by Simone Leigh
So, why do I feel so lousy?
“Is there someone to keep an eye on her for a few days?” asks the doctor.
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Fine. I’ll be back tomorrow.” She hands Michael a card. “Call this number if there’s any problems in the meantime.”
Michael leaves to show her out, James sitting there, looking at me, resting his chin on steepled fingers.
“You were right,” he says. “I’ve surrendered my right to have any say in what you do now. But you can’t go anywhere until you are back to full health. After that….”
“After that?”
“…. after that, I ask that you remain here until we can sort out your situation. If you insist on leaving, it’s your choice, but neither of us wants to see you return to that place, that area, that job…. You’re better than that, and you deserve more.”
“My stuff…”
“All here. Michael and I cleared your room….”
“You broke in?”
“You had the key in your pocket. It’s about all you did have on you. Why did you go running out like that? In a place like that…”
I stare at the ceiling, not meeting his eye, but reply. “You know why.”
Michael returns. His eyes I notice, are shadowed, red. James looks drawn. I think he has lost weight.
He says, “Charlotte, or Jenny if you prefer. Please understand, this is a no-strings offer. Please don’t try to leave. You might have been able to walk thirty miles before, but you certainly can’t now. We just want you safe. We will ask nothing of you, make no assumptions about our relationship.”
Michael breaks in. “Please, Jenny, say yes.” His voice is shuddering. “Oh, God…. When you went down like that, I thought you were dead.”
“Charlotte.” I say.
“What?” asks James. Michael looks up.
“I’m Charlotte. Jenny became the fantasy. Charlotte is the real person.”
_______________________________________
I settle in. After a few days, I feel well enough to read and do a little work. The room is so pleasant. Lying in bed, looking out of the window, at the sky and the jade green sea, with no sound but the surf and the gulls…. I had forgotten how beautiful this place is.
A pile of textbooks on the bed, laptop to one side, I work my way through preparations for the next year.
There is a knock at the door.
“Come in.”
James enters with a tray. “Coffee?”
“I’d love some. Thank you.”
“May I sit with you for a while?”
“I’d like that.”
“Where’s Michael?”
“Not sure. He’ll not be far away. He never goes out of earshot of you.”
“Are you and he alright?”
He speaks slowly, choosing his words. “Recent events have… strained... our friendship. I’m hoping that he will be less angry with me as time goes on.”
He sits on the edge of the bed, sipping from a mug, idly scanning my heap of books. Then he looks more closely, picking up one after another, going through the titles.
“These don’t look like Physics texts.” he comments.
“No, I’m changing course for next year, to Engineering instead.”
“Engineering?” His eyebrows arch.
“Yes, it shouldn’t be too difficult. A lot of the material in the ground year is the same as for Physics. I really just have to brush up in a couple of areas to switch courses for the second year. It.… it wasn’t easy to do anything though when I was back there. It was difficult to work.”
“What’s brought this on, Charlotte?” asks my Master. “You’ve never mentioned it before.”
“Well, I’d thinking about it for a while, that I’m not sure that I want to be shut up in a lab all day. And then, that day, when we were in the offices there…”
“That day…?” James speaks slowly. “That day, when you met Haswell?”
“Yes, that day, while Michael and I were waiting in Reception for you, I saw the model of the project you’re working on; the rebuilt city-scape. It was marvellous. To take something so awful as that part of town, and rebuild it to what I saw there…. It seemed just so … so… hands on. At the end of it, you’ll be able to point at something really solid, and say ‘I did that’.”
“A slow, pleased smile washes over his face. “You’re right, Charlotte. And yes, that’s exactly how it feels.”
“I…. I wanted to ask more about it, but then…. you were so angry with me and…. I still don’t really understand what I did, to upset you so much.”
“Charlotte, I’m more sorry that I can say about what happened that day, about how I reacted when you met Haswell…. You were inspired by his project, then you met the man…. Oh God! If I could undo it, I would.” He sits there, running a hand over his head.
“I know, James, but some things can’t be undone.”
He stares at me for a moment and nods. “I understand.”
Then he scans over my bed at the heap of books. “You have a lot of work to do. You do realise that for engineering qualifications, you will need practical experience to be certificated? You will be required to work in some relevant industry. Typically, it extends a Bachelor of Science course from three years to four.”
Relieved to be talking about something pleasant, “Oh yes, in fact, that’s one of the things I’m doing now.” I wave a bundle of papers at him. “I’m applying to various firms to see if I can get sponsorship of some kind, someone who would employ me for the work experience during vacations, perhaps even pay me something…”
He nods. “Good idea… um, there is a fairly obvious candidate you could ask…”
“Who?”
“Haswell. He has the biggest company for a hundred miles. If you can get support and sponsorship from the Haswell Corporation, you’ll have all the money you need, and training second to none. He has tentacles in every field you can imagine.
“Haswell? After… what happened? But you….”
“It’s not up to me now, is it? It’s your future. I can’t take back what I did, but I can make amends….”
His expression is unreadable, intense.
