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Dante’s last remark had me questioning Danny’s absence. It sounded definitive not metaphorical, and I hesitated to ask about Danny. Did I want to know where he had gone and what he was doing? I would be mandated to report any future crimes I was made aware of.

Dante and Danika deserved justice. I had learned from Dr. Scott that law enforcement wasn’t always adept at making sure the bad guys were put away. That was evident in just how long the Trick Pony had been allowed to stay operational.

So I chose not to ask.

The rest of the session was spent talking about Danika’s first few days and a few of the people she had met and taken too. One being a woman named Sam, who Dante admitted being a little jealous of. I assured him that was a completely valid response. Many parents wished to be their child’s favorite person. It stemmed from our own desires to be loved unconditionally.

We talked about his friends from college, Ellie and Jessie, that he and Danny had recently reconnected with. Ellie had two little girls of her own, so Dante had been reaching out when he had questions.

A support system was integral in the upbringing of a child. Not only for the child, but for the parents as well. I explained that often parents who had no one to reach out to felt isolated and alone and could lead to depression, which could hinder the relationship between the parent and child.

We made a plan for Danika’s therapy, which included speech therapy as well as occupational therapy. I assured Dante that Danika was making great progress, and it wouldn’t be long before she was talking his ear off.

At the end of another very long day, I returned to my apartment alone. I ate dinner and climbed into a nice hot bubble bath to relax.

That was when I allowed myself to think about Travis. The man from the bar. The connection we made was both terrifying and exhilarating.

As soon as my friends and I walked into that bar, I felt his eyes on me. He watched me from his seat at the bar until my friends and I entered the dance floor.

Then he moved.

I remembered thinking how he looked like a predator stalking its prey. The gestures he made, the way he undressed me as he appraised my body, should have turned me off, but instead made me hotter.

My hand trailed down my body, finding the space between my legs. My finger circled my clit as I thought about his wide shoulders. The gray henley that stretched across his chest, doing nothing to hide his muscles.

The way he stalked around the dance floor, following me as I moved. When the man behind me placed his hands on my hips, I saw the fire light up Travis’ eyes. My breaths became shallow as I dipped a finger inside my entrance, remembering the way he growled ferociously at the man behind me. Scaring him off like a lion protecting his mate.

When he led me to the bathroom, I should have pulled away. I should have come to my senses and stayed with my girlfriends, but I wanted to be taken. The demanding tone of him telling me to get on my knees ramped up my desire.

My other hand reached up to twist my nipple. The water around me sloshed, threatening to roll over the side of the tub as I recalled the way Travis fucked me. How he lifted me off the ground and held my hips as he plunged himself into me over and over.

I was almost there. His rough voice and the dirty words he spoke caressed over me.

“Come on my dick, Princess. Squeeze my fucking cock.”

Unfortunately, my mind ran faster than my body, and the memory of following him outside, seeing his motorcycle, turned the raging fire that had built from thinking about him to ice in my veins.

Every. Fucking. Time.

Leaning my head on the back of the tub, I groaned. I hadn’t had a decent orgasm in weeks. Every time I thought about Travis, I thought about his motorcycle. That led me to think about my brother and his club.

The club he chose over me.

Rationally thinking, I knew it was the club that had afforded him the opportunity to get me away from my parents. Away from the dangers of growing up in a drug den.

But irrationally, I was still that girl inside who lost her family. Who felt abandoned by the one person who has always been there for me.

Until he wasn’t.

What was supposed to be a relaxing bath to burn off the day’s highs and lows of my patients, had now become a cold tub of water that mirrored my heart.

For all the compassion and empathy I had for my patients, I spared none for Michael. He made his decision. When would I stop letting the hurt and rejection run my life?

When would I stop dwelling on a one-night stand that, even before I knew he had a motorcycle, had no hope of becoming anything more?

I needed to go out with my friends. I needed to find someone else to erase the memory of Travis. Decision made, I would call my friends and make plans for the weekend. We could hit a different bar. Maybe one a little further out from the city.

Maybe a little immersion therapy would help. We could head to a biker bar. Surround myself with men like Travis, like my brother.