CHAPTER32
It had been two days since Mark had walked in on them at Justin’s shop. Kim had thought that maybe he’d call or text her, but there’d been nothing. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
Justin hadn’t heard from Mark either. He’d sent him a text Tuesday morning saying they needed to talk, but Mark hadn’t replied.
There’d also been no spontaneous calls from either of her parents, so she was assuming Mark hadn’t gone to them and spilled the beans. Her mom had texted her and Justin individually to confirm they were both coming to dinner, but there was no indication that she knew what was going on. Kim only hoped her parents took the news of her relationship with Justin better than her brother had.
The door opened and Justin rushed inside. “Hi, honey, I’m home.”
Kim laughed. “You’re late.”
“One of my guys wanted to adjust his schedule for next week. Took way longer than I expected.” He picked her up, gave her a kiss that was full of promise, and set her feet back on the ground. “Give me five minutes to clean up, and I’ll be ready to go.”
She nodded and watched as he raced down the hall to his bedroom.
Kim grabbed her coat and purse from his closet and sat down on the couch to wait. For all intents and purposes, she’d already moved in. He’d cleared out space in his closet and two drawers for her and she was slowly moving her things out of her apartment. Barring any unforeseen obstacles, she was hoping to have everything done by the end of the month.
As promised, Justin reappeared five minutes later, hair damp from his shower and wearing a green button-down shirt and a pair of black jeans. He looked good enough to eat, and she had to remind herself of where they were going tonight. No matter how delectable he looked, she needed to keep her hands to herself.
She stood, slipped her coat on, and headed for the door. Justin stopped her and pulled her against him. “No matter what happens tonight, remember I love you.”
“I know.” Kim brushed her fingers over his bruised jaw. He looked as if he’d been in a barroom brawl. They’d put ice on it as soon as they got back to his house, but it had still turned black and blue. Her brother hadn’t been playing when he’d landed that punch.
He took her hand in his and kissed the inside of her palm. “We need to go.”
Kim nodded and let him lead her out to the car. They’d decided to ride together. In less than an hour, her entire family would know about their relationship.
Justin held her hand on the drive to her parents. He was quiet and she let the silence fill the small space. They were both worried. Not only about her parents’ reactions to their news, but neither of them had any idea if Mark would be there. And if he was, what he would say or do.
They got part of their answer when they pulled up in front of Kim’s parents’ house. Mark’s car was parked in the driveway.
Looking over at her, Justin squeezed her hand. “Ready?”
She wasn’t, but there was no point in delaying it. “Yeah.”
He got out of the vehicle and came around to open her door. She let him help her out and leaned into him when he reached for her hand again as they walked to the front door. They separated before Kim opened the door and let them inside.
The house smelled of food. They weren’t greeted by screaming or fists flying, so she counted that as a good sign.
Then they rounded the corner. Mark was sitting in her dad’s recliner with a beer in his hand. He stared at them for several long moments before getting to his feet.
Justin moved her behind him, bracing himself for whatever it was Mark was going to dish out. The tension in the room was thick. “I think we need to talk,” Justin said.
Her brother downed the rest of his beer, then set it down on the coffee table with a little more force than necessary. “Yes, let’s talk.” But instead of talking to Justin, he turned his attention to Kim. “He’s the one who put those marks on your back, isn’t he?”
She wasn’t going to lie and maybe this was a good thing. They needed to clear the air. Although, she would rather not be doing it in her parents’ living room. “Yes.”
“How could you let him hurt you?” His voice was a mixture of disbelief and hurt.
She moved toward her brother. Justin didn’t stop her, but she felt his gaze on her. “He didn’t hurt me.”
“I saw the marks. He hurt you.”
Kim shook her head. “That’s not the way it is. You must know that. You know Justin. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
Mark shook his head, but the conversation was cut short when her dad hobbled into the room on a pair of crutches. “I thought I heard voices in here. You two must have snuck in.”
“I need another beer,” Mark mumbled before fleeing the room.
Her dad raised an eyebrow, but she ignored it.
“Hi, Dad.” Kim gave her dad a hug. “How are you doing?”
He returned the embrace as best as he could. “Hi, honey.” Davis Langley looked over Kim’s head and nodded his greeting to Justin. “Doctor says the leg’s healing up fine. Another two or three weeks and I should be able to lose the crutches.”
“That’s great news, Dad.”
