A present-day damsel in distress and her rescuer have nothing in common, but discover they’re very compatible in the bondage dungeon and in life.
(There are no chains or bondage in Part 1; it just sets the stage for those things in later chapters.)
Part 1 includes the following chapters:
Chapter 1 – Damsel in distress
Chapter 1 – Damsel in distress
More than anything, Alex Givens wanted to be loved, cared for, and protected. Those were three things she’d never had much of in her 18 years. Alex had had quite a difficult life. Her mother was an alcoholic and couldn’t keep a steady job, and so she had bounced from one dysfunctional relationship to the next. Pretty much any guy who would put up with her and Alex and give them a place to sleep would do.
The only thing Alex’s mother loved was a bottle of booze. She pretended to love whatever man she was with at the time, but she was really only using them to get what they could provide. She viewed Alex more as a burden than anything. She valued her mostly for the child support payments she’d get from Alex’s father. Alex actually dreaded that payment arriving each month, because it meant her mother would spend it at the liquor store and be wasted drunk for days. Now that she’d turned 18, those child support payments ended, and Alex’s mother made it clear she had no further use for her and had kicked her out.
Alex knew next to nothing about her father. Her mother never had anything good to say about him. She’d told Alex that he’d never wanted kids. In an attempt to appease him, she’d had a tubal ligation after Alex was born, but that couldn’t undo what had already happened. Her parents had broken up when she was three years old, and she had only the vaguest memories of him. Mostly she remembered her parents screaming at each other all the time. She’d never seen or heard from him since, and she had no desire to find him or establish a relationship with him. According to her mother, he’d made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with either of them ever again.
Her parents had actually named her Alexa, but when Amazon introduced the virtual assistant by the same name, and the kids at school started asking her random trivia questions and telling her to do things as if she was a computer, she quickly realized her name had become a liability. The next time her mother got a new boyfriend and she had to change schools, she began using the name Alex exclusively. Only her mother still called her Alexa.
One thing Alex had become very good at was keeping house. Her mother’s boyfriends expected her, that is, Alex’s mother, to have dinner on the table, keep the house neat and clean, and the laundry caught up, since she usually wasn’t working or contributing financially to their household. Alex’s mother was very inconsistent at meeting those expectations, and some of the boyfriends had been abusive towards her when she failed to meet their standards.
Alex had taken it upon herself to keep her mother out of trouble by making sure everything was done properly and on time. She didn’t even resent it, because she’d been born with a servant’s heart. She got satisfaction out of serving others, even if they took it for granted. Of course, it was always better when they didn’t, but it wasn’t required.
Alex’s mother had a locking doorknob that required a key to lock or unlock. At each house they lived in, she’d install it on Alex’s bedroom door. She would punish Alex by locking her in her bedroom, or sometimes would lock her in if there were things going on elsewhere in the house that she didn’t want Alex to know about. But what she didn’t realize is that Alex didn’t mind that. She felt secure being confined in that way.
Fortunately for Alex, her mother had managed to avoid having any boyfriends who were pedophiles or child abusers, so they’d all left her alone physically and sexually. Some of them resented her, some tolerated her, and some were halfway decent and seemed to feel sorry for her. Some even helped her in tangible ways.
Even at age 18, Alex was a petite girl, just 5 feet (1.5 m) tall and rather thin and flat chested. She appeared to be much younger than her actual age, and so had trouble being taken seriously. She had to make up for that by being assertive, or as some would say, feisty.
Alex had worked at a fast food restaurant since she was 16, but even working there full time didn’t pay enough to live on. Due to them constantly moving, she didn’t have any close friends who she could share an apartment with. Once her mother had kicked her out, Alex had bounced from one acquaintance’s sofa to another in order to avoid living on the street or having to endure a homeless shelter, with which she was well-acquainted from when her mother had been between boyfriends. But Alex was running out of people who were willing to put her up.
Sean Kearney was 28 years old and a successful stockbroker. As a result, he owned a fully-furnished house that was quite a bit nicer and larger than most couples his age could afford, let alone a single person like himself. He drove an expensive but understated car. While he didn’t flaunt his affluence, neither did he try to hide it.
On a Friday evening one early October, Sean was driving home after getting together with some work buddies to shoot pool and have a few beers. He was always careful to keep his blood alcohol level below the legal limit. Taking a shortcut through a sketchy neighborhood, he noticed a large man sprinting down the sidewalk, with a look of determination on his face. But then ahead, he saw who he was chasing, what appeared to be a teenaged girl wearing a fast-food uniform, terrified and obviously running for her life.
