“Yeah. ” He glanced at his friend. “Just thinking about Sasha. She didn’t look too good when she left. ”
It was partially true. He’d also wondered briefly if he should call Julie and have her go by Sasha’s house. Just as quickly, he knew he couldn’t call Julie; it was much too soon and entirely too late. And if experience taught him anything, Julie wouldn’t answer.
“I was surprised to see her back so soon,” Jeff said.
Daniel pushed back from the table and took his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll text Dena, have her reach out to Sasha. ”
Jeff gave him a curt nod and then added, “I was even more surprised to see Sasha here alone. ”
Daniel had been, too. Not that he ever imagined Julie showing up with her; he knew that wouldn’t happen. Had Dena not been giving the talk
, he was certain she’d have sat with Sasha. And several of the other group members had spoken with her, but they had been tentative and too careful.
“Julie’s not up for discussion tonight,” he said in response to Jeff’s earlier statement.
“She’s a strong woman, but she’s hurting. She’s going to need someone patient and resilient to help her heal,” Jeff said. “To help her find herself once more. ”
Daniel stood up, steeling himself to go home and face his lonely bed. “Sasha’s been a member for years. She’ll find her way. ”
Jeff’s gaze pierced him. “I wasn’t talking about Sasha. ”
• • •
Daniel walked through his house an hour later. Dena had finally replied, texting back that Julie had answered Sasha’s phone. While he was glad Sasha had such a supportive friend, the selfish part of him couldn’t help but wonder how much further this would push Julie away from her submissive needs.
Jeff’s words echoed in his mind. Patient and resilient. He felt certain he’d been both, but had he been patient and resilient enough? At one time he thought so. Had he, in fact, been self-serving and too quick to call everything off? When he was with Julie, hell, when he just thought of her, every emotion he experienced seemed magnified. But what was done was done.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and for the quickest of seconds, he thought it would be Julie. A quick glance told him otherwise.
“Cole,” he said with a half smile. “How’s India?”
“It smells. ”
Cole must not have arrived at his final destination yet. Usually when he was on assignment, Daniel didn’t hear from him at all.
“Everything else okay?” Daniel asked.
There was a long silence from the other end of the line and he wondered if they’d been disconnected when Cole answered simply, “Kate sold the house. ”
He could only imagine how much that hurt. The final blow. The last good-bye. “Sorry to hear that. ”
“It’s for the best. Neither one of us wanted it. ”
Neither one of them wanted it alone and without the other person, in other words. “Still . . . ”
“Yes. Well,” Cole said. “How was the group meeting?” he asked as if desperate to change the topic of conversation.
“Julie wasn’t there. Sasha was. ”
“Certainly would have been better the other way around. ”
Daniel snorted.
“Still nothing from her?”
“No,” Daniel said. “Still nothing. ”
“Don’t beat yourself up. You did the right thing. ”
“If you love something, yada yada?”
“There’s a lot of truth in that. ”
Yes, Daniel supposed, there probably was. Deep inside, he knew he’d made the right choice in doing what he had. Knew that as much as it hurt, he’d make the same choice again.
Then Cole surprised him. “Give her time. I have a strong suspicion she’ll come back. Deep down she knows the truth about her submission. ”
Daniel almost dropped his phone. “What? How?”
“The night you whipped Peter, I made her call me ‘sir. ’”
“You what?”
“I greeted her and she replied with some flippant remark. You know what that does to me. ”
“Cole,” he groaned. He knew his friend had a certain reputation in the playroom. The Badass Brit. Hell, he’d watched him scene before; he knew he could be a bastard. Honest and fair? Yes. Just harder than Daniel.
“I won’t apologize. ”
“Wasn’t asking you to. ”
“Just wanted you to know, deep down she knows. ”
It was too much to hope for. He had to change the subject. “Cole?”
“Yeah. ”
“You did the right thing, too. It wouldn’t have been fair to you, Kate, or your child for you to have given in on something you feel so strongly about. ”