Chapter 10: Clerkenwell

After her meeting with June on the South Bank, Allison spent the next day on tenterhooks getting progressively more anxious as the day wore on. She noticed as Lionel left his office at about five. He seemed to be in the same state of nervous anticipation that she was.

Allison had suffered the same “What do you wear... ?” conundrum as she had in the office earlier in the week. She’s was beginning to think the default dominatrix outfit of black leather, corset and boots at least had the benefit of not requiring too much decision making. Finally she decided that if she was the dominant then the answer to “What do you wear... ?” had to be “anything I damned well please” and had changed out of her office clothes and opted for a sweater, jeans and ankle boots, thinking that if it was going to be a demanding evening then at least she would be dressed comfortably.

June’s Clerkenwell address was in an old house not far from St John’s Square squeezed in on either side by modern offices. Allison buzzed the door intercom and after a short exchange with June the door opened and she found herself in a narrow hallway with a set of steps leading up to another door. It opened as Allison began to climb the stairs. “You came,” June beamed. “Excellent. Come on up.”

The flat appeared to be no more like a dungeon than Allison’s own did but June certainly looked as Allison imagined a professional dominatrix would. She wore a black leather bustier and tight leather skirt with long, black, leather gloves that reached up over her elbows. Dagger heels, sheer black tights and a choker made up of six rows of pearls completed June’s outfit. Hair lacquered to immobility and carefully applied make-up were the final touches. “I feel a bit under dressed,” Allison said.

“Don’t worry, Lionel likes all this but it’s much more about how I treat him than what I look like, apart from these, of course.” She pointed to the pointed toes of her spike heeled shoes. “Here, you might like to wear this...” June passed Allison a blank white mask that would cover the whole of her face.

“But he’ll know it’s me surely.”

“Yes, possibly, although to be frank his attention will be on other things. In any case, this way he won’t have any idea of what you are thinking. That will be disturbing for him and I always think that helps a scene along – and, if you are uncomfortable with anything you see, it won’t show. You will be able to come to your decision about whether and how to proceed without having given anything away to Lionel first. If you would rather he didn’t know that you are here you can listen in to us from through there or I can let you have a wig, perhaps that might help.” She held up a long blonde wig, quite different from Allison’s own short, dark hair.