Rita shook her head, smiling. “I don’t have time. Maybe if you give me your phone number we can talk sometime. What I’m telling you, Alix, is that Kade only calls me when you’re around. Sweetheart, that man has you on the mind constantly, and despite everything he says to himself or to anyone else, he’s head over heels for you.”
“You mean . . . but why’d he run away yesterday?” I said. “His face said he was disgusted with me.”
“He was disgusted with himself,” Rita replied. “Kade Prescott is only happy when he’s controlling himself. I’ve never known a man, even back when we went to high school together, who kept himself under such iron-willed control. How do you think he’s been able to get through law school and then get established in law so quickly? He’s twenty-six and has a law office like someone who’s ten years his senior. It’s his strength and his weakness.”
“So when he asked ‘what the fuck were you thinking’ . . . he was talking to himself?” I asked, surprised. It made sense.
Rita nodded and came over, sitting next to me on the bed. She reached out and cupped my face, stroking a thumb over my still fading bruise. “You have so much potential, Alix. You’re a natural sub too, you know. But you have to be strong enough to sub for a man like Kade. I can see in your eyes that you feel for him too.”
There was no denying it. “How?”
“We can talk later, not now. I need to get back to Kade’s room and change to go home. Besides, you two need to talk, I know that for sure. But it was good meeting you this time. If you ever do want to talk, I’ll leave my phone number by the door. I assume the sound I heard when you came in was a bag being tossed to the side.” Rita got off my bed and checked the knot on her robe before smiling sadly. “It’s going to hurt losing him.”
“What do you mean?” I said.
She chuckled and looked at me. “I know the way he feels about you, and I think you’re coming around too. That sort of relationship, it’s exclusive. There was a time I thought I might have been able to bring Kade around to becoming my exclusive Master, but that’s not going to happen, I can see that now. But damn, am I going to miss subbing for that man, he really pushed me to my limits at times.”
She paused at the door and looked back. “Please don’t tell Kade I told you though. It’s part of his personality—he needs to show you first. Remember, he needs control to feel safe.”
Rita disappeared through the door, closing it quietly behind her, and I listened as her soft footsteps disappeared down the hall. I could hear Kade’s shower still running, and I sat there, pondering what the hell I’d just heard.
Chapter 8
Kade
I came out of the shower and made sure to change clothes into something that would in no way show myself off to Alix.
I noticed that Rita was gone when I came out, a note on my pillow.
Hey Kade. Had to go, I understand that you have family issues to deal with. If you need me again, I’ll be happy to serve. Rita
I smiled lightly and folded the piece of paper in half. Rita and I had found each other at a strange time in my life. We were one year apart in high school. I was a junior when she was a sophomore, and yet she was in many ways the more mature one. What started off as a friendship grew more sexual, and from the beginning she allowed me to vent the darker side of my passions without judgment, without anything other than acceptance and enjoyment. We never had feelings more than just friendship, however, and had willingly gone on and off as we tried other relationships. She and I both had times when we turned the other down sexually due to that, and it never hurt our ability to just hang out and chill when we wanted to.
It took me a while that day, however, to get over what Rita had done. She had heard, even before I did, Alix come into the house. She said nothing as I hurriedly pulled on a set of shorts I had lying on the floor, and only sat quietly as I left the room. While I hadn’t specifically asked her not to leave the room, she knew that I didn’t want Alix to see her. Yet there she was, not a minute after I’d left, walking out with little more than a silk bathrobe on and sashaying down the hallway.
Thankfully, the place had one hell of a hot water tank, so I was able to wash the tension away. By the time I got out, I was in control of myself again, and I felt my control reestablish itself more and more as I put on my clothes. By the time I had my shirt tucked in and my belt buckled, I was ready to face Alix.
I knocked softly on Alix’s door, hoping she was still there. “Alix? Can I come in?”