Read The Drake Restrained Compete Collection: Part 1 - 4 (The Drake Series Book 7) for Free Online

demand a full debrief.
    I sighed and went to the stage, bypassing them so I could avoid even having to discuss what just happened, the key to her apartment left behind on the table.
     
     

 

    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
     
    The next week went as usual, except I didn’t go to see Allie on the appointed nights. Each weekday morning, I woke to my alarm at six. Showered, grabbed a coffee and toast. Dressed. Drove to New York Presbyterian where I had a full slate of surgeries booked.
    I purposely didn’t think about Allie, immersing myself in my cases, consciously blocking out her words about me. I knew about denial, having studied psychoanalysis briefly during my undergrad. If I kept myself busy enough, I wouldn’t have time to mourn the end of the relationship.
    If my personal life had gone to shit, at least my work as a surgeon was going well.
    After dictating my surgical reports and checking in on my patients, I left NYP and took my car to meet Lara for lunch at a café near the hospital. I knew she would have heard from Allie about our breakup and would want to interrogate me about it.
    I arrived, still wearing my scrubs, and after placing my order at the counter, I went to the table. Lara looked impeccable, as usual, wearing an expensive suit, her hair tidy in a smooth updo. She had her usual salad and espresso. The café was busy at this time of day, so we sat in a corner for added privacy. The noise of patrons talking, the clink of glasses and cutlery, helped mask our discussion.
    "Drake," she said before I even sat down, her voice sounding irritated. "I hear you and Allie ended it in a bad way. That's not like you. You should have called me sooner."
    I sat across from her, surprised at her tone.
    "She wanted more," I said plainly. "I can't give it."
    Lara sighed and shook her head. "She told me you broke up with her in public."
    "I had no choice," I said, feeling defensive. "She came to O'Riley's."
    "So?" Lara said. "I've heard you play before."
    "You're my friend."
    "Can't you be friends with your subs?"
    "I have all the friends I need. I need a fuck partner who likes a bit of kink. Look," I said, impatient with her. "I told Allie from the start that our relationship would be strictly sexual. Nothing more. She wanted to be my girlfriend, Lara. I don't do girlfriends. You know that."
    "Poor Drake. Still hurting after all this time? Still have mommy issues?"
    I frowned. "What are you talking about?"
    She shook her head and said nothing but I knew damn well what she meant. She was referring to my divorce from Maureen and the loss of my mother when I was ten.
    It was after my divorce that Lara and I became reacquainted after a decade being apart, each pursuing our own lives. We met in an abnormal psychology class when we both studied sexual perversions of the sadomasochistic variety. She took the class because she was a sadist and I did because I was fascinated with those who were obsessed with pain, giving it and receiving it.
    I didn't want to give pain. I wanted to cure it.
    We never crossed over into being sexual partners because both of us were too dominant in personality and she felt strange that I was so young, only eighteen when we met while she was a few years older. I knew she was kinky when we were friends before, but at that time, I resisted the notion that I was as well. When I was in trouble after my marriage failed and Maureen obtained a restraining order, I ran into Lara at a café and we caught up once more. It was then she diagnosed me as a sexual Dominant.
    She urged me to take training from her so I could do it properly. At that point, broken as I was, confused and wounded, I agreed. For three months, I was her submissive, learning what it felt like to be tied up and helpless, how to be safe when using ropes and restraints, how to flog, whip and administer spankings. She even used a strap-on with me so I’d understand anal sex and how to do it properly.
    Once Lara felt I had learned everything there was