F/Stop
20
Family Matters
“Adrienne” by Egor Mayer, ID1748843939 licensed from Shutterstock.com
MONDAY MORNING—not too early—I took Adrienne out to breakfast at That Scottish Café. Several people I knew had seen us the night before when we went to the Windsor House for dinner. None were brave enough to approach and ask who the incredible dish beside me was. I knew that wouldn’t be the case at the Café. This was a regular breakfast spot for many of the actors and crew on the theatre’s dark day.
Sure enough, we’d only just ordered when Kathleen and Damien came in and directly approached our table.
“May we join you? Thank you,” Kathleen said sitting next to Adrienne without waiting for a response. Damien turned directly to me.
“Nate, who is this exquisite creature seen on your arm last evening and once again at breakfast this morning. Don’t you know that people will talk?” he asked.
“I do hope so,” I said. “What would life be like in such an intimate community without a little gossip?”
“That didn’t answer the question,” Kathleen said, offering her hand to Adrienne. “I’m Kathleen and this is Damien. We know his reputation in the studio, but the studio rules say…”
“No sex in the studio and no dating models,” Adrienne completed.
“Damien and Kathleen, may I present Adrienne Baudelaire? My mistress.” Kathleen gasped.
“Just like that? You have four girlfriends and the makeup artist and the other photographer and that beautiful model from Chicago, and now you have a mistress?” Kathleen asked.
“It’s not just now, as in brand new,” I said. “And actually, I should say our family’s mistress. I just happen to be enjoying her company before she is claimed by Anna.”
This time it was Adrienne’s turn to gasp a little. Her grip on my hand under the table tightened and I did my best to soothe her.
“Adrienne, dear, you may tell Damien and Kathleen anything you’d like about our relationship without fear. These are friends and I brought you here especially so you’d meet them. I’m hoping Damien will help us get good tickets for a few shows in the next couple of weeks.”
“Yes, Nate,” Adrienne said demurely. Then she smiled a megawatt smile at Kathleen and Damien. “I’m pleased to meet friends of Nate.”
“Happy to meet you, Adrienne. Of course we’ll help get tickets. Or anything else,” Kathleen said. “Are you here for the summer?”
“No. Only for two weeks. I’ll try to talk Nate into coming to LA again for a week before the summer is over. We haven’t discussed that yet.”
“LA?” Damien asked.
“Yes. I live in West Hollywood and try to watch over some of Nate’s interests there,” Adrienne said.
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. What kind of interests do you have in LA, Nate?” Damien asked.
“Uh… Not much, really. I’m consulting on a movie they’re making. It’s about a photographer. Adrienne is actually consulting on food and fashion. Most of the time. It’s wonderful to have her beside me when I go out to meet with the production team, though.”
“We’ve talked some—please forgive me, Adrienne. I’m not trying to ignore you—but you’re twenty years old, Nate. How were you ever discovered to be able to consult on a Hollywood movie?”
Our food arrived and Damien and Kathleen ordered, interrupting the flow of conversation a bit.
“Adrienne, maybe you know better than I do how I was chosen for this,” I suggested. “It still baffles me.”
“Yes, Nate.” She turned her incredible personality on Kathleen and Damien. “Nate was discovered by some influential patrons in Chicago when he was still in high school. If you visit his studio, you will see a couple of the photos that brought him to their attention. He won several state and county awards for his photos, including best of show at the Illinois State Fair. Over the course of watching his development as a photographer, his patrons came up with the idea of making a movie about him. They approached a sponsor in Las Vegas who agreed with the concept and hired a production crew to form a company and explore the idea.”
“So, the movie is about you?” Kathleen asked.
“Not really,” I said.
“The Executive Producer, who put up the money for the project, became a patron of Nate’s art and has purchased some of his photos. He insisted that the movie not be about Nate, but could use Nate as a resource for the process he uses and the way he relates to models,” Adrienne said.
“Oh, then it won’t be a movie they let children into, will it?” Kathleen laughed.
“Definitely not,” Adrienne smiled. “That was how Nate and I met. The Executive Producer also sponsored my sojourn in the United States several years ago and said he would dearly love an art piece that featured me. Nate and I worked together on how to fulfill the desire and in the process fulfilled a few of each other’s desires. I followed him home like a lost puppy and he was kind enough to put a collar on me.”
