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  Suncoast Society

  Follow Me

  Askel’s frantic to help Mallory find a stable recovery from her anorexia, but every time he gets his hopes up another relapse threatens her survival. He’s willing to do anything to save his wife, including setting aside their Master/slave dynamic, if that’s what it takes.

  Mal knows she’s in the fight of her life, but she’s hit yet another plateau and her recovery has stalled. Something has to give before her body gives out. She’s willing to take matters into her own hands and try a new path, even if it’s one Kel and her doctors disagree with.

  Kel isn’t happy about Mal’s decisions, but it’s not like there’s anything he can do about it now. And when she issues an ultimatum about their relationship, he’s even less happy. Can he learn to let go, trust Mal, and put his faith in their friends? Or is he standing by and following his wife down a path of self-destruction?

  Genres: BDSM, Contemporary

  Length: 39,818

  FOLLOW ME

  Suncoast Society

  Tymber Dalton

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Follow Me

  Copyright © 2019 by Tymber Dalton

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-729-4

  First Publication: March 2019

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2019 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 [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  For Hubby, and for Sir. He knows why.

  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 and part-time Viking shield-maiden loves to shoot skeet and play D&D with her friends. She’s also the bestselling author of over one hundred and fifty books and counting, 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 her newsletter to keep abreast of the latest news, 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.

  Honest reviews are always welcomed. They help with a book’s visibility and can boost its placement on book retailer sites. Even a few lines about what you felt reading the book will help. Thank you so much, it’s greatly appreciated!

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  Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TymberDalton

  For all titles by Tymber Dalton, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/tymber-dalton

  Author’s Note

  This is book 93 in the Suncoast Society series. You do not have to read all the books before this one to understand the plot or characters—most of the books in the series are standalone.

  Kel and Mal were first featured in His Canvas, and their story has played out through several other books until this point, either directly or in the background but mentioned, such as A Kinkmas Carol, Happy Spank Patrick’s Day, This Moody Bastard, Walk Between the Raindrops, Friends in Common, Almost Gothic, Happy Spank-O-Ween, and It’ll Be Fun. The party in chapter one happens during Happy Spank-O-Ween.

  And for those of you keeping a close eye on the series’ timeline, remember that not all the books are in chronological order. Some books take place in a different swath of time than others, overlapping events.

  Also, I goofed with Essie. Obviously she would have had her baby long before Happy Spank-O-Ween.

  Whoopsies. Totally my fault. I shuffled some stuff around and forgot to adjust my timeline. #authorfail

  Keep in mind that this is a work of fiction. It’s in no way a real-life treatment plan. If you or someone you love has an eating disorder or other mental health issue, please seek qualified assistance.

  Some of the characters in this book appear in or are featured in previous books in the Suncoast Society series. While most of 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 can be found on the Suncoast Society series page, along with character information and other trivia, on my website at:

  http://www.suncoastsociety.com

  Playlist

  “You Can Rely on Me” - Jason Mraz

  “A World With You” - Jason Mraz

  “Out of My Hands” - Jason Mraz

  “Details In the Fabric” - Jason Mraz

  “Long Drive” - Jason Mraz

  “I Won’t Give Up” - Jason Mraz

  “Quiet” - Jason Mraz

  “Shine” - Jason Mraz

  “Best Friend” - Jason Mraz

  “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” - Jason Mraz

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOLLOW ME

  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

  FOLLOW ME

  Suncoast Society

  TYMBER DALTON

  Copyright © 2019

  Chapter One

  October

  What’s wrong with me? It’s been over a year.

  Mallory Hansen stared at herself in the mirror as she prepared for the Halloween party.

  Although she really didn’t have much to get ready for. Her wardrobe was extremely limited now, and she didn’t have a costume she could wear that would fit her, even if she felt like wearing one. Tonight she’d don one of the black maxi-dresses that was actually way too big for her now, and a black cardigan over that to hide her arms and torso.

  I have a whole closet full of cute clothes I can’t wear because they’re too fucking big for me.

  It was enough to make her want to cry.

  The irony wasn’t lost on her that at one point in her not-too-distant past she would’ve killed to be smaller.

