The Plume: The Second Anthology (9 page)

“No!”

“Yearning for a dream is much easier than
making it come true.” Julius murmured, then picked up his glasses
again. “I know you value your integrity, Rex, but giving up your
goal to protect people who might not even want to be protected
sounds cowardly to me. That is uncharacteristic.”

“How can you say that? They wear masks. They
use pseudonyms. They arrive in disguise. You can’t assume that the
members want their identities revealed.”

“No, you can’t,” Julius agreed calmly. “But
you could ask them.”

“What do you mean?”

“We can put together an additional waiver,
specifically giving you permission to show images of them in an art
gallery. You pick the images you want to use, we ask the members in
question to sign. If they do, all good. If they don’t, you choose
different images.” Julius looked at Rex over his glasses. “You have
thousands, don’t you?”

“Tens of thousands,” Rex admitted, thinking
of the shots of Joanna.

Julius picked up the envelope that had
arrived just an hour before. “And just a cursory glance reveals
that this offer from the gallery is quite good. They really want
this show, Rex, which bodes well for its success. The Plume could
be as famous as you’ve always hoped it would be.”

“But at what price? It might be revealed or
discovered. It might all come to an end.”

Julius smiled sadly. “All things come to an
end, Rex. And a fireworks display is always more impressive than a
match that fizzles before it really lights.”

“You think I should take the chance.”

Julius smiled. “I think you don’t like that
this Louise made the choice for you. But look beyond your need to
manage everything. Look at what is really offered here, on
excellent terms.”

Rex stood up and went to the window. It was a
grey day, the clouds heavy and low as if ready to dump vast
quantities of snow on the city. He looked back at Julius. “It’ll
change everything.”

“Everything will change anyway, Rex.,” Julius
said quietly. “The trick is to see this as an opportunity and not
an obligation.”

Rex sighed. He knew his old friend was right.
And he could admit to himself that he was excited by the
possibilities. He was already excited about going through his
entire collection and choosing the shots to be blown up and framed.
“We could have an opening night for the members of the Plume,” he
said, making an effort. “They could come in costume and be
masked.”

“You could easily make it the event of the
year,” Julius agreed.

Rex turned to face the lawyer. “Would you
come?”

Julius smiled. “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t
miss your first opening for the world.”

* * *

Married to Mike. Captive forever. If that
wasn’t heaven, Joanna didn’t know what was. She floated home at the
end of her holiday week, her skin tingling and her body humming.
She’d had everything she could imagine from him, and only wanted
more.

He’d locked her into a newer, tighter version
of the black leather corset before she left and Joanna savored the
reminder of his ownership of her body.

She hoped he’d call tonight and make a
midnight raid on her apartment.

She opened the door to the apartment,
somewhat disappointed to hear Louise in the kitchen. Maybe her
roommate could go out tonight.

Of course, once she moved in with Mike,
Louise’s plans wouldn’t be a concern anymore. That thought restored
Joanna’s good mood and she put her things in her bedroom, then went
into the kitchen with a smile. “Hi. How was your holiday?”

“Excellent.” Louise grinned. “Looks like
yours was good, too.”

Joanna felt herself blush as she filled the
kettle. Could she even sit down properly in this tight corset? The
constraint made her pulse with desire.

“I’m going out tonight,” Louise said, much to
Joanna’s relief. “I have a date.”

“With Rex?”

“No, with jam and walnuts.”

Joanna frowned, not understanding. “But how
was Rex?”

“He was everything I expected.” Louise
smiled. “And more.”

Something in her tone made Joanna pause and
glance back. “In what way?”

“He’s quite the photographer.” Louise saluted
Joanna with her sandwich, even as Joanna worried just what pictures
Louise had seen. “He’s going to have a show.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“An exhibit of his photographs. I talked to
my friend Josh at the Eye of the Storm Gallery and he’s
really
interested. He made an offer that I guess Rex
couldn’t refuse.” Louise nodded and took another bite of her
sandwich. It seemed to Joanna like her friend took far too long to
chew that bite. “It’s going to be billed as a sneak peek inside the
Plume. Josh says it’ll be standing room only. They’re going to
invite all the press for a huge opening night. It’s going to be
amazing.”

