The Alexandra Series (42 page)

My own manipulating mind was beginning to run free with all kinds of ideas to end this horrible in-between, and bring him back where he belonged. But I knew that there was nothing that wouldn’t be seen as a cunning manipulation, and I’d never have him back if I was found out. What brought this impasse to a head was something completely unconscious.

“Alex, I’m glad I caught you,” Will’s voice boomed over the phone. He was rushed and excited, so I surmised from his brusque manner. “Did you get my note? You’re meeting me at Reggie’s estate at seven,” he said. “I can’t pick you up, you’ll have to take a taxi, then I’ll take you home.”

“What note?” I asked. I was lying, I saw the note, plain as day, and like everything else that had happened since Will announced that we were going to a party at Reggie’s, I was frightened and suspicious.

“I left you a note, told you everything,” he said sounding annoyed.

“Will, please can’t you pick me up?”

“No, I can’t. I’ll send the taxi, just be there. And Alex, don’t start getting all spooked about this again. I told you, this is one time you don’t have to worry. It’s a totally innocent party at the estate, no sex, no spanking, nothing, just a night to get away and have some fun. We’re certainly not going to make you parade around naked.”

I didn’t believe him. I hadn’t from the start. Reggie’s estate meant only one thing to me.

“I don’t have a choice?” I said. “You know, I haven’t felt well at all today.”

“No, you don’t have a choice, you’re just nervous. It’ll be the best thing in the world for you.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “You’re really getting into wielding power over me.” I was snapping like a turtle.

“You think so?” he asked, not expecting me to be so annoyed.

“Yeah!” I said. How could I walk in there again? And now, alone, without Will on my arm. It was impossible.

“Well, get over your fears, darling, because I want you there.”

Those words almost muted the freezing chill that ran so fast through me, I could hardly move.

“So how do I dress?” I asked.

“We already talked about that,” he said exasperated. “How about that red dress I like so much?”

“I guess,” I agreed reluctantly.

“Then, I’ll see you there.”

Every memory, every act, every wild recollection of that former time thundered through me. It thawed the chill, but like ice cracking on a spring day, I was afraid of the ensuing flood of emotions, and by the time the receiver hit the phone cradle, I was certain that there was no way I would walk back into that house again. I’d do anything to stay away.

At 6:45 p.m. I called Reggie’s house as my stomach did its hundredth flip flop since the conversation with Will. I really was feeling sick. “Reggie please,” I asked the maid that answered.

“Reggie, this is Alex,” I said when I heard his voice.

“Yes.”

“I’m sick. I mean it, really sick.”

“Sick how?” he said, actually sounding worried.

Did knots in my stomach count…did weak knees and an aching head give me cause enough?

“You’re not sick because the party is here?” he asked before I could answer.

“C’mon. I’ve already been through that with Will. I’m beyond that now. I was really looking forward to tonight. This must be the flu. I just barfed up everything in my stomach. You can call my friend Kathy, she was just down here nursing me.” I had called Kathy about my plight; my next door neighbor would do anything I asked her to, and keep mum about the truth.

My head was hot from pounding so hard that it made my lying easier.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to seeing you. You’d better get to bed,” he said, backing off so kindly, I was astounded.

It’s just as well he did didn’t argue. There was no way I was going to his party, if that’s what it really was. I had visions of playing out my rocky relationship with Will right in front of Reggie’ eyes; and one dominant man at a time was all I could take. Still reeling over the little things that continued to slip out in conversation with Will, my mind worked overtime putting all the pieces together; it seemed to me that the whole three week punishment fiasco with Reggie was actually a plot between my two masters of manipulation. At that very moment, I wasn’t sure I wanted either one of them as friend or lover!

After I hung up the phone, I went to bed, putting several bottles of medicine at my bedside, a barfing pan, everything to make my sickness as realistic as possible, just in case.

About an hour after my conversation with Reggie, my worst fears were realized when I heard Will coming through my front door. I listened as he made his way through the apartment until he was standing by the bed.

“Get up, you’re going to the party.”

“I’m sick,” I told him. I turned over in bed and groaned.

“No, you’re not. You’re just afraid, and I’m not going to let you get away with that.”

“Will, I feel horrible, you have to believe me.”

“Not as horrible as you’re going to feel if you don’t get your ass out of bed.”

I really didn’t have much choice, because he was pulling my dead weight with a firm tug. Still I resisted.

“Stop the act now or it’s only going to get worse,” he snapped, getting angrier the more I tried to pull back.

“Call Kathy, ask her, she was here when I was throwing up.”

“That’s bullshit. I know it. You know it. Kathy would tell me the sky was green and there were orange eagles flying overhead, if you told her to.” He tugged at me harder.

“Will, stop!” I barked at him sharply, but that was the last straw.

His eyes were flashing, his demeanor now that chilling hot/cold that could sometimes thrill the pants off of me, if I’d had any on. Unfortunately, my pants were already off, and lying on the chair by the bed. And to make it all worse, my wide leather belt was still inside the loops, where it was perfectly easy for Will to remove.

In a split second he had the belt free, and with my bottom naked, I was over his knee, the doubled leather coming down on my rear with lightning quick speed.

“Stop!” I barked. “I’m going to be sick.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” he barked right back. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t believe me, it seemed the more I waged my battle, the less influenced he was.

“Don’t you ever, ever, try to deceive me like that again!” he shouted as the snaps of two inch leather smacked my rear.

“Yeeeoooch!” I wailed before it even hurt, and he didn’t like that either.

