“I loved that you made my plate tonight. I loved that I never had an empty glass in my hand and that every other drink you brought me was water. I loved that you decided when we arrived, and when we left, and pretty much everything that went on today. I need a life where I can decide if I want to, but I’m not forced to do it all the time. Some days, even deciding what to eat feels like too much for me.”
“Have you spoken with anyone about it?”
“My therapist. I saw someone for a couple of years after mom died. She said it was just fatigue and it would wear off, but it never did. I spent so much of my life taking care of her, that I have a hard time taking care of myself sometimes.”
I leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Then I will take care of you.”
A tear fell from her eye and I reached to wipe it away.
“I’ve never really told anyone all that.”
“I’m happy you told me,” I said as I leaned in and kissed her again, “I won’t let anything happen to you, Kyra. I will keep you and our children safe from the world. I will make sure my family never wants for a thing. I promise you right now that I would lie down and die before I let anything happen to you.”
The tears she had multiplied, and I didn’t couldn’t tell if they were tears of joy or fear or just relief, but I knew at that moment that the words I said were truer than anything I had ever admitted to anyone. Kyra was mine. She may not realize it yet, but she was, and I would do everything I could to make this one week last a lifetime. My initial concerns about the business getting in the way of me taking care of her the way she needed me to were lost. My brothers could handle things if I needed help.
“Let’s get cleaned up and get some sleep.”
She looked down to where my hand was still between her legs. “Do you think we’ve laid here long enough?”
“For tonight we have. But I want to look at that calendar of yours in the morning.”
“To make sure I counted right?” she teased.
“Something like that.”
I got up and reached for her, lifting her from the bed and carrying her into my bathroom. Luckily, I had a tub large enough for the both of us and I wasn’t going to let it go to waste. I sat her down on the counter while I started the water and pulled some towels out for each of us. By the time it was warm, she was already yawning. I reached for a hair tie and did a haphazard job of pulling her hair back. It wasn’t pretty, but it would work. Then I reached for her and lowered the both of us into the warm water.
“I could get used to this,” she said as she tucked her head against my chest.
“Me too.”
“What ever happened to us, Jack? Were we really that bad together?”
“No, we were young. I don’t think either of us knew who we were yet, and we let that get in the way.”
“It’s not like I expected us to get married out of high school or anything, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dream about it as a young girl.”
“Did you ever think about it later in life?”
“Like in after college and stuff?”
“Yeah.”
“I did. Every time things got bad with my mom, I thought of you. You were the only one who had ever seen it all firsthand. I remember her first big episode after we broke up like it was yesterday. I was so used to it at that point that her whole drunken breakdown didn’t bother me that much. But I had also grown so used to you being the one who talked me through it, or came to lie with me after. I was devastated to realize I had ruined the good thing we had, and that you weren’t that person for me anymore.”
Something inside of me broke open and the pain I felt for my little girl was seeping out. I lifted her chin, so she looked up at me.
“I’m sorry, Kyra. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. You have to know it wasn’t you who had ruined everything. My jealousy was eating me alive, and that contributed to most of the issues we had.”
She stayed quiet while I reached for the soap and lathered her skin, and massaged her arms and legs. I could see bruises forming from the night before, and I loved my marks on her body.
“Have you explored everything you’ve wanted to in the kink community, or are there still things you are curious about?”
“I have seen a lot, but not everything. Someday I hope I can visit an actual club or dungeon and learn what it is all about. I told you how I ended up involved in this world, but you never told me.”
“Kane brought me into it.”
“Your brother?”
