Chapter 28

I stared at the scene before me and soaked in the details quickly. Katrina was face down on something that looked like a saw horse, only it was wider and covered with leather. Straps held her down via her wrists and thighs. The most eye-catching and worrisome detail was that her bare bottom was propped up and glowed red.

Dumont wasn't wearing her dress. It was on a hanger behind them. As I had correctly deduced, she had been wearing something under it, just not a swimsuit. She had on a corset that covered and supported her breasts. The material was heavy enough to be leather but reflected more light than latex. Whatever it was made out of, she also wore a pair of panties made out of the same stuff. Her curly blonde hair was pulled back in a low, tight pony tail, which left her face open.

When I met her eyes, she pointed the paddle at me and said, "Get out, Connors! Now!"

I shook my head and nodded at Katrina. "What's going on here?"

"None of your business," Dumont said. "Now leave!"

"No," I said, dropping my pack. "Untie her."

Dumont stepped closer to me, brandishing her paddle. "You don't give orders here, Connors, I do. Now leave or face expulsion."

I frowned at her. I had to admit that she might have enough pull with the school to get me kicked out, but I wasn't leaving without Katrina. I needed something to use as leverage, something Dumont couldn't easily repute, like a picture or video of this. Then I remembered Jordan's cell phone. I still had it. I pulled it out and before Dumont realized what I was doing, I took several pictures of her and Katrina.

Dumont dove at me. "No!"

I turned and held her off with one hand. "Yes," I said, feeling contrary. "Now, let her go unless you want these pictures finding their way onto the school web site."

Dumont swiped at the phone again. "You wouldn't dare."

I pulled up web access on the phone. "I can do it from here, right now."

"Give me that phone!" She said, attempting to push her way to it. "I'll make your life at school hell!"

I gave her a good push. It was enough to slide her back, but not so much to send her flying. "You can't have it, and you won't do anything you threaten because you don't want this getting out." I pointed at Katrina. "Untie her. Now!"

Dumont glared at me, breathing heavily. "You won't do it. You'd have to log into the school's system to upload them. If I get into trouble, so will you."

I shrugged. "That may be, but I'm willing to risk it. Are you?"

She cursed me under her breath but turned and unbuckled the first strap.

I watched her and waited until she bent to the last one. When she wasn't looking at me, I closed the phone and stuffed it into the side pocket of my pack. She saw me pull it out of my pants pocket. If she tried to wrestle me to the ground again, maybe hoping to smash it in the process, it would be safe, relatively.

When Katrina was free, she turned and sat on the saw horse. Then she reached down and picked up her panties.

Dumont noticed. "What are you doing? No one told you to get dressed."

Katrina glanced at me with a frown and dropped them back where they were.

I frowned at Dumont. "What? Spanking her isn't enough? What else did you have in mind, Dumont? Humiliate her by making her walk to her car without her clothes? Maybe something physical, like raping her with the handle of your paddle?

Dumont's glare intensified. "Dumont? You will call me Professor or Professor Dumont. Do you understand?"

I accuse her of things like sexual harassment and rape and she gets mad about her name? I shook my head. "You are really screwed up, you know that?" I looked to Katrina and lightened my tone. "Did she tell you what else she had planned?"

Dumont shot her a look and said, "Don't answer that," before her assistant could take a breath to answer. Then she turned to me again. "I untied her, now erase those pictures."

I shook my head. "And chance that you'll try to have me expelled later? I don't think so. I'll be keeping those pictures for quite some time." I glanced at Katrina. "And I'm not leaving without her. She needs to get dressed."

Dumont crossed her arms under her breasts. "And I'm just supposed to trust that you'll erase the pictures when you say you will? Fat chance. She's staying here."

I studied her expression and body language. Her arms were crossed, feet shoulder width apart, and she had a glare for me. She was defiant and ready to fight. Then I looked at Katrina. She sat still, keeping herself covered and half hid her face behind her hair. She was embarrassed and maybe a little scared. She reminded me of how she acted with Heisler last night, before I took her to Room Three.

