by Diana Hunter
Sarah giggled as she slid into the passenger’s side of Phillip’s winter rat. He’d put the sexy black Corvette in storage for the snowy months and now he escorted her from place to place in an old, but still stylish, Saturn.
“We’re stopping so often…are we ever going to go?”
Phillip gave her an evil grin. “Tonight. Tonight we will go so far that you might wish we’d stopped earlier.”
She opened her mouth to make a retort but couldn’t think of one. Instead, she just narrowed her eyes and gave him a penetrating look as if trying to see through his plans.
Phillip laughed. “No use, slave. You’re not going to figure it out until we meet up with everyone.”
Sarah shook her head and sat back. “Where are we going now?”
As he drove, Phillip explained that Anberg’s had been making one-of-a-kind jewelry for over forty years and that the shop was located in a neighborhood that had seen better days. Sarah shook her head over the abandoned houses and empty storefronts that lined the streets in this part of the city. “Seems to me the city could do something about luring people back here.”
“Crime is the number one reason people moved away in the first place.”
“Is that why you moved away?”
Phillip shook his head, stopping at a traffic light. “Nah, I just wanted somewhere nice and private so I could bring women back to my place and torture them.”
Sarah snorted. “Some torture. Orgasm after orgasm after orgasm?” She gave a mock sigh. “It’s a tough life but someone has to do it.”
She loved to hear him laugh, his rich baritone rumbling in the car’s small space. As the car moved forward again, she gestured to a burnt-out house sitting in the middle of the next block. “Like that one there. And those…” She pointed to a collection of boarded-up houses, one of which had very little roof left and another with a sagging porch. “See those? They look tired. Have pity on them and tear them down and start all over. Maybe put in two houses where there were three. Redesign the entire block.” She sat back smugly, then shook her head in dismay. “We’re creating donuts out of our cities with everyone moving to the suburbs. People are moving out of the center and leaving great big holes where wonderful downtowns used to be. There’s only a finite amount of land and we’re wasting some of the best living spaces!”
“Okay,” answered Phillip, in his best devil’s advocate voice, “you create neighborhoods of bigger houses and more property, they’re going to cost more, right?”
Sarah conceded the point.
“And if all these neighborhoods in the city go upscale, then where do those who can’t afford the bigger houses go to live?”
Phillip loved the way her brow furrowed when she puzzled out a problem. “People take better care of property they own than property they rent. That’s a given.”
“Why do you think that?”
She shook her head. “Don’t distract me, now. They just do. Probably because they know they’ll just have to pay to repair something that breaks rather than call the landlord to deal with it. But my point is, you’d have to get the houses into the hands of people who care and the way to do that is through ownership rather than renting.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
She grinned. “I know. I’m stalling while I think up a really good answer.” She gazed at the postage stamp-sized yards with spaces between the houses no bigger than a single-car driveway. Finally she sighed. “I have no idea. There has to be a way to have all classes live side by side in peace and harmony.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m sounding like a bad Christmas commercial. I don’t have a solution but I know there is one somewhere. Just ‘cause I haven’t stumbled on it yet doesn’t mean I won’t.”
He glanced at her, bemused. He hadn’t seen her so intense about a subject before. Apparently sexual passion wasn’t the only emotion she kept bottled up. Well, he’d begun unchaining her sexual desires… Briefly he wondered if he could help her channel her other energies and interests as well.
Phillip turned the corner and pulled up to a yellow brick building. Two shops stood side by side. The sign above the one on the right was cracked and peeled. Yellowed newspaper taped to the windows showed Sarah the store had been vacant since 1983.
The sidewalk in front of the jeweler on the left was freshly swept and the trim around the windows of his storefront had been freshly painted, though the bars on the windows were a testament to the changing times. Even though the awning over the door had faded in the sunlight, no rips or holes marred the stretched fabric. Phillip opened the door for her and a bell tinkled on the handle.
