Chapter Sixteen
Sara listened to his truck drive off. The pain was excruciating. She cried for what seemed like hours, and when the tears were gone, she felt hollow.
The depth of her love for him was something she'd never experienced. It seemed he had her body, heart, and soul in the palms of his hands. She had never told him the extent of her love for him because he had yet to tell her how he felt. He talked about "forever," but now she doubted him.
Maybe if he hadn't kept lying for four months, it would be easier to forgive him and move on. But to keep up the charade for that long bothered her. She couldn't remember him letting something slide and had always talked about the owner as another person.
God, she was so confused, and that, mixed with the pain, was making her feel like her world was falling apart. For the rest of the night, she slept fitfully, tossing and turning, so when morning came, it felt like she hadn't slept at all.
That day, she worked out in the garden. Besides the horses, it calmed her down, and that's what she needed to think. She tried to nap a few times and even got some toast down her raw throat, but otherwise, she had yet to make a decision.
That night was as bad as the previous one, so by the time the sun rose the following day, she was exhausted and knew she'd lost a few pounds from not eating except for a piece of toast the day before.
Sara did what she could around the house, trying to keep busy, but she'd find herself frozen in place and not moving as her mind went over the problem and the decision she had to make.
By noon, she was at her wit's end and called Janessa.
"Hello," Janessa answered.
"Hi, this is Sara. Do you have some free time today?"
"What's wrong?"
"I'll explain when I see you," Sara said.
"Do you want other women with us because I can call Cat and the others?"
"That would be fine. I need all the help I can get." She'd become close to the whole group in the last three and a half months that Grant and she had been there.
"Okay, I'll call you right back."
Sara sat at her counter with the phone in front of her and waited. It wasn't lost on her that she hadn't received a call or a text from Grant, so now thoughts of him not wanting her kept popping up in her head, making the situation worse.
She jumped when her phone rang.
"Hello."
"It's me. Cat says to come to the club. We can lounge around and drink wine, eat chocolate, and talk."
"I would enjoy that. Thank you," Sara said. "I'll meet you there."
"I'm headed out now."
Sara took care of her dogs before slipping into her car and driving out to the highway where the kink club was. She drove through the huge gates and parked with a few other cars in front.
The door opened before she got to it, and Cat smiled at her.
"I hear we have a problem to solve?" Cat said.
Sara nodded.
"From the look of you, I'd guess it's about a stupid man?"
Sara snorted but nodded again. "You better watch it because if Macy hears you, you'll be over a spanking bench."
Cat laughed, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into the club. "The girls are sitting in the sub lounge. They've already opened a bottle of wine, and Hannah has brought a large pan of brownies."
"That sounds good."
"It looks like you haven't slept or eaten for a few days. This must be serious?" Cat asked.
"I don't know if I'm making it a bigger deal than it is, so I need you girls' insight," Sara said.
"We'll deal with it. Let's go sit down."
There were five women there. Besides Cat, there was Janessa, Hannah, Bella, and Tamera, a woman who fit into the group perfectly but didn't have a Dom yet.
They all stood and hugged her before one of them handed her a glass of wine.
"Tell us what's going on?" Hannah said.
Sara took a deep breath. "Grant and I have been together for over four months."
The girls nodded.
"I found out a few days ago that he actually owns his ranch, but all this time, he's been pretending to be the manager." She was glad to see their confusion.
"Why?" Bella asked, perplexed.
"He showed up at my house several hours after I found out. All he said was he wanted to make sure I wanted him for the man and not the money, as his other women had done before me."
"Why take four months?" Tamera said.
"That's what I asked him, and he told me he tried a few times but was afraid he'd lose me."
"Men can be such idiots," Cat said.
Sara smiled for the first time in days.
"He had to have known you'd eventually learn the truth," Hannah said.
"That's what I thought," Sara said. "I told him the longer he went without telling me, the worse it would have been." She took a drink of her wine. "The thought that he'd been using me or tricking me keeps popping into my mind."
Hanna shook her head. "No. I've seen him with you. That man loves you."
The other girls agreed.
"But he's never said how he feels. He'll say things like forever, but that's it. He says that in the heat of the moment, so I don't know if he really means it or not."
The girls were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Have you told him how you feel?" Tamera asked.
Sara shook her head. "No. I didn't want to put any pressure on him."
Tamera nodded. "I understand that."
Sara thought about the man Tamera secretly loved but hadn't done anything about it. She hadn't told the group anything about the man besides he lived in the area. She wished something would happen to get the two together.
"Another thing is he hasn't tried to call or even text since he left."
Now, the girls were scowling. It made her feel like she wasn't being overly sensitive.