Anchor Line (10 page)

             
“Here you go guys. Have a great night.” Gee said happily as he looked from Conrad to Addie and smiled as if he knew what was going on.

             
“Thanks.” Conrad said as he picked up his bag.

             
“Thanks Gee.” Addie said distractedly, still looking at he stem in her hand.

             
“Miss Marshall...” Conrad smiled brightly. “After you.”  He swept his hand toward the door to indicate that it was time to go.

Chapter Eight

              Addie picked up her bag and slowly walked to her car and got in. For some reason, she put the cherry stem in the console of her car. She started her car and put it in gear and backed out. She saw that Conrad was behind her and she started off to her apartment. She even thought about trying to lose him in traffic and thought better of it. It would just show that she was a coward. And she wasn’t. So, she slowed when she got to the turnoff and pulled into the small, worn down complex, and into her spot. Conrad pulled into the available spot next to her. She pushed the seat forward to get the bag that had her coffee maker in it and her dinner in the other and locked her car. Conrad locked his truck with his key fob and waited for Addie to lead the way to her apartment.

             
Conrad followed her car through traffic with no problems given the evening hour that most people would have been out. It was only six-thirty, the traffic was mild on the south side of town. She pulled into her little complex, and Conrad took it in for the first time since he’d followed her there earlier.  A rather old apartment complex with faded brick buildings and railings with peeling black paint. The grass was worn in front of the buildings, and the parking lot had some pot holes that had been filled with dirt. He eyed the cars around the four buildings and saw that most of them were actually nice cars. A few ones, like Addie’s Z-24 were older. But there weren’t many.

             
He watched her pull her dinner and another bag from her car and followed her quietly to her apartment. He was secretly hoping that the inside was nicer than the out. As she opened the black door to 3G his nostrils were hit with the scent of eucalyptus. He knew what it was. His sisters used it all the time in their houses in Pennsylvania.

             
“It’s not glamorous right now, but its home until eight o’clock tomorrow when the movers come.” Addie said, as she ushered Conrad to walk past her.

             
Smiling at her, Conrad walked down the short bare hallway. He imagined that it might have held family pictures at one time. The hallway spilled into a large living/dining area. The dining area on the left, and the kitchen just beyond. The living room was on the right. She had a large olive green sofa that boasted several pillows of the same color as well as some tan and dark brown ones. In front of it sat a heavy looking sofa table that had magazines for fitness and cooking. The sliding glass door was covered with the standard vertical blinds, that were pulled back to let the sun in. She set her bags down on the kitchen counter and moved over to the blinds and closed them. Then turned on the two lamps next to the sofa.

             
“We can eat in the dining room or in the living room. I have a small TV. So, if you have glasses, I’d recommend putting them on.” She tried joking to lighten either the mood or her nerves she wasn’t sure.

             
“Where ever is fine.” Conrad smiled at her as he walked to the dining area.

             
The dining room was small. She only had a small black wrought iron bistro set in the small square space. He set his bag on the little bistro table and watched Addie set her new coffee maker box on the faded old laminate. The cabinets looked like pieces of lacquered ply wood from the seventies with yellow laminate and appliances so old, they were sure to be on their last leg.

             
“I have bottled water and unsweet tea.” Addie said turning around to face Conrad with a look of unease on her face. “I have OJ too. But, I don’t think that’ll set well with Thai food.”

             
“Water’s fine Sugar.” Conrad walked up to her smiling. “You seem nervous.”

             
She waived her arms around at the cabinets in her kitchen. “This isn’t really what a Sergeant Majors kid should be living in I suppose. You must have been expecting something more.” She chuckled nervously. “But, I wanted to prove to my family that I could make it on my own.”

             
Conrad stopped in front of her. “You’ve done very well for yourself. It’s clean and tidy except for the boxes. But I’m sure it suited you when it was decorated. I’m sure I’d like it.” He smiled down at her.

             
It was definitely a standoff. The sexual tension floating around them, you could have cut with a knife. He was looking down at her, she up at him. The seven inch height difference rather apparent with both of them in sneakers of some kind. Conrad moved his hands to Addie’s shoulders as he leaned in and kissed her lightly on her forehead. Addie blushed rather deeply. He winked at her as he tuned to grab her dinner from the bag on the counter and set it out on the table. Addie opened the fridge and grabbed two waters and set them on the table as well.

             
“I’m going to turn on some music. Is that okay?” She asked walking into he living room to her iPod Dock.

             
“That’s perfect.” He swung around to watch her and noticed that her MAC computer on the little corner desk was as large as her little flat screen TV. “Don’t watch much TV?”

             
“No. I don’t. A show here and there, or I’ll put in a movie. But, I tend to relax by reading or goofing on the computer.” She smiled as she took the remote and the musical strains of Bread’s ‘Baby Im’a Want You.’ “I’m a seventies rock freak. Will this be okay?”

             
“Perfect.” Conrad answered as he took the plastic bag and set it on the kitchen counter. “Silverware...which drawer?”

             
“Oh um, by the stove if it’s not packed yet.” Addie answered as she sat at the table.

             
Conrad handed her a fork and sat, staring at Addie while she scooped up some chicken and rice noodles. She moved gracefully, like she’d been through etiquette classes. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had. She sat up straight, one hand in her lap. He smiled before he tucked into his own food. Conversation was on music while they ate. What they liked, couldn’t stand, and concerts they’d been to growing up and currently.

