Trust (33 page)

As soon as we walked into the condo, I pulled Brianna off to the side. Holding her face between my hands, I searched her eyes. “What number, Brianna?”

“Four.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Cal and Jade approached from my left, but I ignored them for the time being.

“It’s my fault,” Brianna whispered.

“I don’t recall asking whose fault it was.” I raised one eyebrow, letting her know that I was still waiting on an answer to my question.

Brianna glanced down, and I tightened my hold. She snapped her gaze back up to meet mine. “I asked Cal why he didn’t respect my decision to move back in with you. He got upset, and I started to panic.”

I glared at Cal. The man knew how Brianna reacted to aggression.

“Don’t look at me like that, Coleman. It wasn’t like I meant to yell at her. She completely blindsided me. How was I supposed to react?”

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to speak in a calm, even tone. “Perhaps you should try listening to her.”

He snorted. “You mean like you?”

I lowered my hands and wrapped my arms around Brianna’s waist, positioning her in front of me. Her back was against my chest, so that we were both facing Cal and Jade. This discussion had been brewing for a long time. “I always make it a priority to listen to what Brianna has to say. She’s very observant, and when she shares something, it’s usually important to her. Having lived in the same house with her for four months, I’d think you’d have learned that.”

That only made him angrier, but I didn’t care. No one else appeared to be willing to tell him the truth. He needed to get his head out of his ass.

“You know nothing about me, Coleman.”

“I know that you have a temper that you let get the best of you more than you should. You don’t like me, and under normal circumstances that wouldn’t bother me. However, given how much we both seem to care about Brianna, we are going to have to find some way to put those differences aside for her sake. I know you don’t like the fact that I’m wealthy, and what happened with your neighbor has clearly defined how you view what I am.”

His face turned red. “She told you about that?”

“Brianna doesn’t keep secrets from me.”

“Unlike you from her.”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you, Ross. Brianna has accepted my apology, and that’s all that matters.”

Ross clenched and released his fists several times. He didn’t like my answer and was trying to rein in his temper. I was feeling just as frustrated as he was, but over the years I’d learned to control my anger—most of the time. If I was honest with myself, though, Ross pushed my buttons more than most.

“Ask him your question again, sweetheart.”

Brianna continued to shake, but she did as I instructed. “W-why don’t you respect my decision?”

I’d expected to see Ross’s anger flare again, but instead he sighed. “It’s not that I don’t respect your decision, Anna. I just don’t think it was really
your
decision.”

She tensed in my arms. “I don’t understand.”

It was my turn to sigh. I rested my chin on her shoulder and whispered in her ear. “He thinks I talked you into it.”

Ross snorted. “Manipulated her would be more like it.”

Brianna stood up straight, and I didn’t have to see her face to know she was getting angry. There weren’t many things that would set her off, but attacking me was one of them. “He didn’t. He asked me to move back in, and I said yes.”

“Of course he did.”

“You don’t believe me.” She sounded sad.

He was quick to try and correct her. “No. That’s not what I meant. I believe that
you
believe that’s what happened.”

She tilted her head to the side. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Gah!” Ross pulled at his hair in frustration. “Anna, people like him . . .” Ross nodded in my direction. “They’re experts at manipulation. They know how to get people to do what they want them to do and make it seem like it was their idea.”

“He’s not like that.”

“How do you know, Anna?” Ross gestured to me with his right hand. “How do you even know what he told you about that woman is true? Have you talked to her? Has she confirmed his story? For all you know the baby really is his and he’s just covering his tracks.”

Brianna shook her head violently. “No. He wouldn’t lie to me.”

“But how do you
know
that?”

It was Brianna’s turn to sound defeated. “I just do.”

I hated seeing her like this. Kissing her cheek, I hugged her tighter. Sarah had been begging me to set up a meeting between her and Brianna, but the timing was never right.

No one spoke for several minutes. We seemed to have reached a stalemate.

As the silence continued, Ross seemed to lose his conviction. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Trust me,” Brianna whispered.

I was so proud of her. She was speaking her mind even though I could feel doing so caused her heart to pound rapidly in her chest.

“I do trust you.”

She shook her head. “You don’t.”

At this point, I was surprised he didn’t stomp out. He did turn and walk away, but he only went as far as the couch. Ross sat down and held his head in his hands. I almost felt sorry for him.

Brianna twisted in my arms. She gazed up at me, her eyes pleading. “Should I go to him?”

I wanted to say no, but logic won, and I dropped my arms, releasing her. “Do what you need to do, Brianna. I’ll wait here.”

As I stood by and watched Brianna walk away from me to go comfort another man, I had to tamp down my jealousy. I knew she didn’t feel that way about him, but it was instinctual, not logical.

“He really does care about her, you know.”

I didn’t take my eyes off Brianna when I responded to Jade’s statement. “That’s the only reason I allowed her to go with him in the first place. If I didn’t think he cared, I wouldn’t have let her leave.”

“You know when you make statements like that it only solidifies Cal’s position.”

This time I did glance over at her briefly. “I will do whatever it takes to protect Brianna. I won’t apologize for that.”

We both watched as Ross and Brianna talked on the other side of the room. They kept their volume low, so other than a few words here and there, we couldn’t hear what was being said.

I was attempting to read Brianna’s lips when Jade broke through the silence with her next question—one I wasn’t expecting. “How long have you been a Dom?”

“Almost six years.”

“And this Sarah . . .”

“Sarah was my first submissive. We were together for almost a year and a half.”

“Why did you break up?”

“She graduated and moved away.”

“So you didn’t want a long-distance relationship?”

