The Awakening (20 page)

Solitude…that was what I needed.

It was my way of protecting myself against the depression of losing shamise. The best way I could accomplish that was to dive into work for a few days until those feelings dissipated. The only problem was there was no way to know how long I would need to do that. It had been years since something like this had happened, and that was before I married Neferterri.

It was still worth a shot.

I was on the phone with a client in my studio a few hours later to try and take my mind off of the situation I found myself in.

I needed to clear my head and focus a little bit, and I knew I could do that at the studio, especially considering I had a few projects I needed to complete before the deadlines snuck up on me. Technically we still had shamise but had to refer to her by the vanilla nickname she had before we claimed her: Scarlett. After three years of loving servitude within the House, it felt strange to refer to her as Scarlett again. I kept convincing myself that it was only temporary, that she would be back within the House by year's end.

I was negotiating a weekend shoot with my client when Amenhotep and paka stepped through the door. He seemed a bit more content than usual, and paka did, too, now that I thought about it. I simply smiled as I finished the call with my client and let them browse around the studio.

Once I was off the phone, I walked to them both, embracing Amenhotep and giving paka a kiss on the cheek.

“So, what do I owe the honor of this visit?” I asked. “I usually don't see You out this early in the afternoon, Sir.”

He looked at me with the same seriousness He had when a glass separated the space between us, when He was on the wrong side of prison bars. Soon, His lips spread into a smile, and He said in His best imitation of Don Corleone from
The Godfather,
“Ramesses, I'm gonna make You an offer You cannot refuse.”

“What the hell are You talking about, Amenhotep?” It was hard to place where the calmness was coming from, but I knew Him well enough to know that something was up and whatever it was, it was big.

“I'm leaving, kid,” He flatly stated, His mind made up. “It's time.”

After dealing with the losses within my House, I didn't think I was quite prepared for His announcement. “Do You mind running that by Me again?”

“I'm leaving Atlanta. There's nothing left to accomplish here, My old friend,” Amenhotep stated, His eyes smiling as He said it. “It's time for the next phase of My evolution to begin, as well as Yours, youngster.”

This was starting to be a bit more than I bargained for today.

Sure, I was getting over losing my girls, but to lose my mentor and trusted friend might have been the straw to break the camel's back. After all, He was close to our family, our kids. A lot of people within the local community would be greatly affected by His departure.

I broke down for the first time in a long time, like I was preparing for a death in the family.

But this was not a death.

Amenhotep was simply moving on, after fifteen years in Atlanta.

He could see the distress in my eyes, trying to get a grip on the situation. “Do not get upset, Ramesses. This is a time to celebrate, for Me and for You. There will be a great many changes occurring at the beginning of the year.”

Celebrate? For me? Confusion swept over my body like a tidal wave. The last thing I wanted to do was celebrate anything. I looked at paka, and she noticed my anxiety as well, and she silently looked to her Master for permission to offer comfort. Once permission was granted, she guided me to a chair and began to gently and expertly rub my shoulders.

As she rubbed my worry away, Amenhotep continued. “There are some things that I will need for You to sign off on, Ramesses. Some things You will be taking ownership of. Others, You will be helping Me control from here.”

My mind began to clear, thanks to paka, and I realized I needed all my faculties to grasp exactly what He might be turning over to me. “Taking ownership of what, exactly?”

His smile confirmed what I suspected. “You will be taking over the Palace for starters, Ramesses.”

paka, with permission from her Master, added, “Including a few of the service slaves in the house, m'Lord. They have been informed of my Master's departure, and the first question they had concerned You and whether You would be taking over ownership of the house and the slaves within.”

My head was killing me, to say the least. But it was about to be sent into more of a tailspin with the next thing Amenhotep was about to say.

He came over and placed his hand on my shoulder, and He asked, “How would You like to retire from being a shutterbug? At least, as a livelihood, I mean?”

“Okay, enough with the riddles and innuendo, Amenhotep. My
mind can only take so much,” I scolded him. “First, You're leaving Me, and You will be informing Me to where You are heading to, by the way. Then you're telling Me that you're giving Me the Palace, with the stroke of a pen, like I was flesh and blood, and even turning over control of the remaining service slaves in the house to Me. You have to know this is really overwhelming to hear, especially without proper warning first? What makes You think I am ready to bear all this weight right now?”

Amenhotep maintained His grin, expecting me to have this exact reaction.

I hate it when He did that shit. “I wouldn't put all this on You if You weren't ready for it, youngster. You're like a son to Me, and it's time that I actually put some effort behind those words. Besides, this is the next level of Your awakening. It is time that You embraced it.”

“Okay, then give Me all of it, everything. I have a wife and kids to tell all this to, and they will have to adjust to this as well. Make sure that You leave nothing out, either,” I advised.

I had a feeling this was going to be a long conversation…one that would change my life as a Dominant forever.

Into everyone's life, a little rain must fall…

But was this really rain?

