Page 38 of Salvage Him

"No, I mean. I did it. Willingly." She hugged herself. "Back then, I wanted to experienceeverything."

"Yeah, but an unscrupulous Dom has a lot of power over a natural sub," I said with a hint offlattery.

She looked up and bitherlip.

"Unscrupulous." She crossed the room and sat next to me. "Malcolm was a manipulativebastard."

I laughed, and shejoinedme.

"What happened?" Iasked.

She recoiled intoherself.

"I mean, how did you get out of it." I shifted tofaceher.

"Um, Paulsavedme."

"Paul." I picked at the couch cushion. "What doyoumean?"

"While in school, I worked for a company that staged places. I decorated new real estate property. We made the place look lived in. I staged an apartment for Paul, and we got to know each other on that job." She picked at a string on her jeans. Her fingers never stopped moving. "He flirted, and I flirted back, and we got to know each other over a few more projects. Nothing overtly romantic, all very innocent. Paul was such the opposite of Malcolm. It was nice. He knew I wasn'thappy."

She stood back up and went to thewindow.

I stood up and leaned on the glass. I waited for her tofinish.

"This one night, I was meeting Malcolm at a bar in the city. Paul was there when I showed up. I'm not sure how he knew where to find me. But we were talking and laughing when Malcolm arrived. He didn't like it." Brooklyn tapped on the glass. "I introduced them, and I guess Paul just knew. When Malcolm stepped outside to take a call, Paul told me if I ever needed help, to call him. He said he liked me and would take careofme.

"He left before Malcolm came back, but I got punished that night for disrespecting Malcolm. A few nights later, Malcolm had me meet him in the penthouse of an apartment on the Upper East Side. He said it was a private party. When I arrived, he basically let two guys do what they wanted to me." She whispered thelastpart.

My heart broke. I wanted to reach out, touch her, and pull her close to me. I wanted to get Seth and Patrick and go kickMalcolm’sass.

"When they were done, one of the guys, I think he owned the place, told me to stay and clean myself up." She laid her hand flat on the glass. "He said he and his friend would be back later to continue the party. When I told him I had to leave, he said Malcolm promised them I'd be theirs and whoever else they invited for the rest of the night. I called Paul as soon as they left, and he's taken care of me eversince."

"Brooklyn . . ." I touched the small of her back. She flinched andmovedaway.

"Don't, okay. I am not saying this to hurt you, but I'm not going to cheat on my husband." She hugged herself. "I owe him betterthanthat."

I sighed and grunted aresponse.

She tilted her face up to me. "I just really need a friend right now, and I don't want to have to stop seeing you because of something that can'thappen.”

I stepped away. I tried to keep my face neutral as my mind swirled with conflicting emotions. A image of my mom popped inmyhead.

"Harrison?" she pleaded as confusion clouded her expression. "Please, tell me youunderstand."

I collapsed back on the chair, my hands on my head. I couldn't do this to her. I couldn't allow her to cheat. I couldn't be that guy. I couldn't break up her family; the way someone brokeupmine.

I stood back up and walkedtowardher.

Shebackedup.

I held myhandsup.

"I get it. Don't worry." My legs weighed a ton. "To tell you the truth, I could use afriend,too."

"Yeah," she said as relief washed all overherface.

"This has been a weird night,"Isaid.