Alex's Story Ch. 01

A note for readers...please have patience, as this is only the beginning of Alex's story...things will turn sexual...

Her hands and feet were bound tightly, stretching her body taut across the bed. She maintained perfect form, with her stomach muscles tightened, biceps flexed to display their quiet strength, calves stretched to point her toes downward, and head bowed in submission. Behind the silken scarf serving as a blindfold, her eyes were demurely closed. To the casual observer, she would appear to be the picture of perfect obedience.

Often, she would spend numerous hours at a time holding this position, forcing her muscles to bend to the will of his desires for her, and never allowing herself a movement of any kind. She knew the pleasure that he found in thinking of her in his bed, immobile and awaiting his return with utmost patience and diligence. Because of this and her desire to please him in whatever way that her body could provide, she trained herself in patience, taught her muscles to learn the art of stillness, and grew to appreciate the lessons learned during these times when he would test her devotion to him. Although he never had physical proof that she maintained the positions that he desired of her, there was proof of another kind in her eyes when he asked it of her. She would never and could never lie to him. To do so was outside of her concept of reality.

However, during the long hours spent training her body to serve him in this fashion, her mind would often wander outside of her physical environment, proving to be her one act of rebellion against him. He controlled her body completely, but her mind would escape to past memories and thoughts, allowing her relief from the present torturous, numbing hours. She kept this one small freedom to herself to cherish and enjoy while he was away, hoping in this fashion to maintain a fragment of the control she once had over herself. In these long moments, she found joy in her past. These moments, however, would eventually cause her more pain than she could imagine.

It was in one of these long expanses of time that she let her mind roam, remembering her first encounter with him. Eyes closed and at ease, she felt herself sifting back through years of memories to that day...

Sipping coffee and reading the newspaper as the subway sped its way across the city's underground, she whiled away the minutes until they would arrive at her stop. Leaning her head back, she chased the last drops of coffee out of the plastic cup, and tossed it into the already overflowing trash can across the subway car. It was to be an important day for her, and she was nervous as to the possibilities ahead. Today, she had a meeting scheduled with both the Dean of her department and the Director of graduate studies. It was this meeting that would determine whether or not she would receive the funding to continue her studies and research with the university.

She felt the nervous butterflies in her stomach grow and multiply as the subway neared the stop she would need to take to make her appointment. Doubt crept in slowly as she worried about the possible negative outcome. If they denied her the money to continue, what would she do? Where would she go? It was this opportunity alone that had caused her two years ago to relocate to an unknown, strange city in the hopes of finding a niche for herself in the university world.

Looking back, she knew that had been the most crucial decision she had ever made. Moving cross-country to follow this chance had broadened her once limited horizons, and shown her that she could do so much more than she once thought. Smiling softly to herself, she knew that if things fell through with the university, it would not be the end of her world. She could and would move on to discover new opportunities. With this optimistic thought and a cheery smile, she stepped off of the subway and directly into the path of a stranger. Blushing furiously, she apologized, quickly picking up her briefcase and newspaper, both of which had fallen to the ground when she had collided with this man. Attempting to move on before he had the chance to engage her in conversation, she turned to rush away.

Only a light but solid grasp on her wrist prevented her movement. Mildly irritated, she turned to ask the rude stranger to relinquish her wrist, but her impolite words caught in her throat when she saw the look in his eyes. No words passed between them as the moment lengthened, both equally entranced. The noises of the subway station whirled around them, and still they stood, slightly apart, touching only where his hand held her. In the end, she broke contact, slipping her hand away and tearing her eyes from his, her head spinning as she hurried off to the stairs in order to make her appointment.

Three hours and much debate later, she settled into a plush chair at her favorite coffee shop with a mug full of the fragrant, caffeinated beverage, waiting for her most wonderful and strangest friend, Emily. Smiling at the thought of her scatterbrained but delightful friend, she inhaled the aroma of her coffee, allowing herself to think of anything but the chance encounter she had earlier in the day.

Emily arrived, hair mussed and clothes askew, twenty minutes later with a huge grin on her face, a small gift bag in her hands, and a story full of amusing anecdotes about her haphazard day. Laughing, she interrupted herself with a toothy smile.

"But first, first, my dear Alex...tell, tell, tell!"

Chuckling at her friend's high spirits and energy, she launched into a brief summary of the meeting. "Well, to make a painfully long story short, no, I didn't get the funding...but before you go and blow up the university, I think it might be a good thing."

Eyebrows raised with a questioning frown, Emily asked slowly, "You've been fretting about this for the past few months, and now it's happened. You didn't get the money. And you're not having a fit. You don't even seem all that upset. What am I missing here?"

Laughing at Emily's blunt analysis of the situation, Alex explained. "I didn't get the funding, no, and I was upset at first. But then the meeting got better. They offered me a teaching position for the semester abroad program starting in the fall. I haven't decided what to do yet, and they aren't going to press me for an answer, but I just think it might be the right thing to do at this point."

Grinning, Emily passed Alex the small bag she had been clutching. "I got this for you. I didn't know if it was going to be a condolences or a congratulations gift, but I wanted to have something for you, whatever the outcome of your meeting."

