Page 121 of Sunrise

I want them all for myself.

“We’re too new with each other for me to be territorial.” I drain my cup. “And they’ve been dominating at the Monarch the whole time we’ve been together so far. It’s not a big deal.”

“That was before. Now it’s after.”

He’s right. Again.

Before, I took what I could get and wasn’t in a position to make demands. After this past week withthem, however, if we don’t clearly communicate our expectations with each other, everything’s going to go to shit, and I’ll lose them both.

“If it makes her happy, I’ll deal with it.”

“And Vault?” D looks over at me. “What about sharing him?”

My stomach twists harder. “I’m willing to accept whatever decision he makes for himself.”

Hasn’t that always been my MO? Whatever Vault wants, he gets. No matter how much it fucking hurts me.

He’s not going to put himself out there now. I know that much. But I can’t shake the horrible thoughts consuming my brain about Sophie. I don’t want to share her with anyone but Vault. And I can’t tell her that. It’s not my place to make demands and put up boundaries in our relationship. She loves being a Domme. There’s no way on this green earth I’d take that from her. She’s lost enough already.

“Fuck.” I lean forward and bury my face in my hands.

“Tell them exactly how you feel, man. You can’t let them do what they want and then get pissed about it afterwards because you were too afraid to speak up. They’re not going to kick you out of the throuple for being honest.”

How dare he call me out like this? I haven’t even had a second cup of coffee.

“What would you do?” I look over at him and wait for sage advice. He doesn’t give any. “D, what would you do? Seriously. I can’t lose either of them. I only just got to the good part.”

“Like I said…” He stands up and gathers his books. “Have a very open and honest conversation with them.” Dread weighs me down as Dmitri heads for the door. “If it’s any consolation, she’s not as happy as you think.”

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

“What did I do wrong?” I ask as all my insecurities crawl out and take over.

Dmitri shakes his head. “Knox, you never do anything wrong. Maybe it’s not aboutyou. Ever think of that?”

“No.” Because everything always feels like it’s my fault. Ever since I was a kid, if something went wrong, I took the blame and suffered the consequences that came with it. “If I’m not the problem, what is?”

Chapter 38

Sophie

It takes me a hot minute to understand I’m in Dmitri’s old room at the Monarch and not in some creepy basement. It’s pitch black in here, except for the glow of a laptop screen across the room. Rolling over on the cot, I glance at Vault and calmness blankets me better than the thin comforter I’m wrapped in. Even with the stern scowl on his face, his presence brings me extraordinary peace.

“What time is it?”

He lifts his gaze to mine, and gracefully closes the laptop. “Two-thirty-seven. P.M.”

Jeez, I really slept hard. “Why are we in Dmitri’s room?” I’ll always consider it his, even though Vault spends a suspicious number of nights down here nowadays.

“You passed out in my arms on the way to your room. I couldn’t very well put you on the back of my bike and take you home like that. I wasn’t about to drive you home in one of the club’s cars either because I was fucking exhausted too. You needed uninterrupted sleep, so D’s room seemed like the best option.”

Shit. Knox! We told him we’d see him last night after work. I sit up abruptly, blindly reaching forwhere my cell could be. “Does Knox know we—”

“I texted him last night. It’s fine.”

He doesn’t sound happy. “Did you sleep at all or pound more energy drinks and sit on your computer the whole night?”

My question comes out a little more hostile than I wanted. I’m not a morning person.

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