Gently he said, “So we don’t have to decide for sure now. I’m totally with you on this, Daniel. My main concern is us—you and me. Do you want her to stay? Do you think we can work through this and keep our lines of communication more open?”
“Yeah. I want her to stay. At least I think I do. Let’s give it more time before we make any final decisions. Let me talk to her. Would that be okay? I think she’d feel more at ease if I was the one to explain we’re just working through some stuff as a couple but didn’t want to leave her out of the loop.”
“Okay. Sounds good. I’m here if you need me.” Liam wanted to go to Alex himself or at least accompany Daniel. But he respected Daniel’s desire to go alone. He needed to step back a little, he realized. After all he’d claimed from the beginning Alex was to be Daniel’s sub, yet he’d begun to be involved more and more directly with Alex. It was time to step back a while and let things sort themselves out.
Daniel stumbled into the room, breathless, his face a mask of shock. “She’s gone. I can’t find her. Her stuff is gone. I checked and her car is gone. She just…left us.” He shook his head in disbelief.
“Are you sure?” Liam jumped up and followed Daniel down the hall to Alex’s room. The bed was rumpled, the drawers of the bureau pulled open and empty. “Text her.”
Daniel reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone. He sent a quick text. “Where are you? We’re worried about you.”
He stared at the screen, willing her to reply, but it remained blank.
“Call her,” Liam directed. “Maybe she’ll pick up.”
Daniel hit the call button. After five rings, he got her voicemail.
“Alex,” he said into the phone. “It’s Daniel. Where did you go? You have us worried to death. Please call back right away.” He turned to Liam with a defeated look. “Voicemail.”
“Yeah.” Liam held out his arms and Daniel moved into them. “Don’t worry. If she did overhear the conversation, she’s bound to be hurt and confused. She probably heard us questioning if she should go or stay. You know, she’s so young. Maybe it was just a matter of time…”
“No. Don’t say that. Don’t blame her,” Daniel snapped. He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I just feel awful. Poor Alex.”
~*~
Alex lay on the bed in her garage apartment. Good thing she’d kept the place through the end of the month, she thought bitterly. Jesus, she’d lasted a whole fucking week as permanent slave girl in residence.
She heard a buzzing sound and realized it must be her cell phone, which was in her purse and set on vibrate. She’d barely used the phone in the week she’d been back with Daniel and Liam, calling her mother once to say hello and Cheryl once to assure her she was still alive and not being held against her will by crazed homosexual sadists.
She retrieved the phone and saw the missed text message and the voicemail. As she listened to his voice, tears welled in her eyes. Sweet Daniel. But Liam wanted her gone. He was threatened by her relationship with Daniel. Even as she thought this, she knew it wasn’t fair. She couldn’t only blame Liam. Both of them were conflicted about her and her role in their lives. Hell, she was conflicted.
She’d done the right thing to leave. This was better. A time out. A chance to think things through. But it wasn’t right to run out on them like she did. It was immature. She pushed the call back button and waited.
“Hello? Alex?” Daniel said eagerly.
“Hi, Daniel.”
“Where are you?”
“Back in Danbury. At my place.”
“Why? Why did you go? You just ran out. Took all your stuff.” There was reproach and pain in his voice.
Alex steeled herself against it. She would just lay it all out there. “Yeah. Look. I heard what you guys were saying. I was coming between you. Liam wants me gone. I heard him say it, so please don’t deny it. I’m putting a wedge in your relationship. It’s the last thing I wanted to do.”
“No. No, that’s not true, Alex. Yes, we’re working some stuff out but we were talking it through. We were asking each other how we should handle things. Listen, it’s because you matter to us, don’t you see? If we didn’t care, we’d just let you go. Chalk it up to experience and move on.”
Hope rose with batting wings against the walls of her heart, though she tried desperately to quash it. Was he saying they wanted her back? She couldn’t resist forcing the issue. “So, you know definitively that you want me in your life? You and Liam want me to live there and belong to you 24/7? You can say this with certainty?”