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.
Part 6 includes the following chapters:
Chapter 15 – Reconciliation
One evening, Sean and Alex were watching TV* when she received a text from a number she didn’t recognize. But the text itself was very clear who it was from.
* television
Alexa, this is your mom. I hope you’re well. If you never want to hear from me again, I get it, but I’ve gotten my act together and I’ve been sober for 8 months now, and I deeply regret what a terrible mother I was to you. Would it be OK if I call you?
“Oh. My. God,” Alex said out loud, clearly shocked.
“What is it?” asked Sean, concerned.
“I just got a text from my mother,” Alex replied. She read it aloud to him. “I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to do,” she admitted.
“How is this making you feel?” Sean asked her.
“I’m feeling a hundred different emotions all at once. Part of me wants nothing to do with her. Part of me can’t wait to hug her again. Part of me is thrilled that she’s been sober for so long; part of me is afraid it wouldn’t take much for her to regress and go back to her old ways. I have to wonder what she wants; does she just want to resume a relationship, or does she want money, or what?”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out what she wants, and you can always say no,” Sean pointed out.
“I suppose you’re right,” Alex agreed. “I’d like you to listen in on the call, though, so you can tell me what you think.” Sean agreed to do that, and Alex texted back and told her mother she could call her.
A couple of minutes later, Alex’s phone received an incoming call from the same number. She noticed that the caller ID indicated another woman’s name. Alex answered the call. “Hello?” she said.
Mom: Hello, Alexa. It’s good to hear your voice again.
Alex: Hello, Mother. How have you been?
(Alex called her ‘Mom’ when they were getting along and ‘Mother’ when they weren’t.)
Mom: Lately, quite well. Greg and I broke up a while back, and I ended up in a homeless shelter. There, I gave my life to Christ and got saved. They helped me get into inpatient rehab, and I was there for two months. For the past six months, I’ve been staying at a halfway house. I’m a new person now, in lots of ways, all of them good. How about you, Alexa? What have you been up to?
Alex: My life is going really great. I have an amazing boyfriend named Sean, and I got a driver’s license, and I’m going to college to become a dental hygienist. I couldn’t be happier.
Mom: That’s wonderful, Alexa! I’m so glad to hear it!
Alex wanted to ask her mother what she wanted, but she couldn’t think of a way to say it that didn’t sound mean, so she said nothing and just let the silence speak for itself.
Mom: I’d like to see you again, Alexa, if you’re willing.
Alex looked at Sean and made gestures to ask if he would come with her to meet her mother. She didn’t want to see her alone; she was afraid of how it might trigger her. She realized she needed him with her to help her stay grounded, as well as to be an impartial observer. Sean nodded that he would.
Alex: We could do that.
They discussed various dates and times, and agreed to meet for lunch on Saturday, before Alex had to work the late shift at the fast food place. Alex told her that Sean would be there as well so they could meet, and her mother didn’t object. They’d have to pick up her mother from the halfway house since she didn’t drive.
After the call ended, Alex said to Sean, “She wants something; I can just feel it. She just didn’t want to ask me over the phone. I know how she operates, and I don’t trust her. When we go, you need to dress down and we’ll take my car. I don’t want her to know that you have money.”
“Well, she did say she got religion, and that she’s been clean for eight months, so maybe she’s changed,” Sean suggested.
“Maybe,” Alex replied. “But I’m going to assume she hasn’t until she proves otherwise.”
Saturday morning, Alex was quite anxious about seeing her mother again. Sean repeatedly reassured her that he’d be there giving her moral support and wouldn’t let anything bad happen. Alex made Sean go back and change clothes because he didn’t look sufficiently poor. Alex had Sean drive her car to give the impression that it was his daily driver.
When they pulled up to the halfway house, Alex’s mom came right out. Alex got out of the car and the two women hugged and said hello, more out of politeness than love in Alex’s case, then Alex returned to the front seat and her mom sat in the back. As Sean drove off, Alex handled the introductions.
“Mom, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Sean Kearney. Sean, this is my mother, Tammy Johnson.” The two made eye contact via the rear-view mirror and said hello to each other.
“Alexa speaks very highly of you, Sean,” said Tammy.
“Well, I think the world of her, too,” replied Sean.
They all made small talk during the drive to the restaurant and while looking over the menu. Once they’d ordered, Tammy began asking questions to get caught up on her daughter’s relationship. She asked how they met, and whether they were living together, and about their obvious age difference. Then she asked Sean what he did for a living. He and Alex exchanged a glance. They hadn’t discussed what he should say if the subject came up. He knew she didn’t want her mother to know he was a stockbroker, but he didn’t want to lie about it, either.
