The Tomgirl and the Butterfly

Chapter 28 – A Decision Reached

Betsy-Jo stood from her couch and pressed a few buttons on the wall, immediately the speakers relaying sound from Lisa's "bedroom" were silenced and the quiet electric motor controlling the curtains came to life. As the heavy curtains across the viewing window shut, Betsy-Jo opened the door back to the lounge and suggested that her guests follow her back outside.

Charlotte took a moment to catch her breath. The scene she had just witnessed had left her breathless - her heartbeat racing. Jane stood up and knowingly glanced at Charlotte still sitting in her seat. The psychologist winked at the younger girl before offering her a hand up. Charlotte took her hand and rose to her feet before following Jane and her harness lead back into the lounge. Her thighs felt sticky and her panties and tights stuck damply to her crotch. She briefly considered what punishments awaited her back at the apartment when Mr Campbell discovered the state of her panties. Just as quickly she brushed the thought aside as the butterflies began fluttering their wings violently within her core, exacerbating her predicament even further.

A flustered Charlotte followed the Madame and Jane out into the luxuriously appointed entertainment area. They all took seats in the comfortable pastel couches while the waitress emerged from behind the bar to take drink orders. Charlotte let Jane order and was shocked when she ordered a glass of Australian chardonnay for her.

The waitress skittered back behind the bar and Betsy-Jo sank back into the soft cushions of the couch. "Lisa should be available in a minute. She's probably just freshening up." She now turned her attention toward Charlotte, sitting primly on the edge of her seat. She'd considered leaning back into the seat, but her bulging white crinoline underskirts would make that posture appear ridiculous. The Madame now addressed a question toward the pigtailed Charlotte: "Is that what you were expecting Charlotte?"

Charlotte considered the question carefully before responding. "I didn't know what to expect." That was true, Charlotte had had little idea of what to expect. She'd barely processed the fact that she was in a brothel when the curtains had opened to reveal the sordid scene that had been played out before her.

"Have you ever watched before?" Betsy-Jo asked with a wry grin in the corner of her mouth.

"No. That was the first time. I've seen magazines before, some of the boys used to bring them to school. But that's as close as I'd ever got before now."

"And so, what did you think of our little Lisa? Interesting girl isn't she?"

"She's… she's… she's beautiful." Charlotte struggled to put her newfound admiration of Goth Girl into the right words. She also had so many questions she wanted to ask, but couldn't phrase them right in her own head, let alone put them into comprehensive sentences.

A click sounded behind Charlotte. Betsy-Jo turned her attention away from Charlotte for a moment: "Ah, here she is. Lisa, join us for a while." Betsy-Jo pulled herself out of the deep couch and stood up, Jane and Charlotte followed suit.

"Lisa, Jane you already know;" Lisa, AKA Goth Girl, had changed out of her little black dress. She now stood in a dark red and black vampish looking dress. The bodice of the dress was a scarlet red satin covered by a delicate black lace. The skirts were comprised of a tiered heavy black lace that hung about Goth Girl's calves revealing her knee high Doc Martens beneath. Her sleeves hung long and billowed out to flow about her currently invisible hands. Charlotte now noticed that Goth Girl also wore dark lipstick, verging toward black and her alabaster skin was further enhanced by white powdered foundation.

Betsy-Jo continued with the introductions while Charlotte stared in admiration at Goth Girl: "And this is Charlotte, Charlotte this is Lisa."

"Pleased to meet you" Goth Girl's husky voice uttered the words and then Charlotte replied: "Likewise."

"Lisa, we were just watching your last performance from the viewing room, I hope you don't mind?" Betsy-Jo resumed her seat as she spoke to Goth Girl.

"Not at all," Goth Girl now took a seat in one of the chairs, completing an informal circle about the lounge room: Betsy-Jo sitting opposite Charlotte, Charlotte sitting next to Lisa who in turn sat opposite Jane. "In fact, I wish I'd known earlier, Tom would love to have known that someone was watching him with me." She waved to the Waitress, her billowing black lacy sleeves floating throughout the air. The waitress acknowledged Goth Girls signal with a friendly nod of her head.

"Charlotte was just saying how much she enjoyed your performance."

"Really?" Goth Girl looked questioningly toward the young girl dressed in her virginal white party dress. Her raised eyebrow sent a shot of lightning through Charlotte, Goth Girl was suspicious of her.

Thankfully Jane jumped to the rescue: "No, not like that Lisa, Charlotte's not a customer, rather she's here on a bit of a fact finding mission."

