Page 38 of Pierced

“Don’t be dramatic. The whole point of submission is to trust that your mistress will take care of you. How would letting my tiger eat you build trust?”

“You say that like owning a tiger is normal!”

He’s losing control now. There are about thirty seconds until he grabs his clothes and runs to his car, and I want to make the most of those moments. I want him to think about my words as he’s driving home, tomorrow as he gets ready for breakfast, and all the days that come after when I’m no longer in his life because he fired me for stripping him down to his underwear, stuffing a ball gag in his mouth, and putting him in a cage.

It’s sad, really. That this is how my seven years of servitude to Pierce and Le Man magazine will end. But that’s the way it has to be. Because I cannot go on working for him as the VP of Social Media.

I just can’t.

“It is normal, Pierce. Because this is who I am.”

“You’re a crazy tiger lady!”

“No,” I say, voice even and low. “I’m a sane tiger lady.”

“Oh, well,” he huffs. “That explains everything!” He takes a deep breath, side-eyes Sebastian the way he did Dave and Betty upstairs, and then looks at me and says, “I always knew you were… different. But this is… this is…”

“This is what?” I ask, truly interested in whatever new opinion he’s forming about me.

He blows out a long breath of air and stays silent.

“You think I’m into Halloween. You think I’m motivated by money. By a new title and a big office. You think you can buy my forgiveness with expensive furniture. But your most egregious sin was that you thought I was the Sexpert.”

Sebastian gets up, prowls the length of his large cage, and then flops down on the other end. Bored.

But all Pierce sees is the wild animal. He sees teeth, and claws, and stripes. He’s imagining all the ways this living, breathing death-machine can hurt him.

“But you’re so sexy,” he finally says. “I don’t understand why you’d be offended by it. I mean, it was a clever-as-hell idea.”

“Oh, it’s not the idea of the Sexpert that offended me.”

“Then what’s the problem? I don’t get it!”

“I know,” I say, suddenly sad. “That’s the problem.”

“Would you stop talking in circles and just… explain?”

“I thought you were leaving?”

“Well, I’m not. OK? I’m not. I’m not leaving.”

“I’m going to tell you the truth now. And the truth is…” I pause. “You don’t get to know me, Pierce. You don’t get to understand what’s happening. Because I’ve worked for you for seven years. And the reason you’re confused right now—the reason you think I’m into Halloween—is because you don’t know me. I realized that as I was dragged out of the auditorium when you told the whole world I… lied to you.”

“What?”

“You thought I lied to you. You thought I was keeping secrets from you.”

“Well, obviously you are! Why the hell do you have a tiger?”

“This has nothing to do with the tiger. Or this place. Or any of that. None of this is secret. My problem with you is that you don’t trust me. After seven years of me having your back, seven years of me running interference on your behalf, seven years of taking your side in every way I could possibly think of, you thought I was lying. You thought I was trying to screw you over. And that… that is a sin that might not be forgivable. So why don’t I just do the grown-up thing here and quit so you don’t have to fire me tomorrow?”

“Quit?” he yells. “You are not quitting, lady! I didn’t come all the way out to your… your… your jungle castle, strip myself down to my skivvies, and crawl into a cage so you could quit on me! No! I’m here. I’m present. I’m invested, OK? So do whatever you have to do to set this right. I’m not leaving and you’re not quitting!”

He crosses his arms like a little kid. Makes a stern face that says he’s serious. And for a moment my heart beats fast. Panic, I realize. “What do you mean you’re not leaving?”

“I’m not leaving. Look,” he says, picking up the ball gag and pulling the strap back around his head. “Imf. Nof. Leafing. Lefs fuffing wo tis shik.”

But… he has to leave. He has to. That was the plan. If he stays… Jesus Christ. If he stays, I’ll have to actually do this! I’ll have to dominate him, and smack his ass, and handcuff him! My boss will have to submit to me and I’ll have to dom the fuck out of him! Because that was the promise I made. That’s the whole point. And if I don’t do all that then… then I lose again!