NoEasyWayOut

by Tara Tennyson

  There had been no games, not really, not by Daniel’s standard. She had come twice, once with his mouth on her. She smiled to herself. Perhaps she would end up being the very, very rich Mrs. Rolleston after all.

  * * * * *

  Daniel had been asleep when she got out of the bath last night and already up and dressed when she awoke. She sat at breakfast with him, still half asleep, as the waiter—a dark Mexican man—approached to pour her coffee. She smiled at him to say thanks, then she smelled it—the same aftershave that Daniel had put on last night during their lovemaking. What a coincidence! She looked at the waiter and he was smiling at her.

  “Did the lady enjoy her evening?” he said with a smile.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “Bueno, bueno. I am happy when the lady enjoy herself and have the pleasure.” He smiled at her again.

  “Thank you, Jose Luis,” said Daniel. “That will be all for now.“

  Ruthanne looked up again and caught the waiter’s eye. Why was he looking at her like that? And where was his name badge?

  “How do you know his name?” she asked Daniel suddenly, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  “Jose Luis sometimes does little jobs for me.” Daniel smiled at Ruthanne.

  She knew something was wrong. That was the way he smiled when he made her humiliate herself, made her do something she didn’t want to do, made her take her panties off in public and reveal herself.

  “Daniel. It was just you last night wasn’t it?”

  “Just me?” he said innocently. “Just me doing what?”

  “You know, when we were, you know. On the bed.”

  “Oh. You mean when we were having sex?”

  “Yes. So?”

  “So what?” He was enjoying this.

  “So you were the only one there?” she said, her voice low and urgent.

  He smiled again. “You mean you don’t know?”

  She stared at him, not willing to answer.

  He frowned. “Really? You really don’t know? He laughed a little bit. “What sort of woman doesn’t even know how many men have fucked her?”

  “Daniel. Don’t say that.”

  “But really. You should know who’s been inside you, shouldn’t you?”

  “I was wearing the mask,” she reminded him.

  “Oh, yes. I forgot. So actually, it could have Jose Luis or even half a dozen of the staff taking turns at you and you’d never have known.”

  “That didn’t happen, did it?” She was unable to believe that Daniel would do that to her.

  “No. Of course not.” He lowered his voice and leaned in toward her. “I wouldn’t invite a whole group of men into the room to watch as one of them pleasures you, as one of them makes you come with his mouth and then fucks you, would I? Not without asking you or telling you. Even though I know you’d like it if I did, wouldn’t you? You might even come twice.” He paused. “Oh, you did.” He smiled and shrugged at her and returned to buttering his toast carefully and precisely.

  She shook her head. He wouldn’t. That would be going too far even for Daniel. But the aftershave and Daniel’s uncharacteristic closeness, tenderness even, during the sex? It just hadn’t felt like him.

  She looked across the room. Jose Luis was watching her, smiling. So was another waiter. Were they just being friendly? Or had Jose Luis and even the other one, come into the room last night? Had they seen her in the body stocking and head mask? Had the other one and Daniel watched while Jose Luis had gone down on her and she’d begged him to lick her, make her come, then taken her from behind while Daniel came in her mouth? She looked back at Daniel. He was watching her too, enjoying her confusion, her distress.

  He leaned forward. “You really would look wonderful writhing on the bed under the mouth of another man. I would like to see you with him and beg him to make you come. And I would like to see you taking a whole procession of big cocks one after the other. You’re putting ideas in my head. Naughty girl.” He smiled at her.

  She hated it when he talked to her like this, especially now at breakfast, when it should have pleasant, fun, romantic, domestic even, rather than this humiliating banter, these unpleasant comments. And she knew that whether he had or hadn’t invited people into their room to use her body it was the same. He wanted her to think he might have and she honestly believed he might have.

  She didn’t trust him at all anymore. This time he had gone too far. She didn’t want to be with him anymore. She needed to end the relationship.

