Lady Lorelei

Part 5

 

Nikki

 

The restaurant was dimly lit. Couples were spread throughout the room, each of them dressed elegantly. Lorelei was dressed to match in a white sequin dress that glittered so much it looked silver. Her blonde hair was out of its bun, cascading over her shoulders. Pearls adorned her neck and wrists, and she clacked across the dining room in emerald green pumps.

“Your treat?” asked Nikki again.

“Worried?”

“Looks expensive.”

“My treat,” said Lorelei. “You already paid for my time, the least I can do is pay for your food.”

Nikki nodded and followed Lorelei to their table. She had asked the hostess specifically for Carol to be their waitress, and though the place was packed and looked like it took weeks to get a reservation here, there was no wait time. They were brought immediately to their seats, no questions asked.

“Do you secretly own this place?” asked Nikki as they sat down.

Lorelei laughed. “No. But you’d be surprised who frequents my dungeon. Often it’s the most powerful who want to give up control for an hour or two.”

Nikki raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Sounds impossible to you, I know. Dommes like you are rare. We wouldn’t give up control willingly, and nothing bothers us more than working for an idiot. I bet you run that diner you work at behind the scenes.”

“Practically.”

“You’d rather own it than work tables.”

Nikki shrugged, then nodded.

“And yet, you’re still not sure if you are what I say you are.”

“It’s just … whipping people? Chains? Pain? I don’t think I could get into that.”

“Then don’t,” said Lorelei with a shrug. “Run the scene how you want.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. As the domme, you own the space. If somebody doesn’t like that, they can fuck off.” Nikki laughed, and Lorelei smiled. “When I first started, I hated all the outfits dommes wear. They were all black and leather and latex or blood red or something out a parody of hell. Like strong women were one of the rings of Dante’s Inferno sent to punish men that beat their wives.” Nikki laughed again. “That’s why I wear the white lace. That’s what feels good. When I wear it, I feel sexy and comfortable and powerful. If my subs don’t like it, fuck ’em. They’re not in charge. I am. In my dungeon, a powerful bitch wears white lace. I can be that if I want.”

“So I can …”

“Cuddle your subs to death for all you want. It’s your dungeon.”

“I don’t have a dungeon.”

“Yet,” said Lorelei.

Nikki started to say something, but their waitress came up, dressed in a chic black dress, hose, and black heels. “Hello Lorelei,” she said. “You brought a guest?”

“Hello Carol. I’m going to be playing a bit of a game tonight, alright?”

Carol smirked. “Anything fun?”

“Maybe not for you,” said Lorelei. “This is my friend Nikki, and she’s going to be in charge tonight. I won’t say a thing. She’ll order for me and herself. I’ll pay, but everything you do or say should be directed to her. I’ve given her complete control of the evening.”

“Interesting …” said Carol. Then she turned to Nikki. “So, can I get you ladies anything to drink? Cocktails? Wine? Beer?”

“Um …” Nikki looked back at Lorelei. “What do you –”

“No,” said Lorelei. She took out her phone and scrolled through it. “I don’t want a repeat of the lingerie situation. You have preferences; act on them.”

“Um …” Nikki looked at Carol helplessly. “I … uh … do you have a menu?”

“For drinks or –”

“Yes. Both.”

Carol smiled. “Right away, ma’am.” She slipped away and Lorelei put her phone down.

“What are you trying to prove?” hissed Nikki.

“What was the worst-case scenario there?”

“What?”

Lorelei grabbed her fork and gripped it tightly. She took a deep breath, smiled, and slowly put down the fork. “What was the worst that could have happened there? When I let you handle the ordering?”

“I don’t know your budget. I don’t know what you like. I don’t … I don’t know. I could order the wrong thing or something you’re allergic to or something you can’t stand. I could order something out of your price range or insult you with something I think you’d like. I don’t know.”

Lorelei shrugged. “Why not ask?”

“What?”

“Ask if I’m allergic to anything. Ask what my tastes are. Ask. It’s a simple thing to do.”

“I …” Nikki looked around the room. “I’d kill for a glass of water,” she muttered.

Lorelei laughed. “You could have asked for one.”

“I know,” sighed Nikki.

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because …” Nikki was exasperated. Every muscle in her body was tense. Everything she did was over the top, melodramatic. It was a bit munch. Lorelei, by contrast, kept her shoulders back and back straight. Every movement seemed to float as though one fluid extension of her will.

“I don’t know what the rules are.”

“The rules?”

“Yeah,” said Nikki. “I felt rushed.”

“No one was rushing you.”

“It didn’t feel that way.”

