“I think our secret is safe with your father and brother.”
Peeking through my fingers, I replied, “Don’t be so sure.”
“Honestly, Sophie, who am I going to tell? I only leave the house for doctor’s appointments,” Daddy said.
My hands dropped from my head to where I could pin Ansel with a hard stare. “I’m more worried about him.”
Ansel’s brow shot up. “Why me?”
“Because you tend to run your mouth. All it would take would be someone mentioning my name or William’s, and you’d be giving them all the juicy details.”
“I would not,” Ansel argued.
“Maybe we should make him take a blood oath?” William teasingly suggested.
Ansel rolled his eyes. “I swear I won’t say anything, Soph. I know you need the job…that we need you to have the job.”
The sincerity in his voice caused all my doubt to evaporate.
Looking at William, Ansel said, “Besides, I like Dr. F. He’s totally not a douchebag like the other administrators.”
“Thanks for the high praise,” William mused with a smile.
“I mean, Dr. Newsome would have totally suspended me even with my reasons.”
Daddy cleared his throat. “What’s this about a suspension?”
Ansel’s face paled considerably. “Um, yeah, about that…”
Deciding to save my poor baby brother, I said, “Ansel got in a fight, but it was because he was defending my honor. William was nice enough to convert his sentence to in-school suspension, rather than out. I had planned to talk to you about it with him when he got in, but then I forgot all about because of our guest.”
Shaking his head, Daddy said, “Ansel, how many times have we talked about fighting with your head and not your fists? Do you know how many times I could have had bloody knuckles when I was in the rodeo circuit?”
Ansel stared down at his plate. “Yeah, Dad. I know. It won’t happen again. I swear.”
“It better not. If you’re going to have any chance at an education, you have to get a scholarship. The competition is ruthless, and they look at everything but making offers.”
“I said it won’t happen again, okay?” Ansel snapped.
Instead of berating my brother for his smart ass tone, my father’s expression softened. “I know that things are harder for you, son,—it isn’t fair, and it isn’t right. But that’s the way it is. If I could take it all away, I would in an instant.” He turned to smile at me. “Just like I would for you.”
I reached over to squeeze his hand. “It’s okay, Daddy. Ansel and I aren’t going to end up in rehab because we had to shoulder a little more responsibility than others.”
“Everybody has their own shit they gotta deal with,” Ansel chimed in.
“It’s his or her own shit, not their,” I corrected.
“Huh?”
“The word ‘everyone’ is singular, so you can’t use a collective pronoun like their.”
Ansel rolled his eyes. “Would you lighten up on being a grammar Nazi? It’s not like I don’t get this shit enough in school.”
“You’re hopeless,” I muttered.
Daddy and William chuckled at our banter. When I started to clear the plates, William rose up to help me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, with a smile.
“William, why don’t you stay a little while longer? I’m pretty sure there’s some leftover pie in the fridge.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s three or four,” Ansel replied.
“That’s because the old church ladies can’t remember who is supposed to bring a pie that week,” I mused.
“Lots of pies, huh?” William asked.
“Oh yes. I’m pretty sure there’s lemon, pecan, and chocolate in there.”
“That sounds delicious.” Lowering his voice, he asked, “Are you okay with me staying?”
Smiling, I tossed the dishtowel at him. “Of course I am. Just as long as you’re okay with doing the dishes.”
“It would be my pleasure, Mi—um, Sophie.”
“I’ll be sure to reward you later.”
“And I’ll be looking forward to it.
The blistering summer days of August melted into September. Then crisp and cooler air ushered in October. Considering how busy I was, the months went by in a frenzied blur. Teaching consumed my days while my nights were filled with taking care of Daddy. Friday nights were devoted to watching Ansel shine on the gridiron.
And somehow between all of that, I still had time to participate in my secret relationship with William. Because my father and William got along so well, William spent most of his weeknights at our house. He was careful not to show up until Susie had left. Since Susie was a bit of a gossip, I didn’t want her accidentally spilling the beans at her weekly beauty shop appointment.
During the day and night on Saturdays was our private time. We would go to Atlanta and spend time at William’s grandparents’ penthouse. It was in mid-September when William introduced me to them. He had been right about me liking them. They were so down to earth. Their love for William was very evident by the way they beamed with pride whenever he was in the room. I was so thankful when William told me that they really liked me. Of course, he slightly freaked me out when he told me they’d asked when we were getting married.
Things were running pretty smooth in the bedroom. We didn’t have time to incorporate a lot of play during the week. We were just like average couples trying to catch a quickie here and there. It was our weekends where we’d break out the props. So far, William and I were both adjusting to the BDSM aspects. It wasn’t perfect, but we were making it our own.
Two days ago, William had turned thirty-three. When I had asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he had been very specific. “I want to go to 1740’s Halloween party and play with you.”
I widened my eyes in surprise. “You can’t be serious.”
“Yeah, I am.”
Shaking my head, I countered. “William, if we were found out, we could get in serious trouble, maybe even lose our jobs.”
“I’ve been a member there for three years, and not a single soul in my professional or personal life knows. You should know from working there how much they pride themselves on keeping their clients’ personal information private. Besides, the Halloween party is always a masquerade, so no one will see our faces.”
Deep down, I knew William was right. The security team was top notch, and I couldn’t remember a single instance while I was working there when there was a security breach. “Okay, fine. We’ll go to the Halloween party for your birthday.”
He kissed me. “Thank you. That makes me very happy.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
William wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me against him. “So you’ll play with me as Mistress Juliette?”
I shook my head. “I’ll play with you, but as myself. I don’t dig the whole false persona thing.”
“Hmm, I guess that means you wouldn’t ever be interested in roleplaying.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
Tilting my head, I tried putting into words how I felt. “Mistress Juliette was a persona I took on for work. It was who I pretended to be to get a job done. Since that day at Kennesaw Mountain, I’ve always been Sophie with you.”
“I see what you mean.” He bent down and kissed me. “Now that we know we’re going, the question is what are we going to wear for costumes? Do you want to do the honors and pick them out?”
I snickered. “You seriously want to do a couples costume type thing?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“Fine. I can pick us out something. You may regret letting me do it though.”
With a grin, William said, “I trust you.”
In the five years I’d worked at 1740, I’d always gone to the Halloween parties. While they were costume themed, they weren’t your average costumes. They were fetish interpretations of characters and costumes. Although I would have loved to have gone as a couple from one of the great pieces of literature, it was harder to make those into fetish pieces.
I finally decided on Dominatrix Dorothy for me. I had a blue vinyl skirt and bustier. I had managed to borrow a pair of blood-red leather boots to be my ruby slippers. For William, I had teasingly decided to do a spin on the whole pet play in BDSM by making him my Toto.
I poked my head out of the bathroom door to see how he was coming along getting dressed. I snorted at the sight of him lounging on the bed, remote control in one hand, longneck in the other while wearing furry pants and a studded dog collar. Once we got to the club, he would be donning a furry eye mask and putting on a headband with dog ears.
He cut his eyes over to me. His lack of amusement was evident. “This was really the best costume you could come up with?”
“What’s the problem with it?” I teased.
“Everything.”
I joined him on the bed. “Do you know how sexy you look?”
“No offense, but considering you just snorted, I highly doubt my sex appeal.”
“Okay, so maybe I found it comical seeing you that way at first, but you’re going to have women and men creaming their pants tonight.”