Midnight Renegade by Anya Summers

11

Sophia met Reegan at the elevator entrance to the penthouse she shared with Gabe. It was easily three thousand square feet and richly furnished. But then Gabe Ryan was at the top of the business food chain with both his personal and family’s businesses. The Ryan men had the Midas touch when it came to turning a profit in business.

Reegan bet her dad would like the Ryan men on principle, since they were all movers and shakers in their own right.

Sophia enveloped Reegan in a hug the moment she walked in. These days, all the storm clouds that used to be in her bestie’s eyes had dissipated. In their place was a happiness born out of the mutual love and admiration Sophia shared with Gabe. Tonight, she wore her chestnut hair loose, and a flowy blue and white striped dress that ended at her knees.

“I’m so glad you could come tonight. It feels like it’s been ages since we hung out together.” Sophia grinned up at Reegan with unrepentant glee.

“I know. And I’ve needed girl time like you wouldn’t believe. It’s been crazy at work these last few weeks.”

Sophia threaded her arm through Reegan’s, then steered her over into the living room. Given that Sophia was an event planner, she had prepared for their girls’ night. On the dark walnut coffee table was a charcuterie board overflowing with delicatessen style meats, an assortment of soft and hard cheeses, fruit, nuts, and various crackers. There was a second charcuterie board full of sweets with chocolate pieces, brownies, macarons, and more. The contents of the second board were enough to put them both in a diabetic coma.

“Nice spread.” Reegan gestured toward the wine chilling in a silver bucket with a pair of glasses at the ready.

“I figured we could drink and eat the night away as we catch up. And don’t even think about leaving tonight, missy. You’ll be staying in the guest room, and that’s that,” Sophia stated as they sat on the deep-seated leather couch.

Her bestie was simply the sweetest person alive. Always trying to mother her a bit, which Reegan didn’t mind. “Honey, I didn’t bring a change of clothes with me.” She gestured to her jeans and tank top.

“You can borrow a nightgown and robe, use any of my toiletry items, and I promise Gabe will make sure we have an awesome breakfast in the morning. You’ll be fine. And no more arguing.”

“And what will Gabe say about that when he finds me here?” Reegan had always liked Gabe, even though he had always been too intense a Dom for her. She had never scened with him. Granted, she had taken a few of his brothers for a test drive.

“That he’s proud of me for not letting my best friend drink and get in the car with a stranger. And no, I don’t care that those taxi services exist. It would put my mind at ease knowing you are here and safe. I realize I’m being overprotective but after recent events, I want my people safe. Then tomorrow, either Gabe or I will drive you home.”

At the mention of Sophia’s recent kidnapping and near-death experience, Reegan conceded. She’d almost lost her best friend, and knew how much that event had terrified her bestie. The last thing she would ever do was put Sophia in the same position. “All right, Mom. I will stay. As long as I don’t have to watch you and Gabe get it on, or listen to you get it on, I’m good.”

Sophia smiled like a cat who indulged in too much cream. “I can’t make any promises on the second count.”

“Is Gabe that demanding in the bedroom?”

Sophia shook her head and chuckled. “Nope. I am. Now that I have full access to him, it’s like a switch flipped inside me. Not that Gabe minds whatsoever. But I can’t get enough of that man. He walks into a room and I tend to want to jump his bones. Doesn’t matter where we are, either. In fact, we’ve been interrupted a time or two by his brothers waltzing into this place. We really need to take away their all-access pass to the penthouse.”

“So, he’s not beating you off with a stick I take it?” Reegan snickered, imagining her dainty bestie taking on the big, two hundred pound plus Dom.

“No. Although, there is one crop that we both fancy.” Sophia poured them each a generous amount of wine and handed Reegan a glass.

“Really? Which one? I might have to take a look at it and tell…” Double damn and shitballs!

“Tell who?” Sophia handed her an empty plate with her dark brows raised in question at Reegan’s slip up.

Boy, she had walked right into that one. She hadn’t meant to bring up her pseudo relationship with Brody. But this was Sophia, her best friend in the whole world. She knew all Reegan’s secrets, save this one. They had been through so much together. They had met their freshman year in college, in a really dull English lit class. By the end of that first year, they’d decided to be roommates their sophomore year, and had never looked back.