With a big smile, Alex delved into the tissue until she fished out a small, flat box. Raising her eyes to Emily, she asked, "Tell me you didn't go overboard."

Emily laughed. "Me? Go overboard? Never."

Sliding the lid off of the box, Alex gaped at the earrings inside. "I can't take these, Em. I just can't."

Laughing uproariously, Emily whispered to her, "They're not real diamonds....but they're sure good fakes, aren't they?"

Sighing in relief, Alex reached over to hug her friend, smiling. "Thank you so much for thinking of me."

Emily grinned. "Well, what can a girl do when her friend is in a tough spot? Shop, of course."

Alex burst out laughing, and leaned back into the comfortable chair with a huge grin on her face. She was thinking about the bizarre way that Emily had influenced her life. When she had moved to the city, Emily had been her first real friend, the first person with whom she felt a bond. Since those early days, their friendship had developed and matured, and although they often disagreed, they were as close as friends could be.

Emily checked her watch and groaned. "Time for me to go. Must get ready for my afternoon date with man number five."

Laughing, Alex rolled her eyes. Emily had decided to see how many men she could date in a month. What had begun as a silly thought among their friends had evolved into a giant bet, where the woman with the most dates would collect a large pot of money. "I think Sara is up to seven by now. You need to catch up, Em." Alex laughed, comfortable with the fact that she was the only one of the group to not participate in the game.

Emily stood and hugged her friend before gathering up what was affectionately known as her Mary Poppins bag. "Have you decided if you're going out with us all tonight?" Noting the unsure expression on Alex's face, she continued. "Because you know, if you don't go, I'm going to call you every five minutes and nag you about everything going on. I won't let you sleep or eat or watch TV...I'll just nag nag nag."

Laughing at her friend's persistent nature, Alex nodded. "Fine, fine, I'll go...but just so you'll know, I had an eighties movie marathon all set up for myself. If I have a horrible time, think of the pain you'll have from depriving me of all that cheesy joy."

Emily smiled triumphantly. "Oh, you'll have a good time....I'll make sure of it." With that, she walked hurriedly to the door.

It was around six that evening that Alex stood in front of her closet, pondering whether or not she was actually going to go. Throughout her day, thoughts of the strange incident in the subway plagued her mind. Although she tried to shove it to the back of her thoughts, it resurfaced again and again, forcing her to remember the strange man and the feelings that he stirred in her. Shaking her head, she mumbled to herself out loud, "You'll never see him again. He's probably one of those subway crazies who stalks and harasses women. Just FORGET about it."

With that, she turned to the matter at hand, searching her closet for something that wouldn't make her feel like a nun with her friends. She loved them, she really did... but they were all so fashion-conscious and stylish that she felt obliged to keep pace. A half an hour later, she sat down, looking at the outfit she had managed to create, contemplating whether to put it on, or instead, a cozy pair of pajamas. Dragging herself out of the chair, she slipped out of her clothes and into the newly-selected ones, adjusting her makeup, and twisting her curls into a loose yet complicated knot on the top of her head. Taking a look into the floor-length mirror, she nodded, satisfied. Locating her handbag, she braced herself for the merriment ahead, and left her apartment.

Slipping into the crowded restaurant, she smiled and walked past the line of people waiting for tables. Searching for the mass of people she was meeting here, she spotted them in the back, seated in a Round Table-esque fashion. Wading through the tables and conversation, she politely ignored the comments she heard about herself as she made her way to the table. Laughing quietly to herself, she thought, if only these men knew how I actually prefer to look, pjs and all.

Everyone stood up when she got to the table, and hugs were passed all around. She settled into the only remaining empty chair, and sipped the glass of wine that was there waiting for her. Emily began to recount to Alex the story of her date with man number five, whose name turned out to be Steve.

"So you see, I thought an afternoon date would be just the ticket, because I don't really know him at all, and didn't care to spend that much time with him," she began.

Across the table, Josh interjected, "Does this mean you were only after him to rack up a date in your game?" Laughing, he turned to Eric. "And they say men are users." The men at the table cracked up laughing, and Emily looked around at them with a puzzled frown, and then a smile.

"Ah, I understand. You all think only men can be players." With a giggle and a grin, she continued her story, focusing once again on Alex, who had remained fairly quiet. "So, we met over at the swing sets at the park, which I thought was sweet, if a little juvenile. And from there--"

She stopped her story as a waiter walked to their table and handed Alex a folded note. Smiling, he said, "There was a gentleman who requested that I give this to the prettiest lady at the back table. He said that if I couldn't figure out which one that was, that her name would be Alex." Looking around to the other ladies at the table, he continued. "Though you all are gorgeous, I'm fairly sure from his description that you are Alex."

Blushing, with a perplexed smile, she said, "My name is Alex, yes, but may I ask who this man was?"

Laughing, the waiter replied, "I haven't the slightest idea. But I'm glad that he came in, so I got to meet all of you lovely ladies." With those words and a wink, he moved off to another table.

All eyes were on Alex as she looked at the note lying in her hand. Laughing nervously, she looked around at her friends. "Talk about no pressure, huh?" They laughed, and conversation resumed as she quietly unfolded the note in her lap, and looked at the words written inside.

