––––––––
Ishoved the card backinto the envelope and buried it under the tissue paper.Not that it was likely to deter my friend from finding out everything.My face was scorching hot, and I knew I must have blushed beet-red.I’d sent Erik the picture of me in the tub on impulse.Regardless of what I might think about whatever this thing was we were doing, I wanted to at least try.There was no reason to pretend and about a dozen great ones not to go through with any of it.If I was doing it, I was going to really do it.The one orgasm in the elevator hadn’t done a thing to satisfy me, so I’d taken matters into my own hand again in the tub.Per our agreement, I sent him a text letting him know.The picture had been an afterthought.It only showed my calves and feet extending out of the sea of bubbles.I thought it might be a way to spread some of the torture around.Apparently, it inspired him.
“I’m going to rephrase my question and you’re going to answer it.Where did you go after you left the deposition?”
I paused, knowing there was no way I could tell her what happened without her going ballistic.
“He cornered me in the lobby after the deposition and dared me to take him through a session.”I said the words as quickly as I could, like ripping off a Band-Aid.
“You didn’t.”She shook her head in a way that made it clear she already knew the answer.
“I did,” I said and braced for impact.
“Please tell me you didn’t have sex with the man,” Charlotte said, coming out from behind her desk to sit next to me.
“No.Of course not,” I said, ignoring how much I’d wanted to and opting for righteous indignation instead.
“So what did you do?”
“We walked around a bit, had beignets and talked.”I distilled the encounter down to as few words as I thought my friend might accept.
“You talked?Talked about what exactly?”
“Nothing much really.A little dominance and submission.That’s about it.”
“Did you talk about the case?Tell me the truth, Alex.It’s important.”She shifted to face me, and I saw the concern clear in her eyes.
She’d give me shit because it’s what she did, but she loved me so she’d always look out for me.I reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.I didn’t want to tell anyone about what happened with Kyle.I’d been replaying the conversation in my head, catching myself thinking about the timid man wielding a cane.I didn’t need Erik to tell me I bore some responsibility for what happened and it didn’t sit well.I’d told him the truth when I said I wanted to help people.The money was nice—hell, great—but I’d felt like I was providing a service.Not exactly a naked Dr.Ruth but helpful.
“He told me why he took the case and why it was personal.”
“And?God, it’s like pulling teeth with you this morning.”
“Does attorney-client privilege protect him too?”We hadn’t talked about not sharing each other’s secrets.The fact that we both had them made the conversation unnecessary.But the same wasn’t true for Charlotte.I had to tell her something.She’d never let me out of her office if I didn’t and when I thought logically about it, I wanted to talk to her about what I’d found out about Kyle.Get another perspective from someone who got paid to look at things objectively.But I didn’t want to out Erik, and I didn’t want anything he’d told me to come back and bite him in the ass.
“Privilege covers you, Alex.My job is to look out for you.Jensen can take care of himself.”
“Promise me that what I tell you stays between us.You won’t use it.”
I could tell by the thin crease in her forehead and the set of her mouth that she didn’t like it, but she nodded.
“Erik is a member at a BDSM club.”
She arched an eyebrow at me.I was pretty sure it was over my use of his first name and not the BDSM bit.
“A client of mine was a patron at the club.Things got out of hand and the dungeon monitor had to step in.”I swear, even after all these years, I couldn’t think those words without replacing monitor with master and remembering the tinyLord of the Ringsfigures I’d had in junior high.“He’d caned a woman to the point where he broke her skin.When they were throwing him out, he said he knew what he was doing because Lexi taught him.”I let the words hang in the space between us.I wasn’t about to try to sugarcoat them or pretend what happened was less horrific than it actually was.
“Jesus.”Charlotte blew the word out on a breath and then jumped up and headed to her desk.“You’re going to need a new attorney.”
“What?No.”
“Alex, if this dungeon or anybody else involved in this tries to sue you, the liability could be huge.Listen, I know you.I get that you feel responsible, but this isn’t something to fuck around with.I don’t think there’s grounds for criminal charges, but you need somebody who knows about this kind of liability to handle it,” she said, reaching for the phone on her desk.
“There’s nothing to handle.”A new kind of fear settled in the pit of my stomach.I didn’t think the antacids would make a dent in this kind of anxiety.“The dungeon isn’t going to sue.They’d be opening themselves up to some kind of liability too, right?Not to mention the extra scrutiny, which I can’t imagine they’d want.”I thought back over what Erik had told me about the submissive.“I don’t think the woman will sue either.Erik—Jensen said she egged my client on.She’s into that kind of pain.”I fought back the shudder.I wasn’t about to judge someone for whatever turned them on, but I’d always had a hard time understanding extreme masochists.Walking the pleasure/pain line—sure—but cutting, needles, pain that left permanent marks?That I didn’t understand.
“And your client?”
“No way.He was crazy private.There’s no way he’d call that kind of attention to himself.He’d never initiate it anyway.”
