Page 202 of Masters of Control

“I think I’ve been holding myself back because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone or have to go against anyone who has been helping me.” Also, going with what other people wanted felt more natural to her. It was what had been trained into her—starting with her parents, then Master Jason and Master Richard. She saw that now, though she hadn’t at the time.

This week was the first time she’d really felt comfortable going against what others wanted of her, and that might be because they weren’t actually there to see her do it. They would only know if she told them about it, and she currently wasn’t planning to, and neither was Asad. Which might contradict the whole point of making her own decisions, but the important thing was that she knew.

Maybe it would help give her the courage to make a stand on making her own choices once she got back to D.C.

Choices she would actually tell people about.

In the meantime, doing it without telling anyone was good practice.

She squared her shoulders.

“I’ll talk to Master Patrick and Lexie about being able to make my own choices when I get back,” she said firmly.

“Good for you.” Mistress Julie nodded encouragingly. They chatted for a few more minutes, then it was time to go. Morgan signed off and leaned back in the chair. Asad had let her have the room, going down to the hotel bar to meet up with Mason, Cyrus, and Anna. He’d told her she could join them if she wanted to when she was done.

She wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to.

The morning had been a lot of fun, watching Asad participate in the Jahāz Barān. He’d explained it was a ceremony to bring presents from Anna’s family to Cyrus’ house, preparing the new couple for their life together. He and the other groomsmen had dressed up in some festive traditional outfits and carried the gifts on their heads from the car into the house Cyrus and Anna shared. The gifts had all come from Anna’s bridal shower.

Morgan had thought it was a beautiful way to combine the traditions of the different families, and she could tell it had meant a lot to Asad to be able to participate. After that, everyone had stayed at Cyrus and Anna’s for a catered lunch provided by Anna’s family, then they’d broken up to do whatever they needed to for the afternoon.

For Morgan, that had meant her appointment with Mistress Julie, which she’d been grateful for. She really hadn’t meant to end up wrapped up around Asad again. But Mistress Julie was right, he hadn’t seemed to mind, and he hadn’t recoiled or acted any differently toward her today.

If anything, he’d been even more affectionate, though she knew he was playing that up for the benefit of his family. His mom had been busy explaining things to some of Anna’s family, but she kept beaming at Morgan whenever they looked at each other. It was simultaneously gratifying and uncomfortable.

She wasn’t sure she was ready to step back into the arena, so instead of texting Asad that she was going to join them, she checked on her social medias, making sure her scheduled posts and things were loading the way they should. She texted her friends to let them know that Sam had been right about interfering Doms, but she didn’t tell them that she and Asad had had sex.

She still wanted to keep that to herself.

Chapter Fifteen

Asad

Hanging out with his brother was a lot easier when their parents weren’t around. He didn’t know what his mom and dad were up to this afternoon, probably some kind of preparations for the weekend, but he was glad to get the breather. Especially since he didn’t have Morgan by his side to play buffer.

Everyone was more relaxed without his parents there, including Cyrus and Anna. They were cuddled up to each other in the booth, practically cooing with little hearts floating around their heads. It was sickening but also really cute. Should he be doing that with Morgan to really sell their act?

Could be fun.

With any other woman, the idea would have sent him running, but since it was fake with Morgan, it felt like a possibility.

Not because he wanted to coo and have hearts in his eyes for a woman so much as after watching Cyrus and Anna together, he was curious what it would be like. Granted, some of his friends acted very similarly with their girlfriends, and he’d never had that reaction before, but he’d never had a fake girlfriend he could try it out on before.

“If you two want to go get a room somewhere, I’m sure Asad and I can entertain ourselves.” Mason’s tone was dry and tinged with amusement as Cyrus and Anna played kissy-face again. Rather than taking insult, Cyrus grinned as he turned back to their cousin.

“Maybe we like an audience,” he teased, then grunted as Anna elbowed him in the side.

“Oh my God, don’t say things like that!” Anna covered her face with her hands. “They’re family. You want them to think you want your family watching us?”

The phrasing of her response was throwing him off. Asad couldn’t tell whether or not they were actually exhibitionists—was it just that they were family that she objected to or was she just worried they would take Cyrus seriously when he said he liked an audience?

He’d heard that kink had a genetic component, which was something he really didn’t want to think about, especially when it came to his parents. One of the other Doms at Stronghold had recently found out the hard way that his parents were kinky—his dad owned the BDSM club up here in Pittsburgh, called the Outlands. Poor Mitch hadn’t known until his dad came down to visit Stronghold to talk business with Master Patrick.

How likely was it that his brother and Anna were kinky just because he was?

Next to him, Mason shook his head.

“I could write up an entire psych profile on you two.”