Page 55 of In Her Own Way
“She’s conscientious, too,” Mistress Rowena said to the universe. “What grade do you teach?”
“High school kids,” Jessica said succinctly.
“Excellent,” Mistress Rowena said cryptically. “You know how to handle people who haven’t quite grown up yet.” She made a signal, and the cute blonde Ashley appeared at her side. “Ashley will escort you out. And Ash?”
“Yes, Ma’am?”
“Please invite Jessica to our meetup at Rocco’s this Saturday. Give her the details.”
A big smile grew on Ashley’s face. “Yes, Ma’am.” Getting an invitation to Rocco’s must mean something.
Jessica thanked Ashley at the door and then thanked the female attendant who walked her to her car.
Once alone inside the car, she let her head fall back on the headrest and blew out a sigh. Wow, she’d had no idea Denton Heights had such a big BDSM population. She was a little leery about the obvious attention the three aunties had apparently given her, but time would tell what all of that meant.
Before heading out, Jessica checked herKinksmessages, hoping maybe Daddy Vic had responded.
She was disappointed, but then curious when she saw a message from Cazadora Catalina.
Cazadora Catalina: Got an STD somehow. Specifically, Chlamydia. You shouldn’t be having sex if your clam is buggy, querida. Just saying.
Jessica was stunned. And insulted. “Buggy? What the ever-living fuck, Catalina?” she raged. She searched for the symptoms of chlamydia. Okay, symptoms typically showed up within one to three weeks after infection. She hadn’t been with the cazadora since June, over four months ago.
“How dare you blame me,” Jessica stormed. One of her mentors once told her that people lied and bent the truth when it served their own self-preservation. “Fucking narcissist.”
She scrolled to find the symptoms. Painful urination, abnormal discharge, bleeding between periods, lower belly pain, fever, and nausea. “No, none of those since June or before.” She hadn’t felt sick in so long that she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had a cold. “You’re a fucking narcissist. You could have been the one to give it tome, loser.” Oh, God, how many women had the cazadora infected?
“STD test right after school tomorrow,” Jessica muttered. She made the appointment using an app on her phone and then drove out the gates. “Thank God, you dropped me when youdid.” She drove home, musing on one of the biggest wakeup calls she had ever received.
“It’s all fun and games,” she muttered, “until someone gets chlamydia.”
Chapter 15
Victoria
The pickup truck shook when Victoria slammed the driver’s side door. She looked over at Tillman now in the passenger seat.
“Good old American greed,” Tillman said with a shake of the head.
“Who the fuck does that guy think he is?” Victoria started up the truck. “That train wreck of an apartment was obviously illegal. There were so many code violations.”
“And the rent he was asking was ridiculously high.” Tillman buckled in. “Sorry I steered you to this suburb.”
“No worries,” Victoria said and pulled out of the greedy landlord’s driveway. “It’s too far from the scene, anyway, but I had to look. Thanks for helping me.” Victoria looked over at Tillman and nodded her appreciation.
“It’s cool.”
“So, now that we’ve got forty minutes to get back, tell me more about your, uh, situation. I mean, I’m supposed to ask your pronouns, right?”
“He, him. I’ll even take they, them.”
“Cool,” Victoria said. “But go easy on me if I mess that up. It won’t be intentional.”
“A few weeks ago, my therapist suggested I start telling people close to me.”
“I’m honored you told me,” Victoria said.
“You took it better than anybody, so far. Bobbie was one of my best friends, you know. She flipped out. She thought I was joking. And then when I told Jasmyne, do you know what she said?”