  Chapter Ten

  She pretended to have a headache all the way home, sitting in silence in the taxi, on the flight, closing her eyes.

  Daniel didn’t seem to mind. He talked on his mobile, sent emails, happy not to talk to her. He had dropped her off at home and said goodbye as if everything was fine between them. “I’ll be away for a few days on business,” he said as she got out of the car. “But I’ll be in touch when I get back. I might have another surprise for you.”

  She’d just nodded and waved at him, knowing the surprise could be anything from giving her thousands of dollars’ worth of diamonds to pimping her out to a whole gang of men.

  As soon as she was in her apartment she phoned Katie and told her everything. For once Katie listened without talking or interrupting with her own long-winded anecdotes.

  “You have to dump him,” she said as soon as Ruthanne had finished telling her the whole story.

  “I know. But he’s bound to sack me. He’ll probably leave our company altogether like he’s been threatening to. Then what about my job and yours?”

  “You could go to Ian.”

  “And say what? Daniel has pushed me into doing some strange things in the bedroom? He hasn’t forced me, not in a criminal way. I’ve pretty much agreed to it all. And I should have gone to Ian the first time Daniel suggested something and complained or asked to have him passed on to someone else but I didn’t. And now after everything I’ve done it doesn’t seem exactly believable to start complaining. And you know Ian’s only loyal to the bank balance. He’d rather sack me than lose Daniel. You know that.” Ruthanne didn’t know what to do.

  “You could look for another job,” suggested Katie.

  Ruthanne considered. “It might be the only way out.”

  “Get a new job and then you can dump him and not worry because he won’t be the department’s biggest client.”

  “That might work.” Ruthanne was thinking aloud. “But it would mean finding a new job quickly and with a good reference from Ian. And he’ll be annoyed if I leave because I was the one Daniel chose. If Daniel spreads the whisper that I’m unreliable that won’t go down well. I’ll be out of work in no time. Everyone respects him so much. If only they knew what he was really like.”

  “Yeah. A complete psycho freak.”

  “A sex-crazed lunatic.” Ruthanne giggled despite herself.

  “A demented dom.” Katie was laughing now. Then she stopped. “That’s it. We’ve got to get some proof of what he’s really like.”

  “But if I tell people no one will believe me. Why should they? I’d sound like some hysterical dumped girlfriend or something. And if you’re not there it’s really hard to explain what he does.”

  “Then show people,” said Katie.

  “What?”

  “Show people. Film it. You don’t have to actually show anyone. Just let Daniel think you might if he does anything you don’t like.”

  Ruthanne thought. It might work. The language of threats, of power games—Daniel understood that. “But how?” she sighed. “How am I going to film that? He’s hardly going to agree to it and he might suspect if I get out my phone and start taking snapshots.”

  “Hidden cameras.” Katie was pleased with herself. “Surveillance. And I know someone who can help.”

  “Okay,” said Ruthanne, a flicker of hope growing inside her. If she had some leverage she might be able to end it with Daniel and keep her job and make sure her colleagues kept
theirs too. “That might work. And who do you know who could help?”

  “Ed the editor. He’s a film geek, a surveillance guy. We went to college together. He’s a good guy. You can trust him.”

  “Right,” said Ruthanne. “We might have a plan here. Can you give me his number?”

  “I’ll set up the meeting,” said Katie.

  Chapter Eleven

  Early Friday evening Ruthanne was sitting in a bar waiting for Ed the editor. It was the kind of place she hadn’t been for years. There were tattered posters on the wall, the carpet was sticky and the clientele was mixed to say the least.

  One guy standing hunched at the bar looked homeless but was probably some about-to-be-famous musician. Girls who looked like hungover models draped over guys with tattoos. Men and women with laptops, looking like they might be writing the next great novel or some fashionable screenplay.

  She looked around for Ed. How would she know him? She wasn’t sure what to expect—a Woody Allen-type figure perhaps or a spy wannabe?

