Release Me

Part 10

An odd disquiet settled over my world. With every step I took forward, it felt as if I was wading into deeper waters rather than finding ground in the shallows. I walked through days in a clouded, frustrated haze. My calendar was filled with clients, but there was no connection between us as I moved through the script of each scene, smiling on cue or scowling as I humiliated them. No matter what I did, I couldn't find a path out of the mess I'd created. Well, I didn't create it. The unbid thought raced through my head as it once again worked to find a toehold in my unending internal drama.

The phone vibrated on the desk and I almost ignored it, but on the fourth ring I glanced down, surprised to see Parker Chase's name across the screen. I snatched it up, and in a practiced southern draw, answered.

"Mr. Chase, to what do I owe this unexpected call?" I stared out the window and blew out a long-suffering sigh.

"Atlas?" The obvious confusion in his voice made me laugh. We'd been friends through many of the adventures I'd experienced under Dominick's tutelage, but even in my most depraved moments, there was no reason to hide who I was. No, that skill arose out of the need to find compartments for each of my ever developing outward personas, none of which I wanted to cross each other's paths.

"Yes. Sorry, I just finished a session, and I hadn't quite dropped the accent." I smiled into the mirror on my desk in an effort to sound as if I were in better spirits.

"Ah. In a way, that's what I called to discuss."

"My sessions as a pro-dominant?"

"Yes, and no? It's a little complicated, and I'd prefer to do it face to face. Can you meet me at the Gauntlet, in, say, an hour? If you just finished a session, whatever you're wearing will be fine, and I'm sure, sexy as hell." Those last words were barely a whisper, and I smirked at my reflection.

"Isn't it closed this time of day?"

"It is, but since it's sort of club business, and I want to ensure our privacy, I think it's perfect."

Everything in me tried to grasp the situation, though none of it made sense.

"Ok. The club in an hour."

"Come alone. You'll be safe. I just don't need Kade involved in our discussion."

I scowled and saw it in the mirror as I looked across my desk. With a renewed focus, I stared at the reflection and willed it to relax. When I held the expression I wanted, I closed my eyes until the emotion washed over me.

"I'll see you at the club in an hour," I replied, returning to my southern drawl. There was a power in the slow punctuation of the words that I didn't feel when I faced the world without the developing mask.

"Until then." The line died without another sound.

"What in the world does he want?" I asked my reflection and stared at the only person who could change my world.

***

An hour later, I pulled into the club's parking lot, amused at how different and innocent it appeared in the daylight. Pulling my trench coat around me like armor, glad for the extra confidence boost my pro-dom persona gave me, I stepped out of my car. The club door opened before I reach the stairs and Parker smiled down at me.

"Glad you made it... Alexandra, right?"

"Mr. Chase," I said in a sassy southern drawl. "It is so good to see you again, and I was quite taken aback by your summons."

"I'd call it more of an invitation." A smirk played across his lips.

"Would you now? We may find that we'll agree to disagree on that point, especially since you specified I leave Kade out of this particular equation."