After that, Kayla learned to go into her head when he spanked her, what she now knew was a subspace. She even learned to enjoy it. And he always fucked her hard afterward, not a care in the world for her release. He was the only one who mattered. The spanking had been a turning point. After Simon had a taste of hitting her, he became insatiable. He stopped seeing to her pleasure all together and seemed to only get off and relax after taking a hand to her. And then he started seeing other women.
She shivered, leaning back against the couch and staring into the darkness. The first sign she had that Simon was unfaithful was his unexplained absences. Simon would leave her alone on the naval base for hours when she knew he wasn’t at work. He would come back late at night, smelling of booze and perfume. When she questioned him, things really went south. That night was the first time he broke her skin. He beat her with his belt, leaving abrasions all over her ass and thighs that kept her from sitting down for days.
He apologized afterward, the one and only time he ever did such a thing, and only because she threatened to leave him. Instead, he insisted he would get help, which meant he spent even more evenings away from home under the pretense of going to counseling.
Ironically, Kayla learned to enjoy being beaten. Twisted. Absurd. Stupid. But she taught herself to escape under his hand or his flogger, and the euphoria she experienced was better than sex. By then, he often didn’t fuck her afterward. He said she was too dry anyway. He wasn’t about to put his cock into her frigid cunt. If she couldn’t manage to get wet for him, he wouldn’t fuck her.
And that was fine with her. Besides, she knew he was fucking any number of other women. The last thing she wanted was a venereal disease at the hands of her husband.
The best day of her life had been the day he came home and announced he was being deployed to Iraq. She would never forget the elation she felt hearing that news. It lasted about two seconds, however, when he informed her he would be taking her to live with his parents in the most rural, godforsaken part of the South she’d ever visited.
She’d met his parents on eight occasions by then, none of them joyous. Every Christmas and one week in July Simon had driven them two hundred miles to Alabama to visit his parents in their rundown shack on several acres of wooded property. She knew within minutes of the first visit where Simon got his cruel genes. They came honestly, from both parents.
Kayla rolled onto her side, still in a tight ball, tears now running down her face as she forced herself to remember the details of her former life. She had learned from those mistakes. Right? Her inherent distrust for men was at the top of the list.
And the bottom line was she needed to take stock of her relationship with Gage. She was on the same path of destruction as before. Even though she’d known him for two years on the periphery, and he was a member of law enforcement, she didn’t know him well enough to have gone all in. Stupid. What were you thinking?
Gage was still a man. Sure, he seemed kind and loving. But so had Simon at first. And she couldn’t ignore the fact Gage was in the military himself before she met him. Maybe the dominant mindset was something men picked up from that experience. It wasn’t farfetched. After all, it was easy to see why a man who spent all day taking commands from others might want to escape in the evening and dominate his wife or girlfriend.
She never should have gone to Extreme in the first place. It was like a drug to her. She spent months avoiding the lifestyle after returning to Vegas. But the pull was always there. She longed for the euphoria that came from being spanked.
And it was her own fault for not keeping it simple. She never should have let Gage get into her head. Had she learned nothing from Simon? This was exactly how things had started to go downhill with Simon. He gave her vague, lame excuses for not being home. It took her a while to find out he was cheating on her.
When her arms started hurting from holding herself in such a tight ball, she finally uncurled and stood on wobbly legs. She padded to her room in the dark, used the bathroom, and climbed into bed with no more than the light from the moon through her partially open blinds. She hadn’t eaten, and she didn’t care.
All she wanted was to escape. And since spanking wasn’t a remote possibility tonight, she took the next best choice—sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
“Where’s Kayla?” Gage leaned over the counter the following morning, facing a frantic Marci, who held up a finger as she explained to someone on the other end of the phone she held against her shoulder that they’d most assuredly gotten the police academy, not the actual precinct. Kayla’s desk was littered with papers in front of Marci, and she reached down to tap on the mouse in front of her computer as she spoke. Multi-tasking at its best.
