LaceysGame by Shiloh Walker

she was alone, it was too much. She’d go to her dad and he’d pat her on
the head about what a good daughter she was, and he appreciated how she sacrificed for me. Then she’d come back to me and I’d tie her up and make her beg and
she’d love it…”
    “It sounds to me like he’s the one who fucked with her
head,” Lacey said when his voice trailed off. “And she didn’t have the courage
to tell him to back off. Maybe she was falling for you and she just didn’t know
how to handle it.”
    A humorless smile curved his lips.
    “Yeah, well, nobody will ever know.”
    “Why don’t you ask her?” Lacey demanded.
    He closed his eyes.
    Something sick stirred inside her heart and it only spread
when he said, “There’s a note behind the picture, Lace.”
    She took it out carefully, eying the worn creases. How many
times had Brogan read this?
    “There was another guy she’d been seeing when she accidentally made my acquaintance. Apparently it was the man her father had picked out for
her to marry. They were best friends as kids, good friends even while we were
together,” Brogan said softly. “And they were still making plans to get
together once I was out of the picture, or so her father likes to tell me. But
then somehow, they found out about my…deviant nature. He confronted her about
it, then told her he couldn’t stand to touch a woman who squealed like a whore
because a guy fucked her ass. I found out later that he’d paid one of my own
security men to put security cams in my house. The son of a bitch was spying on
us, gave the video feed to her dad, her sisters. Everybody. She killed herself
a week later.”
    Lacey swallowed as she opened the note and started to read.
     
    Brogan
    It’s hard to write this, harder still knowing that you’ll
get through this somehow, and I’m just too weak.
    I never set out with the intention to hurt you. My father
is a hard man to tell no. He’s a hard man, period. Not unlike you in some ways.
    I want you to know that I never did tell him the
information that he asked for. Many times I started to, but then something
would make me stop. But I can’t live with myself anymore and I can’t look at
myself knowing that everybody who cares about me knows what I’ve done over the
past few years.
    I’ve lived a lie.
    I’ve embarrassed myself.
    Forgive me.
    Love, Sierra
     
    An ache in her throat, she folded it back up and slid it
into its spot before moving back to him. He didn’t take the wallet so she
tucked it into his pocket. “This is why you don’t want to share yourself with
me,” she said quietly.
    “This is why I don’t want to share myself with anybody,” he
corrected. “But I find that changing, around you. Even if Sierra did fuck me
over—”
    Lacey frowned. “I don’t think she did.”
    Reaching up, she smoothed her hand down his shirt and then
wrapped her arms around his neck. “Brogan, I read the note of a woman asking
you to forgive her. She was a woman ashamed of the lies she told you. Ashamed
that everybody would know that she went into that marriage as a lie.”
    He opened his mouth to argue, but then he shook his head.
“None of that matters now. It’s past time to let her go. This is what matters… I fucked up with you. I wouldn’t bring you in because the last time I let
somebody in, it tore me open. But that’s not fair. Not to you, not to us. I
fucked up and I’m sorry. Will you give us another chance?”
    Then he held up his hand.
    She looked down, her heart jumping around in her throat.
    And it almost leaped out when she saw the key.
    “That…” She licked her lips. “What is that?”
    “A key. I want you to move in with me, Lacey. I want a real
chance. With you. For us.”

Chapter Eight
     
    “That better be the last…” Lacey threw open the door and
stopped, the words dying on her tongue as she stared at the woman in front of
her.
    “Oh sorry.” She smiled, a little puzzled. “I thought you
were