On the Saturday following my tryst with Janice, I was puttering in the garage, moving some boxes that contained Christmas decorations, consolidating others in preparation for the annual neighborhood Spring yard sale. Though that was still months away, I had empty hours to fill. I was on third call (or back-up to the back-up) to the hospital. Odds were exceedingly small I'd be called in, but it meant I couldn't make any plans or else the gods of call would be angered, and I'd spend my day in the OR. I wouldn't even chance going on a run. Carly had taken the kids to Target to make exchanges on some gifts that didn't fit in one way or another.
The mundane task of straightening the garage left me time with my thoughts and my guilt. As amazing as my experience with Janice had been, I still couldn't believe I had put myself in such a position. I was potentially in deep do-do on multiple levels. Most importantly was with my marriage. In 14 years I had never been any more unfaithful than a little drunken kissie-face with a nurse anesthetist at a company Christmas party. The following day my wife assured me only she knew about it and she was willing to let it slide. But she did warn me that she'd have my balls if it happened again. I was pretty sure what happened with Janice was castration-worthy.
Then there was the issue of my professional standing. Brandon, my partner who followed the surgical assistant into the women's locker room, received a letter of reprimand in his company file. He was on notice: One more incident and he'd be out of the group. My tryst was consensual--I don't think Janice could argue otherwise--but my actions were certainly more extreme. At best, I'd be the brunt of ridicule from my partners and potentially everyone who worked in the OR. I couldn't even be sure that Janice wouldn't say something to one of her colleagues.
Then there was Janice. Though lower on my list of concerns, the hospital would consider her behavior as grounds for termination. Since the Me Too movement, the hospital had a zero-tolerance policy. Nurses had been fired for less than what we had done. Nor did I know what Janice's home situation was like. Sure, if I was to believe her, Tom demanded that she expose herself to me. But did those commands dictate that she proceed to blow me? She was incredibly aroused. Did I need to worry about his finding out? At least, with that threat and the one from the hospital, I could probably count on Janice not saying anything to anyone else.
So with these thoughts coursing through my head and with being on-call, I knew it wasn't good when my cell phone rang. Fishing it out of my pocket, I didn't recognize the number. Probably a nurse calling on her private cell to let me know somebody's grandma had slipped on the ice. Hopefully that's all it was.
"Dr. D--, how can I help you?"
"Eric. How you doing?" I didn't recognize the voice. And I nurse wouldn't use my first name. Maybe a surgeon making the call instead? "It's Tom S--."
Shit!
I swallowed hard. Other than the one dinner at our home, Tom and I had never spoken. He had only one reason to be calling me now. "Hi Tom. How can I help you?"
"I was wondering if you and I could have a conversation," he said assuredly. But Tom was always a confident guy.
"Suuuure," I responded dubiously.
How to play this? Act confused? Denial? Put it all on Janice?
"What's on your mind?"
"It's--uh--it's not really a topic for a phone call. I was wondering if you'd come to the house today."
Ugh. Not good.
"Well, Tom. I am on-call. So today's kind of shot. May--"
"I understand," he interrupted impatiently. Not a man used to not getting his way. "It needn't happen today. But it is going to happen. And probably the sooner the better."
I wasn't going to be able to get out of this. And with Carly gone and me on call, I could probably get it out of the way without her knowing. She'd think I was just called in to the hospital. So, after getting the address, I assured Tom I'd be at his home in an hour after a shower.
"Oh, and Eric? Could you bring your checkbook?"
Huh?
I wondered why I would need my checkbook. Actually, that's not right. I immediately knew I was going to be asked for money. The question was if he could actually blackmail me. The dark tone with which he made the request told me it would be foolish to disobey him without learning more.
Â-----
And hour and ten minutes I was pulling up to a gated driveway in the most exclusive neighborhood in the city. Al Unser was Tom and Janice's neighbor. Minutes later, having driven down the longest driveway I'd ever seen, I was ringing the doorbell.