Joanna didn’t share her friend’s
enthusiasm.

In fact, she was horrified. “You’re joking.
Rex is going to do that?”

“Absolutely. It’s all signed, sealed and
delivered.” Louise ate the last bite of her sandwich with a
flourish. “And, as a total bonus, I’ll get to have my sculpture
exhibit at the gallery at the same time. Think of the
exposure!”

“But I thought they didn’t want to show your
work.”

Louise grinned, looking devil-may-care and
exuberant. “Guess I changed their mind.”

By getting Rex to commit to a show of his
photographs.

She knew that Rex had taken a lot of
photographs of her, bound and captive. She didn’t doubt that she
could be recognized in those shots. If the show was popular, it
only stood to reason that someone could recognize her.

The whole world could
know
.

Joanna went to her room, feeling sick. She
dropped to sit on the side of the bed and stared into space. Her
secret wouldn’t be one any longer.

How could she stop Rex from doing this?

She didn’t want to ask Mike to step in. He
was tolerant of her desire for secrecy, but he didn’t really
understand it. He was so confident, so unworried about
repercussions and prejudices. People were welcome to think what
they wanted, as far as Mike was concerned.

Joanna wasn’t quite so cavalier.

How could she get her pictures back?

She caught her breath at a sudden idea. Her
baby sister, Amy, was in college and brilliant with computers. If
anyone could hack Rex’s computers and accounts and erase the
pictures forever, it would be Amy.

Even better, Amy would do anything for
money.

Joanna was more than ready to pay to get this
done.

* * *

Amy leaned back in the student cafeteria,
watching her oldest sister with fascination. She was pretty sure
she’d never seen the queen of self-control upset about anything,
and she knew she’d never made her big sister blush. But Joanna was
upset enough to come to Amy for help – no, to
beg
Amy for
help – and she was blushing like crazy, as she explained the exact
nature of the problem.

Her agitation was just as astounding as
Joanna’s sudden appearance in Amy’s life.

“You mean you’ve been to this Plume club that
everyone is talking about?” Amy asked, incredulous. Her big sister
was the most uptight person on the planet and had to be the least
likely to visit a BDSM sex club.

“Shhhhhhh!” Joanna said, getting even more
red as she looked around. “I knew I should have invited you to the
apartment, but Louise was there.”

“So, Louise doesn’t even know?”

“Louise knows.” Joanna glared at Amy. “But
she doesn’t know that I want you to hack Rex’s computer.”

“Why?”

“To get rid of the pictures he took of me,
while I was, um, there.”

Amy grinned. “There’s incriminating evidence?
Wow.”

“Shut up!” Joanna said, getting even more
flustered. “Can you do this for me or not?”

“Who else are you going to ask?” Amy teased.
“There are some guys down in the lab who would really be into this
job...”

“Stop it! Can’t I ask you a favor for once in
my life?”

“I guess that’s just it,” Amy countered.
“It’s never happened before so I’m off my game.”

“Very funny.” Joanna braced her elbows on the
table. “So?”

“You have to give me something to work with.
His name? His ISP? His email address? His home address? A credit
card number? Any data trail starts with a breadcrumb, preferably
more than one.”

Joanna rummaged in her purse, so freaked out
that Amy halfway thought this was someone impersonating her
composed sister. She put a piece of paper on the table with a
shaking hand. “This is his name and his home address. I got his
name off the mailbox there. God, I hope he didn’t see me.” She
reached out and grabbed Amy’s hand in hers. “Can you do this?
Really?”

“Maybe.”

“What do you mean?”

“Anyone who’s serious about their stuff
doesn’t keep it on just one hard drive.”

“So, you need access to all of his
computers.”

Amy sighed. “The problem is that he could
have stuff stashed all over the Internet.”

“You mean, so other people can see it?”

“Maybe, but he could also back up his data
all over the place. I have to think that someone who cares about
his photographs wouldn’t want to lose any of them.” Amy shrugged.
“The chances of finding every single file are slim. Unless he’s a
total moron about passwords and completely predictable.”

