Never Tell Secrets (18+)

Ch 27 - Love Bite

ATTENTION RADISH READERS! Please don't leave any spoilers in here or you'll be getting a spanking from Alfie. Or Elliot. Or Keira. Whoever you'd prefer. 😘

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I awoke to the late afternoon sun shining through my window and the rhythmic thudding of Keira's sewing machine coming from the living room.

Alfie...

I could still feel his body encasing me, not suffocating like the python he used to be, but safe like an oak tree, warm and resilient.

My fingers rested on my throat as I slept, stroking the place where the collar had rested. Alfie had removed it in the car and immediately I had felt colder without it. I missed it in a way I didn't understand. It wasn't a kink. I didn't judge but I wasn't into the whole Dom/sub thing. It was more than that. It connected me to Alfie, marked me as his. I missed it the same way I would miss a wedding ring.

I thought about the ring he'd offered me once, The stunning, Bleeding Heart diamond that sat silent in his time capsule room. Part of me missed the ignorance he'd kept me in back then. Facing the reality of his false promises had been a hell I didn't wish on anyone. But now...everything was different now.

Stretching out my aching body, I sat up. My dress lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. I threw on sleep shorts and a t-shirt and went to find Keira.

She was at her work station in the living room, swearing at ruffled taffeta that apparently wasn't cooperating with her.

"Hey."

She looked up, her usual bright playfulness gone from her eyes. "Hey, yourself." She turned back to her work, distracted or pissed at me I wasn't sure.

"Keira...are we good? I'm really sorry I ditched you last night."

"I'm a big girl, Lo. Yeah, we're fine." She threw me a smile over her shoulder but I could sense something was off. "How was your night? Did Moneybags behave himself?"

"Yes, actually," I moved to sit on the couch next to her work station. "We talked, we danced, he brought me home."

"That's it?" Her brows raised so high I thought they might fly off her forehead. I just shrugged. Alfie had surprised me too. She bit her lip, frowning as she turned back to her work. "I hate that twisted prick," she muttered. I said nothing, no need to respond to something I already knew. "But, you've been sleeping better since he came back." It was true. I was still having nightmares but there were far less of them since that first night I'd seen him again. "Please, just be smart."

"Promise." I nodded, "and thank you."

"For what?"

"For having my back."

"Always," she said as she expertly threaded a needle on her machine, "unless you're being an idiot. Then I reserve the right to slap you upside the head."

"Fair enough," I laughed, "so, how did Maia cope last night?"

"I don't really know, we split off pretty quickly. She seemed fine on our way home though. Quiet but that's not unusual."

"And you?" I asked, "how was your night?"

"Fine," she answered, not meeting my eye.

"Fine? That's it?" I pressed and she shrugged again, but I wasn't letting her get off that easy. "I saw Damien before I left, he said you were part hellcat." I nudged her, waiting for the usual detailed play by play, but she didn't even look up.