Page 41 of In Her Own Way
She pulled out of her reminiscing and found one of the ubiquitous Indy Coffee Houses in Indiana. It was early evening, and the business was still open.
She went inside, ordered black coffee, and took up residence in a leather chair in a dark corner that fit her mood. She took a sip. “Not Rikki’s coffee,” she said. “That’s for sure.” She looked around. The place was small and not that intimate.A feeling of nostalgia hit her hard. Rikki’s place was infinitely better than this dump. It was bigger and just felt comfortable or something. But whatever. She wasn’t there and wasn’t ever going back. So, instead, she would make the most of her current hideout. She didn’t want to go back to Erin’s apartment just yet. Erin would be cool, of course, but it would only remind her what an ass Aunt Jenny had been. And that ass was Erin’s mother, so she would stay away for a while.
She took another sip of the coffee, decided it wasn’t that bad, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. Her face lit up when she saw she had a short message from Madison. And then her whole demeanor softened when she saw the messages from Juicy_Babe. Her evening had just taken a turn for the better.
little_peanut:Hummingbirds hum because they keep forgetting the words. Ha ha ha.
Victoria couldn’t keep thelittlehanging, so she kept the conversation going.
Daddy Vic: Hey, Squirt! You got it! How was the wax session? I assume you explored that soft limit of yours. Is it still soft? Or is it now in your “greatest hits” of private time activities?
Daddy Vic:How did the bird count thing go? I know you loved it. You’re such a bird-brain. And as far as searching? Well, maybe Kari found herself in a new situation (in Miss Jaleesa’s house as one of several subs), and she’s trying to find where she fits. Just guessing. Hopefully, things will settle for her soon, and she’ll find her place in life.
Victoria didn’t respond to Madison’s plea to go to the Denton Heights Masquerade Ball in mid-December. That wasonly a month and a half away, and Victoria didn’t think she’d be ready to visit yet.
She smiled. She missed Madison. The kid was so full of life and fun. She missed Rowena, too. She missed being part of a community. And she missed her stuff. She thought about her shit at Rowena’s. She needed to burn some of it. “Those stupid pictures. I have to burn them. All of them.” She closed her eyes and remembered the way Bernadette had protested when Victoria took several pictures of her open sex. Bernadette had come by that one last time to break it off with her, but Victoria got the upper hand, abused her power, and had the woman strapped down in minutes. Victoria had given her a very nice orgasm, too, so when Victoria had gotten out her phone to take pictures of her weeping sex, Bernadette protested. Victoria hadn’t cared. She wanted it for her collection. She even made a show of making Bernadette watch while she deleted most of the pictures, keeping only two.
Once unstrapped, Bernadette flew to the front door, put on her clothes, and spoke. Victoria couldn’t remember what it was now, but Bernadette had been one part pissed and one part regretful that they hadn’t worked out.
Afterward, details of their relationship got out, and having the Denton Heights BDSM Women’s Board reprimand Victoria for her actions had been humiliating. And not only that, they felt they had the power to ban her from all BDSM events and activities for three whole months. All because they found out that Victoria had required Bernadette to take supplements to force lactation, and because Victoria hadn’t told Bernadette the purpose of the supplements, they hit the roof.
That right there was the part Victoria still didn’t understand about herself. She had always been so careful with subs, practicing safe sex, walking on the street side, opening doors for them. She’d gotten intrigued by a lactation video she’d watchedonKinks. It had consumed her. It was like a drug she just had to try. And Bernadette was the victim. Rikki said Victoria’s biggest mistake was not getting Bernadette’s consent. Who knows, Rikki had said, Bernadette may have gone for it.
Rowena had stuck up for her, though. That had been affirming. Well, until more information came to light and then Rowena blasted her with more four-letter words than Victoria had ever heard come out of the woman’s mouth.
Victoria sighed, took a sip of the coffee, and went back to staring at the drab décor. She stayed strong and faced the music playing in her own head. Shasti, a doctor, had the supplements analyzed, and despite the reassurances Victoria had gotten from the guy she’d bought them from, they were not “safe.” They were not “fine.” They had all kinds of nasty shit in it that could have caused cognitive, muscular, and nerve damage. Victoria hadn’t known.
“But I should have known,” she said quietly in her corner of the Indy Coffee House. “I should have.”
She and Bernadette had met a couple of times after the dust settled to talk. Victoria had apologized, but she still felt unsettled. She didn’t know how to process what she’d done, and she had no clue whatsoever how to make it right with Bernadette.
She drained her cup and clicked on Juicy_Babe’s messages. Even though she had no right to be happy, interacting with Juicy_Babe in theSapphic D/sgroup did just that.
Chapter 12
Jessica
The fifth period bell rang to end class. Jessica hustled the students out the door and then locked it. She double-timed it to the cafeteria. She was cranky. Not because of her students. Oh, no, because of her damn colleagues. She truly was going to have to do this literary magazine by herself. Joan Norwell, the tenth-grade English teacher from the classroom next door, had come into her room that morning before first period to “borrow” a couple of whiteboard markers. Jessica was okay with that; the school paid for them anyway, but when Jessica asked for advice and help with the literary magazine, Joan laughed and said, “They always ask probies to do that kind of stuff. It’s a right of passage.” She then said she had too much on her plate already. And Jessica knew it was true. The woman ran the Honor Council, which took up a lot of lunch periods and after-school time. Asking around in the faculty room also netted nothing. One colleague, in fact, looked at her out of the side of her eye and then ducked out of the room.
Jessica pushed open one of the cafeteria doors, and the wall of sound hit her square on. A quick unconscious examination of the noise told her that all was well. It was just hungry students finally getting to eat and see their friends.
Jessica didn’t lean against the wall and look at her phone like her Spanish teacher colleague typically did; instead, she began a slow patrol of the tables. She groaned. She’d have to tackle the literary magazine by herself, apparently. She’d been saddled with it as a new teacher, and no one wanted to help.
“C’mon. Give me a break,” she muttered.
“Where do you want it?” a female voice right behind her asked.
Jessica whipped around. She was relieved; it was a teacher. “Sorry, just muttering to myself.”
“Been there,” the young twenty-something teacher said. “We all have those days.”
“I’ve not seen you in here before,” Jessica said. The woman was in her late twenties, of average height, with short, wheat-colored hair, and looked vibrant and healthy. Her smile was captivating.
“I’m subbing for Senora Wallace this week,” the woman said. “I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Kaley Campbell. Most people call me KC. I teach art.”
“Oh, cool,” Jessica said. “The way this school is set up with different buildings, it’s hard to meet colleagues. I’m Jessica Bennett, teacher of English. Ninth grade.”
KC winced. “Ninth graders? You must be a saint. Is that why you need a ‘break?’”
