Authors: Laura Cooper
And she heard socked footsteps creaking up the stairs, “Hey! Glad to see you’re awake! Can I get you anything?” Elise stepped next to the bed and stared down at her.
“What happened?” Ellen muttered.
“Oh let’s see. Some jackasses took matters into their own hands and branded you without permission. Then you didn’t tell anyone, and it got infected. I called Doc Barnwell and he gave you a couple of shots. Said if you’d left it like that you’d be dead! I’m telling you girl, you can’t freak me out like this anymore!” And Elise was visibly shaken.
But Ellen needed to pee, “Can you help me to the bathroom?” As her sister practically carried her to the toilet, she wondered what she’d meant by ‘without permission.’ “Elise what part do you play in this Club?”
Now Elise giggled, “Why darling, I’m the ringleader, the chief bitch in charge. Here take this painkiller Doc left for you while you’re sitting there.” And she popped a pill into Ellen’s mouth while she sat on the toilet.
“Oh hell,” Ellen groaned, “so investigating the Club isn’t exactly what you want me doing either then. You’re just here because you’re my sister and obligated.”
Elise lowered her back onto the bed. “Let’s get this straight. I’m here because I love you. You’re my sister for God’s sake! As far as the Club goes, I’ve decided how to resolve this.”
“Oh and how’s that, pray tell?”
And as Elise fluffed the pillows behind her sisters back she grinned, “I’m giving you my job!”
“What? No. I don’t want any part of this kind of shit,” Ellen protested, but was struggling to get comfortable.
“Oh yeah you are. It’s your time. I’ve been doing it a long time now, so it’s your turn.”
“Give it to Cynthia Pringle. She seems to want to run things.”
She could see the fumes in her Elise’s eyes. “I’m gonna let you deal with her and the rest of them, that’s what I’m going to do. As a matter of fact, as soon as you’re well enough, I’m going to present them to you on a silver platter! I have to tell you, I feel like this is all my fault.”
“How so?” Ellen groaned. The conversation was fast becoming something too difficult.
But Elise sat down beside her, “If I hadn’t been so busy with the kids, and Alan’s jealousy bullshit, I’d have known what they were planning. It’s not an excuse. I should’ve seen them wandering and set them straight. Between soccer practice, ballet and keeping Alan straight, well, I just wasn’t paying attention. They lost me, and in turn they got out of control. I’m fairly sure it was that bitch Cynthia’s idea. She didn’t like it when I took over for Mom. She’d been filling the spot for so long it didn’t occur to her that one day I’d step in and take over.”
Words were slow coming but Ellen managed, “Mom?”
“Mom started this whole thing. Trust me, it’s a
good
thing. Rich, successful men can get out of hand fast if you don’t keep a close eye on them. Before she got started on Dad, the business was on the brink of bankruptcy and neither he nor Galloway had any idea why. But she saw it clear as day. They were treating the employees like slaves, bossing them around, cutting their pay for stupid losses, and basically running a sweat shop over there. In turn, the employees stole, got drunk at work, and vandalized them behind their backs. Can’t blame them. It’s a crappy way to have to work. But Mom found a way to fix it. Do you want me to tell you now, or wait till tomorrow? Because you look pretty worn out?”
Ellen wanted to hear this. It’s the story she’d been searching for all this time! One she’d paid for with a permanent scar. “Go ahead.”
But another voice sounded from the doorway, “Night shift’s here, Elise. Why don’t you head on home to Alan and I’ll tell her the rest.”
Elise stood up from the side of the bed and stretched, “Sounds good Jonathon. I don’t blame her for wanting answers, but I’ll be damned if I’m not worn out myself.” She patted her stomach, “And junior here is hungry.”
Jonathon moved towards the bed with a tray of soup, crackers and a coke bottle with a straw sticking out of the top. “Yeah, you get on home beautiful. Let me take care of the patient for the night.” He pecked Elise on the cheek, leaving Ellen to wonder when in hell they’d become buddy-buddies.
Elise kissed her forehead, “Oh good, the fever’s gone now. I’ll be back in the morning once I drop the kids off at daycare. Love you.” And she was gone before Ellen could resist.