Sean pulled up to the girl, rolled down the window, and told her to get in the car. But she seemed as afraid of him as she was of her pursuer, and she emphatically shook her head as she continued to run. Sean quickly assessed the situation. He reached in the center console for the handgun he kept there, then stopped the car, got out, and pointed the gun at the man giving chase, and ordered him to freeze.
The man immediately complied and put his hands up. “You a cop?” he asked Sean as he panted heavily.
“No, just a concerned citizen,” he replied. “Now, turn around and start running the other way, as fast as you were running just now. Don’t stop until you’re out of my sight.” The man hesitated, and Sean steadied his arms on the roof of his car as he took direct aim at him. “You think I’m kidding?” Sean asked. The man then thought better of trying to do anything except what he’d been ordered to do, and took off in the direction from where he came.
Sean knew he’d just violated several laws he could think of off the top of his head, plus probably some others he couldn’t recall, but he’d done what he felt he needed to do in the moment. If he had the chance to do it over again, he would have done it the exact same way.
Meanwhile, Alex stopped running ahead of where Sean had confronted the man chasing her, hands on her knees, panting for air, and still quite frightened. At the next corner were a group of guys hanging out, and they’d harassed her in the past when she’d walk by. She was already quite winded, and didn’t know if she’d be able to outrun them in her present condition if it became necessary.
Sean got back in his car and pulled up to where she was standing. He also saw the guys at the next corner, and put two and two together. This time, he reached over and opened the passenger door. “Get in,” he said firmly. “I’ll take you home. I won’t touch you, I promise.” This time, Alex decided that the stranger in the car who’d confronted her pursuer was her least undesirable option, and she got in the passenger seat and closed the door.
“Hi, I’m Sean. Where do you live?”
“About a mile (1.6 km) further up the street,” Alex replied vaguely. She didn’t want to volunteer too much information to a stranger with unknown intentions. Sean proceeded to drive in that direction. “Thanks for rescuing me back there,” Alex thought to add.
“What are you doing out alone this late at night, anyway?” Sean asked her.
“What’s it look like? Walking home from work,” she replied.
“And you don’t have anyone you could get a ride from?” Sean asked, incredulous.
“Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” Alex replied. “You can drop me off at the corner up ahead.”
“Let me take you all the way home,” Sean requested.
“Thanks, but no. The corner will be fine,” Alex replied. She didn’t trust him enough to tell him exactly where she was staying.
“When do you work next?” Sean asked her.
“Tomorrow, 2 p.m. until closing, just like today,” she replied.
“And you don’t have a ride then, either?”
“No. I have no one I can depend on but myself.”
“I’ll pick you up at 1:45 then,” Sean stated.
“I’ll be long gone by then. My job’s three miles (4.8 km) from here, and it takes me an hour to walk there. I can’t wait around and hope you show up at 1:45.”
“So when do you leave home? 12:45?”
“Yeah, about then.”
“Okay, I’ll be here tomorrow at 12:45. Unless you want to tell me where you live, in which case I’ll pick you up there.” Sean pulled a business card out of his wallet, and wrote his personal phone number on the back of it. “Here’s my card,” he said. “Call or text me at the number on the back.”
Alex took the card without looking at it, and said nothing as she looked warily at Sean and exited his car. “Thanks for the ride,” she said as she pushed the car door shut.
The next day, Saturday, Sean arrived at the corner at 12:30 p.m., and parked and waited. He didn’t want to miss the fast food girl whose name he still didn’t know. About 12:50 p.m., he saw her approaching. He guessed she’d left her home at 12:45 and it was a five minute walk to the corner. When she got within earshot, he opened his door and stood beside his car. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Alex said back, not acting like she was going to stop.
“Want a ride?”
“What am I going to do for an hour before my shift starts?”
“Maybe we could talk,” Sean suggested. “I’ll drive you to work first, and then I’ll keep you company for an hour if that’s okay.”
Alex shrugged and got in Sean’s car. She didn’t have to give him directions; he knew where she worked from her uniform and he took her straight there. Meanwhile, he tried to engage her in conversation. “So, how’d you end up with a job that’s an hour’s walk away and no other way to get there?” Sean asked out of curiosity.
“I didn’t plan it that way,” Alex replied. “When I started working there, I lived very close.”
“Then what?” Sean asked.
“Then I turned 18 and my mother kicked me out because the child support payments stopped. I’ve been couch surfing ever since. This is the furthest away from work I’ve been, and it’s too far, but beggars can’t be choosers. I don’t know what I’m going to do when it’s sleeting or there’s ice and snow on the ground.”
