Saving Sunni (5 page)

He smiled a little and briefly looked down at the floor with air of “Aw, shucks, ma’am, ain’t you glad to see me?” It might have been cute if our history together had been different.

“I wanted to see you,” he said, looking back up at me from under the hair that drooped over his forehead just the way it had in high school.

“How—”

“Your mom told me where you were living. She always did like me.”

I stifled a growl. Mom. But something still wasn’t right.

“But how did you know to come here?”

He grinned and shrugged enigmatically. “I have my ways.”

I forced myself to take a deep breath and resist the urge to bring the mannequin down on top of his artfully messy head.

“So why are you here?” I turned back to the wig I was trying to center on the mannequin’s head. I pretended that it didn’t bother me at all to have a ghost from my past watching me dress a dummy in a black lacy corset and miniskirt.

He was quiet until I gave up and turned back to look at him. He would just stand there until he had my attention. There was no point in playing stupid games.
Just try to get rid of him as fast as possible.

“I wanted to see you. So—how have you been?” His voice was casual, like he lived down the block and had just strolled in for a cup of tea, instead of having travelled halfway across the country to annoy me.

“I’ve been fine,” I said stiffly. “But that doesn’t answer the question. Why are you here?”

I saw movement from the corner of my eye. Geri was slowly meandering toward us down the length of the opposite wall. She was probably trying to look like she was shopping, or maybe counting inventory or something, but to me she looked more like Elmer Fudd ducking behind bushes hunting wabbits. I hoped Randy wouldn’t notice her. I didn’t think he was particularly dangerous, but he had hit me a few times when we were married, and I couldn’t be completely sure. Come to think of it, it was a bit funny that I would divorce someone for hitting me, and then get into a bdsm relationship where I was struck regularly, and quite a bit harder. But of course it was a completely different thing. With Sir it was something I had negotiated and consented to.

Randy was considering the mannequins in the window and didn’t seem to notice Geri. When he turned back to me, there was a very serious look on his face. I immediately went into defensive mode and cringed away from him. I knew that look.

“Frankly,” he said quietly, “I don’t think you’re safe here. I heard that you’re in an unhealthy relationship and I’m very concerned about you.”

That didn’t ring true. “Who told you that?” I demanded.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is your safety.”

My mother. It had to be my mother. But I hadn’t told her anything about my relationship, other than that I was living with an Austrian chemist named Rutger. She hadn’t even met him.

“Yes,” I agreed. “My safety is important to me, too. I want you to leave now before I get thrown in jail for assault. I don’t think jail would be the safest place for me either.”

“Jessie—”

Suddenly Geri was standing in front of him, her head coming to the approximate level of his nipples. She looked like a banty rooster about to attack a Great Dane.

“Please get out of my store,” she said, her voice shaking with what I presumed was anger, although by the way Randy looked down at her, it was obvious he thought it was fear.

“It’s a public place.” He smirked at her.

Not a good thing to do. She stood up on her tiptoes and hissed at him. “It’s my store, and I have the right to ask you to leave. Now
leave
before I am forced to do something violent. I hate violence.”

In spite of the tenseness of the situation, or maybe because of it, I nearly choked on the giggles that were rising in my throat. I stepped off the raised platform where the mannequins were in case I was going to have to scrape Geri off the floor. Then I noticed the Taser in her hand.

“Oh,” I said involuntarily, staring.

Randy hadn’t seen it until then, and I saw his face change from amusement to surprise mixed with anger.

“Do you even know how to use that thing?” He sneered at her, taking a step forward. A small step.

“Would you like to find out?” she asked pleasantly in reply. He looked at her for a minute, considering, then glanced up at me and backed to the door.

“Not today, but you might want to be careful playing with dangerous toys like that,” he snarled, glowering at her. He reached behind himself to push the door open and slipped through it.

Geri snorted, but I could see she was shaking. She shook her head as she saw him saunter away, giving a furtive look over his shoulder as he rounded the corner. He must have been parked on Colorado Boulevard, and I debated whether I should go try to see what kind of car he had. I was going to be paranoid about this for a while.

But I didn’t really want to be out in the open with him, and besides, Geri looked a little ill. At least the pallor of her skin matched her dusty green velour top.

“Come on,” I said, putting an arm around her shoulder and heading her back toward her office. “I’ll make you a cup of tea. Thank you for standing up for me.”

“That’s okay,” she said, a little weakly. “I can’t have one of my kids threatened.”

I chuckled at the idea of being classified as one of “Geri’s kids.” At the moment I felt more like her mother than her daughter. I sat her down in her chair and took her mug to the kitchen area to make her a drink.

By the time I got back, she was up and bustling around again, just like normal. When I came in, she pointed to a chair and commanded, “Sit.”

I did, wondering how angry she was at me for what had happened. Instead of scolding me, though, she pulled her chair up so we were knee to knee and took both of my hands.

“So tell me about this guy,” she said, as if I was the one who had just faced down a potentially violent intruder with a Taser.

I sighed. I knew she wasn’t going to let me get back to work without a heart-to-heart so she could get the sympathy she was feeling off her chest. That was just the type of person she was.

“We used to be married,” I began, and she nodded. “We split up about ten years ago. I think he was actually in prison for a while. My mom apparently told him I was living in Denver, but I have no idea how he found out where I worked. I can get a restraining order to keep him from coming back in if you want. I’m sorry he bothered you—us—today.”

To my surprise, my voice was a little husky, and I could feel the tears behind my eyes trying to push their way out. I must have been more shaken up than I had realized.

She drew me into a hug. I wanted to pull away but it would have been rude, so I hugged her back awkwardly. This was getting very embarrassing.

