by Alex Tempera
I hurried down the hall toward her door. I knew something was wrong. She never came in on a weekend unless I asked her to and she left the club last night before I could talk to her. I knocked on the door but she didn’t answer. I felt something was wrong. Mae was my best friend since we were kids. I knew something was really wrong. I opened the door but her office was empty. “Mae?” I called out and noticed that her washroom door was slightly opened. Each executive had a washroom that not only had a separate toilet area, but a shower.
I approached the door and gasped. “Who the fuck did that to you?”
She jumped slightly and covered herself quickly with a towel. Deep crimson slashes covered her back, neck and when she turned around, she had a deep gash across her face. Tears streamed down her face. “I-I-I didn’t know you were here. I’m-I’m sorry.” She dropped to her knees, her body still shaking.
I had never seen her like that before. She had been abused. Assaulted. Badly. Cut. Someone fucking cut her. I kneeled down and gently wiped her tears with a tissue. “Let me help you.”
“I’m so sorry,” Mae sobbed.
“No, don’t do that. I’m going to take care of you. Can I call Natalia?”
“It’s all my fault,” she cried.
“No, it’s not. It’s never your fault, do you understand? I won’t let you blame yourself.” I helped her to her feet and carefully put my arm around her, not touching any of her deep injuries, and led her to her office. “Sweetie, can you sit?”
“Yes,” she whispered as I set her down on the sofa.
“Let me call Natalia. These are deep and you may need stitches. Some cuts are dried and others are still bleeding which probably mean they’re pretty deep and they could get infected.”
“Oh, don’t bother her,” she whispered.
“It’s either that or go to the hospital.”
“Call her,” she cried. “Ang, it hurts a lot.”
“I know, sweetie.” I had to keep it together. Someone cut up my best friend. I walked over to her desk and picked up the phone. I sat on the desk as I dialed. “Nat, it’s Angelica. I need you and your doctor’s bag at my office.”
“Ang, what’s going on?” Natalia was my older sister and a surgeon at Boston General.
“It’s Mae. She’s hurt, bad. I can’t get into details because I don’t know what they are but she was abused, um, beaten and cut, and it looks like it was from some kind of razor whip or something.”
“I thought those weren’t allowed in the club.”
“They’re not. I don’t know exactly what happened, but she’s been slashed all over her back and on her face. And probably on other places I can’t see.”
“I was on my way home, so I’ll be there in 10. Your office?”
“Her office,” I hung up. I watched Mae’s body shake as she sobbed into her hands. I sat next to her on the sofa. I wanted to hug her but I didn’t want to harm her. “Nat is on her way. Did Avery do this to you?”
“I don’t think so, but to be honest, I don’t know.”
“OK, tell me what happened. I know you’re in pain but someone did this to you. That wasn’t a bullwhip or a snake whip. That was a razor whip. Mae, I know your limits and whipping is a hard limit. You’re not a masochist. Doesn’t Avery fucking know that? You would never… I’m sorry, sweetie. I don’t mean to sound harsh.”
Mae lifted her head as the tears and blood from her gash streamed down her cheek. “Avery and I were going into the romper room. You know the 70s retro room that Dane created. Avery knows all my limits. We were just going to play for a little while.” She gulped. “I hadn’t decided if I wanted to be his sub or not. I thought we could talk, which we did, and after discussing our interests, I thought it was OK to play for a little while. Just to see if we were compatible.”
“I understand,” I used a washcloth and gently wiped her face.
She winced slightly as I touched her cut. “We were doing simple things, you know, spankings, touching, very sensual stuff. He tied my hands with some hemp. He was really good at it. Then he put a blindfold on me. I was OK with that at first. He continued to touch me and even kissed me. It was nice, and then all of a sudden it wasn’t.”
“Avery fucking did this. I’ll kill the bastard!” I gritted my teeth.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to think that, but for a few minutes, it was quiet. I felt him walk away. My hands were tied and I couldn’t take off my blindfold. When he walked back to me, his footsteps were heavier.”