Sean was relieved to hear she was at least 18 years of age. She looked like she could be 14, although he realized she had to be at least 16 to work in a fast-food restaurant. “Why don’t you just find a job somewhere closer?” he asked.
“If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t a lot of businesses that are any closer. And even if I found a job at one, what happens in another month or two when I get kicked out of yet another place?”
“Why do you keep getting kicked out of places?”
“Because I’m couch surfing, and they get tired of me being there. It doesn’t matter that I’m paying rent and buying my own food and doing more than my share of chores. I’m in the way. Or else the landlord finds out and threatens to evict them if they don’t evict me.”
“It sounds like you need a plan,” remarked Sean, “instead of just reacting to whatever crap gets flung your way.”
“It’s hard to figure out how to get out of the ocean when it takes all you’ve got just to keep treading water,” Alex said, philosophically.
She then changed the subject. “So why’d you come back for me today? I get that you saw me in danger last night and rescued me, and I really appreciate that. But you could’ve just gotten on with your life and never given me a second thought, and yet you didn’t. What’s up with that?”
Sean considered her questions. Clearly she was used to people letting her down. “Well, first, I told you that I’d be there, and when I make a commitment, I’d have to be dead or in a coma to not keep it. Second, it seemed like you could use someone looking out for you. I don’t sense you’ve had much of that in your life.”
Alex didn’t know how to respond to that, so she didn’t. She just looked ahead and sighed.
“Do you have a name?” Sean asked her.
“Yeah,” she admitted. She felt like she could trust him more than she did the previous night. “I’m Alex.”
“Alex… Is that short for something?”
“It’s short for Alexa, but please spare me the jokes. I’ve heard them all.”
“No jokes from me,” said Sean, realizing that her name was a sore subject. “Nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Sean, in case you forgot in all the excitement last night.”
Actually, she had forgotten his name. “Nice to meet you, Sean,” she said.
Alex and Sean made mostly small talk for the remainder of the hour. The time passed quickly for them both.
As she was about to exit the car and go in and start her shift, Sean asked, “So what time do you get off work tonight?”
“The dining room closes at 10, so it’s usually about 10:30 before I’m done.”
“I’ll be here at 10:15 then,” Sean promised her. Somehow, Alex knew he would be.
Chapter 2 – Trust and love
From that day on, Sean never failed to take Alex to and from work or anywhere else she needed to go, or else call an Uber for her when he wasn’t available, with the charges going to him. For the first time in her life, she had someone in her corner who was rock-solid reliable. It was an unfamiliar but very comforting feeling.
Gradually, over the next week or two, Alex became more at ease with Sean and opened up to him more. She told him her last name, let him pick her up from and bring her back to the place she was staying, and even shared her phone number with him. During their drives, she also spoke more freely about her difficult childhood and her current issues trying to survive on her own with little to no resources or support. Sometimes when time permitted, they’d just sit in his car and continue talking once they reached their destination.
Neither of them had any idea where this weird thing they had was headed. There wasn’t even a term for it. Alex repeatedly asked Sean about what motivated him to do this for her, and what he was expecting in return. Sean could never come up with an articulate explanation about his motivation; he didn’t know the answer himself. He just felt very protective toward her, and it was something he felt he needed to do and therefore wanted to do. As far as expectations were concerned, he had none. He knew she couldn’t pay him back, and he didn’t expect her to try. He wasn’t looking for sex or even romance from her. Even after a few months of this, he hadn’t even attempted to touch her or ask to see her socially. He appreciated her gratitude, but that wasn’t his motivation or even an expectation.
Because Sean never even hinted at making any moves on her, Alex came to trust him more and more as time went on. In some ways their dynamic was like that of a father and daughter; in some ways like an older brother and younger sister; and in other ways like two good friends. However, they were both hetero, and so there was some degree of sexual tension between them. Both of them were very much aware of their ten year age difference, which they both realized was formidable with her only being 18 years old. It was the elephant that was always in the car with them.
Sean did what he could to give Alex advice without it sounding like he was telling her what to do. It didn’t help that they lived in different worlds; that their entire life’s experiences might as well have been on different planets. He wanted her to aspire to get out of the ocean that she was struggling to stay afloat in. He’d always been safely in the metaphorical boat. As he thought about that, it occurred to him that he might need to rescue her in a different way than when they’d first met, though he didn’t know exactly what that might mean.
For having the deck so stacked against her, Alex was surprisingly well-prepared for adulthood. She didn’t have a driver’s license, but she did have a state-issued ID card which was just as good for everything besides driving. She didn’t have a credit card, but she did have a bank account and a debit card and had her paychecks electronically deposited. She had her own cell phone account. She even had her own government-subsidized health insurance coverage that cost her almost nothing.