She proudly lifted her head so Kathleen and Damien could see her black and sparkling collar.
“Nate, you amaze me at every turning,” Kathleen said.
“And me,” Damien agreed. “Both Bridget and Daniel brought their art photos to the theatre to show to their colleagues. Both incredible works. Adrienne, as much as we are able, the theatre is supporting Nate’s work here in Stratford by sending people to him for portraits and by shuffling off a bunch of old and tattered costumes and props that we don’t have room to store.”
“Oh, that will fit with the Attic Allure style wonderfully,” Adrienne said. “I hope something will jump out that will inspire a new photo of me.”
“My sweet, I’ve no doubt that we will uncover another treasure,” I said. “So, Damien and Kathleen, now you have the details that will allow you to either quell any gossip or inflame it. But for the next two weeks, Adrienne will be seen frequently in the company of our family members—one at a time or all at once or in any combination.”
“With that beautiful collar, I don’t think the rumors will need inflaming,” Kathleen said. “Adrienne, is there a chance we could go out for tea sometime and just chat about what your life is like?”
Adrienne turned to me and raised an eyebrow. I nodded.
“Nate and his family are my first priority,” she said. “But I’m delighted to meet and spend time with his friends.”
“How about acting? Are you available to audition?”
“No, I’m afraid not. A job like that would interfere with the performance of my other duties when I am with Nate and his family.”
Adrienne was like a walking advertisement for Attic Allure. In many ways, Stratford is not a city. It is huge by Tenbrook standards, though I’m sure Chicagoans and Los Angelenos would consider it quaint. But in certain circles, the rumor mill is as fast as in Tenbrook. Scarcely a day went by without someone coming into the store and asking about a studio appointment. I think some of them came simply hoping to catch a glimpse of Adrienne.
And I did take pictures of her. When she saw the picture of Min, she got very excited.
“Our sponsor would love to have a picture of me made up like that,” she said. “I’m sure there are actors in Hollywood who would want one if they saw this.”
“The makeup isn’t my design or anything. I just assisted. I loved doing the photography and helping Min remove her makeup. I could probably do something like the black and white tracery, but not a character like Min the Gold,” I said.
“Will you be able to do one when you get back to Chicago?”
“I think Leanne and I will want to collaborate on some more of these. She has quite a sketchbook of designs. And I hope I’ll get better at putting the makeup on. I’m taking a class in it this fall.”
“I’ll have a wonderful excuse to come to Chicago, then. As soon as you can arrange something, I will come to be your model.”
“Right now, I’d like to try you in this fairy gown. I think it was used for a fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or something like it. I think you’ll look ethereal.”
“Please dress me up as you wish.”
That was a pleasant task that took all day. First, I had to undress her. And Ronda had several ideas about how to dress and undress our pet. I’d only made a rule against intercourse in the studio. I watched the two women together and decided that whatever they were doing wasn’t intercourse, so moving a more comfortable couch into the dressing room so they could comfortably sixty-nine was not breaking the rules.
And eventually, I did get some sweet pictures of Adrienne as a fairy princess.
Our big event of the week was Toni’s birthday on Wednesday. It was hard to believe our little girl was two years old. The playgroup at the daycare center had a little party and then the family and Adrienne had a nice party in the late afternoon.
It was Adrienne’s first time in our apartment and she seemed a little nervous.
“What is it, pet?” I asked.
“I’m just worried about it being okay for me to be here,” she said. “This is a family time. I might be better kept separate from the family. I’m your mistress. I live apart and while I love being with any one of you—or sometimes two—it feels strange to be in a place where you are family,” she said.
“We love having you with us,” I said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t consider becoming a member of our family?”
“It is so kind of you to offer that, master,” she said. “I am part of the family, I guess, but as a pet, not as a girlfriend or partner. I know you will always take care of me and I love you for it. But I really wouldn’t fit as a real family member.”
“Adrienne, I love you as more than a pet. I would certainly not do some of the things we do—most of the things we do—with a four-footed animal. But if you would like me to take you back to the hotel, I will.”
“I can find my own way. I just love seeing little Toni,” she said.
“Good!” Patricia broke in. “I’m claiming Saturday with our special pet. Toni and I want to do something different, and maybe go to a show Saturday evening. Did you know they have a cry room, so if Toni gets cranky we can take her there and let her go to sleep.”
