Knox tilted his head back and gazed at the ceiling, looking anywhere besides at her. “You know why the Domme-sub thing worked between us? Because we balanced each other out. In the dojo I’ve been in charge. In the bedroom you’ve been in charge. I needed that separation or else I . . .”
“Couldn’t have been submissive to me,” she supplied.
“Yeah. I’da seen you as the ballbuster at the dojo and the whip cracker at Twisted.” He snorted. “Like I needed another thing for you to lord over me.”
She shrank back, but she didn’t think he noticed.
“At least Master Black demoted me in the privacy of his office and not in front of the other instructors.”
Why had her brother done this? In an attempt to break them up? A horrible thought occurred to her. Was this finally payback for her part in the Naomi debacle? Ronin could hurt her by taking away the one thing that mattered most to Knox—his position at Black Arts—and in the process turn him resentful and bitter toward her.
“Wanna know the really fun part of this whole thing? Now I have to find a paying job. Because the only position that pays full-time wages at Black Arts is yours, Shihan. So the billionaire heiress will get paid my salary, which is probably a joke amount to you anyway. But it’s not a joke to me because it’s all I fucking have.” Another glug of scotch. “You even have another job—not that you need it. My other job at Twisted is a trade-out for yearly dues, so I don’t even have that.”
“Knox. You have to believe I didn’t want this.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Rules are rules. And Black Arts is definitely under new management.”
“Why won’t you look at me?”
“Because you read me too fucking well.”
“Not a good enough answer.” The Domme in her snapped, “Look. At. Me.”
The submissive in him responded.
And she recoiled at the desolation and anger in his eyes.
“Happy now, Mistress?”
How could she ever be happy seeing him like that?
Shiori wanted to curl herself around him, but he’d closed himself off. “What can I do?”
His bark of laughter was near maniacal. “Not something you’ll wanna hear.”
“Try me.”
Knox knocked back another mouthful of booze. “It’s simple. Just follow through with your original plan. You were here temporarily, biding your time to return to Japan. So if you went now . . .”
He could retain his status as Shihan. That nauseous feeling surfaced again. “You want me to leave?”
His lips twisted into a cruel smile. “Wasn’t that always your intent? Tokyo is your home. You’ve told me that several times.”
Once again she took a mental step back.
Her leaving would solve the problem—Ronin couldn’t force her to become Shihan if she wasn’t part of the dojo.
But that wasn’t the problem you came here to address.
Why hadn’t Ronin discussed this with her? Especially the part where he planned to give her all of Knox’s responsibilities? Her brother knew she had commitments to Okada—she’d heard Ronin and Knox discussing that just the other day.
When Knox tipped the bottle again, it was all she could do not to smack it out of his hand. Getting shitfaced wasn’t helping.
“Just go. I’ll get by on my own. I always do.”
Shiori had the sensation of watching this unfold from behind a pane of glass. This wasn’t her life crumbling before her—seeing the man she loved drunk and telling her to leave. Seeing the father of her child resentful of her.
God. How would Knox react when she told him about the baby?
She couldn’t do it tonight.
Knox wasn’t a hateful person, but he was drunk, and she had no idea what he’d say in that state. So it was best to let it go.
When the bottle hit the counter, she jumped.
Bleary-eyed, he pushed to his feet. He stumbled down the hallway toward the bathroom.
No use in sticking around.
Heartsick, she slipped out and called the car service as she walked along Knox’s street.
While she waited for the car, she scrolled through her choices for a moving and packing company. “Your ad says twenty-four-hour service? Yes. I need to be packed up and out of the rental tonight. I understand it’s premium pricing. Sir, money is not an object for me. Time is. If your movers can make my deadline, there will be bonuses all around.” She rattled off the address. “Showing up within the hour would be great. Thank you.”