Page 41 of I’m Fine Save Me (The Spiral Duet #1)

Chapter twenty-nine

Morgan

S he joins the voice chat only a minute after I do.“Hi.”

That first greeting from her is enough to make my mouth instantly pull up into a smile. She doesn’t flatten her I’s like I expected when she told me she has a southern accent. I do remember her mentioning trying to train it out of herself though.

Perhaps that was something that was easier to manipulate than the little lilt that instantly makes a person think of peach orchards, and the argument over the pronunciation of the word ‘pecan.’

“Hey, baby girl. How are you today?” I ask her and I know the smile can be heard in my voice.

I’m just so damn happy she actually agreed to talk to me.

While I think I’ve made progress with her opening up to me, this was a big jump considering I know that Chris never would just talk to her or her husband.

I hear her adjust her phone before she responds. “I’m doing pretty great. How about you, love?” There’s a smile in her tone and I love it.

I don’t know if it makes me less of a man to admit how her calling me ‘love’ makes my smile grown even wider, but I really don’t fucking care. “It was a long day at work, but well worth suffering through to finally get to hear your voice. What made your day so great, baby girl?”

“I don’t think it’s worth all of that,” she laughs and it’s self-deprecating.

I don’t like that sound one bit. She brushes right over that before I can comment and says, “But Cooper and I got to have a really good morning together before Hannah woke up. It’s been a bit of a lazy Saturday at home.

Prepackaged cookies were baked for the two of them, and we let Hannah pick all three of the movies we watched in the blanket fort in her bedroom. ”

“Now that sounds like a good Saturday indeed. I’m hoping that spending time together this morning means that you were up to no good.” She laughs a real laugh this time and the difference in the sound is almost magical. “I take that as a yes?”

“Yea. It was pretty great. We don’t get to be like that often and this morning was just…” she pauses and I think for a few moments that she might not find the word she’s searching for. Then she breathes, “Perfect,” and I can hear the pure relief in that single word.

“I’ve gathered from our previous conversations that you two don’t get to… connect like that often.”

“No. Cooper has a few mental health challenges that we work through pretty often, but he’s an amazing man.

There’s a reason I married the guy.” That smile is still there in her voice, coaxing my own to remain plastered on my face.

“What about you? I know you suffered through work, but you don’t usually work on Saturdays. ”

My smile drops a bit, but not because of anything she said, just the frustration of having to go into the office on the weekend.

“Yea, I’m managing a big project and the client is a bit of a diva.

If we weren’t making so much money on the deal, I probably would’ve stayed at home to try and entice you into writing; but it doesn’t sound like you would’ve been around.

” Tegan laughs softly. “Olaf, Bolt, and Buzz Lightyear were very adamant that I give them my attention today. Sorry.”

“The thing I said about apologizing goes for when I get to talk to you too. You have nothing to apologize for.” My tone is stern but still playful.

I really wish that fuckwit hadn’t made her think everything was her fault.

“I have a daughter of my own and I hope you wouldn’t hold it against me if I put her first. My two sons take priority also, but they don’t need my attention as much since they’re both in college.”

“Of course I wouldn’t. You’re a parent and your kids always come first, just like your wife should come before me too,” she says with all the seriousness in the world.

“Then I don’t expect you to apologize to me for being a good mom and wife. Your family always comes first.”

She’s quiet for a long moment and I don’t know if it’s because she wasn’t expecting me to just be okay with that, or if she thinks she’s done something wrong and wants to apologize again.

“What are you doing with the rest of your day, pretty girl?”

Tegan is still quiet for another moment or two before she answers.

“Well, I told Cooper that I wasn’t sure how long you and I would talk. Part of me was certain this would be very awkward and you would find a reason to end the call; but I was hopeful that we’d be able to talk as easily as we chat in text. So I didn’t put a time limit on this.”