“Oh, Patricia, I would love to spend the day with you and Toni. I’ll do anything you’d like.”
“Who knows, pet. I might like something different Saturday.” Patricia reached up and kissed Adrienne softly.
I believe Adrienne was floating when she walked back to the hotel.
We were all excited about Beth coming home on Saturday. She pulled up in front of the store in a new red Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible. She revved the engine to let us know she’d arrived and jumped out of the car to come in. Anna called for me. Patricia and Toni were out with Adrienne and Ronda came to the front of the store with me for Beth to make her entrance.
She was tan and svelte. Her hair was lighter than it had been and hung in tangles from the wind in the convertible. Her sunglasses made her look like a Hollywood star.
“What a funky little place!” she said as she entered. Then she rushed to me and kissed me, then did cheek kisses with both Ronda and Anna.
“It’s so good to have you back,” I said. “Shall I get your bags?”
“Sure, thanks. I assume there’s a room for me in the apartment,” she said. Did she say ‘room for her’ or ‘a room for her?’
I went to out to admire her car with her and pick up two large suitcases.
“I just had to have a car in Vegas. Everything is miles away. So, I decided, why not get a dream car. I’m not spending money on anything else. The club paid me and provided a stipend for food and lodging. It’s a wonder I don’t weigh fifty pounds more with all they tried to feed me,” she said as we walked into the store and headed for the stairs up to the apartment.
“Oh, the Attic Allure continues right up into the apartment,” she said.
I think she was referring to the way we had it furnished. Other than the beds, pretty much everything was second hand. She immediately stuck her head into each of the bedrooms and stopped at the spare room at the end.
“This one looks empty. I’ll have to get some decent furniture, but otherwise it will be fine.”
“I take it you don’t plan to join the rest of us in the family bed,” I said.
“It’s a little sudden to jump into an orgy,” she said. “I’ve been gone for four months. Give me some time to adjust.”
“That makes sense. No one is trying to rush you. We’ve just missed you,” I said.
“What show can we see tonight?” she asked.
“Patricia and Adrienne are going to see a new show called The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria. I have no idea what it’s about. I’m sure I can get tickets if you’d like to see it.”
“There’s no reason to be in Stratford without theatre,” she said brightly.
I was beginning to wonder if she was on something. I called over to the box office and reserved two tickets. I knew Ronda and Anna were planning a quiet night at home.
That started all of us moving a lot faster than we’d been accustomed to the past couple of weeks. I showed Beth the new studio and she did have nice things to say about the new color pictures. She said Starr would definitely need new photos before fall.
After the show, I took Elizabeth over to the pub and met several members of the cast. Damien was directing this show, as well, and Kathleen was with him. She quickly attached herself to Elizabeth and started chatting about the performances in Las Vegas. When we left, Beth and I agreed to meet Damien and Kathleen for dinner on Monday night.
Back at the apartment, I finally got to really kiss Beth. We’d had several short pecks on lips and cheeks, but this was the first time I really settled in with her for a serious kiss. We spent about fifteen minutes on the couch and then Beth stood up.
“I think I still like kissing you,” she said. “Maybe I’ll be ready for more after our date Monday. Goodnight, Nate.” She went to the bedroom she’d claimed and left me in the living room.
Yes. Things were definitely different. She was faster to move into intimate girlfriend mode the first time we met. I guess I understood, though. We’d been living very different lives the past few months. In fact, most of a year.
I peeked in on Toni and saw that she and Patricia had decided to spend the night with Adrienne. I checked the master bedroom and Anna and Ronda were entwined together. I was sure they wouldn’t mind if I joined them, but they looked so sweet together that I decided to just go to sleep in the guest room.
I was up in the morning before anyone else, and went to the studio to print some of the photos I’d taken of Adrienne this week.
Elizabeth got a ticket for the Sunday matinee of Hedda Gabler. She didn’t ask if anyone else wanted to go. When Patricia and Toni got home, they hadn’t yet seen Beth. When she finally got home, she was happy to see them and apologized for not thinking of asking anyone else to go.
