Deep Blue

Chapter Six: Moonlight and Gravity

Gretchen

Needless to say, the bloody jacket derailed everyone's plans for the evening. Hawk charged off to find someone in authority to report what she suspected. I agreed with her trying, but I held little hope it would do any good. The odds that they would turn the ship around for a search and rescue mission were almost non-existent. Hawk would be lucky if they searched the ship for him.

Most of the group went with her, but Hawk asked me to keep an eye on the crime scene. That was good, both because she asked, and because while Hawk didn't need my help on this, Trish and I needed to talk.

I put my hand on Trish's arm and shook my head when she started to follow the crowd. "Let's find a place to sit where we can talk quietly."

Trish tensed up and nodded. She walked over to the closest lounge chairs that were under a working lamp and sat down. The inky pool of darkness was about twenty feet away but the combination of the moon and the man-made lighting made me feel safe enough.

Slipping into the chair next to her, I smiled. "There's no need to be so tense. It's just time to start talking about what's been going on and where the two of us go from here. Relax."

The young woman sighed and visibly relaxed. "I thought you were going to tear a strip off me for what I did during dinner."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that?"

Trish shrugged in a teenage fashion that I was really going to need to work on eliminating. "I don't know. Maybe because I was doing stuff that you didn't tell me to do."

My smile widened. "Trish, I'm your mentor, not your parent. As public displays go, that was pretty daring, and I personally think Lisa took more of a chance than she should have. However, she has her own kinks, and sometimes that makes her take what I consider to be unreasonable chances. However, that's not to say that I haven't done things that were chancy. Public sex has a thrill all its own. The things I've done in movie theaters would amaze you."

Trish nodded but didn't say anything.

"The important thing was that you looked to me for direction," I said seriously, "and you kept everything under wraps. If I'd thought it was getting too obvious, I'd have put a stop to it. Or, rather, I'd have asked you to stop. The question I have is would you stop if I told you to?"

She nodded back to me without a smile. "I'd do whatever you told me to do."

I chuckled. "That's another thing I think we need to talk about. I'm starting to pick up a trend in your sexual behavior, and if I'm right, we'll need to take some special precautions and lay out some ground rules."

"Like what?" she asked curiously. "Lisa said she thought I was submissive, and she wants to talk with me about it, too."

"I think Lisa is dead on the money," I said with a nod, "but I'd like to ask you some questions about it first. Let me start with saying that if you are a submissive, that isn't a problem for an escort so long as we take it into account during your training."

Trish looked relieved and watched me expectantly.

"In general, do you like doing what people tell you to do?" I asked.

"Not always," she said with the same offending shrug. "Sometimes it's something I don't want to do."

"Do you always do what you're told to do?"

"No," she responded. "If I really don't want to do something, I don't do it. If it's too much trouble to argue about, then I just do it to avoid fighting about it."

"Okay," I said with a nod, "when you get forced to do something, does it make you feel excited?"

Trish blushed and shook her head. "Not really. At least it never has before today, though this really wasn't force."

"So," I said slowly, "you get excited being told what to do during sex, but being forced to do something outside of that doesn't turn you on?"

She nodded. "Right. Like I told Lisa, something about being told what to do during something sexual turns me on. I think I'd say no if I really didn't want to do something, though. It's not like I have to do what I'm told."

That gave me enough information to start working on the bare bones of a training plan. "Then I think we can call your personal life more passive than submissive. There are going to be aspects of that we can work on to make you more assertive."

"You mean like helping me keep people like Skip from bullying me?"

I nodded. "Exactly. There's a time and place to stand your ground, and we'll help you find that backbone. The second half of what we're talking about now is sexual submission. That's also not an issue that will keep you from being an escort, as long as we get the boundaries set up right. Are you ready for a frank discussion about your sex life?"

Trish blushed again and nodded. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

I laughed. "Oh, give me a few months, and I'm certain that I can make you more ready to talk about sex."

She grinned prettily and nodded. "Probably."

