Chapter 17

Elaine was trying to concentrate on finishing her breakfast but it wasn't easy. It was Monday, she was ready for work with a half hour to spare, and was busy eating her toasted muesli while Kendra and Chelsea chatted about the guys they met the night before.

Elaine wasn't really listening. Thoughts were running through her mind. Thoughts of seeing Gary and of what he might do to her, or make her do. They were the same thoughts that had occurred to her when she'd woken up before her alarm that morning. Remembering what she'd almost done in those few minutes had only made her hotter.

A sleepy mischievous smile had played at the corners of her mouth when she'd woken and seen her clock. After short-circuiting the alarm, her left hand had insinuated its way between her legs and touched her steaming pussy. Realising how wet she was, she'd slid two fingers into herself before she'd known what was happening. Her other hand had brushed over her nipple. Finding it rigid with excitement, she'd suddenly wanted her nipple clamps.

Sitting up had snapped her out of it. Checking the clock again, she'd sighed. Shaking her head, she'd made for the shower. She had to get ready for work.

In equal parts, fear and excitement were rippling over her skin.

One moment she was smiling to herself, tingles of anticipation prickling her scalp and lubricating her aching pussy. The next moment she was staring into space, unconsciously biting her lip as bracing images danced darkly through her mind.

Elaine munched away, while Chelsea was standing at the kitchen bench making coffees for the three girls.

Chelsea had an interview for a waitress job and was dressed up, something unusual for eight in the morning. As she was pouring she glanced at Elaine and asked, "So? Did you speak to him?"

"Yes," Elaine replied, trying not to sound too excited. "I'm going to spend the weekend with him."

"Woohooo!" said Kendra.

"You're what?" Chelsea had frozen like a statue, mid sugar spooning.

Elaine looked up from her cereal having just taken a mouthful. She gulped it down and almost choked. "What? What's wrong?"

Kendra looked like she was wondering the same thing.

Chelsea's mouth was open in shock and her head was cocked to one side. For a split second Elaine thought she looked like a younger, blonder version of her mother. Chelsea shook her head and went back to what she was doing. Then she sighed and said, "You met this guy on the net. You saw him once in a coffee shop. And now you're spending the weekend miles from anywhere on his tin pot horse ranch. I hope you know what you're doing."

Elaine rolled her eyes. Now Chelsea even sounded like her mother. So she told her. "You sound like my mother. I'll be fine."

"What's his name?" Chelsea asked obliviously, handing out their second cups of coffee for the morning and joining the table.

Elaine hesitated for just a second, but thought it couldn't hurt. "'Gary Duke'. From Allen Falls. I'll be getting his address and phone number and confirming they're legitimate. Don't worry."

Chelsea said, "I have a friend in gym class that comes from Allen Falls. I'll ask if she's heard of him."

Elaine was starting to feel defensive. "He's only been there a year or so."

"Abby's parents own the general store. I'm sure they'd have met him."

Elaine thought about it. "Okay. But I'll let him know."

"Hmmm... Yeah. That's smart. Then if you get some weird-ass reaction, you'll know he's a psycho. That's clever, Elaine."

Elaine wasn't sure if that was what she'd intended. She actually meant that she didn't want Gary thinking anything strange was going on. But Chelsea's comment made sense. It wasn't a bad idea

"What are you talking about?" asked Kendra. She'd been yawning and staring into space. She didn't usually eat breakfast.

Chelsea was dumbfounded. "Where have you been the last five minutes, girl? We're talking about Elaine hooking up with this Gary Duke guy. She's staying at his place this weekend."

Elaine added, "And Chelsea thinks it's a bad idea."

"I didn't say that," Chelsea retorted. "I just said you shouldn't rush into it. You only just met him."

Kendra suddenly became animated, like she just woke up. "Well, I've slept with heaps of guys I hardly knew," she said. "I mean, fuck. Knowing them just bores me most of the time."

"Yeah," said Chelsea. "But you're a slut."

"Fuck off, Chelsea. You're no better. I saw you with those twins last night. I bet if they had the balls to ask, you would have left with them. They were hot."

"Yeah, well they didn't." Chelsea blushed and Elaine thought it was interesting.

"Told you," said Kendra, satisfied.

