Life was fun for quite a while. Then Phoebe had to go back to university…

Poor Elena was devastated; and torn. She was so in love with Phoebe but, at the same time, she loved Debra. She also didn’t want to leave her sister…

Ayla tried to help.

“How’s Phoebe supposed to explain you at university?”, she asked. “She can’t just walk into student accommodation with her bags and…. you.”

Elena was inconsolable.

“But I love her!”, she wailed. “Ayla, I don’t want to lose her!”

Phoebe came over and hugged Elena.

“You won’t lose me, love… we’ll just have to be apart for a while.”

“I don’t want to…!”, cried Elena, hanging on to Phoebe for all she was worth.

Debra knew she had to do something. She also knew Elena was going to hate her for it.

Phoebe was already packed to go; all she had to do was walk out the door. Why was she finding it so difficult…?

Hating herself for doing it, Debra pulled Elena away from Phoebe and locked her in their bedroom. Ignoring the banging and wailing coming from behind the door, she told Phoebe to go.

“They’re my companions, after all”, she said. “I was only loaning Elena to you. You can have her back when you come home for Spring break.”

Stifling a sob, Phoebe left…

Once her taxi had left, Debra made sure the front door was locked then let Elena out of the bedroom.

“No….! Why would you do that! No…!”

Elena went flying for the front door and scrabbled at it, trying to get out.

“You didn’t even let me say goodbye…!!”

Elena just collapsed in a heap, sobbing…

Elena withdrew after that.

She wouldn’t speak to Debra or her sister; she did what was expected of her, nothing more, and she did it silently.

She slept on her own in the spare room. Ayla tried to keep her company, twice, but she got thrown out each time.

Finally, Debra had had enough.

When Elena went to bed one night, she went with her.

Elena actually went to throw her out; Debra glared at her in such a way that she shivered in fear and dived under the sheets.

Debra still followed her. Just as silently as Elena, not saying a word.

She slid into bed alongside her, then started gently kissing her all over…

Elena just burst into tears, threw her arms around Debra and hugged her.

“I miss her so much…!”

“I know, little one. Don’t ever try to cope with it alone, though. You’re never alone. You’ve got me. Ayla is worried about you, too…”

Debra just clicked her fingers.

Ayla came straight in and slid in with them, so that Elena was sandwiched in the middle.

“Who’s up for a group tickle?”, said Debra…

The ‘group therapy’ session had helped Elena greatly. She improved greatly; she was soon back to her bouncy and inquisitive self. That was why she noticed something was wrong with her Mistress.

Debra was starting to withdraw; she was spending more time on her own, sat at her laptop and buried in paperwork. A business venture had gone badly wrong; she wasn’t going to be broke, but times were going to be hard for a while.

Debra suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, then someone started giving her a neck rub.

She thought it was Ayla; then Ayla stood next to her.

It was Elena, thanking her for helping her. She was returning the love in the only way she knew how.

Debra’s worries just melted away; Elena was able to make her relax so much she easily worked out a solution to her problem and implemented it.

She spun round and kissed Elena.

“You may not realise it, but you have just saved me a massive amount of money”, she said.

“Always happy to help”, said Elena, with a giggle.

“Right. In that case, we three have got a meeting to go to…”

Elena and Ayla’s eyes went wide…

Debra walked into her head office, escorted by the women in their gold dresses.

People just stared. The CEO had never gone to the office in person before, so nobody recognised her.

The three walked up to the reception desk.

“I’m here for the two pm meeting”, she said. “These are my ‘associates’.”

“And you are?”

“Debra Mason. Last time I checked, I was the CEO.”

The woman behind the desk went white as a sheet.

“Ms Mason! Oh God, I wasn’t expecting… I’ll get Anthony Carter right away.”

She hurriedly made a phone call.

“Mr Carter… Ms Mason is in reception. She’s here for the 2pm meeting… yes sir, I’ll tell her.”

She hung up.

“He’ll be right down”, she said.

Debra, ignoring her, had turned to Ayla and Elena.

“See, girls, this is what real life is like. A complete waste of time. I just thought I’d show you that you weren’t missing anything, as well as give you a break from the apartment.”

The girls both giggled.

Anthony Carter exited the elevator and came over.

“Ms. Mason! Always a pleasure. To what do we owe the honour?”

“I’d assumed it was ok to visit my own company”, Debra said. “Is this not the case?”

Anthony’s attention was already wandering, however. He’d spotted Ayla and Elena…

They were hard to miss. They were leaning on Debra’s shoulders…

“It’s about time you took an interest again”, said Anthony. “While you’ve been off relaxing and swanning about, the firm’s been in difficulties.”

“I know”, replied Debra, an edge to her voice. “I saw online. Elena here helped me sort out the problem.”

“So you’re the one that overrode my instructions”, said Anthony, then caught himself. “Not that it isn’t something you can do, but I, I mean we, needed that deal…”

He walked towards Debra, raising his hand.

Ayla was instantly between him and Debra.

“Lower your arm, or we will have to have a conversation”, Ayla said.

“Pardon me, eye candy, the grownups are talking”, Anthony said, going to push past her. Big mistake…

Anthony found himself flying through the air, landing in a heap by the main door.

“Did I tell you one of my jobs was as a bouncer?”, said Ayla, with a smirk.

“Good girl…”, said Debra.

Ayla almost purred…

“Get on to HR, would you”, said Debra to the receptionist. “Tell them Mr Stevens no longer has a position at this company.”

She and her two ‘guardians’ then entered the elevator, to head up to the conference room.

There was consternation when she exited the lift and walked straight into the room, taking her seat at the head of the table. Ayla and Elena immediately kneeled either side of her.

“What the fuck is this!”, one of the executives cried. “Who are these women?”

“These women are my companions”, said Debra. “Probably a more appropriate word for these surroundings would be ‘associates’. They work with me; that’s all you need to know.”

“Where’s Mr Stevens?”

“He’s no longer with the company. Also, if anybody wishes to join him, there’s the door.”

Debra was through suffering fools gladly. She’d kept things bottled up inside her; thinking things would get better without too much intervention. She’d now realised how wrong she was, and she had Ayla and Elena to thank for that.

After the rough start, the meeting was fairly uneventful; Debra had very definitely taken the reins of the company again, though.

One of the executives tried to push through his own agenda, explaining the benefits.

“I’m sorry, but you’re really talking absolute crap”, came a voice. It was Elena.

“I’m sorry, Mistress, but I couldn’t help it”, she said. “This guy is an idiot.”

“Carry on, please”, Debra said. “Explain.”

Encouraged, Elena then proceeded to do just that, tearing the executive’s plan apart in front of him. Others round the table, however, nodded as she concisely and clearly said why, giving some very constructive criticism.

“Economics Major”, she explained. “I’ve got a Masters in it. I was only working like this to pay my university loan off.”

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore”, said Debra. “You’ve got a full-time job here if you want it. You too, Ayla.”

The women smiled; they were almost glowing.

As the meeting broke up, Elena found herself being asked lots of questions by the other executives, and she was very happy to help.

“I think someone has started her job already”, said Ayla, with a smile. “I’ve never seen her so happy.”

“She saved me; we’ve saved her”, Debra said, simply.

It certainly gave Elena something to talk about with Phoebe later, on her weekly phone call…