No Ordinary Affair (11 page)

He came into the security business by accident when he began to help a friend in construction install systems he designed. For several years he worked several weekends a month, installing the systems and even helping design ways to make them better. When the man, who’d originally been a friend of his father’s, was diagnosed with cancer, he sold the business to Max and Greenway Security Systems was born. Within four years, it became far more lucrative than roofing, which was subject to the weather.

The Max Greenway was successful in business, but not in love. He was a very conservative man who knew what he wanted - a woman like mom, but with a twist, for Max Greenway had a secret that was a little hard to raise in the dating world. Max Greenway wanted a woman he could spank.

He wasn’t a cruel man, or a bully. He just believed household’s function well with a decisive male leader who had the backbone to turn his wife over his knee if she needed correction. He didn’t deny that he had a strong erotic connection to spanking; he spent a fair amount of time surfing spanking Web sites in his locked office at home. But he believed spanking was brilliant as a disciplinary tool as well and longed for a day when he could find a woman who’d submit to spanking for punishment and pleasure.

He knew there were scores of women surfing the Internet chat rooms who’d consider him a find, but he didn’t want someone completely savvy to the “scene.” Max had dated a number of them and enjoyed spanking their eagerly offered bottoms. But he was a traditionalist and wanted to find someone through normal dating channels. Unfortunately, they were all turning into dead ends.

But Max Greenway was an optimist. Somewhere, he thought, there must be a woman out there - the perfect woman he could claim, guide and love forever.

Laura pulled up to the front of Little Friends Day School fifteen minutes before the end of the school day, giving herself enough time to go by the office and speak with the finance director. In the past, the small private school had been accommodating, even though they’d not been happy about it.

As she walked up the steps she practiced what she’d say. She’d tell them what had happened with Mrs. Tighlman, that she’d intended to have at least part of the money today. Now all of it would have to wait, but she would have it, she would. Just next week if they’d be so kind to wait. She was just having problems right now and Evan’s father had not followed through on his promise to pay….

Mrs. Beale, the finance director, didn’t smile when Laura walked in. “I was going to call you today,” she said, adjusting her glasses across the bridge of her beak-line nose.

Laura sat down in the chair across from the desk and took a deep breath. “Yes, I know,” she said. “I know Evan’s tuition is way past due, but his father promised to pay and then today a client postponed paying me until next week…” The words gushed out, making her sound far more desperate and far less composed than she’d intended. “…and if you can just wait until next week I’ll be able to have most of it.”

But Mrs. Beale was shaking her head. “I’d love to extend the deadline for you, I really would, Laura. But I just can’t. We have to have $1,000 in tuition by five o’clock this afternoon to keep Evan enrolled.”

“Toda
y?” Laura looked puzzled. “That
can’t be! I thought it was Friday!” She put her head in her hands. “Oh God.”

“I’m sorry, Laura,” said Mrs. Beale. “I don’t like being in this position. I wish we could offer your son a scholarship, but with budget cuts this year, we can’t. I’m sure you can get him in P.S. 41 very easily.”

Laura looked up in anger. P.S. 41 was notorious for being a substandard school. Besides that, it was in a dangerous part of town. The idea of Evan going there was unthinkable. In fact, it made her angry. Then - suddenly - she realized she had a way out.

“Evan won’t be going to P.S. 41,” she snapped. “My son is staying right here.” Laura fumbled through the purse in her lap until she found what she was looking for - ten crisp one hundred dollar bills.

“Here,” she said, thrusting the money to a
rather surprised
Mrs. Beale. “And I’d like a receipt.”

**************

Evan was a chatterbox on the way home, but Laura could barely hear him through her fog of worry. She couldn’t believe what she’d done.

“….and she said I was brilliant as Joseph. There’s an Easter play in April,” Evan was saying. “So maybe you won’t have to shop.”

She felt her pain compounded. Not only had she missed Evan’s Christmas play, she was even too distracted to listen to what he was saying about it.”

“Of course I will,” she said woodenly.

She sighed as she pulled into the bank parking lot and pulled it out
from where it was tucked in the depths of her wallet: an
emergency, high-interest credit card, the only card she had left in both her and her estranged husband’s name. It was what they had always called their escape-hatch card, the plastic they would only use as a last resort, so much a last resort that neither of them had thought to cancel it after their parting.
The school didn't take cards... that was why she had not used it there. 
She'd known when she used Max Greenway's cash at the school that she could pull cash off this card immediately, so that was not really what was bothering her. The fact was that the interest rate would kill her and that Clay would probably not help her pay it back, but she’d deal with that later.

The ATM sucked the card in and Laura entered the information on the keypad and waited. At first, she thought she was misreading the “funds unavailable” message that appeared on the screen. “Would you like to make another transaction?” the ATM prompted.

“Hell yes, I would,” thought Laura, and tried again with the same sickening results. Frantically, she ejected the card and put it in again with shaking hands, trying for progressively smaller amounts. Finally, it gave her a $120 cash advance. Laura took it with hands gone numb from fear.

Back at home, she couldn’t dial the credit card company fast enough. What she found out made her blood boil. The “emergency” credit card had seen a flurry of act
ivity over the past three weeks
, and not for emergencies. She listened in stony silence as the representative ticked through the charges - dinner at the Olive Garden, concert tickets from Ticket Max, and at least seven trips to Velvet Nights.

“Velvet Nights?” asked Laura. “What is that?”

“Hold on, let me check the charges,” said the representative. “OK, from the charges it appears to be a lingerie shop.” She laughed. “Someone’s going to have a very sexy Christmas morning.”