"Sexual submission can come in a lot of flavors, but there is always the other side of the equation. The dominant. That's the person that tells or makes the submissive do what he or she wants to do in the first place. This is important because the real person in control is the submissive."

Trish blinked and opened her mouth to speak, but closed it in silence, thinking.

"If you look at it from the right way, you'll see what I mean," I said. "The dom is doing what the sub wants done for the sub's enjoyment. While some doms are sadists, those that are typically find subs that are masochists. A dom should be looking for any sign that the sub really doesn't want to do something. To help make that crystal clear you need a safe word."

"What's a safe word?" Trish asked.

"A safe word is something other than 'no' or 'stop'", I said, "because part of a submissive's enjoyment might come from being seemingly forced to do something while 'pleading' for the dom to not do whatever it is. So, the safe word needs to be something that isn't like that. An example could be the word 'orange.' There's not many chances that word's going to pop up during sex, so if you tell someone 'orange' then they know that you really don't want something to happen or continue and role-play stops."

"What's role-play?" she asked.

"Things like pretending to be forced into doing something. For example, at dinner you wanted me to tell you to do what Lisa wanted. You could've made that decision yourself, right? Why didn't you?"

Her face scrunched up as she considered. "Well... Part of me wasn't sure I should be doing it, and I needed my mentor to tell me if I should stop."

"Okay, I agree about that but you said it was only part of the reason. What was the rest of it?"

Trish sighed. "I wanted to feel like I wasn't in control," she said

"And the sex in the suite?" I pressed. "Sandy was directing you pretty firmly. Did you do anything you didn't want to then?"

She shook her head. "Well, maybe I wasn't quite ready to have Keven come in my mouth, but I don't think that counts since I wasn't really forced. If she'd told me to have real sex with Keven, I might not have wanted to do that."

"What would you have done then, if she had?"

"I don't know..." Trish said. "That's like peer pressure. I've never been good at resisting peer pressure. I'd have to have decided if I wanted to go on."

"Now you know when a safe word would come in handy," I said with satisfaction. "Orange is your word, and I'll make sure it gets around to all the people that you might play with. If you choose to have sex with someone else, I want you to tell me first, so I can talk with you. And, I recommend that you get into the habit of using a condom. That's critically important, and you must be firm. No condom, no sex."

Trish nodded and blushed. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet." She didn't sound too sure though.

"Perhaps," I admitted, "but if you change your mind a condom might be the last thing you're thinking about. That's why it's important to think about ahead of time. You've had sex twice now, and you didn't know it was coming, so to speak, either time."

Trish laughed at my pun, but nodded. "I just went with the flow."

"Did you enjoy yourself?" I asked quietly.

She promptly nodded her head. "Oh, yes. Both times, I got so hot I thought I was going to catch fire. Once I got past the initial uncertainty, I had a really good time and I don't regret either of them."

"Once was mainly with Keven. The other was solely with a woman. Are you attracted to both?" I asked.

"I never expected to get the chance to be with a woman, but I've had fantasies. You..." Her voice trailed off, and she swallowed, looking down.

"What about me?" I asked gently, lifting her chin. "It's okay. You can tell me anything."

When she answered, her voice was so quiet that I had to strain to hear it. "You're so beautiful. I was watching you from behind before we met and I thought my heart would stop. And since then, I've seen how much poise and confidence you have. That's very attractive to me and... it's one of the reasons I want to have you mentor me. I want... to be with you." By the time she was finished speaking, she was again looking down at her own lap and whispering.

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it. "Look at me," I said firmly.

She pulled her eyes up to meet mine and I could see the mingled fear and desire in her gaze. She was so beautiful herself. And so innocent. No, innocent wasn't the right word. Innocent girls didn't glorify in sex like she did. Sheltered would be better.

"You've done nothing to be afraid about or ashamed of," I said firmly. "I'm flattered that you think I'm beautiful and I think you are as well. In fact, there are many men who would find you much more desirable than me." Trish started to protest, but I placed a finger on her lips.

"Am I right in guessing that here were plenty of women at the restaurant that would have come with Skip?"

"Well, sure, most of them would have, but...." I cut her off.