“Charlotte, I want you to be happy. I want you to be free. I want you to be able to take on the world, and shake it by the scruff until it gives you the things you want.…”
He pauses while I take that in. “And in this case, I can put in a good word for you. I think he’d listen. Especially if you get decent grades in your exams. When do you get your results?”
“I already have them. They came through two days ago.”
His head swivels. “You never said anything?”
“Well, I’m not completely happy with them.”
He reaches to take my hand in his, then, remembering himself, draws back …. “Not so good as you hoped?”
James does not, I notice, look too sympathetic. There is more an air of…. Waiting.… about him. What’s he waiting for? The punchline?
I deliver it.
“No, I only got a B in Fluid Dynamics.”
He tilts his head, a smile crinkling at the corner of his eyes. “And the rest?” he inquires, his tone innocent.
“Oh, yes. I’m happy with the rest. I did better with them.”
He bursts out laughing. “Congratulations, Charlotte! Straight As and a B? That’s wonderful.” He reaches forward, grabs me, and hugs me, planting a kiss squarely on my forehead. Then, “Oh, Charlotte. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean….”
He retreats again, looking confused.
“It’s alright, Master. I don’t mind.”
“Master?” he says slowly.
“Master.” I repeat, holding his gaze.
He leans in, slowly, so slowly, his lips hesitantly brushing mine. His breath is warm across my face, and as I accept his kiss, his arms wrap around me, pulling me tightly to him. His kiss deepens, his hands curling around my head before, encountering the bandage, he pulls
back. He rests his head in the hollow of my neck.
“Oh God, Charlotte. I thought I’d lost you.”
I hold him to me, stroking his hair. “It’ll be alright, Master. We’ll work it out…. And I never thanked you, and Michael, for saving me from those thugs.”
And now, Michael is here, on the other side of the bed, trying to hold me too.
“How long have you been there?” my Master asks.
“All the time. I saw you come in; sat outside to eavesdrop.” His tone is unapologetic. “I heard every word.”
Both are trying to hold me at once. Caught in the middle between them, “Hey, take it easy guys. I’m feeling fragile.”
________________________
“You never told me what happened to those two you rescued me from.”
“They got away.” says my Master. “Although one has, I’m pretty sure, a broken arm. I heard the crack. And the other will probably be limping for some time to come, after what I saw Michael doing to him.”
“Was it bad?”
“Not really.” shrugs Michael. “They were happy enough to try assault and rape on a girl alone, but not nearly so brave when James and I evened up the odds. They ran, and we didn’t really chase because of you.” He looks down and away. “Jeez, Charlotte, when I saw your head crash into that wall and you went down, I thought….”
“So did I.” says my Master. “Anyway, we contacted the Police and got you to a hospital. Then, we went back to clear out your room and bring everything back here for the moment. The hospital was not happy about releasing you to us. They only agreed when I paid to have one of their doctors here on standby….. Although they didn’t phrase it like that. I had to make rather a large donation to their ‘New Wing’ fund…”
“Here? A doctor on standby, here? That must have cost a fortune…”
He gazes at me, levelly. “And you think I would begrudge the money?”
_______________________
“I’d like to get up today.”
I am still a bit wobbly, but sitting outside, just watching the sea, feels good. Michael sits with me, saying nothing, holding my hand. I see him glance down, fingering the empty spot where, previously, I wore the two rings.
He looks away again, staring out to sea.
_________________________________
Inside the house, I find the rings, just where I left them on the mantle some weeks ago. I can’t yet bring myself to wear them, but don’t want to ignore them. So, I compromise.
Fishing out a small locket from my belongings, I slide it off its chain, slipping on the matching rings instead, gleaming bright, in red and white and gold. Hanging the chain around my neck, I tuck it under my clothes.
_________________________________
As I stand, staring out of the window, over the endless sea, my Master stands behind me, head resting on mine, one arm around my waist.
“Master, do you realise what today is?”
“Mmm… No. What is today?”
“It’s exactly a year ago, that you bought me.”
“Is it? Yes, so it is.” He leans in, kissing my neck, but makes no other move.
“Master, do you know what I want?
“Mmmm?”
“Can we…. can we do that again? Like it was on that first day, when you took me back to the apartment…”
“Charlotte? You want me to….?
“Yes. We can start over, start again.”
“I’d like that.” He is silent for a moment, then “You know it’s odd, but despite everything that has happened in the last year, everything we have done together, you still feel like the Virgin I met that first day, when I saw you on the podium, so scared, as you sold yourself.”
He turns me to face him and kisses me, so softly, like the kiss of a butterfly.
“Do you want Michael here?” he murmurs.
“Yes, but in a little while. Just for now, I’d like it to be just we two.”
He strokes my face, my hair. “You’re sure you’re ready for this?”
I nod. “Yes, Master. I want us to have what we had before. All of us.”
He nods, his eyes soft. “Yes.”
His hands stroke down my shoulders and my arms, clasp momentarily around the smallness of my waist, before stroking back upwards over the flat of my belly to cup my breasts. Stooping, he kisses my neck, the hollow of my throat, and one hand slips up, to unclip my ponytail, before shaking through my copper hair, allowing it to flow around me, cloud-like to my waist.
