Page 49 of Gamble (Black Light #38)
Emma and Chase came chasing not far behind. Emma called out to the kids to, “Wash your hands first!” before collapsing into one of the comfortable chairs in their main living room. “I’m exhausted. I don’t know how teachers deal with a whole room full of kids all day long.”
“How was the Christmas party?” Kelsey asked, trying not to be disappointed that she’d failed in her attempt to sway Jaxson before they lost the brief window of privacy from the kids.
Chase answered, delivering a cold bottle of water to Emma before plopping into the seat opposite her.
“It was chaos. Put twenty four-year-olds together in a room full of cupcakes, candy, and punch and there is no other word to describe it but chaos.”
Kelsey smiled at the vision Chase had painted, but a quick glance over and she saw Jaxson still had a scowl on his face.
Ever the observant one, Chase asked. “What happened while we were gone?”
She knew the smart thing was to just say, ‘nothing’ and let it be, but her disappointment with Jaxson’s answer pressed her to do something she rarely did—try to enlist Chase’s help to sway his husband.
“I was just trying to convince Jaxson to let me sign up for Valentine Roulette this year. I got the email that the sign-up process will be starting soon.”
“He said no, right?” Chase bit back so quickly it surprised her.
“Damn right I did,” Jaxson confirmed in his tone of voice that he expected the discussion to be over.
Kelsey’s heart dropped. It had taken months to get up the courage to ask permission to attend the hottest event at the BDSM club, only to have her hopes dashed so quickly.
With the trio attending roulette each year, there was absolutely no way she could sign-up without their knowledge.
And considering she wasn’t even a real member—she just got to go occasionally as a guest of her employers—she was positive Elijah the dungeon master would never let her participate without Jaxson’s approval.
“Wait… why are you saying no?” Emma pressed.
“You know damn well why. We’ve discussed this,” Jaxson answered, turning his dominant glare in Emma’s direction.
“Is this because of her age again?” Emma asked, clearly braver than Kelsey was.
“Her age… experience level… status as our nanny… pick a reason.”
Emma sat up straighter looking much less tired than she had a few minutes.
“Kelsey is two years older than I was when I met you on the train in France. I don’t remember you two having any issues with my age back then.”
Chase tried to reason with his wife. “It isn’t just about her age, and you know it. Roulette is hardcore. She hasn’t had any experience in the lifestyle at all.”
“I had zero experience before I met you!” Emma was almost shouting.
Based on the looks on both men in the room, Kelsey panicked.
“It’s okay, Emma. I don’t want you to get into any trouble on my account.”
“I’m not going to get into any trouble, because I’m right and my husbands are wrong.”
“Emma Cartwright-Davidson, I would use caution with your tone young lady,” Jaxson warned much too quietly.
Unswayed, Emma was on her feet, approaching Jaxson. Instead of arguing, she reached out to softly place her hands on his shoulders, leaning in close as she spoke softly.
“Considering Kelsey has spent over four years under this roof, I guarantee you that she is ten times more experienced than I was the first time you introduced me to the BDSM lifestyle. I seem to remember that happened within the first hours we spent together. I was twenty-one years old and didn’t have a clue about the kinky world you two were already so experienced in. ”
“You don’t understand,” Jaxson said, looking surprisingly uncomfortable with Emma’s assertive rant.
“What don’t I understand?”
“Kelsey is like a sister to me. The thought of her watching us at the club or worse, me watching her playing with some asshole Dom that isn’t going to treat her right infuriates me.”
“I love that you see her as a sister since the last thing I would want is someone living with us who stirred sexual feelings. Our marriage is more than complicated enough with the three of us.” Emma chuckled and Jaxson’s scowl dimmed ever so slightly.
“But I cry bullshit on having some Dom not treat her right at Black Light. Between the screening process we have in place and the care that Elijah and the other DM’s take when looking out for all of our members, there is no way anything would happen to Kelsey that she didn’t want to happen.
“Personally, I’d rather have her experimenting at our club where we know things will be safe, sane, and consensual.
Would you rather she go out and try to meet some random guy who may or may not know what he’s doing?
And let’s not forget how much she’s sacrificed to help us raise our family for the last four years.
She hasn’t had the opportunities to go out with friends or meet men the normal way.
Do you expect her to live a celibate life here, listening to us having fun through too-thin walls, wondering what it would be like to have a Dom of her own? ”
Kelsey wanted to kiss Emma. She held her breath as both men in the room silently thought through everything Emma had said.
It was Chase who finally answered. “You bring up good points, but I’m with Jaxson.” Glancing up at Kelsey, he finished. “I love you like a sister and like my real-life sister, I really don’t want to go to Black Light with you there. It would just be too… incestuous.” Chase shivered with aversion.
Kelsey couldn’t help but chuckle at his reaction. Jaxson had cut her off earlier before she’d had the chance to make her suggestion.
“I thought you guys might feel that way which is why I have a favor to ask.”
When neither man answered, she barged ahead with her request. “You guys go back and forth between the east and west coast clubs. Couldn’t you go to the D.C. club this year and then I could sign up for roulette here in California? That way we won’t accidentally cross paths.”
Chase found his next objection. “We don’t have a babysitter in D.C. If we all go to roulette, we’d need my mom to watch the twins.”
Her emotions were on a rollercoaster between hope and dejection. She had been so sure her idea would solve the problem.
“But there’s nothing stopping Kelsey from participating in the East coast roulette. She could fly out the day before and sleep in our loft above Runway,” Emma suggested.
Jaxson didn’t look too happy with Emma’s continued pressing, but to his credit he also didn’t say no. At least not yet.
Long seconds ticked by as Kelsey held her breath, waiting for his answer.
“I guess that might work,” he finally answered hesitantly.
Kelsey’s pulse spiked with excitement. She couldn’t contain her whoop of excitement as she jumped up and down like the four-year-olds that lived under the same roof. Before she could contemplate her actions, she rushed to the still hugging Jaxson and Emma and threw her arms around both of them.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I appreciate this so much,” she gushed, hugging them both for a few long seconds before stepping back.
Clearing his throat as she pulled away, Jaxson tacked on, “But I’m still going to make sure Spencer keeps an eye on her.” Pinning Kelsey with a glare he added, “I don’t want you to get paired up with some asshole like… “
He paused, unable to come up with an answer. It was Chase who filled in the blank.
“Like Helms. I still can’t believe Khloe didn’t run screaming from the building that night when the wheel matched them up.”
Kelsey shivered just thinking about the possibility of being paired with a man as scary as Ryder Helms. She’d spent enough time around the power couple to know just how intense he was, yet the thought of having a man look at her with even a fraction of the love that Ryder looked at Khloe with made it all worth it.
“You guys are proving my point,” Emma added. “The wheel knows what it’s doing.”
“Not this again. You act like the roulette wheel is magical,” Chase complained.
“Isn’t it? It’s our own version of a sorting hat,” Emma teased.
All four of them broke out in laughter at that one.
“What are you all laughing at?” the ever-inquisitive Alicia asked from the doorway.
All four of them glanced around conspiratorially before Kelsey finally answered, “We thought it would be fun to have you and Andrew cook us dinner tonight. What do you say? Want to help me whip up supper?”
“Sure! Can we have chicken nuggets again?”
The adults all groaned. If they never ate another chicken nugget again it would be too soon.
As Kelsey headed into the kitchen, she couldn’t hold back her grin.
I’m participating in Valentine Roulette. I hope I know what the hell I’m doing.
***
Keep reading Kelsey & Ian’s Roulette story here . :)