Finally, she hung up. By then Thor had rounded the desk and brushed his head against her leg. “Hey, pal. Want to help out at the front today?” she asked the dog.
“Where’s Kayla?” Gage repeated.
“Called in sick.” She cocked her head, her brows furrowed. “You haven’t spoken to her?”
He shook his head, unease making him stiffen. “I was out kind of late last night. Didn’t get to talk to her.” He pushed off the desk and pulled out his cell, texting quickly before he finished talking.
Marci spoke again. “Yeah, she mentioned you had other things to do last night.”
He lifted his head as he finished the text to Kayla.
“Gage.” Her voice was kind of stern.
He met her gaze. “What?”
“I think you hurt her feelings. Were you at your parents’ house?”
“Yeah.” He furrowed his brow. “Why?”
“Why didn’t you just tell her that?” Marci bit her lower lip and shook her head. “Never mind. It’s none of my business.” She turned her gaze away from him.
“No you don’t. What were you going to say?”
Marci blew out a breath. “Look. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“But you did. So spit it out.”
Marci hedged, finally slumping in her chair. “Gage, why haven’t you taken her with you? And why have you left her to wonder where the hell you go when you’re at your mom and dad’s?”
Gage sucked in a breath. Shit.
As secretary to the chief of police, Marci knew about Gage’s dad. It wasn’t a huge secret, but he’d been pretty quiet about it anyway. Besides Chief Edwards, Marci, and Rider, Gage didn’t think anyone else at the precinct knew about his family situation.
Gage stared at her. “What’s up with you people?”
“Pardon?” She lifted both brows.
Gage felt a little ganged up on between Zane and Marci. “My friend Zane asked me the same thing. Can’t a man visit his parents without taking his new girlfriend?”
“Sure, unless his new girlfriend has tipped his world upside down and is with him nearly every other waking hour at work and at home, and I’ll venture to guess some of the sleeping hours also. Then no. It’s a little odd.”
“And she mentioned this?”
“Yes.”
“Damn. Was she mad?”
“No. I’d say hurt. Confused. Leery.”
“Leery? Why would she be leery?”
“I have no idea. Why don’t you ask her yourself, Gage?” Marci’s tone was a little snippy, but she smiled at the same time, trying to lighten the blow.
Gage turned and walked away, somewhat confused and totally nervous.
He texted Kayla three times. She never answered. He decided if she really was sick, she might be sleeping. So he bit his tongue and stayed at the academy the entire afternoon. As soon as it was five o’clock though, he hustled Thor to his Jeep and beelined for her place.
She wasn’t there. Or she didn’t answer. He couldn’t be sure since her car could be in the garage. Either way, he didn’t have a good taste in his mouth. Was she really that pissed at him for being busy last night? Why not just say something?
Gage took a deep breath and did the only thing he could think to
do—he headed for the gym. It was always his salvation. And he needed to stop worrying. She’d called in sick. Maybe the woman was sick. Maybe there was no correlation whatsoever between her apparent inquisition about his whereabouts and her absence the next day.
A quick stop by the house to drop off Thor and Gage entered his home away from home in no time.
Gage would have loved to spar with Rider, but the man worked second shift. He would be on patrol. Instead, he took his chances and found Conner in the locker room when he arrived. Conner was the oldest one of the group at thirty-eight. And the craziest bastard Gage knew. He was a conundrum. The guy was so mild-mannered in general, a college literature professor, for heaven’s sake. But when the gloves were on—Conner was unstoppable. They referred to him as “The Gladiator.” No one had yet to beat him. And for all that, he had no desire to go pro. He saw the entire thing as a hobby. A way to stay fit.
“Gage. Perfect,” Conner said. “Zane was supposed to spar with me but something came up. He’s stuck at work.”
Gage smiled. “Lucky then, because I was in need of a partner.”
