Page 227 of Masters of Control

She laughed and responded to several more comments that must be going up, and for a moment he considered swiping them back to where he could see them, so they would make more sense to him, but then she said she was turning the comments off while she read. Picking up a book, she tapped on the cover, then traced the letters before opening it up and starting to read.

He’d read Pride and Prejudice in high school, but he didn’t remember much of it, and she was picking it up in the middle. Not that it mattered. Her voice washed over him, soothing some of the jitters he’d been feeling. Yawning again, he hugged the pillow to him, sleepily watching as she whispered the story about Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.

The fact he wasn’t all that invested in the book and he knew how it ended probably helped. Each blink of his eyelids felt heavier and heavier. He didn’t want to stop looking at Morgan, yet her whispers were making it impossible for him to keep his eyes open, which was the point.

He couldn’t help but think about the fact he missed her, as her voice sent him off to sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Asad

The end of the week and he was back at Stronghold, feeling… strange. It had been a strange week. Work had been the same as ever, that hadn’t changed, but his nights definitely had. His mom had called him on Wednesday “just to chat.” There was a cynical part of him that thought it was just because Cyrus and Anna were on their honeymoon and out of reach, but there was also the part of him that was surprised she’d called despite that.

After all, they’d just seen each other.

He’d had to make up a bunch of lies about Morgan when his mom had asked how things were going. He couldn’t exactly say they broke up as soon as they got home, not without a lot of questions he didn’t feel like dealing with right now. That and, for some reason, it felt disrespectful to break up with his fake girlfriend right after coming home from a family wedding.

So, he’d told her they’d both gotten right back to work, but things were good, which was mostly true. They had gotten back to work. He knew because he’d seen Morgan every night that she was live on social media, as well as the recorded content she’d been putting up. In fact, he hadn’t been able to sleep without watching her this week.

When she was live, he fell asleep to that, when she wasn’t, he turned on some recorded content and watched it until he passed out. The whole time, he hugged his pillow and tried not to think about the odd ache in his chest that persisted until he fell asleep.

“Hey, there! Welcome back,” Law said, waving Asad over to where he was sitting with Connor and Iris. Iris leaned against him, her smile brightening when she saw Asad. Q and Sam were nowhere to be seen, so either they weren’t there yet or were already scening.

“Nice to be back,” Asad said, looking around the club. Nothing had changed since he’d been gone, yet he felt… different. There was a sense of anticipation he felt that was disappointed when he took in everyone and didn’t see Morgan.

That’s who he really wanted to see. Which he didn’t realize until he was there and he didn’t see her. Was she even coming tonight? She was here almost every night on the weekends, usually before he arrived. He’d assumed she’d be here tonight.

So, either she wasn’t coming, she was running late, or she was off scening with someone else.

Which didn’t bother him. It couldn’t. Why would he care that she was scening with someone else? He didn’t. Not at all.

He sure as hell wasn’t going to ask where she was because he didn’t need to listen to another lecture on magic pussy. He knew that’s exactly what would happen if he indicated he wanted to see Morgan the weekend after spending a whole week with her.

“Are you all scening tonight?” he asked Law and Iris. He didn’t know what he wanted to do. He hadn’t really come to Stronghold with a plan, he rarely did, but in the back of his head, he’d been thinking he would probably run into Morgan there. Maybe do some of the things he’d been thinking about last week when they were in Pittsburgh and couldn’t because they’d been in a hotel room.

But he didn’t see Morgan.

It was probably best not to scene with her his first weekend back, anyway. Talk about giving all the ‘magic vagina’ believers ideas. He knew it wouldn’t mean anything, but Iris would probably read all kinds of things into it and tell the other subs, and then he’d have that to deal with.

“Morgan’s in the office with Patrick and Lexie,” Iris said slyly, confirming his suspicion that she would read something into it if he’d asked about Morgan.

Right. Relief that Morgan wasn’t scening with someone else flooded through him.

Okay, maybe there was something to the whole spending a week with a person and getting emotionally attached, but it was not because of magic pussy or because they’d had sex. It had been everything else. He’d spent more time with Morgan, romantic-type time, than he had with any other woman in years. It wasn’t the sex; it had been the hand holding, the small kisses, and the sleeping together and all that shit.

Taking a break from her this weekend and finding someone else to scene with would remind his brain that he was not attached to anyone, and it would also send a message to Iris and the other subs.

See? I can spend a whole week with a woman and not end up attached. It’s just sex.

Not that they knew he’d had sex with her, but something about the way Iris had jumped right into where Morgan currently was made him think she thought something had happened between him and Morgan. That or she was testing him either way.

“That’s nice,” he said mildly, as if he didn’t really care. Which he didn’t. At least, not much. He did wonder what she was telling them, but only because he didn’t want to get in trouble. He looked over at the Lounge area where the unattached submissives hung out, waiting for a Dom to approach them. “I think I might find someone to scene with. It’s been a while, if you know what I mean, since certain rules were laid down about my behavior last week.”

“You mean the Persian Excursion is open for business again?” Iris snickered, her shoulders relaxing, as though she was relieved he wasn’t concerned about Morgan. Maybe that’s what she’d been fishing for—the down low on whether or not he’d followed the rules. Well, as long as Morgan didn’t spill the beans, it wasn’t as if anyone would know. He would make sure of that.

“Hell, yeah.” He grinned at them and stretched. Connor shook his head but didn’t say anything, which was about par for the course.

“Have fun, then,” Law said, also shaking his head.