Elaine rolled her eyes and Chelsea shook her head before standing and walking over to the sink. She tipped out her half-finished coffee and headed out. "I gotta go. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Elaine and Kendra said in unison.

From the hallway came the sound of the front door closing and locking. Elaine and Kendra looked at each other and smiled, sipping their coffee. Finally Kendra said, "You know, the best way to find out about a guy is to talk to his last girlfriend."

"I would, but she ran off leaving him at the altar."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure if she'd appreciate me calling her."

"Don't you want to know why she ran off?"

"Gary already told me."

"Yeah. 'Gary' told you. What if he lied? Guys lie as much as we do, you know. If not more."

Elaine set her jaw. "Kendra, I have a really good sense of who Gary is, and I'm sure he wouldn't lie about this stuff. There's no reason to do it. If he did, he'd lose me. He's expecting me to check up on him."

"Then he won't have a problem providing you with her number. If he has nothing to hide, then he'll give it to you. Even if she did leave him at the altar."

"I don't know. What would I say to her? 'Hi, this is Gary's next prospective girlfriend. I was just wondering why you left him? Was there something about him I should know?'"

"Yes! That's perfect!"

Elaine shook her head. "You're crazy."

"No. You're crazy if you think meeting someone over the 'net is like meeting someone randomly in a nightclub. At least at a nightclub it's genuinely potluck. Jeez, Elaine. On the net some weird guy can target exactly the kind of girl he wants. There are chat rooms for everyone; single mothers, college girls, girls into particular bands. God knows what drives some people. Looks, skin colour, hair colour, age, height, build, big tits, small tits. Think of it from the psycho's point of view. It would be fairly easy to find his target if he knew what he was looking for."

Elaine wasn't about to argue. She knew Kendra was right. "I'm not disagreeing, okay. I know it's dangerous out there. I'm taking all the reasonable precautions I can, but I'm not getting ahead of myself either. We haven't made any promises to each other. This is just a 'get to know you', type thing. That's all." She couldn't help but blush.

Kendra chuckled. "Yeah. I bet."

"It might go further. I don't know. But honestly, if it doesn't look like what it's supposed to look like, you know, in my head, then I'll be hightailing it out of there so fast it'll make his head spin."

"How?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, how would you get out of there? You don't have a car."

Elaine hadn't given it that much thought. "Look, I know what you are going to say, but if he's a nice guy he'll stick to his word. He told me he'd bring me home anytime I wanted. Apart from that, I'll find out the bus schedule and I'll get you guys to check up on me." Elaine hadn't shared The Code with Kendra the last time, so she explained it to her. "When you phone me, I'll call you Kennie or something if I'm in trouble."

"Okay, that's a good idea. Just remember it'll take half an hour to get there."

"Yeah," said Elaine a little uncertainly. She really was going to be alone with him. "I know."

"Allen Falls is miles from the next town so running away isn't an option. The neighbours might be miles away too, so they won't hear your screams."

"Jeez, Kendra. You really know how to reassure someone."

"Hey, it's your funeral. You can do whatever you want."

Elaine knew it was just a turn of phrase. Gary wasn't a psycho. She knew it. Gary was a good-looking guy who happened to be kinky and was probably too honest for his own good. But he was smart. He engaged Elaine on a level that impressed her, but more importantly intrigued her. He made her question things. Not just about him, but about her too.

Maybe he was smarter than Elaine gave him credit. The thought was unnerving.

I have to find out if he's fooling me.

A queasy feeling wrapped itself around her stomach as she caught the bus. At work she was pleased it was busy. She threw herself into it and before she'd noticed the clock, it was time to head to college.

Afternoon melted into evening and her mood darkened with the weather. A storm was coming and the first raindrops chased Elaine up the apartment stairs. Closing the front door, her roommates greeted her, as did the sweet smell of basil in Chelsea's lamb stew. It made her tummy rumble.

In her room she donned an oversized sweater, saving her nice one for the weekend.

Ugh. The weekend.

Elaine thought if her roommates kept at her, they'd freak her out.

Gary would reassure her, and she couldn't wait to talk to him. He had a calming effect on her that she missed the longer she went without seeing him. Even twenty-four hours seemed too long.

Just thinking about him helped her feel better, even as the wind hit and distant thunder rolled across the floodplain. Elaine closed her sliding window, stilling her billowing drapes. If it was electrical, and went on all night, she wouldn't be able to talk to Gary at all. At least he'd be able to guess why. She was pretty sure he'd be having the same storm.

