“Um” Lexi slid into her seat. “I’ll have a cheeseburger, double cheese, tomato and mayo, small side salad with Ranch dressing and a diet coke.”
“That’ll take forever, Lexi, not to mention that calories. The way you eat, you should weight twice what you do.” Lexi was saved from responding when Althea turned to the waiter who seemed to quake slightly. “I’m in a hurry. Bring mine right away. She was wait, but I’m in a hurry. The waiter nodded and scurried away and Althea turned her attention back to her phone.
Lexi had to restrain herself from sticking her tongue out at her boss just to see if she’d notice. Besides the remark about her lunch was uncalled for. Sure Lexi was short and curvy. She’d long come to terms with and embraced her shape, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t fit and healthy. She ran three times a week, did two cardio classes and was working on her black belt in judo since you never knew what you’d come across when you were working under cover. It all came in a non-threatening package which made people underestimate her, especially since she was a natural blonde.
There were some people, both male and female, who refused to believe anyone with pale hair and D-cup boobs could have a brain too and she’d used that to her benefit when she’d been undercover. Luckily Althea wasn’t one of them. She didn’t seem to be underestimating Lexi’s intelligence, just her readerships’. Or at least Lexi hoped she was underestimating them. Surely some of the readers were interested in depth, well researched articles.
Regardless, though, it was Althea she had to please now. She just hoped it would be worth it. She looked at her boss and hesitated. Would this idea really work? BDSM wasn’t her first choice of story. She had a few ideas about the education system that she wanted to look into and one regarding water quality that she really wanted to look into, but Althea had rejected each and every proposal. This was her last chance.
She looked Althea in the eye and prepared to speak, but the words just wouldn’t seem to come out and she wasn’t sure why. Luckily she was saved for a moment by the return of the waiter who had come to apologize for the fact that there was no vegan cheese. Finally she’d rolled her eyes and allowed him to deposit the plate with the inferior offering.
BDSM was a hot topic today and was sure to get Althea’s attention. Hell, when she’d heard those women talking about it, she’d felt such a sudden and sharp stab of something she couldn’t describe. She’d mistaken it for professional interest. No, that’s not write. She’d decided it was professional interest, but it wasn’t, not really and she knew it. It was more primal than that. The idea of submitting to a man was ridiculous, really. She was a strong, modern women, and yet her eReader was filled with novels about female submissives and the men who loved and dominated them.
Maybe the subject was a little too close to home. She’d make use of the contacts she’d made, but she’d do it for herself, not for a story. She’d find something else to temp Althea with. Surely if she would only listen to Lexi explain about the leads she had, she’d give her more time. She probably hadn’t even read Lexi’s proposals. She squared her shoulders. Yes, she’d tantalize with the water quality story and all would be right with her world.
“So, what do you have for me Lexi? Something a little more exciting than garbage men and daycare workers that you wrote about before or those dreary proposals you’ve been filling up my inbox with. Education… done to death. Water quality? Really, who drinks tap water anymore? Those kind of stories win prizes but don’t attract the kind of readers that are valued by advertisers. In other words, those who are young with lots of disposable income.”
Lexi took a deep breath. As annoying as Althea was, she wasn’t totally wrong. If the magazine didn’t make money, it would cease to operate and a lot of good people would lose their jobs. But she wished Althea would at least pretend to care about something other than the bottom line. Surely there could be happy medium somewhere between the two.
But for now, she was on ground too tenuous to allow her to argue the issue with her boss. And she had only one story left. So she cleared her throat and started to pitch the only idea she had left. “How much do you know about BDSM?”
“Old news.” Althea’s tone was dismissive. “It’s been done to death.” Lexi felt her stomach drop. She didn’t want to sell Althea on BDSM. She wanted to keep that research personal, but it was all she had to save her job.
“Not in the first person and not by me.”
Althea put down her fork and looked Lexi in the eye for the first time since they’d sat down. And did she detect the slightest hint of interest?
“Explain.”
Yes, there was a sliver of interest in her tone. Not much, but it was definitely there!
“Other publications have done lots of interviews with practitioners, poseurs, moralists and even shrinks. They’ve shown tours of dungeons and discussed play parties. Some reporters have even let themselves be flogged over their clothes in the name of their story. They’ve never really immersed themselves in the subject… from a first person perspective. They’ve never actually lived as a submissive for any length of time.”
She definitely saw a gleam in Althea’s eyes now. It was a marginally encouraging gleam, but a gleam nevertheless. It gave her the courage to go on. “As you know, my specialty is going undercover. Deep undercover. I don’t just observe a subject. I’m hands on. I live the subject. I immerse myself in it.”
Althea nodded. “That is your forte. Continue.”
“Have you heard of Club Hades?”
“Who hasn’t? It’s the most elite and exclusive BDSM club in Chicagoland. No reporter who has ever even gotten a foot in the door let alone done a story on them except in the most superficial way possible, standing on the sidewalk in front of the building and looking more than a little foolish. Are you trying to tell me you have a way in?”