“Heavier?”
“Like he put on heavy boots and it was almost like he was stomping. That’s when I felt it. The slashes and, you’re right, it felt like razors were cutting me. I couldn’t bear the pain. After a while, I guess I blacked out.”
“How did you get home?”
“I didn’t. This morning, I woke up and found myself in some dirty motel room on the east side, near the highway. I was naked and bleeding. I found my clothes and purse on the dresser. I don’t know how I got there but I used the manager’s phone and called a cab.”
“Where was your cell?”
“In my purse, but it was dead. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I’ll find out who did this to you,” I stood up, as there was a knock on the door. I opened it and smiled at my sister. “Nat,” I hugged her tightly. “Someone did this to her and it wasn’t part of the lifestyle.”
Natalia looked at Mae and wiped the oncoming tear. “Let’s go in the washroom and I’ll take care of you,” she said, helping Mae into the other room.
I could feel the anger and hate that filled my body. I didn’t know what to do, yes, I did. I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to kill Avery Smythe. I marched down to my office and opened the bottom drawer of my desk. I stared at the .22 caliber small handgun that I kept there, sitting underneath my bullwhip. Yes, I wanted to kill the fucking bastard. I felt out of control and I needed to gain the control back. I slammed the drawer shut. Anger made one out of control. I couldn’t do that right now. I can’t allow myself to be out of control. Safe for now, Avery.
I walked over to the window and looked out over the city of Boston. I loved it here. Not too big, not too small, and yet, we were majorly on the map. I took a deep breath and remembered every word that Mae said to me. I instantly sat down at my desk. I was about to pick up the phone when Natalia stood in the doorway. “Nat?”
“I need to take her to the hospital. Now, she’ll be admitted as my patient, so we don’t have to go through the Emergency Department.”
“How bad is it?”
“A few of the cuts went all the way through her dermis, um, skin,” Natalia sighed. “She was raped, too.”
“Real or synthetic,” I tried to compose myself.
“Real. Now, it’s up to her whether or not to press charges. I know this is touchy and it’s up to her about what to do. Ang, do you think this was her new Dom?”
“I don’t know. It sounds like it but I have to talk to him. I really want to kill the fucker but …”
“What if he didn’t do it?”
“Well, if he didn’t do it, he left her unsafe by leaving the room. It doesn’t matter. Tell Mae, I’ll be there soon. I have to talk to Dane and Alec. Keep me informed on how she’s doing.”
“She’s in bad shape but I won’t know how bad until I get some tests run,” Natalia kissed my cheek. “I’ll call you when she’s settled in.” Natalia left and I watched her walk down the hall toward Mae’s office.
6
I KNEW THAT Dane and Alec would be at the club on a Saturday. They had to make sure the staff was preparing for that evening’s events. Saturdays always had some kind of theme, as if their rooms didn’t have themes all the time. Alec and Dane liked being involved in every little detail for the club.
I knocked on the locked front door of the club. By the time I had driven over to the club from my office, I had managed to calm my anger, but only a little bit. It took many years of training, I le
arned to control my anger. I used to be angry all of the time, but I learned to control it. I hate being angry. I hated what it did to me, how it made me feel, but this time, it was truly warranted.
Jack opened the door. “Mistress Angel, what are you doing here so early?”
“It’s just Angelica. Are they here?”
“Yes,” he opened the door wider. “They’re in Master Dane’s office.”
“Good. I’ll announcement myself,” and before he could say another word, I strutted across the main room and down the hallway toward the offices. There were two hallways off the main room. One led to the theme and private rooms and the other led to observation rooms and the two offices. Dane’s office was at the far end of the hallway. I knocked hurriedly and impatiently, as if I expected the door to open the minute I knocked.
Alec, wearing a black tee shirt and blue jeans, opened the door. “Ang, what’s wrong? You look extremely pissed.”
I took a deep breath so that I wouldn’t bite his head off. “Do you two still have cameras in the rooms?”