"Oh? How's that?"

The waitress now returned to the couches and handed each woman their drinks. Charlotte took the wine glass from her hand and sipped at it nervously while Jane continued: "Poor little Charlotte has recently become the ward of Frank Campbell, you know him?"

A wicked smile spread across Goth Girl's lips at the mention of Mr Campbell's name: "Certainly do, he's one of Leanne's regulars. She's had to borrow a couple of my toys for some of his visits. Quite a character, but I haven't seen him around lately."

"No it seems that his attention has been well and truly taken up with Charlotte's tutelage." Jane and Goth Girl exchanged glances; Goth Girl's suggestive raised eyebrow was met with a dismissive shake of Jane's head.

"No, not like that, although I'm sure he's infatuated with our little Charlotte, he seems to be retaining at least a modicum of good behaviour. Well at least a tiny bit. As you can see though, that hasn't stopped him indulging in his usual inclinations on Charlotte."

Charlotte hated being referred to in the third person, particularly when she was present. For the moment however she limited herself to biting her bottom lip.

"Unfortunately Frank's attentions have coincided with Charlotte beginning to discover the nature of her own sexuality. We've been quite confused and distressed by it all, haven't we Charlotte?"

Jane gave Charlotte a quick tug on her toddler tether to indicate she should speak up: "I guess so."

The three women looked toward Charlotte, expecting her to continue. An uneasy silence descended on the room. The silence was partially filled by the clinking of ice cubes as Goth Girl picked up her tumbler full of ice and clear liquid, she took a quick sip.

Jane gently tugged on the leash again. "I liked watching you Lisa, it seemed… right."

"Ah… Now I understand. Let me guess, Frank's been handing out some of his trademark corrections and you've found yourself enjoying them?" Lisa sat back carefully considering the quiet Charlotte. "A bit of a shock isn't it? What was it; a spanking over the arm of the couch? Ah yes I see; something like that. Yes I remember my first time. An older cousin got annoyed when I broke his CD player.

"He had some of his friends over for a pool party. I had a real crush on one of his friends; I got dressed in my shortest skirt and skimpiest swimsuit. I spent ages trying to look as pretty as I could. Then I tried my hardest to get this guy's attention but he was happy just mucking about with my brother and his mates. Anyway, I got sick of listening to their crappy pop music and decided to switch CD's. I put on my favourite 'Cradle of Filth' album on and my cousin got really pissed off. He stormed over and tried to snatch the CD player away from me, somehow in the struggle it ended up in the pool, completely wrecked.

"He was furious, so he grabbed me and put me over his knee. Then in front of his friends, and the guy I really liked, he spanked me – really hard. I ended up running into my bedroom in tears with everyone laughing at me. I'd never been so embarrassed. But when I got back to my room… well let's just say I had to take matters into my own hands." That aroused a grin on her face and a laugh from Betsy-Jo and Jane.

Lisa looked back at Charlotte, ignoring the two other women. "What about you? How did you find out?"

Suddenly it seemed to Charlotte that the only people in the room were her and Lisa. The two of them fixed their eyes on each other, seeing in each other a part of themselves. Now she forgot all about her embarrassment, here was someone like her who she could share herself with.

"It wasn't quite like that for me. There was this guy at the basketball courts called Kyle, we were playing ball and he fell on top of me. For a moment he had me pinned down on the ground. For a second there I felt… complete. I don't know how else to explain it. I wanted him to take complete control of me.

"But I guess when I really found out was when Mr Campbell spanked me the first time. I didn't want it to stop. I just closed my eyes and imagined it was Kyle spanking me. I didn't really understand any of it. Mr Campbell just kept on punishing me more and more and I started to enjoy it more and more. I thought there was something wrong with me… until today anyway."

Lisa stared at Charlotte, taking in every single word from the young girl. Then she looked briefly at Jane and Betsy-Jo, "Come on Charlotte, let's leave these two gossip queens to themselves for a while." Then she looked toward Jane: "Charlotte's coming with me to my room." Lisa looked at Jane indicating that a negative response was out of the question. Jane nodded before adding: "Sure, but first of all, here Lisa, take this." Jane handed Lisa the lead to Charlotte's toddler harness. "Don't let her out of your sight okay?"

"Sure, not a problem." Lisa took the tether in hand, but indicated that Charlotte should lead the way back to Lisa's 'Bedroom'. Charlotte picked up her wine glass and walked toward the door to the room.