Driving home from work, my mind raced with all of the details from Amenhotep's discussion with me: the Palace, which was completely paid for; the service slaves, five in total number, to tend to the house itself; the male submissives who tended to the house were under Neferterri's control now, to coordinate with their respective
Dominas; and finally, the burden of letting the Internet and real-time BDSM community know, in the words He carefully crafted, that the change of power in the Atlanta BDSM community would transfer from Him to me.

You want to talk about
pressure?
How do you replace an icon?

But the one thing that literally put the brakes on my whole thought process…and quite literally made my heart skip five beats or so…was the fact that Amenhotep was going to transfer an astronomically huge amount of funding to run the Palace, put my wife and me into early retirement, take care of the kids' college tuitions, regardless of where they attend school, and invest monies into whatever entrepreneurial ventures that we saw fit.

To put it mildly, Amenhotep, for all of His spendthrift ways I had always known, was a multimillionaire several times over. In fact, He took the funds He would need to purchase and move into a quaint five-bedroom beach home in the U.S. Virgin Islands like he was purchasing a new suit or a new purse for paka. I always knew He was more than comfortable financially speaking, but I had no idea it was to this extent.

But what was so unnerving was, after doing so much to make sure we were comfortable on our own, to now realize we could literally do whatever we wanted to do. I honestly didn't know whether to be happy, or let my ego stay pissed off that we couldn't finish the job. In the end, I convinced myself Amenhotep wouldn't do this if He didn't care deeply for us.

Even with the information overload, His last announcement floored me.

I saw it coming, but it was still a shock to the system.

I came through the door with this look on my face that immediately concerned my wife, but she wasn't sure how to place it. To
be honest, I wasn't all that sure how to explain to her that life was about to get easier now. Checking on investments; partying at night while the kids were with the nanny or with one of the grandmothers. The list was endless.

“Okay, You told Me You and Amenhotep talked, so, what happened?” Neferterri was not in the mood for the long innuendo. The kids were at my parents' house, so it was easier to let loose the emotions that were pent up inside of me.

“I feel like we hit the lottery, babe,” I started. “He's basically given us the keys to the kingdom, to say the least. Money, the Palace, You name it, we have access to it.”

I'd never heard my wife scream so loud in my entire life.

“You mean, we get to quit our jobs?!?!?!?!” she asked excitedly. “What in the world has gotten into Amenhotep? Is He going to die or something? Not that I am wishing that on Him or anything, but what brought all this on?”

That's when I got to tell the other part of what had my mind so scrambled. “He and paka are getting married.”

She slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle yet another scream.

The consummate bachelor, no one would have ever thought Amenhotep would settle down. After all, He was in His late forties, and with no heir to the throne of His own, it would be a little late to start now, unless He'd gone completely batty. “Are You serious?!?!”

“I'm as serious as a heart attack,” I replied. “They want us to make arrangements to meet with them as soon as we're able to have the kids taken care of so we can be witnesses. They are going to do this privately. No one else will be viewing this union except a select, trusted few. Those are the terms they want. You know how Amenhotep is, baby. One minute He wants the world to see, the next minute, He wants complete privacy restriction.”

“Okay, I need to breathe.” Neferterri found the first chair that she could find.

Not like I blamed her. The club was doing well, no doubt, but the grind of actually rotating weekends on top of the regular 9-to-5 was really starting to wear thin, not to mention the whole babysitting thing, even though that had stabilized, thanks to a teenaged daughter of a lifestyle friend of ours. Now, the prospect of actually not needing to coordinate things anymore hit like a ton of bricks. Reality has a way of doing that to you.

I heard the phone ring while we were both trying to compose ourselves, and upon looking at the caller ID, I had a feeling reality was about to drop in again on another accord.

“Hello?” Neferterri answered as she clicked on the speaker for the two of us to hear.

“Mercedes, it's Kitana.” Her voice was trembling, and this time it didn't sound like it was from just hearing her voice.

“What's wrong, honey?” Neferterri's ears perked up when she noticed the concerned tone in my voice. .

“It's Ice. He's…he just left me. He wants a divorce.”

23
RAMESSES

Damn.

Just when I thought things were finally beginning to clear up a little bit, Ice goes and gums up the works. Something didn't sit right, and I had to know what the hell actually happened.

Neferterri was on the phone with Kitana, getting the lowdown on what actually set Ice off: as it turned out, Ice took exception to Kitana being our submissive, even though he was submitting to Mistress Sinsual at the same time. He felt since she had me, she didn't need him anymore, so, it was in both of their interests to be with other people and not be with each other anymore. What had me confused was why he felt it was worth saying the words he wanted a divorce from his wife? Did he have a change of heart about his wife being in the lifestyle or something, but he could still do his thing? I couldn't figure it out, and I think I had to figure out what was on my shotgun partner's mind before this union became broken beyond repair.

I finally found him at one of the usual hangout spots out in Decatur, popping shots left and right like he was trying to forget about whatever it was that he'd just done. No one was messing with him at the bar, for fear he would snap. That's always been the thing about Ice: once he's pissed, he's not easy to be around because of his temper.