A Touch of Winter (A Short Story) Read Free

Jack manage to look so stern and outraged when all this was his fault?
    'And I was stupid enough to think she was my friend. Why couldn’t go to a club and play with someone I didn’t know?' She would not cry. Jack was an unfaithful bastard and she wouldn’t shed one more tear for him.
    'We weren’t playing. For fucks sake, Abbie, I don’t play with anyone but you. You know that.' He took a step closer to her.
    She stood up, trying to ignore him towering over her. Jack was overwhelming enough when she was on her feet and wearing heels. 'Oh stupid me. I must have imagined it.'
    For once, he looked slightly discomfited. 'Well, yes, I did tie her up, but it wasn’t a scene. I was helping her rehearse for a play.'
    Abbie laughed bitterly. 'God, you couldn’t even think of a good lie to tell me.'
    'She’s auditioning for Shibari, Gary Duggan’s play, but Paloma’s never been much of a rope bunny.'
    Rope bunny. The phrase was so ludicrous that Abbie laughed.
    'I’m better at Shibari than her Dom, so I said I’d help her practice.'
    Abbie waited for him to continue, but he firmed his lips and didn’t say any more.  'Go on,' she said.
    But he wouldn’t. 'More to the point, what were you doing?'
    'I thought I’d surprise you. I caught an earlier flight and then I …' Her voice cracked at the memory of the scene she had seen, but she refused to give in to it. Why am I making excuses? I’m not the one who was with someone else. 'Get out, Jack. I can’t do this any more.'
    She could see the tension in his shoulders, the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Jack rubbed his fist against the palm of his other hand as if he wanted to hit something. Then he turned away and took several deep breaths of salty night air. When he spoke again, it was in that deadly calm tone he used just before he annihilated his arch-nemesis on screen. 'Let’s discuss this like adults, Abbie. Why don’t you articulate your issues and —'
    'My issues? My issues?' Abbie leaned forward to jab a finger at him. She was close enough to catch a hint of sweat. He must have climbed to the second floor to reach the balcony, but she wasn’t in the mood to be impressed. 'I caught you playing with another woman. Is that articulate enough for you?'
    His head jerked back as if he’d been struck.
    Ignoring the danger signs, she pressed on. 'You’ve been away for weeks. You’ve barely messaged me since you got back from location. You haven’t returned any of my calls and—'
    'I’ve been busy, Abbie. Paloma has—'
    'Don’t. I don’t want to hear you talking about her.'
    'Fine. If you’d rather do this the hard way…' Before she could guess his intention, his hands close around her upper arms and he propelled her backwards until her legs hit the couch. Abbie struggled, trying to jerk out of his grasp, but he was too strong and far too angry. Instead, she raised her foot and brought it down sharply on his instep. Jack barely blinked. It was like kicking a tire iron.
    'You really shouldn’t have done that.' A quick jerk of his arms and she tumbled onto the couch and he followed her down Despite her struggles, he grasped both wrists and pinned them above her head. She thrashed against him, wriggling like an eel, but she couldn’t dislodge him. Abbie could feel the heat of him through the fabric of his shirt and the hardness against her thighs told her that her struggles were inflaming more than his temper. She stopped moving. They lay there, staring at each other, huffing breaths like two boxers sizing each other up for the next round.
    'Okay. Why don’t I go first? You ran out on me tonight and I didn’t like it.'
    Abbie jerked against him, wishing that her hand was free so that she could punch his handsome face. 'What did you expect me to do? Join in? Oh, I bet you’d love that.'
    Icy blue eyes glared at her. 'Actually, I’m a one-woman kind of guy. And you should know that by now.'
    It sounded so good, but how could she believe it? Her rage