"And are they all pretty?"

"Oh, yes! Most of them are much prettier than I am!"

"Really?" I asked. "Then why do you think Skip chose you, Trish?" She opened her mouth, but closed it slowly without saying a word. I could see her mind pushing rapidly down the road I had set her on and I saw the moment when realization hit her eyes.

"Yes," I confirmed, "Skip chose you because you really are that beautiful, that desirable. I really hate to say anything nice about that worm but he does have good taste in women and he is not the only one to find you beautiful or desirable." She read the message in my eyes and her own eyes widened. I nodded. "We will be together before too long, I think," I assured her. "We have a lot of training to do, much of it with it being just us, alone, and I wager you'll have a rollicking good time. But, that will happen when the time is right and at the speed you feel most comfortable with. If you feel rushed, all you have to do is tell me. If you feel like you need something else, tell me that, and we'll see about adding it to the training."

Trish smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you for taking the time to explain everything to me, Gretchen, and thank you for telling me that I am beautiful, too. I'm going to have to think about everything you've said, but I trust you, and if I'm going to believe everything you tell about becoming an escort, then maybe I'll just have to believe you when you say I'm beautiful, too!" Trish pulled me into a quick but intense hug, before pushing back, embarrassed, I thought. Instead, she gave me a smile so pure and so beautiful that my heart melted. I returned her smile and pushed back at the wave of emotion I felt.

"Leave everything to Gretchen," I joked.

"You have no idea how much of a relief it is to know I can do just that," Trish teased back. In spite of that teasing tone, I could sense the serious relief behind her words. I could tell that she wanted to change the subject, too. "What else do you want to know?"

"Well, since we're on the subject..." I said, allowing my voice to trail off. "This is more of a curiosity question," I said with a smirk, "so tell me it's none of my business if you like. You seemed really to be giving Hawk some interested looks."

Trish blushed again. "I like Hawk but it wasn't like I was all hot for her from the start or anything. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm attracted to women at all. Don't tell her," she begged, with tears starting in her eyes, "but she seems to be something between a man and a woman. I just had trouble nailing down my thoughts about her."

I zipped my lips symbolically. "She's a study in contrasts," I admitted. "It took me a while to pin down exactly how I felt, even though I love her dearly. She can be very man-like in some ways and surprisingly feminine at times. She's changed in the almost eight months I've known her, allowed her feminine side to develop, or maybe just displayed it more often, and relaxed more into that man-woman you saw a bit of. In some ways, loving her is like having the best of both worlds."

Trish smiled gratefully. "You're not mad?"

I laughed merrily and pulled Trish into a hug. "No. I'm glad you love Hawk. We all do, for our own reasons." I pushed her out to arms length and looked into her eyes. "Love is a wonderful thing, to be rejoiced over when anyone is lucky enough to have found it. So long as you don't try to come between Hawk and me we're going to be just fine."

Trish hesitantly pulled me into a kiss. That hesitation vanished as our lips melted together and I took control and kissed her long and thoroughly. When she finally pulled away, I was breathless.

"My, you are a good kisser!" I complimented her. "Thank you!"

"Thank you," she said shyly. "You're really good yourself. What do we do now? Wait for everyone else? Go back to the suite?"

"For now, I'd like to just lay back here with you and listen to the ocean," I said softly. "Do you mind?"

Trish shook her head and slid over to make room on the lounge. She looked uncertain of the logistics of two women sharing a lounge chair.

With a smile, I slid down beside her and put my right arm under her head. That gave her a reference point that she was familiar with, and she immediately curled up beside me with her face on my right shoulder. Her body molded against me and those magnificent breasts pressed solidly against me. Her soft, sweet breath tickled my cheek, and I firmly had to remind myself that I didn't need to get carried away and start necking with her again. That would come in good time.

I remembered having Hawk in a very similar position many times, but Hawk preferred to be in the one in position of being curled upon. I sighed and smiled at the memories and the bright emotions they raised inside me. Belatedly, I realized that I was stroking Trish's hair. I almost stopped, but in the end, I let myself go that far.

