discomfort with the conversation, as though it wasn’t that big a deal.

“Yeah, I can see the whole ‘not being great at letting other people be there for you,’” she said sympathetically, her foot moving under the table to give him a light kick in the shin. “But you know that we want to be there for you, right? Everyone you’ve ever helped. You have a huge group of friends, all you have to do is beckon… especially since we’ve been trained to mind our own business unless invited in.”

Freddy snorted.

“Yes, everyone at Stronghold and Marquis are infamous for minding their own business.” The gossip train at the clubs was faster than Superman most days.

“Hey, we might talk, but we don’t interfere without an explicit invitation,” Lexie protested. She grinned. “Olivia would have our asses otherwise… and so would you, and you know it.”

That was true. Freddy occasionally intervened without invitation, but it was very rare. Mostly he would step in to be someone to talk to, then ask if he could intervene if the person was struggling. Olivia, on the other hand, would step in on behalf of a submissive if she felt it was merited and urgent, but the Dominants had to specifically ask her for help.

“Okay, good point,” he conceded. “But, yeah, it’s hard to reach out sometimes.”

“So, you’re saying you’d prefer we just shove in when we see you need help?” Her tone was completely innocent.

“No, no, no, absolutely not.” He pointed his fork at her. “Don’t you dare, and don’t you dare spread that around.”

Lexie giggled wickedly.

“As long as you agree to start reaching out more, I won’t have to,” she said archly. “And I expect to be kept up to date on what’s going on with you and Mistress Camille.”

“I can do that. Right now, not a lot. We’re keeping things to the weekends at the moment, but we talk on the phone every night during the week.” Which was surprisingly easy to do, even though Freddy had never considered himself much of a phone person. He preferred to text, but talking to Camille was easy.