Lexi swallowed. She wasn’t going to lie to her boss, exactly. “Did you know they offer a training course for prospective members? That’s how you get in. You have to demonstrate that you are serious about the lifestyle and that you can abide by their rules. I don’t know much about it yet, but it seems to run for several months.”
“A training course… for submissives? And you’ve signed up? That’s brilliant, Lexi. You can do a diary series for our website, a first person account of what you feel as you experience the life of a submissive… or, maybe a slave? Yes, My Year as a Sex Slave. That would grab a lot of attention.” She smiled. Lexi didn’t like it, not at all. Althea’s expression reminded her of a shark assessing its prey. “When do you start?”
“Whoa! Althea, I didn’t say anything about being someone’s slave. And certainly not for a year.” Lexi shivered at the thought. A year? That was insane. She couldn’t pretend for a year.
“I thought going undercover was your thing? And you brought me this story. Surely you aren’t changing your mind? If it’s just the timing, we can discuss the length, but this is something I could definitely make a long term commitment to, but so would you.” Althea gazed at her. Lexi could almost see the wheels turning inside her head. Then she nodded and smiled again. Lexi had to suppress a shiver. When Althea smiled at her, she felt like prey. She sat back in her chair and looked at her boss. She knew she needed to say something, to stop Althea’s ridiculous notion that Lexi would spend a year as some man’s sex slave for a story.
She was curious about the lifestyle, but really, she was curious about a lot of things, but it was only intellectual curiosity. She had to stop Althea, say she’d made a mistake. What had she been thinking, bring up going undercover at Club Hades.
“Althea, I… you’ve misunderstood. I said I would take the training and report on what it was like. I don’t know about committing to a year. I mean having, I mean, getting involved with a man I don’t know just for a story…”
“Aren’t you the one who is all about going undercover and submersing yourself in your story? I do believe you said those very words when you begged me to let you do that wa
ter story. I tell you what… let’s make a deal.”
Althea leaned forward and Lexi had to stop herself from leaning backwards.
“If you do this story, and I mean really do the story… commit to experiencing the lifestyle, I’ll let you choose your next story. No limitation, no interference from me. Complete autonomy. But I want a commitment from you that you file bi-weekly for at least six months.”
Lexi swallowed hard.
“Complete autonomy?”
“Yes, but you have to do your part first.” Althea set down her fork. “Well, I am sure you’ll make the right choice. Don’t keep me waiting too long or I might have to assign Marissa to the story.”
“Marissa? That hack. Like I would let her have one of my stories.” Lexi felt a wave of anger. It was her story, dammit. How dare Althea threaten to give it to Marissa?
“But you’ve been expressing concern about the sexual aspect of the story. Marissa would do whatever it took to get the story.”
“Yes she would. Too bad she’s a superficial writer who would be all salaciousness and no depth.”
“Does that mean you’ll do it?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. And now that we have that sorted out, I do need to be sure that you don’t have any hang ups about casual sex, nothing that will interfere with the story. You will need to give yourself fully over to the experience to make the story fully authentic and to draw in as many readers as possible. I knew you could come up with something to please me, Lexi.” Althea wiped her mouth delicately with her napkin. “Once you’ve got the full details on the course, we’ll start the publicity machine. You know, I have a good feeling about this story.”
“Althea, I’m going undercover. You can’t publicize the story. You can’t even publish anything until the story is complete so you don’t blow my cover.”
Her boss frowned. “You get started and we’ll figure something out. I’ll talk to Legal and we’ll find a way to protect your and the club’s identity. I’m not waiting six month for this story. When can you file your first installment? How long does the course run?”
“I’m not sure. A few months, I think. I’m still in the research stage.”
“Fine. We won’t start publishing until you finish the training. But I’m not holding off any longer than that. When does your class start? Or don’t you know that either?”
“I still have a few details to work out. I need your support to go ahead with this. I didn’t want to commit too much time or any money, and I assume there will be a cost for the course, until I got your approval.”
“Yes, yes, fine. Put together a proposal including costs and timeline and have it on my desk by Monday. It would be best if we could have photos to go with your story but I would imagine these sorts of places frown on that. Nonetheless, I am sure you can manage something. Your readers will want to see you wearing your corset or collar or whatever, and if you could figure out how to get photographs of yourself getting spanked or flogged or something. Nothing too sexual, though. We’re walking a fine line here, but salaciousness definitely sells.
“Of course you know this all is conditional on me loving your detailed proposal and the first story you file. If you can’t hook me with that, then you’re either writing about Kardashians or you are leaving the magazine.”
“You’ll like it.”
“Make sure I do.”
Lexi watched her boss stand, having barely touched her meal.
“I’ll leave you here to finish your, er, food.” Althea’s disgust at Lexi’s burger was evident. “But don’t dawdle too much. You’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Lexi looked watched Althea walk away and then looked down at her meal. What did she get herself into?
Chapter Four
Six Weeks Later
“Andrew, I’ve got an assignment for you, a prospective submissive that you might find interesting to work with.”
