Micah hadn’t planned to go in to work that morning at all. How could he and leave Angelina after what he’d done? He had already called Pop before Nathan and Connor barged in all curious about Angelina and wanting a glimpse. Nosy bastards.

He’d fully intended to spend the morning with Angelina, if for no other reason than to establish some ground rules regarding their relationship.

Relationship. Jesus. He wasn’t sure what they had, but him leaving her to fend for herself after David died was hardly the foundation of a relationship.

Before he could make Nathan and Connor leave, or tell them he wasn’t coming into work, Angelina had dropped all that crap about her job, then Hannah had been brought up and Angelina had high-tailed it to her room.

He’d left only because the idea of staying in his apartment was enough to drive him insane. And so here he was, out driving. No clear destination. A brand-new pack of smokes lying on the seat beside him—already half gone.

So much for his resolve to quit.

His lungs would feel like shit later, but for now each inhale was about all that was keeping what little sanity he had intact.

He slowed when he arrived at Damon’s huge-ass house, and for a long moment he sat in his truck, staring up the driveway. He hadn’t intended to end up here, but maybe he’d known that he needed to clear the air with Damon. He wanted for Damon to hear about it from him, not get it secondhand from someone who’d seen everything at The House.

After tossing the cigarette butt out his window, he pulled into the driveway and drove up to the house. Damon might not even be home, although he did spend a lot of time working from the house now that he and Serena were married. She’d moved her own offices into his house and had continued running her business, Fantasy Incorporated, after encouragement from Damon.

Micah liked Serena. He’d had his doubts in the beginning that she could be the kind of woman who would make Damon happy. A submissive woman. Not just in bed, but in all aspects. But the two were happy, and though Serena herself had doubts at the onset of their relationship, she hadn’t given up, and for that she had Micah’s utmost respect and affection.

Apart from David, Damon was the closest Micah had allowed anyone. Oh, the guys at work were his buddies. There was no doubt about that. Great friends. He liked them all. But he’d never confided in them anything of his life before his arrival in Houston. Only Damon knew of his relationship with Hannah and that he and David had ... shared her.

Before he was fully out of the truck, he looked up to see Damon standing in the open doorway of his home. He was leaned against the door frame, watching Micah as he walked toward him.

When he was a foot away, Micah stopped and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “I need to talk to you, Damon.”

Damon nodded. “Come in. We can go onto the terrace. I hope you won’t mind that Serena will join us in a moment. This is our day together, and I don’t like to be away from her.”

“I don’t want to interrupt,” Micah began.

But Damon ignored him and merely gestured for him to follow. Micah sighed. Damon was a smooth bastard. It surprised Micah that as alike as they were they got along so well. Neither liked to budge, and both were accustomed to doing things their own way.

“Want some coffee to go with all those cigarettes you’ve smoked?” Damon asked as they stepped outside the back.

Micah grimaced. “Smell that bad, huh.”

Damon smiled. “Thought you’d quit? Or was that last week.”

“Fuck you,” Micah grumbled. “I hadn’t had a smoke in three weeks until today, and before that I’d narrowed it down to one or two a day max.”

“So what prompted today’s black lung?”

Damon sat and motioned for Micah to do the same. Micah sank into one of the patio chairs and briefly closed his eyes.

“Have you ever done something that you knew in your bones was unforgivably wrong? Not just a mistake, but something that went against every one of your principles?”

Damon’s expression grew pensive. “I can’t say that I have.”

“It sucks,” Micah said bleakly.

There was a brief hesitation. “What happened?”

Micah struggled with what to say, how to say it. And then he figured there was no pretty way to put it.

“I pretty much raped Angelina at The House last night.”

To Damon’s credit, he didn’t react. He didn’t say anything, nor did his expression change. He just waited.

Micah related the entire episode, from the time he walked in to see the three men with Angelina to the time he tossed her over the end of the couch and fucked her. Without a condom.

“You lost control.”

“I raped her.”

Damon shook his head. “Even Angelina refutes that. You said so yourself. She wanted what happened.”

“I didn’t give her a choice. Goddamn it, Damon. What we do is all about choice. We take, we take a hell of a lot from a woman, but it’s because she chooses to give it. I’m demanding. I like submissive women. Completely and utterly submissive. But never, never have I ever lost control like that. Never have I hurt a woman.”

“Have you spoken to Angelina? Told her all this?” Damon asked.

Micah sighed. “It’s complicated. I get the feeling ... I get that she wants more from me. What I mean is that she wants something I can’t give her. And I won’t use her as some sexual toy. She deserves better than that. I don’t understand my reaction to her. I’ve had women since Hannah. I’ve enjoyed women. But with Angelina there is something that I just can’t explain. It’s not fun and laid back with her. It’s not sexy and casual. I can’t be around her and not want to take her over. I have such dark thoughts. And goddamn it, Damon, she’s David’s sister. Of all the women in the world, she is off-limits.”

Why?”

Micah stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “What the hell do you mean, ‘why’? It’s self-explanatory. Hell, she lived with me and David and Hannah for a year. She’s ... family.”

“She’s not family, Micah. She’s your best friend’s sister. Big difference.”

“I can’t believe you’re being so calm about this,” Micah muttered. “For God’s sake, Damon, I raped a woman in your damn club.”

“Is that why you came? You want me to punish you? Want me to kick you out and tell you never to come back? I’d say you’re doing a good enough job of beating up yourself. You don’t need my help.”

Micah let out a sound of frustration.

“Go home and talk to Angelina, Micah. I get that this has knocked you for a loop, but what you did wasn’t rape. She was willing. Very willing, I’d say. Are you going to sit there and tell me you’ve never fucked a woman when she was tied up and helpless under your hands?”

“Uh maybe I should come back,” Serena whispered from behind them.

Both men turned to see her standing there, her expression unsure as if she was afraid of intruding. Micah gentled his expression, not wanting to put her off.

She glanced down self-consciously at her silk robe that fell to mid-calf, and Micah knew that was all she had on. Her feet were bare, but Damon always teased her about her love of being bare-footed.

Damon simply held out a hand to her, and she walked over to kneel beside him. She laid her head on his lap and rubbed her cheek lovingly over his thigh.

“Serena mine, what have I told you? Your poor knees.”

He pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms possessively around her waist, letting his hand rest on the curve of her hip.

“Hello, Serena,” Micah said with a smile.

She smiled back. “Am I interrupting? You both sounded so serious.”

Micah felt his chest cave just a little. He did love this woman. He loved all the women his friends had hooked up with.

“Damon was just kicking my ass. You probably saved what little was left of it.”

Serena arched a disbelieving eyebrow. Damon nuzzled her neck, nipping lightly at the curve of her shoulder.