Chapter 78B

Once the girls left, Alicia did her final check-in with Kendra, then went to her room and dropped into a dead sleep. She felt really strange: Exhausted mentally but buzzing with physical energy. It was a combination that she was sure wouldn't let her sleep, but she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"So everything went well?" asked Jenna. She usually didn't speak with clients, but this little fantasy the girls had asked for was pretty unusual. She wanted to make sure they'd enjoyed themselves.

"It was amazing," said Linda. "She should be an actress or something, because as soon as she stepped into the room it was like we were back in high school again."

The other two girls nodded enthusiastically, although one of them seemed a bit embarrassed about something, which, considering the fantasy they'd wanted to play out, was a little odd. Well, maybe not. People were often attacked by guilt after they realized a fantasy.

"Well I'm glad that you enjoyed yourselves," smiled Jenna, giving no sign that she noticed said guilt. That would usually make it worse.

"She's really amazing," said Linda. Then she handed Jenna an envelope. "Could you see that she gets this? She left before we could give it to her."

"Of course," smiled Jenna. "I'll be happy to."

They talked for a few more minutes, then the girls left. Curious, Jenna looked in the envelope. She probably shouldn't have, but she couldn't resist. What she saw inside made her raise her eyebrows in surprise. Alicia's tip was almost the amount the girls had paid the house, which, considering how intense the scene had been, was considerable.

Alicia looked over her shoulder at her reflection in the mirror. Her back, ass and the backs of her thighs were covered with whip marks, and there were cane marks on her ass and legs -- all the way down to her thighs. She wiggled with happiness, then headed for the shower, thinking that this was more like what she'd had in mind when she thought of a specialty client. She hissed in pain and pleasure as the hot water stung her sensitive skin.

Her clients had been a husband and wife team, and boy had they put her through her paces. They were out of town friends of Marci's, and had rented the dungeon -- and Alicia -- for a few hours. They'd been here once before and used Saundra, and in fact, they'd been prepared to use Saundra again until Marci had recommended Alicia. Apparently, they'd been far more happy with their experience this time. Not that Saundra had been bad, she just hadn't been very good. Certainly not in Alicia's class, and they weren't shy about letting Marci know it. Unfortunately, one of the other girls had overheard, and the private comments had quickly made the rounds in the house. It didn't take very long before they made it to Saundra's ears...

Alicia was extremely hungry -- in fact, she found that she was eating a LOT more food than she used to -- and was tucking into her third PB&J in the dining room. She grinned to herself at the look the other girls gave her over her choice of breakfast food. Thus, she was completely unprepared when her head rang with a slap as she was smacked from behind. She covered her head and scrambled out of her chair -- far more quickly than Saundra (or anyone else) had expected. Fast enough, in fact, that Saundra stumbled and hit the table as she tried to grab Alicia, who wasn't there anymore. This gave the other girls time to try and grab her, but Saundra was a wild-cat. Fortunately, Charles wasn't too far away, and it took him only seconds to immobilize the spitting, screeching, clawing woman. He managed to keep her under control until Jenna got there -- out of breath from running down the back stairs at top speed.

"What the hell is going on here!" she yelled.

Of course, everyone started talking at once, all but one of them saying that Saundra had gone after Alicia.

"My office Saundra," snapped Jenna. "Now!"

She looked around for a moment.

"Where's Alicia?" she asked.

"It wasn't her fault," said Donna. "She was just eating breakfast."

"Find her," said Jenna, "and tell her I want to see her. No, wait. Tell her I'll call for her and not to leave the house."

A few minutes later, a very angry Jenna sat behind her desk looking at furious Saundra. Jenna was no stranger to these kinds of blow-ups. You couldn't put this many girls in a house without some friction. But Saundra was getting out of hand.

"Explain yourself," said Jenna.

"I don't have to explain shit," snarled Saundra.

"You do if you want to continue to work here," replied Jenna, trying to keep herself under control.