Although I didn’t mind explaining my relationship to Jade—I liked Jade—I wasn’t willing to divert my attention from Brianna. Ross might mean well, but he had a tendency to do things that sent her into a panic. “Our relationship was never traditional, so it wasn’t an issue.”

Wanting to redirect the conversation away from my past relationship with Sarah, I decided to ask her a question. “Do you think Ross will ever be able to accept our relationship?”

She sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“She’s right, you know. I would never hurt her. Not like he thinks I would.”

“I sort of figured as much. The few times I’ve seen you with her, you’ve always been affectionate and loving . . . gentle even.” She turned to face me, and I looked over to meet her gaze. “But just to be clear, if you ever do hurt her, I’ll help Cal kick your ass.”

Her ultra-serious expression caused me to chuckle. “I think you’re safe there. If I ever hurt her, there would be a line of people waiting to do me serious harm. My friends Lily and Logan would be at the front of the line.”

Ross asked Brianna a question I couldn’t hear, and she nodded. The next thing I knew, they were hugging. Brianna smiled, and practically skipped back to my side.

“Feeling better?”

She nodded.

Ross joined our little group and, in another turn of events, held out his hand. I reached around Brianna and took his offering. “I’m still not sure about this whole relationship between you two, but as long as you don’t prevent Anna from seeing us, I’ll agree to keep my opinions to myself.”

“Thank you.”

We both dropped our arms, and I rested my hands on Brianna’s shoulders.

“We should probably go.” Ross focused on Brianna. “I have a meeting next week, but Jade will pick you up Wednesday and take you to your appointment.”

“That won’t be necessary. Brianna wants me to meet Dr. Perkins, and I’m taking Wednesday off.”

Ross frowned but didn’t argue. He looked pointedly at Brianna. “We’ll call you.”

Brianna nodded, and we saw them out. I doubted all was mended, but it was a start. As with any relationship, it needed to be built brick by brick. Like it or not, Ross and I were in each other’s lives because of our love of Brianna. We were going to have to figure out how to function in each other’s space without constantly trying to mark our territory. Brianna had made her choice. It was up to both of us to accept it.

Chapter 29

Stephan

Nearly two days had passed since Brianna’s confrontation with Ross
upon her return from her therapist. We’d had several conversations between that time—most of them revolving around my relationship with Sarah. No matter how many times I tried to reassure her that the feelings I had for Sarah couldn’t compare to the ones I had for her, she still had doubts. I didn’t think it was that she didn’t believe me, but more that she didn’t believe that much in herself. Either way it was disheartening.

After spending some time answering e-mails, I came downstairs to see how her preparations for dinner were coming, but I didn’t see her anywhere. She was supposed to have gotten dinner started and then spent some time reading. The last thirty-six hours had been more stressful for her than what I would have liked, and I had a feeling dinner was going to be even more so for her.

“Brianna?”

She poked her head up over the counter.

I leaned to the side so that I could get a better look at her. She was kneeling on the floor. Her hair was pulled back, but I could see strands that were plastered against her face from sweat. This was not preparing dinner. Nor was it reading.

Taking a step closer, I zeroed in on a bucket and what looked like a scrub brush in her hand. I frowned. “Stop what you’re doing and come over here.”

She froze, and her gaze remained focused on the floor as she rushed over to where I was standing.

I stood with my arms crossed as she waited about a foot in front of me. Yesterday during one of our conversations, I’d suggested inviting Sarah over for dinner so that Brianna could meet her. Brianna had agreed but also asked if Lily could come, too. It was a simple request, and I was thrilled she’d spoken up. I’d called Logan right away and invited him and Lily to join us this evening.

What I hadn’t expected was for Brianna to go into some sort of cleaning overdrive today. At first, I didn’t think much of it. Brianna liked to clean—she’d done so almost every day when she’d lived with me before. I’d made some phone calls while she went around the house tidying up this morning. As far as I was concerned, aside from dinner, that was the end of it. Over lunch, I’d complimented her on the good job she’d done and commented that she could spend the rest of the afternoon taking it easy. Apparently Brianna had different ideas.

She stood before me with her hands behind her back and her head down, looking guilty.

“Look at me.” I waited until she looked up, although she didn’t lift her head. “What were you doing just now?”

“Um.”

“Brianna.” I knew perfectly well what she was doing, but I wanted her to tell me.

“Cleaning the floor, Sir.”

If I wasn’t so upset, I may have found her reaction to my displeasure slightly amusing. As it was, the fact that she knew what she was doing wouldn’t make me happy only irritated me more. She’d been going nonstop for the last six hours. Sarah, Lily, and Logan were coming for dinner, not the queen of England. While I’d not made her afternoon activities a command, I’d thought I’d been clear that I didn’t want her to spend it on more cleaning. “On your hands and knees?”

“I didn’t want to miss anything,” she whispered.

I didn’t say anything for several seconds. She hunched her shoulders and lowered her gaze. “Go kneel on the floor by my chair, and stay there until I say otherwise.”

She did as she was instructed.

Once she was kneeling beside my chair, I walked into the kitchen where Brianna had been cleaning. There was a scrub brush, a bucket full of soapy water, and a towel lying on the floor. I shook my head, dumped the water, and put everything away. She was overcompensating. I understood her anxiety, but I wasn’t going to allow her to keep this up.

Confident things were back to normal in the kitchen, I strolled into the living room and took a seat in my chair. Motioning for Brianna to move closer, I guided her head onto my lap. Laying my hand on top of her head, I began stroking her hair. Little by little, I felt her relax.