Out of the Dungeon (13 page)

"Do you remember what came next?" Roman
asked. Jeff's eyes were glued to his. Blink. Blink.

"Yeah. I had you use those hands that were
sort of free to finger-walk along your ass cheeks until you could
peel them apart. Then I walked behind you and let you hear my wolf
whistle, as I checked out your asshole. It was practically pressed
against the glass. I had the bartender bring out trays of drinks
around we had a little mix and mingle cocktail party around your
ass. And somebody went off somewhere and made a sign that said,
"Happy Birthday to Roman," and taped it to the glass, with an arrow
pointing to your pucker. And it was probably that same somebody who
tied a red ribbon around your cock. I'll admit that after a while I
was feeling the alcohol, and I suppose that was apparent, because I
removed your gag, opened the hatch protecting your rear end, and we
played guess the object, and it wasn't too long until I got you out
of there and into my office where I fucked the shit out of you, and
you came all over my desk."

There were tears in Jeff's eyes. Roman wiped
them with his thumb and said, "I absofuckinglutely love you,
Jeff."

"Quite a story. I wish I'd heard more of
it."

Roman looked up to see Zach leaning against
the entrance frame of the cubicle. "Yeah?" he said. "I expect if it
bothered you, you'd have said something sooner or gone away."

"I'm his nurse, Roman. I've seen his slave
tattoo, I've seen the jewelry and what-not he was wearing when he
arrived in the ER. But might I suggest no more naughty stories
until we get the cath removed?" Zach stepped closer to the bed.
"Good afternoon, Jeff. I'm Zach. I've been taking care of you for
the past few evenings. I'm glad to see you off the vent." Zach
untied the soft restraints that held Jeff's hands against the bed.
"Don't pull at anything, or my ass is grass," he said. "The next
thing will be to get you fitted with a crazy thing they call a
Halo." He did a pantomime of a head band and a box. "It is going to
annoy the piss out of you, guaranteed, but it will get you out of
this bed, and it will get you home."

"Like, with screws into his head?" Roman
asked.

Zach nodded. "Pins, actually. Geez, don't
look so bummed. Keep in mind that the alternative was a wheelchair.
This is the best news, ever, Jeff. Trust me."

Jeff's eyes moved from Zach's face to
Roman's, and he choked out one, quiet, rasping word.

"Red."

T
he effort to speak
was insane, but the look on Roman's face was priceless.

"I'd call red, too," Roman said. "But, as
Zach says, the Halo is like… best case scenario, so be glad you
qualify."

I blinked twice, the new code for "yes" and
closed my eyes. Staying awake was too much work.

During my next couple of awake periods, which
were no more than a half an hour each, I learned that I'd been
riding my bike to work and somehow got hit by a truck. When the
pain meds wore off, I was aware that the whole left side of my body
felt like it had been pulverized. So now I know how it feels to get
hit by a truck.

I was immobilized in this bed, hooked up to
an ungodly number of machines, and had no choice but to stay put.
Bondage to the extreme, and not even my baser medical fantasies had
ever gone this far. RED.

I remembered almost nothing about the morning
of the accident, except that the weather had been beautiful. And
that I had been thinking about the consequences of breaking my
slave contract when the world went black. Breaking my contract was
pretty much the same as breaking up with Roman, who'd been my
partner all of my adult life.

Roman sat next to my bed for hours, and every
time he had to leave the room, I cried.

I had little urge to try my voice. I felt
like I was locked inside myself, mentally, emotionally, the same
way my body was physically locked into the bed. I had no idea what
might fly out of my mouth, so it seemed safer to just be quiet. I
was painfully aware of how a few words could change a life. Hell,
all I did to deserve
all of this,
on a cosmic level, was
have some thoughts.

I had a tantalizing dinner of clear chicken
broth. And later a snack of butterscotch pudding. The pudding was
like the most delicious thing I'd eaten in a year. Cool in my
mouth, soft on my throat. It made me salivate.

Sometime after that, it felt very late at
night but probably wasn't, Roman got Vanessa in to see me. She was
nearly as quiet as I was, which is really strange for Vanessa.
Usually she can chatterbox for an hour about nothing, amusing and
entertaining, and I like that about her. I like it a lot. When she
bent over the bed to kiss my cheek, I saw that her eyes looked very
tired. "Suede?" I whispered.