They made their way into the kitchen to find her mom. Belinda was setting the food on the table. “Oh good. I thought I heard voices.” She looked at her husband. “I told you I wasn’t hearing things.”
Kim placed a kiss on her mom’s cheek. “Need help with anything?”
“Nope. Everything’s pretty much done. All we’re waiting on is for the rolls to come out of the oven.”
They all took a seat. It was then her mom noticed her brother was missing. “Where’s Mark?”
“He said he was going to get another beer,” Davis said. “Maybe he went down to the basement.”
Justin stood. “I’ll go find him.”
His gaze met Kim’s and held for a long moment before he headed down the stairs to the basement to find Mark.
When Kim turned her attention back to her parents, her mom tilted her head to one side and gave her a little smirk. “Something you want to tell us?”
Kim swallowed. This wasn’t exactly how she’d envisioned telling them, but she supposed now was as good a time as any. And besides, maybe it was better if it was only her and her parents. Especially with the way Mark was acting. “Justin and I are...dating.”
Her dad had been about to take a drink of his water but stopped mid sip. He didn’t say anything right away, though. His gaze went to the stairs Justin had disappeared down, then back to her. “How long has this been going on?”
His voice was even and monotone. That wasn’t always a good sign. “It started about four months ago.” No need to go into detail that it all started with what was supposed to be a one-night stand.
Her mom’s eyebrows rose almost to her hairline. “Four months?”
Kim nodded. “We wanted to make sure before we told anyone.” She paused. “Especially Mark.”
Belinda Langley frowned. “I guess that explains your brother’s sour mood.”
“He sort of...walked in on us together.” She chanced a glance at her dad. His face was unreadable, and it was making her nervous. “He punched Justin.”
Her mom’s eyes held a mixture of shock and concern. She seemed to be taking it all in.
“You were together at New Year’s?” her dad asked.
This was where it got complicated. “Not exactly. We were trying to figure things out. But a few weeks ago we decided to really give a relationship a try.”
“A few weeks? I thought you said you’ve been together for four months?” Her dad’s tone had darkened.
She needed to turn the conversation around before both males in her family lost their heads over her relationship. “Things between us first started four months ago, but we both struggled with whether to get serious.”
“And now it’s serious?” her father asked.
“Yes.” Kim met her dad’s gaze. “We’re moving in together.”
Her dad began to stand, then faltered.
Both women shot out of their chairs and reached out to prevent him from falling. He pushed them away. “I’m fine.”
Then their attention was pulled away by the sound of a crash coming from the basement.
Justin wasn’t sure what he’d find when he went downstairs. He and Mark had been friends for a long time, so it wasn’t the first fight they’d had. But this was different.
It was dark when he got to the bottom of the stairs. Mark hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights. Justin flipped the switch on the wall and scanned the room, looking for his friend.
It took him a few seconds, but he spotted him sitting on the couch along the far wall. His hands rested on his knees and his head was leaning back.
“Hey,” Justin said from the bottom of the stairs.
Mark opened his eyes and sent a death stare in Justin’s direction. Not exactly encouraging.
Justin took a couple of steps into the room. “Can we talk?”
“Nothing to talk about.”
“Of course there is.”
His friend stood and walked over to the bookcase to his right. It was full of family photos. “I shouldn’t have stopped with one punch. You deserved much more for hurting Kim.”
“I didn’t hurt her. I love her.”
“Bullshit!” Mark whirled to face him. “I saw the marks.”
Justin blew out a breath. “They were from a flogger.”
Mark nodded. “You hit her. I knew it wasn’t from her pressing against something. You fuckin’ hit her.” His voice rose in volume and Justin hoped it didn’t carry up the stairs.
“It’s not like that and you know it.”
“Isn’t it?” Mark narrowed his eyes once more and took an aggressive step forward. “Isn’t that what you do as a Dominant? Cause your submissives pain?” He let out something close to a growl. “You hurt Kim and then got off on it.”
If this wasn’t Mark and they weren’t talking about Kim, Justin would have decked his friend. “I don’t do anything to the women I play with that they don’t want me to do.”
“So you’re saying Kim was asking for it?”
This was so not going the way he’d hoped. “Stop making it sound like I’m abusing her. I’m not knocking her around.”
“You’re just using toys”—he put the word toys in air quotes—“to get your rocks off.”
“You are such an ass sometimes, Mark, do you know that?” Justin blew out a breath. “Kim has found she likes certain things when it comes to sex. Things I enjoy as well. She has her safewords if she ever needs or wants me to stop our play.”