The two girls entered the room, still a mess. Charlotte stood in the centre of the carpet while Lisa smoothed the rumpled sheets on her king sized bed. "Come on, sit down. How's your drink?"

"Not bad, I haven't had Australian wine before, it's not bad." Seeing Lisa sitting on the bed which only moments ago had been the scene of some wildly kinky action made Charlotte a little nervous.

"I prefer vodka myself, export quality Stolichnaya usually when I can get it. The one thing the Russians have always been good at is vodka. Come-on sit down, I don't bite." Lisa patted a corner of the bed indicating that Charlotte should sit down. She made her way to the bed and sat down carefully with her wine glass in hand.

"How old are you?" Lisa asked Charlotte.

"Sixteen, you?" Charlotte asked nervously.

"Twenty-two. Wow, it's taken you this long to work out how you feel? That's amazing. Where have you been? Hiding in the closet?"

"No," Charlotte answered defensively. "I've never really thought about boys in any way. I was always trying to beat them at sport I guess…"

"Ah… A bit of a tomboy hey. I guess that explains your dress. Mr Campbell's idea of converting you I assume?"

"Yeah, you should see some of the others, they're fucking ridiculous." Instinctively Charlotte raised her hand to her mouth to suppress the swearword, but Lisa just laughed at her.

"Christ, he's got you wrapped around his little finger hasn't he? Don't worry, I don't care and I won't tell him." Lisa laughed.

"I suppose so. You don't know what it's like. Trapped in that apartment, trying to cope with everything that's going on."

"Oh I don't know about that – my better half keeps me pretty 'busy' at home. But only on my terms." Lisa said the word 'busy' in a mischievous fashion.

"You're married?" Charlotte asked shocked.

"Not yet, soon though, have a look at this." Lisa extended her hand from the broad lace sleeves of her vampish scarlet and red dress. On one of her fingers she sported a thick silver ring upon which was set a deep black sapphire. An intricate pattern of vines entwined the band and the gem.

"We're engaged and getting married at the Winter Solstice."

"What does he think about all this then?" Charlotte asked waving her hand about the room.

"He doesn't mind. In fact I think it kind of amuses him. I do it because I enjoy it. To tell the truth I don't need to work, Gerard makes enough money for the two of us to live comfortably on. But I still enjoy the work and he enjoys the stories I bring home. Not to mention that he comes down after work or at lunch sometimes just to watch. My Johns all understand. In fact I think he gives some of them suggestions about what to do to me." She grinned evilly.

"So, its perfectly normal then? What I feel inside I mean." Charlotte asked tentatively.

"Sure it is. Everyone's got their own kinks, even if they don't admit it. All the crap people go on about morals and the rest is bullshit. Have a look through Betsy-Jo's ledger and you'll find quite a few interesting names in there. In fact it's half the reason she can operate so openly. The police commissioner, he's into a bit of man on man action, comes in once every few weeks to relieve himself.

"The senior district attorney, well he likes dressing up in women's clothing and getting a solid spanking. Three of the circuit court judges are on our books; one of them likes to be encased in leather and treated like a human urinal. In fact when you look at it, the two of us are pretty tame in comparison.

"The local congressman; you know the one who's constantly on television bemoaning the moral decline of America?"

"I think so, was he the one going on about gay marriage. Said marriage should be between 'Adam and Eve', not 'Adam and Steve'?" Charlotte remembered that episode well, there had been mass demonstrations outside his office and the police had been called in.

"That's him. Probably had a butt plug shoved up his ass at the press conference. He visits Mistress Violet at least once a week, loves to have her force him give blow jobs to other men.

"Hypocrisy's rife, all these supposedly upstanding citizens lecturing us on how to live our lives according to God's law while they break every single one and even some you've never thought of. It's no surprise that people like us get confused from time to time."

"I hadn't thought about it like that." Charlotte thought through all the revelations that had been exposed to her today. She wasn't sick, or strange.

Lisa spoke again: "The trick however, Charlotte, is to only do those things that you want to do. You can't let people take advantage of you, unless you want them to. I don't know exactly what Mr Campbell's been up to, but I can guess. Has he made you do anything that you didn't want to do?"

"I suppose not. Well, at the time I didn't think I did, but afterward…"

"Well, you've been lucky. Charlotte, this is important – do you want to stay there with him?"

Charlotte almost responded in the negative. She almost told Lisa that under no circumstances would she want to spend another night in the apartment. But as she was about to do so a series of contrary emotions and thoughts unleashed themselves.

