“Fuck me anyway,” Simone said, and he was lost.
* * *
Four voice mails from Aidan. A dozen or so texts. An e-mail. And now, Simone thought, surprised and irritated but also flattered, he was instant messaging her.
Don’t keep ignoring me. I see you’re online. Pick up the fucking phone and talk to me.
With a sigh that felt like it had been dredged up from the tips of her toes, Simone thumbed Aidan’s contact listing. The phone barely rang before he answered it, but he didn’t say hello. She waited, listening to the sound of his breathing.
“Aidan,” Simone said sharply. “For fuck’s sake.”
“I wanted to see if you were going to hang up on me.”
“Ugh. I just called you. Why would I hang up on you?” She flopped into her chair and put her feet up on the desk. “I’m at work. I can’t just be chitchatting all day long with you. What do you want?”
“When are you going to stop ignoring me?”
“Um, I guess now? Since I fucking phoned you from work.” With a grimace, Simone rocked in her chair. She actually had a bit of a break right now, but he didn’t need to know that. And the truth was, she was getting the warm fuzzies from how desperately he’d pursued her.
Plus, she’d missed him.
“Are you still pissed at me?” Aidan asked.
“That’s a complicated question.”
He snorted laughter. “Isn’t everything complicated with us?”
“Well. Yes. But the answer to your question is, no. I’m not pissed off at you anymore. I wasn’t really pissed off at you to begin with.” She paused, frowning. There was no point in lying to him. Aidan knew her too well for her to be able to get away with that.
“You’d like her,” he said quietly.
Simone laughed harshly. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“C’mon, Simone. You haven’t even given her a chance.”
“Do you want me to be besties with your sub? Is that it?” She got up from her chair to pace as she talked. “God, Aidan!”
“You’ve been friends with my girlfriends before.”
“Sure. When you and I weren’t fucking, yeah. Or when they weren’t serious. This is different. And you know it. And I just … “ She sighed, pausing in front of the window to look down into Elliott’s office.
She still hadn’t rearranged her office so that she could easily watch him through the window the way she used to. She didn’t have to now, because she saw him a few times a week. Without glass between them. Without anything between them but their skin …
Aidan had said something she missed because she’d been looking for Elliott.
“Sorry, what?”
“I said, I miss you.”
“Oh, Aidan. I miss you, too.” Simone sighed.
“You’ll always be my girl, Simone. You know that.” His voice had dropped. Not like he was trying to be sexy. Not like he was trying to hide what he was saying from someone else, either.
Almost, Simone thought, like he was sad. And that made her sad, too. But what could she say? Denial would hurt him, and might really be a lie, anyway. Part of her always would be Aidan’s girl, at least as much as she could ever be anyone’s.
“Let me take you to dinner,” he said.
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, tonight. We can go to that place you like, that Indian place.”
She kept the smile out of her voice just to scold him a little. “What makes you think I don’t have plans tonight?”
“Oh. Shit. Do you?”
Simone looked out the window, but the sun had angled through the building to block her view of Elliott’s office. If he was even in there. She hadn’t seen him yet today, though they’d had a few quick texts back and forth this morning. Nothing important. He’d texted her “Good morning,” and she’d said “Have a great day.”
Talk about something that should be simple getting complicated. Or maybe it was the other way around, something complicated becoming simple. Either way, she did not have plans tonight beyond a long, hot shower and watching movies in bed until she fell asleep.
Alone.
“Sure. I’ll do dinner. You’ll pick me up?”
“You don’t have a car yet?”
It was an old discussion, one he’d ragged her about often. “Why do I need a car when I can ride my bike, or take a bus, or bum a ride off an old friend?”
“You have a free parking spot!”
Simone laughed. “And if I bought a car, that free spot would cost me several thousand bucks a year. Right?”
“I’ll pick you up,” Aidan said. “You know I will.”
“And dinner’s your treat.”
“You are such a conniving brat.”