Lorelei shrugged. “My first piece of advice: ignorance is paralyzing. Questions are not a sign of weakness if answers are power, which they are. You definitely need to know the rules and parameters. It’s this way even in the dungeon.” Lorelei’s voice was even and calm, and she didn’t lower her voice when she mentioned her dungeon. Nikki looked around to see if anyone was reacting to the word, but of course, they weren’t. “I have to know if a sub has an injury or a phobia or trauma. There’s an extensive vetting process.”

“You didn’t vet me.”

“I never expected to get far in that session. I have a hypothesis I’m testing.”

“Which is?” asked Nikki, still looking around the room, now for Carol as well as for anyone listening in on their conversation.

“That you’re a domme like me. My guess is that you’ve repressed it thanks to a good dose of American patriarchy and perhaps something else. Eldest child? Domineering father? Dutiful mother? Asshole boyfriend? It’s hard to say.”

“What are you, Sigmund Freud?”

Lorelei shrugged. “We’ll see. I could be wrong. Worst case scenario, we should have a delightful dinner.”

Carol came back with the menus, and though Nikki hesitated, she did eventually ask for a glass of water. Carol left immediately, and Nikki looked over the menu, panicking.

“So, what are the rules?”

“Hm?” asked Lorelei without looking up from her phone.

“What are my parameters?”

Lorelei put down her phone, grabbed Nikki’s hand, and leaned in close. She looked into Nikki’s eyes and spoke softly. “I want you to get what you want. If you want me to be pleased, surely you’ll ask what I want. But for an evening, your pleasure is the goal. Be picky. It may feel mean to you, but if that’s what confidence feels like, then be mean. Be controlling to the point that you may feel cruel, but don’t walk away from this table without feeling you got exactly what you wanted.”

“You want me to be a bitch?”

Lorelei sighed. “How tragic that in your mind, a woman who gets what she wants is a bitch.”

“I just –”

“Yes,” said Lorelei. “Be a bitch for an evening. I promise I won’t tell anyone. Neither will Carol. This is a controlled experiment.”

Nikki bit her bottom lip, chewing on it. After a moment, she nodded. “Wine or cocktail?” she asked.

Lorelei answered that she preferred a cocktail. There was a follow up question, and another follow up, and another after that. Nikki narrowed it down to three options, and instead of asking which one Lorelei wanted, she thought two sounded good. She ordered both of them, giving one to Lorelei. She figured then she could try both. Carol took their order, dutifully, and walked away.

“How was that?” asked Lorelei.

“Stressful.”

“Then let me ask this,” said Lorelei. “If things went wrong, if, for example, you ordered a drink for me that I hated, whose fault would that be?”

“What do you mean?”

“If I hated the drink you ordered for me, that I asked you to order for me, whose fault would it be?”

“Mine?”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t give you what you wanted.”

“What I wanted was for you to pick,” said Lorelei. “And you did.”

“Then it would …”

“It would be my fault,” said Lorelei. “If I was so damn picky, I should have ordered it myself. I didn’t. I put you in charge. That may have been a lapse in judgement, but it is my lapse in judgement. It is my fault, not yours.”

“But what if I didn’t ask the right questions?”

“Like an allergy?”

“Right.”

“Then I should have shared that. It would be stupid for me tell you to order my food and not mention an allergy to peanuts.”

Nikki leaned in. “Are you allergic to peanuts?”

Lorelei laughed loudly, drawing attention from those around her. Slowly, Nikki relaxed back into her seat and laughed along with the blonde woman.

“I am not,” said Lorelei. “But that is a good clarification.”

“Okay,” whispered Nikki. She brought her eyes back to the menu Carol had brought them.

“Being a domme is about reality. I know what is really going on here and ignoring all the hinted at rules, the suggestions and cultural bullshit that tries to govern our decisions and reality. I laugh freely in a restaurant because I know the glares of others can’t hurt me. I know their disapproval isn’t real. Embarrassment is something you do to yourself, not something others do to you.”

“Right. I know.”

“No,” said Lorelei calmly. “You don’t.”

Nikki looked up at her and then back at the menu. She asked a series of questions, and Lorelei answered. Eventually, Carol returned with their drinks. Nikki explained that she was going to try both drinks first and have whichever one she liked best. Lorelei accepted this and had no complaints with the drink she received. Nikki then asked Carol several questions about a beef dish she was looking at, and then nervously made some suggestions on how to alter it. Carol nodded along, listening to Nikki’s changes.

“Are you going to write this down?” asked Nikki.

“I’ve got it,” said Carol.

