Free Every Part of You: Takes Me (#5) by Megan Hart Page A

hardwood floor. “No. He sent me to get you. He said I wasn’t to leave until you came with me.”
    “Oh, yeah?” Simone put her hands on her hips and gave the other woman a glare that didn’t seem to phase her. “Where’s he think you’re going to take me?”
    “To Leather.”
    Simone grimaced. “Oh. No. Oh, hell no! That place? No fucking way!”
    “He told me you’d say that.” Corrina grinned. “I’m still taking you.”
    “I’m not going to some throwback sex club where they play “Enigma” on a constant loop and everyone wears fishnets on their arms. No.” Simone had been to Leather a handful of times, back in the early nineties when it had all seemed crazy and decadent and debauched instead of cheesy and sad. The last time she’d gone with Aidan, both of them nostalgic for the days of dog collars and public floggings, they’d discovered the club had not kept up with the times. It had become seedy, dirty. Gross.
    “It’s under new management. Aidan has a membership there.” Corrina said that like it made a difference.
    Simone drew in a breath that hitched and caught in her throat, much to her dismay. She forced the burning in her eyes away. “I’m not going.”
    “You’re going,” said Corrina, heading for Simone’s closet. “Aidan told me it would be very bad for me if you didn’t.”
    Simone crossed her arms. “You like spanking, so he’ll spank you, what’s the big deal. I thought you got off on that.”
    Corrina turned, slowly, with one of Simone’s black dresses on a hanger in her hand. Her brow furrowed, followed by a frown. A moment later her chin lifted. She looked Simone straight in the face.
    “I love Aidan, and I want to make him happy. I thought you’d understand that,” she said icily, “even if you don’t agree with the way we work it.”
    It was a slap, and one Simone supposed she deserved. “Look, it’s not my place to judge—”
    “No. It’s not. So, don’t. Just get dressed.”
    Simone tried again, backing toward the bed and sitting on the edge of it. “I don’t want to go to Leather. I don’t know why Aidan would want me to go, but if he’s going to punish you for something you can’t control, then he’s not being your dom, he’s being a dick.”
    Corrina shrugged. “I want to please him. You understand that, at least, don’t you? Wanting to make the person you love happy?”
    Simone burst into wracking, raucous, and completely horrifying tears. She buried her face in her hands, but it was too late. She was lost in the grief and pain of it all again. Being swept away.
    The bed dipped as Corrina sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. She said nothing while Simone wept, handed her tissues when the snot got out of control and then got up to bring her a glass of water from the bathroom when Simone’s sobs had tapered off into a series of hiccupping coughs.
    “I’m sorry,” Corrina said when Simone quieted. “It sucks. I know.”
    “I am so fucked,” Simone whispered, half ashamed. “I love him, Corrina. Oh my god, I’ve never loved anyone this way. And I hate him for making me love him, when all I wanted was to fuck him. I love him, and I hate him, and all I can think about is how I don’t know how I’m going to spend the rest of my life without him in it.”
    Corrina put her arm around Simone’s shoulders and said nothing. Just squeezed. Simone drew in a long, cleansing breath that did nothing to make her feel better. If anything, it reminded her body of all the bits and pieces that had once been filled up with him, and that were now empty.
    “Aidan said you need to come because it will do you good,” Corrina insisted, then hesitated. She looked firmly into Simone’s eyes. “He said he still knows what you need, and if you won’t let him be the one to give it to you, at the very least, you should let him help you get it.”
    *   *   *
    Corrina had told her she was taking Simone to Leather, but the discreet sign