  She saw a man walk in and stand looking around before seeing her and striding toward her. He was tall, with dirty-blond hair that looked like it needed a wash, three or four days worth of stubble, scruffy student-y clothes and black-rimmed glasses.

  “You must be Ruthanne.”

  “Hi. And you’re Ed. How did you know it was me?”

  “Look around. You’re the only one in office clothes. And Katie told me what you look like.”

  She looked down. She’d come straight from work and her skirt suit and crisp blouse did look quite out of place here.

  He sat down, his long legs just squeezing under the tabletop.

  He grinned at her. “Katie told me all about it.”

  Ruthanne smiled, embarrassed to have this stranger know what had been going on. “All about it?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe not all the details. But the general idea. The guy’s out of control. He’s got you in a place where you can’t say no. And you need something on him to get rid of him.”

  It sounded so simple and so, well, not her fault for letting it all happen when Ed said it.

  “That’s about it,” she agreed. “But how is it going to work? He’ll never let me film him.”

  “I make most of my money from the surveillance work.”

  “What? You’re going to follow him?” Ruthanne couldn’t imagine Ed hiding out, sneaking around. He was so tall he’d be spotted straight away.

  “I’m not a private eye. I do it the modern way. Fix up someone’s house, car or office with cameras to record everything that happens.”

  Of course. Ruthanne remembered what Katie had said—hidden cameras. “Is that legal?”

  “If it’s your own house it is. It’s mostly for people to see what the nanny or the help gets up to and of course for people who want to see what their partner gets up with the nanny or the help.” He grinned. “And it’s mostly nothing. Most people live quite boring lives. But now and again you find the wife and the pool boy or the husband and the nanny. Bingo. Or the wife and the nanny. Double bingo!”

  She laughed with him. At least he was used to seeing things like that.

  “And if it’s your office that’s a bit of a gray area. But this man won’t be taking you to court over it. Not once we have the tapes.”

  “But what Daniel does. It’s quite extreme.”

  “I know. Katie told me some of it. All the more reason to find a way to get him to leave you alone.”

  She nodded. “But, but…” How could she say it? “I don’t want everyone to see…to see things,” she said lamely. The thought of having it all on film, of having anyone look at it, seeing her begging Daniel to whip her or make her come was awful.

  “Look, I’ve seen all this kind of stuff. Some of the movies I’ve edited have been BDSM kind of stuff, you know, whips, chains, ‘yes master, no master.’ It’s hot stuff. I can see why you’re into it.”

  She was about to contradict him. She wasn’t into it, Daniel was. But then she realized the thought of having entirely normal sex didn’t appeal to her that much anymore. What she really wanted was to do the things she did with Daniel but with someone else—someone she trusted, someone she cared about, who cared about her.

  “Look, it really will be all stuff I’ve seen before.” Ed leaned forward and touched her arm. “Don’t worry. I’m absolutely unshockable.”

  She rubbed her temples for a moment, trying to think. Even though they’d just met, there was something about him—an honesty, an openness that made her feel as if she could trust him. More than that she liked him. And whatever she felt about Ed, he seemed to be her best chance of getting out of this thing with Daniel, of making sure she could walk away with her career intact and without any of her colleagues paying the price either. There was no easy way out but this might be the best option she had.

  “But how would it work? Do you have to see it?” she asked. “Can’t you just help me record it? I mean I’m just not sure about there being a film out there of me, well you know, doing that kind of thing.”

  “It can work two ways. All the images are stored on a receiver that only you have access to. You can upload them, edit them, do what you want with them, delete everything if you want. Or you can hand it over to me and I can do the editing.” He grinned at her. “I’m Ed the editor. Give me some film and I can make him look bad, really bad.”

  “You wouldn’t have to try very hard,” she said ruefully.

  He laughed. “I know. Katie filled me in on some of the details.”

