“A bit more than friends, I’d say,” I replied. I shook my head. “Listen, Kade, it doesn’t matter. Your life is your life. I had some assumptions, sure, but obviously things are different than what I thought. I just wanted to come by and say thank you in person, you did me a really huge favor.”
“You’re welcome. Um, I know this is strange, but would you mind hanging out a bit? I’d like to just make sure you understand some stuff from yesterday,” Kade replied, shifting from side to side. I really wished he hadn’t done that, I could tell from the way the fabric moved and things shifted around he wasn’t wearing any underwear underneath the shorts. “Please?”
“I think you should probably shower and get changed first,” I replied, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he didn’t feel for me the way I felt for him, but he was trying to be nice. I’d hear him out. “Tell you what, I’ll go hang out in my room. Just come get me when you’re ready. If anything, I still owe you an Indian dinner.”
Kade smiled, his white teeth flashing brightly in the hallway, and I felt a twinge at my heart, thinking that smile would never be meant for me the way I had come to realize I wanted it to be. “Yeah, I think we can do that. Let me shower and get changed.”
I went to my room, trying to distract myself by picking up the same bad novel I’d been reading just a few days before. This time I actually was able to get into the hackneyed prose when there was a knock on my door and someone came in.
“Kade, I know that . . . ” I started, before seeing that it was Rita. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t invite you in.”
“I wouldn’t have violated your space, Miss Alix, if it wasn’t that I had to tell you something important,” Rita replied. She was still wearing her emerald green robe, although her hair hung wet and pulled back over her shoulder. “Please, only two or three minutes.”
There was something in her voice and eyes that said I needed to listen to what she had to say. “Did Kade ask you to come in here?”
“No, he doesn’t know I’m in here. He enjoys long showers, you know; it helps him relax.”
I nodded, only somewhat surprised. “You’ve known Kade a long time, I take it.”
“We went to high school together,” she said simply, “but despite what you saw, he and I have never had a deep emotional relationship. We’ve offered each other a different type of support and comfort over the years as we need it.”
“You’re his FWB,” I replied. “I’d heard of that sort of thing before, but never met anyone like that.”
“We’re a bit more than that, but it’s better to show you than tell you,” Rita replied. She turned and lifted the hem of her robe, showing me a very pert and very pink backside. “When we play over at my place it can be quite a bit more, but he was so shaken after yesterday I had to come to him. He’s a good Dom though, and I had no problems about it. This is the first time in the Laguna house. Last time I had to come to him was when you all lived in Beverly Hills.”
“You’re . . . you and him are into . . . ?” I asked, trying to get my mind wrapped around everything.
“We prefer to say Dom and sub, but some people use BDSM,” Rita informed me. “And yes, I love to sub to Kade. I’m a switch though, I don’t sub to just anyone. But Kade . . . from the beginning I’ve subbed for him. He’s not strong enough to sub yet.”
“Wait . . . what?” I asked. “Explain, please.”
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.”