Saving Sunni (16 page)

“I’m not sure,” Sir said, passing a hand over his forehead. “But I don’t like the idea of being supported by you two.”

“It would only be for a little while,” sage chimed in, “until you get another position, or—or figure something else out. It would be better than you having to go back.” We were all silent, thinking of the implications of what Sir might have to “figure out.”

“At least think about letting me go back to work,” I pleaded. “sage can finish her semester first, but I can work full-time.” Adding the next part might make it sound like I was using Sir’s job situation to get what I wanted, but I decided to go ahead with it anyway. “Geri’s having a rough time with her daughter and the media attention. I think she really needs me to come back.” I concentrated on looking as self-sacrificing as I could, as if I didn’t
want
to go back to work, but felt a moral obligation to.

Sir gave me a strange look, then slowly nodded.

“I guess it is basically our fault that she is having problems,” he said. “You may go back to work, as long as you promise to call first the police and then me if you even suspect that Randy is nearby.”

I opened my eyes wide. “Of course, Sir,” I said innocently. “I don’t have any desire to deal with him anymore. Although I really don’t think he means any harm. I’m sure he understood from last time that I don’t want to talk to him. He’ll go away. He never stuck to anything very long.”

Sir rolled his eyes a little at that, but he nodded again, turning to sage.

“You will finish out the semester,” he said sternly. Her face fell just a fraction, but she recovered quickly. “If things get bad we can revisit the question then. In the meantime there is no reason for you to go back to work at the moment. I can manage the situation.”

Chapter 15

On Sunday morning, Sir informed us that there was going to be a meeting of the leather community leaders at our apartment that evening. I instantly was very nervous, wondering how much they all knew about my part in the media attention. Sir was able to read my mood and assured me that, while everyone was aware of it, no one blamed me. I wasn’t sure about that, especially as it applied to sage, but I nodded mutely and continued my cleaning.

We hadn’t had much company in a while, and sage and I gave the place a good scrub. By the time the guests began to arrive, we had a nice dinner ready, the apartment was spotless, and the two of us were waiting to make drinks and put out hors d’oeuvres.

Delilah came in first. She was a submissive, but you would never guess that from talking to her. She was one of the most self-confident women I’d ever met. We heard her give a presentation once on why the submissive in a relationship needs to be as strong as the dominant, and it was absolutely riveting. A soft-spoken, completely ordinary-looking woman in her fifties who dressed like a librarian, she had the penetrating gaze of a seasoned high school teacher. No one ever overlooked or dismissed Delilah as insignificant; her energy usually managed to overshadow everyone else in the room, although not in an obnoxious way.

Matthew and Charlie came in. Matthew was a good friend of Sir’s, and we knew him quite well. He gave us each a quick hug and his drink order and went to join the meeting.

I had only met Charlie once or twice before. He was a gay leatherman, chunky and dimpled, which made me want to pinch his cheek. But he wore a very serious expression, so I maintained professional courtesy when bringing him his drink and setting a plate of cheese and crackers in front of him.

Mary and Roger entered next. Mary’s face was more tense than normal, but she gave us her usual cheerful greeting and hugs before she and Roger went in to join the meeting. Roger looked morose. I didn’t think he was normally a very outgoing person, but I’d only met him a few times and it might have been a coincidence. He was a tall, thin man with fuzzy gray hair. If I had to guess his profession I would probably say he was an economics professor or something. Today his mouth was turned emphatically down at the corners as if he was about to inform everyone in the room that they had failed their final exam. His expression made me nervous all over again, wondering if everyone thought this whole thing was my fault.

sage and I made sure all of the drinks were refreshed and then took our places by the door. We needed to be able to check on dinner periodically and this would let us enter and leave the room quietly without disturbing the meeting.

Sir cleared his throat to signal the end of the side conversations and greetings that were going on. “I know you are all familiar with the situation that is facing us now. I would like to ask that we not get into questions of fault and blame. The fact is, it has happened and we need to work together to come up with ways to deal with it.”

My face instantly flushed. I kept my head down, stealing glances to see if anyone glared accusingly at me, but no one even turned in my direction. I breathed again.

“Of course this could have happened to anyone,” Mary said in a soothing tone. “It’s not the first time I’ve had people sneak into the club and try to take incriminating photos. Usually they don’t go so far as to put them on television, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Can you tell us what kind of repercussions the incident has had on you, Rune?”

They all turned to Sir, who inhaled deeply and looked as if he’d rather not discuss it.

“For my part, it has jeopardized my job,” Sir admitted. The others drew in a collective breath. “I have been put on administrative leave for the time being, but I am dealing with that. There is nothing that you as a group need to do in that regard. What has been happening at the club?”

Mary stared at him in deep concern, but she took the hint that he didn’t want to discuss his job or his immigration status. She shook her head a tiny bit as if to clear it and began her report.

“I’ve had some calls and apparently my landlord did, too. Nothing that hasn’t happened before. I have been talking to the building management company and everything is going to work out. These groups usually don’t picket me, I think because they’re afraid the freaks will attack them.” Everybody chuckled. “But they do call the cops occasionally. They send over a couple officers, we discuss the fact that The Keyhole is a private membership-only club and that the business is run in strict accordance with the law, and then they go away. They’re familiar with me, and I know what they need to hear. I think a couple of them are actually considering joining.”

She laughed, then shrugged. “We’ll survive it; we always do. In fact, it gets us some free publicity and we usually have a surge of membership after something like this. I’m more concerned with the people who were actually identified on television.”

Sir ignored that and turned to the rest of the group. “I know The Fringe Element has been picketed. Does anyone else know of any other consequences of the story?”