  “But I’ve never edited film. On the other hand I’m not sure about you seeing everything.”

  He shrugged. “Two things to think about. First if I do it it will save you a big headache. And I can do it well, make sure your face is never in it so he can’t turn it back on you and I can make sure he looks as bad as possible. Second I’m a big boy. I’ve seen a lot of stuff. I’ve edited all kinds of stuff—adult movies, home surveillance tapes.” He shrugged. “It pays the bills so I can make the films I want to make.”

  She felt a bit reassured. “All right. I guess it will be okay. As long as you promise it will be.”

  “I’ll make it all right, I promise.” He looked pleased. “Don’t worry, Ruthanne. I’ll get you out of this. And then…” he hesitated and stopped himself. “So let’s talk surveillance. Where do you do the stuff you do?” He grinned. “And which locations can we get to?”

  She felt a little embarrassed but she had to talk about it if he was going to be able to help her. “There’s my office. And my apartment. “

  “That’s no problem. I’d need an hour in your office max, maybe a little more in your apartment depending on the size. Where else does it all happen?”

  “In his car—well, cars. He has three that I’ve been in. He may have more.”

  “Not much chance of rigging anything up there, plus it would be risky. There’s always a chance the cams would be found in a car. But you can wear something, a tiny pen cam or button cam, which might get some good footage.”

  “And hotels. We’ve been to a few.” She tried not to think about the last time and what had happened or what Daniel wanted her to think might have happened with the hotel staff.

  “Same problem. Someone else’s turf. You can get into a lot of trouble doing that. Especially in a hotel. You could end up filming all sorts. Okay.” He paused, thinking. “So we’ll rig up your office and your apartment and get some cams for you to wear. That should get enough coverage. And then you can make a decision about the editing later.”

  She nodded.

  “So. I could come over on Sunday morning.”

  She looked confused.

  “To your apartment. To fix up some cameras.”

  “Sure.” This was moving faster than she expected. But he was right. If she was going to do it it might as well be soon. The sooner she filmed something the sooner she might be able to get out of her relationship without causing too much collateral damage.


  “Okay,” she said. “So how am I going to pay you for all this? How much will it cost?” She was asking like it made a difference but he could have named almost any price. The thought of getting Daniel out of her life was worth it even if it took all her precious savings. She’d just have to put off buying her own apartment for a few more years.

  “Didn’t Katie tell you? It’s free. A favor to her. She’s helped me out a lot in the past. It’s about time I did something for her.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Ed looked like Daniel when he arrived on Sunday with a travel bag full of strange devices. But these were going to help her, not hurt her. She made coffee while Ed put things out on the table—a teddy bear, a smoke alarm, an air freshener, a wall clock and even a hook for the back of a door, all hiding wireless motion-activated cameras that would transmit to a base unit she could keep in the closet and which would record everything.

  “Let’s walk it through then. Come to the front door. Pretend I’m him. So, I come in here, you open the door.” He paused, looking around. “We could put the smoke alarm on the ceiling. The angle’s not great of course but it will give us a basic coverage. Have you ever done it in here? Is it likely to be a crucial area?”

  She flashbacked straight away to the first time Daniel had visited her apartment. He’d presented her with a big bunch of flowers and kissed her on each cheek. He’d complimented the way she looked and said how much he had been looking forward to spending the evening with her.

  If the camera captured that, he’d be winning boyfriend of the year awards. The next time though, things had been different. They had been “playing” already in the car and she was willing to do whatever he asked.

  As soon as the door closed behind them he told her to get on her hands and knees. He’d stood behind her, lifted up her skirt and pulled down her panties so she was completely exposed. “Crawl,” he’d said, standing behind her, watching the view. “And stay on your hands and knees until I give you permission to get up again.” She’d gone down the hallway like that, knowing he was watching her, feeling aroused by the power he had over her, by the way he took complete control. And now if he did that again, Ed would see it too.