Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter seventy four

(You are not ready that's all I have to say)

Calum clearly wasn't answering his phone, so Michael took matters a step further and decided that the only possible solution was to visit Maggie directly. She always seemed to have a way to reach him when he was on a trip.

"What are you doing here?" Maggie calls out when she sees Michael and Luke unexpectedly get out of the lift and step into her foyer.
"Nice office." Michael snorts as he and Luke step inside what is usually Calum's office.
"I think so. Now you didn't answer my question, why are you here?"
"I'm trying to get in contact with Calum but the fucker won't answer my texts." Michael grumbles.
"That's because he never uses the in-flight wifi. You know that." Maggie rolls her eyes.

"Is there no way you can reach him?" Michael all but whines.
"Not until he has his stop over in Tokyo. Mind telling me what this is about? You're awfully quiet Luke." She raises an eyebrow.
"We have news." Michael says excitedly, gripping Luke's hand a little tighter.
"You've decided to elope!" Maggie cries out dramatically, at which Michael rolls his eyes.
"Well-"
"Wait! Let me get Carla." Maggie rushes.
"She's here?" Michael asks confusedly.
"Yeah, often is when Calum's away. To keep me company. I'll be right back." Maggie explains, scurrying down the corridor.

"Carla is..." Luke asks his dom.
"Maggie's sub. You'll love her, she's great." Michael fills Luke in quickly, both of them turning when they hear footsteps. Luke feels all the air sucked from his lungs and Carla doesn't fare much better.
"Luke?" She gasps.
"You know each other?" Michael furrows his brows.
"Ms Sears?" Luke chokes out.
"Oh fuck." Maggie inhales sharply.

"I don't know if I'm legally allowed to be here." Carla mutters, clearly stressed.
"I'm so confused..." Michael announces slowly.
"She's my school nurse." Luke supplies weakly.
"Well this certainly took a turn." Maggie comments, even after Carla sends her a look of stress and discomfort.
"Jamnik." Carla wheezes as she feels the panic rise in her chest.

Maggie hears the alarm, senses the panic in her subs body. She sees the way Carla looks dizzy and like she might pass out. Maggie grabs Carla's arm, firm but not tight enough to bruise, and pulls her out of Calum's office. Maggie wills herself not to focus on the sounds and feeling of her submissive slipping, she needs to stay calm. They reach the first conference room and Maggie sits Carla on the floor against the wall, as she's learnt is best for her.

"Slow and deep breaths." Maggie places one hand on top of Carla's heart and uses the other to force eye contact. Carla seems to relax a little when she meets Maggie's eyes, just a little. "Tell me what you can. Tell me what you need."
"This isn't just-" Carla tries to get out her words, but they quickly get rushed and heavy.
"Slow." Maggie soothes. "One word at a time. You don't need to give me a sentence. Don't think about that. Just one word."
"When," Carla takes a deep breath. "I. Normally." Her voice gets shaky again so Maggie stops her. They take a deep breath together whilst maintaining eye contact. "See, a student, outside, of school," she pauses, "it's casual," she takes a deep breath. "One time."
"That's it. Easy. I don't want sentences. Keep going."
"I'm going to see a lot of him." She chokes.
"No no, that was a sentence. Slow down."

"What are you worried about?" Maggie whispers.
"That I'm being illegal-" Carla doesn't get any further before Maggie cuts her off with the indication it's time for another deep breath. "He's underage, it's my duty of care to report that he's in a relationship with an adult." Carla's voice cracks.
"Anything else?" Maggie asks as she takes a deep breath.
"I needed to safeword-"
"And you should never feel guilty about that. Ever." Maggie says sternly.
"But now a student has seen me in such a vulnerable state."

The look in Carla's eyes is pure fear. It breaks Maggie's heart. She knows that Carla loves her job, just wants to do it the best she can. Now, out of nowhere, she didn't feel like she could. She felt she was about to know a student better than she should and that she's now lost any authority because said student had already seen her safeword.

Safewording was big. It meant a sub feels so uncomfortable that they instantly have to get out of the situation. A submissive is at their most vulnerable when they safeword. Sometimes it's caused by the dom, but that's mostly in scenes. Sometimes it was just the sub saying that the dom is the only person who they feel safe with at the minute. Luke witnessed Carla safeword and that thought alone makes Carla feel ill.

"We're staying here until you feel much much better." Maggie says definitively. "Now come let me hold you." Carla cracks a smile for the first time since we safeworded, happily crawling into her dom's lap for comfort.
"I love you. Thank you." Carla says softly, voice almost a little sleepy -though safewording and getting through that is exhausting.
"I love you too. It's my role. I'm here for you and I love that I get to be here for you."

Luke didn't understand what was going on, not exactly.
"Did I do something?" Luke mumbles worriedly to Michael not long after Maggie and Carla have left the room.
"Carla just felt overwhelmed, she needs space. Needs Maggie and Maggie only right now." Michael explains patiently.
"Was that her safeword?" Luke's mouth falls open in realisation.
"Yeah but Maggie knew what to do straight away." Michael tries to reassure his sub.
"Is there anything we can do?" Luke asks weakly.
"No baby, just give them space." Michael pulls Luke into his chest and wraps his arms around him as something sort of like a safety blanket.

Calum - Michael: Shit what's up

Calum - Michael: We'll be on the next flight in an hour but can chat now

Calum - Michael: Hello????

Calum - Michael: Typical

A/N: I don't know what to say... that was chaotic... emotional... a lot happened... see you on Tuesday

Lots of love :)

-Grace Williams xo

P.S. Australia's still on fire and Victoria had its first fire fighter death the other day, may they Rest In Peace ❤️