"That little bitch keeps stealing my clients," said Saundra, "and you're threatening to fire me?"

"I assume you're referring to Alicia," said Jenna. "Even if she was stealing your clients, you're not allowed to hit her. Or anyone else. Those are the rules, and you know it."

"What do you mean, 'even if'?" Saundra screeched. "She's stealing from me, and you know it. Hell, Kendra's fucking helping the little cunt!"

"Saundra, you'd better get hold of yourself or I'll toss your ass right out of here," said Jenna in a firm tone. "Alicia isn't stealing anything from you."

"Bullshit!" yelled Saundra. "I heard all about the Drakes! They were my clients!"

"They were not your clients," said Jenna. "You were with them one time. They were in from out of town and wanted some play time. Alicia was available."

"So was I!"

"They wanted to try someone new."

That was the truth, but not all of it. Yes, they had wanted to try a new girl, but after Alicia, it was clear they wouldn't be using Saundra again. In fact, that had happened with a few of the specialty clients who had given Saundra a try. Some liked her, but the higher end clients almost always preferred Alicia. The Bitmores still hadn't asked for her, but Jenna would never let Alicia into their hands. When they'd first come to Jenna, she'd asked Marci to ask around about them, and hadn't liked what she'd heard. They were shady, at best, and apparently had to pay for submissives because they treated them so poorly. Saundra had the protection of the House, who would go after them if they abused her too much, but not everyone had that kind of protection. As a result, the Bitmores had a difficult time finding playmates that weren't bought and paid for.

"Yeah, cuz Marci pushed Alicia at them," said Saundra. "If this is how you run your business, that's fine with me, but I don't have to put up with it."

"That's true," replied Jenna, "and you're free to leave anytime you like."

Finally Saundra, who was none too bright, realized where this was going. Yes, Jenna wanted her to work here, since Saundra's steady clients brought in a lot of money. But since they'd brought in that little bitch, Saundra's security was being jeopardized in a big way. She didn't know why people were into that skinny little cunt, but they were and that just made Saundra even more pissed. She folded her arms and looked away.

"Take a few days off," said Jenna. "We'll talk then."

"What?"

"You heard me," said Jenna. "I want you to cool down and I don't want you here while you're doing it."

"Where am I supposed to go?"

"Saundra, I know exactly how much money you make here," said Jenna, her patience finally running out. "You could rent a very nice suite on the Strip and not even notice the cost. But when you come back, you'd better have your shit together, because if you hit one of the girls again, you're out on your ass and I'll file charges, got it?"

"But..."

"That's enough!" said Jenna, standing and trying to get hold of herself. "I don't want to see you back here before next Monday."

Clearly furious, Saundra stood and flounced out of the room. Jenna took a few minutes to calm herself, the contacted Kendra.

"Has anyone found Alicia yet?" she asked.

"Yeah," replied Kendra. "She was in her room. She's really upset."

"Send her up," said Jenna. "No, wait. Have Charles go get her. Saundra hasn't left yet."

"You fired her?" asked Kendra. She didn't sound very disappointed.

"No, I didn't fire her," said Jenna. "But she'll be taking a few days off to get her head together."

"As if," snorted Kendra.

"Kendra," said Jenna, her tone a warning.

"I'll go get Charles."

The knock on the door made Alicia looked up. She wiped the tears from her cheeks as she stood to go open the door. She'd been calculating how much money she had. It was a surprising amount, especially considering that she hadn't been here very long. On the other hand, she spent almost none of what she made -- other than what the house charged for her room and board, so it had quickly piled up. She was very upset though. Things had been going so well, and now she was gonna get fired.

Why was Saundra such a bitch?

Charles was waiting at the door, which simply confirmed to Alicia that she was getting canned. Fucking Saundra.

"C'mon," he said, giving her a smile. His white teeth gleamed against his dark skin, "Jenna wants to talk to you."

"Should I get my stuff?"

"What stuff?" he asked.

"You know, my clothes and stuff."