Sean didn’t think that most 18 years olds in her situation would have these things. When he asked her about it, Alex explained that one of mother’s better boyfriends had taken it upon himself to insist that she get them and assisted her in doing so. He’d even taught her about the need to record her transactions in her checkbook and reconcile it with the bank statement each month, and how to file her income taxes each year. Sean mentally thanked this unnamed boyfriend for looking out for Alex.
As she’d anticipated, the time eventually came when Alex wore out her welcome with the people she was staying with. They gave her a week to find a new place to live. Alex decided to not mention this to Sean, but to try to find another place on her own. She felt like she was already imposing on him way too much. But six days later, she’d tried everyone she could think of and they’d all said no. She was out of ideas and out of time. When Sean picked her up from work that evening, she said ‘hi’ to him without any enthusiasm, got in the car, and let out a long sigh as she looked forward.
“Rough shift?” Sean asked her.
“No, it’s not that,” she replied. “They’re kicking me out of the place I’m staying. I’ve asked everyone I can think of, and no one’ll take me in. There’s no way I can afford a place on my own.”
“You didn’t ask me,” he pointed out.
“I realize that,” Alex said. “I couldn’t possibly impose on you any more than I already am. Besides…” She just let that word hang there, hoping her meaning would be obvious.
“Besides what?”
“Are you going to make me say it?” she asked.
“You’re thinking if you stayed with me, it would change things; that I’d come on to you or expect you to sleep with me or something, right?”
“Am I wrong?”
“Yes, you’re wrong. Have I ever given you a reason to think I’d do anything like that?”
“Well, not exactly. But you’re a single guy, and you’re straight, and I owe you big time already, and we’d be living together. It’s not hard to figure out.”
“Alex, listen to me,” Sean replied earnestly. “You’re welcome to stay with me with no strings attached. Well, I do have one condition. I’ll need to see some ID or something that proves you’re at least 18. I’d like to stay out of jail if possible. Assuming you’ve been honest with me about that, that should be just a formality.
“You won’t have to sleep on the sofa, and so you won’t be in the way. I have a guest room with its own bathroom that’s just sitting there unused. It’ll be your room, and I won’t set foot in it. I won’t lay a finger on you, and I won’t ask or pressure you to do anything inappropriate. You’ve come to trust me giving you rides. I told you on the first day that I wouldn’t touch you, and I haven’t. This won’t be any different.
“When do you have to be out?” he asked her.
“Tomorrow,” she said sheepishly.
“In that case, I insist that you stay with me. If you can find another friend to stay with and that’s your preference, either now or later, then by all means do that. But I simply won’t allow you to go to a homeless shelter or sleep on the street. I need to know you’re safe. When do you want to move out? If you’re packed and ready, we could do it now. Otherwise, let me know what time tomorrow.”
Alex resigned herself to staying with Sean. She didn’t have any other options, and she realized she’d be safer with him than in a shelter or on the street. “Now might be better, if you don’t mind,” she replied. “I’m pretty much ready to go, and I have to work an extra half shift tomorrow.”
“Atta girl,” replied Sean. “I don’t mind at all.”
She reached in her purse and pulled out her state-issued ID, and handed it to him. “Here’s my ID. I really am 18 like I said.” He quickly scanned it, making mental notes of her full name and height and weight, in addition to her birthdate, and handed it back to her.
Sean helped her finish packing and carry her stuff out to his car. He was shocked at how little she had. She had maybe a week’s worth of work uniforms and other clothes that she put into a plastic garbage bag, a few pairs of shoes, some toiletries and the like, a cardboard box full of food, and that was about it.
They drove to his place, which was about two miles (3.2 km) further away from her work than where she’d been staying. She never would have agreed to stay that far away if she had any doubts about Sean’s continuing commitment to get her safely to work and back.
Once there, Sean showed her around, including the guest room where she’d be staying. He repeatedly and profusely apologized for the place being such a mess, and told her he would have picked up if he’d known she was coming. He also joked that he was glad he had Siri, and not Alexa, as his digital assistant, or else it would get pretty confusing. Alex noticed that there was one door that Sean walked right past without opening or even explaining, and that doorknob had a keyed lock on it. Her curiosity was piqued but she said nothing.