I damn near swallowed my tongue when it was answered by a young woman in a French maid's outfit. Not a costume. An actually uniform. Black dress with white trim and collar, white apron, white hat. The whole nine yards. The only things out of place were her 3" heels and the skirt's length. Not obscenely short, but short enough to occasionally expose the tops of white thigh-high stockings. I wondered if she had a feather duster.
The woman herself was young, mid-twenties at most. She was also short, maybe 5'3" if that, and very curvy. Large breasts stretched the confines of the tight-fitting dress. Her waist was amazingly narrow, and her bottom caused the skirt to flare considerably. A perfect hourglass figure. In other words, the physical opposite of Janice. Her golden blonde tresses were tied up in a loose bun, her make-up simple. She smelled nice. "Hello Sir," she said. I was disappointed that she didn't have a French accent.
"Um--" I stumbled.
Not exactly smooth, Eric
. "Tom's exp--"
"Yes, of course. Right this way." She led me to a library off the home's large main hall. The room was impressive. A large desk, bookshelves filled with legal books and novels. The room was warmed by a fire in the hearth. It was almost too warm. The maid took my coat. If I wasn't dreading the meeting, I would have been envious.
Tom sat in a leather chair, one with high, overly-large arms, reading in front of the fire. A matching chair sat on the other side of the hearth. Tom stood and extended his right hand with a broad smile. "Welcome. Glad you could make it. Can I get you anything?" He had the maid, Claudia, bring us coffee in the library before discharging her. Tom caught me staring at the young maid and smiled, "Impossible figure, don't you think? We're lucky to have her."
He gestured to the other chair as he returned to his. "Please, I don't want to take up too much of your Saturday," he said with genuine affability. "I understand from my wife that you and she had a..." he paused, seeming to look for the right word. I was surprised he hadn't already practiced his speech. "...an interaction at work this week." He waited for me to fill in the silence. Smart man. But I was smarter; I wasn't going to offer any more information than necessary.
I had no misgivings that Janice hadn't told him of our shared intimacy of the previous Tuesday. He had commanded her to do so. He had to have known that she told me about the piercings and chastity belt. He most likely knew she had shown me. But I didn't know what else he knew, that she had given me the most amazing blow job I'd ever had or that she had shoved her tongue in my ass. I couldn't imagine he would have felt too good about having kissed that mouth afterwards. So I kept quiet and waited for him to continue.
For his part, Tom composedly smiled and leaned back in the big chair. "I understand your reluctance. You don't know what she's already told me, and you don't want to get either of you in trouble. Please understand that your actions are truly inconsequential. Janice was, as you know, doing my bidding. I find no fault with you at all. So please..."
I gave a mealy-mouth answer, talking about my seeing her choice of accessories. Or maybe I should say his choice. Still he wanted more, and I wasn't offering.
Was he getting off on his wife's infidelity?
More likely it was on her distress over having been on display. He seemed to read my mind.
"Claudia?" he called out to the hallway. "Could you bring Bella in for me?"
"Bella?" I asked. I was disoriented.
Was he talking about Janice? Or did they have a dog?
Tom stood. I joined him, expecting a large golden retriever to bound into the room.
"A pet name, if you will. It'll become clearer with time. Bear with me," he concluded as the library door opened. Claudia entered, holding a dog's leash stretched tautly parallel to the floor. At the other end was Janice! So utterly surreal was the scene that I didn't know where to look first.
The leash split into a Y, with the ends of each branch clasped to the small D-rings piercing Janice's nipples. Pulling her exposed breasts away from her body, the leash's tension suggested Janice's reluctance to enter the room. Furthering her misfortune, she was incapable of covering herself. A black armbinder trapped her arms behind her, pushing her breasts prominently forward. A long, leather collar kept her head held high, and a ball gag filled her mouth.
As she was led across the library floor, I noticed that Janice was prohibited from normal walking by thick, leather cuffs joined by a series of carabiners. This limitation, and Claudia's cruel impatience, allowed Claudia to pull Janice into the room by her breasts. The best Janice could do was to painfully shuffle behind.