This story contains one of my favourite characters and I hope that you like her too!
Suffering in Submission!
Chapter One
The noisy chirruping of a text arriving on her phone nearly made Vespa take her eyes off the man who was attacking her. His hand was raised high and just beginning to lash out towards her head when she moved as swiftly as a striking snake, grabbing his wrist and turning it away from her. At exactly the same time, her hip moved against his thigh and she rolled him over her leg, stepping back as he thudded down onto the mat, breath rushing out of his body as he landed heavily.
"Bloody hell, Vespa, I thought I had you there for a moment," Jack grumbled as he started to gingerly pick himself up.
"In another ten years, mate. You still need to work on keeping your balance as you move forward into an attack or your opponent will use that weakness against you! I'll see you next week and we will work on balance and focus!"
Vespa, curly red hair clinging to the back of her neck with perspiration, watched her client shuffle away towards the changing room. He'd have a few bruises in the morning and so would she possibly, she decided, though not from her encounter with Jack. She sidled over to her phone and frowned slightly, green eyes narrowing thoughtfully as she saw where the text had come from. Her old boss, Colonel Tim Danvers, now retired from the military police after an encounter with an improvised explosive device when he had been chasing a sergeant smuggling in heroin from Afghanistan. What did he want this time? Her last involvement with his new security business had resulted in a fair bit of mayhem to say the least and her pulse quickened at the idea of being back in the thick of the action for a while.
Vespa glanced around and winced. The gym was looking its age and, although it paid its way reasonably well, especially when her private lessons were taken into account, there wasn't really enough left over to update it. She needed to invest in new, state-of-the-art machines to get the youngsters to flock in and the changing rooms definitely needed an upgrade, she decided as she headed towards the women's locker room to grab a quick shower before she went out for the night. Getting some money for helping out her old boss would certainly be useful! Jack sloped past her and she nodded, wishing him a goodnight as she pushed the door open and stepped inside, phone still in her hand.
After checking that the room was empty and doing a quick tidy up of the floor, Vespa sent the colonel a reply to his text message, announcing that she would call on him in an hour or so then she stripped off the judo gi jacket and trousers she was wearing, placing them carefully on hooks before she removed her sports brassiere and plain cotton knickers. The mirror on the far wall reflected her slim figure back at her and she turned sideways and stared at her breasts, feeling the nipples harden into life as the cool air flowed softly over them. Still jutting out rather than drooping, Vespa decided, cupping both breasts gently and feeling for lumps as she walked towards the mirror. Her stomach was as flat as a washboard and her skin pale like milk, the curse of her red-haired genes but the abundance of fiery curls at the juncture of her groin always drew her lovers' eyes and she smiled at the memories of fingers, tongues and deliciously-buzzing implements exploring her there before she turned round, spread her legs wide and then bent over and peered at her bottom cheeks. Muscled and firm yet with a little bit of bounce and jiggle and also incredibly pale, shining like alabaster in the harsh spotlights above her. Soon to be darkened, Vespa thought with a smile as she walked away from the mirror and into the showers.
Twenty minutes later, slim figure poured into a little black dress that ended at mid-thigh and barely covered her breasts, Vespa left the locker room, found her leather jacket and leggings and pulled them on. Grabbing her helmet and gloves, she set the alarm, locked all the doors then headed outside into the cold, crisp air. It was early April but unseasonably cold and there had been flurries of snow throughout the day; something that was rare on the south coast to say the least! The weather men and now occasional woman had promised that it was going to warm up soon but Vespa took their promises with a pinch of salt! Zipping up her jacket completely and wiggling her head into her helmet, Vespa hurried over to her motorbike and started it up, enjoying the feeling of the powerful engine throbbing away between her legs.
Slicing her way easily through the sparse traffic, Vespa kept the bike hovering just ten miles an hour above the speed limit as she cruised down the motorway and out of the city towards the colonel's house. As the bright lights sped by, her mind flickered back to her time in the military police, the redcaps as they were commonly known. She had signed up straight from school, eager to escape her drunken mother and her succession of sleazy boyfriends, many of whom who had seen Vespa as a vulnerable target once her mother had passed out on the sofa. Face snarling underneath her helmet at the memory, Vespa raced on into the night as she fought against the images that floated through her mind.
