AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 2
BRIDGET
Past
The morning of my flight back to California, as I examine myself in the bathroom mirror, I ask myself: was Phuket worth getting stitches in my lip?
Yes, oh yes. Without a doubt.
Not only did I get to experience one of the most beautiful places on Earth—my first time out of the U.S. and I got to go to Thailand—I got to spend time with Darren. And he seems to have been extra sweet ever since I got my busted lip, thanks to my attempt to intervene in a fight between him and Joseph Mok, an old rival. As if he thinks I’m maimed, Darren hasn’t been as hard or rough the times we’ve had sex. He hasn’t thrown in any BDSM elements, which I’m surprised I kind of miss. Guess I like the way Darren keeps me on my toes.
Last night, he surprised me with a romantic dinner on the beach. The resort staff had set up oversized pillows and a table just for two beneath a canopy of tulle and organza.
“How can I thank you enough for this trip?” I had asked him partway through dinner. “Everything has been amazing, from the flight to the accommodations to the clothes.”
“You will be thanking me,” he had replied with a glimmer in his eyes. “A night at my club, remember?”
I hadn’t forgotten. It’s pretty hard to rid my mind of the image of clothespins being ripped off a woman’s naked body, one of the first scenes I had witnessed after accidentally wandering into the BDSM side of the club Darren owns.
What would he want to do to me? I weathered the spanking he gave me with my hairbrush. The anal plug was awkward but surprisingly erotic. But I know he’s going to up the game at his club, and now I feel beholden to endure as much as possible. Not because Darren said I had to but because it’s human nature to want to return a favor.
“I probably owe you more than just one night,” I had joked to see what his response would be. It wasn’t my choice to fly in a suite, stay in a beach cabin at a luxury resort, or have his manager buy designer clothes for me. But I had enjoyed it, nonetheless, so it was time to pay the piper.
“The agreement going into this was one night,” he had said, “but if you’re offering more, I won’t refuse.”
“Let’s see how the first night goes,” I’d replied.
I had expected him to reassure me then that he’d go gentle on me or that we’d take it slow, but he didn’t do any of that.
“This is the part where you tell me I have nothing to worry about,” I had prodded.
“I can’t predict what you will or won’t worry about,” he’d replied placidly.
That didn’t help put me at ease.
“I’ll have a safe word, right?” I had asked.
“’Course.”
That had made me feel better. A little.
I finger the stitches on my bottom lip. Supposedly the stitches will just dissolve when my lip heals. I haven’t told Aunt Coretta, the woman who spent a good many years helping my grandmother raise me, about my split lip. I had forgotten to call her the night of the wedding and subsequent brawl, and she had been a little worried. Flying halfway around the world with a man I didn’t know all that well wasn’t the most prudent thing to do. It was something my mom would do. And I didn’t want to be like my mom, who basically abandoned me with my grandmother so she could gallivant around Europe with rich or pseudo-rich men. I don’t know for sure how she’d ended up with my father, who served in the military and was far from rich, except that she was on the rebound.
“Leave your stitches alone.”
I turn to see Darren standing at the bathroom entrance with his arms crossed in front of him.
“They feel weird,” I reply, glancing back into the mirror.
He walks over to me and grasps my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Touch them again, and your ass will pay for it.”
My backside tingles. “Okay, okay. What’s the big deal anyway?”
“You never had stitches before?”
I shake my head.
“I have,” he says, releasing me. “Twice. The first time, I picked at them and ended up reopening the wound.”
