Page 56 of Breaking Free

“It didn’t go well with Josie?”

“That’s putting it mildly, but I’d rather not talk about it. What about you and Piper, Warden? I hear they had to roust you out of the prison cell.”

Tristan sat down hard in a chair, leaned back, and closed his eyes. “I’m not in the talking mood either.”

“The lifestyle isn’t for them.” With a shrug, Axyl stretched out in the chair across from him. “That’s why we have these opennights so the kink-curious can explore. It’s better we found out now than later.”

Tristan groaned and rubbed his face. “What if you find out something you don’t want to know?”

“Like what?”

“That she’s a natural.”

“Piper? But isn’t that a good thing? I could see the electricity sparking between you.”

“I don’t want electricity,” he suddenly bit out, his calm evaporated. “I want to go to work and come home at the end of the day—alone. The same as when I play—no attachments.”

“That sounds like a lonely life, my man.”

“Better lonely than—” He stopped short before he puked out his whole pathetic story in the middle of the Decadence lounge. Tristan shot to his feet. “Never mind.”

Axyl looked up at him with concern. “You should stay and unwind. We could have a drink. I’ve got a good ear if you need one.”

“I need sleep. I’m going upstairs to get some.”

“Good luck with that, pal, considering your disposition.”

“If you’re my pal, do me a favor and make sure they get to their fucking car.”

“All right. I’m going,” the younger man said, pushing to his feet as if he were sixty instead of half that age. “But there’s a DM or Rossi man, who is most often one and the same, stationed every fifty yards from here to the parking garage. Sheesh.”

More agitated than he’d been in a long while, with a raging hard-on, Tristan slammed out of the rear door and jogged up the stairs to his third-floor apartment. The exertion relieved neither affliction, nor did a cold shower or washing her scent from his fingers.

An hour later, Tristan lay in bed, staring at the ceiling when his phone alerted. He rolled over and read Axyl’s text.

I checked the security cameras. Piper’s car is in its space outside her condo. Get some sleep and some counseling. No joke, man. Whatever it is, you’re too young to live your life alone.

With a seriously annoyed grunt, he dropped his phone on the nightstand without messaging him back.

“Thanks, Axyl,” he muttered. “But at three o’fucking clock in the morning, I don’t need your unsolicited advice.”

He went back to staring at the ceiling. It was the perfect blank canvas for him to replay the scene with Piper, which now looped on repeat in his head. He’d give his left testicle to have her in his bed, in his arms, with him wrapped around her. But she was a threat to the solitary life he preferred. She’d already worked her way under his skin. Next would be into his heart. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

She wanted a forever love, a life with laughter and joy, all of which she deserved. None of which he had to offer. He had to put distance between them so she could get it from someone who could.

---