“Joe’s gonna work with us. Already booked the ring with him.”
“Awesome.” Gage quickly changed and met Conner in the cage within minutes. He set his gloves down and stretched while Joe ambled toward them.
“How’s the girlfriend, Mr. I’ll-never-fall-for-a-woman?” Joe smirked as he stepped into the cage.
“Ha ha.” Gage winced at the mention of Kayla, but didn’t elaborate.
“Taking a night off?” Joe asked.
“Apparently,” Gage mumbled.
“Uh oh. Trouble in paradise.” Conner socked Gage in the bicep playfully, his gloves already in place.
“Nah. She’s just sick.”
“Sick?” Conner asked. “What is that code for these days? When my college students are sick, they’re usually hung over.”
“You guys are so funny.” Gage started bouncing as he loosened up, pulling his gloves on at the same time.
Luckily both men dropped the subject, and Joe fired off a few instructions. “Let’s practice a few jabs first, then move on to some kicks. Gage you’ve been weak on the left hook lately. Get several of those in. Conner…well, I can’t think what you’re weak in, so just do your thing.”
Gage would have been miffed if he didn’t know Joe was dead correct. Conner was weak at nothing. The man was a god. That’s why they dubbed him “The Gladiator.” That’s also why the local Russian underground wanted him to fight for them. He was worth a lot of money, and he had no interest in earning that money, not through legal means by going pro, and certainly not from illegal means by fighting underground.
Two hours later, after the hardest workout Gage had engaged in for a while, he showered, changed, and jumped back in his Jeep. He drove by Kayla’s condo, but all the lights were out, and there was still no sign she was inside.
“Fuck.” He hit the steering wheel as he drove home. Something was off. No doubt about it. He couldn’t grasp that she would shut him out without a word over something as ridiculous as not being invited to dinner with his mom and dad.
He drove home, threw a stick with Thor for half an hour, fixed himself a sandwich for dinner, and then plopped in front of the TV. Nothing good was on, and all he did was scan through the channels over and over until he gave up and flipped it off.
He checked his phone for the hundredth time. Nothing. No response to any of the three texts he sent her earlier in the day. And there was no way he was going to keep sending her messages. If she wanted to ignore him, he wasn’t about to beg.
At least not anymore today.
He dragged himself to bed earlier than usual and flopped onto his back.
When his phone rang less than ten minutes later, he bolted upright and grabbed the cell from his bedside table, completely expecting it to be Kayla, chock full of reasons for not speaking to him for twenty-four hours.
His shoulders fell immediately when he saw the caller ID. He answered the call quickly, damping down his disappointment. “Hey, Mom. How’s it going?” It wasn’t unusual for his mom to call a few times a week, and often in the evening after his dad was asleep, with a rundown of the day’s improvements, which were few and slow.
“Gage?” Her voice was off. And there was noise in the background. “He had another stroke.” She sniffled into the phone and then let out a sob.
Gage jumped to his feet, grabbing his jeans and hopping on one leg to get them on while he held the phone at his shoulder. “Mom? Where are you?”
“The hospital. I called an ambulance. And then I had to follow it. I didn’t have a chance to call you until I got here.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. “I’m scared, Gage.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, Mom. Hang tight.”
“’K, but drive carefully, Gage. It won’t change anything. Be safe.”
“Of course, Mom.” He ended the call and tossed the cell on his bed to grab the shirt he wore earlier. He tugged it over his head while he toed on his shoes and stomped into them without untying them.
In less than a minute, he was in the Jeep, pulling out of the driveway, and praying he made it to the hospital in time.
When he arrived, he pulled into the first spot he saw and jogged to the emergency room entrance. His mom was pacing by the window, eyes red and puffy, a tissue clutched in her hand.
“Mom.” He went straight to her and pulled her into his embrace.
