Page 205 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

She caught me staring at her. “You like?” she asked, twirling in the skirt. It flared open and I got a good look at the lacy white panties she had on underneath.

“I like.”

“I saw Pete today.”

She said it so offhand that at first, I wasn’t sure who she was talking about. She held the decanted wine in one hand, and a crystal goblet in the other. She poured a normal amount in one glass and handed it to me, and then took a second glass, pouring just a splash for herself to taste. Swirling the wine a few times, she sniffed at it, tasted it, made a face, and then gulped the rest down.

“Who?”

“Woodrow. In the grocery store when I stopped for coffee. He walked right by me, didn’t even look at me. I had to yell at him to get his attention.”

I felt my blood run cold. “Alice, what did he–”

“He didn’t do anything,” she shrugged. “He just tried to tell me that he was good to me, and I was the one who freaked out and left. Like every other time I freaked out and left. Because he’s a liar. And I don’t believe him.” She spoke so offhand, like the whole thing was no big deal.

She took the goblet she’d used to the kitchen, and I heard the sink turn on. She washed and dried it quickly, coming back to the dining room with a soft towel to soak up the last of the moisture, and then set the goblet back in the cabinet, talking the whole time.

“It just surprised me, that’s all. And it pissed me off because I’ve been avoiding him and scared to run into him, but clearly, I had nothing to worry about. I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time and energy worrying about something I didn’t need to stress about.”

Alice was wrong about having nothing to worry about. Pete was a liar and a gaslighter. But at least Alice recognized that, and he hadn’t tried to approach her.

“Why didn’t you say anything about this? Are you okay?”

“I’m saying something now. And I’m fine. It’s just stupid because... he was saying that stuff to me, and I just stood there like a lemon, you know?” She looked frustrated, but she was trying to maintain the apathetic casual look on her face as she spoke. “He was just like, ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t enough for you’ and ‘call a lawyer if you want to work this out’ and ‘you were my wife, I gave you everything,’ even though he literally beat me, and stole my money, and forced me—whatever.”She shook her head and laughed. “Whatever, right? Fuck him. He’s a liar and... and it doesn’t matter.”

“Okay...” I tried to figure out what to say. She was acting blasé about the whole thing, but I could tell she just needed to talk it out, to convince herself she was fine. “Alice, if you need to step back from this tonight, we can–”

“No, absolutely not, do not leave me alone with my thoughts right now. I can’t do that.” She looked towards the window at the sound of a car rolling up into the driveway.

“Okay. We’ll continue as planned. But if at any time you need to step back and deal with this, or you need me to help you emotionally, you tell me.Youare my priority. Not a dinner party.”

She looked up at me, her head cocked slightly. “Thank you, Sir.”

She really did seem relaxed about the whole situation, but I had a feeling she had a lot more to say. I wished I had more time to sit down with her and talk this through, but there was a knock at the door. Instead of running for the door, she ran to me, reaching up on her tiptoes and pulling me down by my tie, and brushing her hand across my beard.

“What are you doing?”

“You had toothpaste, silly,” she grinned.

“And you chose to mention itafterour serious conversation?”

“You’re lucky I rubbed it off before I answered the door.” She winked and scampered off to get the door.

The first to arrive was Anthony Mack. She took his coat and escorted him into the living room, and I got to enjoy the look of absolute shock and confusion on his face as the little “Demon of The Underground’’ acted like the sweetest, most well-trained submissive I’d ever had.

“Well, this is a surprise,” Anthony smiled and shook my hand. “Congratulations, Ben, you’ve officially done what I thought no man could do.”

Alice stood by the door with her hands behind her back, biting her tongue.

“Oh, she’s not tamed. She’s just... highly motivated.”

He laughed at that, and I poured him a glass of wine.

The others arrived shortly after that, and we went into the dining room for dinner. Alice followed my instructions down to meticulous detail, serving the five of us and quietly disappearing into the kitchen to begin cleanup and plate the dessert.

Over dinner, my friends questioned me about Alice.

“Why do they call her the Demon of the Underground?” asked Jeff.

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