Risk Versus Reward Ch 20

Author's Note

Risk Versus Reward is a prequel to Girl Friday and focuses on the story of Karin, the 'H.R. Lady' who provided Charlotte's rather unique interview experience when she was hired. You do not need to read Girl Friday to understand what's going on in Risk Versus Reward. But if you enjoy this story, Girl Friday should most definitely be on your reading list.

When we last saw our dear heroine, Karin, she had been left in a sweaty heap, still bent over the headmistress's desk after being thoroughly used by Doctor Moreau. Left on the desk with her were a contract for employment at The Academy, and a diamond studded collar. The message was clear -- sign the contract, put on the collar, and belong to Doctor Moreau.

But the girls at The Academy always have a second option, they are always free to leave at any time. Which path will Karin choose?

I hope you enjoy Karin's continuing story.

WaxPhilosophic

*

Chapter 20: Mulling It Over

I felt my unfocused gaze being drawn to the twinkling diamonds that decorated the collar left on the desk by Doctor Moreau. Before she left, she had laid out my choices for me on that polished wood surface. I didn't need the cartoon girls on flat panel monitors to know what they were -- that I had exactly two -- I could pick up the collar and fasten it around my neck before adding my signature to the printed job offer underneath it, or I could pack up and leave The Academy forever. The last option was not stated overtly of course, but it was always there, and had been since I walked through the front door what seemed like so long ago.

"Miss Hendricks, please schedule me an appointment with that petite redhead, the wonderfully demure little thing ... oh, what's her name? Celia. Yes, that's it, Celia. Make me an appointment with her. I'd like to keep my options open in case this one's not up to the task."

"Yes, ma'am."

Doctor Moreau must have been standing right next to the door and apparently didn't realize that I could hear her entire conversation with Headmistress Hendricks with astonishing clarity. Either that or she just didn't care.

Was that supposed to be her way of motivating me to make a decision? A little competition for the position? And what the fuck is up with this keeping her options open bullshit? What happened to us being made for each other?

It didn't take me long to figure it out. She had played me. I'd been used, and I was still being used. Moreau talked a good game, turned on all the charms, but only when it suited her and advanced her agenda. In reality she didn't give two shits about me. I was nothing more than a kinky plaything for her sadistic appetites, and she would continue to treat me like some sort of lab rat, a specimen to be experimented on for as long as I stayed with her. I would be at her beck and call every moment of the day just like Headmistress Hendricks, except instead of scheduling appointments and officiating over midnight rendezvous I'd be scheduled for brutal experiments until I either transcended or was worn out and left in a shivering sweaty heap.

I should have been smart enough to get up and walk out that door with my head held high, never to look back at The Academy ever again, but I didn't. Moreau had done such a number on me in the time that I'd known her that I began to doubt myself. I started to wonder if I would ever be good enough for Desi or Betty or anyone else to ever want me. I know it sounds pathetic, but unless you've been there it's impossible to realize just how attached you can become to someone who treats you the way Doctor Moreau treated me -- the constant yo-yo of emotions, the heights of pleasure to the depths of despair and self-loathing -- it takes a toll.

I started to sob. I needed Desi -- my butt cheeks were hot and stinging, my pussy was sore and my nipples were throbbing -- I needed Desi to come to my rescue, to kiss me and tell me that we would be together and that everything would be OK. I needed that more than anything.

I got Headmistress Hendricks instead. "Oh, dear," she said as she came through the door. "Oh, dear."

And for a while she said nothing further, just stood there with her hand covering her mouth and her eyebrows all knitted up in a look that said more to me than any words possibly could express. I could just imagine what I must have looked like to her, still collapsed over the top of her desk, stinking of sex with my thighs gaping and waiting for more. But there would be no more. Doctor Moreau had discarded me again. She was done with me and had tossed her kinky little marionette back into the corner to collect dust until she was ready to play again. I choked back my next sob and sniffled a little. Headmistress Hendricks was right there with a tissue and a hand on my shoulder

.