“I’ve been used to doing everything on my own,” she said. “Catching a matinee, going out to a club after my schtick, dinner in a restaurant. It was the only way I could keep from being lonely. Rose was really wonderful, but she works about five times as hard as I did. I had a fifteen minute entr’acte that was the same every night. I wasn’t required to stay after I was done, so while Rose and the girls were out dancing their tushies off in the second act, I just left and had dinner or went to a club. I didn’t even think about anyone else being available to go with me.”
“I hope we’ll all get used to things,” I said. “Why don’t you girls all relax and enjoy the evening getting reacquainted. I’m going to go visit Adrienne for a while. Don’t wait up.”
Maybe I was being a little harsh by showing Beth that I could just go off by myself, too. But I really wanted to see Adrienne. She’d only be here for another week and we were all excited to spend time with her. Well, except Beth. I wasn’t sure if she’d spend any time with Adrienne or not.
“Do you think it will work to come out to LA the last week of August?” Adrienne asked as we sat to go over the schedule. “The production is slated to start shooting that week and they’d like to have you there.”
“What is taking them so long to get started? They had it cast back in May,” I said. I didn’t know how things worked.
“They have to book time on the soundstage for filming,” Adrienne explained. “Lyle was still shooting another film and Lorna has a short coming up starting next week. Once the actors are hired, the production team has to figure out a shooting schedule that will accommodate them all. The only one who isn’t a working actress with other productions is Fran, and I understand she’s had another offer and is having to work that schedule around the shooting schedule for Over Exposure. And, of course, the scenery company has to prepare the sets and have them ready to move onto the sound stage so there’s no delay in getting things switched from one to another.”
“It sounds so complicated,” I said. “What do they want me to do when I’m there?”
“Observe the scenes and make sure they’re being honest with the technical things. You know, the things that happen in the studio. They’d also like you to take a few production stills. If you can stand to do some more work, we’ll be able to use the studio set on the soundstage in the evening to take photos of a couple of actors who would like you to do shots of them. I’ll get processing set up for you so you can get transparencies the next day. I’ll also get you a darkroom so you can process black and white yourself,” she said.
“Are these clients even going to want black and white?” I asked.
“The color photos will need to go through a commercial lab. As a result, the actors will want to be very careful about what they are showing and how they appear, even in shots that you would consider discards. They don’t want some kinds of photos to be seen by anyone. When you are shooting black and white, they will be less concerned about that because you’ll have to destroy any shot they don’t want made public.”
“That’s going to be hard to do, but I understand the necessity. I haven’t done much shooting of public personages. I’m getting into that a bit with the actors at the theatre, but most of them don’t have the broad recognition that a movie actor would have. Will we have time for the two of us?”
“Oh, my wonderful master. I will be at your side all the time unless you send me away. I will be available to you at any time in any way. Just as now, you could tear my clothes from my body and take me in any way you want. You could do that, you know. Now.”
I hadn’t been rough with Adrienne at all since she arrived and I didn’t plan to get very rough this evening, but I had found that a little dominance and the surprise of a mild pain during our sex were real turn-ons for her.
I reached for the neck of her gown and tore it open from top to bottom. I pulled it off her shoulders and quickly wrapped it around her arms behind her. It was as effective as using a rope in her hands.
“Now I have you to do what I want with,” I said. “I want you on your knees, pet. I want you sucking my cock in your cute little mouth. I’ll decide whether to come in your mouth later. I might want to come in your bottom.”
“Yes, master,” she gasped as she dropped to her knees. I stripped off my clothes and pushed my cock into her mouth.
Of course, I couldn’t just fuck her mouth and fuck her ass without giving her any pleasure. Even though I shoved my cock into her mouth far enough to gag her a few times, and twisted her nipples beyond what I would find pleasurable, I wasn’t really a sadist. I used lube before I pressed my cock into her butt, holding onto her hair and smacking her bottom with my hand as I pounded into her. By the time I came, she was desperate to have an orgasm and I gave her one by slapping her bare pussy hard while I continued to plunge into her ass.
Then, I took her to the bath and washed and loved her. We cuddled in the bed and I petted her and kissed her. She fawned over me and kissed me all over and we made love.
I had a family portrait on Monday. They enjoyed getting dressed up in costumes and having something that looked rather Shakespearean. It wasn’t a difficult sitting and was all in black and white, so I got film developed and proofs made before it was time for me to take Beth to dinner with Damien and Kathleen. I talked to Ronda, Patricia, and Anna about going with us, but I had a feeling Damien wanted to dig a little further into Beth’s comedy career.
