The rabble quiets down. The young hotel man who was overseeing our gathering is pushed out of the doorway, overtaken by a menopausal woman dressed in fur to make herself look three times bigger than she actually is. Her heels also make her five inches taller.
My father trips over a couch and falls to his knees. “What have I done to deserve this torture. God.”
Three men try to help him back up while the others start to crowd around my mother. Filial love prompts me to push to the front of the pack and put myself between her and them. They won’t try anything funny, but I won’t stand to have even one of them touch her.
Although she’s as stupid as my dad right now.
“Look at you. Always been a sniveling man who gets his pecker hard for anything with smooth skin and big eyes. Some things never change, do they Dominic?”
“What are you doing?” I hiss, trying to shield my mother from the people surrounding us.
“Oh, Ian.” She clasps her hand over my mouth as if I’m five and saying bad words. “You’re too young to understand.” Thanks. “Your father needs reminding that I’m the original young tart around here.”
She tosses a stole over her shoulder and kicks her foot in my father’s direction. “Thirty years ago my boss walked into my office and told me he had a nice present for me. Go ahead. Guess what it was.”
I groan.
“Then ten months later I’ve got a ring and this ray of sunshine in my life.” Her hand drops from my mouth and flits at the men around her. “Dominic Mathers, you may think you’re the only slick willy around here, but I’ll have you know that your ex-wife has learned a thing or two in her years. You may have cheated on me once or twice during our marriage…”
“You cheated on me too, Caroline!’
“Shush, I’m talking.” My mother approaches Eddie, patting his cheek and smiling like a tigress about to rip apart a cornered gazelle. Eddie looks like he can’t choose between being flattered and scared half to death. “When my ex-husband said he had a present for me, it’s not like I didn’t know what that meant. I wasn’t some doe-eyed virgin. I applied for that position because I knew he would pay well. In more ways than one.”
Joy. My mother finally admits to being a gold digger as a teenager. I come from impressive stock.
“That’s why I know some dangerous floozy when I see one, Dominic. I wasn’t about to let that woman make a fool out of you. You were already doing that by taking our son’s girlfriend.”
“Now…” my father begins.
“…She wasn’t my girlfriend,” I finish.
“Stephanie May was a mess that needed cleaning up. I was going to let you stew in your stupidity, Dominic, but when I found out about some other things she was up to, I decided to intervene. It also reminded me that…” Her face softens, much to my father’s confusion. As she approaches him, slowly, each stiletto clacking on the marble ties, Dad brushes off another piece of dust. “For the love of God, Dominic, I still love you and won’t let a woman nowhere near as good as me take what’s mine.”
The quiet is enough to make me wretch.
“You’re an idiot. You chase any tail you think you can buy with all your money. You smell like dog food after you’ve had too much to drink.” My mother sniffs. “Like now. That’s rude, Dominic.”
“Like you’re any better…”
“Oh, I’m no saint, but at least I admit my shortcomings.” With a mighty sigh, my mother dangles her hand in front of my father’s face. “How about we let bygones be bygones?”
I’m not sure what I’m watching as my father lets out a frustrated cry and grabs my mother’s hand, pulling her down to his level and muttering shit that makes her laugh. I’m either watching my parents get back together, or I’m watching the opening moments to a ritualistic sacrifice.
Let’s be real. One would lead to the other very quickly.
Chapter 28
KATHRYN
Nothing could have prepared me for this. No amount of sleep. No amount of goodies to eat or coffee to drink. Not even a hundred kisses to my face or reassuring rubs to the shoulder are enough to bring me down from my anxious haze that says all of this is a huge mistake I can never make a comeback from.
Even so, here I am, in the coatroom of The Dark Hour on the busiest night of the week, my knees shaking in my leather boots and my ponytail jerking against the back of my neck.
“Relax,” Ian says, smoothing down the sleeves of my blazer. “You’re going to do great tonight. Everyone will love you the same as they did before.”
That also means they’ll dislike me the same as before. “I don’t know if I can do this,” I say for the fifth time since we’ve walked through the door. Someone comes in, and Ian shields me in the corner, fingers readjusting the collar around my neck. “Besides, everyone knows now…”
I shudder. Ian was late finding out about the Page 6 fiasco. Since then, he’s done nothing but continuously tell me it means nothing. But I know. I know Stephanie did all of that. Even though she was blasted on the front page of the same paper, she made sure I was taken out with her since I was no longer paying off the blackmail.
Now here I am, dressed like a sub in The Dark Hour with my Dom pulling a leash out of his pocket.
Fuuuuuuuck no!
I don’t care if we already talked about it. I don’t care if I was drunk on love and sex at the time of agreeing to wear a leash into the club, in case people were confused about my role in my relationship tonight. I don’t care, because the moment I see that sparkling, glittery leash leave Ian’s pocket, I want to throw up and run.
It’s true that I haven’t had much backlash since that spot came out in the papers. Eva says there are whisperings about it, but everyone is assuming it’s tabloid trash like it is half the time. Tonight, I am about to blow all of those doubts out of the water. People aren’t going to see Kathryn Alison, Domme. They’re going to see Katie, a woman whom only Ian has met so far.
Met and trained.
I have to put all of my training to good use. My ability to obey, to serve, to keep him pleased and happy with me. I may love the man, but this is going to push the final boundaries I’ve built around myself.
My social ones.
“You are the most stunning woman in this club. No…” Ian kisses my forehead and rests his hands on my shoulders. “In the world. Everyone’s eyes will be on you. They’re going to love you as much as I do.”
Honestly, I hope not!
“Are you ready?’ He latches the leash to my collar and gives it an experimental tug. “We should mingle and try to relax before we go on in an hour.”
Relax means getting me some drinks. I got started at home with an Old Fashioned, but it wasn’t enough to settle my nerves.
If this were some other club where we didn’t know most of the regulars, that would be one thing. I would still be nervous, but able to pull myself together a lot sooner than this. Except this is The Dark Hour, one of my haunts. Friends will be there. Business associates. Men who want me to dominate them in the future, and women who like me for my alpha personality. Well, I’m anything but alpha tonight. I’m completely deferring to Ian’s alpha qualities. In fact, I’m worshiping them.
At home, I would do so readily. Out here, I’m vulnerable in all the wrong ways.
“You’re powerful, Kathryn.” Ian pulls me into his embrace and whispers into my ear. “Don’t let them get to you. Own who you are tonight, and don’t be afraid to send them some of those cut-throat glares you’re so good at. I love you.”
I snatch his shoulder before he can turn away from me. “You’re going to do it, right?’ My hand presses against the front of his suit jacket. “Promise me you’ll do it.”