Free Little Light of Mine (Club Decadence) by Maddie Taylor

him without any explanation.
    “What have you done to yourself?  I barely recognized you up on stage.”  The sudden change of topic was startling and he paused to let his harsh words sink in, knowing he was being intentionally cruel.  But he was angry and hurt and wanted to strike back.  Watching as Elena reached up to her short black curls, he knew his words made her feel self-conscious.  Her hair had been to her waist and a medium brown when she left.  He had loved it, always stroking its silky softness, playing with it and brushing it out for her.  Never a fan of body art, he grieved for her once flawless skin.  As if she could hear his thoughts, her hand swept down her throat over her tattoo.  Her fingers lingered over the script E at the center as if she could feel every line.
    Ignoring his personal attack she pleaded in a weak, raspy voice, “Dex, you don’t understand.  Things changed…”
    His eyes fell to her hand and he grunted when her fingers splayed across the rose tattoo on her breast.  “You’ve changed all right.  At least I’ll never confuse the new Rose with the Elena I once loved.”  Elena gasped.  A knife in the gut would have wounded less than his words. 
    “I hired a private investigator to follow you.”  Seeing her shocked expression angered him further.  “Dammit Elena, you attempted suicide then just disappeared.  I was stuck thousands of miles away and had to do something.  It’s not like I could go after you myself.  I was in God forsaken Kandahar for crying out loud.  Did you think I would just walk away?  For Christ’s sake, I loved you.”  He ran his long fingers through his hair in frustration.  When she didn’t reply he went on relentlessly spewing two years’ worth of bitterness and frustration.  “It took a while for the guy to find you but when he did… 
    “It really isn’t what you think Dex.”  Knowing that whatever the P.I found couldn’t have been good, she braced herself for what came next.
    “I didn’t know what to think.  All I knew was you left me and the only life you’d ever known to start running with a pretty fast crowd for some reason.  You left your family, your friends without a word of explanation.  What possessed you?  Was your life here not exciting enough?  I saw you at those fancy parties, with the expensive clothes and all those celebrities, then there were the drugs, and let’s not forget the California club scene.” 
    She choked out, “You were there?”  Humiliation swept through her.  How could that be?  Dex was still in Afghanistan while she had attended those parties and visited those public sex clubs.  It was all before she stopped using and entered rehab.
    “Not in person, but the pictures and video were eye openers as I’m sure you can imagine.  I finally got the message.”
    Oh, my God.  A whimpering sound escaped her throat, completely devastated that he had seen this horrible side of her.  She had been desperately searching for some kind of solace in the aftermath of the rape.  Nothing worked, not the parties, or the drugs, or moving away, not the other Doms who clumsily wielded their whips.  Nothing gave her any relief from her pain; they were just a temporary means of escape.  A fleeting reprieve from the memories, the trauma of leaving her family and friends, and worst of all the alienation of the only man she would ever love.  But the morning always came and her reality was always the same.  She turned from him, her arms wrapped around her middle as if she could protect herself from further blows.  He didn’t seem to notice, or maybe Elena thought he didn’t care. 
    “At first it was hard to believe the reports but when the pictures came in.  Especially when I saw you tied to a cross with another man preparing to flog-,” his voice broke then and he cleared his throat before he continued.  “Well, the message those pictures sent was pretty clear.  You wanted something