Beyond 10 Nights (35 page)

“A bit,” Leah admit, she had never
been big on taking medication, but given the ache in her head she thought it
would be a good idea for her to have something mild. “Thanks for taking care of
me.” She had a great respect for people in the medical field, despite her
preferring to avoid them when she could, and marveled at anyone who could do
that type of work.

“You just rest and let your body
heal, that’s all the thanks I need, young lady.” With a smile, she wheeled her
cart from the room, returning a few minutes later with the required pain
relief.

Leah wanted to forget everything
that had happened that night, and when Alex and Janie came back she told them
she just wanted some rest. She could overanalyze everything that had happened
when she felt better, she thought to herself. She had been hoping that they
would leave her alone to sleep, but they refused to leave the room, though they
did remain quiet so she could get the rest she wanted.

It took all of the strings David was
able to pull to make sure that Rhett’s arraignment would take place on Monday,
first thing in the morning.

David had expected Rhett to explode
with anger when he heard that he would have to spend the weekend in a cell, and
was surprised when he didn’t. Nor had he shown much concern over being told
that David had contacted the senior partner in charge of their criminal
division to handle the case, since David had little to no experience with
criminal law.

“Just make sure you keep me updated
on Leah’s condition,” Rhett said once his friend and partner had finished
speaking. He felt as though he belonged there, in the small cell he had been
placed in, alone with his thoughts. “I’ve really made a mess of things, haven’t
I,” he said, downcast.

David could see that Rhett regretted
what had happened, but had very little sympathy for how his friend felt. “Janie
said she has a concussion, but she’ll be released tomorrow, if she’s up to it.”
He fell silent for a moment as he gave careful thought to what he was going to
say next. “Whatever happens on Monday, Rhett, I think you need to seek some
help for your anger issues.” After talking with the senior criminal partner he
knew that treatment might just be the only way Rhett could avoid jail time. If
he showed remorse, and a willingness to seek treatment then the judge might be
lenient with him.

“I just started seeing a
psychiatrist last week,” Rhett admitted. After the way things had gone he knew
it had been the right decision for him to make. He didn’t want to hurt anyone,
especially not Leah, but it was clear that he couldn’t control his temper
around her.

David was surprised by his friend’s
confession; he would never have expected to hear that Rhett was seeing a
psychiatrist, at least not without being forced. “That should help at the
arraignment,” he said, sure that the knowledge his friend had sought help for
his problem before being arrested would stand him in good stead, since it was
an indication he already knew he had a problem and was trying to deal with it.
“I really hope the psychiatrist is able to help you, but I think there is
something else you need to consider as a possible outcome of Monday’s hearing.”
Even though his friend had crossed a number of lines recently, he still had a
great deal of respect for him when it came to business, and felt he deserved
the truth.

“What’s that?” Rhett asked, not sure
what his friend had to say would be something he wanted to hear.

“Nelson thinks it likely the judge
will order you to stay away from Leah; he said it will most likely be a
condition of you getting bailed.”

Rhett nodded. “I know I have to stay
away from her; until I am in a better place I just can’t be around, Leah.”
Rhett admitted, not liking what he was saying, though he knew it was the right
thing to do.

“I’m relieved to hear you are
thinking sensibly, finally, Rhett.” David didn’t need to be a psychiatrist to
see that his friend’s obsessive need to make Leah his was harmful to both of
them.

“It’s ironic, isn’t it,” Rhett said,
shaking his head in disgust he chuckled humorlessly. “The first time I allow
myself to love someone I almost destroy them.”

David was shocked by his friend’s
admission. “As in ever?” he asked, he knew his friend had never loved any of
the submissive's he been involved with over the years, but he had always
assumed he had loved someone in his life, even if only his parents. 

Rhett had never spoken about his
past with David, with anyone actually, but being in that place, and the guilt
over the harm he had caused Leah, combined to fill him with a need to open up
in ways he would never have thought possible.

“My mom died when I was a little
boy, and my dad never recovered from her death, so love was never a big feature
in my life.” He guessed he had loved his parents, but everything that had
happened in his childhood had convinced him that love was a useless emotion,
and one best avoided.

David couldn’t imagine having grown
up without knowing love and compassion. In that respect he had been spoiled and
he knew it; his family had been both loving and supportive, all throughout his
life, to the extent that he had never felt a need to conceal his lifestyle from
them. “Maybe learning to love someone, and to love them in the right way, will
help you.” He couldn’t help but think that the psychiatrist, whoever Rhett was
seeing, was going to have a challenge with his friend, though he kept that thought
to himself.

Rhett considered how he had treated
his precious Leah, and could only nod. “Either that or stop giving a damn and
go back to how I was before.” That didn’t paint a nice image in his mind, and
after discovering what it was like to feel he didn’t ever want to go back to
how he had been.

“Well, outside of being your
partner, Rhett, I am your friend, so if you need to talk, I’m here for you.” He
couldn’t hate him for what had happened, though a part of him suggested he
should, it was clear that his friend had a lot of problems he had never come to
terms with. That realization gave him a new found compassion for Rhett.

“Even after all this shit, you’re
still willing to be my friend?” He wasn’t sure he would be able to be so
forgiving if the tables were turned, he thought.

“People screw up, Rhett; it doesn’t
mean you don’t care about them, that’s what a real friendship is about.” It
stunned him that his friend didn’t understand that.

“Thanks, David, I promise, I’m going
to get my shit together.” He had never reached out to another person the way he
was then, outside of Leah, and oddly enough it gave him comfort and didn’t make
him feel weak, like he had thought it would.