Alex spoke up on Sean’s behalf before he could come up with a response himself. “He’s tried to explain to me what he does, and I didn’t understand a word of it. He’s some kind of analyst, I think.” That helped Sean craft his own response.
“Analysis is a big part of it, but it can be pretty stressful, because there’s a lot of pressure to be accurate with incomplete information. It’s sort of like being a weather forecaster; everyone remembers the one time they were wrong much more than the ten times they were right.”
Tammy didn’t ask any follow-up questions about Sean’s job, and the couple both inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Once the food arrived, Tammy then got to the point of her wanting to see Alex. “I was hoping you two could help me out with a problem. My time at the halfway house is coming to an end. That’s a good thing; it means they’re graduating me. But I’m flat broke and I don’t have anywhere to go except back to the homeless shelter. As a Christian woman, I don’t want to exchange sex for room and board anymore.
“Most people who leave the halfway house are taken in by family or friends until they can get a job and save some money for their own place. Alexa, you’re the only family I have. I know you don’t owe me anything, especially after I kicked you out when you turned 18, but I hope you can find it in your heart to let me crash on your sofa for a while.
“As I told you, I’m not that person anymore, so I beg you to not base your decision on the actions of the drunk woman who made you homeless a couple of years ago; base it on the sober woman who’s trying hard to become a productive, upstanding member of society and who could use a helping hand to get there.”
Alex and Sean exchanged another glance. They both expected she’d ask for something, but neither of them were expecting this. If it had been the old Tammy asking, it would have been easy to say no, but it did seem like she was really doing the hard work to become a different, better Tammy. But while they both felt inclined to help her, neither knew if the other would veto that.
“Mom, it’s not for me to say that you can stay with us; it’s Sean’s place, and he’s letting me stay there,” Alex replied.
“I understand,” Tammy said to her daughter. “Why don’t I give you two a few minutes to discuss it? I need to use the ladies’ room anyway.”
Tammy got up and headed to the restroom. “What do you want to do, Alex?” Sean asked her. “If you can’t bring yourself to tell her no, it’s okay to make me the bad guy and tell her I won’t go for it.”
“That’s the thing; I don’t want to tell her no. As awful of a mother as she’s been to me, she’s still my mother, and she really does seem to be trying to better herself this time. Maybe even succeeding.”
“I’m okay with it if you are. I guess I have a soft spot for strays,” Sean said as they both smiled. “You can lay down the ground rules, and we can always tell her she has to leave if she doesn’t abide by them.”
“If we take her in, you’re going to have to get rid of your beer and other alcohol,” Alex told him. “We have to help her stay on the wagon, and we can’t have that stuff tempting her.”
“I’ll get rid of it,” Sean promised. “It’s not a big deal. You’re probably not going to want to go around the house in shackles and chains while she’s with us.”
“I know. I’ll miss doing that, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” replied Alex.
Tammy returned from the ladies’ room, and looked to see if they were done talking before approaching the table. They waved to her to indicate that they were. “How soon do you have to be out?” Alex asked her mother.
“I have another week,” Tammy replied.
“We’ve discussed it, and we’re both willing to give it a try,” Alex told her. “We want to establish some house rules, so we’ll need a few days to do that. The first one will be absolutely no alcohol or drugs, on or off the premises. You’ll have to have a job or be actively looking for one, and you’ll have to do your share of cooking and housework. There’ll probably be other rules as well.”
“Thank you both so much! Those are all reasonable things to ask,” agreed Tammy. “I don’t have a phone, but you can leave messages for me at the number I called you from. I look forward to hearing from you, and I especially look forward to the chance to repair our relationship, Alexa.”
Alex paid for all of their meals, and they dropped Tammy back off at the halfway house, and then Sean asked Alex, “So what was your impression of her?”
“I have to admit, she looked good. I can’t recall her ever being so sober and pleasant at the same time. What about you?”
“I don’t have any basis for comparing her to how she used to be, but she gave me the impression of someone who’s had a difficult life but who’s persevered and came out the better for it. Kind of like you, but not in the same way,” Sean said in response. “How do you feel about her staying with us?”
Alex scrunched up her face as she thought about that. “I have very mixed feelings about it. It dredges up a lot of memories that I’d rather forget. But what’s surreal about it this time is that I’m the one with the power, telling her how it’s going to be, and her going along with that. Plus, I have you backing me up.”