             
After they’d eaten all they could, Conrad looked at his watch and only forty-five minutes had passed. He was comfortable here with her. He didn’t want to smother her, so he stood up from the table taking her styrofoam container and fork and headed back into the kitchen.

             
“Trash?” He asked.

             
“In the laundry room through that door.” She pointed at the end of the kitchen.

             
Spying the old coffee maker in the trash he chuckled.

             
“Get mad at your coffee maker Addie?” He came out of the laundry room smiling at her.

             
She leaned back in her chair laughing. “No. It exploded a few days ago.”

             
“Exploded?”

             
“Yeah. Anytime the power goes out, we get surges the next day or two because the buildings are old. I was running late because we lost power that night, and I set it up to make coffee and it got really hot suddenly and shattered the carafe and the unit caught on fire. But the water in the tower put it out.”

             
Conrad laughed. “Ever thought about surge protectors?”

             
“Well, I only put surge protectors on the electronics.” She stood stretching.

             
He watched as she lifted her hands up and her t-shirt exposed a bit of creamy skin on her abdomen. Suddenly, room in his jeans was at a premium, as his cock started stirring. He’d thought of her all day since his ‘appointment’ then lunch. But seeing her angry after lunch made him want to just fuck the living daylights out of her. She stirred something up in him that he wasn’t even sure what it was. But, he wanted her. Badly.

             
“Why’d you leave me at lunch Addie?” He asked. He may as well get the elephant out in the room.

             
Addie leaned against the doorway into the kitchen watching Conrad put the two forks under the water and add soap to clean them.

             
“Well, I guess I got really uncomfortable with your entourage of blonde bimbos at lunch time. I mean seriously Conrad. And then to be corned in the ladies room and told that you were fucking Lisa last night at the Messo...”

             
“Wait a minute.” Conrad turned toward her drying the forks with the towel that hung on the stove handle. “I didn’t go to the Messo last night and I haven’t fucked Lisa in months.”

             
“Well, she knew who I was, so that means that Susan said something to her and then she tried to threaten me about being around her Dom.”

             
Putting the silverware away in the drawer, Conrad held up a finger to stop Addie. “First of all, I’m not anybody’s personal Dom. I was with Lisa once. Once. And it was the biggest mistake of my life.” Conrad fed the towel through the stove handle where he’d pulled it from. “Christ. This is bullshit.” He exclaimed crossing his arms over his chest.

             
“Well, I told her that we were just having lunch, and she apparently took offense. I’m sorry I left you like that.”  Addie whispered her apology and looked down, sliding her hands in her back pockets.

             
“So the whole story about you saying you didn’t want to be my submissive and couldn’t handle being around my other sub missives wasn’t true?” He asked with a serious face.

             
“Are they your submissives?” Addie asked pursing her lips, deciding not to look up at him.

             
“No. No they’re not.” He answered as he took a step closer. “I don’t contract them or claim them as mine. If we meet at the Messo, that’s where it stays.”

             
“Oh.” It was all she could say.

             
“I’m sorry you found yourself in that position.” Conrad came closer, slid two fingers under her chin and tilted her face up to his. “I don’t know how to stop them from coming up to me or you, Addie. But I wish you would have come to me instead of running away.”

             
She didn’t know what to say. So she tried to smile and shrugged her shoulders. That’s when Conrad let her chin go and took her into his arms. Her head was up against his chest and she could feel and hear the strong beat of his heart. She realized that her arms encircled his waist and her hands found their way into the waistband of his soft faded blue jeans. He smelt like heaven. Woodsy with a hint of spice. And holy shit his erection was pushing into her lower belly. She was getting wet just from the smell and feel of him. When he left, she’d definitely have to take care of her ‘need’ of him with her fingers and imagination.

             
Conrad needed a distraction. Fast. He didn’t mean to pull her into his arms, but he was glad that he did. He knew he needed to reassure her. For the love of God and all that was holy, she was warm and soft and she smelled of...lemons. Once her fingers found his waistband, his dick responded. And once that thing was up, the savage beast would want to take over. He couldn’t let that happen. He’d fuck the girls at the Messo, but Addie was different. She wasn’t like them. Looking around, he found the coffee maker.

             
“Want some coffee?” He asked.

             
They let go at the same time. Conrad found himself pulling her new coffeemaker out of the box and setting it up and cleaning the carafe as Addie watched him.

             
“This late?”

             
“Anytime is a good time for coffee.” Conrad smiled. “Besides, it’s Friday. Nothing to do tomorrow but move.”

             
Addie stepped into the kitchen and pulled two mugs from the cabinet over the sink that her mother had left unpacked so that she could use them if need be, as Conrad filled the maker with water.

             
“Coffee?” Conrad asked.

             
“Oh...freezer. On the door.”

             
Scooping the grinds into the filter, he pushed the holder closed as Addie put the bag back in the freezer. They both moved at the same time and collided into each other. Conrad’s hands slid around Addie’s shoulders as her hands found their way to his waist again. It was inevitable this time he supposed. A little earlier than when he’d planned. But he’d take it. He slid a hand to the nape of her neck and grabbed her hair and made quick work of releasing the scrunchie that was in her hair and sliding his hand through the strands and gripping lightly so that her head was pulled back. He leaned down close to her face.