Walk Between the Raindrops Read online

  Suncoast Society

  Walk Between the Raindrops

  When June’s twin sister July was murdered at seventeen, only Scrye’s love and strength kept June going, even as her world fell apart around her. That very love means she can never reveal to him the dark secrets she harbors surrounding that stormy night.

  Or what she did to make things right.

  Years before Mark was known as Scrye the rope guy, he’d loved June completely and knew he’d marry her. July’s murder shatters June and her family, leaving Mark, only nineteen, to step forward and take charge. Over twenty years of marriage later, he loves June more than ever and knows he’ll do whatever it takes to keep protecting his wife.

  Especially from things she can never know about.

  When her painful past is dredged from a river, June has to face demons from that horrible night that threaten to take everything from her. Can she hold the lies together without her sweet sadist ever learning the horrific truth?

  Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Romantic Suspense

  Length: 53,721 words

  WALK BETWEEN THE

  RAINDROPS

  Suncoast Society

  Tymber Dalton

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  WALK BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS

  Copyright © 2017 by Tymber Dalton

  ISBN: 978-1-64010-353-5

  First Publication: May 2017

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2017 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at

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  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  For Hubby and Sir, as always.

  And a huge thanks to Shannon B. and Christy S. L. for the gymnastics advice. Any goofs are solely mine, not theirs.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tymber Dalton is the wild-child alter-ego of author Lesli Richardson. She lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC award winner is also the bestselling author of over one hundred books, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.

  She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for updates to keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and releases. You can also find all of her Siren-BookStrand releases under all four of her pen names on her author page on the BookStrand site.

  www.tymberdalton.com

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  www.facebook.com/groups/TymbersTrybe

  www.twitter.com/TymberDalton

  For all titles by Tymber Dalton, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/tymber-dalton

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  While this book is a standalone story, you might want to read A Merry Little Kinkmas, A Very Kinky Valentine’s Day, Spank or Treat, and Vicious Carousel to pick up more backstory about June and Scrye. Some of the events in this book overlap with events at the end of Vicious Carousel. The events regarding Leo and Eva took place in Vulnerable and The Strength of the Pack. June and Mark (or Scrye, as his kinky friends call him) have appeared in several books besides those, as minor characters, but this is their focus book.

  While all the books in the Suncoast Society series are standalone works which may be read independently of each other, the recommended reading order to avoid spoilers and to not miss any backstory information is as follows:

  1. Safe Harbor

  2. Cardinal’s Rule

  3. Domme by Default

  4. The Reluctant Dom

  5. The Denim Dom

  6. Pinch Me

  7. Broken Toy

  8. A Clean Sweep

  9. A Roll of the Dice

  10. His Canvas

  11. A Lovely Shade of Ouch

  12. Crafty Bastards

  13. A Merry Little Kinkmas

  14. Sapiosexual

  15. A Very Kinky Valentine’s Day

  16. Things Made Right

  17. Click

  18. Spank or Treat

  19. A Turn of the Screwed

  20. Chains

  21. Kinko de Mayo

  22. Broken Arrow

  23. Out of the Spotlight

  24. Friends Like These

  25. Vicious Carousel

  26. Hot Sauce

  27. Open Doors

  28. One Ring

  29. Vulnerable

  30. The Strength of the Pack

  31. Initiative

  32. Impact

  33. Liability

  34. Switchy

  35. Rhymes With Orange

  36. Beware Falling Ice

  37. Beware Falling Rocks

  38. Dangerous Curves Ahead

  39. Two Against Nature

  40. Home at Last

  41. A Kinkmas Carol

  42. Ask DNA

  43. Time Out of Mind

  44. Happy Valenkink’s Day

  45. Splendid Isolation

  46. Similar to Rain

  47. Happy Spank Patrick’s Day

  48. Fire in the Hole

  49. Pretzel Logic

  50. This Moody Bastard

  51. Walk Between the Raindrops

  Some of the characters in this book appear in or are featured in previous books in the Suncoast Society series. All titles available from Siren-BookStrand.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  About the Author

  Author's Note

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Landmarks

  Cover

  WALK BETWEEN THE

  RAINDROPS

  Suncoast Society

  TYMBER DALTON

  Copyright © 2017

  Chapter One

  Recent history

  It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm Florida morning, the kind that the chamber of commerce loved to promote for their tourist brochures. What could be better than a walk along the beach?

