Clifftop Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (27 page)

Jane put a hand over Allie’s, which was still lying on the table. Her face had gone serious and worried again. Allie glanced down, and a thought struck her.

“Where’s your cut?”

Jane followed her glance. “My cut?” she repeated.

“Yes, when you cut yourself the other day,” Allie said, trying to remember if Jane had been wearing a bandage before. She thought so but couldn’t really be sure.

Jane laughed, flashing the other hand too quickly for Allie to see. “That was the other hand. And I’ve got this marvelous cream that gets rid of scars like magic. Scars are death to models.”

“But—” Allie began.

Jane leaned forward and fixed her with a serious look. “I did want to talk to you about something very serious.” Her voice was a dramatic whisper.

Allie sighed slightly. Obviously Jane was changing the subject, but short of torture, she didn’t see how she could force anything else out of her, and it would be rude to grab her hand for a closer look, even though Allie would have sworn the hand she’d been crying about was the perfectly smooth one lying on her own. “What is it?” she asked, feeling beaten.

“It’s Karl.”

Allie’s eyes narrowed involuntarily. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Jane how things were now with Karl and Brad, but she refrained. Better to have the upper hand, she told herself. She nodded for Jane to continue.

“I’m aware of how much he’s helped you with the house,” Jane began, sounding hesitant and afraid that she might be going too far. “But you should know that he’s not the person you think he is.”

“Oh?” Allie raised her eyebrows skeptically, although she tried to keep her voice cool and neutral.

Jane reached into her purse and took out a stack of papers that she laid on the table between them and pushed toward Allie.

Allie glanced at it then did a double take. At the top was a logo that looked like—no, it
was
—the Grandpointe Police Department. She snatched it, forgetting about staying cool, and read through it hastily.

It was a crime report. A woman named Sandy Harrison had accused Karl Masterson of sexual assault. Allie scanned the document, but there was very little other useful information.

“What happened with this?” she finally demanded, turning to Jane.

“Your dad paid her off and she dropped the charges,” Jane said, shrugging. “That was the way it usually went. Karl has a tendency to go overboard and get kind of—abusive. The police were always coming out here to investigate domestic-violence charges. That’s one of the reasons I left. Allen always had to cover up for him and get him out of trouble. I’m sure he’s not going to tell you about that himself, and I’ve felt guilty about not coming here earlier to let you know. I’ve been very worried about you being here alone with him during the day.”

Allie stared at her. She wanted to dismiss the whole thing, but there was what looked like an official police report staring up at her, insisting that she take at least part of Jane’s words seriously.

Jane was silent, waiting for Allie to process the new information. After a minute, she scooted her chair closer and put a hand on Allie’s shoulder.

“I know this is a shock,” she said gently. “But I can help you. If you’re interested in being part of the local community, we can do that together. We could make this place into a resource for them. I could teach you to be a professional dominatrix, and we could do photo shoots and movies here. Like your father did, but much more openly. He didn’t want to be too public about it because he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to have any contact with you, but now that you’re an adult, we could really make a go of the business.”

She was stroking Allie’s hair as she talked, and now she leaned in, one hand pulling Allie’s head toward her. Allie realized that Jane was trying to kiss her and jerked involuntarily backward. Her brain flashed through several images—Jane as her father’s lover, Jane breaking up her father’s household and ruining his finances, Jane plotting with someone to get the house away from Allie. She might be right about Karl, but that was no reason for Allie to trust her. Obviously this was another attempt to worm her way into the household. Allie stared at her, searching for something to say that wouldn’t sound too rude.

Jane’s eyes opened wide at Allie’s reaction, and she sat back, a hurt look on her face.

“Well, I guess you’re not ready for
that
kind of partnership,” she said with a short, false laugh. “I should have known. But think hard about what you’re getting in for if you’re going to be involved with Karl. I would be much better for you. He’s got his own agenda. If you want to end up as one of several slaves, with him being the mighty dictator of the house, then go right ahead. At least with me you could be an equal partner. You saw at the club how anxious men are to serve me. There are a lot of rich men looking for women to submit to. We could have them lining up to take care of all of our needs, pay our bills, and let us top them. I’ve got a few like that already, but having a place like this for them to come to would be so much better. It’s a good life. Think about it.”

She stood up and looked out the window. “At least let me prove that I want to help you. I can organize a group to come out and get the barn painted for you, since Karl doesn’t seem to be doing it very fast. We could make it a party to introduce you and Brad as the new owners.” She turned back to face Allie. “I know there are some bad feelings about me in the local community, but I love this place, and I want to be accepted again. I do still have some friends here, even though you may not believe it. Will you let me help you, to try to make amends for the past?”

Allie’s head was swimming. First there had been the accusation of Karl, then Jane had come on to her sexually, and now she was begging for a chance to redeem herself. Maybe she was right about men wanting to serve her. She’d certainly been attractive in her club wear on Saturday, and steven may have really been into her. The whole thing with Beth and april and steven might have been her imagination. She could be fooling herself about Karl as well. Maybe he really was abusive and she just hadn’t seen that side of him yet. Was he trying to make her a slave so he could take over the business, as Jane was suggesting? Allie felt herself blushing as she remembered their morning together. She couldn’t believe he wasn’t as sweet and caring as she saw him. But then people weren’t always what they seemed to be.

