Buttons and Shame (Buttons 4)

Her eyes filled with a slight film of moisture, but they weren’t tears of heartbreak. They were tears of fury.

“With all of that being said…I talked to Cane about Adelina’s situation.”

Her intensity halted for just a moment.

“I asked Cane if we could buy her from Tristan so we could release her. But Cane said there was no way Tristan would ever sell her—no matter the price.”

“Can’t we just break her out of there?” she asked with a raspy breath.

“We can’t do that either. One of her friends was taken too, and Tristan is threatening to kill her if Adelina pulls something. So we can’t help her escape. If she runs, the friend dies.”

“God…” She rubbed the ridges of her eyebrows with her thumb and forefinger.

“So there’s nothing Cane and I can do. I just wanted you to know we discussed it. And also, Cane treats her well. Whenever Adelina says no, he listens. Since he wasn’t getting any action from her, he decided to return her to Tristan. But she begged him to let her stay and said she would give him a reason to keep her…” I didn’t need to explain further than that. “Because being with Cane is much more preferable to Tristan. Cane thinks he’s doing her a favor, more than anything else.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes still wet.

I expected something from her. Not an apology, but something. I stared her down as I waited for her to say something. I was tired of the distance between us. We needed to be husband and wife again. We needed to be happy. I’d never been happy before in my life, and Pearl introduced me to the sensation. She made me laugh, made me smile. Now I was dependent on her like a drug addict on cocaine. I wasn’t me without her.

“I just… I hate knowing someone else is going through what I went through. I’ve never told you—”

“And I don’t want to know.” Even before I fell in love with her, I didn’t want the details. Now that she was my entire world, the thought of anyone hurting her made me so angry I felt sick. Ignorance wasn’t just bliss in my situation—it was a lifesaver.

“I can’t just turn the other way…”

“I tried, Button.” I’d be willing to pay a lot of money just to make my wife happy. Button didn’t understand how rare that was. I’d be willing to give millions just to save a woman I’d never met…it was ridiculous.

“That poor woman. I know exactly how she feels.”

I tried to be as sympathetic as possible, but feelings weren’t my forte. “I know. But don’t feel guilty about it. We tried to figure out a way to get her out of there, but there’s no solution. Let’s just move on.”

“You would never move on if she were me.”

I held her gaze and suddenly noticed the way my wedding ring felt on my left hand. “I don’t love this woman. There’s only one woman in the world I’ve ever loved—and I would do anything for her.”

When she closed her eyes, two tears fell.

I hated it.

I hated it so fucking much.

Pearl left her couch and finally joined me on mine. She straddled my hips and wrapped her arms around my neck before she rested her face beside mine. She didn’t burst into tears, but she sniffled here and there.

I rubbed her back and treasured the feeling of my wife pressed against me. I’d been deprived of her affection for a short time, but it was too long. I closed my eyes and treasured the scent of her skin, the softness of her hair. “I wish I ruled the world so I could give you everything you want.”

She tightened her arms around me. “I know…”

16

Cane

I knew how Pearl would take the news.

But I wasn’t prepared for how shitty it would make me feel. She slapped me harder than my own mother had because there was so much hate packed into the strike. If Crow hadn’t pulled her off me, she probably wouldn’t have stopped.

I loved Pearl like a sister—truly. But that love didn’t stop my lust for Adelina. I was in full awareness that my actions were wrong. I was providing asylum in exchange for sexy blow jobs and dry humps, and eventually, sex. The right thing to do would be to leave the poor woman alone until she had to return to Tristan.

But I didn’t want to leave her alone. I wanted to fuck her all over my house.

I went to work for most of the day while Adelina stayed inside the enormous house along the countryside. I was torn between thinking about her and Pearl. My mind went from picturing Adelina’s tits to Pearl’s pissed-off expression. Like an angel and devil sitting on my shoulders, I was torn between the two.