Page 23 of The Dom with the Clever Tongue

She shook her head. “There’s never calories in the ice cream I buy.”

“Perfect!”

Sabrina grinned and they started down the hallway.

“Where’s Zen?”

The threesome’s toddler daughter was usually found trailing behind Sabrina while Q and Jude worked daytime hours, since she had the most flexible schedule.

“It’s Sunday, silly! Q’s home. Thank god. She’s just starting to walk and wants nothing to do with the stroller anymore. Stubborn child. She’s just like Q.” She heaved a tired sigh.

“Oh! Let’s buy her some new clothes! That’ll cheer me up.”

“Nooo.” Sabrina shook her head fiercely. “I’ve been banned from buying her more clothes or shoes for at least a year.”

“Aww.” She and Sabrina had the common goal of turning Zenobia into their little fashion doll. Q had started out insisting they raise the child gender neutral but she really should’ve known better. Sabrina couldn’t resist Mary Janes and a foofy dress. Jude often left those disagreements up to the girls to figure out. But she admired her friend’s skill at parenting. Even if Zen was wearing a fancy dress, the tags barely off, Sabrina never stopped her from jumping in a mud puddle. Unless they were on the way to church, of course. “What if we shop winter clearance racks and buy a size up?”

“Hmm.” She thought for a moment. “That’ll work.”

She had to laugh at Sabrina’s ability to get her way. Even Reece found herself shaking her head at her ability to negotiate out of a situation. “You’re such a brat.”

With an eyebrow raised, she replied, “So are you. You just haven’t grown into your brattiness yet, but it’s in there.”

The reminder of her original reason to shop made her sigh. As usual, Sabrina picked up on her mood. “Aw. What happened? Tell me everything. Oh!” She pointed to the frozen yogurt stand ahead. “Good timing. Here’s our ice cream.”

After they ordered their treats – loaded up with chocolate – they took a seat at a nearby table. “So the emergency shopping trip has something to do with kink,” Sabrina guessed.

Reece nodded. “I cried in front of Malachi.” Saying it out loud made her wince. She was pathetic. The worst part was knowing that she couldn’t be the one to meet Scarlet’s need for pain. It was a huge failure on her part. How could they ever work around something so important and still have an awesome sex life? Scarlet could give her everything she wanted, and all she had to do was lie there and appreciate it. How long until Scarlet started to feel she was being taken advantage of? She hated that she was such a baby about it, but being forced to hit her last night – hard, not just a swat – was like being forced to hit herself. She didn’t have a sadistic bone in her body. And if she kept trying, even for Scarlet, she felt like it could break her.

“Oh my god!” Sabrina reached over the table and grabbed her hand. “Did he hit you too hard?” The second part was a harsh whisper.

“Hit me?” she repeated as Sabrina’s grip hardened. “Ouch. You’re hurting me. Why on earth would he hit me?”

After releasing her hand, she shrugged. “He’s a Dom and played with you guys. I figured it might go that far. You are bi, you know, even though you haven’t been with a man in a while.”

That didn’t mean she was attracted to Malachi. Okay, she was attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be? But not in a real relationship way. He was just eye candy and a kink therapist. Guilt immediately filled her that she’d reduced him to so little.

“No. He’s not getting involved that way.” An idea formed. A crazy one, but something to explore. “Hey. Do you think he’d top Scarlet some time? Platonically. So she can...experiment and see how much she likes it.” She frowned. “It’s kinda weird though, huh? Doing kinky stuff with someone you’re not going to have sex with and have no real relationship with?”

Sabrina shrugged. “Ask him. People top each other without sex all the time in clubs. It’s about meeting mutual needs.” At Reece’s hesitation, she added, “He’s a nice guy. I wouldn’t have suggested him if I didn’t trust him to take care of you two.”

“Yeah. He seems to have changed since high school, but there’s still a part of me that’s holding back. Like I can’t quite get there. Sometimes when I look at him, all I see is that awkward kid who made everyone laugh at me. Then I just wanna kick him in the shins.”

Sabrina snorted a laugh with ice cream in her mouth then started coughing.When she settled down she said, “I dare you to try. He’s goofy but he’s definitely a Dom. I’ve seen him with Ivy. He can put a sub in her place as well as Jude or Cross.”

“Ivy?” A girlfriend?

“His ex. He was heartbroken when she broke up with him. I guess she wanted someone stricter. Malachi is...” She stopped and seemed to consider her words for a moment. “He’s a more lenient Dom. Some girls need someone who’ll control every part of their life. Someone who’ll discipline them for real, not just, like funishment. Which is usually what I get from Jude and Q.”

She arched a brow. “Funishment?”

“Like pretend punishment. It could be embarrassing or even painful but we all know we like it. But some subs want that sort of thing all the time, not just in a sexual context.”

“I’ve seen Jude and Q dom you outside of the bedroom.” It was hot and she envied her friend during those times even though she swore up and down she’d hate it if it happened to her.

She shrugged. “Yeah we’re kind of in between. But my Doms are lazy. I get away with a lot. Plus they like brats. Some people in the lifestyle are more serious. Like Cross used to be.”

A picture formed. Big guy, lots of tattoos, fierce expression. He’d been at Zen’s baptism and other family events. He seemed close to Jude and Q especially. And yeah, he looked like the strict type.

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