Miss Hendricks left me momentarily and returned with a blanket that she draped over my worn out husk of a body as she continued muttering words of dismay at my present state. I focused on the blanket. It was one of those super soft faux sheepskin throws, the ones that always seem to go on sale as door-buster deals around the holidays, and it felt cozy and warm against my bare skin as she wrapped me in it and scooped me into her arms and onto her lap. My bells jingled faintly as she did, and it made me think of Christmas -- how fucked up is that? -- but it was an Academy version of Christmas where Santa wears a lab coat and comes down the chimney with a strap-on and bag full of lab instruments and misery, the bitch.

I sobbed again.

"Oh Karin." She paused and just stroked my hair for a while. "Can I get you a nurse, Honey?"

I sniffled. "We have a school nurse?"

"Well, yes. Miss Chowdhury is certified in first aid and CPR as well as being a registered dietitian."

I wanted to burst out laughing, and I might have on any other day of the week -- any day that I hadn't been shivering and clinging to Headmistress Hendricks so I wouldn't slide off into a heap on the floor. As it was I just barely managed a small

humph

. I could just imagine Miss Chowdhury swapping her sexy chef's coat for an equally tempting nurse's outfit, snapping on the rubber gloves and offering to give me the once over while her jiggling bosom tested the seams of her uniform. I could almost smell the alcohol as I pictured her sterilizing some giant rectal thermometer while she tossed back one martini after another.

"No thank you, Miss." I laid my head on the headmistress's shoulder while she cooed and fussed over me. "But -- um -- could you help me with these bells? I know they're going to hurt coming off and the way I feel, I just don't think I can do it myself."

"Certainly, Dear." She kissed my forehead and for the moment my shivering subsided. "Just squeeze my hand. It'll help. I promise."

"Yes, Miss."

I don't know how much the hand squeezing helped, because it still hurt like a sonofabitch when Miss Hendricks opened up those cruel jaws, and I sucked a sharp breath as the blood-flow surged again, but without the thrill of the endorphins this time. I squeezed hard against her hand, and she didn't complain even though I was afraid I was hurting her fingers probably as much as those godforsaken clamps were hurting my poor tits. Though eventually everything calmed down to a general throbbing while she held me to her breast and picked up stroking my hair again. I snuggled into that blanket and neither one of said anything for several minutes.

I was the one to finally the one to break the silence. "I'm done here, aren't I?" I said. "My Academy days I mean. It's over."

"That's really up to you dear."

Up to me? What about that psychotic doctor who built this place

--

pulling my strings while lurking in the shadows on her quest to find the perfect submissive

--

didn

'

t she have the final say?

I couldn't imagine staying here knowing that Moreau would always be just around the corner -- that one day I'd be heading to Contemporary American Literature and I'd see my face plastered across every flat-panel in the hallway with another lost kitten caption. I couldn't live like that.

"I just don't think I can do it anymore, Miss. I'm sorry."

"Oh Karin." Miss Hendricks wrapped her arms tightly around me and gave me a big squeeze.

As I was losing myself in her hugs again there was a small knock on the door. I turned just enough to see one of the bespectacled lab-coat girls striding toward us. It was Elena. I did my best to give her a smile, but I don't think I pulled off a very convincing one, particularly since as I tried I felt a tear escaping the corner of my eye and making its way down my cheek. I sniffled and did my best to not look like such a complete wreck in front of my favorite happy-ending masseuse.

I was still trying to get my shit together when Headmistress Hendricks pulled pen and paper from her desk and began writing. "This is a three-day pass," she said, "excusing you from any coursework. Take some time to decide what's best for you." She slid the pass over to me. "Elena has graciously volunteered to put you up at her apartment so you can have some peace and make your decision without distraction."

I really didn't know what to say. This was a side of Miss Hendricks that I had never seen before. So I sat there dumbfounded until Elena reached out with her hand.

"Come on, Bubala. I take you home."

How could I say no to that? The delightful Elena and her cute little Eastern European accent. I couldn't. I kissed Headmistress Hendricks on the cheek and stood up to shuffle along behind as Elena strode purposely toward the door. I kept Miss Hendricks' blanket wrapped around me as I left her office. She didn't seem to broken up about it, and I figured worst case I could always buy her a new one at the next holiday door-buster sale.