She laughed, loud and long and hard, her heart lifting suddenly from a weight she hadn’t been willing to admit she was carrying. “Oh, I’ve missed you. So fucking much.”
“Me, too, babe. See you tonight.”
* * *
Aidan had brought her along.
Simone shouldn’t have been surprised. The girl was Aidan’s girlfriend, and his submissive, a combination he’d been looking to find for a long time. A good friend would’ve been happy for him … and Simone was going to try her best to be.
The girl wore her pale blonde hair in a long braid. Dark glasses with square frames. Black fitted T-shirt and black capri trousers. Nothing about her stood out as unique, but she had a pretty smile, and she shook Simone’s hand firmly, without hesitation.
“You should’ve told me,” Simone said under her breath as they took their seats at the table and the girl–her name was Corrina, Simone reminded herself. Corrina excused herself to use the restroom.
“I thought maybe you wouldn’t come if you knew.” Aidan gave her what looked like one of his old cocky grins, except there was a shadow of uncertainty beneath it.
He’d been really nervous, Simone saw. Genuinely worried. Touched, she reached for his hand, linked their fingers. She brushed a kiss along his knuckles.
“I might not have. But that would’ve made me the asshole,” she told him.
He squeezed her hand and pulled her closer for the hug he hadn’t given her when he picked her up at her apartment. It was awkward, stretching across the empty chair between them, but for the moment it felt so good to be hugging him that it didn’t matter. He kissed her cheek, hard.
“Don’t go away like that again,” Aidan said fiercely into her ear.
He pulled away when Corrina came back to the table, but not quick enough. The girl saw the embrace. She was good about hiding her feelings, though. She gave Simone a smile that seemed almost genuine. It was better than the one Simone would’ve been able to make if the situation were reversed, that was for sure.
That was the moment when Simone decided to like her.
“So, Corrina,” she said. “Tell me about yourself.”
* * *
Later, when Aidan had paid for the meal and talked her into going back to his place instead of having him take her immediately home, Simone had the chance to see Corrina in a different light. The moment she walked through Aidan’s front door, she took off her shoes and set them carefully on the mat next to the door. Then she knelt and unlaced Aidan’s and set them aside, too.
“No, thanks,” Simone said when Corrina looked first to Aidan for affirmation, then up at her. “I’ll take care of my own.”
“Go change and then bring us a couple of coffees, sweetheart,” Aidan told her. When she turned to go, he stared after her for so long Simone wondered if he were going to simply wait until she came back before he even turned to her.
“You are in so fucking deep,” she murmured, shaking her head and pushing past him to take a seat on the couch.
She pulled her phone from her bag, thumbing the screen to check for messages, but there was nothing but a few alerts from apps she barely used. Nothing from Elliott. She opened her lists of texts, just to check and be sure, but the last thing on it was her message t
elling him to have a great day. No reply from him.
Aidan laughed and took a seat in the chair across from her. “She’s … perfect.”
Simone raised her brows and looked up at him from over the top of her phone. “Nobody is perfect.”
“She’s perfect for me.”
Jealousy is a hard emotion to swallow, even when you’re trying hard to shove it down your throat to keep from being an ignorant asshole to someone you used to love. Simone forced a smile. “I’m happy for you.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Aidan grinned, then narrowed his eyes to look her over. “Are you, really?”
Simone leaned forward, phone held between her hands. “Yes, honey. Yes. I am.”
“I meant what I said at the restaurant. Don’t ever go away like that again.”
“I don’t like it when we don’t talk,” she admitted, and snuck another peek at her phone, even though it hadn’t done so much as buzz to indicate a new message.
“So. Who is he?”
She looked up, feigning innocence. “Who?”
“The guy who’s not texting you.”
She frowned. “Is it that obvious?”
“I know you, that’s all. So, who is he?”
“Elliott Anderson,” Simone said in a low voice.
Aidan put his feet down with a thump. “No shit. No shit, no way. Office exhibitionist guy?”
