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“Takeout. My place,” Rebecca demanded. “Be there at seven. I’ll try to be out of here early. And, Cassidy?”

“Yes, Mistress?”

Obviously, Cassidy was learning Rebecca’s moods.

“Bring your friend and extra clothes.”

“Yes, Mistress!”

“CAN I ASK you something?” Cassidy dug her chopsticks into the Chinese takeout box, coming up with a piece of beef dripping with brown sauce. She plopped it in her mouth as she waited for Rebecca’s permission to go on.

“Just did,” Rebecca joked. She twisted a good amount of Lo Mein noodles onto her chopsticks. “Go ahead,” she said before taking her bite.

“Why did you keep the club? Was it just to become a Dom?”

Rebecca managed not to choke on her food, chewing carefully while trying to think of a way to explain. They were sitting in Rebecca’s elegantly decorated living room. At first, Cassidy had been reluctant to sit on the cream-colored sofa and eat. It wasn’t until Rebecca sat, cross-legged, at the coffee table, digging into the food that Cassidy acquiesced.

“Should I not have asked that?” Cass continued before Rebecca could answer.

“You can ask anything you want. Having a relationship means not keeping things from each other, right?”

Cassidy grinned as she leaned over and fed Rebecca a piece of broccoli. “Right.”

“You know, you need to eat more vegetables,” Rebecca said around the big piece Cassidy fed her.

“Yeah, yeah.” Cassidy picked up a baby corn and made a show of eating it. “Is this your way of avoiding my question?”

Rebecca put her chopsticks to the side and sighed. “I’m not avoiding. I’m trying to figure out a way to explain it that makes sense.”

Cassidy nodded and kept eating quietly. The woman must have had a bottomless pit for a stomach.

“Obligation,” Rebecca said quietly.

“Obligation?” Cassidy repeated with a mouth full of food.

Rebecca passed her girlfriend a napkin. “Yes. That was the main reason I kept the club open. After what I did, I felt I owed it to Samantha to keep her dream going.”

Cass frowned and pushed her food to the side. Fucking Samantha. She’d always been taught to not hate anyone. But, she was sure her mom would forgive her for this one. “You don’t owe that bitch anything!”

Rebecca shook her head. “You don’t understand…”

“You’re right. I don’t. She abused you. She tried to kill you. Why would you think you owed her anything?”

“I watched her die, Cassidy.”

“Of her own doing! You didn’t kill her.”

“Didn’t I?” Rebecca asked hotly. “I could have done something! I could have called for help! But, I did nothing. Nothing!”

Cassidy scooted closer and took Rebecca’s trembling hand. “Tell me something. What were your injuries that night?”

Rebecca closed her eyes. She could still feel the pain from that beating. It was ingrained deep in her bones and memory. “It doesn’t matter,” she murmured.

“It matters to me, baby. Let me help you.”

Rebecca nearly scoffed. If years of therapy with her aunt hadn’t worked, what made Cassidy think she could help? She immediately felt bad for that thought. Maybe Cassidy was exactly what Rebecca needed.

“Broken ribs, nose, and eye socket, dislocated arm, perforated spleen, and a few other internal things,” she answered as though she were reading words out of a dictionary.