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JULIANA
A light knock sounded on the room door. I frowned, not moving from the bed, unsure of what I was allowed to do while Darren was gone. It was already nerve-wracking to be outside of the club without him by my side to protect me.
In such a little amount of time, I’d become dependent on Darren. It was probably a bad thing that I was so attached already, but I couldn’t help myself. He was so good at bringing me out of my shell, and I always felt extremely safe with him.
He had become my rock, and I was quickly falling in love with him.
Was it okay for me to fall in love with my dom?
“Juliana?” a deep, male voice called from outside of my room. I vaguely recognized the voice as James. “Darren asked me to make sure you ate dinner,” he called.
I slowly got off the bed and padded barefoot to the door, slowly opening it to reveal James and his wife Emmaline. Their son Carter was settled on James’s hip, and the little boy was playing with James’s shirt collar.
I pointed at my feet, trying to tell them without words that I needed to put shoes on. Emmaline smiled warmly at me. “Go on,” she urged. “We’re going to eat as a family tonight instead of in the main dining room. I know it’s a bit frightening for you right now without Darren here.”
I stared at her for a moment. How had she known that?
She just gave me a small, understanding smile. “I know,” she said, waving her hand towards James. “Even years later, it’s hard to be without my own dom.”
I looked between her and James. James just silently met my gaze, his face not changing. But I relaxed a little in their presence.
They understood how I was feeling without Darren by my side.
Stepping back into the room but leaving the door open, I quickly rushed to grab my flats, pulling them onto my feet before walking back to them. James walked behind us as Emmaline led me from the room and over to the stairs. “Darren mentioned you need clothes,” Emmaline said. I glanced over at her before looking back at the floor. “We can’t go shopping because of the circumstances, but we can shop online, and I can put them on my credit card. If I rush ship them and James makes a phone call,” she shot her husband a smile, “I’m sure we can get them rush delivered sometime tomorrow.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want them spending their money on me.
“Juliana, you are family now,” James spoke up from behind me. I flinched at the sudden baritone of his voice, though I knew he was speaking normally. “You are my brother’s. This is what we do for family.”
My chest squeezed. Was it really this easy? Because all my family had done was let me down time and time again, used me and abused me until I finally found the chance to escape.
A shudder wracked my frame at the reminder of that cold, desolate basement – the chains around my neck, wrists, and ankles.
One night, my father’s right-hand man had come down to the basement drunk as hell. He’d been sloppy, unchaining me. I had used what strength I had to knock him unconscious, and I ran, somehow slipping out of the house without alerting anyone.
And then, I ran full sprint for the woods. I had no clothes on. No shoes. My skin had gotten torn up in those woods, and I got bitten by more bugs than I could ever count.
But I’d escaped. I’d survived. And I survived until I made it to the club in New York.
I’d heard from different people by the time I made it to New York about the club. They’d been talking in hushed whispers, something about the place seeming taboo, but I’d gone anyway.
And it had been the perfect refuge. I knew sex. I knew how to submit. I knew how to follow orders. And it would be the last place my father would ever think to look for me.
But at least this time, the sex I engaged in would be on my own terms.
“You okay?” Emmaline quietly asked me. Her hand landed on my arm. I flinched away, snapping my eyes up to hers. She quickly withdrew her hand. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. You got lost in your head for a minute, and I got worried; that’s all.”
Swallowing thickly, I nodded. She frowned but turned away, leading me into a small dining room on the first floor. There was a small table in the center. James pulled her chair out for her, and before he could do the same for me, I quickly sat down.
I knew Darren trusted him, but I couldn’t – not yet.
Mrs. Judy brought food to us, being careful not to brush her body against mine, for which I was extremely thankful.
I couldn’t stand it when random people touched me. It was honestly extremely surprising that I always let Darren touch me so easily.
But I trusted him. It was hard to push away someone’s touch when you knew with every fiber of your being that they would never hurt you. He’d proven his loyalty to me and my well-being the very first time I saw him in the club.
Darren had protected me. He’d made sure that man could never touch me again.
I stared at my plate, frowning. Even at the club, Gemma had always been kind enough to feed me. I was terrified of being reprimanded if I tried to feed myself. I’d never been allowed to, and the few times I’d tried feeding myself out of the insane hunger I was feeling, I’d gotten beaten and my food had been taken away.
I jumped back when James suddenly set his phone in front of me. The screen was black, but I could hear Darren’s voice, which relaxed me.
“Fuck, hold on, James. You really call at the worst of fucking times. Man can’t even take a goddamn shower in peace any fucking more.”
I giggled, unable to help myself. The phone quickly lightened up, Darren’s face filling the screen. He grinned at me. “I thought that was your cute as fuck laugh, baby girl. You doing okay?”
I nodded, my cheeks warming. He saw the plate of food sitting in front of me and frowned for a moment before he locked his eyes back on me. “If I stay here on the phone with you, will you eat your food for me like the good girl I know you can be?”
I bit down on my lower lip, unsure. He groaned. “Release it,” he growled. I quickly released my bottom lip, my pussy throbbing for him. Every nerve ending in my body tingled at the sound of his command. “Eat your food for me, baby girl. No one will hurt you; I promise. I’ll fucking kill them if they do.”
Swallowing nervously, but wanting to please him, I picked up my fork and slowly speared a piece of chicken, lifting it up to my lips. Darren grinned at me. “That’s my girl,” he praised.
Smiling, my stomach rumbling, I quickly ate the rest of my dinner as he encouraged me. James and Emmaline talked quietly amongst themselves, not paying me and Darren any bit of mind.
“Thank you for eating, baby,” Darren said softly once I was finished. “You have no fucking idea how proud I am of you. Can you continue to be my good girl while I’m gone and spend some time with Emmaline – get some shopping done online as well?”
