Page 18 of In The Dark

“Maybe, I don’t know. We didn’t talk about our likes and dislikes as we lounged around the sex club, Ada.”

“Oh for the love of bastard God! Do you not understand what I’m trying to say?”

“Eh?” Jo frowned. She clearlywasn’tunderstanding what Ada was trying to say.

“Do you think Lia and Amelia could be the same person?”

Jo’s head snapped up. “What?”

Ada shrugged, completely unbothered that she’d just laid that out. “I mean, you imply that the chemistry with Lia is unlike anything you’ve known. But then you talk about Amelia in the same breath with the same kind of awe…having only had a drink with her that night. It just made me wonder.”

Jo shook her head, even though she was battling with the idea of it. “No. No, that’s not possible. Lia is younger than Amelia. I think. It’s hard to tell, but her voice feels different to Amelia’s, too.”

“Everything feels different in the dark, Jo.”

“It’snotAmelia.”

“Okay,” Ada said, but she didn’t sound convinced. “I’m just saying that Satin’s not that big. And if you keep seeing the same woman over and over again…”

“I’dknowif it was Amelia.” Jo picked up the wine bottle and topped their glasses up. She felt the heat creeping onto her cheeks, but no…it couldn’t be. Itwouldn’tbe. “It’s not Amelia, and even if it was…Fuck, that’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down.”

“Why not?” Ada asked, as though it wasn’t even an issue.

Jo looked up at her, frowning. “Because she’s Callum’smum. Because I could have been herdaughter-in-law.”

“Couldbeing the operative word.”

Why the hell had Jo even told Ada about Amelia and her membership? “That doesn’t make it less complicated.”

Ada softened. “Jo, you’ve said it yourself. Whoever was in that room…they made you feel wanted. I don’teverrecall you saying anything similar when you were with Callum. Shit, I don’t even remember you saying it about anyone before him.”

“I know.” Jo hated that Ada was right. And now, she hated how part of her wondered. Perhaps the next time she visited the club, more specifically the dark room, she could listen more closely to the voice in the darkness. Maybe for clues,inflections…something. Anything. “I just…it can’t be her,” Jo said to herself rather than to Ada.

“Okay. Then tell me what you’re going to do. About Lia. About Amelia. Aboutallof it.”

Jo drained the last of her wine, the warmth of it doing little to ease the sudden flutter of anxiety in her chest. “I don’t know.”

Ada lowered herself to the floor, sat beside Jo, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Do you want Lia outside of that room?”

Jo swallowed. “I think so.”

“And do you want Amelia outside of that club?”

Whoa. Jo wouldn’t answer that. Not yet.

“Look, just promise me one thing…”

Jo turned her face to Ada. “What?”

“That you’ll consider whatever is happening here. Whoeversheis,whereverit leads…you deserve to be happy. You deserve to be desired, and you absolutely deserve to be chosen, rather than thrown away by some little prick who thought he’d found something better.”

Jo barely managed a smile, but she nodded anyway. “Okay.”

Ada leaned back with a grin. “Good. Now finish your wine and tell me everything Lia’s done to you in the dark room. In detail.”

Jo laughed, the tension in her chest beginning to fade for the first time all night. “You’re…I don’t even know what to say.”

“There’s plenty to say…about Lia.”