Laura felt her jaw clench. “Bastard,” she thought. “He bought that little bitch panties with our last resort card.”

“Well, thank you for the information,” she said, on the verge of tears.

“Glad I could help you,” said the representative. “But you should know a payment is now past due. Would you like make arrangements now?”

“No,” said Laura, tears slipping from her eyes. “I’m afraid I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

************

The closest Max Greenway had come to a significant relationship was Prissy Able, who was neither prissy nor particularly able. A professional horse riding instructor, Prissy was respected in local equine circles. But she was dysfunctional outside the riding ring.

She spent their first date trying to balance her checkbook, and her ditzy helplessness appealed to Max’s sense of protectiveness. He spent the early months of their relationship helping her through the multiple crisis that ranged from engine trouble from dirty oil to numerous scheduling conflicts because she couldn’t keep track of time.

So Max gave her an ultimatum: Submit to spankings as a way to modify her behavior, or see the relationship end.

To his delight, Prissy had agreed, and her first spanking came the night after they went out to eat at the restaurant where they were supposed to have reservations. Prissy had forgotten
to make them
, and rather than go somewhere else, Max had driven her home over her objections.

He hadn’t wasted time carrying out her first punishment, save for a brief moment of admiring Prissy’s well-muscled flanks once she was over his knee.

Max had spanked many women for play, including Prissy. But this was the first time he’d spanked for punishment. She’d reacted vigorously, and even though he was much larger he’d had a hard time restraining the bucking blonde while administering her punishment.

He’s started out spanking her over her panties, but when she began cursing him through her tears he pulled them down and worked her over on her bare skin as she wailed and beat the floor at his feet with her fists.

Max used his instincts to decided how much was enough and finally stopped when Prissy was limp and sobbing, her bottom a cherry red.

She’d pouted prettily afterwards when he’d made her stand in the corner and gladly accepted his advances later, her way of showing him she wasn’t holding a grudge. But while it was clear she didn’t enjoy the punishment spanking, they didn’t really have the desired effect, either. Prissy would improve for a while and then backslide. And Max, who didn’t want to be a brute, wasn’t comfortable with increasing the severity of the punishment beyond the last one she’d received - a strapping that left moderate bruising.

He’d talked to Prissy about this, telling her that punishment spankings weren’t for his own gratification and that she needed to take more initiative. It was only after a month of promises that she came clean with him: the punishment spankings were causing her resentment, and while she appreciated his attempts to help her she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in a relationship with a man who felt he had to be so in charge.

They’d parted as friends, and while Max missed the good times - and sex -they had shared, the experience helped him refine exactly what he was looking for. He wanted a woman who would accept his guidance, but not a hopeless case who resented being guided.

So aside from some casual dating, Max had not had a girlfriend since Prissy. He’d thrown himself into his work instead, always keeping his options open. For if Max Greenway was anything, he was an optimist. And he knew good things would come to those who waited.

**********

Laura woke up the next morning with a terrible headache. She’d hardly slept the night before, her head spinning with fear and worry.

Clay had been vicious to her on the phone, accusing her of prying. When she reminded him that she wouldn’t have even found out about it if she’d not used the card in desperation after to pay for Evan’s school, Clay’s girlfriend - who had been listening on the line - told Laura that Clay wouldn’t be paying for any private school.

“You’re not going to be putting on airs at our expense,” she said. “Clay said you could hardly afford that school when you were together, but you insisted. Don’t think you’re going to get it now.”

“That’s fine,” Laura had replied coldly. “I’m sick of this. I’ve tried everything I could think of to keep from collecting child support, but you leave me with no other choice.”

“Oh yeah?” Clay had screamed into the phone. “Just try it and you’ll be sorry, bitch!”

Laura had hung up then, shaking from hurt and anger. She knew men some men cheated on or left their wives and had long ago reconciled herself to the fact that her husband was one of those men. But she still couldn’t get her mind around the notion that any man could so easily forsake his child.

When Clay had originally left, claiming he “needed his space to work a few things out,” he’d been good about still picking Evan up from school or taking him on the weekends for an overnight. Even though it killed Laura to have her son away from her, she allowed it, believing that even if she and Clay couldn’t work things out, Evan still deserved a father.

But when Clay started dating, he found more excuses not to spend time with Evan. He was either sick or his car had broken down or he had to work. He’d also stopped providing any support, making it difficult for Laura not to consider suing for child support, something she was afraid to do since Clay had hinted that
he would
fight her for Evan if he did. Now he’d outright said it and the thought filled her with terror.

Before yesterday, she’d not thought he’d have much of a case. But now, as she stood watching her son’s bus disappear around the corner, she wasn’t so sure. She had used $1,000 that wasn’t hers to pay her son’s tuition, and had no way to pay it back.

She recalled Max Greenway’s conversation to his subordinate the day before. He was obviously a strict man who didn’t believe in people letting down their customers. In fact, he’d been on the verge of firing a long-time employee for what had sounded like a relatively minor infraction. What would he do to her?
Sue
her
?
Call
the police
?
Either way, her reputation as a personal shopper was toast.

Trying to calm herself, she did the math.   Counting the $120.00 she'd managed to get from the card, she was down $880.00.  Her fee for shopping for Greenway, which she would of course forgive completely, would be at least $250, so now she was down to $630.00.  If she added in the amounts owed to her by Mrs. Tighlman, as well as a few smaller fees from others, she was getting in shooting distance of paying him back.  What she would live on for the next month or so, until her regulars came back to her for Valentine's shopping, was another matter, but she couldn't think about that now.