JamesShoving a couple of coins into the slot, I pocket my goods and return to find her sitting up, hugging her knees. The bed is large and her face unusually pale even for her. She looks lost, childlike, and not for the first time I reflect on the age difference between us.Pulling the packet from my pocket, I wave it quickly by her for reassurance before placing it on the bedside table. "There are vending machines in the public bathrooms downstairs," I explain.She nods, but I see the movement of her throat as she swallows. Cupping her cheek in my hand, "You are alright?"She raises a wan smile. "Yes, Master. I'm alright, just very tired. You don't have to keep asking."I pull the sheets back. Without meaning to, my gaze slides over her body, bruised and battered. Her skin, usually so pale and perfect is blotchy with brutal hues and half-healed welts. My gorge rising, I look away."Actually, I do. You might try to brush off what's happened to you, but no-one gets into tha
RichardMy phone buzzes."Hello, James. How is she now?""Much better. A good sleep has worked wonders. Would you and Beth like to come up when it's convenient. She wants to talk to all of us together.""We'll be there in a few minutes."I sit with Elizabeth, who keeps her fingers laced with mine. James is relaxed, a smile playing around his eyes as he sits by Charlotte.Michael is otherwise. For a man who is normally warm and easy, he seems distant, almost disconnected. On the several previous occasions when I have seen him with Charlotte in similar situations, he has been, as James phrased it, her anchor. Now he barely looks at her and there's a set to his jaw that I've not seen before.Beth notices it too, eye-pointing me across to Michael. I quell her with a warning glance and a squeeze on her fingers.Charlotte sits by James, but her glance repeatedly skitters across to her blond fiancé, who doesn't return it.Better do my bit in support...."Charlotte, um, I k
Richard"So, this phone call to Klempner…" I begin.Charlotte punctuates her words with hands spread. "It could only have been from someone in the police, or someone getting the information from the police. Who else would know? It an unpleasant thought. Will Stanton is my friend of years. "Who indeed?" I mutter.Charlotte continues, "And I heard him giving orders to have this building watched. That's why I didn't want any of you coming out for me, and why I came in the way I did."Michael's face hardens again....He thinks she made the wrong decision?Or his pride is damaged that she took that decision herself…?.... instead of asking for help?What's wrong with the man?He's got a woman in a million....A warrior....And James is her Dom?James interrupts my thoughts before I can ponder the implications of that. "What happened after you and Beth split?" he asks. "We picked up Beth almost immediately, but there was no sign of you."I think the wine is worki
She screws up her face, feeling a little queasy. "Noooo... Let it go. Please."The old man nods. "I agree. When one has captured the beast with line and fly, it seems fairer does it not? The battle between man and beast. Yes, no? But this feels like a kind of betrayal. An abuse of trust." He stoops, releasing the fish back into the water, where with a casual flick of the tail, it resumes its vigil in the current."Think of the story it could tell, Jenny, to its fellows, of its strange trip above the world of water, only to return."She laughs. "Fish don't tell stories.""Everything tells a story, Jennifer." He stands again, slowly, placing his feet carefully as he returns to his seat on the grassy hummock. "You should not dismiss something because it appears ordinary. Instead, ask yourself what it can say to you...."Her brows puckers. ".... I see you do not believe me." He casts around at the pebbled shoreline, then stooping, picks up a stone. "This for example," he says, of
James"You don't? Why not?"She shakes her head, slowly, tears glistening over her lashes once more. "He said he was going to fuck me then punish me. He said I had to accept it."He denied her a safe-word?Oh, Christ....Sitting beside her upturned rear, I apply salve, as gently as I can to her bruised ass, trying not to look at the rainbow of other bruises still fading across the rest of her body. "Tell me what happened."Her face sideways on the pillow, she wipes her face with the back of her hand. "You'd gone. I think you were with Richard and Beth. He said that while it was just the two of us, he wanted to talk. He said that even if we're not married, I was his wife in every way that counted and what I did was unfair to you and him and that he wasn't willing to build his life around someone who behaved like I did.…"For long moments her emerald gaze holds mine, then the tears spill again and her voice chokes. "He threatened to leave me, Master, if I didn't promise to
JamesShe blinks and a little of the tension in her shoulders ebbs. I pursue my point."Charlotte, I can't deny that I bought you in the first place because I saw a beautiful young girl staring out at me from an advertisement and I wanted you. It was that simple. But since then, I have come to know you and I have seen the lengths to which you will go to achieve what you want to, to meet what you see as your duties and obligations. I have absolutely no doubt that any child of yours would be protected, nurtured and loved in every way that matters."She's not looking at me yet, but I have her attention. I continue. "It's a bit of a cliché, but there is the old saying that 'That which does not kill us makes us stronger', and off-hand I'd say you are the best living proof of that I have ever seen. I believe that when the day comes that you choose to have children, the appalling upbringing you had will work for them and for you, because you remember what it was to be treated like that.
RichardSince Charlotte's return, I have seen little of Michael. While she was missing, he clearly wasn't coping well, and now that she is safely back with us, there is frost in the air.James works, and all the time, whilst appearing to read quietly, Charlotte is following him, her eyes constantly flicking between the pages of her text and his face.Why did she accept him....? A Master? She's not the dependent type.She loves him.... That's obvious........ But is that enough?The comfort of the familiar?She grew up being told what to do?She enjoys restrictions on her freedom?And where does Michael fit into that?Her Lover?What does that mean in this situation?.... Her Fiancé....And James is happy with that........ even seems to encourage it?Why?What am I missing?Later, whilst James is showering, and she and I are alone, "Charlotte, may I ask you a personal question?"Her eyes turn on me, green and feral. Her voice is cautious. "You can as
.... and then her opponent comes bullying in, her face a mask of anger. She barrels into Jenny, punching hard as she goes, landing one, two, three blows on the taller girl before Jenny backs up to get her distance, then flings in one punch after another, up and over Monica's defence, then down and under.Monica charges in close, striking hard into already sore ribs. Jenny grunts as she dances back and around, striking out and scoring on the shoulder, then again, this time catching her opponent in the face.Roaring as she surges in again, Monica drips blood from her nose. It trickles down her face, then sprays as Jenny's glove connects. There's fury in her eyes and once more she aims for the bruised ribs. The referee is behind them, his line of sight broken for just a moment, and in that second, Monica punches low, catching Jenny in the gut.The crowd whistles and hoots as she staggers. Pain kicks through her and her breath gusts out. But Jenny knows what real pain feels like, rem