Page 26 of Love By Design

I made an unhappy sound. If Marshall had anything to do with this phone call, I was going to be so beyond angry. The words Landon fed me could have come straight out of Marshall’s mouth.

“Did Marshall put you up to this?”

“What?” Landon laughed. “No, quite the opposite. He told me to leave it be.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Because Marshall Covington doesn’t own my club, and it’s not up to him how I choose to run my business.”

I would have loved to see the conversation between the two of them play out because I knew when it came to talking with Marshall it was very much either his way or the highway. Though, I supposed that wasn’t entirely true. He’d not rebuffed me when I expressed interest in him on Saturday…something I’d been embarrassed about ever since. I’d held him and I’d kissed his hand, and I’d practically begged him to dominate me. None of it had turned him off, and the promise I’d made him to revisit everything later…

It hung heavy around my shoulders.

I meant what I told him, that I wanted to be safe for him. I understood power exchange was a two-way street, and I somehow knew I wasn’t in a place to offer him the same things he offered me, but making good on the bargain meant I’d have to have this conversation with Landon. That I’d have to admit what happened to me.

“It wasn’t assault,” I told Landon, something I would stand firm on.

“How would you classify it? The way I understand it, you were cuffed to a bench, expressed a desire to stop, and that desire was ignored.”

“In some cases, that’s a great start to a weekend,” I said.

“In your case?”

I sighed, banging my head against the door.

“I told him to stop and he didn’t, that’s true. But he’s—what’s his name by the way?”

Landon made a noncommittal sound. “His name is Barrett, which he’s told me I can tell you. If you asked.”

“You talked to him?” My knees trembled again, and I straightened my legs out in front of me.

“Of course.”

“And what did he say happened?”

“I want to know what you say happened,” Landon countered.

“He…Barrett…he did cuff me to the bench, and I did tell him to stop, and he didn’t. If Marshall hadn’t…” I cleared my throat. “It wasn’t assault. It was…under-negotiated, at best.”

“And at worst?”

“Thankfully we’ll never know,” I said.

Landon exhaled, and the slow cadence of it matched my own breath. I chewed at the inside of my cheek while I waited for whatever he had to say next, moderately annoyed that mymind kept drifting back to Marshall and the way it felt to be in his arms…in hisspace.

“The point I’m trying to make is he wasn’t entirely at fault.”

“No,” Landon agreed, “but the dominant does carry more of a burden when it comes to these things.”

“Debatable.”

“I’m not saying you’re without fault. I hear you taking accountability and that makes me confident that you won’t find yourself in that sort of situation again. I want to let you know as well that Barrett’s membership has been suspended.”

“Oh.”

“It won’t be reinstated unless he agrees to a mentorship,” Landon said.

“A what? How?”