32. Chapter 32 #2
“Not ready?” Frankie choked out. She tore her eyes away, instead taking in the updated kitchen.
Sliding doors to an outdoor patio had taken the place of the old hutch.
In fact, nothing in the kitchen looked familiar.
She was a stranger. She’d pushed them away for so long that they’d stopped trying to hold on.
Goddamn. Her life today was like a nonstop train ride to the land of shit. First with Evan, and now all of this. Fuck’s sake.
“I-I shouldn’t have come. I don’t know why …” Why she’d turned into this neighborhood of all places. Frankie scrubbed a hand over her face, a sob building in her chest as she backed away. “I’m sorry. Maddox, I am.”
“Uh-huh.”
Frankie fled the kitchen, not waiting to see if he’d say anything more. The first splash of tears on her cheeks came while she struggled to put her heels back on. When she opted to go barefoot, she swung open the door and almost tackled the woman on the other side.
“Frankie, you’re not leaving already?” Auntie B exclaimed, gripping Frankie’s arms to hold herself upright.
Her weight was on the plumper side than years ago, and she looked slightly breathless as she took Frankie in.
“I’d just run over to grab more potatoes from Dorothy across the street when I saw you pulling in through the window.
She got to talking my ear off, like always.
I was about to make a run for it, but then she made a mad dash for the bathroom, if you know what I mean. ”
“I can’t …” Frankie clenched her teeth so hard she worried they’d snapped when she heard a crack. “Why didn’t you tell me? I deserved to know.”
“Like how you told me you’d been stabbed?” Auntie B smiled sadly. “Oh, right, you told Danny not to tell us.”
“I didn’t want you to worry.”
“And I didn’t want you to worry about Eamon.” She reached her hand up as if to cup Frankie’s cheek, but let it fall away at the last second. “Dear, you’ve already sent too much money over the years for Maddox.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Frankie balked, turning away so the older woman couldn’t see her wiping away more tears.
“You do, and we both know that if I’d told you, your need to protect would kick in and you’d have tried to set Eamon up with his own nurse. Even if doing so put you in a deficit.”
She was right. Frankie would have done whatever she could to make things easier for them.
Despite how dysfunctional it had always been, the O’Rourkes were her family.
Through adoption, yes, but through blood as well.
She owed her aunt and uncle the world. They’d taken her in and not looked back once.
“Don’t leave, honey, please . It’s been two years, and you’re still punishing me. Can’t we get past this?” Auntie B’s hand was back on Frankie’s arm, squeezing it gently through the thin jacket she wore.
“Get past it?” Frankie echoed and wrenched her arm free. Old pain and betrayal crept over her, filling her throat with despair as she croaked, “You called me sick for having feelings for Emily. For loving someone years ago who wasn’t even related to me. She wasn’t my real sister!”
“I was three sheets to the wind by the time that conversation started between you and Danny. I am sorry , okay?” Auntie B was crying as well now.
Frankie watched her wring her hands together.
“I loved Emily like a daughter. W-when I introduced her to people, I would leave the foster part out. Surely you remember that? When I looked at you two, I saw sisters. I look at you and Danny and see brother and sister, not cousins. You’re my kid, Frankie.
And so was Emily. Overhearing your conversation that night, it just set something off in me.
I can’t take it back. Believe me, I wish I could. ”
“I never saw her as my sister. It wasn’t like that for me,” Frankie bit out with a scowl. “If she hadn’t died …”
“You two possibly dating would have ruined her placement with us,” Auntie B cut in, staring up at Frankie. “I know you weren’t a social worker, but surely you can understand that? Would you have risked it knowing social services might have caught on and ripped Emily away from us?”
Well, fuck. Frankie had never looked at it from that angle before. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I guess we’ll never know.”
“I know you , Frankie. You’d have put her safety and well-being first.”
A tear hit Frankie’s cheek. She brushed it away, nodding a little. “Always.”
“All these years. I still miss her.”
“Yup.” Frankie dragged out the word, emphasizing the “p” sound so it popped.
