“No, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it my way.” She thought about it. “I might keep my two best clients. Truth be told, I was getting tired of it anyway.”
“What about Bob?”
Bob. “I don’t know,” she wistfully said. “I thought he might be the one I could finally open up to. I meant it when I said you had horribly sucky timing.”
“Sorry.”
“I have a feeling if he ever sees Cris again he’ll nail him.”
“Let him.”
“You really were going to let Bob pound the shit out of him in my driveway, weren’t you?”
“What part of sadist don’t you understand?” He smiled. “You’re not the only one looking for a pound of flesh.”
“How long do we keep him suffering?”
“I don’t know about you, I think only you can answer that for yourself. Frankly, my pride’s still in the damn toilet. I have a feeling next Wednesday will realign my priorities.”
“When do you tell him about that?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. Haven’t decided yet.” He looked at her. “How do you want to do this?”
“Come pick me up tomorrow at ten. I need to call my clients and cancel. Come alone. I don’t want to see him again yet. When do you write my first check? I have bills to pay.”
He chuckled. “I already have a lawyer here in town. How about we go there first, handle that, then I’ll take you to lunch and we’ll go to the clerk’s office from there. How much debt do you have?
I’ll help you out with that, too.”
“I pay my credit cards off every month, and I only owe twenty thousand on my house. Paid cash for my car. My student loans are repaid.”
She felt another jolt of satisfaction when his eyebrows arched. “What?”
“Being a pro Domme in this town pays pretty well. I’m actually taking a pay cut. Lucky for you my house is almost paid off or I would never agree to this.”
Still reeling from her revelation, he watched her drive off. Funny, he’d imagined her to be barely hanging on, even after seeing where she lived, especially after what Cris had told him about her. personality.
What Cris put her through changed her. For the better? Only time would tell.
One thing for certain, she was a woman who went after what she wanted. He couldn’t think of anyone better to have by his side. The fact that she bumped his timetable up by months by insisting they move in with her was a bonus.
That he found himself attracted to her had come as a genuine surprise. He should have known
Cris would never lose his heart to some sniveling, weak-spined trollop. Tilly was unlike any other woman he’d ever met.
He couldn’t wait to get to know her better, this woman who still owned his slave’s heart even when she herself had been his slave.
He unlocked the hotel room door. Slave still knelt on the floor where he’d left him. “Do you have to use the bathroom?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Go do it and get ready for bed.”
Slave slowly stood, then turned and walked to the bedroom. His back was covered with fresh bruises from where Tilly had beat the crap out of him. Looked like she’d used her fists, maybe a crop.
Nice. No slices from a cane. A particularly large bruise on his thigh where Landry suspected she’d kicked him.
Damn. Had to hurt like a son of a bitch.
He stripped and pulled the covers back on his bed before lying down. When slave returned, Landry pointed at his cock. “Get busy.”
Slave knelt between his legs and went down on him. Landry tightly gripped his head, fisting his hair, pulling on him, driving his cock deep into his throat and nearly choking him.
Slave never complained, never fought, never tried to pull away as Landry fucked his mouth.
Slave took it.
After a few minutes, Landry shot a load down his throat. He didn’t even give slave a gentle pat on the head or a “good boy.”
“Go to bed. You can sleep on the other bed tonight. On top of the covers.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Landry turned off the lamp and pulled the covers over himself. He didn’t crank the A/C down like he had the previous nights. He hated sleeping alone, missed the feel of Cris’ taller body stretched out beside him. Maybe now, being able to make reparations for what happened, he’d finally be able to let Cris back in bed with him without feeling guilty or angry about his presence.
Or without feeling like a goddamned pity fuck.
Chapter Six
Tilly laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. She realized sleep would be a long time coming as she replayed her conversation with Landry.
What the fuck.
What.
The.
Fuck?
Why the hell was she agreeing to this? And why the fuck had she come up with that crazy idea of hers?
She didn’t really want to fuck Landry! Well, okay, great eye candy, sure, but in all her revenge fantasies over what she’d do if Cris returned to her life, that wasn’t one of them.
Although something about the idea gave her a deep sense of satisfaction.
She tried rolling onto her side. A little after three, she finally fell asleep and dreamed about Cris, about their life together. All good times, even during her blackest emotional storms he stood solid and patient beside her, loving her. When she awoke a little after seven the next morning her resolve had faltered. She stared at the ring on her left hand. Cris had wanted to give her a ring and she’d refused for the longest time, terrified over the thought of being married to someone after what she’d seen her mother go through.
After what she’d gone through.
What if she’d let Cris marry her when he’d wanted to? Would he still have left and gone back to Landry?
Nothing good could come from that line of thinking, so she ended it.
It’s just another job, she tried to think. I wanted to be a nurse, wanted to help people. I get to do that.
There was that. No more making men dress up in diapers or trying not to kick them in the teeth, literally, while they licked her boots, or whatever their kink was.
After a couple of years she found it a lot easier to slip into the role of “Mistress Cardinal” as she felt nothing but contempt for most of her clients. Otherwise, if it wasn’t for the paycheck, she’d never do it. It left her emotionally empty inside, a bottomless void only one thing had ever filled.
Her service and love for Cris.
She only enjoyed taking care of Bob and one other guy, but that guy was married and his wife knew about his kink. A pain slut on the high end of the scale who wanted to be used hard. She’d had coffee with the guy’s wife at the very beginning, Tilly pleasantly shocked to find out as long as no sex was involved and everything was kept transparent with her, the wife had no problem with it. Maybe the fact that she was a psychologist helped. She’d wanted to watch one session. Once satisfied it didn’t cross any of their marital boundaries, she let him have one session a month with Tilly. Usually two or three hours that left him barely able to walk later, but happy. Lately, she’d been asking Tilly questions about what they did and asking for advice on things she could do for him at home.
Tilly was more than happy to show her proper techniques to cause pain without injury. She couldn’t scene as heavily with him as he craved with Tilly, but it helped bond them closer as a couple.