"Mr. Reynolds." The private investigator I had hired shook my hand as I slipped into the other side of the booth. His expression and the manila envelope on the table did not bode well for this meeting. "I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you."
I regarded him with a smirk. "I wish I could say I was shocked and surprised but, obviously, I hired you."
"Do you want to see?" he asked.
I was torn. I didn't really care about the details, but I should see the evidence before I confronted Laura with it. "Yep, let me see it."
The Pulitzer Prize was safe for the time being. What these shots lacked in artistic merit, they made up for in capturing the facts. "Glenn." I should have known. I never trusted him as far as I could throw him, but, still, it was disappointing.
"This should give you plenty of leverage when you file for divorce."
I pitied the PI sitting across the table from me. His voice was so very jaded. "Yep, but is that really what I want to do?" I was going to need some time to decide, and to do a little research.
This was going to be an interesting meeting. Two weeks of searching the internet had yielded a single lead worthy of follow-up. I had skipped out of work at 3:30 to see if things were going to work out. I stepped up to the large house and rang the doorbell.
The man who answered the door had a touch of grey in his brown hair. "Mr. Reynolds. Welcome. I'm George Williams."
"Nice to meet you."
"Come in. Come in." I moved into the foyer. This guy had all the charm of a used car salesman. He was starting to creep me out. "I know you're a busy man. You probably want to meet Alex right away."
"That would be great." George led me into what I presume was some kind of sitting room. The two ladies occupying the room were not sitting. They were kneeling on the floor in the center of the room, fingers interlaced in front of them, feet crossed behind them, knees touching elbows, foreheads on the rug, and their asses in the air. 'So that's what 'diamond position' looks like' I thought. Oh, one last thing. They weren't wearing a stich of clothing.
"This," George said, pointing to the platinum blonde, "is Michelle, and this," pointing to the brunette, "is Alexandra. She's the one you were interested in." My poker face was getting a workout. I felt like I just got a straight-flush off the initial deal. 'No cards for me, thanks. I'll just play these.' "This envelope contains the result of her latest checkup, including an STD exam. I'm sure you would like to get acquainted. We'll leave you alone." I'm pretty sure he just told me to have my way with her. "Alexandra, you will follow Mr. Reynolds' commands as if they were my own. Michelle, come." Michelle jumped up quickly and followed George from the room.
Time to kick the tires. "Alexandra, please stand at ease."
"I'm sorry, Master, I don't know what that means." 'Master'. I guess I'll have to get used to that.
"Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and clasp your hands behind your back." She was quick to comply. When she settled into position, I realized she was pretty in the face. I examined her slowly. Her finger nails, her hair, her lips. I'd like to say I avoided looking at her naughty bits, but I'm a guy, and she was naked. Sue me. "Please open your mouth." Her teeth were nice. Wait! What am I doing? Buying a horse? "Thank you. Please close your mouth and look at me." Lovely brown eyes. "Alex. May I call you Alex?"
"You may call me anything you wish, Master."
Crap! Take control, John! "Are you aware of your situation?"
Her eyes instantly filled with tears. "Yes, Master. My Master is looking for a new master for me."
Crap! What is it about cryin' dames that turns a guy's resolve to mush. I took Alex's hand and led her over to the couch. I sat down and grabbed her by the hips, guiding her to sit in my lap. "Let's try this again. What is your full name?"
"Alexandra Elisabeth Fulton."
"Hi Alex. My name is Jonathan Maxwell Reynolds. How did you come to be in Mr. Williams' service?"
"My father died of cancer when I was 13. My mother used the insurance money to pay for my college. She died in a car accident driving home from my graduation. I was alone and adrift when I met my Master. He took me in and gave me structure. He ordered my life and kept me sane. I've been with him for twelve years now." The tears started to well up in her eyes again.
And now George Williams was casting her aside. This guy was an asshole. "Alex, my wife is having sex with another man behind my back. It seems to me we have something in common. We have both been betrayed and abandoned." Alex sniffled, trying to hold back the tears. "Will you follow my command, Alex?" She nodded her head. "Cry with me." I let the tears flow as I hugged Alex around the waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck as she sobbed. We cried and cried, and got it out of our system. When we had got ourselves back together, I said, "I think we can work this out, Alex, but I don't know what I'm doing. Will you help me be a good master?"
