The elevator pinged cheerfully as it dispensed Sophie in the reception of J.B. and Fox's offices. Her heart was pounding and she felt nauseous as she forced herself to step out of the lift before the doors could close and carry her away to safety.
"Morning, Sophie," Maddie called from behind her desk.
"Hi," she replied, smiling weakly.
Maddie laughed as Sophie walked up to her desk. "Wow," she said. "Someone looks like they had a busy weekend!"
Sophie wanted to tell her what she had seen. She wanted to say that she had barely slept because she had been worried sick about the future of her internship at New York's top law firm after she had walked in on her boss fucking someone in his office, but she didn't. It was her word against his and it was pretty obvious whose side the company would take in that situation. She clung to the hope that Mr Adams might just pretend like it had never happened, but really she suspected he was already looking for an excuse to cut her loose and with it, any future she might have had at the company.
"Nothing interesting," she lied. "Just up late studying."
"Well don't forget to give yourself some time off every now and then!" Maddie said, half scolding, half teasing. "I'm taking you out for drinks later this week, alright?"
"That sounds fun," Sophie said, not wanting to say that she probably wouldn't be working with Maddie anymore by the end of the week.
"Do me a favour?" Maddie said, passing her a file over the desk. "Take these to Accounting would you? Oh," she added as Sophie took the files and began to head for the offices. "Mr Adams wants to see you this morning as well. Something about a weekly review."
Sophie's stomach dropped, her knuckles turning white as she instinctively tightened her grip on her handbag. She forced a smile onto her face and nodded, not trusting herself not to burst into tears if she spoke, before hurrying into the office. She dumped the file that Maddie had given her with George in the Accounts department before retreating to the relative safety of her desk. She leant on the back of her chair, taking several deep breaths as she fought to control her nerves. The office was mercifully quiet and most of the small team of paralegals that she shared the main floor with weren't in yet whilst those that were were already too engrossed in their work to notice her unease.
Her computer screen lit up, a pop up in the bottom right screen notifying her of a new email. It was from Mr Adams. The subject line read simply: Tick-tock, Miss Jones.
She swallowed. Standing up straight and smoothing down the front of her expensive grey dress. Time to face the music.
She walked out of the main office, crossing the atrium with it's stylish waiting areas and soothing water features. Adams' office was on the far corner of the building, boasting stunning views of Central Park and the city's incredible skyline. The glass walls were frosted as she approached and the door was shut. She took a moment to compose herself before raising her fist to knock once on the glass.
Adams opened the door almost immediately, his emerald eyes unreadable as he studied her expression. "Good morning, Miss Jones," he said calmly. "Please, take a seat."
Sophie stepped past his broad frame, catching a hint of his woody cologne as she did so. Her eyes darted to his desk, the memory of the woman bound to the legs by her ankles and wrists as Adams whipped her still fresh in her mind as he closed the door behind her. She took a seat on the leather sofa opposite the desk, looking straight ahead as Adams leaned back in the armchair beside her.
"Miss Jones..." he began.
"Please don't fire me, Sir!" she blurted out, unable to stop herself. "I swear I wont tell anybody what I saw! This internship means everything to me and I don't want to lose it over something like this!"
For a moment she thought he was going to tell her to get her things and get out of the office then and there but then his lip twitched ever so slightly and she saw his shoulders relax. "I am not going to fire you, Miss Jones," he said calmly. "You are a very capable young woman and you have already begun to earn your place here.
Relief flooded Sophie's body as his words sank in. Her fears melted away and if she had been standing she thought she might have collapsed. "Thank you, SIr," she managed to say.
"I called you in because I wanted to apologise to you," he said. "Alexandria enjoys an element of risk when we are together and I did not realise that she had left the door unlocked when she arrived. Needless to say I expressed my displeasure with her actions..."
Sophie shifted, playing with the hem of her dress as she always did in uncomfortable or embarrassing situations. "I shouldn't have walked in without permission, Sir," she said. "I just assumed you had left for the day."
