Chapter 39

When Simone was gone, Janey came over and sat on my lap, curled up in a ball and wept. All the fear, all the terror, all the unknown came rushing out. Things were OK, now. Simone was back safe. She could let go.

I let her cry. In between her tears, she told me that she had remembered what I had done for her when she had been hiding from reality. How I had sat by her bed and talked to her. So she did that with Nicole. She told Nicole about Steven's attack on her. What she had felt like. How she had wanted to die. She told her of Sally's bet with me, the whole thing. How I had agreed, reluctantly, to help her adjust sexually. That that was why we were so open in the house, why Janey could tease me like she did. She told Nicole everything she could remember.

I let her cry herself out. We were both lying there when we felt the reunion between Nicole and Simone. I felt almost guilty eavesdropping on their emotions like that. I asked Janey if she ever got used to it. I think she felt as guilty as I did. It was a rather touching reunion.

Nicole and Simone came out of the Free Room together. In European fashion, they were holding hands. They came over to where Janey and I were sitting. Nicole was naked, as she had been with Sally as her mistress. That would have to change. I whispered for Janey to go get her one of Sally's slave outfits. Janey jumped up and came back with it in a flash.

I had Janey help Nicole put it on. It didn't fit quite the same as it did on Sally, but it did wonders for her ego. She knelt down at my feet and grabbed on to my ankles. I felt her tears washing over them. I looked up at Simone to see what she was thinking. I wasn't prepared for the beaming smile she gave me. Whatever I had done seemed to have been a step in the right direction.

I had been dreading going down to get Sally. When Nicole seemed to be less weepy, I told her to get up and follow me. I told the girls to have Bala call Amud and to help her pack. I knew he didn't like to be away from her any longer than necessary. I also knew he didn't like her in the house with me when he wasn't here, too. It's not that he didn't trust us both. He just didn't trust us both together. I didn't blame him. Bala was beginning to grow on me.

I had been sensing Sally since I got home. I had shot her a message to prepare herself when I had arrived. I had sensed a quiet resolution and peace from her in return. I wasn't sure I liked that serenity in her and, frankly, it scared the shit out of me. I made my way to the dungeon, sending her reassurances the entire way. All I got back was that damned calm message that she was at peace with herself.

Nicole followed me into the dungeon. She gasped as she saw Sally. Her face was drawn, haggard, as if she had not slept in the week or so that we were gone. It was entirely possible that she had refused herself that luxury. In preparing for us, she had fouled herself. There was a trail of urine beginning at her knees that was slowly heading for the floor drain. Streaks of brown on her thighs indicated the path of her feces. The stench was just beginning to reach eye-watering intensity. Her eyes clouded with tears for another reason as she saw Nicole wearing one of her slave costumes. I felt the fear in her heart. I did nothing to still it.

"Master? Has she been here the entire time?"

"Yes."

"Mon Dieu!"

The whip Sally had used to beat Nicole was still on the floor where it had fallen that night. It had been within her view the entire time as she knelt in the stocks. I went over and picked it up. I handed it to Nicole.

"Get it out of your system."

She looked at the whip as if it was of alien origin. She looked up at me confused.

"Master? I do not understand."

I pointed at Sally.

"She hurt you, beat you badly. Now it is your turn."

Sally, already pale, whitened completely at that statement. That was not what she thought I had meant when I told her to prepare herself. She braced herself when Nicole went up to her holding the whip in both hands like a club. I was prepared to intervene if necessary as she raised it high over her head.

The whip crashed down, but I didn't move. The force of the blow as it hit the wood of the stocks broke the shaft of the weapon, knocking it out of her hands and across the room. Nicole walked over to it, bent down and picked up the now ruined whip. She handed it to me.

"It is out of my system. May I help her clean up now, Master?"

I looked at her and smiled in gratitude. She had made the first important unilateral step of forgiveness in the process of reconciliation between the two women and made it in such a way that ensured a healing. She had broken the whip over the post behind Sally. I was looking forward to getting to know this exotic looking woman better.

"Come into the Free Room when you are both ready."

As I was leaving, I heard the two women crying and sobbing, asking each other's forgiveness. They had both been wrong, they had both been hurt. It had been all my fault. We all knew that, too.

They made me wait. Amud came and gathered Bala. Janey and I expressed our thanks to him for letting her come to help us out. He sincerely wished me peace in my house. Bala, surprising both of us, requested Janey to come visit her for an extended visit. She had been impressed with her taking charge, how she had handled herself. There was much she could teach her, she said, if I would allow it. She didn't ask Amud's permission before speaking up, and I saw him roll his eyes in exasperation. He did give me a quick nod of assent before I agreed, however, grinning as he did. As much as he protested, I think he enjoyed his wife's unpredictable nature more and more. It was exciting, anyway. I agreed that Janey would go over in a few days and stay for an extended visit.

When Sally and Nicole did come into the Free Room, I saw immediately what had taken so much time. Sally had whipped up a slave outfit for Nicole, one that fit her like a glove and showed off her charms in a most appealing and inviting way. I'm not sure who was more pleased with my stares at Nicole, she or Sally. I kept checking my sense for any jealousy from Sally, but there simply wasn't any. So I kept staring. Eventually at both of them.

Sally, giggling, finally broke the lustful interlude.