The guest room had its own bathroom, so Alex could have complete privacy while using the toilet or showering. She’d never been in such a luxurious place before, let alone stay in such a place, and she hadn’t slept in a bed since her mother kicked her out all those months ago. The mattress felt like it was brand new; she couldn’t remember ever sleeping on any mattress that wasn’t old and saggy and smelly. It dawned on Alex that she could get used to this fast, and if she weren’t careful, it might cloud her judgement regarding Sean. That night, she slept better than she could ever recall.
Alex spent most of the next day working, but the day after that was her day off, while it was a normal workday for Sean. She first explored her new home at her own pace, specifically looking for ways she could earn her keep. She and Sean hadn’t discussed her paying rent, and while she was willing, she didn’t know if he’d let her.
She knew as soon as she walked into the place two nights earlier that Sean tended to leave food wrappers and plates and cups and utensils all over the house, and the same thing with clothing. So she made that her first order of business, first gathering the food wrappers and paper plates and plastic utensils and throwing them out. Then she collected the non-disposable plates and cups and utensils, and along with the dirty dishes in the sink, cleaned off all of the dried-on food residue, ran them through the dishwasher, and put them where they belonged, at least as best as she could determine.
Next, she picked up all of the clothing, and did her best to decide whether each item needed to just be put away or laundered. In Sean’s bedroom, she found a couple of laundry baskets containing clean clothes that needed to be folded and put away, so she took care of that. There was also a hamper overflowing with dirty clothes, so she took that along with the dirty clothes from elsewhere in the house and did several loads of laundry, being careful to read the washing instructions on each article so as not to inadvertently ruin anything. When the laundry was finished, she folded and put away everything.
Then she took inventory of Sean’s pantry and refrigerator. When she opened the fridge, she immediately smelled spoiled food, so she went through everything and threw out the offending leftover takeout food that had been pushed to the back and forgotten about. Most of the contents of the fridge were leftover takeout food, cold cuts and sliced cheese for sandwiches, condiments, and beverages. The pantry was equally skimpy, consisting of mostly easy-to-fix items like canned soup, and junk food like chips and cookies. There was little to nothing in either the fridge or the pantry that could be used to make a home-cooked meal.
She checked to see if he had pots, pans, and cooking utensils. He had a basic set, but they all looked brand new. Clearly Sean was not a cook, but at least she’d be able to cook if she had the ingredients. She remembered seeing a supermarket within easy walking distance, and so she decided she’d buy what she needed and make dinner for the two of them.
Alex texted Sean to find out when he planned to be home, and then told him to come home hungry. Sean wondered what she was up to, but figured it had to be something good. She was no gourmet, but she knew how to make quite a number of fairly simple meals. She decided to make spaghetti with meatballs made from fresh ground beef, and serve it with salad and French bread.
When Sean arrived home, he was blown away by how much Alex had done that day. His house actually looked presentable for the first time in ages. The aroma of dinner on the stove permeated the house. His dresser drawers and closet were filled with clean clothes.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “Just wow! You’ve certainly made yourself useful today! The house looks great! Dinner smells delicious! I didn’t expect you to do all this!”
“I know,” said Alex with a smile, “but I wanted to do it. It wasn’t that hard, and I knew you’d appreciate it. Or at least I hoped you’d appreciate it. It’s the least I could do, considering all you’ve done for me.”
“I do! I do appreciate it! But I’m not keeping score. What I’ve done for you was without any expectation of payback.”
“I know, and I appreciate that,” Alex said again. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to pay you back in whatever small ways I can. Now go wash up; I’m putting dinner on the table now.”
Sean considered that the last time anyone ever told him to wash up for dinner was when he still lived with his parents and his mother would say that. Hearing it again made him nostalgic. He returned to the kitchen, and there were two place settings, each with steaming plates of spaghetti and meatballs, a bowl of salad, and a couple of slices of hot French bread with some kind of garlic spread on it.
Sean knew it was a simple meal, but he’d never tasted anything so delicious. What he didn’t realize was that the most important ingredient, the one that made it taste so good, was the love that had gone into preparing it. Not romantic love, not yet, but love nevertheless. Alex sat across the table and just smiled as she watched him eat and saw how much he appreciated her gesture and enjoyed a rare home-cooked meal.
“Where’d you get the groceries to make all this?” he asked her.
“I walked to the supermarket. I know you don’t like me walking alone, but it wasn’t that far, it was the middle of the day, and this seems like a safe neighborhood.”
“Where’d you get the money to pay for it?”
“I have money. I may be poor but I’m not penniless.”
“I want to pay you back. You shouldn’t have to use your money to make me dinner.”
“I made my own dinner, too,” Alex pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter,” Sean replied. He proceeded to wear her down until she told him how much she’d spent and her Venmo account name.