Cardinal's Rule (8 page)

Offer?

She looked near tears again. “I would have done anything you asked of me. Would it have

shocked me? Yes. Under the circumstances, had you told me about him, I would have helped you. I 

would have loved you for feeling responsible for him. I was your fucking
slave
! I was willing to be your
wife
! Don’t you think I knew how strong that bond can be? Too bad you didn’t appreciate my gift of submission.” Her eyes widened. “Wait. Stay right there, asshole.”

She turned and raced from the room. He heard her rummaging around, then she returned a few

minutes later with something in her hand. She grabbed his left hand and jammed the item into his palm and closed his fingers around it.

“There. You can have that back. I almost threw it away. Once I realized you weren’t coming

back and gave up that little illusion, I took it off. Probably the third worst night of my fucking life, I cried myself to sleep that night because I knew it meant you really weren’t there for me anymore. I finally had to admit it to myself. I couldn’t hold on to my pathetic dream that maybe you’d come back.

You’re not my fucking Master anymore. A little late to say it, but I want to make it official just in case there’s any doubt in that pea-brain of yours: I withdraw my submission to you. Now get. The fuck. Out of
my
house.”

He fought his own tears as he felt the fluorite pendant dig into his palm. He’d spent weeks

looking for something for her to wear as a day collar. The colors were perfect, purple and green and blue, her favorites. She’d never willingly taken it off while they were together. One time the clasp broke and she was in tears when he made her leave it at the jeweler’s overnight so they could fix it.

He turned to go.

“You can’t even say anything to me?”

“I wish I’d made a different choice,” he softly said. “I love you. You deserved to be treated better than I treated you.”

“Fuckin’ A I did.”

She slammed and locked the door behind him.

He didn’t know what else to do, so he sat on the step at the end of the walkway and waited for Landry’s return. He held up the pendant. He could still conjure her happy squeals when she opened the box and saw it. How she’d cried, happy tears that time, when he draped it around her neck and hooked the clasp for her.

How he’d kissed the back of her neck and said, “Always and forever, Redbird. My promise to

you.”

He closed his eyes and didn’t bother fighting his tears.

When he heard a car pull into the driveway, he opened his eyes and flexed his body to stand, but it wasn’t Landry.

The Mercedes wasn’t new, but the driver kept it spotless. When the man stepped out, jealousy rolled through slave’s belly.

The man glanced at him, then proceeded to walk around to the trunk and unload several bags of groceries. He locked the car, then cast another curious glance at slave as he walked past but didn’t speak to him.

He recognized him as the man she’d been with at the club the other night.

Before the man even reached the door it opened and slave heard her voice. “Hi!” She sounded

happy to see him.

The slave closed his eyes and felt the pendant digging into his palm.

“Tilly, did you know there’s a guy sitting on your walk?”

“Yeah. He’s waiting for his ride. Come on in.”

* * * *

Tilly barely kept it together as she let Bob in. Her hands violently trembled as she shot the

deadbolt once she closed the door behind him. He walked over to the counter and set the bags down.

When he started to speak, she didn’t understand what he said as the shakes hit her.

Suddenly, a strong pair of arms held her as she sobbed against his shoulder. He picked her up and carried her to the couch, his voice full of worry.

“Tilly, are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“No, I’m not okay, but no he didn’t hurt me.” She angrily laughed. “At least not recently.”

When the stun gun dug into her back, she carefully fished it out from under her shirt and put it on the table. Finally mustering the courage to look into his face, the strength of the protective anger there took her breath away.

“Who is he? Do you want me to call the cops?”

“He’s a skeleton from my closet.” Sitting up, she wiped her face with her hands. “A blast from the past.”

“Is he an old client?”

She snorted. “No. I
wish
. He’s my old Master. Former boyfriend. He was the topic of our conversation last night, surprise, surprise. Right out of the clear blue sky, speak of the Devil, and there he is.”

She’d never seen literal homicidal rage in real life until that moment. As Bob jumped up from the couch, sending her tumbling out of his lap, she realized he’d been deadly serious about getting violent with Cristo. He had the deadbolt open and flew out the door before she even managed to untangle her own legs and climb off the couch.