"Did you want to see us, Master, or just see us?"

She giggled at her own joke. It was good to hear her laugh, but there were serious matters to discuss.

I grinned at her and held out my arms to her. She collapsed against me, dissolving in the sobs of the deep sorrow that was still just below the surface. I held her to me, consoling her. Nicole stood watching our embrace. She was not embarrassed at this intimacy nor did she turn away. It was simply not her turn. She would wait.

Setting Sally down in one of the comfortable chairs around the table in the room, I held another chair out for Nicole. I took another chair facing the two. Briefly, before I started, I checked with my senses on the two teenagers. Both were intense sources of curiosity, standing just outside the door. I gave them a good-natured growl over our link, thought of a picture of a grizzly bear, which I knew Janey would hate and sent them to clean their room. We heard mock screams of terror as they fled the vicinity.

Nicole looked puzzled at what had just happened. She had not yet experienced the link we all shared, perhaps never would. Sally looked stunned. I had just sent a message with such apparent ease over my link where a week before I could hardly come to grips with having the ability at all. I didn't try to explain it to her but she was clearly impressed with my grasp of it.

"This is the Free Room. Free Room rules apply. Is that clear?" I asked them.

Both nodded.

"I made an error in judgment giving Sally authority over you, Nicole. I apologize."

I turned to Sally.

"I made an error of pride in not listening to you, Sally. Please forgive me."

I waited.

Nicole spoke first, after first glancing at Sally, who nodded.

"Lawrence, what works with some will not work with all. You need to see Sally and me as different. You need to see us for who and what we are. For myself, I do not wish to be a mistress and have authority over someone."

"I find that hard to believe, Nicole. You were the CEO of a successful company. You made decisions and controlled people's lives every day."

"I was terrified every minute of the day, every day of the week. It is not that I cannot make decisions, or think, or act on my own. I just do not wish to have responsibility for others. It terrifies me. Can you do that, Lawrence?"

"You are asking me to treat you differently. I can do that. Will you also accept that many times, most of the time, in fact, I may need to treat you in the same manner? That there may not be much difference?"

She grinned, nodding.

"Apology accepted, Lawrence."

Sally was quiet for a minute.

"You hurt me, by not listening to me."

I nodded. This was not going to go well, I could tell.

"I forgive you."

It couldn't be that simple.

It wasn't. I suddenly felt an awful pressure on my balls. I looked at Sally. Both her hands were on the table, as were Nicole's. Both sat too far away to reach me with their feet. Still the pressure increased. Sweat broke out on my forehead. I groaned in pain. I saw spots. More than anything I wanted to reach down and break the grip of whatever it was that was slowly grinding my gonads; but I knew there was nothing there. I groaned again, fast losing consciousness.

Opening my senses, I saw two dainty hands holding an oversized garlic press to my nuts. I recognized those hands. I had just seen them. They were resting on the table across from me. I looked up in terror at Sally.

"Don't you ever ignore me like that again, buster," came her sweet voice lilting across the link. "That hurt me, that you, you, you toyed with me. Oh. By the way, you aren't the only one who has been practicing lately. I've had a lot of time on my hands recently and well..."

I gasped as the pressure suddenly disappeared.

"One more thing. I love you, Master," she ended.

I didn't know you could giggle across the link.

I had to wait to stop shaking before I continued. I would never be safe in this house again. With my voice still shaky, I asked, "Are you done?"

"Lawrence, is something the matter. You don't look well. You are flushed."

"He's OK, Nikki."

Nicole, too, had apparently acquired a nickname. Sally was looking at me, talking to me through her explanation to Nicole.

"It's just something that happens to a man when he realizes how stupid he's been. This time the pain passed quickly, but the reason for it will be remembered for a long time. That about right, Larry?"

Nicole looked puzzled, but didn't press it.

I nodded in full agreement, then got on with the meeting.

"There are going be some changes. First, Sally, I want you to take Nicole down and set up hers and Simone's accounts like yours and Janey's. Nicole, the way the money is handled around here is like this: I don't touch your money. Any interest, wages or other income is yours. It goes into the accounts that Sally will help you set up. You are free to spend or invest your money however you want. Until Simone is of legal age, you will have signatory authority on her account. I will be paying for all living expenses for my household out of my own funds. Anything having to do with the functioning of the household, I will pay for. Is that clear?"

Sally and Nicole both nodded in agreement. It had been bothering Nicole that this issue had not been addressed.

"Second, we are moving."

That got a bigger reaction from them. Nicole relaxed a bit more. It was another area of concern for her. Sally looked surprised, and a little distressed.

Before she could protest, I explained my reasons, "Sally, this is your home. Nicole is uncomfortable."

I waited to see if she would accept that.

Sally looked over at Nicole, pleading in her eyes.

"Don't hold this against Nicole. It's my decision."

"Where will we move, Master?"

"To my family home. You just stayed there with Marion."

"But Janey..." she started to protest.

I cut her off. I had thought this out. It was decided.

" ... will commute to her high school here for her senior year. She has her license and I will get her a dependable car. Simone will be seeing a kind of special counselor in Washington on a weekly basis and the new house is closer for her commute. It is also closer to the symphony, Mac and CeCe, and Amud and Bala. It is also closer to the Guild, which is important for a reason I will explain later"