“He’s not … you can’t say he’s an exhibitionist,” Simone said. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know anyone can see him.”
“But it’s the guy you’ve been watching. The one you had a crush on since you started working in that building? No. Shit.” Aidan sat back with a stunned expression.
Simone hesitated, looking him over. “Now who’s jealous?”
“You’re with him? I mean, with him, with him?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? Simone looked at her phone again. She held it up, showing him the lack of incoming texts. Then she put it back in her purse.
Corrina, wearing a tiny lace bra and matching panties and carrying a tray with steaming cups of coffee, came into the living room. Gracefully, she put down the tray on the coffee table and then knelt in front of it to take the lid off a sugar bowl so she could spoon sweetness into one cup. Then cream. On her knees, she crossed to Aidan and handed him the cup.
“Tell her how you take yours,” Aidan said.
All that time together as lovers, a much longer time together as friends, and he still didn’t know. It didn’t matter. “I’ll make my own, thanks.”
“You sure?” He passed a hand over Corrina’s hair, unbound now and trailing to her waist in rippling golden waves. “She’ll do whatever I ask her to do.”
Of course she would, and of course Simone was not about to let her. “I’ll do it.”
“So independent.” Aidan smoothed his hand over Corrina’s hair again.
Simone had tried that a few times. Sitting at Aidan’s feet. Playing the part of the sweet submissive. She’d been terrible at it.
Aidan must’ve known what she was thinking, because he laughed. “You’d have spilled the coffee on purpose in order to get a spanking.”
Simone fixed herself a cup of coffee and sat back on the couch. “It was the spanking that I liked best. Not the other stuff.”
“So, what about this guy? Anderson? Does he spank you?”
Simone glanced at Corrina, but the other woman sat serenely at Aidan’s feet with her hands folded, one inside the other, her gaze on him. Attending him like a handmaiden. Simone would never have been able to pull that off, not in a million years … but watching it, seeing her adoration of Aidan and his clear delight in it, Simone couldn’t help feeling a flutter of heat inside her.
She was a voyeur, after all.
Aidan’s gaze got a little darker when she didn’t answer right away. He leaned forward. “Simone. Does he spank you?”
“Not the way you did.”
“What the hell’s wrong with him?” He laughed, but looked pleased.
Simone shrugged. “He won’t really talk about it. We’ve only been together a few times. He’s into pinching. A little slapping. Hair pulling.That sort of thing. He’s good at it. He gets off on it.”
“But he doesn’t text you back.”
Simone sighed. “We’re not dating. We’re just … fucking.”
“Oh, babe. When did you start to settle?”
Simone grimaced, sitting back against the couch. “When did you start getting so judgmental about my sex life?”
“Does he give you what you need?” This came from Corrina, who spoke quietly and respectfully, but it still surprised Simone she’d spoken at all. “You said he gets off. Do you?”
“I do.”
“You like pain,” Corrina said. “But you’re not submissive.”
“Did Aidan tell you that?” Simone gave him a long, cold glare.
“He didn’t have to. I could tell.” Corrina looked at Simone with a small but friendly smile, then leaned to kiss Aidan’s knee, just once. “Aidan doesn’t understand.”
“Bullshit.” He looked down at her.
Corrina looked back at him without flinching. “Respectfully, sweetheart. You don’t.”
“She’s right,” Simone said. “You never did, really.”
Aidan scowled. “What do I need to understand? That this guy isn’t treating you right? That you deserve better?”
“You don’t even know him,” Simone told him evenly. “And I already said, we’re not dating. We’re just fucking. And it’s not so easy, you know. To find a man who will give me what I like.”
“Most of them are too soft,” Corrina said. “They’re afraid of breaking you.”
Simone looked at the girl with a newfound level of respect. “Yes.”
“Was Aidan? Afraid of breaking you?”
Simone and Aidan stared at one another. “That’s a question he’d have to answer.”
“No. I wasn’t afraid of breaking you. No matter what I gave you, Simone, you always took it. As much as I could give you.”
