I wonder if she’s curious about our relationship, knowing what she knows about me and my kink results. Perhaps she’s imagining me whipping him in the BDSM room. More than likely she’s realizing why the two of them never really worked, two subs looking for guidance. Either way, I’ll never know because that would be far too awkward of a conversation to have.
Suddenly, my phone rings in my pocket, pulling me from my deep thoughts. I glance down to see Fitz’s name on the caller ID. It’s weird that he’d call me and not Emerson, but I quickly excuse myself to answer it.
“Hello?” I say as I enter the kitchen.
“Hi, Maggie. I’m calling to let you know there’s been arrest made on the man who attacked Beau.”
“Oh, thank God,” I reply, dropping onto the chair in relief. “Emerson’s here. I’ll let him know.”
“Okay,” Fitz replies, “I appreciate it. I wanted you to know first.”
I smile down at my coffee as I stir in the creamer. “That means a lot. Thanks for everything.”
I feel Emerson’s presence behind me. The look on his face is confident as I spin around and nod. “They got him.”
His doesn’t look as surprised or as relieved as I expected. He calmly replies, “Thank God.”
There’s an audible celebration in the living room when they overhear the news.
“Yeah. He turned himself in,” Fitz adds, and I freeze.
“He did?”
“Yeah. Just between you and me, someone must have gotten to him first. He looked pretty roughed up when he came into the station.”
“What?” I ask in confusion. Who would have…
Then, as I lift my eyes, I stare across the kitchen at the man leaning calmly against the countertop. He’s wearing a knowing expression, and I nearly drop the phone out of my hand.
I’m assaulted by guilt when I remember attacking him the other night and judging his love for his son. I should have known better, and I will never doubt it again.
“It was nothing serious,” Fitz adds. “A guy like that causes problems, so he should expect to receive them too. He won’t press charges against whoever it was. I’m almost sure of it.”
“I hope not…” I reply softly.
A moment later, I hear footsteps on the stairs, and I know it’s Beau coming down when he should be sleeping. I rush into the front room to greet him.
“I’m sorry, were we being too loud?”
He shakes his head. “No, I’m just not tired. I hate lying up there alone when everyone’s here. Plus, I’ve been in bed for three days. I can’t do it anymore.”
“Take it easy, please,” I say in warning, but he tilts his head at me.
“Stop babying me.”
As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, I take a look at his bandage, checking that it doesn’t need to be changed. Then I grab his arms and pull him closer. “Don’t get bossy with me. I’m taking care of you, now get over it.”
His eyes move from my face to something behind me, and I turn to see Emerson watching us uncomfortably. I jerk my hand away from Beau. This is really going to take some getting used to. Since everyone found out about us, no one has really seen us together or said anything. It’s the giant elephant in every room.
“She’s right, Beau. You need to rest,” Emerson adds, agreeing with me. Which I’d appreciate, if I didn’t have to worry about how Beau feels about this.
“Oh great,” he snaps. “Now I have two people bossing me around.” He’s in a bad mood, and not a cute bad mood. Normally when he gets like this, I can get tough with him, but with everyone around, it’s a little hard to step into that role. Emerson’s still getting used to us being together. I don’t think he’s ready to see me force his son into submission.