»»•««
On Friday, Kayla pulled into work shaking. She hadn’t answered any of Gage’s texts the day before, and in retrospect, she thought perhaps she was overreacting. Or at least behaving childishly. She needed to face him and tell him straight up what she thought about his nebulous absences. It didn’t really matter if she was oversensitive. That was her personality. He could take it or leave it. If he had a legitimate explanation for his mysterious jaunts, fine. Or at least sort of fine. If he didn’t…hell, if he was lying to her…she needed to know that sooner rather than later. One thing she was sure about—never again would she fall victim to another con man.
She didn’t see Gage all morning, and unlike the previous several days in a row, he hadn’t left her an iced latte. He had a right to be put off by her not taking his calls, though, and she didn’t really want to exchange words with him at work, so she waited until lunch to seek him out.
He wasn’t there.
She headed to Marci’s office next, but ran into Chief Edwards in the hall. “Oh, hey. Do you know where Gage is?”
The older man furrowed his brow and frowned. He looked kind of shocked. “He took some time off. He didn’t call you?”
“He what?” She nearly shouted the question, shaking her head. “No.” But she’d hardly given him the opportunity.
“A week probably. Called me last night.” Chief Edwards still frowned, concern etched in his face. “You two okay?”
She stood there stunned, processing. She nodded, and then she reconsidered and shook her head. “No. I guess not. I think we had a misunderstanding.”
“Kayla, I’m sorry. Text him. I’m sure you’ll work it out.”
Kayla lifted her gaze to his. “That’s all you know?”
He took a breath. “No. But I’m not at liberty to tell you any more than that. I would extend you the same courtesy.”
“Right. Of course.” She turned and walked numbly back down the hall.
After work, Kayla drove straight to Gage’s house. No sign of him. Then again, she pulled the same shit on him yesterday. She’d listened to him knocking and ignored him entirely.
But she was determined to face him. There was no way in hell she could go home and do nothing. She’d never be able to sleep. So instead, she plopped down on the glider on his front porch and sent him a text.
I’m on your front porch. Not leaving until you either let me in if you’re home or come home if you’re out.
That was all she said. And then she waited. For two hours.
It was late and growing dark before a car pulled into the driveway, and it wasn’t Gage’s Jeep. Not even close. It was a white F150.
She held her breath as she watched a man Gage’s size step down from the cab, not exhaling until Zane stepped into the ray of light coming from the street.
“Kayla.” He looked sorrowful as he stepped onto the porch.
“What are you doing here?”
“Gage sent me.”
“Oh.” And then, “Oh. For me?”
“Yes.” He sat next to her and gave the glider a slow shove, making it rock back and forth. Finally, he met her gaze. “I told him he was going to fuck this up if he didn’t let you in.”
She pursed her lips, having no idea what he was talking about.
“His dad had a stroke last night.”
“Oh God.” She straightened her spine and grabbed Zane’s arm. “Oh God,” she repeated. “Is he okay?”
“He didn’t die if that’s what you mean. But he’s far from okay. He was far from okay before the stroke, because it wasn’t his first.”
“Oh.” She sucked in a breath. “I didn’t know.”
“Yeah. That’s why I told him he was gonna fuck this up.” Zane smiled now. “He had some macho idea that if he took you to his parents’, you wouldn’t see him the same way.”
“What way is that?”
“Strong. Firm. A Dom. What he thinks you need.”
She breathed harder and gripped the arm rest tight. “Are you telling me he didn’t want me to see him…human?”
“Yes.” Zane smiled again. “Exactly. Thought it would confuse you, he said. Although I think deep down he just doesn’t want anyone to know he’s vulnerable. He’s very close to his dad. This thing is killing him. He hates it. He goes to visit twice a week and spends several hours sitting with the man, talking, watching sports, stuff like that. But inside, Gage is torn up because his dad isn’t the same anymore, and his mortality is choking Gage.”
“Oh God. I was such a bitch yesterday.” And the entire week….
The Fight Club - Boxed Set Page 77