The narrow store stretched back only about twenty feet. To the left, a glass-topped counter ran the length of the store, the dark wooden case well-polished. Sarah peeked through the glass and her breath caught at the beauty of the silver pieces that gleamed up at her. Bracelets, necklaces, rings…all were displayed on artfully draped lengths of black velvet. Each piece was distinctive, yet a similar style pulled them all together. The artist was magnificent.
At the sound of the bell that signaled their entrance, a door quickly opened at the rear of the store and an elderly gentleman entered the shop. With his white hair and slow step, one might be tricked into thinking this was a feeble old man, but when his bright blue eyes lit up upon seeing them, Sarah saw an indomitable spirit that would not be cowed by the slow death of the surrounding neighborhood.
“Phillip, my dear boy! How good it is to see you.” He held out his hand to shake Phillip’s over the counter. Sarah had the distinct impression that they would have hugged if the glass display case hadn’t been between them.
“Hello, Uncle Irv. You’re looking great.”
His uncle? Sarah resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. Phillip had somehow forgotten to mention that little tidbit of information.
“And who is the lovely woman at your side?”
Phillip put his arm around her waist as he introduced her. “This is Sarah. She has consented to be my wife.”
Even as she extended her hand to Phillip’s uncle, Sarah felt the atmosphere change. Was it her imagination or did Mr. Anberg hesitate ever so slightly before taking her hand? But then the moment passed and he was smiling and charming and offering to show them his favorite set of wedding bands. Sarah glanced outside and decided the sudden chill she got must just be from a passing cloud.
Phillip picked a ring from the velvet pad on the counter and held it for Sarah to see. Made of silver, the artist had taken a traditional Celtic knot design and changed the angles slightly, giving the intricate pattern that circled the ring more of an art deco flair.
“And see?” Phillip’s uncle pointed to one of the threads of silver that made up the knots. “If you follow that all the way around the ring, you’ll discover the entire series of knots is made up from one single line.”
“Really?” Sarah reached over and Phillip handed her the ring. She twisted and turned it, her eye following the line as it intersected itself over and over until she had gone around the ring twice.
The old man nodded toward the ring in her fingers. “The symbolism is perfect for a wedding ring. Two lines that seem independent of each other but are truly one life intertwining.”
“And you designed this?” Sarah was enchanted. “Mr. Anberg, it’s wonderful!”
“You call me Uncle Irv if you’re going to be a member of the family.”
This time Sarah knew for certain that the atmosphere changed. Mr. Anberg—Uncle Irv—and Phillip exchanged a glance that seemed to communicate some sort of secret message. What were they up to?
“And will you need anything else?” Uncle Irv looked pointedly at Phillip who turned to Sarah.
Phillip pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, playing with the end in a possessive gesture. Without looking away from Sarah, he answered his uncle. “Yes, Sir. We do.”
A huge smile came from the old man. “Good! Good. Come in the back, then and let me get
my tape.”
Sarah sent a quizzical look at Phillip, who only smiled at her and gestured for her to follow his uncle. Mystified, she did so, trusting that he wasn’t leading her into some den of iniquity.
The workshop behind the door looked like any other artist’s studio. Tools and scraps of paper covered the workbench where a large, round magnifying glass sat propped on its bent metal arm. Sarah wondered what treasures she would find if she looked through it.
A smaller display case occupied a similar position in the workroom as did the larger one out front. The bracelets here were more of the wide-banded type, although there were several that had small chains connecting the bracelet to a ring that were obviously meant to be worn as a set. She flexed her hand unconsciously as her mind reacted to the confinement such a ring and bracelet could produce.
She looked a little further in the case and saw an assortment of earrings. Sarah shook her head. Why would anyone want to wear an earring with such a huge gold ball on both sides? Looked more like a barbell than an earring. Well, there was no accounting for taste. Although she did rather like the set with the two small hoops and a chain of amethyst hanging from each one. But why the tiny gold chain connecting them? It didn’t seem long enough to go under a woman’s chin and would look silly across the bridge of her nose. She turned to Phillip to ask about them when Uncle Irv noticed what had her attention.
