Keeping Karly (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Online Free PDF Page A

articles I’ve written about Doms and BDSM since. I still think I’m right about Doms and BDSM, but it’s becoming apparent that these two men—and maybe Casey’s new boyfriend, Chris—don’t quite fit the image I have in my mind.
    “What are your plans for today?” I ask, trying to sound cheerful.
    “Why?” Grant asks suspiciously. I suppose I can’t blame him for being a little defensive. I’ve been asking him and Bryce, and even Casey, to drive me home so that I can gather some of my own clothes. I love my sister but everything in her wardrobe is on the “skimpy” side. I also maybe want to talk to my husband, but they’re all dead set against it. They still want me to press charges, but they don’t know him like I do.
    He’s not the monster they imagine.
    “I have to talk to him sometime,” I say with a shrug. I’m not exactly planning to move home just yet—I need to be physically capable of doing what John expects—but I don’t think it’s right to just give up on a marriage so easily. I meant my vows when I said “until death do us part,” and this is only the second…okay second-ish time that this has happened. And well, I did forget to follow the rules so I can be held sort of, maybe, kind of responsible. Can’t I?
    “What’s going on in that brain, little one?” Grant asks as he takes a step closer and touches the worry creases on my forehead. Embarrassed, I try to snap out of my self-absorption.
    “Nothing important,” I say with what I hope looks like a genuine smile.
    “Karly, we need to discuss the situation with your husband.”
    “Look,” I say, holding my hand up for them to stop, “I know what you’re going to say, but he’s not as bad as you think. He just had a bad day.”
    “You think he has a right to beat you up because he had a bad day?”
    “No,” I say quickly, not really sure how to respond, “but, well, I sort of made things worse because dinner wasn’t ready.” Both men look even angrier at that, and I struggle to find the words to explain. “I knew the rules and I didn’t follow them.”
    The color has completely drained from Grant’s face, but it’s the frustration in Bryce’s tone that has me confused.
    “What about the scars on your stomach? What were they for?”
    I want to deny having scars, but obviously Bryce saw more of me in the hospital than I’d realized. “They’re old. Really old,” I say defensively.
    “So you’re saying your husband didn’t cause them?” Bryce seems unnaturally calm, but I find myself backing away just a little bit. I don’t want to have this conversation, but strangely I don’t want to lie to them either.
    “No, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that…um…well, it was a long time ago, and it won’t happen again because I know the rules now.”
    “So he punished you for not knowing the rules?”
    “It wasn’t like that,” I say in a small voice as horrifying memories of that day parade through my brain. And suddenly the fear I’d felt back then floods through me. I gasp for air, unable to suck in enough oxygen to be able to force the memories back. “I don’t think about it. I never think about it. Don’t make me think about it.”
    A sob wrenches from my throat at the same moment that warm arms wrap around me. After a moment Bryce places his hand at the back of my head easing me more deeply into his embrace. I hang on tight as the terror of that time seeps back into my brain. I’m trembling violently as I finally let myself remember exactly what happened back then.
    “It’s okay,” Bryce says in that soothing deep voice. “You’re safe here. We won’t ever let anyone hurt you again.”
    I’m trying to find my sarcasm. These men are both Doms in the BDSM lifestyle. Hurting women is what they do. But somehow I’m not frightened of either of them. Somehow, they’ve become men I trust even though I can’t explain why. Somehow, I want them to help me through this.
    And somehow,