Saving Sophia

by Isabella Laase

  “Yeah… terrible… that’s how I’d describe a tall, leggy, and totally hot woman dressed in an expensive, skimpy costume at a BDSM event weekend. Don’t worry. We can borrow something from Monique. Whatever you do, though, don’t tell Marcus where it came from. If he knows you’re wearing his mother’s negligee, he’ll never touch you.”

  Once again, Bella was right about borrowing a costume. The salmon-colored one-piece accentuated her chestnut brown hair and was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Fine lace exposed just the right amount of skin and nipples but left enough to the imagination to leave her feeling exotic and not nude. With the new outfit and borrowed black stiletto heels, she’d truly belong at a Cloudcroft event.

  Bella insisted on taking control of her grooming a second time. “You really need to try a bikini wax. I just bought a professional kit.”

  “You mean like… around my panty line?”

  “No, little girl… I mean your nether region. We can take it all or leave a nice little triangle.”

  “You aren’t pulling my pussy hairs out with a ball of wax,” she responded with true horror.

  Bella grinned with a little too much confidence. “Do you want me to ask Marcus? Somehow I think he’ll pull his dom card on this. Trust me, it’s amazing, and he’ll love it… but if I tell him I bought the kit, there’s a really good chance all three of them will want to watch. So what is it, girlfriend? You and me… or a party of five?”

  Sophia glared, but the not so subtle prediction was too close to her reality. She wanted to retain some sense of dignity while satisfying a hidden curiosity. “Fine. But do you really know what you’re doing?”

  “I can’t change a tire, but I can rip the hairs off your crotch with ease.”

  Her mortification was complete when Bella waited patiently for her to drop her pants and lie on the bed. After a cold splash of a topical anesthetic, she managed to smooth the warmed, sticky mess to a thin layer between Sophia’s legs with the touch of a professional, but there was nothing erotic in the ordeal. Bella pressed hard against the sensitive skin with a piece of paper and grinned while Sophia closed her eyes and tensed her muscles to the inevitable.

  Without warning, Bella gave a yank that connected the nerves in her pussy to every bone in her body with a searing pain. “Fuck that!” Sophia jumped and shrieked. Nothing her dom had ever done hurt like that little ball of wax.

  Bella laughed and placed her hand on the spot for comfort. “You’re fine, Sophia. Just a few more to go. But see how it feels.”

  The spot was smooth as glass with no razor stubble. She sighed as she lay back on the bed. “Hurry up before I beat the shit out of you.” As always, Bella’s innate sense of perfect was right, and Sophia had the scars to prove it.

  The first of the weekend guests arrived at the ranch by early afternoon. After a nine-hour day, she felt good about the freshly mowed lawns, cleared garden beds, and the food and flowers she’d delivered to the kitchen. She arrived at the main part of the house singing softly to herself with the plan to take a hot shower before she helped with dinner.

  Her foot was on the first riser when a very familiar voice called from the living room. “Holy shit. Is that Sophie Montgomery?”

  With a direct stab to her security, she turned to face Mary Anne Zilensky. Confronted with a clear reminder of her dismal past, the confidence and growth she’d gained during her residency at Cloudcroft collapsed to reveal the shy, withdrawn youth that had dictated her childhood.

  She had trouble meeting her former classmate’s gaze, but spoke politely. “Hi, Mary Anne. How are you?”

  Expensive clothing and perfect hair spoke of a life that had gone very well. A huge diamond ring rested on her left hand, and her trim athletic body was clearly the result of many spare hours under a personal trainer. She was the epitome of everyone who’d ever tormented her, and Sophia almost melted under her scrutiny.

  Mary Anne’s voice dripped arrogance, and she stared at Sophia with clear disdain. “I just go by Mary now. I haven’t seen you since we graduated. Are you… um… a guest this weekend?”

  Before meeting Bella, Sophia would never have acknowledged her shabby appearance, and she silently cursed her friend for the new level of embarrassment. Covered in her filthy gardening jeans and oversized t-shirt, Sophia was a mess. Her hair was pulled into a simple ponytail, and she wore no makeup. She had slipped her muddy boots and wet socks off before she’d hit the front porch with the reasoning the staircase was literally steps from the front door. Her dirty, bare feet seemed oversized for the space, but there was no place to hide.