I looked at Dumont again. "Does Heisler know you have his sub?"

Dumont smiled, and it wasn't pleasant. "That's none of your business."

"Which means yes," I said. "How do you know him?"

She frowned. "It's none of your business. What part of that do you not understand?"

I glanced at the paddle in her hand, to the saw horse thing, and put it all together. "He told you to punish her. Why?"

Dumont shook her head with a sigh. "None of your business."

I was getting more upset every time she said that. I pointed at Katrina. "She didn't do anything wrong."

Dumont smiled. "That's none of your business. None of this is any of your business. Your sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong and if you're not careful," she waved the paddle at me, "it's going to get flattened."

In a flash of anger, I snatched the paddle out of her hand. "Don't threaten me!"

Fear flashed through Dumont's eyes. "If you touch me..."

"It'll be self-defense," I said, knowing where she was going, and I put my face in hers. "You've already come at me twice with this, threatening bodily injury. And with the pictures I have, the police would believe I came to her rescue." I tossed the paddle to the floor.

The fear she felt melted away with her anger. "Even if the police get involved, that doesn't change the fact that Katrina belongs to Steven. She can't leave with you because he's forbidden it."

I leaned back, studying her face. "You told him about me, didn't you?"

She smiled again. "He wanted to know who you were. When I found out from Katrina who she was with last night, I told him everything."

I shook my head. "You lied to him. You don't know me, any more than you know her."

Dumont rolled her eyes. "I'm a psychology professor. I know you better than you know yourself. Like I know you're too much of an introvert to have actually gone out with seven different women, much less fucked them. And when Steven told me what happened last night, I told him that you must have been desperate to get laid, to keep your reputation intact. No one could make the kind of mess he described unless they hadn't had sex in a long, long time."

I shook my head and looked at Katrina. How had she gotten tangled up with Heisler and Dumont? I wasn't going to find out here, with Dumont running interference for Heisler. However, if she had my mark, I might convince her. Jordan said I should naturally see my mark on all of my Fonti. Her top was low cut. I could just make out the edges of her bra, but my mark wasn't there. I looked up and noticed her expression. She wasn't scared or embarrassed anymore, but she wasn't happy either. "Katrina, do you want to go back to Heisler?"

Dumont shook her head. "She doesn't have a choice."

I glanced at her. "She can answer me if she wants."

Dumont smiled again. "No, she can't. She knows who her Master is and who he put in charge of her. She knows you have no authority over her."

I held Katrina's eyes. "Heisler gave her authority over you?"

Dumont shook her head and stepped between us. "It doesn't matter, Mr. Connors. I have the power to keep her from talking to you or doing anything you want, like leaving with you."

I glanced past Dumont to Katrina again. I wasn't sure what her expression meant. She looked despondent. I focused on Dumont. "Unless I supersede your authority."

She rolled her eyes. "Only Steven can say who has authority over her, which means you have none."

I shook my head. "I don't need his approval. I only have to be Dominant to you. Then I'll have authority by proxy."

Dumont laughed. Behind her, Katrina's eyes widened. "What are you going to do?" Dumont asked. "Assume your Dominant role," which she said with fingered quotes, "and try to control me? If you haven't noticed, I am Dominant."

I shook my head and recalled her lecture from class. "There are varying levels of Dominance and submission. You have authority due to your position with the school, and I submit to that authority." She opened her mouth in an attempt to use that authority but I kept talking. "But we're not in class now. I'm not here as your student, and she's not working as your assistant. That authority has no claim right now. Now, I'm challenging your Dominance over Katrina. You only have the authority given to you by others, and in Katrina's case, that's Heisler. Guess who's not here!"

Dumont shrugged. "That doesn't mean I'm submissive to you."

I studied her face and remembered what Lady Brighid said last night. "To the right person you are. Heisler is Dominant to you, isn't he?"

She glared.

I smiled. "He is; which means you only have the authority given to you. And that means you're actually submissive."

"No, it doesn't," she spat.

