Page 25 of After Dark
Soon, she was building wealth, stashing it away, and having a grand old time. That was why she’d been able to leave the way she had. She’d known that she’d be fine no matter what happened. She’d always be able to afford a hotel room and a new wardrobe, for that matter.
It also meant that she wasn’t dependent on Arlo in that way, which he’d seemed to be more invested in than she was.I don’t want you here because youhaveto stay with me,he’d often told her.I want you here because youwantto stay with me.
What her trading also meant was that Arlo could makedemands about the presentation of his favorite possession, that being her body, and Josette had the time in her day to accommodate him in ways that made them both happy.
Because the fact that Arlo liked to get bossy about the way she looked made Josette feel safe. Cared for. Like his most precious object.
He liked bright nail polish on her pedicured feet. He liked a more muted polish on her manicured hands. He liked her skin soft and supple and he hated if she got even a hint of sun. She’d fallen out of a lot of that maintenance while she’d been away, but she found that instead of feeling like it was a burden to come back to, it felt like happily returning to old rituals.
It was as comforting as crawling inside, or kneeling before his chair. She’d gotten a bit lost in these things right before she’d left. She found those things a chore because he was after perfection, and she’d known the truth. She wasn’t perfect. She couldn’t be perfect.
She found it another, deeper sort of homecoming to sink into those things and love them the way she had at the start.
Arlo liked her to take care of any marks he’d left on her body beyond what he saw to during his usual aftercare, making sure that none turned permanent. He liked her asshole bleached and her pussy waxed, because he liked to see the way he fucked her from every angle with as little in the way as possible.
He also liked her flexible enough to accommodate his imagination, so in addition to her workout, she usually took a break in the afternoon once the New York Stock Exchange closed and spent an hour or so stretching.
When he was away, she would receive curt instructions throughout the day on how she was to dress and present herself so that whenever he got back to his hotel room, shewould be ready. Those video calls were usually even more involved, but both of them much preferred it when he was home.
He always texted to tell her when it crossed the Bay Bridge out of San Francisco, so she could prepare herself. All these years later, all that water under the proverbial bridge as well as the real one, and she still felt that spark go off in her when she got that text. If he’d sent her directions during the day, she followed them. If he hadn’t done that, she reverted to old standards. She stripped down naked and padded down the length of the hall, and then knelt there in the foyer.
She’d learned years ago that waiting until the last minute and rushing into this position didn’t end well. He could always tell. And then he tended to take that as a personal insult, because one thing Arlo did not like was being made to feel like he was an item on a to-do list.
In turn, she did not like the ways he countered those feelings, all over her body.
Today Josette got the text early. She’d just gotten out of the shower after an intense stretching session and blinked down at the message, surprised. It could take him twenty minutes or an hour, depending on traffic, so she didn’t rush — but she did move swiftly. Once upon a time she would have blown her hair dry and then curled it so she looked perfect, but she didn’t bother with that now. She toweled it dry, then let it be. Then she did a pass through the apartment to make sure that nothing was out of place.
That wasn’t a rule, that was just her. She never wanted Arlo to think that she thought she could treat this home he’d given her carelessly. And she’d never had a home that was this nice. She liked to keep it that way.
Then she went down the hall and sank down to her knees.
Her damp hair fell past her shoulders, and it was a different sort of sensation against her skin. She settled in, making sure her thighs were wide and her hands were upturned as they rested on her quads. The hardwood was uncomfortable underneath her, but she liked that.
Josette had thought a lot about this particular ritual while she’d been gone. She’d decided that she hated it. That it was the cruelty of their dynamic in action, and she was better off far away from this. She’d been outraged about it for months. It had helped fuel her leaving, and staying gone.
But something curious had started to happen the longer she was away. Sure, she’d missed the sex. She’d missed the intricate scenes and Arlo’s absolutely delicious control.
She’d missedhim,body and soul, command and cock, in ways she doubted she could even put into words.
But the thing she found herself missing the most was this.
This simple act of submission that meant nothing, and yet, in the grand scheme of things, meant everything.
A naked woman willingly kneeling on an uncomfortable floor, waiting for her lover to come home. Opening herself up, surrendering to whatever came next, and letting go of any possibility that she could control it.
She’d hated this in the old days because it had been too much time to think. By that last year, she’d been terrified of her own mind. Because she was sure she was getting closer and closer to revealing herself. Because soon enough, he would find out the truth.
Josette couldn’t have that.
But now she’d already done the worst thing she could have done to him. Something so bad that all of his stoicfriends were mad on his behalf, and that took some doing. She’d done it and he had accepted her back anyway, so that meant there were no more worries aboutperfection. She’d blown it all up and proved she’d never been anything of the kind.
Now she got to kneel here and let her mind run free, or go empty, or simply accept the peace of this.
That was the big thing. When she was with him, when she washome,she felt peaceful.
It was another part of her life here that she’d somehow managed to forget while she was out there. Or she’d wanted to forget, maybe, because it was wrapped up in so many other things that weren’t peaceful at all.
There was no way to gauge time here in the hallway, so all she did was breathe, relax into the position, and wait. She couldn’t even hear the elevator outside because the soundproofing was so good. So her only warning that he was near was the sound of that key in the lock.
