Sold by Jaymie Holland Page B

slowly introduce you to my way of
playing.” He shook his head. “You have a bad habit of jumping into
things before I can share them with you. You asked me about the TV
and the desk. I told you I would tell you later. I fully intended
to do that.”
    With a sigh she finished looking through the
book and closed it. “I think you should have told me from the
beginning.”
    “You’re right,” he said. “All that can happen
now is that you decide to trust me.” He put his hands to either
side of him on the desk as he spoke. “And that you believe me.”
    She met his gaze. “I believe you, Zach. I’m
sorry that I didn’t listen to you and give you a chance to
explain.” She gestured around the room. “At the same time, I’m not
sure I can handle this. That you have people over and watch them
play in this room and more than that, you did participate in casual
play with women here for your pleasure.”
    “Why does that bother you?” he said as he
studied her.
    She looked at him. “You’re kidding, right?
You have to be able to understand that.”
    “I quit doing the business when my restaurant
and nightclub took off,” he said. “I sold the website and I’m out
of that life.”
    She waved toward the door. “Then what was
this Mistress Donna and sub Vicky?”
    “I told you. Donna was an old friend who did
a few shoots for me in the past. Now I just do it now and then for
certain people.” He gestured toward the drawer of DVDs. “If you
look closely at the dates for the past four years, you’ll see the
difference in how many shoots I did before selling my site and how
many in the two years after. I’ve done maybe eight shoots in the
past two years.”
    “Even eight is too much.” She walked up to
him and said, “I just need to think this through.”
     
     

Chapter 12
     
     
    Depression was not something Christy was used
to. She wasn’t really depressed she knew, but she was down.
    She missed Zach.
    This was far worse than the heartbreak she
had gone through with Ted. Next to this, her experience with him
was nothing.
    Even though her initial relationship was
brief, her heart belonged to Zach and it always would.
    There was plenty to do around the store, so
she kept herself busy, waiting for closing time as she worked
through her mind what she should do.
    Three days had passed since the episode in
the dungeon with Zach and his side business. Three days since she’d
told him she needed time to think things over. He had called the
past two days but she had told him she wasn’t ready yet.
    Was she ready today?
    She paused to brush a bit of dust that had
settled on one of the mirrors she had for sale in her shop. She
moved her hand away and studied her reflection for a moment. She
looked tired, sad.
    “Suck it up, Christy,” she said to her
reflection as she smoothed her hair away from her face. “You need
to figure this out and make a decision. The right decision,
whatever the hell that is.”
    Could she handle strange people going to
Zach’s and him watching them play? How could he help but get
excited when watching what she had witnessed for herself yesterday?
She didn’t want him to be excited by anyone but her.
    Anyone.
    Was it jealousy? Or was this a genuine
concern? Should she be accepting of anything and everything he did?
Or should she stand her ground because it was something that
bothered her so much?
    She pushed her hand through her hair, feeling
frustrated and lonely, like there was an emptiness in her life that
she needed to fill. She missed him more than she had the first time
she left him. It was like they were two souls that belonged
together and were finally joined again then ripped apart just as
fast.
    But this… Could she do it?
    “Damn.” She rubbed her temples. Why did he
have to put her in this position?
    Zach was who he was. Did she have the right
to ask him to change?
    Three days and she was nowhere near being
able to figure herself out. Since it had taken this long, it