"Have you guys closed the windows?!" Elaine was standing at her open bedroom door, yelling down the hall.

"Yeah, yeah. No problem!" called out Kendra.

Over the television Elaine heard Chelsea ask, "What did she say?"

Kendra must have been absorbed in something as she muttered, "Storm... windows..."

"Aw, shit. Can you pause it?"

"Sure."

Elaine heard Chelsea's light feet padding in her direction.

She entered the hallway and rolled her eyes. "I told myself not to forget to close the window, and what did I do?"

"You forgot," Elaine said, grinning as Chelsea walked past.

"Good job, Sherlock," Chelsea said, poking out her tongue. "Are you okay?" she asked, pausing at the door.

"Yeah, just..." Elaine hesitated. "Never mind."

"Okay," said Chelsea, wiggling her ass as she disappeared into her room.

Elaine sighed and closed her door. She figured Chelsea hadn't spoken to her friend. She didn't mind. If Elaine didn't have to talk about the weekend, she wasn't going to bring it up.

More thunder sounded. Elaine was pretty sure it was still a long way off and felt she could at least finish a couple of assignments. During the day she'd spent every spare moment in the library, photocopying, taking notes and doing outlines for the papers that were due by the weekend, plus for the one due on Monday. She was glad she'd checked her schedule. She hoped to get the two small ones done tonight. She could also do her online responses if the storm settled. It was possible to get it all done if she worked steadily. It wouldn't be easy, but she was confident.

As nine o'clock approached, Elaine was satisfied. Her belly was full of delicious stew that Chelsea had been kind enough to allow her to enjoy while she worked. She wanted to surprise Gary by completing everything he'd asked of her but she couldn't quite do it. She decided to leave the question, "What does being submissive mean to you, " until the next day. She'd finished her two assignments for school, and her online responses. She'd completed her journal, and she'd even gone to the site Gary had asked her to visit. The one with the list of 'humiliating things'. She'd copied and pasted the list into a Word document and filled it out as he'd asked, just like the D/s checklist.

What surprised her most were the similarities between the two. Just as Gary had described, at least a quarter of the things on the list Elaine didn't find humiliating at all. Like wearing a blindfold. Elaine didn't think that was 'humiliating'. Exciting, yes. But not humiliating. She didn't think she'd find it humiliating if Gary chose her clothes for her either. As long as they matched.

Hmmm, she wondered. What if they didn't?

The question about 'Leaving Instructions as to What to Do' made her feel funny. What if the instructions were stupid or she didn't agree with them? The same with 'Leaving the Bathroom Door Open'.

What if it was going to be like, noisy?

She blinked when she arrived at 'Orgasm Control'.

The next entry made her swallow. 'Orgasm Denial'.

I'm not going to be able to do this. Not if he makes me crazy.

It was on those two items that Elaine had spent the most time. Rating them from zero to five was quite bizarre. Zero was supposed to mean, 'I never want to do it', like a hard limit. And five was, 'I want it all the time'. Nowhere was the option of, 'I CAN'T do it'. She settled on four, which was, 'I want it regularly'.

She shook her head. 'Shave Body Hair', and 'Stand in a Corner', were easy fours. 'Suck a Dildo in a Car, so Others can See', was a three. Meaning: 'I usually like it on an irregular basis'. Same with 'Wear No Bra Under a See-Through Top' and 'Write on Body'. Her thoughts were making her hot. She shook her head and tried to concentrate. It was easier if her legs weren't crossed.

It was as though, up to a point, the more extreme the idea, the hotter Elaine became. Even just thinking about it, like, 'Be a Maid' or, 'Eat from Master's Hand'. Then it snapped and it was too much.

God, look at some of this stuff. 'Slap Your Face', 'Wear Diapers', 'Serve as a Toilet'.

By the time she'd finished, Elaine had a lot of zeros.

And she had a lot she wanted to talk to Gary about. Out of the blue she remembered she was supposed to take a look at some examples of 'contracts', so she started at Castlerealm and then Googled. She was reading through her forth one when Gary messaged her.

"Hello, Elaine."

"Hi, Gary." She felt the heat in her cheeks almost immediately. She hoped her courage didn't desert her.