Nikki glanced over at Lorelei. The blonde woman nodded. Nikki looked back. “I’d feel a lot better if you wrote this down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Carol. She stepped away and returned with a pad of paper. She wrote down the order, and Nikki asked to read it, to make sure it was right. It was. She sent Carol away.

“How did that feel?” asked Lorelei before taking a long sip of her drink.

“Honestly?” asked Nikki. “Fantastic.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I think it’s highly unlikely she’s going to fuck it up.”

Lorelei smirked. “So it feels good to be in control?”

Nikki blushed and nodded.

“Don’t be ashamed,” said Lorelei. “Too many people crave control but tell themselves they’re not good enough for it, that they don’t deserve it. Let’s keep you far away from that trap of thinking.”

Nikki nodded.

“I want you to push it. You’re being kind, which is healthy if talking to a normal person, to a stranger. But I can tell you Carol is a filthy slut. She prefers to be called …” Lorelei licked her lips, “horrendous things in the dungeon.”

“Be mean?” asked Nikki nervously.

“Cruel,” corrected Lorelei.

Nikki nodded.

She and Lorelei made chit-chat, talking about how Lorelei knew she was a domme and how she got started as a dominatrix with her own dungeon. Their food arrived, but Nikki asked Carol to standby and wait until she tried it. She didn’t want Carol gone in case it was wrong.

“It’s not wrong,” said Carol, a bit nervously. “You read what I wrote and –”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” said Nikki.

Lorelei smiled.

Nikki tasted it and approved. She waved her hand to shoo Carol away.

“Well done,” said Lorelei as they ate. Nikki glowed as Lorelei appreciated what Nikki had picked for her. She glowed from Carol hovering nearby, offering extra drinks or asking them if they needed anything.

As the meal ended, Carol came by with another menu for Nikki, but she held up her hand. “I’m too full for dessert. How about you save your spiel?”

Carol smiled. “Sounds good to me. How was everything?”

“Good,” said Nikki. “Lorelei will take the check. You’ve been lovely tonight.”

Carol nodded and obeyed. “Thank you for this,” said Nikki to Lorelei. “It was delicious.”

“Did I prove my point?”

“I definitely like being in charge,” she admitted. “But not every space is as welcoming as this.”

“True, I did set you up for success. Did you find the power intoxicating?”

“I certainly liked it.”

“Then allow me one more experiment before we go.”

“Yes?”

“You struggle being mean, don’t you?”

Nikki blushed and looked down. “Doesn’t seem …”

“Nice?” suggested Lorelei.

“Right,” correct Nikki.

“Ah, morals,” said Lorelei. “Another invisible rule. Would you say it is the right thing to give people what they wanted?”

“Well, not all the time. I think –”

“If I paid you. If you were my client, and I hired you, are you obligated, morally or otherwise, to give me what I wanted?”

“Yes.”

“And what if I wanted you to be a cruel bitch to me?”

“Why would –”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Lorelei. “What if I wanted you to call me a filthy dyke, a dirty cunt, and slap me in the face.”

“I don’t … I would … I don’t know.”

“You may have never met someone like that, but I deal with them all day. They will lay thousands of dollars at my feet to have me berate and demean them. Carol is one of them.”

“You mean …” Nikki looked over at Carol who was bringing their check. “I should …”

“Be cruel,” said Lorelei. “Get some dessert to go.”

Nikki looked at Lorelei and then back at Carol. She gulped and steeled herself.

“Here ya go,” said Carol. “I hope you enjoyed –”

“Actually,” said Nikki. “I was hoping to order dessert to go.”

“But you –”

Nikki cocked an eyebrow at Carol. “Do you sell dessert here?”

“Um … yes, but –”

“And it’s your business to encourage me to purchase it, correct?”

“Right, but –”

“Then I would like a dessert to –”

“You told me you to spare you the –”

“Do not interrupt me, bitch,” snapped Nikki. She felt some eyes in the restaurant turn and look at her, but real anger was burning inside her. “It’s your job to give me what I want, right?”

“Yes,” whispered Carol.

“And what do I want?”

“Dessert.”

“I said spare me the spiel and menu.” Nikki’s blood was flowing now. “But I don’t need any more of your attitude.”

“I don’t have an attitude.”

“You gave me shit when I asked you to write down my order, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t –”

“Is there a problem?” asked a balding man as he approached the table.

“Yeah, Carol,” said Nikki. “Is there a problem?”

Carol kept her eyes fixed on the floor. “No,” she said. “No problem.”

“Carol’s about to give me exactly what I want, aren’t you Carol?”

“Yes.”

The balding man looked back and forth between the two women, then moved slowly away from them.

“Cheesecake,” said Nikki. “You have berry flavors?”

“Raspberry.”