  That morning, it meant murder.

  June’s hear
ing was ruined from the gunshots, but she was more worried about making sure Betsy was safe. After kicking the knife free from Jack’s hand and picking it up carefully by the tip to toss it away, she took in the scene.

  “Betsy? Are you okay?” she yelled.

  Witnesses. Please, god, let there be other witnesses.

  In her peripheral vision she spotted people running toward them.

  Good.

  Backing up without taking her eyes off the man’s prone body since she could see he was still breathing—although she wasn’t sure how with six goddamned bullets now lodged in his torso—she waved her left hand around, trying to locate Betsy.

  Somewhere behind June, Betsy grabbed her hand. June hauled her to her feet despite her back’s protestations to the contrary.

  “Are you okay?” June screamed as she glanced at her, certain that Betsy’s hearing was probably as ruined as her own.

  Betsy looked stunned, but she nodded.

  Still, June kept herself and her gun between Jack and Betsy. She hadn’t emptied the magazine into him, having seen plenty of horror movies in her life where the bad guy gets up one last time.

  Having been through a real-life horror show of her own in the past made her very, very careful.

  She kept her left hand clamped around Betsy’s wrist and backed them up a couple of feet, finally lowering the gun but keeping it in her hand.

  Focus. Story.

  “Oh, my god, he attacked us!” June told the first guy who ran up to them. “He came out of nowhere with a knife!”

  She added tears for effect. Adrenaline had her trembling, so that was fortuitous. “He’s her ex and going on trial for attacking her. He’s supposed to be in jail! He jumped out with a knife and said he was going to kill her!”

  As more people arrived, June finally holstered her weapon and kept a tight arm around Betsy’s shoulders. As first deputies, then wildlife officers arrived, June slowly and carefully removed her weapon from the holster when ordered and handed it over after emptying and clearing it, locking the slide open.

  Fuck.

  It was her favorite gun, one Mark had bought her on their first wedding anniversary.

  Poor Betsy, on the other hand, had gone still and quiet, likely shock setting in. June knew she’d have to call Mark and let him know what happened and, meanwhile, hold it together for Bets, if nothing else.

  To act…normal.

  To not act like she’d just committed premeditated homicide.

  * * * *

  June had finally started processing the events and thought she was doing a pretty damned good job of holding herself together under Bill Thomas’ watchful eye—and keeping a solid front for Betsy—when Betsy’s guys finally arrived. Betsy had refused to let the EMTs take a look at her, screaming any time someone besides June tried to touch her.

  Bill, a Charlotte County Sheriff’s detective—and a kinky friend of theirs—had interceded on their behalf and asked for them to await the arrival of Betsy’s men, who were on their way.

  Finally able to hand Betsy off to her men, and only after Betsy asked June if it was okay, June slid over the ambulance bumper to the far end and perched, within reach of her, not wanting to leave her alone yet, even with Kenny and Nolan.

  She was also worried about making sure she was acting “right.” It was understandable someone would be upset or even sort of numb after a trauma like this.

  But when Mark pounded up, sweaty and out of breath, she didn’t have to fake her tears of relief as she flung herself at him and he caught her in mid-air.

  “It’s okay, baby,” he whispered in her ear, one hand cradling the back of her head and the other around her waist. “I’m here. Daddy’s got you.”

  With her head buried against his chest, she felt him turn and then sit, not paying any attention to what he said to others or even who he was talking to.

  He wasn’t talking to her.

  Therefore, it didn’t matter.

  “My good girl,” he whispered in her ear. “My very good girl. I’m so proud of you.”

  That only made her cry harder, but probably not for the reasons he’d think.

  He could never know those reasons.

  She’d go to her grave doing her damnedest to keep those reasons from him.

  * * * *

  One year later

  June sat across the table from Sully and stared out at the murky waters of the Anclote River flowing just outside the restaurant in Tarpon Springs. Mark didn’t know she was there. He thought she was visiting with Clarisse. Which, technically, she would do that, too, once she and Sully finished talking.

  A year since killing Jack, and she still had nightmares. Not of the actual act itself. Her conscience rested easy in regards to putting that abusive fuck in his grave. Especially since he came at them with a knife. He would have attacked and killed them had she not shot him.