She nodded her head, both of us reluctant to let go of each other. She said, "The first thing is to never admit to your submissive that you don't know what you're doing."
The grin that crept across her face was infectious. "You little SCAMP!" I punctuated my admonition with a firm smack across her backside.
"Oh! Master is learning." I think we've got a keeper here.
"Come live with me, and be my love, and we shall all the pleasures prove."
"Yes, Master."
"Although I expect we will prove a few pleasures Marlow didn't even consider."
"There is nothing new under the sun."
"Touche! I think we're going to get along just fine. Please go find Mr. Williams so we can conclude our business." My eyes were glued to her sweet backside as she got up and left the room.
When George, Alex, and Michelle returned, I had almost gotten used to the girls being naked. "Have you come to a decision, Mr. Reynolds?"
"Alex and I have come to an agreement."
"Fantastic! Alexandra, I shall miss you terribly. Goodbye."
"Wait. Wait." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Surely it will take some time for her to gather her things..."
George didn't disguise his condescending look. "Everything she HAD is mine. And now, everything she HAS is yours. Goodbye."
"How much to rent her room for the night?" George turned around slowly as I pulled my wallet from my back pocket.
"One hundred dollars."
I handed him five twenties and turned to face Alex. Her eyes had filled with tears again. "You are now mine. You will spend the night here. You will have all of your things packed before you go to work tomorrow. Here is my card, and here is forty dollars for incidentals. You will call me tomorrow from work and we will coordinate exactly when you are to arrive at my house. Do you require anything else to accomplish the tasks I have assigned you?"
"She will need some clothes to go to work in tomorrow," George piped in. I handed him sixty dollars more.
"I expect that to buy me a respectable wardrobe for my new pet, rather than you taking a pile of clothes to Goodwill." I needed to get out of here before I punched this guy. I turned back to Alex. "My cell is on that card. You will call me if any need arises that you feel needs my input. I will see you tomorrow, Alex." I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her soundly before I walked out the door.
"Hi, Sweetie. How was your day?"
"Uh!" Laura almost made it to the table with her armload of stuff. No sense in making two trips when you can make one and drop half the stuff you're carrying half-way to your destination. "If I wrote everything down that goes on in that office and submitted it as a script to a soap opera, they'd reject it as not believable," she sighed.
"Sounds like a tough day. I'm sorry, Sweetie."
"I'm gonna change my clothes and walk the dog."
While she was gone, I pulled out a few things for our little talk. Two manila envelopes. After she returned and gave the dog a treat, the smelly little freak came over and jumped in my lap like he hadn't seen me in ages. I scratched his butt and rubbed his chest and then put him back on the floor.
"Laura, come here a minute."
"What is it? I was going to fix dinner." She came into the living room drying her hands with a dish towel.
"I need you to take a look at what is in this envelope."
She's good. If I didn't know she was cheating, it would be hard to detect the signs of trepidation in her manner. As she thumbed through the pictures, a few tears slid down her face. "Why aren't you yelling at me?"
I'd been working on my answer for three weeks now. "You obviously aren't satisfied with our relationship. Neither am I. Now that you have surrendered the moral high-ground, things are going to change."
"You're going to divorce me." A fresh batch of tears has started making its way down her face.
"Actually, that's my last resort, unless, of course, you want to go ahead and end it. I must warn you that my lawyer is primed to try and put you in the poor house." Minimal reaction from her. I bet she's played this scenario out in her mind since she started cheating on me. "I would also do my best to try and destroy Glenn's life." I let her stew for a while on that one. "Do you want a divorce?"
"No."
"What do you want?"
"I want things to go back to the way they were."
"That's not going to happen."
"What IS going to happen?" She met my eyes for the first time since seeing the pictures.
"First of all, I've opened a new bank account in my name only at a different bank and my paychecks are being directly deposited to that account."
"But I've gotten better about my spending!" she pleaded.
"Yes, you have, but that's like saying 'The democrats realize they have to cut the budget, too'. When we got married, you said you wanted to control the finances. I was naive enough to think we had the same ideas about money. Combining our bank accounts was one of the worst mistakes I've ever made. That mistake has now been rectified."
"How are we going to split up the bills?" Laura asked.
"Since I make three fourths of our income, I'll pay three fourths of all the bills. If you make a purchase for the household and want to be reimbursed for it, save the receipt. I'll to the same," I replied.