Roger nearly jumped out of his seat in his eagerness to answer. “I don’t know about the rest of you,” he said, reminding me of a crotchety old grandfather complaining about the youth of today, “but I have had it. I am considering cancelling Decadence in Denver because of this shit.”

All of the eyebrows in the room rose at that statement, though no one looked particularly shocked.

Matthew spoke first. “You’ve been threatening to cancel Decadence for years, Roger,” he said calmly. “What’s going on now, specifically?”

“The damn reporters have been hounding me about it,” Roger said. “Asking all kinds of ridiculous questions, wanting to come in and film the dungeon, refusing to understand why I won’t let them put pictures in the paper.” He shook his head, glaring around the room as if they were all encouraging the press to bother him.

“Well, why don’t we?” Delilah asked. Everyone turned to look at her. “Not film the dungeon or publish the attendees’ photos, but why not let the reporters experience a little bit of it for themselves? Show them that we’re not torturing people. Give them a taste of what we do so they understand it a little bit.”

“I’d like to give them a taste,” Roger muttered, but Charlie bounced in his chair, obviously excited by the suggestion.

“You mean bring them to the dungeon?” he asked, leaning forward. “I like it!”

Sir and Matthew exchanged glances.

“At Decadence? Or on a regular play night?” Mary asked, her brows knit together as if she was trying to piece together how Delilah’s suggestion might work.

“A regular play night, I would think,” Sir said, his expression thoughtful. “Or maybe a special night.”

Matthew nodded. “A night set aside for experimenting,” he agreed. “That way there won’t be the more edgy types of playing going on at the same time.”

They both looked at Mary. Her confused expression cleared.

“Oh, a taste night!” she exclaimed. “We haven’t done one of those in a long time.”

“But what reporter?” Charlie asked. “Television? Newspaper?”

“Newspaper. Or better yet, a blogger,” Sir said decisively. “We don’t want any videotaping, but a still photo or two might be workable, if they were taken when no one else was there.”

Everyone nodded.

Matthew smiled a little and said, “It might or it might not convince them to leave you alone. But surely the publicity will help. Think of all those kinky people out there who haven’t realized it yet. All they need is that one story and they’ll all want to come to Decadence to experience it for themselves.”

Roger harrumphed but everyone else chuckled.

“That’s not a bad point,” Charlie enthused. “The more favorable exposure our lifestyle gets in the media, the more socially acceptable it’ll become. It’s like the gay controversy. Once there started to be movies and sitcoms about gays, especially ones that were positive, the hostility started to decrease. Sure, there are still problems and people who don’t accept us, but public exposure is the first step to acceptance.”

Sir stood up.

“I believe dinner is ready, right, girls?” He signaled to us, and we both jumped up to start serving.

The atmosphere was much lighter after that. There was a lot of joking about what they should provide for the reporter to experience. Mary, who was a professional dominatrix, and Charlie, who was apparently into some pretty scary-sounding activities, had most of the rest of the group rolling on the floor laughing at their suggestions. Delilah took out a notepad and began writing. The discussion moved on to how to find and recruit a blogger who wouldn’t be too freaked out by the invitation. No one knew one personally, and they decided to call the television newscaster, Charles Cobb, and ask for help. He could even do an interview afterward, and they would both have a story.

sage and I listened in fascination to the conversation as we served the food and cleared the plates, taking small bites of our own in between refilling drinks and offering seconds. I felt like I was part of something secret and important. These people were leaders in their community, although most of their friends, family, and co-workers had no idea of the depth of their experience and knowledge. Most people would be shocked if they knew what kinds of things we all practiced in secret, even though there was nothing horrible about it. Some people liked receiving extreme sensations, and some liked giving them. Some people wanted to be submissive and some wanted to be dominant. It was no more shocking than jumping out of an airplane or skiing a black diamond. I found myself wondering if it might not be a good thing for the public to be more aware of the kink community. As long as it didn’t mean that Sir lost his job and had to move back to Austria. The tension and fear came back. Why did it have to be my fault that it happened?

Chapter 16

I woke up excited on Monday morning. Today I got to go back to work. I heard Sir in the bathroom, so I slipped out of bed and went in to talk to him.

“Good morning, pet,” he said, seeing me in the mirror. He was shaving, his face covered in white, soapy lather, so I sat on the edge of the tub to watch.

“Good morning, Sir.”

I waited until he put the razor away and rinsed his face, then got to my knees, holding a towel up for him. He took it, smiling as he rubbed off the water and bits of shaving cream. He tossed it aside and let me snuggle up to his belly, rubbing the upper part of my chest on his penis and wrapping my arms around his upper thighs. He wrapped his hands tightly into my hair and pulled. I closed my eyes, savoring the intensity of the sensation and the endorphins that surged through my blood at the pressure. I wiggled a bit to give him some stimulation. After a few seconds in that position, he stepped back and held out his hands to help me to my feet. I leaned into him, and we shared a long, deep kiss. He tasted of toothpaste and mouthwash, and I loved the feel of his strong, slightly hairy chest pressing against me.

“How are you this morning, besides horny?” He kissed me again on the forehead and went back to his routine.

“I’m excited to go back to The Fringe today.” I ran my fingernails lightly down his back as he combed his hair.

“Yes,” he said, giving me a half-stern look. “You are going back, but I want you to promise to be careful. Remember what I said—call the police and then me if you see Randy nearby. Do not try to use Geri’s Taser on him; that will probably only get you in trouble, if not hurt. Do not go outside with him or even talk to him, and don’t let Geri go outside after him if you can help it. Call the boys in the back if he won’t leave. They probably won’t do anything, but their presence might be a deterrent.”