Page 109 of Sunrise

“He came in and we thought he was a food critic. Ordered most of the menu. But…” I proceed to tell him everything about that encounter. By the end, Ryker’s leaning back in this chair, arms crossed, and scowling. “I thought if this was really him, then my instincts were wrong for once.”

Ryker spins the monitor back around and glowers at the photo.

“A win is a win, though, right?” I clap my hands and rub my palms together. “I still did good.”

“Yeah, Knox.” He’s not hyped anymore. “You still did good.”

But there’s still a problem, is what he’s not saying. I hear it loud and clear because my instincts are saying it, too.

“Does Sophie ever talk to you about her past?”

“No.” A snake coils in my belly. “Why?”

Ryker rubs his chin and stares at the screen again. “When she first started here, she wore a wig and colored contacts.”

“So?”

He shakes his head. “We have masks and anonymity tools in place, but… she was different back then. Averyfast learner.”

I don’t like where this could be going.

“She would scare easily,” he says, and the snake in my belly rattles its tail. “She needed a lot of safety reassurance. Which we all gave her.”

Webeing Dmitri, Ryker, and Vault.

“She slept here a lot at first, too.” Ryker rubs the back of his neck. “And she finally got herself into a better headspace. Dumped all her energy into work, either at the research center, or the club, and has come a long fucking way.”

I’m so proud of her. Ryker is too, going by his tone. So where is he going with this?

“Over the past couple of years… right about the time she started fucking you and Alex… she began throwing herself into the club more and more. Like it’s an addiction. For her and Vault both, actually.”

I shrug. “I’m sure she stayed because he was always here and vice versa. His energy drink intake definitely increased tenfold once they got together.”

“You’re right.” He sighs. “She mentioned to Dmitri that she has a lot more nightmares now.”

I knew that about her already. “Do you think it’s because of Alex?”

“I don’t think so.” He stares at the computer again. “I don’t know what she’s going through or why. She refuses to tell me, and my imagination gets pretty fucking ugly about it. Tara’s tried to talk with her, but Soph’s tight lipped.”

Tell me about it. “On the nights she struggles most, she comes to me and spends the night.”

“And she never explains?”

“No. I also don’t push.”

“Someone’s hurt her in the past,” Ryker growls. “And her paranoia has amped up exponentially lately.”

He’s not wrong. Her past sub problem sits on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t tell him. It’s not my secret to confess, and it really needs to be on Sophie to tell Ryker about it. If she hooked up with an outside sub just after she’d just started at the Monarch Club, Ryker would be furious because she wouldn’t have known enough about BDSM safety protocol and would have put herself in danger. Ryker takes his staff’s safety very seriously, both in and out of the club.

I love that about him.

What I don’t like is how suspicious he sounds about her mysterious past. So what if Sophie wore wigs and contacts when she first started at theMonarch. That could be for a multitude of reasons. And she’s a fast learner. That’s a plus, not a concern. Lots of people are quick to catch on to things.

There are also lots of reasons for her to have nightmares. Her past. Her present. Her stress levels…

Vault and I might be making it worse.

“I’m in love with her.” Dropping into a chair, I let that confession land like a bucket of paint splattering on the floor. “So is Vault.”

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