Page 55 of Submissive Lies

Still nothing. Fuck.

I glanced at the time. 6:45 a.m. Okay, be reasonable, Jen. That meant it was four in the morning back home. Which meant Thomas was still dead to the world.

Dead to the world.

Shit. That phrase sent a tremor of panic through me. What if the reason Thomas hadn’t returned my calls or texts was because something had happened to him?

-Hadn’t thought of that, had you…-

But… they said READ. That meant he’d read them.

-Well, someone had. Right?-

I clenched my jaw. Okay, okay, so it was too early to call Loren to ask her if she’d seen Thomas. To send her searching to see if something was wrong. As soon as was reasonable, that would be job number one. Guilt tugged at me again, an inescapable force dragging down my happiness. I hadn’t officially ended it yet. Hadn’t said the words aloud or dealt with the fallout. And if the reason for that turned out to be because Thomas had been...

Don’t even think that. Just. Don’t.

I fired off another text: Are you okay? I need you to call me back. Please.

I pushed all those thoughts away for the moment. Despite everything going on, I still had my job to do. It was still early enough that I could grab breakfast in the hotel restaurant, check on my e-mails while I ate, and be back at the hall with time to spare before the 8 a.m. start. Looking over to the bed, I couldn’t help but let a smile creep back to my face. Sheets still twisted, rumpled, the images were suddenly of Steve kneeling over me, belt in hand, arm rising. Playing out like my own personal porno, the fantasy had me squirming, and I stood there indulging myself in it. My fingers were drifting across my thigh towards my sex when I shuddered, bringing myself out of my reverie.

-Oh, yeah, Jen, you are in rare form. Whatever. Better get it out of your system now, because once you hit that show floor you need to be all business. What happened in this room last night—might happen again tonight—has no place being dragged down into that booth. Time to get your game-face on.-

Okay, fine. Fine. I get it. But—damn!—it’s nice to think about right now.

At breakfast I sat and caught up on e-mails. One was a list of salespeople who would be checking in to the booth later this evening, including those from the new company. That worried me a bit. What if they wanted me to go out to dinner with them tonight? To get to know me. That was the last thing I wanted. If they tried to press me to join them, I was going to beg off. I had other plans, and they included a dinner-for-two of the room service kind. Assuming we even got around to eating.

It was 7:30 a.m. when I finished and stepped out of the lobby doors. In the morning sunlight the colors were bright, in sharp contrast to the deep shadows the light cast. As I moved along the sidewalk a river of business attire slipped by me, all flowing towards the office towers that surrounded us. Weaving through them, thoughts of last night continued to loop through my head, and a smile creased my face as I made my way to the convention center.

My cheerfulness had not abated as I came up to the service desk to check in. Tony was there, and as I approached he came up with a smile, giving me a quick hug.

“Hey there, Ms. Jen! You’re looking happy this morning. Did you have a good night last night? Go out someplace fun?”

“I had a nice night, Tony.” I gave him a nonchalant smile, confident Steve hadn’t spoken to anyone about taking me out last night. My suspicions at dinner of how that would be perceived, especially by his boss, convinced me he wouldn’t. Tony stood by, nodding as I continued. “Nothing fancy; just a nice dinner, then back to the room and bed.”

“Well, there ain’t nothing wrong with that. Sometimes those are the best nights, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“So… listen, I gotta ask. Is Stevie taking good care of you? Mitch wanted me to make sure you were getting everything you needed, and that Stevie’s got it under control.”

I made sure the smile on my face didn’t falter or change in the slightest. “Mr. Friess has been taking good care of me, I assure you.”

“Well, good. He’s kind of a new guy with the company and all, but I think he’s good people, and the boys seem to get along well with him. We just want to make sure you’re happy.”

“I have absolutely no complaints so far, Tony. Feel free to pass that along to Mitch too.”

“Alright! That’s what I wanted to hear!” Tony nodded enthusiastically, moving back behind the service desk, taking a quick look at some paperwork. “I think most of the boys are already over in the booth, and I know Stevie’s there, ‘cause he and I already talked things over this morning. Your booth’s looking in real good shape there, Ms. Jen. I don’t see any reason why you guys are gonna be running late tonight.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear, Tony.” I gave him a big grin, moving off from the desk towards the hall entrance.

“All right!” Tony gave me a quick salute as I started across the lobby, calling out as I walked away. “I’ll come over a bit later and check to see how you guys are doing. You have a good morning, Ms. Jen!”

My shoes squeaked on the smooth marble tile flooring of the lobby as I crossed it and moved into the hall. Inside, there was already quite a bit of activity going on. Last minute exhibit arrivals filled the empty aisle spaces from yesterday, crates stacked and crowded together. As I wove my way towards the booth I was careful to avoid hitting or tripping over anything. They had cleared away some of our empty crates, and the crew was already moving about the exhibit when I got there. I scanned the immediate area, looking for Steve. He was nowhere in sight, and I moved to the set-up table, plopping my bag down. I took out my paperwork and set myself up for the day, glancing up occasionally to try catching a glimpse of him. Several minutes went by, and then Keith approached, his face wrapped in the same serious look he always wore.

“Morning Ms. Boyd.”

“Good morning, Keith.” I gave him a bright smile, my voice chipper. “You guys are already at it, huh?”

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