"I hear there's a storm coming. Are you on dial-up or on a cordless laptop?"

"I'm on dial up."

"Let me know if you have to go."

"I will. Thank you, Sir."

What the hell was I thinking?

"Thank you for your homework. I particularly liked your journal today."

"Why?" Elaine asked without thinking. "I mean, if it's okay to ask."

"Sure. It was incisive and thoughtful. I enjoy reading your thoughts." A moment later he typed, "Hey, it's me you're talking to."

"I... I'm sorry. It's been a weird day."

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

"Thank you. I will."

"You're welcome."

"Well, firstly, I've been horny all damn day and I can't do anything about it."

"Not a good sign." He sent a wink.

"No." Elaine giggled and sent a smile.

Just then Kendra poked her head around Elaine's bedroom door and said, "Um, I'm just going out. I'll see you later." She looked like she wanted to ask something but was holding her tongue.

Elaine wasn't in the mood to indulge her. Besides, Gary was waiting. "Okay," she said, barely politely. "See you later." Elaine turned back to the computer as Kendra closed her door. Ugh, she thought. I should chase her and find out what's up. Sighing, she typed, "One moment please, Sir."

"Sure," Gary replied.

Elaine hopped up from her computer chair and headed for the lounge room. Kendra was just leaving and they almost ran into each other.

"Sorry!" said Elaine with surprise.

"Hehe. It's okay. Going somewhere?" Kendra asked rhetorically.

"No, I just thought... Never mind."

"Come on. Spit it out."

"I... I just thought you wanted to ask me something."

"Don't be stupid," Kendra said, clearly for Chelsea's benefit. She took Elaine's arm and led her to the front door. Elaine thought Kendra was really strong. "I just don't want Miss Know-It-All to hear this," she whispered.

"What is it?" Elaine asked, prising Kendra's fingers from her arm.

"Sorry. I don't know. I don't even know why I want to talk to you about this."

"What?" Elaine asked, almost exasperated.

"I think I might be pregnant."

Elaine's jaw dropped. For a moment she could hardly believe her ears. Kendra was pregnant? Surely she took precautions. "How?"

"I don't know. I think the rubber must have broken or something."

"Jesus, Kendra. How long has it been?"

"Six weeks on Thursday."

"Shit."

"Yeah. I'm going to see the doctor tomorrow. Can you come with me?"

"Sure."

"Thanks. And don't tell Chelsea. I'll tell her after I know one way or the other."

"Okay. Are you sure you want to go out tonight?"

"I NEED to go out. I'm going crazy every time I sit still."

"Okay," said Elaine, smiling softly. She could almost see Kendra pregnant. Strangely she thought she'd be a good mom.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow. It's at ten A.M. Chelsea will be at class."

"All right." Elaine thought she'd only miss one lecture. Maybe two.

"Thanks, Elaine," Kendra said. For a split second Elaine thought Kendra looked really sad. It flashed over her face before being replaced with her usual smart-assed self.

"You're welcome," Elaine replied, taking Kendra's hands in hers and squeezing them lightly. "Go on. Have fun. And make him sweat."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm going to fuck him six ways to Sunday."

"I didn't... Oh, never mind. Get out of here."

Kendra winked and closed the door behind her.

Elaine shook her head and made for the lounge room. Chelsea was watching some cop show. "Do you want a coffee? I was just making one."

"Sure. Thanks. Hey, what were you two talking about?"

Elaine was surprised by the question and wasn't sure how to answer. "It wasn't about you. Kendra just wanted to know if I was free in the morning."

"What for?"

"I'm not sure," Elaine lied.

She swallowed as she left the lounge room and entered the kitchen, intent on making coffees. She was glad Chelsea hadn't followed her. Elaine hated being drilled on things. She was a terrible liar.

Finally the coffee was ready and she waited until the advertisements were over before taking Chelsea's to her. Her plan was a good one and Chelsea barely grunted a thank you as Elaine put her coffee on the low table. Lightning lit the lounge room window. Hastily Elaine beat a path to her room as more thunder sounded. It was still miles away.

Gary's words hit her as she sat.

"This is a bit longer than 'one moment'."

Shit. How long have I been gone?

"I'm sorry, Gary. My roommate just told me some news that I couldn't walk away from."

After a few seconds he replied, "Then that's understandable. Welcome back."