She really didn’t want to be alone with Jonathon, not in her current condition. But she had her curse words lined up for him. She scooted up on the mattress because the beef broth smelled pretty enticing, “How long have I been asleep exactly?” she murmured, sipping the broth from a spoon.
“Two days,” and he pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down. “Elise has been here all day, but I’ve been your bedtime partner. As it should be, I might add.”
“I’m still pissed at you,” She groaned as the pain reliever caused her to stick the spoon into the side of her cheek.
“Can’t say that I blame you. From your view I must look like a real prick. In my defense, even your sister didn’t see this coming. I’m a newbie! I didn’t have any idea what they were capable of.” He shuffled uncomfortably in the chair.
“Surprised you haven’t strung them up by now,” Ellen whimpered. She was trying to stay alert to get answers, but she was losing the battle.
“Promise me that you’ll let me help you deal with these fools, and I’ll tell you all you want to know about the Club.”
“Always negotiating…” she mumbled, but lifted the coke with the straw to her lips.
“Probably best to tell you while you’re drugged anyway.” He wiped her lips with a napkin. “So is it a deal?”
Since she had no earthly idea what he was talking about, she agreed.
“Christina Devereux, your mother, saw Horace’s limits pretty clearly; she’d already had three kids with him and knew him better than the back of her own hand. He was heading downhill faster than at cardboard sleigh on the hill at the Fort, and she couldn’t let that happen. At first she saw it in the way he treated the household employees. But then she noticed it when she’d visit him at the office. The fool, and his trusty side kick, my father, were being robbed blind by the very people they needed to move them forward. It must’ve been hard to realize that your husband is a racist pig, and to her credit she didn’t dump him. Of course back then divorce wasn’t as common as it is today, and she did have the children to think about. So she began to come up with a plan to teach him his mistakes in such a way that he’d never forget them.”
Ellen finished her broth and sat the bowl on the tray in front of her. She nibbled on a cracker while he continued. She didn’t remember her mother; Evangeline had raised her. As a child she’d envisioned her birth mother as a beautiful angel with wings that fluttered like a butterfly in the wind outside her bedroom window at night. Her mother was her most powerful protector, even after death; no monsters could ever get through that window with Christina Devereux on guard.
“The way I understand it, it was giving birth to your sister that Christina understood that after pain comes release. And the more intense the pain, the more intense the release. As a mother coddles her newborn to her chest for the first time, she isn’t thinking about the pain she had moments ago. She’s in love and pain is the furthest thing from her mind. So this becomes the theory behind her plan with Horace. Now according to my Dad, she tied him up on the sun porch for the entire weekend, using various household items as torture and release toys. I heard that Horace was pissed and gave a strong fight at the beginning, but by the end he’d do anything she instructed. She’d given birth to him, shown him that by clearing his mind of all the things he thought were rules, he could succeed not only in business but in their marriage. People are just people you know? It doesn’t matter if they’re riveters or Governors, they’re all just people. But at some point Horace had put everyone into his own caste system, and those below him lost badly. Christina didn’t release him until she was absolutely sure that he grasped her message loud and clear. By the time he went back to work he was a changed man.”
Ellen smiled, it was nice to think of her mother as that powerful, and it fit right in to her childhood vision of her as the ‘Great Protector.’ “It’s a long leap from putting her foot in Dad’s ass to starting a Club.”
And Jonathon grinned, “That’s why I love you Ellen. You never stop pushing, do you?”
“Okay,” He sighed, “This may shock you a little, but when Horace went back to work such a changed man, my Dad wanted to know why. He was changing everything around, reorganizing the company and making monumental alterations to the way they’d done things for so long. I can’t say that I blame Dad for needing to know why. Long story short, Christina agreed to teach my father what she’d taught Horace. She dominated him until he released all those nasty old ways. Now understand that kind of secret can’t be held for long, I mean at some point someone’s going to notice the shipping company taking off. The employee’s started showing up for work, with better pay and benefits why wouldn’t they? Dad and Horace took interest in their lives, made sure they had all they needed and more. Everyone at the company was prospering like crazy, and the chatter started around town. It wasn’t before long women begged Christina to help their husbands. And for a while she did, and she ran this town with an iron hand. The men didn’t dare cross her; it was the furthest thing from their minds. They wanted Christina happy, after all. Their own businesses were thriving and they had her to thank for it. Even the women didn’t mind; they were reaping the benefits, not only in their spendable cash flow but in the bedroom as well. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your Mom. Dad says until Christina trained him, he and mother hadn’t spoken in years. Anyway, that’s the story how your mother saved Charleston with domination. A woman before her time.”
