22. June 16th

JUNE 16TH

Sylvan

Her phone began to ring.A glance at the clock told her it was just after midnight. There was only one person who would be calling her at this hour of the morning.

Ugh. Kai. I don't want to do this right now.

While being best friends with someone meant you held nothing back, Sylvan was feeling far too raw after the day she'd just had. However, she knew that ignoring Kai's call would not save her from explanations and recriminations for holding out on the bestie code. Kai would just keep calling. And if she turned off her phone, Kai would just drive over.

Perhaps it will be easier to lie to her if she can't see my face?

No, Kai always knew. Didn't matter if they were face-to-face or ear-to-ear, Kai knew when she was fibbing. She couldn't even get anything past the woman through text or email.

She put her phone on speaker. "Hello, Kai. How are you?"

"All right, let's get down to the shitstorm of the last twenty-four hours."

Yep, that was Kai. No pleasantries. Just right to the heart of the matter.

"I didn't want to worry you."

"I'm not talking about your stalker," Kai fumed. "I'm talking about the rhinocer-ass in your house as we speak."

There was a guffaw of laughter in the background.

Must be Mr. Intense.

"That's a new one. Nice."

"Thanks. I thought it was brilliant, myself. Seriously, Syl, you better start spilling. TB just stood there like a freaking monolith when I yelled at him yesterday; Waters won't tell me jack-shit, and all because my best friend can't be bothered to tell me she's hooking up with possibly the scariest man on the planet?"

"He's not scary."

"You have no idea how incorrect that statement is. But don't you dare defend the turd-gobbler. Tell me what's going on, and I mean tell me right this minute."

There was more laughter in the background.

Sylvan sighed. "I don't even know where to start."

"How about starting with how you met the man when you never leave your house?"

"I leave my house."

"Oh, really? When? Tell me when the last time was?"

"Yesterday."

Kai growled.

In the background, Sylvan heard, "She's not wrong, babe."

Sylvan frowned. "Have you got me on speaker?"

"No. He just hears everything. Now. Stop deflecting. When was the last time before yesterday, smartass."

"Better smart than dumb," Sylvan quipped.

"Syl… I mean it. Quit fucking around."

There was a long pause. Kai simply waited her out, knowing she'd need to get her thoughts together. It wasn't like she wasn't going to share. It was just that she needed to put things together in an orderly fashion, like a plot.

"Remember how I told you I felt that the Primal and Prejudiced series had run its course, and I wanted to try something new? Well, I decided to do some research."

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Then Kai hesitantly asked, "What kind of research? What did you do?"

"Nothing! I mean, not at first."

"At first?" Kai squealed. "Sylvan Jones, do not tell me you went to a BDSM club and got all freaky."

Sylvan heard a groan in the background and a mumbled, "I need to take a walk, or I'm never going to be able to look TB in the eye again."

"Bring me a Zinger," Kai told the retreating voice. "Okay, we're out of Zingers, so he'll be gone for a little bit while he hunts for something we don't have. Spill it. And I mean everything."

Sylvan pulled her feet up into her desk chair, sitting sideways. Whenever she was feeling frustrated with her writing or got herself stuck, the bunched-up position helped her refocus. Now she used it as a means to settle in to explain what happened. "I got chatting in Messenger with Miss Tabby from the Reader's Group. It got to where we were chatting daily, and then we started talking on the phone. She admitted to owning The Library, that exclusive BDSM club in the city, and that maybe she could hook me up with one of the Dominants who could help me research. I told her I wasn't comfortable coming down to the club, but I'd love to talk to someone online. She said she had the perfect guy in mind because he was gone a lot on business, and that would allow us, potentially, to still talk to one another if he was on a business trip."

"And that was TB?"

"Yes, although I didn't know him by that name. I knew him as Master Lobo."

Kai snorted. "A wolf. How appropriate. Does he know that you write about wolf shifters?"

"I don't know. He's never asked, and I never offered."

"So then, how did you end up meeting?"

"We would talk online every night at ten o'clock. If one of us didn't show up to the private chat room by ten after, then we knew not to expect the other one. Master Lobo, I mean TB, told me that sometimes his job wouldn't allow him to talk to me because of the time zones and duties and stuff."

"Ha!" Kai laughed. "Yeah, it's sort of difficult to talk BDSM when you're stuck in a tree watching your boss get it on with his new girlfriend."

"Huh?" Sylvan was confused. Then it clicked. "Oh. He said he worked security for you. That must have been during the fifty-three-day absence he had."

"But who's counting?" Kai joked.

"Anyway," Sylvan drew out each syllable, "about two weeks into that trip, he texted me. Out of the blue. It wasn't often, but he'd text, I'd answer. Sometimes, it took him a while to reply, but then, all of a sudden, during the last few days, it was more common. The last night we texted, it was several hours. Then I didn't hear from him for a couple of days, and finally, he came back."

Silence.

"Yeah. We had some excitement right before he left. That would explain the missing couple of days. He was probably on high alert." Kai paused before prompting, "And…? Keep going."

Kai swallowed nervously. "He said that we were sort of at a stalemate. That he wasn't sure how much more he could give me online and maybe it was time we met for a practical lesson."