  The authorities—and Mark—didn’t know, however, that she’d lured Jack there once she’d spotted him following them and confirmed it was him.

  But she saved the state of Florida the expense of a trial and housing him for ten to twenty or more years.

  You’re welcome.

  Maybe she’d revealed too much to Sully, though, talking about Matt. Telling Sully about July’s murder.

  Although she knew damn well that Sully, former cop or not, wasn’t exactly innocent when it came to rendering home-grown justice. She didn’t know the exact details of how Clarisse’s ex had come to die, but she knew from a comment Clarisse had once let slip to her after a pitcher full of mimosas during a girls-day-out brunch that the circumstances surrounding her abusive ex’s death had more to it than met the eye.

  And that Clarisse’s ex was directly responsible for her parents’ deaths.

  Hence why June had come to Sully, at Ross and Loren’s recommendation, hoping that by talking to him it would relieve her of the nightmares.

  Scenarios where her shots went wild and she hit Betsy, or a bystander, instead of Jack. Or where the plan went wrong and he jumped them before she could draw her weapon. Any multitude of errors where it ended with him standing triumphant over their bodies and left June trembling in a cold sweat when she awoke.

  Sully glanced around and leaned in close, dropping his voice. “Anything you tell me today, that goes to my grave. I meant that. Understand?”

  She nodded. “I appreciate it.”

  “But…I won’t lie to Scrye and tell him I didn’t talk to you if he outright asks me. The content of our conversation, that’s different. He’s not just your husband, he’s your Master. I’d be a hypocrite of the worst kind if I didn’t honor that, and not only because he’s my friend. I mean, if he was abusing you, that’d be different—”

  “He’s not. He never has. He never would. He might be a sadist, but he’s amazingly gentle when it comes to emotions.”

  Outside, the afternoon had clouded up, a typical Florida afternoon thunderstorm rapidly building. “I don’t want him bearing any of this knowledge. Any of it.”

  “Plausible deniability?”

  She harshly laughed. “Fuck yeah, plausible deniability.” She played with her glass of iced tea. “Does it make me a horrible person, that I don’t have nightmares about that?”

  Maybe she never should have disturbed this grave, but in a way, it was a relief to have someone else know about it and not condemn her.

  “It doesn’t change my opinion of you, if that’s what you mean. My glass house needs to stay firmly intact, thank you very much.” His lips curved in a smile. “But I will say sometimes justice needs to happen swiftly when one is absolutely positive they’re in the right and not just being ruled by emotions.”

  “Like when someone admits they committed the crime they should face justice for?”

  He held up his glass of tea to her in a toast. “Precisely. Especially when they admit to taking a life. Or lives, plural, in some cases.” His expression darkened. “And try to kill someone else in the process.”
/>   She clinked glasses with him. “So I’m not a sociopath?”

  “If you are, then you’re in good company.” His right eyebrow arched over his glass as he took a sip of tea. “I prefer to consider it a very selective kind of artisanal justice. Reserved for extra-special situations.”

  “That’s good. You should put that in one of your books.”

  He grinned. “I already did. It’s coming out next month.”

  “Ah.” She started playing with the condensation on her glass. “I rode my girls hard when they were kids. I never wanted them to become victims, if they could avoid it. Girl Scouts to help with their self-esteem and skills. Self-defense classes. Taught them a work ethic and to be self-reliant. I did my best to never think about that day from that point on. Except, it colored every aspect of my life from that point on, even when I didn’t realize it. I also wondered what was wrong with me, that I felt zero remorse for what I did.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with you, except that you’re human like the rest of us.”

  * * * *

  Of course the bottom dropped out of the sky as they were getting ready to leave. She’d left her umbrella in her car.

  “Guess I need to run between the raindrops, huh?” she tried to joke.

  “Walking’s probably better. Don’t risk falling.” Sully was obviously in no hurry to leave the safety of the awning covering the restaurant’s entrance.

  “What if the nightmares don’t stop?” she asked.

  “I think they will. I think maybe you needed to hear someone tell you you’re not a horrible person.”

  “So I’m not a horrible person, right?”

  “Not about that, at least. Not in my opinion.” She caught the hint of a smile on his lips. “You’re not secretly a puppy-kicker, are you?”