Grinning like an idiot, I shake my head even though she can’t see me. “Good because I’m not ending the call. You’re not awkward. If anything, you’re even more charming now that I can hear your voice. The accent is the exact opposite of horrible. I love it.”

She chuckles. “Yea, yea. Just wait until you hear me in my truest form when I’m all worked up and hot headed. That’s when the twang really shines.”

“I bet.” I laugh in response. “So you told Cooper we would be talking?”

Not that I expected her to hide it, but I am curious about their relationship.

Tegan has given me bits and pieces over the last few months.

I know that he knew about her relationship with Chris.

While my wife knows what I do online, she’s never been interested in knowing about the women I talk to or get off with.

She never really brings up the guys she dates either.

Our arrangement is to be roommates with occasional benefits until our youngest is off to college.

Once we have finances and living arrangements in order, we’ll file for divorce and move on with our lives.

We accepted a few years ago that we just aren’t compatible enough to stay together after the kids are all out of the house.

It all works the way it is currently though.

“I did. He’s known about you for a while.”

That smile is back in her tone and it helps me to relax into the conversation while I make my way home.

“When the whole thing with Chris went down and he stood us up, I showed him our message thread that got me laid that night.”

I can’t hold back my laugh at that. That night will forever be burned into my memory. I didn’t mind helping her out at all. Knowing that she was writhing and moaning every time she sent me some garbled, bullshit line of random letters had me hard and aching.

I didn’t even reach out to someone else that night to write some dirty scene that would get me off.

Instead, I waited for each message and grinned like a fool as I sent the next one.

Sometimes I would wait just a little bit longer to see if she would be lucid enough to fuss at me for taking too long to respond.

It only happened once. It made me even harder to know she was being denied, giving me just a little bit of control over her pleasure in that situation.

I consider myself dominant in the bedroom, but I never understood the sides of the kink that pulled in sadism and masochism.

Not that I shame anyone who is into that, but it’s never been my thing.

I like to be the master of my partner’s pleasure. I get a thrill from knowing I can drive her right to the edge, and it’s my decision whether or not she comes.

Of course, I’m going to eventually let her find her release, but it varies on how long I make her wait.

Tegan is the one I’ve been wanting to play that game with though.

I want to hear her pleasure and I want to be responsible for making her come so many times that she can’t walk without remembering the pleasure the next day.

“I don’t think I could ever deny anything that would get you off, pretty girl. I saw you denied and punished publicly far too many times. Even if it was in character, I knew what he was trying to do.”

Her tone turns slightly sad, and I can hear that note of self-deprecation creeping back in again.

“Yea, well. I was stupid enough to keep going back to it. That was something Cooper and I talked about this morning. He wants me to be less cautious with you and to open up more if I feel like I want it. I’m jaded as fuck when it comes to doing this and I don’t want to get hurt again. ”

“Babygirl, I’m not pushing…”

“I know, love. I know. Cooper isn’t pushing either, but he knows that I like you and that I want to open up to you. I want to trust you. Just– you can only touch the fire and get burned so many times before your brain finally tells you how stupid you are . You know?”

She’s so hard on herself, and yes there were a lot of red flags that I know she saw, but I also know how lonely she’s been. She’s told me that much. I know her husband’s mental state isn’t always the best. Her daughter also has special needs on top of that.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to be isolated like that in her own home.

“I stayed attached to Chris because I knew he would kick me out of the server if I ended things. I also thought he was going to be a friend to Cooper, and he really needs someone who isn’t me . His best friend is a tool that gets into his head, and makes things so much worse more often than not.”

“How so?”

“Well, he likes to tell him that I’m going to leave him.

Theo isn’t exactly in the happiest marriage because he serves in the Army, comes home on leave, knocks up his wife, and goes back on tour again.

She will be giving birth to baby number three soon and she’s been raising them mostly on her own with the help of his parents and her sister. ”

Tegan lets out a heavy sigh like it pains her to think about these family friends.