AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your house at ten.”
“At least you remember that part,” Daniel said in his not quite teasing voice.
“I’ve got a lot on my mind.” He might as well go ahead and tell Daniel everything. He’d find out soon enough and the two of them had been friends for long enough that he deserved to hear the news from Jeff himself. “I’m moving.”
“You’re what?” Daniel asked in shock.
“Why?” Nathaniel asked at the same time.
Jeff’s gaze automatically found Dena again. She was talking with Abby and Julie. Daniel’s submissive must have said something funny, because Dena snorted in laughter, shaking her head. Her long blond hair swayed with the movement.
“Ah,” Daniel said.
“It’s not what you think.”
Daniel pushed back from the table, drumming his fingers on its surface. “Julie told me about watching you two play.”
Jeff had imagined as much; in fact, he would have been more surprised if Julie had not told Daniel. That night, months ago, he and Dena had played for Julie while she was trying to decide if she could accept her submissive nature. Though that night had helped Daniel and Julie, it’d only served as a catalyst for Jeff’s decision to move. He gave a nod in reply.
Daniel watched the two women. “It slips my mind sometimes. Your history with her.”
“Nothing slips your mind.”
Daniel tipped his head. “There just isn’t any intensity between the two of you like there once was. Don’t worry—no one would ever guess she’s the cause of you moving away. Does her work within the group bother you?”
Dena was the most experienced submissive within their local group. As such, she was often called upon to participate in demonstrations. She also worked with Daniel and other senior Dominants when they had mentees.
Once he uncollared her, Jeff knew he no longer had the right or authority to dictate what she did and did not do with other Doms. The truth was, though, it didn’t bother him. What did bother him was that Daniel thought there was no intensity between the two of them.
But that was what he wanted, wasn’t it? Wasn’t that why he’d worked so hard to keep distance between them?
“No,” he said in answer to Daniel’s question. “That’s not it. Her work here doesn’t bother me.”
Jeff didn’t really want to talk about it. Months later and he still couldn’t shake that night off. Having Dena kneel before him again, for her to offer herself for their mutual pleasure. To have her back in his house and arms. He wasn’t sure he wanted to shake it off.
Dena finally looked his way, saw him watching, and dropped her eyes. It hadn’t done her any good either; odds were she was still
dealing with her own memories of the night.
Daniel, of course, noticed the slight response Dena had at catching Jeff’s gaze. “How many times have you played since you two broke up?” Daniel asked.
“Once. That time Julie watched.”
“I see.”
“It really doesn’t have anything to do with Dena.” He wondered if the lie sounded as wooden to Daniel as it did to him.
“Of course it doesn’t.”
Daniel didn’t say anything further, but instead kept his gaze on Jeff as if expecting him to confess everything. Had Jeff not used the same tactic himself numerous times before, it might have worked.
“It doesn’t,” Jeff stated again. “We split up years ago. We weren’t right for each other then and nothing’s changed. She’s high society and I’m a high school dropout.”
“Bullshit,” Daniel said. “You’re my friend.”
“And mine,” Nathaniel echoed. “In fact, if you tried to tell me we couldn’t be friends because of something you did when you were sixteen, I’d kick your ass.”
“It’s different with a woman,” Jeff said. “Besides, I’m moving to Colorado, at least for a while. Going to help Dad with the business. He needs to retire and he’s been asking me to help get everything in order.”
Daniel’s laughter drew the attention of several group members. “Insurance? You?”
Jeff’s father ran an insurance company he’d taken over from his own father. That Jeff wanted nothing to do with it had always been the bane of his dad’s existence. Jeff had opened his own business, a security service, eight years ago. It was a two-man operation, small, but profitable enough.
“It won’t be forever, just a few months. Tom said he could handle the business here.” His partner had actually been less than thrilled, but realized he didn’t have a choice.
“Hell, you’re serious,” Nathaniel said.
Jeff couldn’t find a response for that. He answered with his own silence.
“Have you told Dena?” Daniel finally asked.
He resisted the urge to look at her. “No.”
“I heard her father’s on the short list for vice president.”
Dena’s father was a senator with career aspirations that reached to the White House. That paired with Jeff’s past had been part of what made him decide to break things off with Dena three years ago. He forced himself not to think of the other reasons.
“From what I know of Senator Jenkins, he’ll get it.” Jeff wasn’t surprised at the bitterness in his voice.
The two men looked at him sharply, but seemed to sense his unwillingness to discuss the man in question. Jeff had come to terms with the senator a long time ago, but that didn’t mean he liked him or wanted to talk about him.
“You’re still on to be Dungeon Monitor tomorrow night?” Daniel asked, changing the subject.
“Yes. I’ll be there.” His last play party with the group. He wondered if Dena would be attending with anyone. Would his last sight of her be watching as she offered her submission to another? Maybe it would be better that way. If he knew she had someone to look after her, perhaps then he could somehow find the strength to leave her once and for all.
