Page 74 of Dual Surrender

“I spanked him for fun last night. He’s been like this ever since.” Darius chewed and swallowed.

“Did he ask you to?”

His ears darkened again and he scratched the corner of his eye with the tip of his pointer finger.“He told me I could.”

“Was it your idea?” I asked.

“We’d been watching a porn,” he started to explain.

I held up my hands. “I’ll stop you there.”

Darius chuckled and huffed out a breath that gave him chipmunk cheeks. Then he shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich.

“I’ll tell you this, though,” I offered with a smirk, “in my experience, if one spanking isn’t enough to fix an attitude problem, two generally will be.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ronan

=Kevin had been gone for seven days.

I frowned at the calendar on the fridge, empty of new events markered in after Valentine’s Day. It was the longest we’d been apart since we met and I hated it.

On the counter, my phone rang and my heart quickened, running through the different scenarios of whether it would be Kevin calling or work. Both requiring different levels of attention. If it was Kevin, would he be tired or angry? Would he be calling with a funny story? I knew he and Colton hadn’t been getting along terribly well, but he seemed more amused by the situation than hurt. I wanted to know why. I wanted to lie in bed with him and touch his face while he told me the story.

I hoped it was him, so I could turn the camera on and see his face. Maybe I’d make him touch himself for me. He’d been so good with my demand to not get off while we were apart, but I’d spent our nightly phone calls making him bring himself close to the edge and then sending him to bed. He loved me and he hated me and it was as close to perfect as the circumstances would allow.

If the call was work.

Fuck.

I didn’t want to work, but work kept me distracted. I’d been pulling as many extra shifts as I could manage, but what I hadn’t expected to see when I swiped the screen awake to check the caller ID was Foster’s name.

“Hello?” I answered, closing my eyes and leaning against the counter.

“Will you come over?” he asked.

No hello. No how are you. No I’m sorry for sending your life into a tailspin.

“Why?”

“There’s some things I need to talk to you about and I think it’s better in person.”

“I’ll say.”

“Will you?” Foster asked. “I’m going out of town this weekend and I’d like to talk before then.”

“Going out of town to hide or to take a fucking vacation, Foster?”

He sighed. The man had the audacity to sigh at me.

“Will you just come over?”

I disconnected the call and grabbed my keys.

The drive to Foster’s house was short, and I noticed on arrival that the tall window that flanked his door had been boarded up with plywood. I let myself in and found the living room empty, but I followed the sound of Foster’s voice into the back yard. He sat in his favored Adirondack, coffee in hand and Sage beside him. When Sage saw me, he straightened like he was going on the defensive.

I rolled my eyes and lowered myself into the second chair.