* * *

Elena had been good enough to provide me with a thigh-length coat to wear on the way over to her apartment and I shrugged it off almost as soon as she turned to close the door. It took me a second of her staring at me to realize that outside of The Academy's walls most people probably did not walk around naked all day long. I started to pull the coat on again. It was either that or the blanket I had pinched from Headmistress Hendricks' office.

"Is OK Karin. I get you some clothes if you want." Elena wandered deeper into the tiny apartment while I stood staring longingly at the couch.

"These are Carly's," she said, handing me a pair of gray sweatpants and a t-shirt along with a bulky dark blue University of Michigan hoodie.

"You and Carly are together?"

"Not together, just roomies as you say. Though she spend all her days with new boyfriend lately."

"Huh," I said. I guess I had figured Carly for a girl's girl, what with her thumbs and advanced technique with the happy endings and all, but I guess I was wrong. Elena saw the look of confusion and set me straight.

"Carly had girlfriend last week. They break up. Now it is boy." Elena threw up her hands in a shrug. "Love is love, is it not?"

"Um, I guess." It wasn't that I didn't believe Carly could be equally attracted to either sex, it's just that calling it love after only one week seemed a little rushed to me. Though I wasn't exactly the best judge of character these days after riding the tsunami of emotions ranging from home cooking with Betty on Saturday, to almost falling prey to Doctor Moreau's wicked charms again on Monday.

"You can have couch if you want, or Carly's bed. She probably not come home."

I faced Elena and draped my arms gently around her neck. "Thank you," I said and kissed her. I was aiming right for her lips, and fortunately for my pride she didn't back away, but rather slipped her arms around my waist and pulled me close for a warm hug. I wound up landing on her cheek, and soon got the idea that maybe I was being a bit too forward.

"I'm sorry," I offered as took a step back. "I'm just a fucking mess right now. I really appreciate you letting me stay here. You're a good friend."

Elena clasped my hands in hers and squeezed. "I am taking massage class. Did I tell you that? Magic fingers one-oh-one Carly calls it. It is OK I practice on you?"

I barely managed a nod when she had me spun around and was already going to work on my shoulders. "Elena," I sighed, "I think I love you."

She gave me a gentle squeeze and I could feel her breath tickling the back of my neck.

So there I was in Elena's living room, in much the same position I found myself in while I was with Moreau in Miss Hendricks' office only about an hour ago, but with one big difference -- I didn't mind Elena being this close. I wasn't set on edge by feeling her breath on my neck and her hands on my bare skin, and I didn't have to be worried that she was trying to trick me into doing something I didn't want to do. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

Elena was running her hands from my shoulders down my arms while I was recalling the technique that Carly had taught me before, the one where I imagined all my tension leaving my body through my fingertips. I definitely had my share of tension to get rid of today.

"Maybe tonight we order pizza and watch Downton Abbey marathon," she whispered, "or Peter, Paul and Mary reunion concert. I forget which one is on. Is pledge week on PBS. Always show good stuff for pledge week."

Elena didn't see me, but I found myself grinning over her childlike wonder for the programming on our local public television station. It was just what I needed after the hellish roller coaster I had been riding recently. After weeks of thinking of Mistress Nguyen only as a wicked P.E. teacher who loved squat-thrusts possibly more than life itself -- well that and her obsession with being my girlfriend Desi's personal tormentor -- I find out that she's actually quite a sweetheart. Who would have thought, Betty Nguyen, tracksuit wearing, crop wielding sweetheart. But she was. And my own sweet-smelling mocha-skinned angel had turned out to quite possibly be the devil incarnate. So to be asked to make a decision between British period drama or some gray-haired old folk singers seemed like the least of my worries.

"We can watch whatever makes you happy, Elena."

My answer earned me a surprise kiss on the back of my neck and a warm hug to go with it.

"I'll buy the pizza since you're letting me stay here and all." Just then a dark thought crossed my mind that made me pause. "Except all my money is in my Academy spending account."

I frowned as I thought about my account. It wasn't a huge amount of money, but it was all the wages and gratuities I had earned at the club, plus all my Academy-provided incentives for doing things like regular bikini waxes and such. At least that was one thing that Moreau's operation got right. But it was all just numbers on a ledger until I graduated, and I just knew she would freeze the account as soon as she learned of my absence. That fit so well with her controlling personality.