  This wasn’t what she had in mind, and she was far enough along in her recovery to know she wasn’t in a healthy place.

  Sticking to a long-term recovery plan had proved difficult for her, though.

&n
bsp; She’d had to beg and plead with her husband, Askel, to check her out of the treatment facility in Tampa and bring her home to Sarasota for tonight’s Halloween party at Seth and Leah’s. She’d missed so many events already—she missed their friends. And Kel wouldn’t attend any lifestyle events if she wasn’t with him, despite her telling him she wanted him to go. That heaped more guilt onto her even though Kel assured her he was fine not attending events without her.

  She already felt tense this evening because Kel was not happy with her right now. At all. But she was going stir-crazy at the facility. It was a nice place, except she couldn’t leave when she wanted to, had no freedom, and she was getting tired of sitting in group sessions and not having any new answers, or sitting in one-on-ones with her lead therapist, Dr. Susan Abrahms, and feeling like she was getting absolutely nowhere with her recovery now.

  Yes, with her daily journal she could look back and see how she felt more clear-headed again with the new medicine regimen, but…

  Yeah.

  She’d been a breath away this morning from demanding a divorce from Kel over his initial reluctance to help her check out, even just for the night.

  Those thoughts had pulled her up short, though, once she realized she’d had them.

  She loved him.

  But she was ready for something…different now. Not meaning him. Meaning this whole situation with her anorexia.

  Something in her life had to change.

  She refused to spend the rest of her life locked up in an inpatient treatment center for eating disorders. For starters, they couldn’t afford it. The fact that friends who could afford it stepped in to pay for it—friends who’d literally hit the lottery—was beside the point.

  It made things worse for her, actually. Made her feel even more guilty she hadn’t managed to get her shit together long before now.

  I can’t keep doing things this way.

  At five-six, at her heaviest before her pregnancy, she’d been almost one-seventy, and then during her pregnancy had made it up to nearly two hundred pounds just before…

  But her usual weight had averaged anywhere from one-fifty to one-sixty while with Kel. Right now, she’d actually regained and maintained a few pounds and was a whopping one-ten, and she’d made it through the worst of the initial effects of trying to restart her body’s metabolism. Her medical team’s current goal for her was to get her to one-twenty-five and see how she did, with an acceptable weight range of anywhere from one-seventeen to one-fifty. She’d lost a lot of muscle mass, too, something she was trying to rebuild by doing yoga alone in her room every day, as well as carefully supervised gentle low-impact weight training at the facility’s gym.

  Kel walked into the bedroom. She’d tried to get him to take a shower with her earlier, but he’d gently refused with a mumbled excuse that didn’t make any sense no matter how she tried to spin it, unless she looked at it in the most obvious way.

  He didn’t want to see her naked.

  Rationally, she understood that was due to how underweight she was—yes, logically she understood she was underweight—but it pissed her off as a spouse.

  It’d been over six months since they’d last attempted to make love, and even then it’d been like he was afraid to touch her. Neither of them had ended up getting off, and Mal had ended up crying herself to sleep in Kel’s arms.

  They hadn’t actually played in…

  Well, since before she’d lost the baby the previous March. Here they were now, eighteen months later.

  Maybe this new regimen with the medication really was helping, because she felt clear-headed and determined in a way she hadn’t in months.

  “Ready to go, sweetheart?” he asked.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He held his hands out to her, and she accepted that instead of the hug she really wanted.

  How gently he gripped her hands, as if they were formed from fragile porcelain, made her want to scream.

  “No hugs from anyone tonight, sweetheart,” he quietly said.

  Anger flashed through her. “Kel, I won’t break if—”

  “No,” he said, giving her the Dom head tip, as she thought of it.

  Her mouth snapped shut. “Yes, Sir,” she whispered.

  She’d pushed him as far as she could today and she knew it. They’d end up in a fight if she tried pushing for more, and that’s the last thing she wanted to do tonight. When she’d goaded him into a fight a few months ago, they’d both felt like shit for days after, made worse because of her being inpatient in Tampa at the time. He’d blamed himself for the fight even though she knew she was totally at fault, and that she also knew he couldn’t help how he was reacting right now.

