Chapter Five

Note to self: Don’t imagine trouble where there is none. Allow yourself to be happy for a change.

To Do List:

Stop by grocery store for eggs and bread Review grades Continue work on novel Be home by five to sign for package from Master Don’t open it until he calls!

Grace took a sip of her soft drink and stared at the box on her table. It was hard not to tear into it and see what gifts Master has bestowed on her. But she’d made it through the fifteen minutes last night and she would make it through today.

Even as excitement about the package raced through her mind, she couldn’t help but think about work. Watson had summoned a number of her students to his office in regular intervals during the day. In total, fourteen pupils had been called out. And Grace couldn’t help but notice that all of them were either failing, or on the verge of failure, in her class.

Seven of them had gone from failing to passing with their term papers; four of them were on the edge; and three were so far gone there was no way they could catch up. She wondered what Watson was up to. None of the students had said anything to her when they’d come back in the room, although all of them had appeared nervous.

Finally, when Jessica had come back from the office, Grace had asked her if anything was wrong. Jessica had looked worried, darting her eyes down and shaking her head vigorously. But Grace knew she was lying. Watson was up to something, Grace just didn’t know what it was.

She pushed thoughts of Watson to the back of her mind and stared at the box. Her fingers were itching to open it, see what was inside. She was sure that Master had bought some wicked toys for them to play with, and she wanted to find out exactly what he had in mind.

Before she could give in to temptation, Grace pushed the box away and sat down at the computer. She had two hours before Master called, and she wanted to do more than a little bit of writing before it was time to play.

***

When the phone rang around seven, Grace picked it up without looking at the ID. Becca’s voice caught her by surprise.

“I debated about whether to call you, but decided that as your friend I didn’t have a choice.”

“That’s an interesting way to begin a conversation.”

“Watson is after your ass.”

Grace laughed. “I think we’ve already established that.”

When Becca didn’t laugh, Grace felt her chest tighten.

“What do you know?”

Becca’s deep breath made Grace even more uneasy.

“A parent of a mutual student called tonight. He wanted to know how long you’ve been taking bribes for grades.”

The living room spun around as Grace sank into a chair.

“What? You have got to be kidding me. No one will believe him.” The phone remained silent and Grace shook her head. “Becca?”

“Sweetie, you know I don’t believe it, but this parent thinks it’s true. Word around the school is that Watson called in students all day to see who knew what. The parent I talked to had a student who failed your class last year, and therefore, didn’t graduate.”

Grace gulped. Dominic Barlow was the only student who’d been forced to graduate at mid-term this year for failing to pass her class last year. And his father was a big-shot businessman around town.

“Becca, tell me exactly what Mr. Barlow said.”

***

Toffer looked over the array of toys on his bed, checked his watch and smiled. Three more minutes until he talked to Grace. He wanted to call her exactly at eight, let the anticipation build for both of them.

Last night had been fantastic. She had only balked a little at the idea of fucking herself with the candle. And he knew without asking her that she’d waited out the fifteen minutes totally still on her bed before bringing herself to orgasm. And he was sure it had been a whopper. Little Miss Gracie was a born submissive.

He could tell from the inflection in her voice, just her saying the simple word hello, that something was wrong.

“Tell me.”

“I did what you asked, Master. I…”

“Not about that, not now. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Grace felt a catch in her throat. “I underestimated my new principal. He wants to get me into bed. I refused. Now, I may be out of a job.”

“You were fired? That’s sexual harassment, you know.”

“I could never prove it. Watson is questioning my students, asking those who have failed, or are close to failing, if I offered to give them good grades for money. A student of mine who failed last year told his father that he failed because he wouldn’t give me money. The Board of Trustees will start a full-fledged investigation, I’m sure.

“I haven’t done anything wrong. I would never, ever, ask a student for money or accept a bribe. I became a teacher to help people learn; to try and instill a love of reading and writing in young people. To say I would take a bribe negates all my work. It just makes me sick to my stomach.”

Toffer could tell she was fighting back tears. Her pain and anguish made him see red. He wanted to hop the first plane to Colorado and pop Joe Watson in the mouth.

“This is definitely harassment. You could go to the board members, tell them how he ogled you and only wants to get into your pants.”

“I don’t think they’d believe me. Even if Becca backed me up, they would think that she would say anything to help me.”

“Baby, I thought you were ready to quit anyway.”

“I am, but not like this. An accusation like this would keep me from ever going back to teaching, if I ever needed or wanted to.”

Toffer took a deep breath. His anger building by the minute.

“Quit. Just go in tomorrow and quit.”

“I can’t do that, I have a contract. Plus, I don’t want my students to suffer because of this. I’m just going to go in tomorrow and calmly discuss it with him.”

Her crying was audible and Toffer felt his anger bubble over. How had this happened so quickly? He’d known her for a week and he wanted to hold her in his arms and never let her go.

“Take a deep breath, Lolly.”

“Lolly?”

Toffer laughed. “Lolly. That’s my name for you. In your last e-mail you told me you wanted to lick me like a lollipop. So you’re my little Lolly-girl. Lolly for short.”

He smiled when Grace’s laughter came in short gasps, showing him she was trying to get her crying under control.

“Let’s role-play what you’re going to say tomorrow. We can go over the conversation and prepare you for confronting Watson. Planning will keep you calm when you talk to him.”

“Tell you what, I’ll be Watson.” Grace could hear the laughter in Toffer’s voice.

Grace’s laughter grew stronger and Toffer joined in.

“You don’t want to be me?”

“No, baby, I don’t want to be you. I want to be inside you. But that can wait. I’m in my office, waiting for you. Knock and come inside. What’s the first thing you’re going to say?”

“Joe Watson, you’re an amoral bastard with a lying tongue.”

“Hmm, something tells me that doesn’t set the right tone. Shall we try again?”