  She failed to stop the stutter in her voice while she pushed a few stray hairs off her face. “No… I… uh… I work here. I do the gardening.”

  The smirk from her old bully sent a clear message of superiority that caused Sophia to drop her eyes to the tile floor and return to the memory of every taunt and nasty comment ever made about her size, her clothing, and even her lack of family. Struggling to fit her past and her present in one room, Sophia wiped her dirty hands nervously on the back of her jeans.

  Mary continued with a fake sincerity that was almost nauseating. “Of course you do. Well, isn’t that a nice job for you.”

  Bella walked out of the library behind Mary and made a move like a noose hanging herself, and Sophia laughed in spite of her rising anxiety. Mary turned with time for Bella to resume her full innocence. “Well, Ms. Zilensky, if you’re ready to see your room, I can walk you up. I’ll get one of the guys to bring your bags in a few minutes. I assume your guest will be checking in soon?”

  Mary shrugged with an icy disinterest. “He paid for the weekend, so he’d better show up. I’m not going to wander around an expensive sex resort without a partner.”

  “As we advertise,” continued Bella with professional indifference, “there will be singles at the party on the weekend, but we aren’t an escort service so most guests arrive with a specific agenda planned.” She returned Mary’s arrogant look with one of her own, and Sophia smiled softly with the knowledge the tiny fireball was on her side.

  Before Bella could lead Mary to the stairs, Marcus’ powerful presence wandered into the entrance hall. His carefully fitted khakis and collared white shirt showed his amazing rock-like biceps, and the exotic tell-tale grin caught the quick attention of all three women.

  He nodded politely to Mary, gave Sophia a quick kiss on her forehead, and delivered a smack to Bella’s bottom. “Welcome to Cloudcroft, Ms.…”

  He waited until Bella filled in the gaps. “Zilensky. It turns out she knows Sophia from Gillette. Can you carry her bags to Room Four?”

  “Ms. Zilensky. I’m Marcus Greene, the resort manager. Please let us know if we can do anything to make your stay more comfortable. If you’ll excuse me, I have some details to attend to before dinner.” With a private wink to Sophia, he took the steps two at a time with the heavy bags in tow and disappeared from their sight.

  Mary waited to speak until he was gone. “Holy fuck… if you’d told me you had guys like that working here, I wouldn’t have bothered to bring a date.”

  The sudden thought of Mary Anne Zilensky writhing under Marcus’ firm body snapped her head around like a rubber band as a whole new set of emotions boiled inside of her. Her glare met Mary’s eyes and held on while her past came screaming back with a new definition of acceptable behavior. The girl had been a thorn in her side since the first grade and every year of her childhood that followed. After years of keeping her head down and out of the limelight, Sophia was done being a victim.

  In a twirl of emotions, Sophia’s anger demanded to be released. When Mary Anne actually licked her lips, Sophia found her voice. “Dream on, ass hat. He’s taken.”

  The theory that all bullies need to be confronted to put them in their place was clearly a simple myth. Bella’s mouth hung open, and Mary pointed a perfectly manicured finger deep into Sophia’s shoulder. “And who do you think is going to be sharp enough to hang onto h
im if I want him… Monty?”

  The nickname was innocent enough, but embedded in years of playground taunts, it cut to Sophia’s core. The memory of every bully who’d ever tormented her was channeled into the image of Mary Anne Zilensky’s ugly face, and the alien anger was so overpowering, Sophia could only stare with her fists clenched.

  Mary turned away with a dismissive laugh. At the crossroads of a powerful dilemma, Sophia took a breath and the smells of Meg’s chocolate chip cookies drew her thoughts to the private side of the resort. Behind the locked door to the kitchen was her secure new world and the view out the windows framed her gardens against the cheerful barns. Her neatly arranged shed was shining under the new coat of paint, and her mind ran through the intricate organizational system she’d started in the barn office. Cloudcroft was her home… and her strength. The unconditional support of all three Cloudcroft doms, and even tiny Bella, fueled a hidden tenacity she barely recognized.

