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Aidan watched Cora drop her blanket and race toward her clothes by the bench near the dungeon’s door, where she’d left her clothes. While typically such a view of her bare ass might’ve amused him, it didn’t stir a smile now.
Her pain was palpable.
That dark misery in the depths of her eyes gutted him. It was all too familiar. The same raw agony had once lain inside him. Her gaze held a haunted soul. And she’d given him a look so shattered it’d pinned him to the spot.
When he watched her dress, he fought his desire to go to her and demand answers now. He appreciated Cora’s strength and respec
ted her for it. Her choices were solid and her decisions were made without regret. Never, not once in the years he’d known her, had she shown a moment of weakness, until now.
As Cora rushed out the dungeon doors his thoughts spun out of control and his breath became shallow. What had happened to make the strongest submissive he’d ever known turn into a woman consumed with a shadowed soul?
Aidan’s Dom instincts flared to life, not only because Cora hid something, but because she’d never shared parts of herself with him. He had no idea there was a barrier between them. When had this happened?
His jaw tensed and he turned to Presley. “Care to explain that?”
She flinched. “Okay, you look mad.” She straightened in her seat and looked to her lap, fiddling her hands. “And that sucks for me.”
“Answer my question and this won’t suck.” His fingers twitched to command her gaze, not that he’d act on it. Presley wasn’t his to touch. “Lie to me like Cora did, then this will suck for you.”
What he’d seen in Cora’s face, even from a distance, stirred sudden chilliness. He tightened his legs, forcing his knees to lock. One look had changed everything. One second took what he believed as true and destroyed it. As if the years he’d played with Cora meant nothing. The trust they’d built didn’t exist. As her Dom, he had failed to read her correctly.
That was unacceptable.
Presley slid her hands down her legs, avoiding his gaze. “Well, you see …”
Aidan shoved his hands into his pockets, controlling the tremble in his arms. When she continued to stammer, he scanned the dungeon. The one Dom he sought he couldn’t find. Turning to Presley, he asked with a clipped voice, “Where’s Master Dmitri?”
Her warm emerald eyes widened. “Oh, God, no, please don’t involve him. I’ll tell you something …” She blinked rapidly, licking her lips. “I … err … well, I …”
Aidan watched her continued avoidance, and he sighed. “Did you say something that hurt Cora’s feelings?”
Presley’s posture stiffened with her glare. “Of course not! I’m her best friend. I would never do that!”
Her sharp snap raised Aidan’s eyebrows. Right now, he didn’t care if he’d insulted her. His thoughts weren’t centered on logic. Cora is hurting. “Tell me, then, why was she so sad?”
“She wasn’t sad,” Presley retorted in a soft voice. “She seemed annoyed at me.”
Lies!
No flames of anger raged through Cora’s lovely eyes. Torment, longing, and despair were what he recognized. Emotions he knew all too well. His chest heaved at the thought that she suffered. Cora was a ball of sunshine in what could be a dark world. “What was she annoyed about, then?”
Presley eyed the exit. “Oh, so, she …”
His inhale through his nose did nothing to ease his tension. “Presley, if you want Master Dmitri to stay out of this, you have thirty seconds to answer me.”
She gulped, glancing to the ceiling. “Okay, thirty seconds.” Her fingers thumbed against her bare thigh. “Um … all right, Cora …”
Aidan yanked his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms, watching her ramble. If Presley were his submissive, she’d be over his lap so fast with her ass turning bright red. “Twenty seconds,” he told her.
Her face scrunched. “Err …”
He continued to count down as he fought through ideas for why he’d seen what he had tonight. He questioned if maybe Cora needed more aftercare. Did he leave her too soon and she dropped emotionally?
Why did you look so troubled?
That pain, why is that there?
By the time he reached ten, he pushed away the thought. Cora had been in the lifestyle for four years. She knew what she needed and when she needed it. He never questioned her before. All the warmth drained from his body, replaced by an ice-cold reality that pieces of her were hidden from him.