What would she do if she wasn't with Mr Campbell? How would she make her way home, she didn't have as much as a nickel to call her own. She guessed she could ask Lisa or Jane for money, but she'd only just met them. And even if they did give her enough for a bus or plane ticket home, then what would she use to live on? The stock of cash that her father had kept for emergencies in their home safe was near on depleted. Adding further complication was the fact that even if she did manage to escape Mr Campbell's clutches, she had no way of surviving unless she took a job.

Charlotte was wise enough in the way of the world to know that at sixteen, without any qualifications, she would be lucky to get a minimum wage job that would barely allow her to live. For a split second she thought about Betsy-Jo's earlier veiled employment proposition and discarded the thought immediately. If Charlotte left, she'd want to go home and Betsy-Jo's establishment was a thousand miles away from there. Her establishment was also right underneath Mr Campbell's nose. No, that wasn't an option.

Her thoughts moved on to Mr Campbell himself. He scared her, not because he was frightening himself, but because his power over her was so complete and she had no idea what his motivations were. He had said that he was looking after her interests, trying to make her a better person. Yet today's outing had helped her put some more pieces of his puzzle together.

Her mother had shared similar interests to herself in the bedroom and somehow that had led to an estrangement from Mr Campbell. He was a regular client of Betsy-Jo's… until recently. The corrective actions he imposed on her all seemed to have a sexual bent to them. Add to that the way he looked at her sometimes. All this suggested that he wasn't merely driven by an altruistic intention to help her. There was something more there, something sexual.

And her dreams! The dreams of the tower, the whip's tail licking her body as she thrashed about in an orgasmic frenzy of pleasure and pain. She knew in her heart of hearts that Mr Campbell was the dark figure in her dreams. For the first time she considered that maybe her feelings toward him were more complicated than those between the captor and the captive.

He was so old, okay he didn't look it, but he was almost old enough to be her father, in fact he very well could have been her father had her mother and he stayed together. But age didn't matter, did it?

She didn't know how she felt anymore. But now the thought of running away, of failing to further explore these feelings and their possibilities unsettled her.

After a very long period of silence Charlotte finally answered Lisa question: "I think I might want to stay. For a lot of reasons."

Lisa put her hand under Charlotte's chin and lifted her head up to meet her gaze. Lisa's dark piercing eyes, framed by the heavy mascara, stared into Charlotte's own eyes, evaluating the truth of the statement just uttered by the young girl. Some moments later, satisfied by what she saw, Lisa pulled her hand away and nodded to herself.

"Charlotte, if you want to stay then you must listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. I wish we had more time to spend with each other so that I could be sure that I could cover everything. But as it is I have a client arriving in forty-five minutes and I believe Jane has to get you home."

Lisa then proceeded to give Charlotte an abridged lecture on safe sex practices and BDSM. For half an hour the older girl stressed the importance of understanding exactly how consent worked in a relationship built on power dichotomies. Dominance, Safe words, safe play, submission, protection, abuse, slaves, masters, comfort levels. Lisa filled that half an hour with trying to instruct Charlotte on what was and wasn't appropriate in a BDSM environment. At the end of the time, just as Lisa began touching up her makeup in preparation for her next appointment, she stressed the importance of talking to Mr Campbell to discuss these issues.

Charlotte responded: "But I don't know if I like him like that. I mean I've never… you-now."

"It doesn't matter Charlie, whether you like it or not you're already living in that environment. You need to address the things we talked about with him, regardless. As I said before, a BDSM relationship isn't about sex, it's about power. That's what can make it dangerous. If there are no limits, no rules except for what he makes, then its borderline abuse. There need to be rules.

"Look Charlie, I know Frank. He can be stubborn, he can be pigheaded, he can be many things, but at the end of the day he is a rational, caring human being. Just talk to him. I think you might be surprised at his reaction."

Unfortunately time got the better of the pair in the end. Lisa received a phone call from reception informing her that her client had arrived. Hurriedly she hustled Charlotte back out into the lounge, but not before asking Charlotte to visit her again if she could get Mr Campbell to agree. The two of them embraced as friends in Lisa's bedroom doorway before the older girl retreated back into her room to service her latest customer.

It was with a tinge of regret that Charlotte left Betsy-Jo's. She'd spent only a short time with Lisa, but had almost immediately felt a kinship with the older girl that she had never shared with any other female – or male for that matter. She imagined that this would be how having an older sister would feel.