Page 118 of Pierced

My shoulders drop. “Oh. I thought you said—”

“No, no, no, no, monsieur!” The cops are on me now. One is grabbing up my discarded clothes while the other takes me by the arm and starts to pull me away.

“I’m staying at La Réserve!” I shout to her. “I’m checked in under Anastasia Steele!”

“Why?”

“Mona said that now that I’m kind of famous, I should start keeping a low profile!”

“Great job!”

“Just please… if I’m not in prison later, come find me! I think we should keep talking!”

And as one of the gendarmes throws my coat over me and the other leads me to a waiting police car, I look back at her over my shoulder, and I can’t be sure, but I think I see her smile.

Or it may be a grimace as she spots the tree branch that hits me in the face seconds later as I’m staring back at her rather than watching where I’m walking.

Could go either way.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - MYRTLE

You know those moments that stop time and you have a bazillion thoughts running through your head and somehow a whole other lifetime happens in the span of two or three seconds?

I’m having one of those as I watch Pierce be led away by the police.

I’m seeing weird things. Old things. My mother in the library, reading to my class that first year we moved onto campus. And the girl sitting next to me telling me her name and I just looked at her. Like… what was I supposed to do with that information? I mean, the obvious answer is tell her my name back and say, “Let’s be friends!” But I didn’t understand that back then. No one gave me a rule book and wouldn’t life be so much easier if it came with a fucking rule book?

But there are no spare moments to ponder that because I’m back in time. That first summer I went to stay with my father, he gave me a kitten. Not an exotic one or anything. Just a plain old kitten. He said I could train it and take it home with me. But I said, “It doesn’t want to be trained and I don’t want to train it.” So it didn’t come home with me. It stayed with him.

And then that first day I met the man who would later become my dom and I just kinda went along with it. Too afraid to respond, I guess. That was always my problem. It wasn’t that I was scared. Not the way people think, anyway.

I just don’t know how to respond when these small things that have big-event potential happen unexpectedly, so my default reaction is to say nothing, or reject the offer, or just… play along. Let fate sort it out.

But something happens as Pierce waits for the police to open the door and shove him inside.

He’s talking, I can see that much. And then one of the gendarmes—a young woman probably not much older than Eden—throws her head back and laughs.

And Pierce laughs. And then he’s talking again, and then they’re all laughing.

None of them are looking back at me, so it’s not me they’re laughing at. In fact, I don’t think they’re laughing at anyone. I think Pierce just said something really funny. Or blurted out something really inappropriate.

Just being… Pierce. He’s always just being Pierce. So comfortable in his own shoes. So sure of himself. So damn funny, and ridiculous, and over the top.

Pierce walks through life telling everyone to take him or leave him.

And sure, some people leave him, but that never sets him back. He just… goes for it. Every single time. One hundred percent.

So even though he didn’t come to Paris to see me, when that moment came and he saw his opportunity, he didn’t settle for the default option.

I realize I’m still in that altered state where time has stopped and the world is on pause. Because I log every one of their faces. Eyes bright. Happy and in the moment. Laughing. Probably thinking this guy isn’t worth the paperwork.

I hold my breath, hoping that they’ll just let him get dressed and tell him to be on his way.

But the spell breaks, everyone is moving, the door opens, the woman places her hand on his head so he doesn’t hit it when he gets in the back seat, and less than a minute later he’s… gone.

Just gone.

Just as quick as he appeared, he disappears.