Come on, honey.
Nate slowly loosened his grip on the wheel, and he popped open the door.
He cleared his throat. “Why am I here, Ash?”
I opened the door wider and went with the truth. “So that I can welcome you home.”
He furrowed his brow and finally made eye contact—but it lasted less than two seconds before exhaustion took over, and he shook his head.
“Don’t play games with me,” he said. More than exhaustion. He looked broken, and it fucking hurt to see. “I know what’s next. You’ve met someone, so now we have to file for divorce.”
It was my turn to shake my head. That alternate ending sounded like absolute shit.
I wasn’t having it.
“I’ve met two someones, actually,” I replied and stepped back. “Let’s head inside. But I promise you right now, the last thing we’re gonna discuss is divorce.”
We’d tried the separation schtick. It didn’t work for us.
He reluctantly got out. “Two someones,” he echoed quietly. “It’s James that you work with, isn’t it?”
I nodded once and gestured for him to walk ahead of me.
He was a flight risk, so it was best to put myself between him and the car.
“And Jordan, his husband,” I said. “Jordan’s the switchy Little. James is…a mixed bag of vanilla, exhibitionist, humiliation slut, possible cuck, and…who knows what else.” I paused as I dug out my keys. “Both are curious about bondage too.”
Nate looked back at me with a blank expression, but there was something buried deep that wanted out. He needed me to spell it out.
I headed up the porch steps and…here goes everything. “The problem is, I can’t enter a playtime dynamic with them unless I have my husband by my side, and…I also don’t know shit about bondage.”
I unlocked the door and opened it, then made sure a feisty little kitten didn’t escape, but Paws wasn’t in the hallway. I turned off the alarm.
Stepping to the side, I waited for Nate to enter first. My heart went back to hammering, and my chest felt uncomfortably tight.
Say something.
He did walk in, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye. Not that it stopped me from seeing that his eyes were welling up.
I’d never been good with silence—if I was uncomfortable.
I was uncomfortable now.
I stood there like an idiot and fiddled with my keys while Nathan walked farther in. He removed his shoes and peered into the kitchen. Then he continued into the living room and stopped short when he saw all the pictures on the wall around the entertainment unit.
Seriously, what was going on inside his head?
I closed the door behind me and kicked off my boots.
What to say next?
Please give us a second chance, or I will hold you hostage here until you agree.
I pressed a fist to my chest in a feeble attempt to ease the knot of unease.
Once I reached the wide doorway to the living room, I couldn’t move another inch. He was clearly upset but trying to hold it together, and I didn’t know if that was good or bad. I didn’t know if he was holding back something else too, like rejection or… Just rejection.
But I had to say something. The cards weren’t on the table yet.