He nodded, waving a hand dismissively. "A fair assumption," he said, sitting back in his chair. "I will make sure that she does not repeat this stunt next time."
So there was going to be a next time? She blinked at his frank response, unsure what he was expecting of her now.
"You must have questions," he said calmly. "Ask me anything and I will tell you the truth."
She licked her lips, struggling to meet his gaze. She thought of Alexandria bound to the desk and the flog that Adams had held in his hand. BDSM wasn't something that she was particularly familiar with but the memory of the scene had stuck with her as clear as day.
"Is Alexandria your wife?" she asked.
He laughed and shook his head. "God, no," he said. "We can barely stand each other most of the time!"
She frowned. "I don't understand..."
"She's a friend," he said. "Nothing more. We both enjoy similar tastes and find each others' company to be a suitable outlet."
"So your friends with benefits?" Sophie said, speaking the words without thinking and almost immediately regretting them.
He laughed. "In a manner of speaking. We have an agreement between us."
Sophie nodded, though the transactional way in which he spoke about the relationship left an odd feeling in her stomach.
"I don't expect you to fully understand," he said. "It is certainly not a traditional relationship."
"Is she your sub?" Sophie asked.
He raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by her use of the term. "No. She occasionally enjoys being dominated as you saw, but she is primarily a dominatrix herself." He steepled his fingers as he looked at her and cocked his head. "I must admit, I did not expect you to know these terms."
Sophie shrugged, feeling her cheeks flush slightly. "There's a girl in our dorm who's into this kind of stuff," she said. "I've never tried it myself..."
He nodded, his eyes twinkling as she caught herself before saying more. "I see," he said. "Well, I hope that we have cleared the air between us. If you have any other questions then feel free to come to me. In the meantime, congratulations on your first week and keep up the good work, Miss Jones."
Sophie smiled, recognising the cue to leave. She stood and shook Mr Adams' hand, thanking him as he opened the door for her. She walked back to her desk in a substantially better mood than when she had left it and settled down into her chair and got back to work.
The week passed uneventfully, with Sophie splitting most of her time between the office, her classes and whatever extra bar shifts she could pick up to cover the enormous dent that had been left in her savings by her new work wardrobe. As such she had very little free time but whenever she had a moment to herself she found her mind drifting to the conversation she had had with Mr Adams earlier in the week. She still didn't fully understand his relationship with Alexandria but she was curious to know more about how it worked. She tried to Google some information but between the seemingly endless stream of porn and dodgy looking websites that came up, she found it all too overwhelming. She considered asking Katy if she had any experience but knew that would lead to some awkward questioning so in the end decided she would see if she could speak to Natalie, the girl in their dorm who she knew had some experience of BDSM.
It was late on Thursday night and she had just got in from the night out that Maddie had promised her. She wasn't exactly drunk but was definitely lightheaded as she stumbled down the hallway to her door when she saw a light coming from Natalie's room. She paused before finding herself knocking on the door.
"Sophie?" Natalie said with a frown as she pulled open the door.
"Hi, Natalie," she said with a wide smile. "Can we talk?"
"Er... Sure," Natalie said, pulling open the door. "Come in."
Natalie's parents were rich but she was the kind of girl who didn't go around shouting about it. She had one of the single dorms with its own bathroom and enough space to comfortably fit a desk, wardrobe and bed whilst still having floorspace. Natalie herself was tall with short black hair and wide eyes. She was dressed in ripped jeans and a low cut black top and was obviously halfway through putting on her make-up.
"Are you going out?" Sophie asked as she took a seat on the end of her bed.
"Dan's got a gig downtown," she said, referring to her boyfriend who played drums in a rock band. "Jen and I are going to watch them play."
"That sounds like fun!" Sophie said. She'd heard Dan's band play at a couple of student parties before and they had always been really good.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
Sophie twisted the hem of the little black dress she was wearing around her index finger. "I was wondering if you could give me some advice? I've... Met someone, and they're in to bondage and stuff and I've never done anything like that."