“I think you should get a restraining order, but for your sake, not the sake of the store,” she said. “And I’ll have someone walk you to your car when you leave.”

“My car is right out the back door,” I told her, laughing a little and wiping at my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

But she shook her head. “No, we’ll keep an eye on you when you’re here. Tell me, was he abusive?”

I thought for a second. “Not exactly. He was pretty manipulative, and got a little mean when he was drinking. Once or twice he went a little far, but nothing terrible.”

She nodded. “He was abusive, then. You need to call your master right away and let him know what’s happened.”

Oh, God. What was Sir going to say about this? He’d be furious. I shook my head. “I’ll tell him as soon as I get home. I promise. I need to find the right way to bring it up.”

She sighed, exasperated. “I should call him myself,” she mused, “but I suppose you know best. But if you don’t talk about it tonight, I
am
going to tell him. Is that clear?”

I said, “Yes, Mother,” and we both laughed. She gave me another hug and turned me toward the door, saying, “Now get out there and get back to work,” and swatted me on the ass.

It really was a very strange workplace. I went back over to the window where Debi had resumed the dressing of the dummies, and I noticed that every few minutes she would glance nervously over her shoulder at the street. I was half amused by it until I realized I was doing the same thing.

Chapter 5

I was right. Sir was furious, but not because Randy showed up at the store. When Sir had gotten home, there had been a bouquet of flowers at the front door with a note for me. When I came in, I found him pacing around the dining room table where the bouquet sat, looking like he was about to go into battle. I pictured him in a Viking outfit complete with one of those goofy horned helmets, but I really didn’t feel like laughing. That was probably a good thing.

He handed me the note. “Is there something you’d like to tell me, sunni?”

I took it automatically, not bothering to read it. I had a pretty good idea of what it said. Instead I looked him in the eye. “Actually, yes, Sir. Can we go sit in the living room? It’s been a rough day.”

My stomach had churned all the way home with the news I had to give him, and now I felt like my knees were going to buckle. sage was sitting in the living room reading one of her textbooks, which seemed like the only thing she did anymore. She closed it when we came in and pulled a cushion over to the floor next to Sir’s place on the couch. He sat down and motioned for me to kneel in front of him.

“What’s going on?” he said, with an obvious effort to keep the anger out of his voice.

I took a deep breath. “I had a visit today from my ex-husband, Randy.”

That wasn’t what either of them had been expecting. I heard sage draw in a breath, and Sir’s eyebrows shot up. At least he didn’t look angry anymore.

“So that’s who the flowers are from?” he asked, nodding toward the dining room.

I looked down at the note. It read:

For Jessie—
I’ll always be here for you. Randy.

“And what does that mean?” Sir said softly. “Have you been in contact with him before this?”

I started to get angry at the insinuation, but stopped myself and shook my head. “I haven’t seen or talked to him in ten years,” I said. “I think my mother told him I was in Denver, but I have no idea how he found my address or where I worked. He wouldn’t say.”

Sir glanced at sage. “Could your mother have told him?”

“I—I don’t know,” she stammered. “I don’t know how my mother would know Randy. But—” A horrified look crossed her face. “I guess my mother could have told sunni’s mother.”

We all stared at each other as the idea sunk in. Sir stood up and began pacing.

“I suppose what’s done is done,” he said finally. “We need to deal with the situation as it is now. sunni, was Randy abusive?”

I sighed. I had the suspicion this question was going to keep coming up, and I was sick of it already. “Yes,” I admitted. “Not always, but there were a few times when he was drunk.”

“Physically, I assume you mean. What about other ways? Did he verbally assault you, humiliate you in front of other people, anything like that?”

I thought about it. “Well, he was kind of mean, but that was a long time ago, and I can’t remember details.” I didn’t want to try, either. It was over and done, and I just wanted to forget I’d ever known Randy. I had gotten really close before today, too. Why did he have to show up when everything was going so well?

“Did he threaten you today? What did he say?”

The mood lightened a little when I described Geri and her Taser, but the laughter didn’t last long. Sir sat back down with a grave look on his face.

“Do you think I should get a restraining order?” I asked him. “To keep him out of The Fringe, if nothing else?”

He considered, resting his chin on his hand, elbow on the arm of the couch. “Yes, I suppose so,” he said. “Although I hate attracting the notice of the police
again.
” He gave sage a quick glance, and she colored bright red at the memory of her mother sending the police to check on her last year. “But I want you to have some protection when I can’t be there, even if it’s only theoretical protection. At least if you have to call the authorities at work, you will have the right to do so.” His Austrian accent always came out stronger when he was stressed, and despite the seriousness of the situation, I was a little ashamed to notice it was making me horny.

“Now get undressed and let’s do our greeting,” he told us, and we jumped up to obey.

When we all sat down to dinner later, I could tell Sir had something to say. He had a thoughtful expression on his face that usually meant some kind of proclamation was coming. sage and I exchanged worried looks. I was terrified he was going to tell me I had to quit my job, but I wondered if sage was secretly hoping he was going to tell her to quit school. I knew it was difficult for her. She had been reluctant to start with, but Sir had insisted. She liked the psychology classes she was taking, but she spent most evenings sitting at the kitchen table doing homework while we watched television and chatted, and it was starting to get to her. But they had both agreed that it would make the most sense for her to take a full load of classes so that she could finish her bachelor’s in a couple of years since she already had an associate’s degree. I think Sir wanted her to go on and become a counselor, but I had my doubts about whether she could stand school that long. I don’t think I could have, which was pretty much why I never started college in the first place.