“It was a little boring doing the same show for eighty-nine performances,” Beth said. “And they didn’t want me to change it up. We worked out a script over the two weeks I had to rehearse before April first and then they wanted the show to be the same every night. Sometimes I found myself pausing for a laugh when none came just because the same line had gotten a laugh in all my previous performances.”
“Repertory is like that,” Damien said. “Kathleen will only have thirty-seven performances as Innogen in Cymbeline, but they all have to be letter perfect. She can’t change a line or add a new bit.”
“In fact, pretty much all acting is that way,” Kathleen said. “Most actors, of course, don’t write their own material. That’s an advantage you have.”
“I had writers who studied my previous performances and wrote the entire script for my routine in Vegas,” Beth laughed. “I had a lot of time to develop some of my own scripts, though. All I need is a place to perform.”
“How long are your scripts?”
“Oh, I have a fifteen-minute, a thirty-minute, and an hour-long script. You have to be a headliner to do an hour-long comedy routine. I’ll probably keep working on that until I actually get a chance to have an audience worthy of it.”
“But you have it ready now? You could perform the full hour?”
“Oh, yeah. I’d love to test it. Want to hear it?” Beth laughed.
“Yes,” Damien said, shocking Beth to silence. “Could be just what we need.”
“Um… Seriously?” Beth said. I could tell by Kathleen’s smirk that she and Damien had been planning this.
“Let me tell you what we have,” Damien said. “It’s not unusual for actors or directors to settle down in a community where they can live year-round and have a great summer festival. The festival is getting longer, but it’s still only mid-May until mid-September. So, we have to find other things to do. Kathleen and I have invested in a coffee house here in Stratford.”
“The modern coffee house has its roots in the beat generation,” Kathleen said. “People gathered and shared music and poetry. We’re seeing a resurgence, but the tone is changing some. The coffee house is a place where unknown musicians, poets, actors, and comedians find an open mike where they can perform and hope to be discovered.”
“Even though The Black Swan has been around a while, we’re just launching a more entertainment-oriented program. We’re booking performers and could book you in for your full-hour program one weekend,” Damien said.
“You guys are unbelievable. Yes! When can we do it?” Beth exclaimed.
“Let’s do it the thirty-first and first,” Kathleen said. “That gives us time to get some flyers up and promote the opening for our new August programs.”
“Okay!” Beth panted. “Okay! Yeah!”
It wasn’t going to pay much since most acts would be coming to be discovered and not to have a gig. On open mike nights, Kathleen and Damien expected to limit performances to five minutes. This was definitely going to be a longer program than what most of the acts in the coffee shop would be.
I could see the life in Beth’s eyes, though. Performing turned her on, probably as much as photography turned me on. She was ready to go immediately, but was excited to go and see the venue and rehearse her new script. When we got home, she was all over me and dragged me to ‘her’ bedroom with as much enthusiasm as she’d had that first time I took her picture in Chicago.
Maybe this would be the turning point of getting her integrated back into the family.
Ronda and I went to have fun with Adrienne Tuesday night. Elizabeth took Anna, Patricia, and Toni to see Merchant of Venice. I guess after the show, Toni was sound asleep, so Patricia was going to take her home. Anna didn’t want her to walk alone all the way home, but Elizabeth wanted to go out with Kathleen, Damien, and the cast. She waved Anna and Patricia on and said she could find her own way home.
Ronda and I had a very good time with Adrienne. We both loved making love with Patricia and Anna, but there was something a little more unbridled with Adrienne. Ronda had always liked to have her anus stimulated, but ever since she and Christine had imagined me with Vicki, she’d had a fascination with the idea of watching me take a girl’s bottom. The best position seemed to be with Ronda on the bottom in a sixty-nine where she could watch me enter Adrienne’s ass.
Adrienne liked the double stimulation of me in her bottom and Ronda licking her clit. Ronda loved the stimulation of having Adrienne licking her clit and probing her anus with a finger.
“One day, I’ll be brave enough to do that!” Ronda said, holding Adrienne in her arms after she’d made sure Adrienne was cleaned up from my sperm. I always took a quick shower after an anal session, but the two girls just held and kissed each other. When I rejoined them, we all slept soundly until morning.
