Page 23 of Sunrise

I hold my breath, waiting for his response. Little bubbles pop up and disappear. Pop up and disappear. Pop up…

Vault: I’m scared.

My heart weeps for this man. I’m so proud of him for not only being honest, but for being brave. This is a massive step in the right direction, even if that doesn’t make it any less terrifying. So, I take the reins…

Sophie: You are only to watch tonight. If I find out you’ve left your office for any reason, there will be consequences.

Vault: Yes, Mistress.

Fucking hell. Tossing the rest of my lunch in the trash, I drive around the city for an hour to get my head right. Vault participating was not in the plan for tonight, but the fact that he asked is a big step and I’m proud of him. I know Knox was hoping he’d see us and cave. Me taking that option away is the right thing to do, for both their sakes.

As their Domme, their safety and well-being are my responsibility.

No matter how hard it is to deny them… and myself.

Chapter 8

Knox

After leaving Vault at the Monarch Club earlier, I headed back to Midnight Run so I could help Tara with invoices and not feel like a complete waste of space.

This club takes the edge off my constant tension, which is really ironic considering I used to hate this place with every fiber of my being. My pops ran it into the ground, and it was only after my boys pulled together to help me buy it from him that I finally decided to make something of myself. My success was never about making my father proud, but to make Ryker, Dmitri, and Vault see that I’m worth their investment.

Except I’m shit at business management and never did have a head for numbers. Tara, Ryker’s girl, takes care of all that for me. She’s a goddamn genius. Everywhere I go, I’m surrounded by smart people…

“What do you want to do after graduation?”

Vault and I are on another midnight run. It’s just the two of us, which is getting more and more common. Ryker’s mom is super sick all the time and Dmitri’s got his own shit going on. Vault and I are there for them, but… we’re also here for each other. All of us have been rocking serious problems lately. Being with Vault makes mine a little better.

“I don’t know.” Gravel crunches under our feet as we jog down the railroad tracks. “What areyoudoing?”

Because I’ll follow him anywhere.

“My parents want me to apply for Yale.”

Anywhere but there…

I slow down to a walk, and Vault matches my pace.

“Wow. Yale.” To hide my worry, I nudge his shoulder with mine. “You’ll get a lot of pussy there.Smartpussy.”

“Why do you say shit like that?”

He’s not amused. Neither am I. “I know you like it.”

“So do you.”

We’ve never put a label on what we are. Best friends first, boyfriends second? I don’t fucking know. But we’ve been whatever we are for over a year and a half. He’s a grade ahead of me, which feels like a time bomb is about to go off and he’ll be blown away from me. His parents still don’t officially know about us, but his mom drops hints, so I’m pretty sure she suspects something. My pops caught us making out one night and didn’t say anything. He just slowly closed the door, went out for the night, and when we woke up the next morning, he had pancakes and bacon waiting for us. Dmitri and Ryker know, obviously, because that’s not a secret we wanted to keep from them.

On the outside, life seems cool, but I’m losing my confidence in us. Lately, he’s taken me to a bunch of parties with kids from his fancy school, and seeing how smart and privileged they are makes me suspicious that he wishes he was more into that lifestyle than the one we have. I mean, I don’t blame him. If I had money, I’d be happier. I’m broke, and Vault’s family is way better off than mine, but they’re not rich either. At least his peers at that fancy school are nice. We’ve fucked around with each otherandwith girls at some of the parties we go to. Charlotte was our latest.

“I only went for her because you couldn’t keep your eyes off her ass.”

So true. It was juicy as fuck. “You didn’t seem to mind eating her out.”

“Neither did you.”

“She was sweet and tart, not salty like you,” I tease.

---