“Perfect.” Nikki looked to Lorelei. “Want any?”

Lorelei held up a hand. “I’m stuffed.”

“To go?”

Lorelei smiled. “No, thank you.”

Nikki looked back up at Carol. “Can you handle that …” Her eyes darted from Carol to Lorelei and back, “cunt?” she whispered.

Carol whimpered. “Yes, Mistress,” she whispered and scampered away.

“How did that –”

“Shhh,” said Nikki. She was clenching the side of the table, her eyes closed, her lip bit, holding very still.

Lorelei chuckled. “Felt good, then?”

Nikki’s eyes flicked up at Lorelei. “Very,” she said breathlessly.

“You could have that whenever you want and in much more delicious ways.”

“I can?”

“The world is filled with people looking for something to serve, something to dedicate themselves to. Marriages, families, careers, religions? Sure. For now. Today. But a woman, a queen, a lady?” Lorelei smirked and shrugged. “We’re just giving them an outlet for that.”

“And you? What do you serve?”

“My craft.”

Nikki fell silent. Around them, the restaurant was buzzing with the sound of conversations, plates clattering, doors opening, and orders being called out. But between Lorelei and Nikki, the moment was heavy and quiet. Lorelei didn’t look at her phone or look away from her pupil. She fixed her gaze onto Nikki, and Nikki held it. Perhaps she was looking at what was possible, at what she could become if she followed Lorelei’s path, appraising whether or not she wanted to become that. Or perhaps she was asking herself how she should handle Carol when the waitress returned. How far could she push her? What else could she get out of this?

“Have I proved my point?” asked Lorelei.

“I think so.”

“Then one more game, and then we can go back to my dungeon and play very different games.” She winked, and Nikki shuddered. Carol arrived at the table with a box. Lorelei held up a finger for Carol’s silence and patience. “What kind of tip do you think Carol deserves for her service tonight?”

Nikki’s eyes darted to Carol. “Right now? In front of her?”

Lorelei nodded.

“Well …” Nikki looked from Lorelei and Carol.

“Be honest,” added Lorelei. “We’ll both know if you’re lying.”

“I didn’t like some of the attitude,” said Nikki. “But I don’t think that means she should get nothing.” She looked up at Lorelei. “What do you think?”

“I’m not the one in charge -”

“I’m not asking you to decide. I’m asking for consultation.”

Lorelei smiled. “Very good.” Lorelei reached into her purse and took out her business card. She slid it across the table to Nikki. “Write your number on that. That should be a sufficient tip.”

“My number?” Nikki looked at Carol. The blonde woman was frozen, but she wasn’t tense with fear or awkwardness. Her pupils were dilated. Her breathe was shallow. It was something else.

“With confidence, she’ll thank you for permission to lick your heels,” said Lorelei.

Carol nodded eagerly.

Nikki gripped the side of the table. “Really?” she whispered.

“This is the final lesson. Not only is she eager to serve, not only do you deserve to rule, but the only payment she needs is service and more opportunities to serve. That is the currency of this relationship. What is money to her if she can’t buy another opportunity to serve you? Perhaps one where the stakes aren’t so high at her job, where she can be her true inner slut? Isn’t that right, Carol?”

“Y-Y-Yes, Lady Lorelei.”

“The greatest gift you can give someone like Carol,” said Lorelei, leaning in across the table, so close she could almost kiss Nikki, “is the opportunity to serve.” Lorelei slid the card closer to her Nikki. “Give her your number and see what she does with it.” Lorelei leaned forward and gave Nikki the slightest and easiest kiss, like a breeze over her lips, and then whispered, “See what you do with it.”

Lorelei sat back in her chair, and Nikki grabbed Carol’s pen, quickly but neatly scribbling out her number. She didn’t worry about the people around them after Lorelei’s kiss. She didn’t worry about anything but getting her number down and getting back to Lorelei’s dungeon. If this were just the surface, just the beginning, she couldn’t wait to dive deep.

Nikki finished writing and handed the card to Carol. “This should do for a tip, cunt,” she said, this time loud enough for those around them to hear. Some turned to stare, and one woman gasped.

Carol reached for the card, her fingertips trembling. She took it, and almost whimpered with delight. “Thank you, Mistress,” she said, trying to suppress a moan. “I hope I served you to your satisfaction this evening.”

“Not quite,” added Nikki, not sure where the words were coming from. “But call that number and you can make it up to me.”

Nikki turned and let her eyes roam over Carol’s body, let Carol and anyone else in the restaurant see that she was drinking her body in through the eyes, that she was inspecting her potential sub. Carol shivered, whispered, “Yes, Mistress,” and scampered away.