"Virginia Vesta, come and be nice to Larry now," her mother's drunken voice echoed through Vespa's brain. What had the woman been on when she had christened her daughter? Weed, cocaine or just her usual alcoholic mix of vodka and orange? Vespa had changed it the day she had got to eighteen, choosing the unusual Vespa instead as it suited her waspish personality. No more taunts of 'virgin' to follow her round school and into the army; a claim that hadn't been true for many years anyway due to the attentions of her mother's boyfriends. Had it been Larry? Vespa's green eyes misted suddenly with tears as she remembered the ripping pain as the fat man had huffed and puffed above her. Blood had trickled down her legs afterwards as if she was having a period and she had scurried into her tiny box of a bedroom and hidden herself away under the duvet, hoping that the dull ache would disappear. It became regular with him and then the next one too. Did they sniff out her weakness? Did they move in with her mother so that they could have the opportunity to have Vespa too?
The sign flashed by abruptly and Vespa braked hard and edged the bike into the inside lane, signalling as the turn off approached rapidly. Slowing down even more, she headed up the slip road and then took the first turning off the roundabout at the top, accelerating away smoothly as the road straightened up. Trees flashed by on either side as Vespa headed into the forest, keeping her speed relatively low just in case some deer or suicidal donkey was standing in the middle of the road. One never quite knew in the New Forest which, just to belie its name, was close on a thousand years old. A village sign flashed by and Vespa slowed further, knowing that the entrance to the colonel's impressive old manor house was not far away. Another few seconds passed and then she turned off the road and crunched up the long gravel drive before she brought the bike to a halt and turned off the engine.
The heavy front door opened before she even ascended the marble steps and the colonel's wife, Amanda, stood there, tall, blonde and slim but with that deep sadness still lurking in her blue eyes as a result of seeing her man come back from Afghanistan disabled.
"He's in his office, Vespa. Would you like a drink?"
"No, thank you," replied Vespa, air-kissing Amanda quickly before she headed past her towards the colonel's study.
"Come in," shouted her ex-boss a second after she had knocked and she pushed the oak door open and walked in, sitting herself down on the comfortable leather chair in front of the imposing, antique desk.
"So what's so important then, colonel, that you dragged me all the way into the dark, spooky forest to see you?" Vespa inquired, forcing herself to look straight at Danver's scarred face.
It had been handsome once but now a jagged scar trailed down one cheek whilst pockmarks from shrapnel pitted his forehead. The worst injury was out of sight though as he was behind his desk: his left leg had had to be amputated and now the colonel, determined not to be always confined to a wheelchair, often got around using a prosthetic leg. Vespa knew that she would have felt sorry for herself and sunk into depression but Tim Danvers had thrown himself into setting up a security business which, despite the harsh economic conditions, was doing well. Every so often, he had a job which he threw Vespa's way and she was hoping that the emergency telephone call meant that he had a paying proposition for her.
"You know that my eldest girl is at the local university?"
"Helena? Studying medicine, isn't she?" responded Vespa, wondering if the girl's choice had been influenced by her father's injuries.
"That's right. Doing well too. Anyway, she came to lunch at the weekend and we could see that something was worrying her. Eventually, Amanda nagged her enough so that she would tell us what was on her mind."
"Going to be a grandfather, are you?" remarked Vespa with a grin.
"No, no!" stated Danvers emphatically, face looking rather worried at the prospect. "Nothing like that! Helena was worried because one of the students on her course had vanished."
"That can't be that unusual, can it? I imagine that students get fed up and leave all the time."
"Not foreign ones who have travelled all the way from Sweden to study to be a doctor. Helena had got quite close to this girl, Astrid. They had talked several times and Astrid had said that it had always been her dream to become a doctor and then go and help people in developing countries. Apparently, she had no family left in Sweden as her parents had died in a car crash about three years ago and she had no siblings."
"Perhaps she found it tougher than she thought it would be?"
"Not according to my daughter. She reckoned that Astrid was top of the class and really enjoying the course."
"So what do you want me to do?" asked Vespa even though she already knew what he was going to say.
"To investigate please. Just poke around and see what you can find out. There might be a simple explanation but I know Helena is worried and therefore I would like to put her mind at rest."
Vespa sat back in the chair and thought for a few moments before she asked, "What about her room? I assume that she was living somewhere?"