Sophia tilted her head, studying Reegan with perception born of their shared history. “You do seem more relaxed than normal. What’s going on with you? Who are you going to tell about the crop that Gabe and I prefer?”

Reegan grinned so wide she was surprised her face didn’t split with the happiness she felt. And she had been dying to tell someone about her and Brody. While they weren’t taking out full page ads and letting the general populace at the club know, there was nothing in their arrangement that stated she couldn’t tell her best friend about them. So she wasn’t breaking any of the rules they had set forth.

Sophia gasped. Her jaw dropped open before she grabbed Reegan’s hand and exclaimed, “You’re getting some on a regular basis! Spill. All of it. I need details. Starting with who this mystery man is who’s giving you that post orgasmic glow.”

“Brody.” Reegan preened and popped a piece of tart cheddar into her mouth.

Sophia stilled. Her smile froze on her face. “As in: Brody Schmidt? Sworn enemy, Brody Schmidt? That’s the Dom you’ve been playing with?”

“Yep.” Reegan nodded with a laugh, still rather surprised by that fact herself.

Sophia stared at her like she had grown three heads. Her brow scrunched with concern. “All right, I need for you to explain exactly how this happened.”

“Okay, so the night of the Shakespeare event, I was late. That big project I’ve been working on needed my expertise, and I had to go into the office. It wasn’t something I could do remotely to fix. Long story short, unraveling the glitch in the program took infinitely longer than I planned. I even had to call Sylvie and tell her to head to the event without me. And so, by the time I did arrive, the selection process had already taken place, and all the Doms were gone.”

“You’d been looking forward to that, too, if I recall correctly.” Sophia took a sip of wine, studying her with concern.

“You’re not wrong about that. I had been. Bought a costume and everything. Anyway, it ended up working out better than I could have imagined. So, I’m sitting at the bar, contemplating whether I can keep myself up until three just so I can scene with Xavier when Brody takes a seat next to me. His hookup for the night ended up going sideways because of…”

Sophia nodded in understanding. “Dean. Sylvie had selected Brody’s marker for the event, and Dean went charging in. It worked out for them. But it still doesn’t explain how you ended up in bed with your arch nemesis. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when the two of you are in the same room, you tend to negatively impact each other. I cannot even fathom you two holding a civil conversation long enough to get around to sleeping with each other.”

“Well, we were both having a drink at the bar. We ended up commiserating on our rotten luck. And then he made the suggestion we should play together since no one was left but us.”

“And you accepted?”

“Yes. I work all the time. And since I broke things off with Paul in January, I’ve not been able to get to the club as often as I would like. Do you know how long it had been since I’d done a scene and had sex? Four months.”

“For you, that’s a record.”

Reegan set her wine glass on the table and reached for a brownie. “I know it is. At least while I was dating Paul, the sex might have been nothing to write home about, but at least I was getting it on a regular basis.”

“But I didn’t see you play together,” Sophia stated and sipped her wine.

“That’s because we left the club and went to his house. There was nowhere else for us to scene properly. And I got the feeling it had been a while for Brody too. He was jonesing as bad as I was.”

“That was the first time he had joined in the singles night events since they began.”

Reegan hadn’t known that. “That’s interesting. I didn’t know that part. But it’s likely because he was dealing with his mom’s stuff. Anyway, we headed to his house that night. He’s got this custom private dungeon with all the tricks that’s absolutely incredible, and might even be better than what Gabe has up here. It’s safe to say we wore each other out that night, a couple times.”

“And you’re still seeing him? You two are dating?” Sophia asked, her brows creeping up her forehead again in disbelief.

Reegan shook her head. They were a lot of things, but they weren’t serious. “Oh, we’re not dating. That’s not what this is between us at all. After the initial volley, Brody and I made a pact to be each other’s BDSM booty call. And it’s working for us. We hardly ever snap at each other anymore as we’re too busy getting our clothes off. I consider it a win-win.”

“So, it’s just sex between you? Are you sure about that?”

