Essential Master (Doms of Napa Valley) (22 page)

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"Damn,
Zeb, for being gluten free these are fucking awesome." Nicky lounged back
against one of the throw pillows Steph had thrown down for him on the playroom
floor. After their explosive coming together, none of them had wanted to trek
back upstairs.

Zeb
flushed. "Well, I was trying a couple of adjustments since everyone now
seems to have allergies and stuff. I was hoping if they tasted good enough, I
could feature a special line of them when I open my bakery.
If
I open my bakery."

Licking
the crumbs off his finger, Nicky glanced at him. "What is this ‘if’? You
make some of the best damn goodies I've ever tasted. Why wouldn't you open your
bakery?"

Zeb
shrugged. "Everything is up in the air because of this shit with Allison.
I don't want to start plans and then have them fall through because of a
lengthy legal battle." He grabbed one of the shortbread cookies from the
plate.

"So
you're going to put your life on hold until after the trial?" Steph handed
both men cold bottles of water from the mini-fridge in the corner before
sinking down between them. As she stretched out with her head on Nicky’s knee
and her feet pillowed in Zeb's lap, Zeb picked up one foot and began to rub it.

"Not
entirely. I just don't want to put all that money into my bakery, and then have
some judge award Allison half of it because she batted her pretty brown eyes at
him."

"She
wouldn't get away with it. The law is on your side, Zeb, and Davis is one
helluva lawyer. Has he said anything about you possibly losing?" Nicky
asked before taking a long swig of water.

Steph
sighed. "It's about more than what's right legally, Nicky. I know this
family. They’ll go to any lengths to keep their precious daughter out of jail.
One of the reasons Allison acts the way she does is she's always gotten everything
she's ever wanted."

Zeb
glanced up at him. "It's true. I've seen her do some really underhanded
things to get her way. It's one of the reasons I kept going back. She
blacklisted me at several of the clubs, then teased me until I had to go back to
her to get the relief I needed."

Disgust
and anger filled Nicky at the reality of what Zeb went through. "I can't
fucking believe any club owner would allow such a thing."

"Yeah,
you wouldn't think so," Zeb replied as he continued to rub Steph's toes.
"But money talks and until New Beginnings came along, none of the club
owners looked past her charm and money to see the snake underneath it
all." Lifting her foot to his mouth, Zeb pressed a kiss to Steph's toes.
"Which reminds me. Aside from wanting to have you try my cookies and
sating a few other appetites, Ethan sent me with a request."

Steph
moaned softly as Zeb sucked her big toe into his mouth. Pulling her toe free,
she tucked her feet under her. "What request?"

"The
club is a bit short handed this weekend because Davis and Toby have a family
reunion out of town. Ethan was wondering if either of you would be willing to
help out as D.M.s on Saturday. He said he'd be willing to discount some of your
monthly fee, or allow us to use one of the special private rooms before or
after hours."

Nicky
glanced down at Steph, seeing the mischievous look in her eyes. Both of them
had been hankering for another stab at the bondage room, but because of his
crazy work schedule they hadn't been able to reserve it, and now this perfect
opportunity had fallen into their lap.

"What
do you say, Steph? Want to play a bad ass D.M. for a couple of hours on
Saturday?"

She
pursed her lips. "Well, that depends."

"On
what?" Zeb tugged her other foot onto his lap, his hands kneading the arch
of her foot.

"On
whether or not you're going to let us tie you up and do naughty things to this
hunky body." She pressed her toes against the bulge in the shorts he'd
once more donned.

"I'll
let Ethan know." Zeb groaned as she massaged him.

"Good.
But, Master, I don't think I can wait ‘til Saturday to tie him up. What do you
think? Do we have time for another round of bondage before you have to go back
to work?" She batted her eyes at him.

"Oh,
we have more than enough time, Steph." He relaxed back against the throw
pillows as Steph pounced and straddled Zeb's hips.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Holding
onto Nicky's hand, Steph took a deep breath as she waited her turn to take the
stand. It
’d only been a couple days since they’d
surprised their Master in the playroom. The trial date had been moved up, so
she’d been called to testify earlier than anyone expected. She definitely
hadn’t been ready and, despite all the assurances in the world, she still
worried her testimony would cause issues with their new submissive. Especially
when Davis had called this morning to inform them Allison had changed her plea
from ‘not guilty’ to a ‘not guilty because of mental defect’. All she could
assume was Allison was hoping Steph would provide witness to prior bad acts to
support her case, because she couldn’t see what type of character witness she
could be.

"Relax,
cara mia
, you’ll do fine. Just tell the truth and let the rest
take care of itself. Both Zeb and I will be waiting for you when it's
over." Nicky pressed a kiss against to her temple as Mr. Rathowitz,
Allison’s head attorney, called her name. On her other side, Zeb shifted,
pressing a kiss to her fingers then moved his legs out of the way. Rising from
her seat, she gave both of her men a grateful smile before moving down the
narrow aisle towards the bailiff. Keeping her composure was hard, but luckily
she'd been called on numerous times in the past to testify for clients. She
could do this. She just needed to do as Nicky suggested - tell the truth and let
the rest take care of itself.