“I have a feeling you will, Rhett.”
David glanced down at his watch before getting to his feet. “I’ve got to go, I
need to make sure Janie’s okay; just do your best to avoid the other prisoners
and Monday morning we’ll get you out of this place.”

Rhett stood and offered his hand; he
was surprised when David pulled him into a hug, and more surprised when he
found himself returning in. Men in his position didn’t hug other man, but it
felt good to know he wasn’t alone, for a change.

The inside of a prison was somewhere
he had never thought to find himself, and as he was led back to his cell he
felt glad that he wasn’t alone, emotionally if not physically. Chicago had some
disturbing criminals, he read about them all the time in the papers, and he was
glad his influence, while not enough to get him released, was sufficient to
ensure him one of the few solo cells available.

Settling on the small, uncomfortable
cot, Rhett made himself comfortable, as comfortable as he could anyway. With
nothing but time, which needed to be occupied, his mind to wandered, running
through a variety of subjects; when his mind fell on the subject of his father,
and the relationship they had, he felt an ache in his chest. The ache made him
feel as though he had a hole there that needed to be filled.

Vividly, he remembered doing
anything he could think of to please his father following his mother’s death.
He had brought home drawings from his grade school in the hope that they would
pull him from his depression, which seemed never-ending. For the most part his
father had ignored him, except for those occasions when his father’s anger had
made him tear up the drawings and tell him that he needed to stop living in a
fantasy world.

If it hadn’t been for the servants,
he wouldn’t have been fed or bathed, so total was his father’s lack of
attention. His father had been more distant when he was there, than when he was
away on business, while the servants who took over caring for him had been
politely efficient, but had never showed emotion. Later he had come to
understand that they were all terrified of his father, and feared for their
jobs, to the point where they were careful to do nothing that might endanger
their employment.

His father had sent him to military
school when he was in the third grade, after one of his teachers had made a
home visit to discuss his failing grades and generally declining attitude. The
worst beating he could remember receiving, had come when he begged and pleaded
not to be sent away to school; home was where memories of his mom were, he
didn’t want to leave them behind.

In those days, child abuse laws were
almost unheard of, and the punishment he had received, though considered harsh,
went largely unnoticed by those around him.

School holidays were spent at the
academy, and he received only a check on his birthdays and every Christmas. He
had grown up knowing that his father didn’t give a damn about him, and had
developed the opinion that people in general weren’t very nice.

His time at the academy had been
filled with misery, he didn’t fit in with the other boys, and it wasn’t until
junior year that he found himself a friend. Alex, a new arrival at the academy,
was just as ostracized as he was, and because of that they soon became friends.

Together they had looked for
whatever excitement they could find, anything to take them away from the misery
of their personal lives, and their explorations had soon led them to the world
of BDSM. Alex had been introduced to a Mistress at the Ranch when he was just
sixteen, and she had given them both an education that had changed their lives
forever.

Rhett did not enjoy the harsh
lifestyle of the Ranch, but felt he deserved it, since he was clearly
unlovable. It wasn’t until he graduated from the Academy, and found a new
Mistress, one who taught him how to train others, that he found himself
enjoying the lifestyle, and moving away from that which existed on the Ranch.

While Alex continued to enjoy the
pony lifestyle, Rhett discovered different ways to enjoy himself, and
throughout college he gained experience in manipulating women, getting them to
do as he wished them to. It wasn’t until after he graduated from college that
he discovered being a true dominant meant more than just fulfilling his own
needs, in whatever way he desired.

Looking back, he knew he should never
have been exposed to the lifestyle at such an early age, but he couldn’t regret
the lessons it had afforded him. When he had come to understand that there was
more to the lifestyle than simply using women for his pleasure, he had chosen
to only get involved with experienced submissive's.

In those early days, he had allowed
them to top him from the bottom, giving him their knowledge and experience,
which enabled him to become a better master.

When he finally fell asleep his mind
played out scenes from his life in rapidly shifting dreams. The one thing that
was clear, from everything his mind was showing him, was that there were still
lessons he needed to learn.

20

Judgement

Leah was able to speak to Rhett by phone
over the weekend, but only for two short periods, all the time he had been
allotted on the phone in the jail. Both times he had sounded so forlorn it had
broken her heart.

She knew he had some serious issues
to deal with after the fiasco that their meeting with Alex had become, but she
still loved him. Nothing that had happened had changed that, though a part of
her said that it should have.

Sitting in the courtroom as Rhett
went before the judge for his arraignment, Leah couldn’t help fidgeting uncomfortably.
Her restlessness was not just the result of her uncertainty over what was going
to happen to Rhett; despite David’s assurances she couldn’t help but worry that
he was going to be refused bail, she was also suffering from the numerous minor
cuts on her back, caused when she fell through David’s glass coffee table.

“Leah, would you calm down and stop
fidgeting,” Janie told her friend in a low whisper. She had never been in a
courthouse before, for any reason, and was finding being surrounded by criminals
a distasteful experience. If Leah hadn’t been her best friend, she would never
have agreed to be there.

Alex squeezed her hand reassuringly
as Rhett was called before the judge. As angry as he was at his friend, he
didn’t want to see him do time for his stupidity. Hundreds of people, if not
more, depended on him for employment, and being denied bail, or worse, getting
sent to prison when the matter came to trial, assuming it did, would not only
hurt him, but all those that he employed as well. It was for that reason alone
that he hadn’t filed charges against him, despite the injuries he had received,
which included two cracked ribs, a fractured nose, two black eyes, and numerous
other bruises.