“Oh, yeah? I don’t know, Gabe.” Andrew hesitated. He didn’t want to let down Gabe, his boss and best friend. He usually loved his job, but lately, it hadn’t been satisfying and he was feeling restless. He decided that honesty was the best policy and just spit it out. “I’m kind of getting bored with training. Maybe I need to take a break…”
“I know. But just wait until you hear what I have to say until you make a decision.”
“You know?”
“Am I not the Master of Club Hades? I see all and I know all. Besides you’ve been moping around here for weeks. You are not exactly enigmatic.”
Andrew laughed. “Too true. That’s your specialty. So, what did you want to tell me?”
“It’s a very special new trainee.”
“Gabe!”
“Andrew! Look, I think you’ll like this one. She’ll be quite a challenge, something to snap you out of your funk.”
“Funk?”
“Yes, funk. That’s the name for it according to Amanda.”
“According to Amanda? You’ve been discussing me with your submissive? Anyone else? Maybe the senior Dom? What about the rest of the submissives? They’re probably interested in my state of mind.”
“Also according to Amanda, you were one of the topics of discussion at the last Kinky Book Club meeting. They are worried about you.”
“Dammit, Gabe. Can’t you keep your sub under control? What kind of Dom are you?”
“The one who gives his people what they need.”
“I’m not your submissive!”
“No, but you are my friend, and I think I have just what you need. A challenge.”
Andrew narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What kind of challenge?”
“A training challenge.”
“Seriously?” Andrew snorted.
“Seriously. I thought about turning her down but I think she needs this more than she even knows or has admitted to herself.”
“She’s signed up for submissive training, Gabe. I’d say she was in tune with her needs.”
“It may seem that way on the surface… She needs us, Andrew. And you’re the only one I trust to handle her right.”
“What’s so special about this particular sub?”
Gabe tossed a file across the desk. Andrew opened it. She was pretty enough. Blonde hair, blue eyes. No, pretty didn’t begin to describe her. There was something about her that stirred something deep inside him. He studied her photo. She had a wide open smile that lit up her face and he felt the first real stirring of interest he’d felt in a sub for a very long time. He dragged a hand through his short sandy hair as he skimmed the file. She was short and curvy. Thirty two years old. New to the lifestyle, naturally, or she wouldn’t need the intensive training course.
“Well, if you aren’t interested, I can always get one of the others. Harry’s a good Dom. And then there’s Cord. He’s got quite a way with the ropes that women seem to love.”
Andrew’s guts seemed to churn at the thought of another Dom laying hands on this woman. It was ridiculous, really. He didn’t know her. Had never met her. This almost primal reaction he was having to her photo made his decision to take a break from training even more justified.
“And then there’s Frank. He’s come a long way…”
“Frank is not touching her! Dammit, Gabe. None of them will do. But why do you even need a training Dom for her? She’s an investigative reporter. Bar the door and tell her to go find someone else to investigate.”
“Keep reading, Andrew.”
Andrew looked suspiciously at his friend, but he did as Gabe asked and skimmed through the rest of the file, concentrating on her checklist. Almost everything she’d marked as willing to try. Other than basic vanilla sex, she hadn’t done anything on the list. Nothing. She was a complete novice.
He sighed as he flipped through the rest of her file. Then he stopped and reread the last page with Gabriel’s evaluation of her suitability for the program.
“Are you fucking kidding me? She’s an investigative reporter? And
you accepted her application?” Andrew dragged a hand through his hair as he tried to get his emotions under control. Gabriel was looking at him like he had lost his mind. Maybe he had. His level of anger was disproportionate. She was nothing to him, yet he felt like she’d betrayed him.
He looked at her photo again. She looked so sweet and sexy yet innocent. Clearly Gabe had made some kind of mistake. He took a deep breath and tried to moderate his tone. “Are you sure she’s a writer and you haven’t confused her with someone with a similar name?”
“I wish I had, but I know exactly who and what she is. There was something about her application and then when I met with her, I had a feeling that there was something she was hiding so I asked Ben to recommend someone to look into her background. A buddy of his got the scoop on Ms. Johansson for me. I was right about her keeping secrets. She’s a writer.”
“A writer?” Andrew felt like he’d been hit in the stomach. “What kind of writer? Fiction looking to do research or non-fiction looking to do an expose?”
“The latter. Or at least she’s a non-fiction writer who works for a major local news magazine. I have no confirmation either way on whether she’s planning to do an expose or if her interest is personal. That’s why I need you.”
Andrew flipped through the file to her application. “If she wasn’t up to something, she wouldn’t have written administrative assistant under profession. She’s clearly hiding something. That’s never a good thing.” He had another thought. “Have you checked out the kind of writing she does? Maybe we are getting all worked up for nothing. Lots of non-fiction writers. Sports, entertainment…”
“She’s an investigative reporter. Alexandra Johansson, Lexi to her friends or so she told me during our interview, writes under the name of Alex Jones.”
Kinky Book Club Trilogy: Written Submission, unSubmissive and Undercover Submissive Page 21