Chapter 23

It was a quiet, awkward dinner that night. Allie had been trying very hard to put the police report out of her mind, but it stubbornly kept interjecting itself into her thoughts. Jane had spent the meal gushing about her plans for a barn painting afternoon, followed by what she called a “play party.” She prattled to Karl about how wonderful it would be to have lifestyle people hanging around the house again. Karl listened silently, frowning distractedly into his food. Allie felt a sense of relief when everyone had wandered off. Jane announced that she had work to do in her room and trotted off upstairs. Karl offered to help with the dishes but hadn’t argued when Allie assured him she and Brad could handle it. He immediately left to go back to the barn, and Allie had a feeling he was deliberately giving them some alone time to process what was happening in their relationship.

Brad helped her carry the dishes into the kitchen, putting them in the sink and then turning to look at her.

“Okay, what is it?” he said, folding his arms and leaning on the counter.

Allie, who was getting out Tupperware to store the leftovers, froze for a moment. “What do you mean?” she asked, trying to sound cheerful and unconcerned. She hadn’t decided exactly what to tell him yet about the police report. He was sure to freak out about it.

“Something’s bothering you,” Brad insisted. “What is it?”

Allie considered denying that anything was wrong, or maybe trying to get him to believe she was simply worried about his reaction to the fact that she’d had sex with Karl. That might work. Although it would probably lead to another fight. And he was bound to find out anyway. Besides, hadn’t she been lecturing him on the fact that their relationship needed to be built on trust and openness? It would be incredibly hypocritical for her to hide this from him, even though it would undoubtedly upset him. She had, after all, spent the afternoon making love to someone that had a police record for abusing women. That was huge.

She took a deep breath and sat down at the kitchen table. “I need to show you something,” she said. She waited for him to be seated and pulled the report from the drawer where she’d stuffed it earlier, laying it on the table in front of him. He read through it silently then handed it back.

“Well,” he said slowly, crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward. “So what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. I have a hard time believing it, but…”

“But it’s right there,” Brad supplied. “In black and white. Where did you get it?”

“From Jane. She said it wasn’t the only incident.” Allie sighed. She hadn’t meant to repeat all of the details Jane had provided, but now that he knew the first part, she found the rest spilling out of her. If she was going to tell him, she decided, she might as well tell him everything, even though it would probably only refuel his distrust of Karl. “She said my father used to pay off the girls.”

Brad was staring at her. Allie braced herself, expecting him to jump out of his chair and start yelling about how stupid they’d been—
she’d
been—to trust someone they didn’t even know, someone who was into the kind of lifestyle—

But instead Brad said calmly, “That doesn’t ring true.”

A small hope sprang to life inside her. If Brad didn’t believe it, maybe there was hope it wasn’t true. “What do you mean?” she asked again.

He sighed. “I didn’t want to trust Karl before,” he admitted, “but since we’ve made the decision to include him in our business and our lives, we can’t just believe every story we hear about him. I think we need to take this out and give him a chance to tell us his side. It may not be as black-and-white as Jane made it seem.”

His words took a minute to sink in. Allie had a hard time believing that Brad was actually standing up for Karl instead of running out to the barn to beat him up. Or try to. She stopped herself from asking if he was serious, watching instead to see if he was going to say anything else.

Brad stood up, picking up the papers and heading for the back door. He held it open for her and waited as she followed slowly, feeling apprehensive. All the way to the barn she pictured Karl and Brad getting into a fight, punching each other, one or both of them getting hurt. She found herself wringing her hands as Brad knocked on the barn door.

Karl’s voice called from inside and they went in, glancing at each other nervously. Karl was standing in the doorway of his room, barefoot, wearing only his jeans. Allie found herself praying fervently that the police report would turn out to be wrong, somehow. He looked so safe. He couldn’t possibly be abusive. He just couldn’t. Brad took her hand and squeezed it, as if he could tell what she was thinking. She wondered how he was really feeling. He could have used it as an excuse to cut Karl out of their lives, but he seemed to want to give Karl a fair chance. That was a good sign.

They all stared at each other for a minute before Allie decided it was up to her. She took a deep breath and plunged in.

“We need to ask you about something,” she said.

“Go ahead,” Karl leaned back against the doorframe and smiled at her. Allie started to smile back but decided it was better to stay serious.

“Jane showed me a police report,” she said after a second’s hesitation, watching Karl carefully for his reaction.

His face clouded, but he didn’t explode, as she’d half expected. Instead he walked to the table and pulled out chairs for them, taking one himself on the other side.

“Okay. I was expecting something like this from her. What did she say about it?” Karl asked. His voice was calm, but the hand on top of the table had curled into a fist and the knuckles were going white.

Allie tried not to stare at it. “She said that my father had paid off the woman but that things like that happened pretty frequently and the police were called out here a lot.”

“Mm-hmm.” Karl looked off into the distance for a minute. Then he took a deep breath and turned back to her.

“You’ve seen enough of the lifestyle to appreciate the fact that it’s not well understood by the people who aren’t involved in it. Dominance and submission can easily give the illusion of nonconsent especially with fantasy play or scenes that push someone’s boundaries. It can actually be an erotic and exciting element for the top as well as the bottom, but no top in his right mind would engage in any kind of rough scene without careful and extensive negotiation. Sometimes, though, even when you think you’re being careful, there are misunderstandings. Of course, then it’s easy to accuse the top of abuse. In Sandy’s case she freaked out over something that she had herself requested trying. Somebody convinced her to report it as assault, but after talking to her and to us, the police rightly came to the conclusion that there were no grounds for prosecution.”

He stopped, and they all stared at each other for a minute before he went on. “That’s why it’s so important for everyone, even the submissives, to take responsibility for themselves. There should be complete understanding between all parties in a scene as to what is expected and what is acceptable. If a scene goes too far, it’s up to the bottom to call a halt to it.”