She shrugged. "Everything. You. Work. Suede.
I'll tell you everything when you get out of here. Every last
detail, I promise." Funny though, her eyes drifted away from me,
which made me wonder which detail she was going to leave out.
"We're all fine. Just worried about you. It's been a long
week."

Dare was conspicuous by his absence. I
imagined him taking advantage of my crisis, comforting and caring
for Roman. My memory of the night before the accident was intact,
and I did remember his groans and quiet pleas – sounds that escaped
Roman's room and travelled to the hallway, where I stood for a long
time, hoping to seek the warmth of Roman's arms. But Roman and Dare
were busy, and I didn't know how to interrupt with my own
needs.

Whatever bond Roman hoped would grow between
Dare and I had obviously not, though I had no illusions about Dare
stepping into my role while I was in the hospital. Dare wasn't cut
out to give Roman the level of service that I could give.

The little things I did for Roman's comfort
gave me great pleasure, but I knew Dare thought they were asinine,
and that I took my servitude to the extreme, an extreme that he
found not at all attractive. I wondered if Dare would ever visit,
and if he did, if we would have anything at all to say to one
another.

Roman came in, took one look at me, and said,
"I can see you thinking and worrying. Stop it. Relax and remember
something beautiful."

And because being obedient to Roman is second
nature to me, I did.

* * *

Roman came in while Vanessa was sitting with
Jeff, and after a short while Zach shooed them both out. "Go home,
go to bed. It's time for me to tuck Jeff in for the night." To
Jeff, he said, "We're going to have a little bed bath, and then
I'll teach you how I change sheets. It'll be the most excitement
you've been awake for in a week. You'll love it."

Vanessa didn't want to go. It had been good
to sit quietly next to Jeff, where nothing was expected of her, and
yet where she didn't have to be alone. Her emotions were raw from
the events of the day.

Suede had called just after noon, and invited
Vanessa over. Her words had been, "I called in sick today. Come and
play with me, Vanessa, if you're brave enough."

Well. The invite sent Vanessa into a tailspin
of complicated emotions, and a flurry of making excuses to leave
work, so she could get home and get ready. She might have
reservations and worries about the relationship, but she wasn't
about to disappoint Suede. Of course, that was probably the whole
reason Suede threw in the "if you're brave enough," – it was a
challenge, and Vanessa found it hard to resist a challenge.
Besides, nothing could be as intense as the what happened on the
stage at the club the other night, right? So she didn't have
anything to be nervous about.

But still. There was an amount of preparation
a woman puts herself through if she hopes to get naked in front of
a new lover, and Vanessa put in the time. She took a bath and
shaved carefully, not just for appearance sake, but because it made
her feel clean and sexy. She made sure her bra and panties matched,
because she wanted them to, even if she was only seen in them for a
minute.

As she got ready, she imagined scene after
scene, what Suede might do to her. Would she spank her? Flog her?
And what parts might she flog, front, back, tender bits? Yikes. Or
would she have Vanessa kneel at her feet and lick her pussy? The
very thought of it, Suede leathered up, including wearing
the
hat, Vanessa at Suede's feet, following her instructions
to the letter, was an incredible turn on. It was what Vanessa had
been waiting for, and she hummed along with the radio, smiling,
almost bursting with excitement.

By the time Vanessa got to Suede's place, her
insides were thrumming with anticipation. In fact, she had let her
imagination arouse her to the point where she didn't think it would
take much to make her come. A touch. Maybe nothing more than a
look.

Suede answered the door with an open bottle
of beer in her hand, and led Vanessa straight into her bedroom.
There was an empty beer bottle on the bedside table. It was four
o'clock in the afternoon. Well, whatever, it was five o'clock
somewhere, right? The TV was on, and Suede said, "I'm glad you got
here in time to see some of this, it's a great movie."