By the time she reached the front door, Bob was down the walk and standing behind Cris, who

still sat waiting for Landry.

“Hey, asshole. Stand up.”

She swore as she raced down the walk.

Cris turned to look up at him with…

Resignation?

That’s when her worry changed from hoping Bob didn’t get his ass kicked to praying Bob

didn’t kill Cris. Where the fuck was Landry? He was late.

“I said stand up, asshole.”

She watched Cris look at the pendant before he slipped it inside the pocket of his jeans. Then he slowly climbed to his feet. He looked like he was already in pain from the beating she’d given him.

She grabbed Bob’s arm. “Bob, please, it’s okay. Let’s go inside.”

“No, it’s
not
okay, Tilly. I finally get a chance to make you happy and this fucker walks back into your life the next goddamned
day
?” He gently shook her off. “I don’t know what the fuck you did to her, and frankly, it’s none of my business unless she wants to tell me, but you fucking hurt her.”

She grabbed his arm again. “
Please
, Bob, let’s go inside. He’s not worth it.”

He started to argue with her when Landry’s car pulled in.
Oh thank you, Christ!

“Who’s that?” Bob asked.

“That’s his Master. Come on, let’s go inside.”

Landry shut the car off and took his sweet time getting out. “How did our training session go? I hope he’s got a lot more bruises than I left him with.” He looked at Bob. “Are you by any chance about to kick his ass?”

“Yeah, actually, I was just about to do that.”

Tilly wouldn’t let go of Bob. “Landry,
please
! Take him and get the fuck out of here!”

Landry laughed and leaned against the hood of his car. He crossed his arms in front of him.

“Actually, if slave has another ass-kicking coming to him, I’d really like to watch. I’ll even hold him down for you, if you’d like.”

“Landry!”

“I don’t need him held down,” Bob assured him.

Tilly wished she’d kept the damn stun gun on her belt. She forced herself in front of Bob and scruffed the back of his neck, pulling his head down so she could look into his eyes, the way she often did when he wore her collar.

“
Please
,” she whispered, “don’t do this. He’s not worth it and someone will call the police. I could be in a lot of trouble if that happens.”

As she’d hoped, that took the fight out of him. He still glared at Cris. “If I ever run into you again, I will kick your fucking ass,” he growled.

Landry slapped the hood of his car. “Goddammit! I really wanted a show. I can give you our

hotel address if you want, and you can come kick his ass later.”

Bob looked startled. “What?”

“Seriously.” He grabbed a pen out of the car and jotted information on a business card, then started to hand it to Bob.

Tilly snatched it from Landry’s hand and jammed it in her pocket. “Get out of here before I do call the cops.”

He sighed. “Party pooper. I’ll be calling you to discuss my offer, Mistress Cardinal. I was

serious.” He looked at Cris. “Well, what are you waiting for, slave? Get in the fucking car unless you want to walk back to the hotel.”

During the whole incident, Cris stood there without speaking or making any attempt to protect himself or run away. Tilly watched Cris bow his head and silently walk to the car and get in.

She despised that a tiny part of her deep inside her heart didn’t want to see him to go and hated to see him looking like a beat dog.

* * * *

It took her nearly twenty minutes to calm Bob. He vacillated between apologetic for blowing

his cool and enraged that he didn’t take a swing at Cris anyway.

She thanked God it had been Bob who’d been there and not Ross or Loren. They
would
have killed him.

Aw, shit.

She sent Bob to the kitchen to start dinner while she made her safe call.

“I was about to come over,” Loren said. “You’re never late with a safe call.”

“I know, I’m sorry. Things got hectic.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Bob came over for dinner after my client and I lost track of time.” She decided omitting the details about Cris would be the wisest move.

“Bob…
Bob
? From the club? Your boy, Bob?”

“Yeah, we went out for dinner yesterday and—”

“What? Wait, you and
Bob
went out for dinner? When?”

“I thought I told you that?”