“Ah, I see my soon-to-be niece has discovered the nipple rings.”
Phillip wished he had a camera to capture the look on Sarah’s face at his uncle’s pronouncement. Her jaw dropped open and the color came up in her cheeks so wonderfully.
“Nipple rings?” Her voice trembled and Phillip hurried to reassure her.
“Perhaps we will purchase a set in the future, Uncle. But Sarah isn’t quite ready for those. Yet.”
He let the seed be planted. Time would tell him if it would take root or not. He peered over Sarah’s shoulder. “That amethyst set is nice, though.”
Beside him, Sarah took in a deep breath. “Actually, it’s quite pretty.” She smiled wanly. “At least now I know where the little gold chain hangs.”
Phillip chuckled and turned back to his uncle. “If you have your tape, you can take measurements for her collar.”
Sarah darted a glance at him and he smiled down at her. “A silver torc to match our silver wedding rings. One the world will understand, the other…well, the other will only be understood by a small, select group of people.”
She let the air out of her lungs as sudden understanding came. “Like Will and Anton and Jill and Mistress Aleshia.”
“Yes, among others you haven’t met yet.”
Sarah looked at Uncle Irv and Phillip grinned. “Uncle Irving has been making specialized jewelry for longer than I’ve been alive.” He gestured around the shop. “And he’s very, very good.”
Uncle Irv stood by his workbench, a cloth tape measure in his hands. “I taught Phillip how to appreciate women, how to make them feel special with beautiful adornments for the glorious, too-often-hidden parts of their bodies.” He gestured for Sarah to come sit on a stool by his bench. With a look at Phillip for support, she did so.
Phillip gathered and lifted Sarah’s hair. If he’d thought about it earlier, he would have had her wear it in a ponytail today. He especially liked the exposure of her neck, circled only by the strip of leather she would wear from now until the wedding. The thin brown line accentuated her natural elegance, yet gave her an air of vulnerability at the same time. Standing in his uncle’s shop today, Phillip enjoyed the way Sarah’s hair felt in his hands, how it fell over his clenched fist to tickle against his knuckles.
Uncle Irv laid the tape flat around her neck. “Here, Phillip? Or do you want the torc to go lower?”
Phillip peeked around the front. The tape lay across the hollow of her neck that he loved to kiss. “A little lower,” he told the jeweler, who made the adjustments.
“Yes?”
Phillip looked again. “Perfect.”
“Good.” Uncle Irv turned to get a pencil and a fresh sheet of paper. “Now you sit like a good girl and don’t move. Let me write this down.”
Phillip continued to hold up her hair as his uncle took a few more measurements and drew rough sketches on scraps of paper. He let it down only when Uncle Irv stepped back with a satisfied smile. “Done!”
Sarah’s smile was a little tight as she took Phillip’s hand and rose to stand next to him. Phillip watched her eyes continually rove to the display case. Did she want her nipples pierced? Or was she afraid he was going to ask her to get them done as a part of the marriage ceremony? Silently he cursed himself for not preparing her as to what he had in mind. He’d remedy that soon.
They took their leave, Phillip giving the old man a hug now that the counter wasn’t in his way. He was gratified when Sarah did the same. He saw the pleasure that came into the old man’s eyes when she kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for his art. When his old uncle nodded and winked at him over her shoulder, Phillip knew Sarah had definitely charmed him. Was it any wonder he loved her?
By the time they left the shop, the sun had come out and the weather was warming. The autumn colors blazed in solo events here in the city, however. Rather than a hillside tapestry of reds and greens and oranges, the city block held spaced splotches of single trees here and there. They still hadn’t had a frost inside the city limits, so this couldn’t officially be called an Indian summer, but the warmth of the sun promised a pleasant turn to the day.
