[Author's note: Alice is married to James, a professional football player who has found himself at a loose end after retiring from the sport. After attending a charity auction in which she was outbid for her own husband, Alice and James have been blackmailed into service by Jodie and her upper-echelon friends. They have no choice but to do her bidding, letting Jodie pimp James out to clients, otherwise she will release the videos she took.]
---
DOMINANT
Jodie got in contact the next day, giving me a time and a place to meet. She told me not to be late. That was it, after everything we'd been through, after taking on four women in one night: just a single line message. I went alone, leaving James with the boys. I took a little grim delight in denying her the opportunity of close contact with my husband.
Jodie was waiting for me at a restaurant on the high street, sitting at an outside table in the shade of an umbrella. The timing was odd: meet at a quarter to one in the afternoon. The situation was odd too, beckoned to take a seat opposite her, but no place laid out for me. My confusion must have shown.
"You're not staying, Alice," she told me, "I'm meeting a friend here at one, might as well kill two birds with one stone."
She inclined her head, eyes fixed on me.
"So," she continued, "What did you learn from your little encounter?"
I kept silent.
"Did you learn what happens if you decide it's okay to cross me?"
Her lips twitched in a tight smile.
"We can make this as hard as you want, Alice, but in the end I'm always going to win. You have absolutely no leverage in this situation."
"Are you sure?" I fired back, to which Jodie laughed.
"Zero, and less and less every passing day. Have you figured that out yet? The videos of you two, that was just the start of it, a taster, to get you to do what I want. We're way past that now."
"That's what I want to talk about, Jodie. I want to know how we get those videos back. What do we need to do?"
"You want to do a deal? Did the little party in the spa change your thinking? Do you want to do a deal now?"
"I want to know what it would cost."
Jodie unlocked her phone and tapped on the screen. She placed it on the table in front of me, showing a video of two figures fucking on a couch.
"You can have these back for free, Alice. Is that going to make you happy?"
My eyes snapped up from the screen to her face. She was smiling at me.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. They were useful, but they've served their purpose," she replied, her tone light and conversational, but then she leaned closer.
"You see, Alice, I have something a lot better now."
I shuddered, seeing something dark in her eyes. A cold dread crept through me.
"Like what?"
"Can't you guess Alice?"
"No."
"I have your bookings."
I shook my head. "I don't understand," I replied.
"A sex tape, let's face it, is quite embarrassing. But, it's survivable, especially with your husband being a sportsman. His colleagues have done a lot worse over the years, it's a low bar. Even if he'd become a drinker, found himself pulled over to the side of the road over the limit, that's survivable. If he'd gotten himself mixed up in drugs, which is pretty common with athletes, it would make an awful scene."
Jodie paused, and I found myself genuinely afraid of what she was going to say next.
"A magazine piece, maybe even a talk show segment, you could eventually draw a line under all those things. A great deal of harm to your reputation, your family, his future career prospects, but survivable."
"Just get to the point, Jodie."
"Yes, good idea. The point, Alice, is that there was a way through all this, provided you had a high tolerance for the damage that would ensue. But now, we're a long way past that. Drinking, drugs, that's all one thing, and eventually yesterday's news, but not what you're doing now."
"And what is that?" I growled, struggling to keep my voice low and even in a public place.
"You're pimping your husband out for money, Alice. You're advertising his body for sex. What kind of woman would do that? Is she a good wife, or a fit mother?"
My mouth dropped open.
"That's right, Alice, you've gone from virtuous wife to pond scum, and that story will stick to you forever."
"And so are you," I hissed, "You're in the middle of all this."
"Oh, I don't think so. I meet up with you for coffee occasionally, or bump into you out shopping. The ad in the High Life section goes to an untraceable email address. I'm as shocked as everyone else that you're living a secret perverted life as a sex slut. You always seemed so normal, but then, it's always the quiet ones, isn't it?"
Jodie shook her head in mock disapproval.
"Why are you doing this to us?" I grated, feeling my voice shake.
"Well, as you know, it's not about the money, Alice. For my amusement, I suppose. Talking of which, Marielle was glowing in her praise of your husband. Well done. I take it she paid in full?"
I nodded tersely.
"Then I'll take my agent fee. Fifty percent. You brought it, didn't you?"
"I thought this wasn't about the money."
"It's not. It's about the look on your face as you hand over my cut."
Jodie placed a hand on the table, waiting. It took me several long seconds to dip into my handbag and pull out a small envelope. I slid it across the table to her and she covered it with her hand.
"I have your next booking. Friday night. Her name is Phoebe. I'll send you the details, and I know you'll do a good job."
Jodie hesitated, her hand still on the envelope.
"How did you enjoy your little dress-up, by the way?"
"You mean that maid costume. It was cheap and awful."
"I bet you were quite the picture in it."
I sat back, folding my arms, determined not to give her any more ammunition. The costume was still vivid in my memory: the way it stretched over my body, the cheap synthetic fabric tight against my skin, the humiliation of the hemline barely covering my crotch. Jodie was clearly revelling in my discomfort, pondering something. She pushed the envelope back towards me.
"Don't you want it?" I asked.
"Take it."
"Why?"
"I think I should invest a little, maybe rectify a problem."
"What problem?"
"You."
Jodie's finger waved in my general direction.