“Yes, for security reasons,” he said. “And to cover our ass. All members know about them.”
“Good. I need to see the ones from the 70s room last night.”
Dane stood up from his desk. “Ang, we were trying to figure out what happened in that room last night. The cameras were turned off and that room was a fucking mess. The last two people in that room were Avery and Mae.”
I dropped in the chair. “Where the fuck is Avery now?”
“We don’t know. We’re trying to locate him. We can’t find Mae, either.”
“Mae was almost killed last night. After Avery blindfolded her, she was attacked by a razor whip and raped. She woke up in some dumpy motel by the highway. Nat took her to the hospital as one of her patients so she doesn’t need to deal with ER docs or protocols.”
“Or stigmas,” Alec sighed. “Is she OK?”
“I don’t know. It’s bad. Really fucking bad. Her back. Her legs. Her face. All fucking slashed. The last one to see her was that Avery but …”
Alec raised an eyebrow. “But?”
“She said after she was blindfolded, she felt Avery walk away and then his footsteps were heavier. She doesn’t remember much. She must’ve passed out from the pain.” I tried to explain without losing it. I wanted Avery dead.
“We need to find Avery,” Alec said. “Someone attacked Mae in our club. Did you talk to the cops?”
“No, you know how these things go. I thought about calling Richard, but I don’t know if that’s best.”
“What do we have on Avery?” Alec leaned forward.
Dane sat down behind his desk and tapped on his computer. “Avery Smythe. Former submissive. He trained as a Dom.” Dane looked at Alec. “He was one of your trainees. Last year. He’s had three subs since then with no reports of problems or issues.”
“Do we have an address?” Alec asked as there was a pounding on the office door. “Jack? Is that you?”
Jack opened the door and hurried into the office. “I’m sorry, Masters, but we have a problem.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a man in the alley, I found him in the dumpster and pulled him out but I don’t think I should move him anymore. He’s been beaten, bad.”
“Avery Smythe?” Dane stood up. “It’s Avery Smythe, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Sir. How’d you know?”
“Call 9-1-1,” Alec ordered as he and Dane rushed out of the room.
I hurried behind them and noticed they were kneeling over Avery’s body in the alley. “How bad?”
“Razor whip but there’s something written on his chest,” Dane opened Avery’s bloodied leather vest. “She’s mine.” His eyes flicked up to mine. “Mae?”
“Dammit! I fucking know who did this.”
“Who?” Alec asked, as we heard sirens wailing in the distance.
“Remember Tim McCoy. Her ex? Well, he’s been hassling her lately. When she was training as my sub, he even threatened me. He’s just an ex-vanilla boyfriend. She told me he was too controlling for her and then I brought her in to show her how she had control.”
Avery started to groan and Dane held his hand. “Hold on, man, help is coming,” he said, as the ambulance pulled down the alley.
Alec looked at the EMTs and nodded with familiarity. “Razor whip and god knows what else,” he explained. “Paul, take care of him. His sub was also kidnapped last night and beaten. Dr. Natalia Ralston is her doctor at Boston General.”
“I’ll find her, don’t worry,” Paul smiled as he looked at his partner. “Ted, let’s do this.”
Dane and Alec stood up and put their arms around my waist. “Now what?” I sighed.
“Call Richard,” Dane said.
“Yeah, oh, you guys didn’t cleanup that room, did you?”
“No, why?”
“The cops are gonna have to be involved. It’s a good thing you’re lawyers.”
“Yeah, great,” they muttered as they headed into the building.
I walked down the alley toward my car as I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I pressed the speed dial four for Richard’s cell phone.
He answered it on the third ring. “Officer Jenkins.”
“Richard, it’s Angelica Ralston. I’m sorry to bother you.”
His tone instantly became softer. “Ma’am, what can I do for you?”
“There was an incident at the club last night. My friend, Mae Robinson, and her Dom, Avery Smythe were attacked and beaten last night. Avery was just rushed to the hospital from the club and my sister brought Mae to the hospital earlier this morning. I don’t know if the EMTs called the cops but …”
“I just got a call. My partner and I are on our way. Are you there now?”
