I did - until the sun woke us up. Sleep that is. Gotta ask Shade if she can have the drape dudes fix this so they close automatically at night because somehow the two of us are ... it just doesn't get closed.
Neither do your
... Honey, I'm sorry! Go take your shower and don't worry about Libby ... oh shit! Wait! What? Hey angel, where did you go?
My Monday costume waited for me, as ever, after my shower. Kim had coffee and toast waiting. I wondered what the hell my angel meant. Both of them had shown up out of the blue. Coincidence? I was beginning to think like the cops in novels I read: There
is
no such thing! Kim stared at each of us. We never made eye contact but I could feel the vibe between us. I saw the little itch of a smile at the corner of her mouth. How cute! Shade stuffed the leash in her purse, kissed Kim goodbye; I did the same. We got to the office without much delay. Shade dropped me off in the garage and told me to expect a call on my office extension at about ten. We kissed warmly. I headed to the elevator and the office.
At about 9:15 Stacy breezed in with a smile and a cup of coffee. She babbled, I wrote a one word note, babbled and laughed. We met in the ladies room and closed the door behind us. We hugged. God how I missed her! I whispered my warning, felt her stiffen, then nod. We agreed to pass notes between us as we could. High end espionage right?
The phone rang at ten. "Put your phone on speaker. Don't say a word!" Shade's voice was cold. I did what I was told. I heard voices. Shade's was unmistakable. The other took a second ... Libby? No way!
Shade: There have been three calls about this. I agreed to meet you to settle this once and for all.
Libby: I'm sure I've been a pest, Shade, but I have my reasons.
Shade: (a harsh laugh) True. You have a business to run!
Libby: I'm not sure what you mean.
Shade: Really? You've called three times. Each time you asked what the rate was for a night with Destiny. I told you it wasn't possible yet you persisted. You asked for this meeting. I want to know exactly what it is you want.
Libby: Just what I asked for. How much?
Shade: No sale. There is no rate. The fundraiser was a one time thing. I don't pimp out my sluts.
Libby: Apparently not. You probably know that I know Destiny from high school. I was shocked to see her, couldn't believe what I was seeing, and
had
to win the bidding to get to spend a night with her. I don't normally do that sort of thing either ... in my personal life or in my business affairs.
Shade: Of course you do. You run a high-end escort service. You pimp out women to any and all who pay you whatever the rate is for whatever they want. Now I want to know exactly what it is you're after.
I was in shock. When she dropped me off this morning Shade told me to lock my door when she called. Thankfully I had. I was a sobbing, hysterical, mess a minute into this. Libby was silent for a bit, then continued.
Libby: All right Shade. I want to buy Destiny. Outright. Including any videos, stills, whatever you have on her. I want you to sell Destiny to me. I want a relationship with her, one we could never have had all those years ago. One that's possible now. This new her, this not so new me.
I had stopped crying; I stared at the phone in shock and disbelief. Libby? Who are you? Buy me? Relationship? What did Shade know? She had baited Libby somehow. What else is there Shade?
Shade: There's more you're not telling me. Relationship? Doubtful, but let's get deeper. What exactly is this business you keep babbling about? Some backroom bordello? Some small-time call girl scheme you float from city to city to stay ahead of local vice squad operatives?
Libby: You're a good one to moralize, Shade. An insurance business run by a dyke who turns women for her own pleasure, using them for your own ends, turning them into pawns, preying on vulnerabilities, taking their clothes, cars, homes, furnishings ....
Shade: Enough! Yes, you're right, though not about all of it. My girls get to leave as promised. Dawn chose to. Destiny will make up her own mind when her twelve months are over. You, on the other hand, run a very different kind of business. Fill in the blanks for me won't you?
Libby: I'm into more than just submission and servitude. I like inflicting pain. There's a market for it. Those who enjoy it will and do pay big money, really big money, to see it. Others enjoy having nights with a woman to do with her what they will. It's fabulously successful. I want to add Destiny to my stable. What's the price?
Shade: In a minute. You enjoy this you say? You enjoyed your liaisons with Destiny so much, think so highly of your old friend, are attracted to her so much that you want to buy her and turn her into another of your pain sluts? That
is
your end game isn't it Libby?
Oh my god! She knows!! Shade knows I've been with her. Oh fuck, the phone? Oh my god!
Shade: Your silence confirms what my investigators found! There have been instances where first responders to 911 calls have found injuries and worse. I was furious when I discovered your background, what you do to the women in your so-called enterprise. Worse still, what you allow others to do to these women!! I'm surprised the FBI and Interpol haven't gotten to you yet.
Libby: (voice cold) I'm well protected, bitch. Fuck with me and ....
Shade: And what, you fucking cunt! And your precious Destiny will be hurt? Worse? Really? You can't get to her, can't touch her. No one can. She only knows you as her high school chum. She has no clue about who you are.
My head was on my arms as the curtain was being peeled back. I'd never heard anything that cut me as deeply as what I heard my Shade say to Libby. It sickened me to hear Libby talk about me in such cold, clinical, disgusting terms.
Shade: You have only one choice: Cease and desist. There is no other. I have provided those who need it with evidence that will bring you down! This is not a threat but a statement of fact! I know people. Statements have been given, affidavits taken. Warrants have been readied and await a judge's signature.
I heard the sound of a chair scraping, heels clicking, and then, Shade's voice: "It's over lover. See you in a while." The line went dead. I punched out the phone and sat, stunned. It just wasn't possible. Elizabeth McGuire Sanders, my Libby, could
not
be what I heard. My Libby and I had made the sweetest love two women could. Sorry Shade; sorry Stacy. Yes, Libby scared me half to death with what she'd whispered. But what Shade said? A business enterprise? Trafficking in terror, abuse? What didn't I know? What were the phone calls about? I was terrified and skeptical.
Skeptical? The woman on the other end of the phone call lured me into signing a year of my life over to her. I mean come on now!! But what I just heard ... it was Shade taking Libby on, firmly telling her no, and more. She said she had investigators. Was she protecting me? Had she gone to such lengths for
me
? I thought about the conversation I'd heard, the words. 'My girls get to leave as promised.' 'You enjoyed Destiny so much you want to turn her into ...' I couldn't bring myself to say the words. They were too horrifying. First responders to 911 calls? What on earth
had
she uncovered? Why? Whatever she'd done it seemed to have frightened Libby enough to leave. Was Shade protecting her investment or her Destiny? I needed to know. I had to find out. Right now I needed Stacy!
I buzzed her on the intercom and went to the rest room. I heard the door open and the soft knock on the stall door. She looked at my tear stained face, red rimmed, puffy eyes and hugged me. Held me, hugged me as I sobbed against her. Held me as I let all the fright, the shock, the terrifying words I'd heard from someone I thought, maybe, I could love. Oh yeah, that too. The rank embarrassment of being so naive to think she actually cared about me.