A whistle came over the phone. "So? I'm assuming you went to the club. Did you meet up with him?"

"Yes, but…"

"Syl, it's okay. You don't have to give me any details."

The two friends sat silently on the phone for a long while.

Finally, Kai broke the silence. "Did you like it?" Her question was a whisper.

"It was like flying," Sylvan whispered back. "I've never felt so good in my life. And then…"

Kai sighed. "This is the part that's going to make me want to kill him, isn't it?"

"He ghosted me. For a whole week. No email, no chat, nothing. The stupid part is, the one night I didn't log on in this whole floofy mess is the night he decided to log on and explain. I was so hurt. I mean, I didn't expect it to become a relationship. But I did think I'd see him again."

"What did the total bastard say when he finally contacted you?"

"That he didn't really have an excuse for not contacting me, but that he figured he'd given me all he could for my research, and he wished me good luck. Six weeks later, you and Waters take me to his boss, and there's Master Lobo in the flesh."

"Crap on a cracker and hold the cheese! No wonder you passed out."

"It was just the last straw, Kai. It was too much."

"Are you okay there with him now?" Sylvan could hear the worry in her friend's voice.

"Yes, it's awkward. But there were moments yesterday where we were okay."

"But there were also moments where you weren't," Kai surmised.

Silence.

"Do you want to fuck him again?"

"Shush it, Kai!" Sylvan hissed, then grabbed the phone and took it off speaker. She looked toward the door of her sanctuary, but she didn't see him, or his shadow, or hear him moving below. "I didn't… we didn't…"

"You went to a sex club, and you didn't fuck him? How is that even possible?"

She kept her eyes on the doorway and tried to keep one ear tuned to the floor below.

"It was the first time I'd been there. He said it wasn't usual for that to happen with a new member right away."

"Okay, so no sex, but obviously sexual stuff. Are you going to go again?"

"I don't think I'm going to be let out of the house anytime soon, given the circumstances."

"Hmmmm. Maybe you'll get your freak on there while he's staying with you."

"Reindeer on the roof, woman!"

Kai began laughing on the other end of the line. "Never start swearing. The stuff you come up with is frickin' hysterical."

"I don't need to swear. I'm friends with you. You swear enough for both of us."

"I beg your pardon?" Kai questioned indignantly.

"She's not wrong." Sylvan heard the mumbling of Kai's new boyfriend, along with plastic crinkling. "You sent me on a wild goose chase, so you're stuck with Little Debbies."

Kai snorted. "I'm sure you'll get your revenge." There was more crinkling, some crunching, and then around a mouthful of food, Sylvan heard, "So, back to the freaky monkey sex."

Sylvan interrupted, "Kai, I sincerely doubt there'll be any ‘freak on,' let alone ‘monkey sex,' here or anywhere else. Besides, what would I say? Please, TB. You were so hawt; I want you to tie me up, spank me, and sex me up like a stripper on the glitter and shame pole?"

"Ugh," came the background voice. "And I'm outta here again. I'll just go get the whole box of Little Debbies. I think we're going to need them."

Kai was howling with laughter. "I dare you," she forced around the wafer, chocolate, and peanut butter. "I so dare you. I double-dog dare you! I triple-dog dare you!"

"Oh, great gravy, you are the worst. I would never do that, and you know it. Just saying it to you was creepy. Especially since Waters overheard."

Kai's laughter subsided. "Well, you are an author, and you were already talking to TB for background material. Just tell him since you're stuck together, you two might as well do more ‘research' for your book."

Well. Why didn't I think of that?

Sylvan shook her head to clear the madness taking place in her brain. "I doubt he'd believe me when I ask for a sort of ‘research with benefits' kind of thing."

Kai was hesitant with her response. "He might."

Sylvan sat up straight. "Why? What do you know?"

"It's nothing I know. It's just that Waters said TB seemed very insistent that it had to be him guarding you and not Nemo, the resident horndog."

A low murmur came over the background again, and she had a feeling she was about to be saved from the conversation.

For now.

"I've gotta go," Kai told her. "I'm being bribed with chocolate to get off the phone and go to bed."

"Eww. TMI. Go play with your blond assassin. Have fun."

Sylvan hung up the phone with a soft laugh and shook her head at her friend. She stood and stretched, placing the phone on her desk. No sooner had she set the phone down and it began ringing again. Without looking at the screen, she swiped the green button to take the call.

"Kai, I don't want to be a part of a triad with you, even if it's just verbal. If you're calling me to?—"

A male voice interrupted her. "I won't share you."

Sylvan's eyes widened and dilated with fear. Looking down at the screen in her hand, instead of Kai's name showing, it said, "Restricted."

The voice continued, "You were promised to me, Jolie. You've always been mine. And soon, you'll be mine to do with as I please. But first I'm going to take care of that new boyfriend of yours. And it will hurt, Jolie. I'll enjoy hurting him. Then it will be your turn."

Dial tone.

Sylvan stood there, chest heaving, whimpers trying to work their way up from deep inside her. She heard screaming.

She just didn't know that the screaming was her.