“He’s afraid of breaking me,” Corrina said with a hitch in her voice. Her shoulders slumped. She lost her perfect posture.
Shit. Was she going to cry? Simone put her coffee mug back on the tray.
“She’s not as strong as you were,” Aidan said, and Corrina let out a low, muffled sob.
“Hey,” Simone said to him. “Not cool.”
“No, no. It’s all right.” Corrina looked up with wet eyes and a brave smile. “I need to get better.”
“Aidan told me you were perfect,” Simone told her with a sniff in his direction.
Corrina burst into sobs.
“Shit, now look what you did,” Aidan said.
“I’m s-s-sorry,” Corrina gasped. “I’m not perfect! I’m trying to be–”
“Nobody’s perfect,” Simone said harshly. “Hey. Corrina. Look at me.”
Corrina wasn’t Simone’s sub, but she turned anyway. Simone waved a hand in Aidan’s direction. “I was far from perfect for him.”
Corrina swiped at her eyes, getting herself under control with visible effort. She straightened her back and shoulders and folded her hands in her lap again. She lowered her head.
“I’m sorry, Aidan.”
At least he wasn’t making her call him Sir. Or Master. He’d been into that for a while. Simone could still remember the bitter taste of that on her tongue.
Aidan looked at her, and Simone couldn’t tell if he were angry or amused or turned on. Maybe all three. She tried to communicate her frustration to him with a look, but typically, he ignored her.
“Your outburst is uncalled for, Corrina,” he said in a low, shiver-inducing voice that wasn’t meant for her and should’ve turned Simone’s stomach, but still managed to make her tingle. Just a little.
There was a reason they’d stayed friends, after all.
“I’m sorry,” Corrina repeated, and got to her feet with a smooth, graceful motion Simone envied.
Head still bowed, without even a glance toward Simone, she said, “should I get the chair?”
“I don’t know. Simone, do you think I should get the chair?”
Simone gave him another long look. Now he was starting to play games, and that wasn’t what she’d had in mind when she’d agreed to come over after dinner. There was that saying, though, about old habits and dying hard.
“I don’t know, Aidan. What’s the chair?”
“Get the chair, Corrina.”
The girl shuddered, but went at once to the corner of the living room and pulled out a straight-backed chair. Worn, a little rickety, nothing special about it. She took it to the center of the room and turned it around so she could grip the back of it. She settled her feet at shoulder-width and bent her head to let her hair fall over her shoulders, exposing her back.
Aidan went over to her, running his fingers down the knobs of her spine. The dimples at the base of it, just above her hips. He brushed the last few strands of her hair over her shoulders, then looked at Simone with a small smile.
“Get the switch, Corrina.”
Simone’s nipples went tight and hard. Her clit pulsed. She remembered the switch.
Corrina hesitated, and Aidan’s gaze turned assessing. “Now.”
To Simone, he said as an aside, “she hates the switch.”
But he’d use it on her anyway, because he liked it, and it was Corrina’s place to do what he wanted. Her chosen place, Simone reminded herself, watching Corrina walk with her head held high but with hesitant steps to the armoire on the other side of the room. Corrina opened the doors and pulled out a long, slender switch of braided leather. She brought it back to him laid across her hands, eyes downcast, and held it out to him.
“Pomp and ceremony,” Simone said. “Always the ritual with you, Aidan.”
He didn’t take his eyes off of Corrina, but his words were for Simone. “Now who’s judging?”
She laughed, gently.
“Corrina. Get the clamps.”
Corrina shivered, her nipples rising beneath the black lace of her bra. She had gorgeous tits. Corrina’s lush curves made Simone feel self-conscious about her own lean frame, but there was no denying her beauty.
Corrina went again to the armoire and pulled out a set of metal nipple clamps, the kind with the cruelly digging ridges. She brought them to Aidan and held them out on the flat of her palm. He didn’t take them or tell her to move.