Why would Sophia even ask that? “Absolutely, it’s just sex. We’ve never been on a date and we’re keeping it at that level. Neither of us is in the right place for a relationship. We meet a few times a week, and get our freak on. The scenes are the hottest I’ve ever experienced and my god, the sex! It’s so damn fantastic, it should be criminal. We tend to combust. It’s not a forever thing. It’s a temporary fix to a problem he and I were having.”

“Huh.”

“You don’t approve?” Reegan couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice. Not after she had supported Sophia through her disastrous first marriage, and her involvement with Gabe.

Sophia contemplated her wineglass and sighed. “Don’t look at me like that, you know I adore you. Your relationship with Brody is not for me to approve or not. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to admit that it worries me, Reegan. You forget, I know you. You told me what happened with him your freshman year of college. In your own words, you thought you’d found the one, and he ghosted you.”

“So? I don’t see your point because we’re not dating.”

“If I may? I didn’t mean to overhear such a private conversation but there was no way for me to walk past you without your notice. But I think I know what Sophia is trying to say without hurting your feelings.” Gabe Ryan sauntered over and sat on the armrest beside Sophia, taking her hand in his. It was nine o’clock at night, and the guy was in a three-piece dark gray suit that Reegan was certain was tailored. Gabe was a devilishly attractive man with his short inky hair and trim beard.

She didn’t let her surprise at his appearance show. She hadn’t heard the elevator arrive at all. The way he sat beside Sophia, leaning toward her with their fingers threaded together—their deep abiding connection was unmistakable. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough. If I understand it correctly, you and Brody have an arrangement. You call, or he does, then you meet up for sex that has Dominance and submission intertwined. Am I correct?”

He’d hit the nail on the head with his assessment. But then, Gabe was a sharp cookie. “Well, yeah. We’re both filling a need for the other. I don’t see the big deal.”

“How can you truly submit if you are holding yourself back?” he asked her with a piercing gaze.

Reegan did not understand his question. She was submitting. “I’m not. I give him my body completely every time we get together.”

“I’m not talking about submitting your body. What I’m talking about is you. True submission must include every part of you, not only the physical aspects. If you are unwilling to submit yourself fully, then you’re short-changing the deal,” Gabe stated. There was a wisdom in his eyes that at times made him seem older than thirty-seven.

“Our deal was no commitment, no emotions, and no falling in love. I’m just abiding by the terms,” Reegan replied defensively, feeling cornered even though she knew Gabe meant well.

“If you can’t fully submit, why bother? Because at the end of the day, your needs—and I’m not talking about just the physical—are not being entirely met. And by holding yourself back in that fashion, you’re also denying Brody your complete submission. Do you think he hasn’t noticed the lack? Because I’m here to tell you as a Dom, we know when a sub is not totally submitting.”

Was that true? Had Brody picked up on a lack from her? But she couldn’t open that can of worms with him, not with their history. “That’s for me to decide.”

“It is. I’ve known you for quite a few years now. I’ve never known you to commit like this with any other Dom, even on the physical level. All I’m saying is you might want to ask yourself why. Why him, and why now?” Gabe asked her with a contemplative expression.

“I’m not good at emotions, at trusting them,” Reegan admitted, chewing on her bottom lip. Could Brody tell the difference? Was she hurting him by denying him all of herself?

“Do you trust Brody?”

“With my body, absolutely.”

“Then you don’t really trust him, and you’re short-changing the both of you. Think about it. And we’re here if you need anything.” Gabe leaned over and kissed Sophia on the forehead before rising.

Reegan waited until Gabe had left the penthouse before she said, “I get that you’re concerned. I do. But I’ve got to do this my way.”

“I know you do. I just don’t want to see you end up hurt, is all. I love you to pieces. And the thought of you hurting makes me crazy. I want you happy.”

“Which is why I’m not angry. Can we talk about something else? Tell me about your upcoming Hawaii trip with Gabe.”

“Oh, here, let me show you the private villa he rented for us. It’s right on the beach. There’s a pool and hot tub.” Sophia brought up pictures on her phone.

Reegan smiled but her mind was churning over all the food for thought Sophia and Gabe had given her. Because it boiled down to one question.

Could she forgive Brody for their past?