“Will you stay awhile? I miss you too, honey. Terribly. You can catch me up on your life and visit with the boys. Not that you ever need a reason to visit, but it feels like maybe you came here with one.”
Frankie shook her head. “I can’t go back in there. Not yet.”
Auntie B nodded, a kind, understanding look crossing her face. She’d always been able to read Frankie better than anyone else. It’s why it hurt so much when her feelings for Emily came to light. It’d sent a shockwave through Auntie B, and here Frankie had assumed she’d known already.
She didn’t want to know. How does that saying go? Denial is a river in Egypt.
“How about we chat in your car, then?”
“I’m sorry for running out on you.” Frankie pressed the gel ice pack gently against Evan’s cheek, rubbing her other hand across their mostly bared back.
Evan smelled clean and fresh from their shower, wearing just a binder across their chest and a pair of boxers.
Frankie’s fury at what happened in the pub’s washroom had been set on a mid-range simmer most of the night.
After the assailant was arrested and statements taken from Frankie and Sloane, they’d started their shift alongside Evan and the rest of her staff.
Now, hours later, she was tending to Evan’s swollen cheek in the privacy of her apartment.
A dozen questions filled her regarding her lover’s part in tonight’s fight, but it was late.
All she wanted to do now was offer reassurance and maybe, if she was lucky, reestablish her role as Evan’s Domme.
More than anything, she needed reassurance for herself.
“It’s okay. I get it.”
“It’s not. I’m your Domme, little thief. You need to be able to rely on me.” Frankie hung her head, admitting, “I went to see my aunt. We cleared the air about a lot of things. And … and I told her about you.”
Evan’s back grew rigid at her words, and Frankie quickly amended, “Not about any of that. I would never. Your reason for coming here is between the two of us. But I told her what kind of person you were, and what you meant to me.”
“Oh.” Evan’s face softened. “What’d she say?”
Thinking back on her conversation with Auntie B pulled a sad smile from Frankie. “She thinks I should start therapy again. To help get past my aversion to touch.” Her aunt didn’t believe they could last long term if mutual touch wasn’t on the table, but Frankie kept that to herself.
“And what do you think?”
Frankie set the ice pack aside, slid her hand up Evan’s back to their neck, and drew them in for a long kiss.
“I think we could continue to do scenes and I’d be fine,” she acknowledged, her lips resting against theirs.
She peppered slow kisses along Evan’s jaw, breathing them in.
“But I believe you require more than that sometimes. And as your Domme, as … as the person who’s fallen in love with you, I want to meet your needs. ”
“I wanna meet yours, too. I wanna be a good sub for you.”
“Baby, you’re already well on your way to achieving that.”
Evan’s cheeks grew warm under the gentle caress of Frankie’s lips. She chuckled softly. “You are too cute.”
“Can we play tonight?”
The soft question lit a fire inside Frankie and made her pussy clench, eager as hell at the prospect. But she hesitated, pulling back to catch the hopeful look on Evan’s face. “It’s been a long day. Are you not tired?”
A cheeky grin appeared. “Not in the way I’d like to be.”
Frankie’s lips twitched, and she had to hold her laughter in.
God, she adored this little shit. She cleared her throat.
“We need to discuss what happened this morning. While I know it was accidental, touching me without consent crossed a boundary I’d very clearly laid out in the beginning.
If we’re to go any further in our dynamic, then there needs to be a punishment for what happened. ”
“Punishment?” Evan’s face fell, their previous joy deflating right before her.
Frankie quickly amended, “Consider it more like a funishment—a fun punishment. And of course, even those are done with your consent.”
“Like flogging again? I liked that a lot.”
This time Frankie did laugh, just a breathy chuckle past her lips.
“Little thief, I wasn’t punishing you last night.
But I imagine you’ll like this one just as much.
So while I set up, you can head to the bathroom.
Remove as many clothes as you’re comfortable with and then put on the bathrobe hanging on the door. Meet me back here. Understood?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Evan jumped off the bed, their swollen face and ice pack forgotten. They hooked her with a purely suggestive smile, like they were already dreaming up all the naughty ways their Domme would use them before the sun came up.