  Kel was scared.

  Hell, she was fucking scared, too.

  Everything he did came from a place of love, even if she wanted to grab him and shake him into being her full-on sadistic Master again.

  She missed playing in the shadows with him.

  Desperately missed it.

  One more thing taken away from her life.

  Her parents, her baby.

  Her husband.

  “Good girl.” He opened his arms to her for a hug and despite how hard she held him, he barely touched her as his arms encircled her. She might as well have been held by a ghost.

  She closed her eyes and bit back her scream of frustration.

  “I love you, sweetheart,” he said.

  She took a deep breath. “I love you, too, Sir.”

  * * * *

  Kel had not wanted to attend the party tonight.

  At all.

  He’d planned to spend the whole day and late into the evening in Tampa with Mal, maybe coaxing her into going to dinner or a movie with him or something.

  But when he’d showed up this morning, she’d been packed to leave for an overnight, which she’d already put her treatment team on notice that she was doing, like it or not.

  They hadn’t liked it. They’d apparently tried to talk her out of it, only relenting when she laid out an ultimatum that either they approved the overnight or she’d check herself out totally.

  With or without Kel’s help.

  Worried about what getting her upset might do to her, he’d finally agreed, with the condition that she promised to do everything he told her to do, including eating, and that he’d bring her back to the facility tomorrow.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see his friends. He missed them like hell and knew she did, too.

  The problem was, it hurt his heart watching them do things he didn’t dare do with Mal right now and had no idea if he’d ever be able to do with her again.

  Because despite what her therapists—and his own friends—told him, he still wondered if maybe he was the one at fault. If maybe their Master/slave dynamic somehow pushed her over an invisible edge he never saw and was contributing to her issues now.

  They’d nearly had a fight today, and yet he’d caved and given in to her, even though he wanted to side with the center that she shouldn’t leave for another overnight yet.

  But she’d promised to eat what he told her to. And she had. A salad for lunch that she’d finished, along with one of her protein shakes. He’d made them mac and cheese for dinner, with cream of chicken soup—two of her favorites—and not only had she finished the serving he gave her, she even had a couple of spoonfuls of mac right out of the pot, giving him a playful smile as she did that made his heart ache because of the hope that wanted to bloom and which he quickly stomped back.

  He’d been hopeful.

  Many times.

  He didn’t want to get his hopes up yet again just to have them dashed, and then worry how not to take it out on her or how not to let her think she’d disappointed him.

  That wasn’t what it was about.

  Fear.

  He was terrified he’d lose her.

  He felt…helpless.

  Two weeks ago during a joint session with Mal’s therapist, when Kel had finally brought up th
e option of uncollaring her, of taking any kind of D/s off the table in case that was part of the problem, Mal had gotten so upset she’d literally raged and the therapist had sent him out of the room so she could get Mal calmed down.

  He’d never seen her so angry.

  So desperately in pain, and him unable to make it better no matter what he did.

  At least if she was inpatient, he knew they’d keep an eye on her, keep watching her, let him know if there was a problem. Yes, he missed her like hell. Yes, sleeping alone fucking sucked.

  But at least the facility kept her alive, which wasn’t something he felt confident he could achieve now. He’d already failed her several times, unable to figure out what the hell to do for her to keep her from backsliding.

  It’s only one night.

  Hell, if she did okay tonight, maybe he could use the promise of future overnights like this as bribes for her to try harder, to keep working.

  To not give up.

  Early on, he’d tried going the Master route on her to get her to take care of herself. He’d tried working with her during intensive therapy programs designed for him to help her with her routine and hopefully help her find recovery. They were on yet another pharmaceutical regimen. She’d had bouts of short-term success, but nothing that had really stuck.

  Every time he thought she was on the right track and finally finding a solid recovery, and he let down his guard, they ended up back almost at square one again.

  There was only so much her body could take before it gave out.

  If he lost her, then he’d have lost everything.

  She was quiet on the ride to Seth and Leah’s house and he didn’t try to make small talk, knowing it’d only devolve into snippy, tense exchanges revolving around her recovery plan.