Chapter 15: Face the Music

I half-stumbled out of the cab outside my apartment building, feeling all the fresh soreness blooming through my body. My breasts, my thighs, and most of all between my legs. But it was a sweet, clear soreness that felt precious even as my body twinged on its way up the stairs. The pain was mixed up in memories of such tremendous pleasure…Just the memory made me catch my breath.

But I almost screamed when I opened the door, and Tony and Cass charged me with looks that might have been joy and might have been fury on their faces. They both hugged me, hard, blabbering into my ears to either side as I tried to protect the most bruised parts of me.

"Oh jeez, thank g*d," Cass's voice rushed hot against my ear. "When you vanished from the show, we were so scared, we thought something happened—!"

"We've been on the phone with people all night, we didn't sleep," sputtered Tony. "But you're here and you're okay and—Hester. What happened to your face?"

"My face?" I reached up to touch my ow