Hands shaking as she held the piece of paper, she slowly crumpled it into a little ball and shoved it into her purse. Pasting a bright smile on, she tuned back into the table's conversation, which was still loosely based around Emily's dating misadventures, and she again forced the strange man to the back of her mind, determined now more than ever to enjoy her evening.

Drifting back to the present, she kept her face free of expression, but she was smiling on the inside as she remembered back to that first day. If she had been free to express herself instead of determined to maintain form, she would have laughed and laughed at the remembrance of her stubborn nature and willful temper. The memories of how she used to be always struck a deep chord in her, sometimes funny and sometimes heartfelt, but always intense. Thinking back to the days that had followed that first meeting, she floated dreamily into the past...

The following morning, she made painstaking efforts to change her entire routine. She rose from sleep hours earlier than was normal, adjusted her schedule to allow for the catching of a different subway, and took different paths to get everywhere. So certain was she that she had, in this fashion, managed to avoid the mysterious man that she allowed him to slip from her mind after a few hours. She continued in this manner for two days, deliriously happy that she had finagled her way out of both seeing him again, and of dealing with the wellspring of emotions that he managed to conjure from within her.

On the morning of the third day, she stepped onto the subway at 8:05, as was dictated by her new routine. Smiling cheerfully and sipping her coffee with one hand, she held the handrail with her other, lost in thought about her plans for the day. This morning, she had decided that she would take the position for the semester abroad. Leaving this city for a while and experiencing something new could in no way harm her, and the possibilities were endless and exciting. She was to finish wrapping up her research project in the next couple of weeks, and after that, her hours would be her own until the time came to leave for France.

It was these thoughts that kept her head in the clouds so much that she did not notice him until two stops later. He was standing across the subway car with an amused smile as he watched the thoughts play across her expressive face. She snapped back to reality quickly when she recognized his features, and looked left and right, uncertain of what to do and how to react. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than for the subway to come to a halt, so she could dive through the doors and be gone.

He moved gracefully across the car, and was standing next to her before she could react. "Calm down, little one. I am not here to hurt you."

Willing her courage to rise back up from her stomach, she laughed softly. "You will not hurt me. I have no doubt of that. I can protect myself from strange subway creeps. What you are here for, that is what I do not know." She cursed at herself softly, thinking that she was being way too confrontational. Just get away from him, and be gone.

A small smile passed across his face. "You are quite stubborn. Proud. Sure of yourself."

She looked at him, confused, and then looked at her watch. "If you were my therapist, this would be interesting. But you're not. Please just go away." Her heart was pounding, and she was doing all she could to avoid his eyes.

He continued to study her with that small smile, and after a few moments, she could not handle the pressure of the situation any more. She threaded her way across the subway car, getting as close to the door and as far away from him as possible. She heard his laugh from her new position, and it weaved its way into her mind slowly. This man and his words were melting any form of rational thought she possessed, and it made her angry more than anything else.

When he followed her to the doors of the car, she turned on him angrily. "I don't know you. And frankly, I don't want to know you. You're just a strange man on the subway, and you're really making me furious."

Another soft laugh came out of him. "What exactly have I done to make you so upset, little one?" He let the silence build between them, waiting for her answer.

Her hands shook at her sides, she was so angry. "What have you done?!?"

"Yes, little one. What have I done that is so wrong in your eyes?"

"You call me little one. You stare at me. You condescend to me. You followed me to the restaurant with that note. You will not leave me alone."

He smiled briefly, and then schooled his features into blankness. "And why does that upset you so?" As an afterthought, he added, "Little one."

"Because! Because you're plaguing my life! You're turning perfectly good days upside down. Please, just go away. I don't need this right now."

He smiled again, watching her emotional face as she looked at him. He hesitated once, twice, and then spoke quietly. "I think you do need this right now. Otherwise, it wouldn't have you so up in arms. You sense something different about me, something that you crave. You don't know what it is, but that need to know is what is driving you up the wall, not me."

Her eyes flared, and she began to speak, but he held his hand up. "Do not speak in anger right now, little one."

Choking on her words, she forced her hands into fists, digging nails into her skin. How dare he tell her what to do!

He laughed softly at the expression on her face. "You are angry that I told you what to do just then, little one. But I know something else, something more important and much more personal...you are most angry...because you listened."

Her whole body shook with foreign emotions as she fought to keep some semblance of control over herself. Head whirling, she tried to formulate a logical thought of any kind, and failed. All she could think of was this strange man, and the bizarre influence he seemed to have over her.

He smiled at her again then. "You have much to think about, and think you will. This time, however, little one, I would advise you not to hide from me as you did last time. You do not want to test my patience in such a manner." He brushed a finger lightly down the line of her jaw, and sparks flew as her nerve endings jolted to life. "Meet me at your coffee shop tonight at 6:00."

She opened her mouth to tell him that she would meet him in hell first, but again, he held up his hand. "You are upset right now, little one, and again, I ask that you do not speak in anger. Think on my words, but more so, think on your feelings right now. You will meet me tonight."