The silvery, rippling shimmer of the moon on the water calmed me, warmed me. The moon was like a part of all women and I, too, felt it's siren call. The face of the moon wasn't full, but the crescent still took control of my senses. The connection was almost palpable.

I was about to comment to Trish about how the moon touched women in such a primal way when I heard her first soft snore. Lying curled against me; her hair spread all across my shoulder, my apprentice had gone to sleep.

In the silence, I held her and let the peace and trust lay across us like a blanket. It wasn't that I loved her like I loved Hawk. It wasn't even close. My love for Hawk was a towering pillar of strength, but it didn't engender the kind of gentleness I was feeling right now. In my mind, I heard a song. The hauntingly beautiful voice of Enya sang May It Be to me, and I felt my soul soaring. Softly, I mouthed the sweet words to the night and to the dozing Trish.

I'd almost dozed myself, warm in a sleep haze of satisfaction, when I heard a noise. It was the scrape of a deck chair on the deck. I rolled my head to the left, and there was a young black man, dressed in dark shorts and a similarly dark tee shirt. He was good looking, in a young way, though he could lose those birth control glasses and be better for it.

"Excuse me," he murmured, walking past us with a smile that seemed... unnatural. Too normal for the long glance he gave two women cuddled together in a lounge. Men were pretty predictable when you got down to the basics of how they reacted to women in various settings. Most men would stare, like he did, but with a lot more of a smile. Two women together touched some genetic trigger in them and they couldn't help but show it. The ones that would smile politely, also promptly looked away. This guy did both.

I mentally shrugged. I was probably an idiot even to think I understood anything about men. I should just be happy he didn't denounce us on the spot or ask to join us. That brought a smile to my lips.

Then I heard the deck chair move against the deck again. I frowned and looked back to the left, into the dark where the lamp was out. I guess the noise hadn't been the other guy. The moonlight relieved the darkness there enough that as I focused, I finally saw a figure on its hands and knees on the deck, moving slowly around. What the hell?

"Trish," I whispered.

She didn't even twitch. Great. I couldn't wake her up without alerting whoever that was over there looking around what might be a crime scene. Hawk would have a cow if someone screwed it up while I was watching. She'd damned well want to know who was over there, too. That person had either missed us lying here, or thought we were asleep or didn't care if they we spotted them. What the hell were they looking for?

Gently and slowly, I slid out from under Trish and put one foot on the deck. I slid my shoes off so I could move quickly. So far, the lounge hadn't made any noise, but I knew that would change when I got up. It was going to make more than enough noise to alert whoever was in the dark when I stood, so I'd better be ready to haul ass.

The lounge creaked loudly as soon as I stood up and the figure's head came up sharply. I broke into a run toward him or her. "Hold it right there!" I shouted. "Don't move!"

The figure's head turned, looking for an escape route but there was no way out that didn't include crossing through the light where I could see them. I'd trapped them! Hawk was going to be so pleased with me!

My glee faded when I slowed to a stop at the edge of the darkness and the figure exploded into motion, grabbing a lounge chair and using it as a wedge to slam into me while denying me any view of him or her. The force of the impact sent me staggering backwards into the rail. I grabbed for the rail as I slammed into it and screamed as the force of the impact smashed the top bar into my lower back, and I rolled backwards. The world rotated crazily and then all my breath whooshed out of me as I slammed into the rail and the side of the ship.

The impact knocked one of my hands loose and I twisted crazily in the wind, hanging over the dark water by one hand. My left arm refused to do what I told it and it hurt like crazy. My fingers were slipping and I knew I was going to fall. I was going to die.

I screamed again as my fingers slipped and I began the long plunge to the sea.

I had a split second of incredible fear while I watched Trish throw herself headlong at the railing. She made a slide across the deck that destroyed the front of her dress in a desperate bid to catch me. Her head smashed into the metal rail as I fell past her, and suddenly she had me by the wrist.

When I jerked to a halt and slammed into the side of the ship again, my breath exploded out of me. I struggled to hold onto her hands even as I slipped until her hands were only holding my fingers.