“No you didn’t freaking tell me that! That’s…that’s good, right?”

Okay, this she did
not
need tonight. She had no patience for Momma Loren’s twenty questions.

“Yes, it’s good. He’s here tonight making me dinner.”

“Oh.”

“Not like that. Bob and Tilly dinner, not Mistress and boy dinner.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah, oh. Now can I get back to my date, Momma Loren?”

Her friend laughed. “I want all the delicious details! Call me tomorrow.”

Tilly got off the phone, then washed her face and returned to the kitchen. Bob’s expression

softened when he saw her. He pulled her to him for a hug.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Just in shock. I wasn’t expecting to see him.”

He looked down into her face. “How about you go take a shower and get into sweats or

whatever you like to chill out in and let me handle making you dinner.” He stroked her cheek. “You look like you’re wiped out. Go relax.”

“I hope you don’t want me to be Domme-y tonight.”

He smiled. “I want to spend the evening with Tilly. Despite my jokes about boy cooking and

cleaning, I had kind of hoped Mistress Cardinal would decide to take the night off.”

She stared into his blue eyes. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “I want to get to know Tilly. I want to get to know her very well.”

Tilly didn’t have to force her smile.

* * * *

Tilly wished she could pull her mind from the memory of Cris looking up at her from the floor,

but she couldn’t. Especially not when after dinner she sat curled up on the couch with Bob, watching TV and talking with him.

Her gaze repeatedly went to where Cris had knelt behind the coffee table.

“I’m sorry this isn’t the evening I had in mind,” Bob softly said.

Distracted again. She looked at him. “What?”

He stroked her cheek. “It’s okay. That had to be a really bad shock earlier.”

She’d taken a shower and changed into an oversized T-shirt and comfortable shorts while he

cooked dinner. No make-up, and her hair wonky from air drying. He had such sweet, blue eyes, but now all she could think about was Cris.

Not to mention Landry’s offer.

She snuggled against him. His body felt very comfortable holding hers. “I’m sorry I’m not good company tonight.”

“It’s okay. I understand. Want to try again next Thursday? I’ll bring dinner and cook for you.”

She snuggled closer and closed her eyes. “I’d like that. That’d be nice.”

“Is it really just me and Tilly tonight?”

Cracking open one eye, she caught his playful smirk. “Yeah. Why?”

“Because I don’t want Mistress Cardinal beating me for this.” He placed a long, slow, sensual kiss on her lips. With a mind of their own, her hands slipped around his neck, relaxing into his embrace and for once driving all other thoughts out of her mind for a few blissful moments.

When he broke their kiss his playful smirk remained. “Was that okay?”

She smiled. “Way more than okay.”

He glanced at the time. “I hate to say this, but I need to head home.”

“It’s only ten-thirty.”

“I have a Sunrise Rotary meeting in the morning. I don’t feel like getting my balls busted by them two weeks in a row for being late.”

“Rotary, Hallmark ornaments, and as big a bookworm as I am. Explain to me why we didn’t

hook up sooner?”

He nuzzled her nose with his. “Because I’m a good boy. I follow orders.”

She reluctantly walked him to the door, still wondering if she shouldn’t try to talk him into staying. Before he left he turned to her and gave her one last hug and kiss.

“Believe me, it’s not that I don’t want to stay later. If I do, I’ll be too tempted to take you to bed.”

“Who says that’s a bad thing?”

He stroked her cheek again. She loved that. “It’s not a bad thing, but after the shock you’ve had today, I’d feel like I was taking advantage of you. I’d rather take things a little slower. I’ve waited nearly three years to ask you out. It won’t kill me to wait a little longer to take things to the next level.”

After one last lingering hug, he left. She waved to him from the open doorway until his

taillights disappeared down her quiet street. Then she stepped inside, closed and locked the door behind her.

Her living room lay empty before her except for the ghostly memory of kicking Cris and

screaming at him.

The wonderful feelings her evening with Bob had brought her evaporated.

She closed her eyes and groaned.
Did I really say that? Did I really tell him I wanted my Master
back?