Page 49 of Guarded

“What? Nobody. Why would I-. It’s no one.” I stammer.

“Oh. I know that look. You’ve had it all morning.” She points her fork at me.

“What?” I laugh nervously.

I am unsure of what she means and also paranoid that she can read it simultaneously. Cooper leans to the side of her stool in the kitchen to check on the kids, who are playing in the living room, before she lowers her voice.

“You got that morning afterglow,” she whispers.

I can’t imagine what my face is doing, but whatever it’s doing, Cooper is laughing at it.

“The what?”

“You know, that good Cha-ka-cha-ka.” She says, and my face flushes red when she stands to air hump my counter.

“How can you tell?” I whisper.

“Bitch, you can just tell someone fucked you good. Tell me who!”

“Oh my god. No. We didn’t fuck. Well, kinda, but not. I don’t know.” I sigh.

“What the fuck you mean you don’t know?”

“Just- never mind. Nothing happened.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“I’m serious!”

“Okay, fine, don’t tell me then.” She huffs.

I look down at my phone again and type three messages to Nero before deleting them. I don’t know what to say to him, but I have a lot of questions. Asking Cooper might not be a bad option—it might be my only option for getting an honest answer.

“What does dominance and submission mean?” I ask

“I fucking knew it. You quiet ones are some fucking freaks!” she exclaims.

I give her a pointed stare before nodding towards the kids.

“Oh, right, my bad. Damn girl. Well, that’s kind of like role-playing. Like one person is in charge and the other person is just like doing everything they say. The Dom could be like, “Get on your knees bitch.” And the submissive is all like, “Yes, Daddy.”

“Daddy!? I can’t call him that!” I exclaim.

“Hold on. Honestly, I don’t really know for sure. I ain’t never experienced it myself, you know? I mean, one time, this guy Phillip slapped me with his- never mind. Oh, look, right here.” Her voice trails off as she reads something on her phone.

“Okay. Hmm. So, according to this website, the submissive gives the dominant consensual power over her body. Mmhmmm. Okay, we already know that. Oh, it also says you can call him Master or Sir.” She keeps reading and murmuring over the article.

“Damn, this some freaky ass shit. Okay, there’s a test to see if you are a submissive. You gotta take this, Ari.”

“Why do I need to take a test?” I ask.

“Bitch this may be your thing. Don’t you want to explore your freaky side?”

“No! My parents are already meeting with my future husband as we speak!” I retort.

“And what the fucks that got to do with right now, Ari?” Cooper replies in her non-negotiable tone.

She continues on, unphased by my protests, and I’m glad she does because I’m also a tiny bit curious.