“That’s the first member of your family I’ve met.” Sarah slid into the passenger seat as Phillip held the door for her. She loved that he did that. While she was perfectly capable of getting her own door, and did most of the time, the fact that Phillip cared enough to take the extra steps meant a lot to her.
“Uncle Irv has been a Dom longer than I’ve been alive.” He shut the car door and came around to the driver’s side, sliding in and buckling his belt before starting the car. “He was the first one I confided in when I was a young teenager.”
“How did you do that? I can’t imagine telling anyone about…” She left the sentence unfinished. Heck, she didn’t even have the words to express it to Phillip, how could she ever tell a family member she liked to be tied up and dominated?
“I still don’t know if it was by accident or design on his part.” They pulled away from the shop and Sarah glanced back. Such a lonely building that held such wonderful secrets. She sighed. Like she used to be before she found Phillip.
“I was about fifteen and had just discovered girls,” Phillip continued. “Or rather, they had discovered me.” He grinned that rakish grin that Sarah suspected had something to do with girls falling all over him.
“My dad was away a lot on business and hard-ons are definitely not something a boy talks to his mother about.”
Sarah giggled. “It’s hard enough for a girl to talk to her mother about sexual feelings. For a boy it’s gotta be downright impossible.”
“Uncle Irv and Aunt Tess were my favorite aunt and uncle. They’ve always lived above the shop and there’s a separate entrance in the back. We kids weren’t allowed into the store much back then and certainly never in the back room. He sold a lot of other jewelry back then. Stuff he’d buy from a wholesaler and then resell. Once Aunt Tess died, he sold off all that stock and went into semi-retirement. Now he only sells what he makes himself.”
“So how did the two of you get to talking about sex?”
“I had walked over to see them—” At Sarah’s look of surprise, he smiled. “This neighborhood used to be pretty middle-class. A mixture of cultures, really. Great place to grow up. There were the Steins living next to us, the Washingtons across the street, the Riveras two doors down. The American melting pot right on my own street.”
“What happened?” Sarah gestured to the row of abandoned houses they were passing.
“The suburbs.” He shrugged. “Upward mobility meant moving out of th
e crowded city and into identical houses in subdivisions. Everybody left. The donut effect, as you so recently called it. And where there’s a void left…”
“Crime moves in,” Sarah finished for him, looking out the window.
“One of these days I’d like to do exactly what you said before—buy up an entire block, both sides of the street, and start again.”
“Why don’t you?”
Phillip looked at her. “Guess I just need the right woman beside me egging me on.”
Sarah grinned. “I bet I can find a cattle prod somewhere if you need it.”
He laughed out loud. Sarah loved that laugh. So rich and rolling it always made her chuckle in response.
“If you’ve already found it, I think I need to find a better hiding place!”
She looked at him in mock horror. “You don’t really have one, do you?”
He waggled his eyebrows at her but didn’t answer as he turned onto the expressway that would take them out of town and back to their cozy nest in the middle of the woods. She changed the subject.
“Okay, back to your story. You walked to your aunt and uncle’s and…”
“Uncle Irv was in the store and Aunt Tess was out grocery shopping. With no customers in the store, we shot the breeze for a while, then I asked him about girls. Specifically, I asked him how come they kept calling me, when I knew…when I wanted it to be the other way around. I didn’t like it when they called me.” Sarah watched him frown over the steering wheel, remembering his early struggles with understanding what he was.
“He and I talked for a bit. I don’t know what prompted him but at one point, he stood up and told me to follow him to the back room.” Phillip glanced over at her and Sarah glimpsed the little boy’s pleasure at being allowed his first look at the adult world.
“It was there he told me about Dominance and submission. About what a Master was and about the responsibilities that went along with the role. He also told me I wasn’t really old enough to understand it all and that if I wanted to go out with girls I liked I should take the initiative and make the first call.”