Tested by Her Web Master (Web Master #2) (9 page)

Sophie: Really? How do you know so much?

BA: I read a lot.

This surprised me. I pictured BA as much more of a “doer” than a “thinker.” I’m not sure why, but this was inconsistent with the image I’d conjured of him. As a teacher, I loved books and reading, so this only made me warm to him more.

Sophie: You do? What do you like to read?

BA: Fantasy. Military History. Nonfiction. True Crime. Lots of stuff.

Sophie: Wow, that’s cool. I love to read myself.

BA: What do you read?

Sophie: Romance mostly, but I like historical fiction, too. The Old West and Tudor England are my favorites.

BA: Sounds like a Texas girl—likin’ them cowboys. Lol. Romance? The steamy stuff.

Sophie: Of course. Lol.

BA: That’s a girl! Soon you’ll be giving me ideas.

Sophie: I don’t know about that…

BA: I’d give you a task of some sort to help distract you, but you’re probably not in the

mood for that.

Sophie: Not really. Thanks for trying though. You’ve cheered me up some.

BA: You’re welcome, Sophie. Try not to worry. Put your mind on something else. If your friend is really there, she’ll probably be okay. Physically anyway. Maybe somewhat traumatized, but she should survive the experience. The odds are in her favor. Remember that.

Sophie: Okay.

BA: She’s lucky to have a good friend like you who’s there for her, regardless of the situation.

Sophie: Smiley face emoji.

I thanked BA again and told him I was going to make myself something to eat. He said if I needed him to give him a shout. That made me feel better, and after checking to see there were no news updates, I logged off the computer and waited.

I must have fallen asleep, because several hours later I was awakened by my phone buzzing with a text. It was from Shelby.

I’m okay now. What a fucking day. Held hostage by a lunatic at the mall. Not what I was expecting. Exhausted. Will call you tomorrow and tell you everything. On my way to hospital to get checked out, but I’m fine. No worries. Except—some people are assholes.

It took a minute for me to process everything she’d said. So she had been there! I was so glad she was okay, and I couldn’t wait to hear the details of her story, but I felt bad that she’d had to go through that. BA’s mention of trauma rang in my mind. I expected that was true, and I hoped Shelby wouldn’t suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress.

She already sounded rather cavalier about what had happened. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Or did it depend on the person? Everyone’s coping style was different.

Unable to quiet my curious brain, I spent the rest of the night Googling how to support people who’ve experienced traumatic events.

The next morning I got a text from Shelby asking me to meet her for brunch. I happily accepted and we met at a chain restaurant in the middle of Fort Worth. When I arrived she was already there. I greeted her with a big hug before sitting down across from her.

“
How did you sleep last night?” I asked.

“
Fine, why?” She narrowed her eyes.

“
I’m just worried about you. That’s all.”

Shelby rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Sophie, but I’m fine. I’m not some fragile doll. You know me—tough as nails.”

I nodded.

“
The thing that keeps running through my mind is…I should have recognized that guy was crazy before he pulled out the gun. In hindsight, he looked out of place from the minute he walked into the salon. Disheveled. Wild-eyed. And he had one of those big trench coats on. The cops said it was just like those kids who shot up Columbine. I mean, how did I miss that?”

“
Well, what were you supposed to do? The minute you see someone who looks a little off—call the cops? You can’t do that.”

“
I guess,” she hedged.

“
Shelby, if you called 9-1-1 on everyone you thought was ‘off’—you’d be on the phone with them every day.”

“
That is true.”

“
You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“
Maybe, but it feels like I should have done something else. I mean, I did have an odd feeling when I saw that guy, and I didn’t do anything about it.”

“
What were you doing when he came in anyway? Tell me the whole story.”

“
All right. I’m going to need a drink for this.” She ordered us a round of Bloody Marys and continued. “I was having my nails done. Thank goodness I’d already had my hair done. Can you imagine what would have happened if I’d had color on my hair during all that? It might have been ruined!”

I didn’t know what to say to this so I just nodded like some hair breaking off could have been the worst thing that could have happened to her.

“
Then this sketchy-looking guy comes in. He walked around the salon for a few minutes. He looked out of place, but he seemed to be looking for someone so I guess we all just thought he knew someone who worked there. But then, he pulled out this big, long gun and started shooting at a big display of products. Shampoo and conditioner flew into the air. It was a mess! When he stopped shooting, the manager ran toward him and tried to calm him down.”

“
She ran toward the guy who was shooting the gun?”

“
Oh yeah. She’s my freaking hero! Apparently, the guy had worked there briefly. They’d caught him on the store camera stealing products and maybe some money from the cash register, too, I’m not sure. Anyway, they fired him, and I guess the manager knew him and knew what he was upset about.”

“
Right, but he could have just shot her…especially if he was mad at management for firing him.”

“
I know. That woman is a rock star. I think she thought she was the only person who could get anywhere with him. She risked her life to try to calm him down.”

“
That’s insane. What were you doing?”

“
Well, the girl stopped painting my nails. Look.” She showed me a hand with only four fingers painted on it. “How sad is that?”