The bailiff, looking bored, stood in front
of her with a black bible. Stepping up to him, she placed her hand on the book
and proceeded to be sworn in. With that legality out of the way, the bailiff
gestured for her to be seated on the stand. Settling into the chair, she waited
for Allison's lawyer to approach. As the man fiddled with a few papers, then
smoothed his hand over his head, she waited for the inevitable legal
maneuvering.

"Tell me Ms. McKeown, how long have
you known Allison Teelen?"

She gazed directly at him, making sure to
keep eye contact. "I'd have to say it's been at least seven or eight
years."

He nodded. "You were brought in by the
Teelen family when my client started college, isn't that correct?"

"Yes." She kept her answers short
and concise. She wasn't exactly sure where the lawyer was heading. It was like
being trapped in the middle of a mine field.

"And what were your duties during this
time?"

"I was to protect and shadow Allison.
Her family wanted her safe while she was attending the University of Boston, so
they contacted the security company I worked for, Tri-State, and had them
arrange with the school to have me housed on the same floor and in the
immediate vicinity as Ms. Teelen, in order to keep an eye on her."

Mr. Rathowitz paced back and forth in front
of the witness box. "And did her family tell my client of your true
purpose for being there?"

"Objection. Witness cannot testify to
whether or not the defendant knew of her true purpose for being at the
school." The prosecutor, John Charleston, scowled from his side of the
court room.

"Sustained." Judge Kalicki looked
down on the defense attorney. "Tread carefully here, Mr. Rathowitz."

"Fine, I'll reword the question, Your
Honor." Mr. Rathowitz came to a stop in front of her. "Did you ever
talk to her about her parents?"

"No, Sir."

“Did you ever talk directly with her
parents about Allison?’

“No, Sir.”

The man nodded. "So you befriended my
client under the guise of being just another college student?"

"I guess you could say that. My
instructions from my boss were Mr. and Mrs. Teelen wanted me to keep tabs on
her, and protect her if the need arose, but to be discreet."

Mr. Rathowitz drummed his fingers on the
wooden railing separating the witness box from the rest of the court. "And
during that time, did you, under the guise of friendship, introduce Ms. Teelen
to the practice of BDSM?"

Steph frowned. "I don't know if I’d
say I was the person who introduced her to BDSM, Sir. She approached me about
the lifestyle after she ran into me at a club."

"And what kind of club was it?"

"A leather club called Whips."

"Could you please enlighten the jury
about exactly a leather club is?"

Shifting a bit, she answered. "It's an
establishment where people who are in the lifestyle gather to let off steam and
have fun."

"And what type of fun were these
patrons having, Ms. McKeown?"

"Sexual, Sir. The night in question,
if I remember correctly, was a dominant/submissive night."

"So this establishment is a sex club.
And do you have any idea how it was that she went into such an
establishment?"

"I have no idea. It was one of my rare
nights off and I went out to blow off some steam. I was quite surprised to see
her without my backup, so I left her with my date and slipped outside to see
where James was. After talking to him on the phone - he’d gotten separated from
her due to a train, I promised I’d keep her with me until he arrived."

"And James was your backup?"

She nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"So you left a young, impressionable
girl at a leather club that specializes in domination and submission to go find
out where your backup was?"

A chuckle escaped her. "Young and
impressionable? Let me ask you something, Mr. Rathowitz? When was the last time
you stepped foot in a sorority, or on a college campus for that matter? The
young, impressionable woman you're representing, not even a week before the
incident you're talking about, performed oral sex on seven young men in a row
as part of her pledge initiation. Your client was far from the innocent,
upstanding woman you’re trying to bamboozle the jury with. But to answer your
question, no, I didn't leave her alone. I left her with my date, who just
happened to be a detective for the Boston P.D."

Obviously thinking fast on his feet, the
lawyer tried it from another angle. "Fine, you left her with a police
officer. And how long into your employment was the night when this occurred? A
couple of weeks, at most?"

"It was about a month into her
freshman year."

"So wouldn't you say she was
stretching her wings? Exploring her boundaries?"

"Objection! The witness doesn't have a
degree in psychology." the prosecutor growled before jotting down
something on the legal tablet in front of him.

"It goes to our theory of how my
client was led astray by an older woman which eventually led up to her actions
at New Beginnings, your honor.”

"Fine, over-ruled." Judge Kalicki
gave the lawyer a pointed glare. "The witness is to answer the question,
but get to the point, Mr. Rathowitz."

"Thank you, Your Honor." He
turned back to Steph. "So you say she wasn't quite so innocent, but did
you not offer to take her under your wing after she observed your date who you
tied up and flogged before the end of the evening?"

Steph clenched her jaw. She had no reason
to be ashamed of her actions that night, even if Allison's slimy lawyers were
painting a dirty picture of her actions. "Yes, I offered to help her when
she expressed an interest. She said she was intrigued by the dynamics of the
power exchange and asked if I’d show her the ropes."