Movie? Vanessa felt like she'd just been
knocked off balance. Had that been Suede's intention, to invite
Vanessa over to hang out and watch movies? She could have been here
an hour or more earlier, if she'd have known that. She felt
disappointed, and then embarrassed that she'd just assumed play
meant sex play. Should she say something? But no, she didn't want
Suede to think she was a dork. So she said, "Perfect. Mind if I
poke around your kitchen and make some coffee?"

"No, go ahead. Or grab a beer if you want
one."

Beer on a nearly empty stomach. Not a good
plan, and Vanessa didn't like beer very much anyway. "Nah, coffee
will be great. I'm going to the hospital when I leave here. I
finally might get to see Jeff."

What she really needed was food. She'd been
about to take her lunch break when Suede called, and skipped it in
favor of ditching work early. She would get the afternoon sleepies
if she didn't indulge in some coffee.

They watched the movie. Well, Vanessa
pretended to watch, but she was reeling from disappointment and
never quite managed to follow the story line. Halfway through,
Suede answered a call on her cell. Vanessa got up to get more
coffee, to distract herself, and to pretend she wasn't listening to
Suede's end of the call.

"Oh, just hanging out watching a movie with
my girlfriend. Vanessa. You know her, I'm sure. Well, you've seen
her, at least. Yeah, come over. I'm having beer, Van's having
coffee. Hey, you wanna bring a pizza or something? Van's going to
visit her friend Jeff at St. Anne's, so it'd be nice if I fed her
before I sent her off. All right. You rock, my friend. See you
soon."

Seriously?
Vanessa thought. 'Come and
play with me' turns into 'let's have a few people over for beer and
pizza'? A part of her wanted to leave, right then. But another part
of her wanted to meet Suede's friends, because that meant Vanessa
was becoming part of Suede's life, right? It had to mean something
good if Suede wanted to introduce her around.

Suede's friend arrived. His name was Paul,
and he was a tall, scrawny guy with stringy brown hair, an
oversized nose, and an oversized messenger bag. And a pizza from
the place on the corner. He seemed a little strange, but was
friendly enough, and when Suede proposed another movie, the guy
pulled a CD case out of his bag and suggested music instead.

They told Vanessa story after story about
various parties and concerts they'd been to, and it was obvious
that they'd been friends for a long time. Vanessa felt a little
relieved about that, that there were, indeed, people in Suede's
life who'd been around long term.

About an hour after pizza, the guy patted his
pocket and said, "I brought a little bit of coke. What do you say?
Interested?"

Suede's eyes lit up.

Vanessa almost choked. Cocaine was way out of
her comfort zone, and this whole day had been one disappointment
after another. She looked at her watch. "Sorry guys, I'm going to
run home and freshen up, then go see Jeff."

"Aw, already?" Suede said.

"Yeah. Roman said he could get me in around
eight."

"You could call him and tell him something
came up." Suede gave her a hopeful look. "C'mon, babe, the party
hasn't even started yet."

Vanessa shook her said. "Sorry. I want to see
Jeff."

"All right. Fine," Suede said, with a roll of
her eyes and a toss of her head that suggested Vanessa had just
ruined the party.

Vanessa didn't know what the heck she was
feeling as she let herself out of Suede's apartment. By the time
she reached the street, she thought maybe she was straight out
pissed. And while she was waiting for the subway, she almost burst
into tears. She wasn't sure if she even had a right to feel
anything in particular. Sure, she'd thought it'd be just her and
Suede this afternoon, and the idea had an intimate feel that
Vanessa liked. But now she wasn't sure if Suede had meant for it to
be like that at all. And calling Vanessa her girlfriend, did she
mean like, dating girlfriend, or friend girlfriend? Vanessa was
beginning to think maybe Suede didn't return the same level of
interest.

That would totally suck.

She'd hoped seeing Jeff would boost her mood,
but seeing him was almost harder on her than not seeing him had
been. He was trapped in a bed in a glass cube, and he looked more
damaged than she expected. It hurt her to look at him. And yet,
he'd been able to see that she was stressed, and he'd been able to
guess that it was because of Suede. It startled her that his
intuitiveness was intact, and made her worry a little bit about her
tryst with Roman. She suspected Jeff's reaction to that little
story might not be entirely positive. Oh, the tangled webs we
weave. But. The thing with Roman was due to special circumstances
and was not going to be repeated.