“
Sad,” I answered, the dutiful friend. It seemed bizarre that she was worrying about her manicure in the context of a life-and-death situation, but considering what she’d been through, if her priorities were a little screwed up, I could forgive that. “What happened next?”

“
Oh, the guy with the gun started screaming at her, pointing the gun at her, hollering. He made us all get in this little room where they washed and dried the towels. Like a storage room or something. One lady ran out of the salon into the store and got away. I kinda wish I’d done that, but I was too scared he’d shoot me in the back or something so I did what he said.”

“
That must have been terrifying.”

“
It was. He made us put our phones in a big pile. He counted them too so nobody could keep theirs. Then he locked us in there. It was so freaking scary being in there and not knowing what was going to happen.”

I nodded.

“
Plus I was worried he’d find out who I was.”

I looked at her skeptically.

“
Well, I mean, if he was going to hold someone for ransom, I doubt anyone in there was worth more money than me!”

Sometimes I forgot the extremely rich were different. Different from even the regular rich. With my trust fund, I had enough money that I wouldn’t have to worry about paying bills for the rest of my life. But Shelby’s wealth belonged in another category, and unfortunately it had been an issue for her throughout her life.

“
But he didn’t find out?”

“
No, thank God! Turns out he was doing it more for revenge than anything. People were saying he’d had a psychotic break or something. At one point he seemed to be talking to people up in the sky who weren’t there.”

“
Oh dear.”

“
Yeah.”

“
What did finally happen?”

“
Apparently the police finally talked him into surrendering. He had the manager out there with him the whole time. She was truly the hero of the whole thing. I’d like to buy her a car or something to thank her.”

I laughed.

“
No, I’m serious,” Shelby said, and I could see she was.

“
So, how is your mom taking it? And Bryan?”

“
Oh my god, they were both scared shitless. Bryan and I are having dinner with Mom tonight. We’ll probably stay over. He had a time trial this morning, but he picked me up from the police station last night after they were finished questioning me.”

“
That’s nice. You really like him, don’t you?”

She nodded gravely. “I do. It kinda worries me that I haven’t figured out what’s wrong with him yet.”

“
Oh, Shelby. It doesn’t have to be that way.” I shook my head. “Just because it usually turns out that way—it doesn’t have to.” My mind wandered to Quentin’s aloofness.

She sighed. “You’re right. It’s just hard, with my track record, to still believe in the fairy tale.” Shelby had been married twice already, and I’d heard her say countless times that she’d never do it again.

“
Well, I’m glad you’re okay, and I’m glad you have him.” I got off my stool and gave her a hug.

Shelby hugged me back, but hung back a bit. “You sure
you
’
re
all right?”

I laughed and sat back down. “Who, me? I’ve never been better,” I lied. In reality, Shelby’s whole brush with death had shaken me. And when I’d reached out to Quentin, he wasn’t there. I’d called him twice more the night before and once this morning. Each call went to voicemail. I’d tried email and texts, but he was unreachable. I wasn’t exactly worried, but I was annoyed. What if I’d needed him the way Shelby needed Bryan?

I’d be shit out of luck.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

By the time Quentin got back with me after Shelby’s trauma, I’d already seen her and things were starting to get back to normal. He had some excuses—dead phone battery and tied up at work—but I was still peeved that he hadn’t been there when I needed him.

On the other hand, my feelings toward BA had warmed a bit because he had been there to hold my hand during the time I was the most worried about my friend. So when I got a task from him a couple of days later, I was more excited than usual. The subject line of his email read:

IT’S ALL IN THE CARDS

I hear you like bondage so I designed a special task for the horny little bondage bunny.

THE SETUP

First you will take a deck of playing cards and separate them out as follows:

Take out all the hearts, diamonds and spades and then using only those cards take out all the 6s thru 10s.

You will now have a total of 15 cards (3 sets of 6s thru 10s). Spread 5 out facedown in random order on the bathroom counter, the kitchen counter and dining room table.

Now back to the bedroom where you will get your fuck station ready and get all dressed up like a good bondage bitch.

Plunger/glass cock combo set up between the mattress and box spring and a pillow laying on the floor to kneel on where you can take that cock good and hard doggie-style.

PREPARATION

You will get all dressed up wearing your broom handle taped across of your ankles. You can have your feet taped apart at any width you choose across that spreader bar. Your breasts with be bound by four elastic bands on each breast, a circle of elastics around your ass and you will wear your belt and wristbands. You should be all nice and secured and ready to be a helpless little bondage bitch.

Here are the rules of the game:

The red cards represent pure pleasure, the black will be pain.

There are five rounds to this game.

Round 1: You will make your way from the bedroom to station 1, the kitchen, and collect a card. You must pick the card up with your mouth and carry it in your mouth back to the fuck station in the bedroom. If the card is, say, a red six, you get down on all fours and fuck that cunt doggy-style with 6 strokes. However, if it's a black 6 you will take six ass stings from the elastics and then for being a good, thankful girl you will then take 6 strokes deep from behind.

After your fucking, you will be off to station 2, the bathroom, where you will select another random card with your mouth and go through the same routine. Now off to station 3, the dining room, for the last card in round 1.