  She took a step toward Mary’s unsuspecting face. “Me. He’s mine, bitch, so back off.”

  The bitch’s laughter ran deep as she completely underestimated her new foe. “You? You think you’re going to win in a battle against me? Look at you! You are the same fucking mess you were in high school. You were a joke then, and you’re pathetic now. So take your fat, ugly body and disappear back into your homeless mountain of horseshit and run along.”

  Sophia didn’t think. She slapped Mary Zilensky on the side of her face and waited while the red handprint appeared across her perfect bitchy skin. Bella gasped, and Mary finally remained shocked in place.

  The victim wasn’t a victim for very long and returned the slap with a firecracker-like snap that filled the room. Within seconds, the two women were on the floor in the first real fight of Sophia’s life. She could hear Bella’s shriek and her tiny hands tried to pull her off Mary’s chest, but Bella was no match for her anger. The guest services coordinator was knocked on her ass to the floor.

  The hair pulling, caterwauling, slapping, and scratching that followed might have been appreciated by some doms, but the men at Cloudcroft would clearly care about a fight in their entrance hall. Linc’s quick curse reached her first. He missed a grab for her waist, but used the power of his voice to try to regain control. “Sophia, stop it. Leave her alone.”

  She’d never heard the angry tone. On some level, she knew it would be in her best interest to respect the message, but Mary’s taunts had connected on a deeper level than reasoning. Ignoring Linc, she went for another handful of hair just before Mary bit her forearm. With the stakes raised, Sophia bunched her hand into a fist, but Linc grabbed it before she could connect with the bitch’s ugly face.

  His arm wrapped around her waist to pull her away, and he held his hand out to Mary with a glare and a frightening growl. “Stop, before I stop you.”

  Mary obeyed, but screamed, “That bitch attacked me! I’m calling the police!”

  The ugly voice prompted Sophia’s undaunted move to resume her attack, but Linc held on and delivered a hard smack to her bottom. “I said stop, Sophia.” The sting paled in comparison to his infamous paddle, but it was enough to knock a little sense into her. She hesitated long enough for the endorphins to slow and reason slowly returned.

  By the time she looked up, Meg and Carly had joined as spectators with their mouths hanging open, but Bella still sat on the floor with her chin resting on her knees and a small smirk on her face.

  Linc kept one arm firmly around Sophia’s waist and ran his spare hand through his hair in frustration. “Meg, could you please take care of our guest and see that she has everything she needs.”

  He shot Bella a look of stone. “You… come with me.”

  Bella made the mistake of responding while she jumped up. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Sophia was the one in the fight.”

  Linc’s extra hand was put to quick use on her bottom. “Both of you, upstairs. Now.”

  The move to the upstairs sitting area was handled quickly and efficiently under Linc’s not so gentle commands. As her anger dissipated, his glare and scolding filled in the missing parts of her processing. “Sit down and don’t even think about moving. You are both in so much trouble that you are going to wish you hadn’t even gotten up this morning. She’s a ranch guest, for God’s sake, and you two are sprawling in the entrance hall like a bunch of…”

  “But…” interrupted Bella.

  “Hush, Bella. I’m going to deal with you too. Both of you just sit there and not another word out of your mouths until I get some reinforcements up here.” Bella did what she was told, but she had to chew on her bottom lip to make that happen while Linc sent several text messages.

  Sophia sulked in a chair while Bella perched daintily on the edge of the couch, but neither had the guts to speak. Linc stood over them with a fierce scowl and his arms crossed. His muscled biceps twitched in silent agitation along with the veins on his neck.

  As her situation became clearer, Sophia’s remorse grew, but her only concern was for the future of her backside. She had no regrets for knocking the shit out of Mary Anne Zilensky.

  Within a few minutes a confused Marcus entered. “What’s wrong, Linc?”

  “Your sub just beat the shit out of a ranch guest.” Linc’s voice retained no hint of amusement.

  “You mean Bella beat somebody up?” he said with the same confused tone.

  “Hey, why does everybody keep pulling me into this?” said Bella defensively. “I don’t go around beating people up.”