"Why, you quittin'?" he asked, his grin completely disappearing.

"No, I just figured that Jenna was gonna fire me," she replied.

"Well, I can't speak for her, but I've known Jenna a long time," he said. "I really doubt she's gonna fire you because you got slapped."

"But maybe..."

Charles cut her off.

"Look, I don't get involved in this kinda stuff," he said, "so I don't know what's gonna happen. But like I said, I've known Jenna a long time and I'd be real surprised if she fired you. Now c'mon."

His smile returned as he held out his arm. Alicia curled into it as they walked up to Jenna's office.

"Saundra darling, what an unexpected surprise," said Karen Bitmore with a slight emphasis on the word unexpected. As usual, Saundra didn't notice the hint that she might not be welcome. "You're not scheduled for a few more days."

"I know," said Saundra. "Can I come in?"

"This really isn't a good time, dear," smiled Karen. The smile was not friendly.

Saundra looked away for a minute, then looked back, biting her lip.

"Look," she said, moving closer to Karen and lowering her voice -- not that anyone would be able to hear her anyway. The house was a good distance from its neighbors. "I gotta business opportunity for you, you know what I mean?"

Karen's smile disappeared and lips tightened for a moment. Ever since Saundra had accidentally found out about her and her husband's little side business, she'd forgotten her place. They'd put up with it because they enjoyed using her services and it hadn't been worth their trouble to get rid of her. That might be changing in the near future though.

"I see," said Karen, her voice neutral. "Well, in that case, why don't you come with me?"

Grinning Saundra followed the other woman down the hall to their large living room. Karen knew that Saundra thought she had her and her husband over a barrel, but honestly, the woman was just too stupid to be much of a danger. The Bitmores hadn't gotten to where they were by being careless.

"Jon is busy at the moment," said Karen sitting down on the sofa, "so why don't you tell me what you have in mind?"

For a second, Saundra didn't know what to do. She'd never been in this house as anything other than a slave, and even wearing clothing felt very odd. She looked at the couch, missing Karen's cruel smile as she watched while Saundra tried to decide what to do. She was strictly forbidden from using any furniture here -- other than if she was tied to it or was ordered to use it. Deciding that this time, she was their equal, Saundra brazenly sat down on the couch.

"I think I have someone that you could make a lot of money off of," said Saundra. Then, when Karen didn't react, Saundra continued, "You know ... in your other business?"

She smiled a bit as she saw Karen's frown. Ever since she'd found out about their 'side business' -- her fees here had gone up. Plus, they wouldn't do anything to her because she had proof tucked away in a storage space no one knew about, but one that would be found if something happened to her.

"I see," said Karen. "Well then, why don't you tell me what you have in mind?"

Saundra grinned. This was going to be even easier than she'd though.

"God," said Jon later, as he and his wife were relaxing with a drink after dinner, "she's such a stupid cunt."

"That she is," agreed Karen. "But I've been thinking maybe we can use this to our advantage."

"Oh?" he asked. This was one of the things Jon loved about his wife: She was as ruthless in business as she was in bed with one of their slaves.

"She showed me pictures of the girl," said Karen. "She's quite the little hottie, and apparently more than a little massy."

"And?" prompted Jon.

"And," smiled Karen, "Saundra hates her with a passion. In fact, she told me Jenna ordered her to take a few days off because she and the girl got into an argument. Of course, she made it seem like it was the other girl's fault, but I doubt that. Anyway, Saundra suggested that we could make some good money if we acquired her."

"I see," said Jon. "What did you tell her?"

"That we'd think about it," said Karen.

"And what do 'we' think?"

"That we could kill two birds with one stone."

The week without Saundra around proved how tense things had gotten for Alicia. Without Saundra there, Alicia felt lighter and freer, not worrying about every little thing she said or that someone would attack her or something. The talk she'd had with Jenna had reassured her as well. She held Alicia blameless and told her that as long as she didn't provoke Saundra, she had nothing to worry about.