“Yes, I wanted to see if there were security cameras. Jack found Avery in the dumpster a few minutes ago.”
“I’ll see you soon, um, ma’am,” he said. He didn’t quite seem to know what to call me when we weren’t playing.
I waited by my car and watched as several blue and white Boston PD patrol cars pulled into the parking lot, lights flashing but no sirens. I waited for Richard and his partner to approach me. Richard touched the tip of his cap and nodded. “Ma’am, this is my partner, Edward. Edward, this is, um, Angelica Ralston.”
“Ma’am,” he smiled and the patted Richard on the shoulder. “I better talk to the owners.”
“Dane and Alec are waiting for you inside,” I pointed to the building.
“Thank you,” he smiled and nodded.
I looked at Richard. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know …”
“It’s all right,” he smiled. “Edward knows. Um, everyone knows now, but it’s better. I may have been worried for nothing.” He looked very commanding in his black uniform, his silver badge displayed proudly on his lapel. “Do I call you ma’am, Ms. Ralston or Angelica?”
“Angelica is fine,” I smiled. “Richard, when we’re not playing and we’re in the real world, first names are fine. I hope you know that.”
“I wasn’t sure but thanks for clearing that up for me. Can you tell me what happened?” he pulled a small black notebook out of his shirt pocket, unclipped his pen from his pocket, and began writing.
“I found Mae at the office this morning. She and Avery were together in the 70s room here. They played for a while but after he blindfolded her, she was beaten. She doesn’t remember who was there or how she ended up in some crappy motel. She still had her belongings but she was naked and beaten … badly. She took a cab to the office to clean herself up. I was there working and I heard her come in. I called my sister. She’s a doctor. Dr. Natalia Ralston.”
“I remember you mentioning her. She took her to Boston General?”
“Yes, Natalia works as a surgeon there,” I looked down at my phone as it vibrated. “Room 508.” Natalia just texted me Mae’s room number. She texted me again.
No visitors for 24 hours. Bad shape. I’ll keep you in
formed.
“Oh, all right. Someone may need to talk with her,” he said.
“Can you do it?” I asked. “I’m sorry. You know her. It’s probably asking a lot but sometimes, especially when this happens, cops judge.”
“I know. I can take her statement but she may have to talk to a detective or something later on.”
Alec joined us. “Detective Tom Reynolds. He’s a member here.”
Richard turned and nodded.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt, but they’re looking at the room right now. That other officer is supervising.” He pointed to a tall dark haired officer, with three strips on the sleeve of his black uniform.
“Our Sergeant.”
Alec walked away and Richard faced at me. “I have to get back to work, but do you think we could … never mind.”
“No, tell me,” I smiled.
“After my shift, get some coffee or something.”
“Well, I do have to work … coffee sounds good. There’s a café in the lobby of my building. We could meet there at four?”
He smiled. “Vanilla, right?”
“Yup, very vanilla,” I smiled as he walked away. It was just coffee. I didn’t do vanilla or regular relationships. Hurt too much. I didn’t even do relationships with my subs, that’s why I had three and not one. I got in my car and took a deep breath. I stared at myself in the rearview mirror. Had to focus on work now. Can’t focus on things that I couldn’t control, such as Mae getting better. I knew she could. I prayed she could. She was in Natalia’s hands. I thought Avery hurt her and I was wrong. I hate being wrong, but this time, I’m glad I was wrong. I’m glad I didn’t … anyway, time to go back to work.
7
I PARKED IN the parking garage that was located down the street from my building. Yes, I worked too hard and all of the time. That’s also why I had my penthouse built on the top floor of the same building. Controlling and convenient. I nodded to Joe, who was security at the front desk in the lobby. “I’ll be in my office for a few hours. The café is still open until 7, right?” I pointed down the long hall of the lobby to the café. Jeannie owned the small coffee and pastry shop and rented the space from me.