"I imagine that's probably gone by now," I said.

"Not gone." Elena turned me around to face her again. "Is in escrow. That is what Miss Hendricks say. Though I don't know what it means."

"It means she's a good woman, Elena." I took Elena's hands in mine and pulled her toward me. I was hesitant, not knowing if I would be rebuked like last time and get the cheek, but I decided to go for another kiss. This time I was successful and pressed my mouth to Elena's for a long lingering lip-lock. And in a way that only Elena could pull off, she had the cutest little response for me when we finally parted.

"Since you don't have pockets, maybe I have to check all the places you can keep money." She pressed her hand between my thighs as I stood there grinning like a fool. "You might hide some in here. So you get out of paying."

"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking." I squeezed Elena's ass in return, just in case there was any doubt that I was interested.

"But you let me massage you first, OK Bubala? You have lot of tension. Too much tension not good for happy ending." Elena hooked her pinky finger in with mine, ushered me off to her room and gestured for me to lie upon her double bed.

I was still on edge from my encounter with Moreau, but with every run of Elena's magic fingers over my bare skin I felt a little more tension leaving my body -- through my fingertips. Yeah, she must have learned that technique from Carly, either that or the two of them regularly compared notes on just what it takes to transform me into a useless mass of jelly, because I found that I was quickly melting into Elena's bed. This is what I needed. This is what Doctor Tina Moreau never seemed to understand -- the part of the relationship where she builds me back up. She was so skilled a releasing my animal passion, but she always forgot that I needed help to feel human again at the end of it all instead of just being left in a heap somewhere to figure it out on my own.

Elena could teach Moreau a thing or two about humanity.

So gentle and so caring.

Elena tugged on my fingertips, releasing a little more tension with each tender little pull. And she smelled so good while she did it, like flowers.

Lavender, that

'

s what I smelled.

My angel had brought a little bit of heaven with her as a gift to me in the form of lavender-scented massage oil.

"Elena," I muttered, "I love you."

"

Hmph.

You only say that because you want happy ending."

I snickered briefly at her retort, but soon settled back into the business of following the journey of Elena's magical fingers in my mind. It was a long and lingering route that she took from the backs of my thighs, up over the curve of my buttocks, all the way up to the base of my skull, and then over my shoulders and down my arms to end with that gentle tug on my fingertips. And the tension did indeed leave from there. I felt it departing.

"Mmm," I mumbled. "I'm happy already."

I couldn't see Elena's reaction because my face was buried in her sheets and my eyes were closed, but I imagined her smiling with a cute little twinkle in her eye. And while I pictured her angelic little face I let out a long languid sigh. I was so relaxed I was close to drooling.

Wouldn

'

t that be a hoot. Elena invites me over and what do I do?

--

I leave a puddle of slobber on her bed.

I didn't have much time to dwell on it though, because my mind was quickly slipping away. My body had already checked out for the day, and with Elena's hands on me and my eyes closed, I was finished --

kaput

as Elena would say. I imagined her sweet little voice whispering the word, its gentle vibrations tickling my ear. And then just like that, I was out.

* * *

I awakened quite some time later. There was no clock that I could see, but sunlight streaming low through the window had an orange cast to it and I could hear the faint harmonies of nineteen-sixties folk songs traveling through the air from the other room. I smiled. Elena had settled on Peter, Paul, and Mary's reunion concert after all.

"She's alive!" I heard.

I blinked a couple times before the image of Desi standing at the foot of Elena's bed came into focus. She was wearing a long coat, but it was hanging wide open in the front so that I could see it was all she wore. The late afternoon sunlight glinted off the silver ring in her left nipple like a badge, and she looked to me like some sort of exhibitionist version of Inspector Clouseau. Well not exactly, but close enough to bring a smile to my face.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hi yourself, girl. Heard you got yourself expelled."

I snickered. "Well not exactly. It was kind of a mutual decision. Technically Headmistress Hendricks gave me an excused absence. I still have three days to think it over."