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She picked up the cell phone lying on the kitchen table and sighed She kept looking at it every fewThat Nolan would have received her e That he’d call Pretty dumb

The quiet knock on her door filled her with joy Nolan Dropping the phone, she ran to the door, flung it open

"Elizabeth, my dear" The fist hit her face so hard she felt the skin on her cheek split against his ring, and then she hit the floor Dazed, she fought back blindly, fists flailing away One connected, and he cursed So to sit up He hit her again, knocking her flat His foot caled helplessly for breath

And the edges of the world caved in and sucked her into blackness

Nolan walked into the kitchen, toweling off his hair He hadn’t tried to sleep; that would have been a worthless effort But pounding on the bag in his workout rooer, and a hot shower cleared hisdeep in his chest

As he poured a cup of coffee, he saw the runted The way his life was going, probably one of his new office buildings had collapsed He flicked the switch and leaned against the counter to listen

"Nolan Sir I was going to call you I ize, only now…" Beth’s voice Thick Wavering

He set his coffee down slowly, feeling like so…was still crying His guilt layered higher, brick by brick

"Now I’oodbye too" He heard a shaky breath "And I’ sense God, I’m sorry I’m sorry I lied to you and made you… I shouldn’t have let you f-fuck me once I kne you felt about h he’d used it, worse that she could apply it to an act that had been et a divorce I ran away He’ll kill ot broken, from the last time So I couldn’t… But I should have told you"

With the sound of her sob, he stalked across the kitchen The need to wrap his ar knot inside

"But it doesn’tmatters now Mom said Kyler knows I’et a chance to ht" A sniffle, silence "Anyway, I just wanted… I wanted to thank you I wantedsob "Be well, Master"

He stared at theup Dammit, say more! He sla his coffee slosh over the side of the cup

A sick feeling grew inside him What had he done? Damn his blindness He’d known her last lover, husband or not, was the one who’d beat the crap out of her He’d known the bastard had scarred her mentally and physically He’d known she’d probably run frohteous crap, he’d come down on the little rabbit like a truckload of bricks

How the hell could he bla she needed to ensure her own safety? "He’ll kill me if he finds me" She’d done as necessary to survive

Fuck… He felt like she’d slapped him upside of the head with a two-by-four instead of a phone call He snorted Being Beth, she hadn’t been trying to change his oodbye

What did he want?

He scrubbed his hands over his face Face it, idiot The little sub had gotten to him with that combination of fear and trust, of passion and innocence With her love of beauty and her willingness to work like a dog to achieve it With her growing need to please him and her surprise when he cared for her in turn And fuck it all, he wanted to continue to care for her and protect her Did he love her?

Maybe

He would have liked a chance to find out, but he’d screwed that up rather badly No kidding, asshole He’d overreacted and behaved like ahis home fall apart in front of his eyes But it hadn’t been the whole house He’d barely begun to build really And yes, the foundation had been laid on ground that was too soft, on a lack of knowledge and fear and untruths, but there ays to stabilize all that

He could rebuild They could rebuild

If she wanted to He reoodbye Stricken Lost He’d never forgive hiive him? That was the question