“Don’t be so sure, you’ll be surprised where this life takes you and the people you meet. There is someone out there for all of us and that person will accept us however we come. We just need to remember that.”
“Sounds like a fairy tale to me, Sophie.”
“Well, I believe,” I say as I scrunch up my serviette and throw it at him. It barely knocks him on the ear as it sails past him, even this close I’m a terrible shot.
“What was that for?” he playfully grumbles.
“You shouldn’t be so closed off. Yes, society tells us we can’t share, but at the Clarendon, all kinds of situations and situationships are born. If you are open to it, you are one step closer already,” I say as I fold my arms over my chest as if that is my final word on the subject. Just then a waiter brings over our club sandwiches and settles them in front of us and leaves before we speak again.
“Ok Sophie, I will try and be more open minded for you,” Casey replies placating me as he picks up an overfull sandwich and eyes it wondering how he’s going to fit it inhis mouth as I reply.
“Good boy,” I purr teasingly and his eyes shoot up to mine, his pupils dilate and I see exactly why Sandy hired him.
After our lunch, we part ways and I drive back to my apartment in Prahran. I want to check the Green job board and see what is on there so I can speak to Casey about the jobs tomorrow. When I am home, I open my laptop to a new email waiting in my Clarendon inbox. I haven’t applied for any new jobs so I’m curious as to what it can be. The only email that is new and unread is from Mack with the subject line:No virus, click on the link.
THREE
Sophie
I do what anyone else in my position would do: I open the email and see there is a link to a zoom meeting. What the heck is going on? Masked Mack wants me to click on the link to have a chat, really? But then, who am I to deny him and not take the opportunity to meet this mystery man face to face. Without further hesitation, I click on the link and utter a small prayer that I have not just downloaded a virus that wipes out the whole of the Clarendon’s network and portal.
The link opens into an online waiting room where apparently, my ‘host’ is waiting for me, I wonder if he’s been waiting the few hours since he sent me the email. In a second the screen morphs into a shirtless man staring back at me wearing a simple black masquerade mask. The rest of his room is shrouded in darkness. I’m startled by his masked face and imposing body and the way he sits back in his chair, one leg bent and his foot resting on his knee. Confident, unmovingand commanding.
We sit staring at one another, sizing each other up in the moment. I drink in the abs that beg for my attention below a wide chest and muscular shoulders that tell me he works out a lot and I appreciate it. There is an unusual hollowed-eyed cat tattoo on his chest covered in a dusting of fine fair hair. Who in the world is this man? Why does he want to speak to me? I open my mouth but words don’t come out. Instead I hear him say in a gravelly voice that runs down my neck like a warm whisper, “Hello Sophie.”
“Hi,” I manage, flustered, which is completely unlike me.
“I would like to play a game with you Sophie, a roleplay game. I would like to be your online Dom.”
“My what?” I whisper, confused. That was by far the last thing I was expecting him to say.
“I am asking if you’d do me the honour of being my online submissive, Sophie. I need you to submit for me.”
I’m not sure if the words are not registering or just simply not making sense in my brain. He wants me to submit to him, online? How?
“W-why? How?” I manage to stutter out.
“Simple, I can’t be with you in person right now. But I need you. I need to play with your body, even if I can’t touch and taste you myself. I will send you a link to download some software that is safe for your laptop so we can stay more permanently in contact. It will be an open channel of connection when we are both online. And when we are both at home, I want to see you, I want you to kneel for me. I want you to be mine.”
“Who are you?” I ask, wondering if this man has lost his sweet mind or if he is actually serious. He can’t be, but there he sits opposite to me calmly explaining how our new relationship is going to work and I have not a clue who he even is.
“I’m safe. That’s all you need to know.”
“Wouldn’t you say that if you weren’t?” I blurt out.
“If I wasn’t safe, I wouldn’t have sent you a link to talk to you Sophie, I would have taken you.” He says this so blase I’m not sure if it’s a threat or he’s just stating the obvious.
“Is that something you are capable of?” I ask, suddenly alarmed that he could actually be a psycho I am now engaging with.
“No. I simply want to own your submission until we can be together in person.”
“I’m meeting you tomorrow, you asked me to take your job?” I query, confused.
“Yes and no,” he replies ominously.
“What does that mean?” I ask, bemused.
“It means we will meet in good time.”