Joanna sat back, looking defeated. “He’s not
predictable. And he’s not a total moron.”

“Well, then you’re fucked, aren’t you?” Amy
chuckled at her own joke, even as she pulled out her laptop.
“Figuratively and literally.”

Joanna grimaced. “Thanks a lot. Your
compassion is underwhelming.”

“Is this about Mike? You don’t want him to
know about your sordid past?” Even saying such a thing about her
uptight sister made Amy smile. She’d met Mike at one family
gathering and had to admit that her sister had made a surprisingly
good score. Usually Joanna was more for reliability than looks, but
Mike was cover model stuff.

And she had to believe he would take a lot in
stride, especially the way he looked at Joanna. There was complete
adoration going on there, who knew why.

Joanna gave her a dark look. “He knows.”

“You told him already?”

“I didn’t have to.”

Amy felt her mouth drop open in shock. “You
mean, Mike was in on it, too?”

“They know each other. Mike knows. I just
don’t want the whole world to know.” Joanna reached for her purse.
“Thanks a lot for your help.”

Amy felt a bit sorry for her big sister. It
wasn’t as if she had any experience in getting herself out of tight
situations.

Then Amy recalled that this was about bondage
and realized maybe Joanna did. She giggled despite herself.

“Glad to have entertained you,” Joanna said
and got to her feet.

“Hang on,” Amy said, feeling a bout of
compassion. “Sit down and drink your coffee. You paid for it. Just
give me a minute and see if I can find anything for you.”

“Pity. Great.” Joanna’s tone was sour but she
sat down.

“No, I just want you to owe me big. And I
wouldn’t mind seeing the pictures.”

“Very funny.”

“I could get a couple of them framed for Mom
and Dad. It would add some unexpected spice to the gallery of pride
in the living room. You know, graduation photos, braces taken off,
first job, Joanna spread-eagle at a BDSM joint. It would give the
aunties something to talk about.”

“Not funny.”

Amy was already searching. She gave a low
whistle when she found Rex’s photo identification. “Very hot,” she
said appreciatively. “I didn’t know you liked dark meat, sis.” She
frowned. “Except, you know, that loser in high school.”

“Stop it. I didn’t even know at first.”

Amy blinked. “You didn’t notice he was
black?”

“I was blindfolded.” Joanna admitted with a
sigh.

Interesting. Her sister had surrendered
sexually to a guy, sight unseen. It was not the kind of choice Amy
associated with cautious Joanna. This was getting better all the
time. It was tempting to prolong the search just to get more juicy
details. Amy found it incredible that her sister had any secrets,
never mind one as good as this.

“Wait a minute. What loser?” Joanna asked
abruptly.

Amy had to think for a minute to remember
what she’d said. “Oh, you know, that guy that was always sweet on
you. He was such a goof. Skinny. Thick glasses. We joked that he
must have peed himself the day you interviewed him for the school
paper. Before, after and during. He certainly salivated.”

Joanna gasped and sat back. When Amy looked
up, her sister’s eyes were round and her hands were raised to her
mouth. “Reginald!”

“Mmm, see? He even had a loser name.” Amy
frowned at the screen as she tried to hack a password.

“He had green eyes,” Joanna said, all in a
rush. “Reginald had green eyes and I interviewed him for the paper
because he had won a photography award. He told me that one day
he’d change his name, because he hated the one he had.” She looked
across the cafeteria. “I forgot,” she said quietly. “I forgot all
of that.”

Amy stared at Joanna as she made the
connection. “You’re not telling me that this Rex guy has green
eyes, are you?”

Joanna nodded.

Amy went back to the identification photo and
saw that he did have green eyes. Then she exhaled. “I’ve got to
tell you, sis, that if this guy has been this crazy for you for
that long, I’m never going to find every single drive or back-up
where he has jammed these pictures of you. This will be major stash
for him.”

Joanna buried her face in her hands. “My life
is over. He’ll show those pictures and everyone will know they’re
of me...”

“Wait a minute. You have power over this guy,
Joanna,” Amy insisted, amazed that she had to explain something so
simple to her big sister. “He’s infatuated with you.”