When Ronda and I got home after breakfast and loving with Adrienne, we found Patricia and Anna in a tizzy in the store.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.
“She didn’t come home last night,” Anna growled.
“What? Who?”
“Elizabeth. Patricia and I brought Toni home to put her to bed, but Elizabeth wanted to go out with the cast after the show. She said she could find her own way home. She never came home.”
“Crap. We should call the police and see if she’s in a hospital.”
“Never mind,” Ronda said. “There she is now.”
I heard the apartment door open and ran up the stairs.
“Are you okay?” I asked when I caught up with her on her way to her bedroom.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Fine. We stayed out and partied late last night. I crashed at Damien and Kathleen’s place. It was no big deal. Happened all the time in Vegas.”
It did?
“We were worried about you.”
“Nobody worries when you’re out all night,” she snapped.
“We try to let each other know if we’re planning to be out so no one worries.”
“Yeah. You’ve been with Adrienne more than you’ve been with me since I got here.”
“You’ve only been available to be with once since you got here. You’re throwing around stupid accusations.”
“Now I’m stupid, too, am I? Let’s put up a chart with Beth’s faults in the living room. Thoughtless, frigid, stupid, vulgar, absent. We can add to the list as we go and Toni can put stars on it every time I show one of those characteristics, okay? Add tired to the list. I’m going to bed.”
She spun on her heel and slammed the door of her bedroom behind her. I started to follow and Anna caught my arm.
“Don’t, honey. Can’t you smell it? She’s still drunk and high. Let her sleep it off. She’ll be tolerable when she’s sober.”
“I just aggravated it, didn’t I?”
“It’s hard not to when they’re like that.”
“You sound like you’ve had experience.”
“We never talk about it anymore, but my father is an alcoholic. He’s sober now. Has been for ten years. But that means that until I was ten years old, he was… unpredictable. That’s when we joined the church in Tenbrook. Rev. Armstrong saved our family. We wouldn’t have lasted if Dad kept drinking.”
I held Anna in my arms. Beth had just triggered unpleasant memories for her and I hadn’t helped. We quietly went downstairs and focused on work. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any. We cleaned the store and the studio. I had planned to take new promo photos of Beth, but she didn’t make an appearance.
Finally, Patricia walked into the studio and closed and locked the door behind her. She just started stripping off her clothes and told me to get a camera ready—she hadn’t had any photos recording her body shape after pregnancy in months. I grinned and happily went to work taking pictures.
Patricia made up a story about her life of glamour now that she was a Playboy Bunny. She grabbed absurd props as she told about her adventures, using a garbage can lid over her head to show how she popped out of a birthday cake, and using a sword and a feather to show how she’d been anointed as Hugh Hefner’s favorite.
“But Hugh knows he doesn’t dare cross any lines with me. Not if he ever wants to see another picture my wonderful boyfriend takes. And who wouldn’t want pictures of this?” she asked tying a scrap of fabric around her waist like an apron and raising a feather duster in the air.
Yeah, Patricia’s boobs were still pretty damned spectacular. I took the picture.
Then Patricia ran to me and collapsed in my arms, crying. This had all been her dream with Tony, not with me. She’d pulled it out to cheer me up and ended up depressing herself. I petted her hair and carried her to the couch in the dressing room to hold her and comfort her.
“I love you so much, Nate,” she gasped as she tried to kiss me and talk and cry at the same time. “But I still miss him. I still can’t believe he’s just dead and won’t be riding up on his motorcycle to take me out. You and Ronda and Anna and Little Toni are all that keeps me in this world some days. Why did they take him away from me?”
There was nothing I could say. I just held her in my arms—that beautiful blonde who was the first girl to ever show me her boobs so she could have a picture of them to give to Tony. She slept in my arms for a few minutes and then awoke kissing me and wanting to make love. There was no way to resist that.
My family. I guess we all had our issues.
“If we don’t have plans, I’d like to take everyone out to dinner tonight,” Beth said when we came upstairs. “Nothing fancy. I just feel like I owe everybody something nice for being a bitch and being inconsiderate. We could just go down to the pub and eat so no one has to cook or clean up.”