Ellen wasn’t sure she liked the way Jonathon was repeating the story. It made her mother look like the town prostitute. One thing she knew, she had no intention of running a men’s bondage club. “That’s wonderful,” she slurred, “but what’s all this got to do with me? And why they hurt me?”
“They hurt you,” Jonathon paused to swallow because the thought of anyone touching her turned his stomach, “because you threatened to expose them. They couldn’t be absolutely sure that you wouldn’t find the answers you were looking for and publish the story. The public wouldn’t understand and they’d be the laughing stocks of the State. What they should have done was go to Elise for advice, but she was busy with the kids and Cynthia stepped in to make the decision. I don’t think Cynthia and your mother got along well. It was her first husband that gave your mother small pox; he was her last trainee so to speak. Apparently he and Cynthia hadn’t agreed he should be trained. She had plenty of family money and couldn’t understand why he felt the need to succeed on his own. So when he went ahead with the training she was furious, but then he died and so did Christina. You’d think that’d be the end of it but she met Marcus and fell in love. Now let me tell you, something twisted in that woman’s brain when she fell in love with Marcus. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to keep him, but after years of no children, she turned to her mortal enemy Christina Devereux’s method as a final resort. And she loved it.”
He checked Ellen’s eyelids, she was asleep. But as he moved to turn off the light beside her bed, her thin arm reached out and grabbed his, “No, no, I’m listening! Tell me more.”
Jonathon chuckled, just like her mother she didn’t take no for an answer. “Cynthia was a looker in her hey day. I’ve seen the pictures and I tell you she was hot. It was Cynthia that took over the role of Grand Dame of the Sand Dune’s Club in your mother’s absence. Eventually Cynthia had to step down; arthritis got the better of her and she just couldn’t give it her strength anymore. That’s when your sister took over. She’s a natural, I tell you.”
But Ellen was barely deciphering what he was telling her, “Did Elise dominate you?”
Jonathon froze with the question. He’d made a lot of changes in his life lately but losing Ellen was the only one he was terrified of. Maybe she was so drugged that she wouldn’t remember any of this tomorrow? He could pray. But he nodded his head, “She did.”
“Did you sleep with her?” The question was garbled but clear enough.
“I did not. I’m not going to deny that I wanted to, but I think the idea of screwing her future brother in law turned her off.” Now that was fair.
“And you liked being dominated?”
“I did.”
“Tell me about it, tell me everything,” she mumbled.
And Jonathon did. Ellen finally fell into deep sleep beneath the sound of his voice explaining how wonderful nipple clamps felt to him. Instead of dreaming of puppy dog tails and candy canes, she dreamed of glass dildo’s and tables with handcuffs.
But pain came searing back into her body around four in the morning, and Ellen sat up in the bed sweating with anguish. Jonathon popped up beside her, “Let me get you another pain killer.” In a moment he was pressing the pill between her lips followed by glass of water.
“Jonathon, tell me more about the club while I fall back asleep.” Her subconscious was mesmerized by the thought of a club that uses sex as a path to success. With any hope, in a few minutes she’d experience the release after pain herself. As soon as the medicine kicked in she’d be back asleep.
“Alright,” Jonathon lay back down beside her. “There’s really not much more to tell. If someone does something against the rules, they suffer the consequences at the hand of your sister. I think of it as sort of a life refresher course, but I can’t figure out why the men aren’t purposely breaking the rules.”
She knew he’d meant it as a joke or sorts, but she wasn’t fond of anyone, even Elise, touching Jonathon. “Me either,” she grunted looking straight into his crystal blue eyes. She had to admit, he’d made some serious changes for the better lately. He’s funny, but not childish; sexy but he doesn’t seem to know it; and powerful in a way that held her attention. The pain subsided in her back, but fascination with him kept her awake.