  “I’ve already told you to hush once,” said Linc. “Another word out of your mouth and you can drop your pants and stand in the corner until I get around to you.” He turned back to Marcus. “No… I mean your sub. Sophia just beat up a guest in the entrance hall… and I think she bit me too.”

  “I just left them in the entrance hall. You don’t mean that little Ms. Zapansky, do you?”

  Bella interrupted again. “Zilensky… and yes… she was a horrible shit and deserved to have her ass whipped. Sophia was a hero.”

  Both men turned their glare on Bella who recognized she was outmanned when Linc took a threatening step toward her. “Fine,” she grumbled. Without another word, she wiggled out of her tight jeans before placing her nose to the corner with her expensive black lace panties exposed to the room.

  Satisfied, Linc returned to Sophia. “What were you thinking?”

  Sophia still had no tears. “She was awful to me in school, and she was awful to me in the entrance hall. I wasn’t going to take any more of her shit, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let her sleep with Marcus.”

  Her dom shook his head in a vain attempt to follow her reasoning. “Who said anything about sleeping with her? I didn’t even know her name until about thirty seconds ago.”

  “She did. She said she was going to sleep with you, and that I was a dirty, fat cow. I’m not taking that shit from anybody ever again.”

  Linc sighed while he rubbed his forehead. “Sophia. Protecting yourself is one thing, but there are different rules when dealing with a paying guest, even one who is picking on you.”

  She crossed her arms in a defiant pout. “I’m not sorry. I’d do it again in a minute so keep the skanky bitch away from me… and from Marcus.”

  Before they could respond, Jack walked into the room. He glanced first at Sophia’s angled chin and defiant scowl facing two angry doms. Her obvious stand was a long way from the withdrawn girl who’d lived on the outside of the world just a few months earlier. The portrait was confusing enough, but the sight of his wife in the corner with her panty-clad bottom on display should have encouraged additional dramatic questioning.

  But Jack responded to neither of the current distractions. With a steely calm, he asked, “How come Jeff Wellons says his garage fixed Bella’s tire a few weeks ago after she ran over a curb in Marion?” His question knocked the sass out of both Bella and Sophia as each girl groaned softly with the newest piece of information.

  From there
it was only a matter of prioritizing. Marcus still wanted Sophia’s ass for the fight, and Jack wanted to take Bella to task for lying about the tire. Linc’s promise to deal with Bella for talking back to him put her on his radar as well, but he tried to deal with Sophia first. “Employees can’t beat up guests. We’ll get sued or you’ll get arrested. I really can’t believe I’m explaining this to anybody. You knew better, or do we need to put this in the employment prerequisites?”

  The girls did little to help themselves. Bella said quickly, “Sophia smacked me while I was driving, too. It wasn’t my fault we ran over the curb, and I wasn’t in the fight either.”

  Marcus and Jack both glared at Sophia, who responded, “Oh, my God. You’re such a freaking little tattletale.” She pointed at her small friend. “Bella was texting while driving. I was just trying to keep her from killing us. And I didn’t really hit her in the car. I… I just pushed her hands away after I took the phone from her. You guys would have done the same thing.”

  “You’re the tattletale, Sophia… and… and you bit Linc during the fight.”

  “I didn’t bite anybody. You’re the only one around here who bites people. Are you sure it wasn’t you sinking your teeth into him?”

  “Me? I was trying to break it up. You’re the one who went all World Wide Wrestling in the entrance hall.”

  Linc’s hands hit the coffee table with a thundering sound. “That’s it. I give up. They win. Two subs in the house are more than I can handle. You guys are on your own and good luck with them. Just remind me of this night if I’m ever stupid enough to invite a sub to move in with us.”

  He turned to Marcus with a scowl. “Keep her locked up someplace the rest of the weekend so she doesn’t beat up our guest again, and I’ll try to smooth things over with this Ms. Zerensky or whatever her name is.”

  When he stormed from the room, Jack and Marcus crossed their arms and stared at the two unhappy girls without speaking. Their biceps bulged in their matching short-sleeved white golf shirts, and Sophia had to fight the dangerous urge to offer a nervous giggle.