“You’re one classic case, Alex Morgan, one surefire bitch!”

The belt peppered my bottom. And the more I ranted, the harder he hit my buns, the more inspired he seemed to be to keep going. I knew it was useless to struggle with a determined man, but I did anyway. I had to save face, and I almost hoped I’d puke all over the floor just to prove my point, but I wasn’t lucky enough for that to happen.

Will knew that, damn him!

Still, I struggled like the dickens, and for good reason, the leather was putting one hellish burn on my bottom, and I could hardly stand another smack.

“Please,” I pleaded. I was getting weary of the battle, but he kept it up, the leather hitting me right on the center of my ass cheeks where it hurt the most.

“You planning to mark me?” I finally blurted out.

Of course that only made him start again.

After that, I gritted my teeth and put on my best spanking deportment. To my great relief, with a few more feverish smacks, he finally stopped. Pushing me to my feet, however, it seemed the fire of his anger had hardly left his furious eyes. “Now! You have exactly five minutes to get yourself gorgeous.”

“What!”

“Reggie’s party? Or did you forget?”

“Now? My god, I look like shit! It’s nearly eight.”

“Well then, we’ll be fashionably late.” His glaring eyes challenged me to object again.

“You don’t mean it. You’re going to make me face Reggie?” I couldn’t think of anything more horrible.

“Seems to me you owe him an apology.” He simply wouldn’t see it my way.

“Really?” I whined.

“You want to give me another excuse. I’ll go another round with this.” The belt was still in his hand. I stared at it for a moment. “You’re going to go with me, Alex. It’s just a matter of how sore and red you want your bottom to be.”

I got the message, and seeing that I had, he finally wandered out to the living room while I got dressed.

When I finally appeared in the bright red dress, his expression was humorless. “You know, I should punish you again for being, let’s see…” he was looking at his watch, “five minutes past my deadline. But, you’re looking so beautiful, I’ll forgive you that much.” His anger was replaced by an affectionate grin, and at least for the moment, I considered myself safe.

***

The lights in Reggie’s house were glimmering so brightly, I almost thought it was lit up for Christmas, it looked so inviting. I’d never seen his home from this viewpoint, outside at night. I’d always been inside where the dramas of Reggie’s life were brewing, and where I’d been the centerpiece as his dutiful submissive.

I tried putting on a delightful grin, sure to ward off any uncomfortable moment of my arrival. Everything was coming back to me; all the trials I’d endured in this place were instantly fresh in my mind. And yet, the light hearted nature of the party seemed to dispel the ominous feelings. Perhaps it was be a perfectly innocent evening, just as Will insisted. Reggie was charming. Will said nothing of my tardiness, or the necessity of my having to be shanghaied to the party, encouraged by the leather belt. It seemed that all had been forgotten and I had the evening won.

There was one slight moment of anxiety when I found myself standing in the middle of Reggie’s library. A cold chill raced up my spine, though I didn’t want to acknowledge why.

“You recall what happened here?” Reggie turned to me and asked. Apparently he was remembering that night, too. There were other people mingling around the room, paying no attention to us, so there was little way I could squirrel my way out of a response.

“How could I forget,” I said. It was the sight of my first anal sex experience, and my initiation into the Reggie’s world of submission.

“You think we ought to repeat that scene?”

The suggestion startled me. As I looked at him and then at Will, I was scared to death that was exactly what these two had in mind. A full public display of my ass, likely spanked again until it was raw, and god knows what thereafter.

“Please no,” I pleaded. I could feel my face blushing as brightly as my bottom earlier had.

Reggie scrutinized me thoroughly, and standing close, it was nothing for him to reach around me and squeeze my tender bottom. I tried not to wince too much, though he wasn’t squeezing it lightly. But as if their little test was over, his expression finally softened, and he flashed me an engaging grin. “You can relax. As much as I’d like to see a repeat performance for old times’ sake, these people wouldn’t understand if I were to all of a sudden upend you over the stool and violate your ass.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“But just watch your back. You never know what’s going to happen.” He gave me a light hearted peck on the cheek and walked away.

“Why did he say that?” I wondered aloud to Will.

“C’mon. He’s always going to keep you on your toes, it’s the trademark of your relationship.”

Will was right about that, and I decided to let the remark pass.

I strolled out of the room on Will’s arm, glad to be anywhere else but in that room with all its amazing memories. We smiled kindly at people who we passed, and made pleasant conversation. I just needed time to settle in, and not feel impending doom. I was beginning to relax, and my drink made me lightheaded enough to calm my nerves. I watched Reggie for a while as he made his way through his crowded rooms, playing the dashing host. There was a ravishing creature on his arm most of the time. She was introduced to me as Maria.

“Is she Reggie’s next submissive?” I asked Will.

“I don’t think so. I’m not sure he’s doing much training these days. You probably scared him off of it,” he looked down at me with a nasty smirk.

I ignored the remark as we continued to mingle.

Wandering toward the back of the house, Will all of a sudden pulled me by the hand into Reggie’s private den, just off the larger library. He said he wanted a break from the incessant chatter and cigarette smoke.

As he closed the doors behind us the music playing beyond the room was nearly silenced; but the silence that settled around me had a very foreboding quality. It was enhanced all the more when I realized that Reggie was in the room, his lovely date somewhere else. It was just the three of us with the doors closed, a world away from the festivities in the other parts of the house.

I instinctively drew away from Will and stepped back, staring into two pairs of chilling eyes. The blood likely drained from my face at the very sight of that much cold focused on me.

“What’s going on?” I said, my voice nearly cracking.