Page 206 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Sam chimed in. “From the rumors I heard, she’s a brat, very manipulative, and completely untamable. She’s a hardcore masochist, and a lot of people have tried, and failed, to give her enough sadistic attention to break her attitude.”

“Some of those rumors are untrue,” Anthony added. “She’s not manipulative. She’s what the Old Guard calls a ‘SAM,’ or a Smart-Ass Masochist. It’s true that she’s more hardcore than you’d expect, and also true that she would laugh in the face of anyone who claimed they could tame her.”

“She seems to make you happy, though,” Jeff said, his gravelly voice in contrast to the other younger men in the room.

“She’s a little monster... But she’smymonster.”

We retired in the living room with the tarts and some freshly brewed decaf coffee. I had Anthony, Jeff Ludlow, Jack Bowman, and Sam Bronson sitting in my living room, and it was time to get to business.

“Alice,” I said as she finished topping up my coffee, “I need you to go into the kitchen and stay there until you’re called, please.”

“Yes Sir,” she smiled sweetly, and danced off. Part of me wondered if she’d put salt in my coffee, or pulled some other prank. She’d been so good all evening, sweet and cute and respectful. Weirdly enough, her good behavior was stressing me out more than if she’d just been her normal self.

I’m probably going to pay for this tomorrow,I realized.I should probably be planning ahead for that.

Jeff Ludlow was coughing a little more than he had earlier that evening, and he reached into his pocket for a handkerchief, holding it against his mouth.I waited until he stopped before I began.

“I have a few updates for you all,” I said. “Starting with the Woodrow situation. Lindsay and Michael Lewis have a tracker put on him. We pressed charges against him for Rachel’s assault, but Sam informs me that it’s unlikely her testimony will bear enough weight to have him convicted.”

Sam nodded unhappily.

“Alice also ran into him today, and he made no effort to communicate with her or acknowledge her until she confronted him about it, and he left after a short conversation without being asked.”

“His membership has been revoked, as I’m sure you know,” Anthony said. “I’ve also let all my associates know the situation. He’s blacklisted at all locations, and at every other dungeon I could get in touch with.”

“And Alice’s testimony?” Sam asked.

I hesitated. “Technically, she’s already provided a statement. Last time I brought up talking to the police, she was extremely uncomfortable. I’d like to bring it up again, but not yet.” I thought about her reaction today, hoping she wasn’t hiding her true feelings about the whole thing, but betting that the fear and betrayal just hadn’t hit her yet. “She’s still very traumatized by the whole ordeal. When the time comes, we’ll work through it, but I don’t want to push her on it if the police are just going to shut it down anyway.”

I wasn’t going to say it, but there had been another night this week where Alice’s nightmares had returned, and she’d screamed her safeword repeatedly. I hadn’t been able to wake her, and instead just held her until she settled down and fell back into sleep. I didn’t want to make her trauma worse by putting her back in a position where she had to face her abuser unless I had to.

“We have time,” Sam said. “At least, a little bit of time. I’ll see if I can dig up Alice’s report. The police are dragging their feet on the case because he is friends with a lot of them and has a good reputation down at Rally Point Bar. That’s where most of them drink, ‘cause they get a discount. It’s right on the edge of town. Honestly, Reuben, it’s likely that even if Alice did go back to the police, it wouldn’t do any good.”

I nodded. “Still, assuming something does happen, I’ll broach the topic again and maybe get her in for some EMDR sessions. Though the two therapists we have on the books are jam packed right now with the new girls we just brought in.”

Jack spoke up. “I was going to ask you if you had someone for me.”

“I do actually, but...” I looked at Jeff. “It’s not one of the rescues.”

Jeff started coughing again, this time a little more intense. I offered him some water, but he dismissed the idea, and took another sip of his coffee with shaking hands.

He cleared his throat. “As some of you know, I’m dying,” he said, jumping straight to the chase as per usual. “My submissive has been with me for a very long time. You all know Becca, and you know she doesn’tneeda Master–”

He broke off coughing again, the racking and jerking of his body causing his coffee to splash on the floor as he choked. I stood up, as if I could find some magic potion that would remedy the situation but felt useless and helpless watching him cough and struggle to speak.

Before I could even offer him a cough drop, Alice had emerged from the kitchen holding a mug and a box of tissues, a dish towel hanging over her arm. She took his coffee from his hand and helped him wrap his fingers around the handle of the mug, her eyes wide with worry.

Jeff raised the mug to his lips and inhaled deeply, smiling and taking a sip. “Mmmm. Peppermint. Good for the throat.”

Alice watched him in quiet concern as she dabbed up the spilled coffee from the floor. He took another sip and looked at her. “Why does he call you a monster,” he asked, referencing a conversation we’d had over dinner.

“Because I’m a very bad submissive,” she said with complete seriousness. “And I like to annoy him on purpose to get punished.”

“Ah.” He took another sip of his tea. “But the best submissives are the ones who are only good for their Daddies, don’t you agree?”

Her eyes softened. “Yes sir.”

He patted her hand and continued to speak as if finding some comfort from holding it. “As I was saying, Becca doesn’tneeda Master. But she does need to submit occasionally to feel safe, and so she knows she has someone to watch her back and guide her when she needs it. Mostly, she needs a partner who she can respect as an equal but choose to submit to out of respect.

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