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He sighed, frustrated. “Then what’s the issue?”
John lowered his voice to a whisper so no one around them could hear the information he was about to disclose. Drew doubted his friend would tell him anything ninety percent of the club didn’t already know, but he decided to play along. One of the first things Drew learned was that word traveled fast in the small community—especially if it was something bad. “She used to come here all the time with her sub, Ben. They’d been together for years, from what I heard, before Mistress and I began getting involved in local events. Then, three months ago, they both suddenly stopped coming. To the club. To munches. Everything.”
Drew couldn’t help himself. He was intrigued. “What happened?”
“Ben traveled a lot for his business. Sometimes he was out of town for weeks at a time going to all sorts of places. Apparently, his trips weren’t business related. At least, not completely. Lady Beth found out he had a wife and daughter in Florida.”
“That’s insane. It’s like something you hear on TV.” Drew shook his head, trying to digest the information he’d received.
“I know. He’d lied to her the entire time.”
Drew’s gaze drifted back to Lady Beth. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have trust broken in such a way.
John’s voice pulled Drew out of his musings. “I don’t know if she’s ready to dive back into a relationship, man, and I know that’s what you want.”
It was true. Drew did want a relationship, but he was willing to work for it. One step at a time, right? So the first thing he had to do was find a way to introduce himself.
***
Beth Davenport tried to ignore all the stares she received when she entered the club. It had been three months since she’d stepped foot inside Serpent’s Kiss. She knew showing up would mean she’d be the hot topic of gossip for the evening. Her best friend and fellow Domme, Nicole, had warned her about the rumors floating around. They were surprisingly accurate as far as rumors went except no one knew how Beth had come to find out about Ben’s lies. Only Nicole knew the whole truth, and Beth wanted to keep it that way.
Domme or not, finding out a large portion of the life you’d been living for the last three years was a lie left Beth broken in a lot of ways. She wasn’t even sure why she’d come to the club. Oh, that’s right. It was Nicole’s hounding over the last two weeks. Nicole had insisted three months was enough moping.
Every Friday afternoon for the last month, Nicole had called Beth asking if she was going to put in an appearance at Serpent’s Kiss. Each time, Beth had weaseled out of it. Her friend had even enlisted Katrina’s help more than once.
The club mistress was a formidable woman in her late forties. She’d been married to a man who wanted no part in her kinky ways. Beth didn’t know her back then, but the way the story went was that at forty-four, her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He’d died within two months. The sudden change in Katrina’s life prompted her to take stock. Six months later, she opened Serpent’s Kiss.
While Beth admired Katrina and her take-the-bull-by-the-horns attitude, Beth wasn’t sure she was ready to be back at the club. Unfortunately, when Katrina had put her on the spot, Beth hadn’t been able to say no. Both Katrina and Nicole had been incredibly supportive after what had happened with Ben. While Beth had no desire to put herself back out into the dating world—it was the last thing she wanted at the moment—Nicole and Katrina had convinced her that she needed to get out and mingle. She had friends here, and it wasn’t right for her to turn her back on them because Ben had been a class-A jerk.
So here she was, sitting with Nicole and a group of their friends. Beth was the only Dominant in their group without a sub. It was a little awkward, but she tried to ignore it and have a good time. Nicole was right about one thing, Beth had missed her friends. She wasn’t going to let what Ben did tarnish that.
“I think you have an admirer,” Nicole whispered in Beth’s ear, jarring her from her thoughts.
“What?”
Nicole scooted closer to her. “There’s a guy across the room that hasn’t been able to take his eyes off you for the last fifteen minutes. I’d say he’s interested.”
Beth didn’t even bother to look. “I’m not.”
“Oh, come on. He’s hot, and I happen to know he’s a sub.”
“That doesn’t change anything. I’m not ready to get back into the dating pool again.”
Her friend rolled her eyes. “Well, you don’t have to date him, you know.”
She shook her head. “I’m not into playing with random subs and you know it. Even if I was, I don’t think I could even do that after everything.”
Nicole frowned. “You have to get back on the horse sometime.”
Beth sighed in defeat. “I know. Maybe in a month or so—”
Her friend placed a hand on her arm, stopping Beth mid-sentence. “I don’t think he’s going to wait a month or so. He’s coming over.”
“What do you mean he’s coming over? Here?”
Nicole nodded and turned back to their group, effectively leaving Beth to fend for herself. Taking a deep breath, Beth prepared herself for whatever line this guy was going to try to sell her.
Her heart pounded as she felt him drawing closer, but Beth refused to show any outward signs that she was aware of the man. It would only encourage him.
