broke his heart?”
“Yes,” Andie said. “Not bad for a lunch lady, is it?”
Fulton put his hand on her shoulder and whispered something to her, though Lennox could see his own control was being tested. Susan looked Fulton up and down as if just noticing him for the first time.
“Damn,” she said. “And here I thought it was the headmaster’s pants I wanted to get in. Looks like I was going after the wrong Dom.”
Andie shot out of her chair. “Listen here—”
She was cut off by Fulton grabbing her and slipping his hand over her mouth. “If it’s all the same to you, boss, we’re going to leave. If you need us, we’ll be at the lighthouse. I don’t think it’ll be to anyone’s benefit for us to stay for the rest of this.”
Lennox nodded. Fulton was right. He waited until they left, then called David.
“Master Nader,” he said, when the other man picked up. “I need you to go to Susan Mims’s room and confiscate her computer and any papers you find. Call me when you finish.”
Susan shot up, showing fear for the first time. “Hey, you can’t do that.”
“I just did.” To David, he added. “I can’t imagine anyone is in the right frame of mind for class today, so you can go ahead and dismiss them. We’ll resume tomorrow.”
“Should I stay?” Marie had been so quiet, he’d forgotten she was in the room.
“Yes, please,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be alone with Miss Mims. I need a witness present or else I have a feeling I’d find myself facing false assault charges.”
Susan wisely didn’t say anything; she crossed her arms and her legs, bouncing her foot up and down. Marie examined her nails—she looked calm, but he knew all too well how good she was at masking her emotions.
He wondered how he’d been fooled into thinking it’d be a good idea to let Susan enroll. He’d turned her down before. Had she always been planning on throwing him and the school under the bus or was it just this year?
He ran a hand through his hair. Damn it, he was getting too old for this. He enjoyed the academy, but maybe it’d served its purpose. Maybe it was time to let someone else run it. Someone who would actually participate in a scene. He had plenty of business investments on the mainland.
There was only one thing that kept him on the island. He glanced at her and found her watching him. Marie would never live on the mainland. She loved the island too much. And though he’d never admit it, he didn’t want to leave her.
He remained standing while he waited for David to call back, the tension mounting as the minutes passed. Fortunately, it didn’t take long. Ten minutes after he first called David, his phone rang with a return call.
“Yes,” Lennox said, answering.
“It’s a hot mess, boss.”
Lennox closed his eyes as anger and rage pounded through his veins. “Tell me.”
“I haven’t even gotten to the computer yet, but her desk is filled with photos and papers she shouldn’t have. And there’s a notebook that has a rough draft of an article as well as an outline.”
Lennox looked over to Susan. She’d stopped bouncing her foot and was biting her lower lip.
“Thank you, David.”
He disconnected and leveled his gaze at Susan. “Oh, Miss Mims, you’re going to wish you hadn’t done that.”
WINNIE’S JOURNAL
I wonder if I should ask Marie to teach me how to be a submissive? Do people even do that? I should probably talk to her about it, maybe ask what she thinks Lennox would expect.
But I saw the way she looked at him and I don’t know if it’d be asking too much. He asked me out, after all. And I don’t say that to be snotty or anything, but it’s the truth. I’d like to think that if he’d asked her out, I would step aside and wouldn’t interfere.
Marie is like that. She’s so into making sure everyone is content and happy. At times I wish I could be more like her. I’m self aware enough to know that most of the time I’m only looking out for me.
If the roles were reversed, Marie would never ask me to teach her. I should probably ask Lennox to do it anyway. Besides, that would be a lot more fun!
CHAPTER
Six
With Susan out of the way and no longer causing trouble, life at the academy fell once more into a predictable schedule. Lennox sightings had been scarce—Mariela knew he’d been meeting with his lawyers about the entire Susan incident, and he rarely made it to the dining hall for meals.
One Friday afternoon, about two weeks after Susan left, Andie dropped by her office.
“Still not able to dance?” Andie asked, looking at the barre that was now a coat rack of sorts.
Mariela shook her head. It had gotten to the point where most days she didn’t even try. The way she saw it, if she never tried, she would never fail. Of course, the flip side was she wouldn’t know if she was inspired to dance if she never tried.
“No,” Mariela answered. “Not yet, but then again, I haven’t tried the last few days.”
Andie nodded, but seemed distracted. Mariela wondered what was really on her mind and waved her to a chair.
“So,” she said as Andie sat down. “What’s up with you?”
“Not much, but I’ve been wondering what’s going on with Lennox?”
Mariela laughed. “And here I was getting ready to ask you if you had seen him. I don’t even see him at meals.”
“He comes to the kitchen early, gets a tray, and takes off.” Andie bit her lip. “I know he’s been busy with his lawyers since that whole Susan mess, but Fulton said all that was finished days ago. I don’t know what his problem is.”
Mariela had a sinking suspicion she knew what his problem was. Her.
You’re his problem. You know you are.
“We should move forward with our plan,” Andie said, as if that would fix everything.
“I don’t think so.”
That obviously wasn’t the answer that Andie had expected. She wrinkled her forehead. “Why not?”
“For several reasons, actually.” Mariela hoped she could remember them all. “The whole thing with Susan made me realize that I can’t watch him with another woman. And, since the next step would be him playing in a scene, I wouldn’t want it to be anybody except me. And trust me, that is not going to happen.” Andie looked as if she was going to interrupt, but Mariela kept talking. “Secondly, I don’t think I told you, but he knows I’m the one who pulled the alarm.”
“How?”
“Apparently, all the camera feeds are duplicated and files are left both on the hard drive and his personal computer. So while I was able to delete the hard drive videos, he still had them on his computer.”
“Shit. Does he know that you know?”
Mariela nodded. Though they had spoken several times, he had never brought up the fire alarm again. She knew there was a reason; he wouldn’t have mentioned it the first time otherwise. But she had to admit the not knowing and waiting was driving her batty. “Yes, he knows.”
“Which is why you don’t think he’ll want to scene with you?”
“I don’t think he’s ready. I’m not sure he’ll ever be ready. I think I need to accept the fact that he’s not going to be the Dominant he once was. Or at least he’s not going to act on it.”
“I just can’t imagine giving that part of myself up.”
Mariela knew Andie was early in her submissive journey. It was all exciting and new, especially since Fulton had collared her. In her mind, it would always be that way, and Mariela honestly hoped it was. Maybe for them, it would be.
“I don’t get how he’s able to do it either. I know I could never be vanilla.” Mariela shuddered just thinking about it.