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Still, I’m pretty confident I’m clean. Penn did say I had nothing to worry about, that he was always safe during his cheating sessions.
Now that I know said sessions took place at the club? I’m pretty damned sure no partner would let him near her without a condom.
I’ve just pulled out my laptop to work on my article when someone knocks on the door.
I hope—yet I don’t hope—it’s Hunter. I’m so not in the mood right now. Except I want to see him anyway.
I walk to the door and check through the peephole.
It’s Mandy.
I open the door. “What do you want?”
“Hello to you too.” Mandy brushes past me as she walks in.
“I’m working today, Mand. How’d you know I’d even be here?”
“I took a chance. Maybe I was hoping you wouldn’t be.” She rubs at her forehead. “There’s something that’s been bugging me that I really want to tell you. I had a long heart-to-heart with Jack last night, and we agreed that we wouldn’t violate any agreements and that I should tell you.”
“Violate any agreements? What are you talking about?”
Mandy bites her lower lip. “Can we sit?”
“Sure. Are you and Jackson all right?”
“Yes, of course. We’re fine.”
“Mom and Dad?”
“Of course.”
“Jackson’s mom and dad?”
“Frank, for God’s sake. Everyone’s fine and healthy.”
“What is it? And why are you mentioning some kind of—”
Oh my God. Violation of an agreement. Like an NDA, maybe?
I don’t even want to think about where this is going, but I already have an idea. Mandy’s strangeness at dinner when I mentioned the subject of my article...
“The thing is,” Mandy says, “the reason Penn came to you and told you he was cheating is because Jack and I made him.”
“Oh… Okay.” I narrow my gaze. “And why would you do that? How would you even know he was cheating?”
Mandy pauses, and her cheeks turn bright red.
“You see… Jack and I saw him.”
“Saw him where?”
“We saw him…cheating on you.”
God…
Probably the same place I saw him having sex.
At freaking Black Rose Underground.
“How exactly did you see him cheating?” Except, oh my God, I don’t want to know.
“I can’t tell you where, but it was at a…”
“It was at a leather club,” I finish for her.
Mandy jerks backward against the wall. “Yes! How did you know?”
“How did you know, Mandy?”
“I…”
“Please, don’t. This is already too much information about my sister.”
My God. I could run into my sister at the club. Not just Penn but Mandy. And Jack.
“I only told you because I felt you had the right to know that Jack and I started this. It’s between you and me, Frankie. We all have to sign a nondisclosure agreement to get into the club. I can’t tell you where it is or who I see there.”
“Right, I understand.” More than she knows. “So you like to get tied up. What’s the harm in that?”
Easy for me to say, since I was bound this morning.
What is this going to mean for Hunter and me? I’m not going to feel comfortable going back to Black Rose knowing I may run into my sister. It’s bad enough I might run into Penn.
Granted, Hunter and I don’t do anything out in the open, but still.
What if Mandy and Jack do?
Ugh. I just got an image in my mind that I’ll never be able to unsee.
“It’s…a very private part of my life.”
“How private can it be, if you do things in the club?”
“We…have a private room.”
Thank God. I never have to worry about seeing my sister tied up and getting fucked in the bondage room.
Still…it’s just too weird.
The whole thing is too weird.
This stuff I’m feeling for Hunter? It can’t be love. It’s rebound sex. That’s it.
And now I know I have to end things with him.
I can’t go back to Black Rose Underground. Not ever. And I can’t ask him to give it up. It’s a big part of his life as Phantom. He’ll go back to his life, back to playing with different partners and having no feelings.
It won’t be too difficult for him.
It’ll rip my heart out, but he’ll be fine.
“I’m taking a risk telling you all of this,” Mandy continues, “but Jack and I decided you really should know. That he and I are the reason…”
“That Penn told me?”
“Well…yeah.”
“Are you kidding me? I’d still be with the jerk if you hadn’t. I should thank you.”
“No. I don’t want your thanks, Frankie. I want your forgiveness. For so many things.”
“About forgetting what date it was when you and Jack announced your engagement? I’m over it, Mandy.”
“Yeah, for that, and also for being the catalyst that ended your relationship.”
“I don’t want to be with a man who cheats on me,” I say. “If you hadn’t seen him and made him tell me, we’d probably still be together—God, we’d be married—and I would be completely in the dark.”