His expression is strange, with an almost unbelieving quality to it. Myself, I feel dreamlike, tranced. This is my Master, and we are Making Love again.
My palms flat on his chest, he unbuttons my blouse.
Each button is slipped loose, until the fabric falls open and he slides his fingers over my breasts before bending to kiss them. He slips away the blouse and unclips my bra, almost in a single movement, then pauses for a moment, staring. He fingers the pair of rings, dangling on their fine chain around my neck. His eyes meeting mine, he stoops again to kiss a nipple, which puckers and crinkles.
And now, I unbutton his shirt. Again, a button at a time, I open the garment before slipping it from him, scenting his maleness, a heady, musky, perfume which I loved from the first time I was so close to him. Trembling a little, my fingers trace the outline of his chest, firmly muscled, his abs, tight and well formed, the scattering of hair which gathers to a line leading to his belt.
Biting my lip, I look up at him. His eyes, always dark, are like deep pools, and he also is trembling.
As I stand before him, bare-breasted, his hands follow the curve of my waist to my belt, pause for a second as he glances at me…
Asking permission?
…. then he unbuckles me, sliding down my jeans and panties in a smooth movement, allowing me to step out of them.
Reaching under, he lifts me, laying me on the bed, then sits beside me. Kissing me, he sweeps his hands over my naked skin, and a shudder of arousal skitters through me, my breasts flushing. As he parts my thighs, my breathing judders, and panting, I watch him as he pushes a pillow under my hips.
He really is replaying our first day, the day he bought me and took my virginity, so carefully, and with such thought, and gave me one of the best days of my life.
We were strangers then.
He kneels between my legs, leaning forward for a moment, to kiss me again, softly, on the lips, to stroke my hair, then he dips between my thighs with his fingers, caressing, parting my moistening folds with his fingers, feeling at my growing wetness. A finger slips inside me, his thumb rubs over my clit, and I moan, quietly.
He drops his face between my thighs, bathing my core in the heat of his breath. His breathing is rapid, his skin perspiring. His lips brush my bud, and I whimper as his touch, exquisitely sweet, stabs through me, shivering and jerking with each motion, as his tongue laves my hard clit. He drops to my flowing pussy, lapping at me as my hips quake under him.
Orgasm blooms, warmly, rhapsodically, rising from my core like the rush of a fountain, flowing through me, bathing my sex, pulsing through my belly and thighs. I arch, straining, as I cry out.
As my climax subsides, he stands, stripping off the remainder of his clothing, leaving them heaped on the floor as, fully erect, he lies between my legs to push gradually inside me. Penetrating me slowly, a hand on my breast, he watches me, still with that same unbelieving expression.
He starts to thrust, slowly, gently, and I move with him. My arms clasped around his back, I swing my legs up and around his waist, allowing him to penetrate me more deeply, taking him as far inside myself as I am able.
Face to face, we rock and move together, eyes locked until, his climax rising, he drops his head, breath shaky.
With a quiet gasp, he comes, pushing into me, hips pressed to mine.
After a silent moment, he looks up again. “Charlotte, I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”
I stroke his cheek. “You will always be my
Master.”
He kisses my forehead. “You will always be my Virgin.”
“Master?”
“Mmm?”
“I want Michael.”
“I’m here.” says Michael’s voice, softly. He is sitting beside us on the bed.
“Michael? You were there?”
“Yes, I was waiting outside. I heard you, what you said, about starting again. I’d like that too.”
My Master rolls away from me, and I hold out my arms to Michael, my Golden Lover. He shrugs out of his shorts, the only thing he is wearing, and lies beside me, his eyes, meeting with my Master’s for a moment over my shoulder. His erection is growing by the moment.
Then his hand twining with mine, he kisses me. His kiss is not soft, but open-mouthed, passionate, pressing against me. Rolling atop me, settling between my thighs, he pulls me tightly to him, as though he will never let go, arms firm around me. Already hard, he plunges into me, boring into me with his thick cock. My pussy, warm and fluid, welcomes him, clenching as he drives into me, ramming hard against me inside. It doesn’t take long. After only a minute or he so, he shudders and groans, gripping me even more tightly as he spills into me.
When he looks up again, his eyes are welling. His voice tight, he says, “Thank you Charlotte. Thank you.”
_________________________________
I wake. It is dark, the dead of night. Beside me, Michael and my Master lie sleeping.
There is something I must do.
Taking the chain from around my neck, I slide off the two rings, and, fumbling a little in the darkness, slip them back onto my finger.
________________________________
I need an excuse to visit the City but without the company of my two Lovers. How to detach myself from them without arousing their suspicions? Indeed, how to get myself there? The only car here is my Master’s. I don’t quite want to ask if I can borrow it without him. He is bound to ask why.
My excuse is provided for me.
“I have to go into the City tomorrow.” announces my Master. “But I’ll be there and back in a day. Either of you want to come? Change of air?”
“Not me,” says Michael, “I’m quite happy here. Everything’s running fine back at the Centre, and I’d rather listen to waves and gulls, than traffic.”