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His dam of control finally breaking, Dylan dropped his head into his arms and cried, shedding tears he’d held back, even at Cynthia’s funeral. Caelan’s comforting arm came around his shoulders, holding him as he wept, unable to staunch the flow of his grief.
Eventually, cried out, he rubbed the napkin over his face and burning eyes.
To his surprise, while he was still sad, the tight knot of pain he’d carried for so long in his chest had nearly vanished. “Man,” he said wonderingly. “I haven’t cried like that since I was a kid. I actually feel…” He trailed off, unsure of the words.
“Relieved?” Caelan suggested, taking his seat again. “That was quite a lot to be carrying around by yourself. Thank you for trusting me with it. From what you’ve shared, I’m guessing that Cynthia was courting destruction well before she met you, and would go on doing so either until she got help, or took it too far. You couldn’t have known when you left that club that things would spiral so far out of control. I hope you believe me that, while it’s a very sad story, it’s ultimately not your story. You did nothing wrong.”
Dylan thought about this a while. Slowly, he nodded. “Maybe you’re right,” he said at last.
Caelan nodded. “And instead of letting that catastrophic event turn you away from the scene, you used it to create something positive. If the training programs you’ve put into place here help even one clueless Dom to understand how important safety protocols are in the scene, or empowers one sub to use her safeword when it’s needed, then Cynthia’s death, while devasting, wasn’t in vain.”
“Thank you, Caelan,” Dylan said, the tears pricking in his eyes now purely from gratitude. “I appreciate that.” He managed a smile. “I guess my strong reaction to Master Upchuck, as Kendra calls him, was a result of my anger over the whole Cynthia thing.”
“Exactly,” Caelan agreed with a laugh. “We’re only human, and when you push down and try to ignore emotional pain, it’s going to find a way to come out, one way or another. But I wouldn’t waste my time worrying about Chuckie boy. While you may have been a little too forceful in your reaction, he was engaging in dangerous behavior and needed to be stopped. He signed an agreement when he came to the island promising to engage in safe, sane, consensual behavior, and he’s clearly violated that agreement. I’m going to recommend to Ella and Ryan that he be banned from the dungeons for the duration of his vacation. He can hang out on the beach and get drunk at the pool bar, but he shouldn’t be allowed in a BDSM setting. I’m going to try to talk to his submissive, if she’s receptive. Hopefully, she’ll come to see he’s not a true Master. He’s just a bully.”
As they both got to their feet, Dylan marveled at the lightness inside him—as if he’d been toting around a huge weight and it had been lifted. “Thank you, Caelan. Thanks for listening.”
“Any time. Now, I’m going to go check on Skylar. Have a good night.”
Chapter 7
Things with Dylan were better than ever. Kendra had been nervous at first about how fast things were moving between them, but it just felt so right. She’d been thrilled to dispense with the condoms, since she was on birth control and they were happily monogamous. Each new step forward they took in their BDSM exploration was better than the last.
Now Abbie and she were sitting on stools at the pool’s tiki bar, sipping mango smoothies during their afternoon free time. Nearly overflowing with happiness, Kendra swiveled toward Abbie and said, “Wow. I can’t believe I’ve already been here for a month. In a way, it’s like I just got here. But in another, it’s like I’ve always been here.”
“You’ve fit right in, just like I knew you would,” Abbie replied with a smile.
“It’s crazy, right?” Kendra agreed happily. For the thousandth time since she’d arrived on the island, she had to mentally pinch herself. “I love working with Henry. He’s pretty much given me carte blanche to create my own dessert and breakfast items. It’s so much more fulfilling than my last gig. I got so sick of making the same cheesecake and molten lava cake, day in, day out. If I tried any variation at all in the corporate recipes, I got reamed out by my chef. I don’t mind hard work, but when what was a passion becomes a drag, it’s time to get out.”
“Agreed,” Abbie said. “Life is way too short to spend it doing something you hate.”
Kendra spun on her stool, feeling as if she might fly right up into the air from sheer happiness.
Laughing, Abbie spun, too. For that moment, they were ten years old again, without a care in the world. People sitting nearby smiled at them indulgently.
