Page 23 of Their Domme

“Where were you Saturday night and Sunday morning?” Allen started, his serious face staring me down from across the interrogation table. He hadn’t brought anyone in with him, so it was just the two of us and Roderick in the small space. If not for the horrible beige walls and two-way mirrors, it could have been almost cozy… which, when I thought about it, was a whole other set of issues in itself. I really had spent way too much time on the streets and in police stations if I was considering the coziness of a goddamn interrogation room.

Roderick nodded, indicating I should answer. “In Boston with some friends. Hung out a bit, ate, went to sleep.”

“Anyone who can verify that?” he asked, writing something down in his notebook.

“Blake and Emmerich F?rstner.”

Allen nodded a few times before looking at Roderick. “I assume I need to go through you to speak with them as well?”

“Yes,” he replied smoothly. “I can reach out to my other clients after this if you need a verbal statement. If you need something in person, I will need to talk with them before setting something up with you.”

Allen let out a long sigh before he roughly rubbed his face. I could see the deep lines on his face, and it took everything in me to not reach across to ask what else was going on.

“Nicholette—”

Just then, there was banging on the door, drawing all our stares when it was followed by the sound of arguing. Suddenly, Detective Lewis burst in, his gaze on me.

“You,” he hissed. His face was bright red with rage, and there was a faint tremor in his body that told me he had actually begun to shake at the sight of me.

“You can direct all communication with my client to me, detective,” Roderick said sternly. When the man began to advance toward us, Roderick stood up, putting not only his words but his body between Lewis and me.

Allen stood up a second later, angling his body toward the interloper. “Lewis! This is my interview.” He stopped the other man when he got closer, and Allen’s white-knuckled grip on Lewis’ arm told me how much strength he had to put into that.

“It’s mine now,” Lewis snapped, leveling a glower at Allen. “Talk to the chief. She put me back on the case.”

“We can talk to her together. After the last time you spoke with Miss Graves, I’ll need more than your word to allow you to be in the same room with her,” Allen retorted, gesturing toward the door. Lewis growled and stomped out of the room. Through the open doorway, I caught a peek of Robin and Conrad outside before the door slammed shut. Both of them watched the tantrum-throwing detective stalk away with concerned frowns on their faces.

“Well, that was interesting,” I commented before turning to look at Roderick. He tipped his head, subtly pointing out the cameras in the room, but I was well aware of their presence. “I know. You’d think Lewis would be taken off my case completely considering the harassment from last time. Does this mean I need an escort to go to the bathroom, or will I be fine on my own?”

Roderick took a deep breath, but I saw the hint of a smile on his face before he started to rub his face. “I’m sure you can go to the bathroom without a police escort. Get one of the guys to walk you.”

I slowly got up, wishing I had another ginger candy when my stomach began to roll. When I got to the door, I knocked until a police officer opened it. His nerves were clear in his pinched face as he glanced at the two men closely watching us from either side of the door.

“I need to pee.” He opened and closed his mouth, almost as if he were taken aback by my directness, but I just arched an eyebrow and stepped past him out of the room. “No need to show me around, officer. I know the way. Just wanted to let you know where I was going in case the detective comes back.”

I strode down the hallway, heading for the closest restroom, and someone fell into step beside me, making others around us give us a wide berth. I looked over to find Conrad nearby, his hard gaze scanning the people around us. He never took his eyes off them to look at me, but I knew he had noticed my scrutiny.

“Yes?” he asked gruffly.

“Just curious to see who was walking with me. But I do actually have to pee,” I told him as we arrived at the bathroom. “Can you do something for me? See if you can figure out where the others are being questioned.”

“Your… guys?” he asked, focusing on me. I could practically see him weighing my words, judging my sincerity, as I met his serious light blue stare with my own.

I nodded. Not waiting for him to say anything else, I went to the bathroom, quickly took care of my business, and headed back out. I probably should have stalled a little longer, giving Conrad some time to poke around, but a girl can only think so clearly when dealing with a lack of sleep and morning sickness.

Before I even realized that Conrad wasn’t nearby, likely doing what I had asked, there was a hand clamping down over my mouth and an arm dragging me back into the bathroom. I instantly knew who it was thanks to the familiar, comforting smell of cigarettes. I hadn’t seen this coming, but I wasn’t going to fight it.

Rhodes closed the door and turned the lock before he let me go. I backed up a few steps, not sure what reaction I was going to get from him.Or what mine is going to be if I’m being honest. Just our close proximity made me want to run into his arms, but I knew that I’d never find it in me to walk away. Shit, if this was how I felt seeing Rhodes, seeing Vas and Sacha might just kill me. It wasn’t that I loved them more than I did Rhodes. My connection with them had just burned so brightly and intensely from the start, and the rest of our relationship had followed that trend.

It was silent between us, and I stood there, watching him carefully, waiting for him to say something to me. Instead, he remained still with his back to me. He was wearing his usual black leather boots, black jeans, and his leather jacket with the Lords of Chaos patch on the back. I was equally sad and happy I couldn’t see his face yet.

“Rhodes—”

He shook his head and held out a hand. “You could have come to us,” he said roughly, still facing the door. “You could have come to us instead of taking off without a damn word like you always do.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “I did what was necessary—” I believed those words, I truly did, but now that I was saying them out loud to one of the men I’d left behind, they tasted like ashes in my mouth.

“You did things your own damn way, fuck the rest of us!” Rhodes shot back. He finally whirled around, his gray eyes dark and stormy and a shaking finger pointed directly at me. “You fucking walked out on us. You should have trusted us to help you!”

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