Chapter 1

The sound of the front door opening makes Melissa’s heart skip a beat. Today hasn’t been a typical Friday. When Mistress Bethany left the house this morning she promised Melissa that their two year relationship is about to take a step in an exciting new direction. Tonight all is due to be revealed. Mistress Bethany has never made such a promise before, so Melissa is understandably excited.

Melissa first met Bethany at High School, eight years ago. She instantly found Bethany attractive with her long blond hair and confident demeanour. However, Bethany is a year older than Melissa, so their different class schedules meant that they rarely crossed paths. It wasn’t until two years ago that ‘Mistress’ Bethany and Melissa became close. That was after Melissa’s older brother, Greg, was arrested. Although Melissa was never directly involved in Greg’s criminal activities, she was aware that he earned his living through crime. Melissa blames her own spinelessness for not distancing herself from Greg as soon as she discovered the truth. She tries to justify her inaction by pretending Greg would have harmed her if she had tried to leave him, but that’s a lie. Greg was a fence, selling stolen property on the black market. As subsequent events proved, he wasn’t a particularly skilful crook. Melissa was hauled into court as a witness, but her pathetic testimony helped nobody. At least she didn’t get charged as an accessory to a crime, so she supposes her timidness served some useful purpose after all.

Melissa had been living in an incestuous relationship with Greg at the time. Unfortunately, the lease on Greg’s flat was forfeit as soon as he was convicted, so Melissa was immediately left homeless. Her part-time job at a local supermarket paid peanuts, so she couldn’t afford to rent a decent room. That’s when Bethany became a true friend at a critical time in Melissa’s life. Mistress Bethany gave Melissa a roof over her head and a job, when everyone else shunned her because of Greg. Bethany’s generosity came at a price, but it’s one that Mistress Bethany was open about, and one which Melissa was willing to pay.

Should Melissa have refused her mistress’s conditions two years ago? Certainly her life would have been very different had she backed away when she had the chance. But Melissa doubts that her life would have been better if she had rejected Mistress Bethany’s offer-with-strings. Melissa is happy and content with her current lifestyle, which is something she couldn’t say before she moved in with her mistress. Her life with Greg was bland and boring, always overshadowed by the inappropriateness of their sexual relationship. He was the man of the house, and Melissa was too much in his thrall to challenge his one-sided control of their relationship. Despite their mutual attraction, Melissa’s sex life with Greg was vanilla and run to a timetable. Not so now with Mistress Bethany.