I glanced at Anna she nodded. We all got ready to leave for the Pub, which was also one of Toni’s favorite venues because they always had some special treat there for her—French fries or French fried sweet potatoes or French fried beets on one occasion. Toni loved them all!
I saw Anna turn off the oven before we walked out the door. We could move the casserole to the refrigerator when we got back.
Thursday, I managed to get the photos of Beth taken for her publicity. She had changed. Her hair was longer and I thought she might be a little thinner. I wondered if she’d been eating well. She talked about being fed so well she was gaining weight, but my minute inspection of her body the night before showed absolutely no sign of weight gain. We did a set of shots with her eye makeup and a red Tudor hat with a feather in it. Plume, I was corrected.
She was moving away from the tutu, but did do a set of nudes that I loved. When I took the film to the darkroom to develop, she followed me in naked and proceeded to attempt a re-enactment of our first time together. It was pretty intense.
Before I’d chosen which photos to print, she left and said she needed some new clothes for her performance and would take Adrienne shopping with her. As soon as she was dressed, she was out the door and in her convertible.
“We have a nice casserole for dinner tonight,” Anna announced.
We were all relaxing after Toni had been read to and danced with and put to bed. We weren’t worried about Beth because she was with Adrienne. I assumed that if it was going well, she’d be there all night. Not that Beth was sexually interested in Adrienne—or any woman—but they had a lot of cultural references that would provide talk all night. I thought Elizabeth could probably talk about clothes as long as Adrienne could.
When the phone rang, Patricia jumped to answer it because she was nearest. She looked curiously at it and called Anna. I saw the color drain from Anna’s face as she hung up the phone.
“Nate, you need to come with me so I don’t do something terrible,” she said.
“What is it, Anna?”
“Adrienne called to tell me I should come and punish her because she’d just hurt a member of the family.”
“Oh, shit! Where’s Elizabeth?”
Anna shrugged. As usual, I grabbed my camera and we ran out of the house.
I was the only one in the family with a key to the hotel room. Everyone else knocked before they went in. I just unlocked the door and threw it open. Adrienne was naked and kneeling ten feet away. We rushed to her, unwilling to say anything before we knew what happened. As soon as we saw her close, it was easy to tell.
Her back and legs were striped with whip marks of some sort. The skin was broken and bleeding in spots.
“Bath,” Anna commanded as she knelt next to a weeping Adrienne.
I ran to the bathtub and Anna gently lifted Adrienne’s face.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Adrienne pled. “I couldn’t take it any longer. She wouldn’t stop. And… and… I hit her.”
“Good!” I snapped as I circled the girl with my camera. I wanted pictures of every mark on her body. When she stood, I found there were marks on her stomach and thighs as well. “This is not part of what we do! I can’t believe it.”
Adrienne pointed at a strap on the sofa. I looked at it and took pictures of it. It was a type of belt made of braided leather. I recognized it as a belt we’d used in the scene with Sam and Rachel to hold his shirt in place until he lost it.
“She said she’d found your whip in the studio and wanted to try it out.”
“This isn’t my whip. It’s part of a costume the theatre brought over,” I growled.
Anna led Adrienne to the bath and settled her in. I used a sponge to gently bathe away the blood from her back as Anna held her hands.
“Did you take the whip and beat her with it?” Anna asked.
“No mistress. I’m so sorry. I hit her.”
“Hit her? With your fist?”
“No. With my foot. My sponsor insisted when I came to America that if people found I was submissive they might try to take advantage of me without my consent. He made me learn martial arts. When she wouldn’t stop, I spun away from her and hit her in the face with my foot.”
“Did she leave then?”
“No. I knocked her out. I dragged her into the hall and locked the door behind her. Then I called you.”
“Well, she’s not here.”
“Mistress Anna, I’m so sorry. I beg you…”
“I’m not going to hurt you, Adrienne.”
“But I turned on a member of the family. Please, just tie me down before you beat me and mark my body. I don’t want to hurt you, too.”
“That’s enough!” I said. “Anna is not going to beat you or mark your body. Even if we considered you no more than a pet—which is not nearly what you mean to us—we would not allow a member of the family to abuse you. If I decide you didn’t hurt her enough, I’ll hurt her myself.”
“Nate, easy. Your Fifi needs you to comfort her, not to be angry.”