"And did you?" Mr. Rathowitz’s
innocent expression didn't fool her. The man thought he had her.

"No. I introduced to her an
experienced Master - Master Lucian DeCarta. He had a local class at Whips for
newbies. At the time, I myself had only been in the scene for a couple of years
as a submissive, and wasn't comfortable with the idea of teaching her how to
domme, which is what she'd expressed an interest in."

"But didn't you just testify you
flogged your date that night?"

"Yes, I did. It was only the second
time I'd actually done it, outside of a practice room."

"Well, Ms. McKeown, you now have me
confused. If you're a submissive as you claim, then why were you flogging your
date?"

Keeping her cool, she leveled him with a
gaze. "It's obvious, Sir, you know nothing about the lifestyle. I didn’t
say I was a submissive. I merely said, at that point in time, my experience was
primarily in the role of the submissive."

He seemed taken back. "How can you act
like a submissive but not be a submissive? Where I come from, if it walks like
a duck, quacks like a duck, and has feathers like a duck...then it's more than
likely a duck."

A slow grin crossed her face. "I'm a
switch. Which means I swing both ways, Sir. I submit or dominate depending upon
who I’m with."

"So you're telling me that to you,
your sexuality can swing back and forth as you hop from partner to
partner?"

She gritted her teeth. "I wouldn't
call it swinging. I’m not into orgies, Sir. I can submit to my Dom, but still
dominate another submissive at the same time."

"And the night you encountered Ms.
Teelen at the club, you were in your 'dominant' swing?

"That particular night, yes."

"Then you cannot deny you started Ms.
Teelen on the path of destruction which landed her in her current predicament.
She saw you at the club, dominating your date, and wanted to emulate what she
saw."

"She made her own choices, Counselor.
I’m no more responsible for her actions than is the parent who responsibly
teaches their teenager how to use a rifle for deer hunting or skeet shooting
when their teen decides to use that rifle or any firearm to gun down a fellow
student. What a person chooses to do with lessons they've been taught rests
solely on that person's shoulders."

A gasp from the jury drew her attention
away from the defense lawyer. Shock, surprise, and even a hint of admiration
lined their faces.

"Interesting analogy Ms. McKeown. So
tell me, if you turned my client over to another Master, how was it you ended
up being present at a club in California with her? Or how, when she gravely
injured a submissive, witnesses testified you said it was your fault."

Dread pooled in the pit of her stomach.
This is what she'd been dreading and hoped Zebadiah wouldn't hear about. She
looked out in the crowd and met his blue eyes. They were steady and calm - like
a port in the storm.

"Permission to treat this witness as
hostile, Your Honor."

"Granted. Answer the question, Ms.
McKeown."

"During Spring Break of her freshman
year, I accompanied Allison to California. While we were in L.A. we visited a
club called the Gilded Lily. Allison wanted to surprise me for my
birthday."

"And how did she surprise you?"

Steph licked her lips. "She had paid a
male submissive a thousand dollars to let us do whatever we wanted to
him."

"And what did you do?"

Her face flushed in memory. "I secured
him to a St. Andrew's Cross and flogged him."

"But that wasn't the end of it was it?
According to hospital records I've labeled as Exhibit 23..." Mr. Rathowitz
handed a copy of the papers to Judge Kalicki. "I'd like to submit this as
evidence." Then he turned back to Steph. "It seems you did more than
flog this young man. The doctors in the emergency room said David Harris not
only had a concussion but his back required a hundred seventy-two stitches to
close. One doctor...a Dr. Lewchowski, states in the paperwork you were
suspected to be the one responsible for the injuries. Weren't you then arrested
for assault and battery?"

Steph held the tears at bay, her eyes
seeking out Zeb once more. "Yes, but the charges were dropped—" Her
heart plummeted as he shrugged off Nicky's arm and moved to leave the
courtroom. A sob caught in her throat.

"But what kind of person causes this
kind of damage on another? I'll tell you - a sadistic person who enjoys other’s
pain. Now imagine what it's like for a young impressionable woman exploring her
own sexuality to be around such sadism." Mr. Rathowitz gave her a
contemptuous look. "In all honesty it's Ms. McKeown who should be on trial
here. My client is only what Ms. McKeown made her into."

A tear slipped free as the door closed
behind Zeb.

"I have no more questions for this
witness." Mr. Rathowitz tapped the rail before returning to the defense
desk.

"Redirect your honor?" Mr.
Charleston stood.

"Of course."

Mr. Charleston approached the bench and
handed her the white square from his pocket. Taking it with trembling fingers,
she dabbed at the tears.

"Mr. Rathowitz has stated you felt
responsible for what happened that night at the Gilded Lily. Why is that?"

"Because when I tried to release David
from the cross, Allison attacked me. As I tried to defend myself, I tripped
over one of the support beams at the back of the cross, and managed to knock it
off balance. Since I was behind it at the time so I could safely reach the
release on the cuffs, it fell sideways. Unfortunately when it did, David hit
his head against the edge of a nearby pillory, which stopped the cross’s
descent.”