Crossing the Line (Anchored 6)

Again, she raises that perfectly manicured eyebrow.

“Thank you,” I squeak out.

“What happened, Odessa? You showed up here, completely inconsolable, and then you drank two bottles of wine while you cried on my couch.”

Suddenly, small snippets of the night come back to me.

“Oh, fuck,” I say. “I sang, didn’t I?”

“You did,” she says. “And I have to admit, I’ve never heard anyone sing Under the Sea quite like you.”

That’s because I made it into a striptease.

Fuck.

I came to Piper’s house, got super fucked up, danced to music from The Little Mermaid soundtrack, took off all of my clothes, and then crawled upstairs to her guest bedroom.

“Where’s Maddox?” I manage to squeak out. Did he see me in my moment of glory?

“Don’t worry. He went to bed before you hit the second bottle of wine.”

Somehow, that’s a little bit of a relief.

“Thanks for taking care of me,” I whisper.

“Hey,” Piper says gently. I hear her sitting down beside the bed, and then she takes my hand. She squeezes it. “I’m here for you, Odessa.”

“I saw Jasper last night.”

“I gathered that. Christina didn’t hear what you guys were talking about, but I assume it wasn’t good.”

Piper knows how hurt I was when he ghosted. She knows how much pain I was in, how sad I felt, and how I questioned so many different things. I don’t know if he vanished because the sex was bad or if it’s because he didn’t want to be in an interracial relationship. I don’t know if it had something to do with anything I said. Maybe he just figured it was a one-time deal. Maybe not, but it hurt.

“I thought I’d managed to work through all of my feelings.”

“But when you saw him, everything came rushing back,” Piper says kindly. “I get it, honey.”

“He didn’t seem to know I was even hurt, Piper.”

“Guys are dumb sometimes.”

“He’s a Dom, though. He’s supposed to be extra sensitive to a submissive’s feelings.”

“Even good Doms make poor choices sometimes.”

“Maybe.”

“Look, Odessa,” Piper says carefully. “Everyone makes mistakes. Maybe you should just talk to him. Not at the club,” she adds. “But you could go out for lunch or meet up for coffee or something. Maybe he could tell you what happened that night or maybe it’ll just give you some closure. I’m not sure. I do know that you’re a good person, sweetie, and you don’t deserve to hurt like this.”

“I feel really dumb,” I whisper.

“You aren’t dumb, Odessa.”

The tears start falling, and I hate that. I hate feeling this regret, this anxiety. I hate knowing that Jasper and I were together exactly one time, and somehow, I managed to make things really weird and uncomfortable and awkward between us.

Piper sighs. “Maybe there’s a reasonable explanation,” she says.

“Like what?”