If looks could kill, Justin would be a dead man. Then, without any warning, Mark lunged.
Justin fell backward, right into the large square coffee table in the center of the room. The corner jammed into his back, sending a jolt of pain down his side. He couldn’t focus on it for long because Mark was on top of him. The next thing he knew, Mark’s fist was on a collision course with his face. He managed to block it, but not well enough. Mark’s elbow hit Justin’s lip and an instant later, he felt the coppery taste of blood.
Using his body weight, Justin flipped them over and pinned Mark beneath him. His friend struggled and it took all Justin’s strength to keep him down.
“What’s going on down here?” Belinda’s voice came from the stairs.
He glanced up to see Kim, followed closely by her mom, descending the stairs. Both women looked frantic, no doubt coming to investigate the noise.
“Mark Jacob, what are you doing?” It was his mother’s voice that finally got Mark’s attention.
Fairly confident fists weren’t going to start flying again, at least not with Belinda and Kim standing there, Justin released Mark’s wrists and rolled off him. He got to his feet, not wanting to be caught in a vulnerable position should Mark decide to resume.
“I’m waiting on answers.” Belinda was looking at both Justin and Mark.
Mark blew out a breath. “We’re just having a...disagreement.”
“Does this have something to do with your sister and Justin dating?”
His friend snorted. “Yeah. It has to do with them dating.” He put extra emphasis on the word dating.
Belinda didn’t respond right away. She seemed to be considering her answer. “I have to say that I’m a bit shocked with the news, but I don’t think that justifies you two breaking my furniture. You will clean this up.” She looked at Justin as well. “Both of you. And then you will come upstairs and have dinner with the family like civilized adults. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Justin said, tentatively touching his now bloody lip. He was going to need more ice.
Mark sent Justin another scathing look. “Yes, ma’am.”
Belinda straightened her shoulders, took hold of Kim’s hand, and turned toward the stairs. “Come on. Let’s leave these two men to clean up.”
Kim sent a concerned glance Justin’s way. He nodded, and she disappeared up the steps with her mom, leaving Mark and Justin alone again.
Justin shoved his hands into his pockets and faced Mark. “Look, I know you don’t like the idea of me dating your sister.”
He snorted.
“Okay, you don’t like the idea of me having sex with your sister, especially in the way I like to have sex.” Justin paused. “But like it or not, she’s an adult, and she can have sex with whoever she wants however she wants. You don’t have to like it.”
“You’re supposed to be my friend.”
“I am your friend. That doesn’t have to change.” Justin waited.
“I don’t know if I can stand the idea of you doing that kind of stuff with her. It was one thing when you were telling me about it when it was women I didn’t know, but Kim...”
Justin thought about how to approach this. It really wasn’t any of Mark’s business, but he also felt compelled to plead his case. “Kim came to me.”
Mark’s head snapped up and Justin knew he had his full attention.
“I’m not going to go into details, but she came to me and asked if I’d introduce her to the lifestyle.” He paused. “I won’t hurt her, man. I love her, and...we’re moving in together.”
His friend took a step forward, then stopped himself. “You’re serious.”
“I’m serious.” Justin removed his hands from his pockets and moved closer. “We’ve had feelings for each other for a while, but both of us were holding back. We didn’t want to upset things. You or Belinda or Davis. I get that it’s sudden for you, but it’s not for us. This has been a long time coming.”
Mark’s shoulders relaxed, and Justin figured the storm was over. At least for now. “I’m just not sure. It feels wrong.”
“Maybe you should talk to your sister.” Justin paused. “And by talk I mean listen to what she has to say. She wants this as much as I do. Also, do you really think your sister would let me do something to her she didn’t want me to? She’s not exactly the passive type. She knows what she wants and she goes after it.”
After a long moment, Mark nodded, then looked at the mess on the floor. The coffee table was on its side and everything that had been on it was now scattered across the floor. “We should probably clean things up before Mom comes back down.”
Justin grabbed one end of the table, while Mark gripped the other. They picked it up and set it back in its place. Luckily, nothing appeared to be broken.
Once everything was where it was supposed to be, they made their way upstairs. But they weren’t greeted by the serene family scene they’d expected. Davis was balancing on his crutches and Belinda and Kim were standing on the other side of the table. From the looks of it, there was another storm brewing, and they hadn’t even had dinner yet.