Under His Domain (12 page)

She sat up a little.
 
“What do you mean?”

“I mean, get up,” he growled.
 
“I want to see what you’re wearing,
Kennedy.”

She was confused.
 
Partly, she wanted this attention from
him.
 
But another part of her was so
tired, and confused, and fragile.
 
Easton’s eyes were hard and demanding, and she needed softness.

“Can you just come to bed for a minute?”
she pleaded.
 

“Don’t talk back to me.”

“I’m not, Easton.
 
I just—I really need to—“

“This isn’t about you,” he said.
 
“I want you out of that bed.
 
Now.”

Kennedy did as she was told, but she was
feeling more and more hurt, wounded, and vulnerable.
 
She got out of bed and stood there, waiting.

“Turn around.
 
I want to see your ass,” he growled.

She turned around.

“Lift up your t-shirt,” he said, coming
towards her.
 
“Let me see that ass.”

Kennedy couldn’t do it.
 
She shook her head.
 
“This doesn’t feel right.”

Easton sighed heavily behind her.
 
“What’s the problem?”

“I’m not feeling like…I’m just so tired.”

“So is this how it’s going to be now
between us?” Easton asked.
 
“Now
you’re my girlfriend, so you’re thinking that you call the shots?”

She turned around to face him.
 
“That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it?
 
I mean, things have really changed
between us,” Easton said, his face a mask of annoyance.
 

“I thought things had changed for the
better.”

“You knew my expectations when we got
involved, Kennedy.
 
You know how
things are, and how I like them.”

She felt tears springing to her eyes, and
suddenly she was getting angry again, thinking about how clueless Easton had
been that night.
 
He hadn’t even
attempted to protect her from his crazy father, hadn’t seemed to care about her
at all.
 
And now he still didn’t
care.

“You’re so ungrateful,” she muttered.

“What did you just call me?”

She glanced up at him and locked
eyes.
 
“Ungrateful.”

His expression grew dark.
 
“I don’t know what you think you’re
doing right now, Kennedy, but it’s not okay.
 
Not even remotely.”

“Do you know what I’ve been through these
last couple of days?” she asked, her voice growing tighter, more intense as she
spoke.
 
“Do you even have a fucking
clue what I did for you when you were gone and I thought you might be dead?”

He folded his arms.
 
“I’m not playing this game with you.”

“It’s not a game.
 
I put everything on the line for
you.
 
I compromised myself to make
sure you’d come back, and you’d be safe.”

“Compromised yourself how?”

Kennedy didn’t want to think about those
frantic hours when she’d been desperate to get Easton returned, to have him
come home safely to her.
 
She’d said
and done things she could never take back, and seen things she wanted to
forget.
 
“I don’t even want to think
about it.
 
Just know that I’ve
sacrificed enough for you already. The least you could do is be appreciative.”

“I didn’t ask you to sacrifice anything
for me,” he said, his jaw rigid, his eyes cold and closed.

“That’s bullshit,” she said.

“Is it?”

“You had me come meet your father, and
you don’t even care that he’s disrespectful, judgmental and awful to me.
 
A real boyfriend would’ve protected me,
would’ve done something, but you’re just so damn scared of him.
 
He’s not even impressive, but you and
your brother worship him—“

“Don’t say another word,” Easton told
her, and the distance between them grew instantly wider, opening a gulf that
felt unimaginably wide.
 

They stood there looking at one another,
and Kennedy thought she’d never felt so low in all of her life.
 
How had it come to this? Why had she
said all of those things?

Suddenly, there was commotion from
outside.
 
Someone was yelling her
name, and she could hear it through the closed window.
 
Kennedy turned and looked out and saw
that Blake, her neighbor, was standing on the sidewalk and calling for her over
and over.

What on Earth was he doing?
 
How had he found her at Easton’s home?
 
She almost couldn’t believe her eyes.

“I can see you!” he cried out from below.
 
“Kennedy, I need to talk to you!”

Kennedy put a hand to her forehead.
 
“Oh my God,” she said, feeling genuinely
sick to her stomach again.

Easton moved to the window and peered
out.
 
“Who is that?”

“That’s my neighbor.”

“The guy who went to the tabloids with
your story.”

“Yeah.”

Blake continued to call her name, again
and again.
 
It was loud enough to
wake the entire street.

“You should go talk to him,” Easton said.

Kennedy turned and looked at him.
 
“What?”

“You heard me,” he said.
 
“Go.
 
I think he’ll show you the kind of
gratitude you’re looking for, Kennedy.”

Her eyes filled.
 
“Easton, please.”

“I don’t think you should stay here
tonight,” Easton said, his gaze flat and distant.
 
“Every time I turn around, you bring
another disastrous situation into my life.
 
You need to go, Kennedy.”

Everything went cold and dead in that
moment.

It was as though her body sensations had
been completely annihilated, as if she herself had been disappeared.

She couldn’t feel
anything,
she was totally numb and disconnected.

He’s
ending it.

I
can’t believe it.

And then, before she even knew what was
happening, Kennedy had put on her clothes and started out of the bedroom, down
the stairs, and headed for the door of Easton’s townhouse.

Outside, she would have to deal with a
man she despised and wanted nothing to do with.
 
Inside, she would be leaving the one man
she’d ever loved.

She was leaving, and she wouldn’t be back
anytime soon.

THE END OF BOOK 21 OF FOR HIS PLEASURE

Stay tuned for book 22 in the For His
Pleasure series, coming soon.
 
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you enjoyed the book, please leave a review and let us know.

Meanwhile, check out Kelly’s other hit
series,
The Debt (Club Alpha)
as
well as
Naked
, available now!