“I’m so sorry, Fifi,” I said. “I’m not mad at you. Not at all. You brought us something so precious and Beth has tried to take it away. We love you, sweetheart. We love you.”
“I love you, my master and my mistress. I love Miss Ronda, and Miss Patricia, and Little Miss Toni. I’m so sorry I failed to please Miss Elizabeth.”
“Nate, stay with Adrienne. I’m going to go find some ointment to soothe her wounds. It only looks like there were a couple of real cuts and some abrasions. They must have some salve down at the pharmacy.”
“Honey, it’s after ten. The drug store will be closed. I think we need to take her to the hospital.”
“No!” gasped Adrienne. “No, please. I have some salve in my drawer I keep in case the skin is accidentally broken. It has happened before. I will be okay. I promise.”
I looked at Anna and she agreed. We got Adrienne out of the tub and dried. Then we found the salve and gently applied it to all the marks. By the time I was finished, I was crying.
Adrienne pulled me to the bed and Anna on the other side.
“My master. My sweet and gentle master. Don’t cry. Your Fifi doesn’t want you to cry. Mistress? Please don’t cry. I will get better right away, I promise.”
Anna and I stretched out next to Adrienne on the bed and after she fell asleep, I went to call Ronda and Patricia to let them know what had happened and to ask if Elizabeth had come home. They said she hadn’t. I asked them to call me if she arrived any time during the night, otherwise Anna and I would stay with Adrienne.
Anna stayed with Adrienne all day on Friday and comforted her, applying the soothing salve to her wounds and, if I guessed right, applying her soothing tongue to other areas. I got home to hold my sweethearts. Toni wanted to dance before she went to ‘school.’ She was very excited about the play group she went to at the Presbyterian Church.
I was alone in the apartment when Beth got home. She stormed in and headed straight for her bedroom. I intercepted her.
“Wait. I want to see the damage,” I said, looking at the bandage on her cheek.
“I’m going to sue that French whore, and if you try to stand in my way, I’ll sue you, too.”
“Good. Let me get a picture of this so you have adequate evidence,” I said. She paused and I reached up to pull the bandage off. There was hardly a scrape.
“If that leaves a mark, I’ll kill her.”
“Like you marked her?” I asked, taking a quick series of frames.
“She’s a pain slut. She loves that stuff.”
“She told you to stop and you didn’t.”
“You can’t be that ignorant with as much time as you’ve spent with her. She gets off on the pain and they always beg you to stop. It’s part of their game.”
“She warned you.”
“Yeah. Like I said. She stepped over the boundaries this time and I’ll make sure she pays.”
“You’re the one who stepped over the boundaries, Elizabeth. This photo of the little bruise on your cheek will look real good next to the series of photos I’ve taken of her back and stomach and legs. No one will support you in a suit against her when they see these.”
“You wouldn’t! Give me those! How can you take the side of that whore against your own girlfriend?”
“Maybe because I have reason to trust her more. I don’t think you can stay my girlfriend anymore, Elizabeth. You’ve shown too much of how you really are this week. You’re spoiled and abusive and rude. And you really aren’t even that good of a fuck. We’re through.”
“I live here. I own part of this whole building!”
“I’ll buy your father out. He owns it. I know you’ve never paid him anything for your share. You’ve never even been here until this week and look at the mess you’ve made of things.”
“You think he’ll support you against me? You’ll be looking down the barrel of his shotgun.”
I bit back the retort that her father liked me better than her. I’d already made sure this was irreparable. Ronda and Patricia appeared in the doorway of the apartment and looked at us—apparently, they could hear our raised voices.
“Are you two just going to let him throw one of the girlfriends out? For that whore?”
“You’ve made it clear you aren’t our girlfriend—only Nate’s. I don’t think we have anything to say about whether he breaks up with an abusive alcoholic,” Patricia said.
“I’m not alcoholic!” Beth screamed. “Just because I like to party some doesn’t mean I have a problem. It’s you who have problems. What kind of lesbians are you who figure you can share a man as long as you can fuck each other. It’s ridiculous. Fine! Just leave me alone. I’ll leave as soon as my show is over on the first. I’m sure you can avoid me for a week.”
She finally darted into her bedroom and slammed the door.
“Anyone else in favor of finding a hotel room for a week?” Ronda asked.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
