perhaps she had meant it as a test, but I met her on the corner, as we agreed, not in front, so they wouldn't know we had left together. She now wore normal but expensive sandals, faded jeans and a white oxford shirt. I was enchanted.
We threw our bags in the trunk of the BMW. She got in and gunned the engine. In a few minutes, I understood what she was up to. We were headed for the beach.
Chapter Eight
“Jesus,” Lynn said. She was holding my hand and we were staring into the blackness of the Gulf of Mexico. She had parked in deep shadows so the cops couldn't see us without looking real hard. And we had our clothes on, which spoke well of us in case they did.
“What am I gonna do with you, Jane?” She turned her head to look at me and I was struck again by the intensity of her personality. It was as if the entire universe was feeding off the energy she produced simply by existing.
“I… I don't know. I'm sorry, I couldn't let it go on. And I knew you had feelings. I couldn't abandon you.” My heart was in my throat but I was glad she was still holding my hand. It was a warm, dry grip, the grip of a confident woman.
Lynn sighed. “When I thought you were a janitor, I had one image of you, and it wasn't flattering, believe me. When I thought you were a domme at the club, I had another image altogether, far more flattering, and I was falling for you. Trying to reconcile those two concepts is very hard. I don't know when I've ever been faced with such a challenge.'
I said, “When I thought of you as the principal and my boss, I had two images of you, and one was flattering while the other wasn't. When you came to the club and sat in the bleachers, I thought you were someone else, too. It was a shock to find you're a sub.'
“Looks like we have one another by the short and curlies,” she observed.
I laughed. “Where in the world did you learn to talk like that?'
“Never you mind. I'm old enough to be your…'
“Sister,” I cut her off.
“Oh, I don't think so,” she laughed.
“I know how old you are,” I said simply.
Lynn yanked her hand back. “You little shit! How can you? Have you…'
I cut her off again. “Your age is a matter of public record. You've published books. It's on the net. So is mine.'
She sank back and held out her hand again. “You're right. I apologize.'
I put my hand in hers. “You're upset. You have a right to be.'
“How old are you?” she asked.
I told her.
“You're older than I am! Why are you a janitor, dammit?” She got agitated every three point five seconds, it seemed.
“You're a snob, aren't you?” I asked, amused.
“Damn right I am. I deserve better in my life than the school janitor, so you'd better have a good explanation.” She was all business.
I told her the story of my life, not every wrinkle, but enough to explain how I could be older than she, a janitor, well-educated, a writer, a domme, a lesbian, divorced, whatever. Everything she really needed to know, and no lies or half-truths this time. I could fill in the inconsequential details if and when she wanted them.
“Quite a path,” she mused. “Mine was a bit more… mundane.'
“And look what you've accomplished. You're a success. I'm a non-entity,” I said sadly. I didn't deserve a woman like Lynn.
“You are a very interesting person. You have some unique talents and abilities, if you're telling the truth. I would love to see what you have written. Will you show me?” she asked, cocking her head in that cute way she had.
“All I've published so far is porn,” I warned her.
“Doesn't matter. I can tell from that if you're any good.'
“Of course,” I agreed.
“But as to this relationship,” she went on, “I'm not sure exactly what to do.'
“Shall I resign? I can look for another job,” I offered. “I mean, I would understand you not wanting me around.'
“Let's put that on hold for now. I want to look at your resume, which I will do as soon as I leave you, and I have some… other issues. I… really don't want a relationship with a woman who has a whole lot of other lovers. It's dangerous. In fact, I'd like you to get an STD panel and show me the results for my own safety. It was foolish for me to even start, in retrospect, but it's best to find out right away if I have anything.'
“I had one done last month for the club, but I'll get another. You should get one, too,” I pointed out the obvious.
“I will. I must insist you choose between me and the club right now. I will simply not tolerate additional partners. If things don't work out with us, you can always go back. And I don't know what might happen, or how soon we will know, but as long as we have any intimacy, you're mine alone, or not at all.'
“I'll quit tomorrow,” I said. It was no issue at all for me.
“You do that. I want to see you tomorrow at the hours you're usually at the club to be sure. Understand?'
“I have to go there to quit,” I explained. “I have to clean out my locker.'
“Be at my house by nine PM or I won't see you again, and you will resign,” she said seriously. Now I knew how her staff felt all day, every day.
“Yes, ma'am.” That sounded so good, so right. I knew she was dominant. I still wanted to get to the bottom of her “sub-routine,” but not that very minute.
But she had other ideas.
“Now I'll explain how I got here, and then we'll have a more mutual understanding of one another,” Lynn said, and she delivered her lecture. I felt I should have been taking notes, but frankly, it felt so great just being there with her that I wouldn't have cared if she told me she'd been hatched by Godzilla and abandoned at a monastery where she'd had a sex-change operation. I closed my eyes and thought about the fact that my hand was in hers and we were alone in her car on the beach in the middle of the night.
Lynn was saying, “My need for dominance got me into trouble with men. I'm divorced three times from men I thought were perfect for me. The first time I barely got out with the clothes on my back. It took me quite a while to learn that what I wanted just isn't possible. I thought I would control them except in the bedroom, where they would control me, and it would be magic. But it never worked out that way. They always wanted way too much of me, and at the expense of my time and commitment to my career. I finally understood that if I was to find the dominance I craved, it couldn't be with a man to whom I was married, but I knew myself well enough to understand I wouldn't be able to keep from marrying them. I started surfing the net for alternatives. I read a lot. That's how I decided to try for a strong, androgynous woman. And I found one. But again, not at all what I expected.'
“I know, and I feel terrible for having deceived you, even a little,” I confessed.
“You were in an awful bind. You chose exactly the right way to tell me, and the right words,” Lynn said. “We'll work it out so neither of us suffers, even if we get no further than this.” Gently she released my hand. “I probably shouldn't be holding your hand, trusting you so soon, telling you so much. I should have been more careful before, and I'm not being careful enough now.'
“This time, you won't get hurt. If anyone gets hurt, it'll be me. I can take ‘no’ for an answer, and I can guarantee you'll never see or hear from me again,” I said quietly.
“How can I be sure?” she asked, looking straight ahead. “Everyone has always hurt me, because I let them. That's why I won't let anyone near me at school or anywhere else. I never wanted to get close to anyone