I nodded. "Yes, you're submissive but you act the Dominant part when given authority. The problem is, you abuse that authority. You pick on anyone you're in charge of who displays any submissive tendencies."

She shook her head, sending her pony tail flying back and forth. "No."

I studied her face and body language and nodded again. It all made sense. More than that, I noticed dents form on her breasts. It wasn't cold in the office. The AC was on, but only to maintain a comfortable temperature against the raging summer sun outside. There was only one other reason for Dumont's nipples to harden. If she was a true submissive, then it probably turned her on to be controlled. I pulled out my fetish. Maybe, if I turned her on so much she couldn't think straight, she would relinquish control of Katrina.

Dumont noticed my fetish. "What's that? You're magical Domination talisman?"

I pulled it over my head and ignored her question. "Tell me something, Professor. Are you married or in any kind of relationship?"

She shook her head and crossed her arms again. "That's none of your business."

Her words didn't bother me so much anymore and I shrugged. "Either you'll tell me or I'll find out some other way." I glanced at her hands. She had them tucked behind her arms, hiding her fingers.

Dumont noticed my glance. "Checking me out now? I would swear you're gay." She held out her hands in presentation. "I'm dressed like this and Katrina is bottomless, yet," she waved at me, "you're not sporting a hardon." She leaned closer, squinting like she was trying to see something. "Unless you're so small, you wouldn't pitch a tent."

Katrina shook her head, but Dumont didn't see her.

I didn't rise to her bait but I smiled for Katrina. To Dumont I said, "I thought your corset was leather. Guess I was wrong."

She straightened up and looked down at herself. Her face, neck, and the tops of her breasts all flushed red. She said, "It's cold in here." She looked up at me again and frowned. "What? You thought I was reacting to you?" She huffed and looked away. "There's nothing about you that I find appealing in the least."

I arched an eyebrow. "Has it never occurred to you that I feel the same way?" I waved at her outfit. "You're very attractive, but you've got your nose so high up in the air you can't see anything except what you want, and even that is skewed by your conflicted nature. That conceit doesn't paint a very flattering portrait." I shook my head. "No wonder you're single."

She turned to look at me with her mouth open, appalled. "You are so full of yourself. Making up lies about how many women you've slept with, just so you don't look so pitiful in front of the rest of the class. And then claiming you're neutral, that you could be either Dominant or submissive. It's obvious you don't have what it takes to be a Dom."

I glanced at Katrina, who watched me with a smile similar to what she left with last night, half bright and half seductive. "Whether you think I'm telling the truth or not, Katrina knows what I can do."

Dumont looked at Katrina with a snide comment ready but then her expression changed. "I've seen that look before. Usually right after you've been with Steven." Dumont looked at me again and she sneered again. "As submissive as she is, you could have raped her and she wouldn't say anything about it."

I frowned. "If you believe that, then you don't know her as well as you think you do."

Her sneer shifted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I glanced past her at Katrina's thighs. "For one thing, she's wet right now. I believe the two of us fighting to dominate her is turning her on." I looked into Katrina's eyes. "I'd even wager she'd be ready for sex at any time with just about anyone." I looked back at Dumont. "Even someone with your attitude."

Frowning, Dumont turned and looked at Katrina.

Katrina blushed heavily and looked away. Even though she wore a bra and her top was made of some soft material, the dents of her hard nipples were obvious.

"Bah!" Dumont said, turning from the other woman. "She's only wet because she likes being controlled."

"That may be," I said, "but you don't pay enough attention to the small details." I looked down at Dumont's panties. "Like the fact that you're about to leak regardless of how tightly you keep your legs pressed together."

Dumont blushed then and it reached all the way down to the top of her breasts. "It doesn't have anything to do with you."

I knew better. My fetish was working on her and that meant she was single. All of my speculation had proven right so far. I was willing to find out just how much more I was right and an idea occurred to me. "Really?" I asked. "So, what if I were to take off my shirt?" I was wearing a polo style shirt, so I pulled it up and off over my head. I caught Dumont looking away. "That wouldn't affect you?"