Amanda walked past, a sullen look on her pretty face.
Did Alex look at the young subs and wonder what he could have if he wasn’t saddled with her? He was known as the huggy Dom. He was the Dom all the whiney subs went to when they needed a cuddle. And he gave it to them because she wasn’t willing to take comfort from him. Alex needed to give comfort. It was his primary purpose as a Dom, and she hadn’t accepted a hug from him in years, much less allowed him to kiss her. Sometimes she wondered if guilt and need was all that was left between them.
No. She wasn’t going to think that way. They were moving past that. Years separated them from the time after her kidnapping. Alex was a different person. He’d stood by her through everything. He wasn’t looking for some twenty-something playing at submission.
Axl Rose started wailing again, and she prayed Ryan managed to get the subs out and turn the volume down.
She stepped up the three elegantly placed stairs that led her to the stage. The music volume went down by roughly twenty-five percent.
“Hey, turn my fucking music back up!” Ian shouted.
“Axl Rose called. He wants his record back, babe.” Ian was one of very few men she felt perfectly comfortable calling by pet names. Ian had been at her wedding. Ian had done his damnedest to save her. Tears blurred her eyes briefly because she realized just how much she loved him. He was a friend. No. He was her family.
“Go away, Eve. I’m in the mood to tear someone up, and I don’t want it to be you. I’ve made enough subs cry today.”
She stepped in front of him. He was the very picture of decadent beauty. Ian Taggart was a Viking of the first order. He was roughly six foot five and had not an ounce of fat on him, but she could see the weary set of his brow. Blond hair and startlingly sharp blue eyes didn’t make him any less of an actual man. He still had his sorrows. He still needed comfort. He just didn’t always take it. Ian Taggart was practically a demon, and even demons needed friends. “Well, if one of them was that little skinny blonde, I’m okay with it.”
He chuckled a little. “I wondered when you would notice that Mandy has a thing for your ex.” He shook his head. “You go and defend your Dom. And if you wouldn’t mind doing it in a vat of Jell-O while wearing a bikini, that would really liven up the day.”
She sank to her knees before him, a sign of respect. “I can’t leave you, Sir.”
“Fuck.” He took a long drag from his glass. “I didn’t expect anyone to be here. Church is too serious about his job.”
But Ian’s pride wouldn’t let him retreat. She totally understood that. “Want to talk about it?”
“Want to talk about what happened between you and Alex?” It was a challenge.
“If I don’t, I’ll have to walk away, right?” This was the way Ian played things. He was a great believer in making bargains. She was sure he thought she wouldn’t live up to her side.
“Yeah. So just go now.”
“But if I do talk, you’ll tell me why we’re reliving the eighties?”
His eyes narrowed. “You don’t talk about your shit.”
She didn’t before, but he severely underestimated how much she cared about him. “I was raped.”
His gorgeous face went tight. “Don’t do this to me. I already know the story.”
But it was what he needed. He needed to open up and the only way she could make it safe for him to be open was to be open herself. Ian might know the facts, but he’d never heard her say them. “I was raped, and Alex couldn’t handle it and he turned away from me. It nearly killed me, Ian.”
He closed his eyes, but his hand came out as though it had a mind of its own. He touched her hair, drawing her closer.
“I thought he cared more about punishing the man who hurt me than he wanted to be with me.” The words were nearly stuck in her throat, but it was easier because she’d made the decision to give them another chance. She had to talk about it.
“Eve, he loves you.”
But he might love revenge more. It didn’t matter now. Michael Evans was a million miles away. “I’m thinking about renegotiating our contract. Now, I’ve talked. Why are we listening to hair metal?”
He frowned, those full lips turning down. “Because I like it.”
“It doesn’t seem to be making you happy.”
“Can you leave this alone?”
She laid her head down on his lap. She knew just how to manipulate Ian Taggart. What the other subs didn’t understand was that Ian responded to tenacity, gentle, loving tenacity. “Yes, I can leave it alone.”
She gave him a couple of seconds of quiet. She knew he would make the right decision. He would never leave her hanging.