Alex and Sean worked up a list of house rules that included the ones she’d mentioned plus a few more. Tammy had no problem with any of them, so they arranged to pick her up as well as her things the following Saturday. Again, they took Alex’s car, but this time she drove. Tammy didn’t have much, and Sean couldn’t help but be reminded of when he’d helped Alex move into his guest room.
When Alex turned into their neighborhood, Tammy assumed they were just driving through it in order to get to a much more modest one. But when Alex pulled into their driveway and pressed the button on the garage door opener, Tammy realized that this big, beautiful house and the luxury car in the garage were Sean’s. She’d thrown her daughter out into the street, but homeless Alexa had managed to find herself a sugar daddy.
“Welcome home, Mom,” Alex said to her, knowing that she had to be in a state of shock. “At least, home for the time being.”
“I had no idea you lived in such a nice place, Alexa,” was all Tammy dared to say in response.
When they got out of the car, Alex suggested, “Let’s leave your stuff in the car for now, and I’ll show you around.” Tammy was in awe. She couldn’t recall ever being in a house this nice, let alone stay in one. She realized she could make herself quite comfortable sleeping on their sofa. But when Alex entered a bedroom and said, “This is the guest room, where you’ll be staying,” Tammy nearly lost it.
Never in her wildest dreams did Tammy think that the 18 year old she’d made homeless would, less than two years later, not only be able to put her up in a beautiful furnished bedroom with a private attached bathroom, but would also be willing to. Never mind that it wasn’t actually Alexa’s house. Tammy felt so unworthy!
“This is too nice,” Tammy said. “I treated you like shit for most of your life and kicked you out into the street the minute I could do it legally, and now you’re letting me live in the fanciest house I’ve ever been in, with my own bedroom and even my own bathroom! Why are you being so nice, Alexa? I don’t deserve any of this.”
“I honestly don’t know why,” Alex confessed. “Maybe because Sean let me live here when I’d done nothing to deserve it, and I’m paying it forward. Maybe because this is what you deserve for getting sober and for refusing to trade sex for room and board anymore.”
Tammy knew she deserved Alexa calling her out for that, and she had a point, but it seemed awfully hypocritical for her to say it. “Isn’t that what you’re doing, Alexa? Trading sex for room and board?”
“I could see why you’d think that, but that’s not really what’s going on between Sean and me. When Sean took me in, I lived in this very room for the first ten months, and for the first two of those months, we never even touched. He never pressured me, never hinted that I should be putting out. We realized we were both falling in love with each other, but even then I insisted that we date each other but continue to act like roommates when we were home, and he respected that. That went on for another eight months before I was ready to move in with him, meaning moving out of the guest room and into the master bedroom. Yes, I’m sleeping with him now, but that’s entirely separate from him providing me a place to live.”
“If you say so,” replied Tammy with a snark in her voice. Then she immediately regretted it. “I’m sorry, Alexa. That was uncalled for. I shouldn’t have said that.”
It dawned on Alex that her mother was still a work in progress. The old Tammy would have said that, but would have never apologized for it. Besides, the apology even sounded genuinely sincere.
“Forget it,” she said to her mother. “I appreciate that you thought better of it and apologized.”
Chapter 16 – Third party
Over the course of the next few months, Tammy gradually earned Alex’s respect and trust. Tammy really made an effort to get along with her as well as Sean, never hesitated to cook when her schedule allowed it, and would look for housework to do. She faithfully attended church and AA* meetings, although she needed rides to those.
* Alcoholics Anonymous
After a few weeks, Tammy had been able to get a part-time job at the supermarket within walking distance to their home. Apparently she was also making a good impression there as well; once her new-hire 90 day probationary period was over, they offered and she accepted a full-time position in the deli department.
Likewise, Alex and Sean earned Tammy’s respect as well. It quickly became evident that the two were very much in love, and theirs was not a relationship where they kept score and made sure they got their fair share. Rather, each delighted in doing things for the other without concern for whether they’d receive something of equal or greater value, and without even having to be asked. Seeing this made Tammy envious, because she’d never had a relationship like that, but mostly she was happy that her daughter did.
Sean didn’t even seem to mind Tammy living with them, which she found surprising. But from his perspective, Tammy wasn’t causing any problems or acting ungrateful, and Alex got along with her and even seemed to enjoy having her around.
Alex and Sean were able to resume their bondage sessions when Tammy was out of the house and they were both home. But with Alex having to work nights and weekends due to being in classes during the day, those weren’t as often as they would have liked.
Once Tammy received her first paycheck, she offered to start paying rent, but Sean told her to instead save her money for a security deposit, first month’s rent, and whatever else she would need when the time came that she was ready to get her own place. Tammy persisted in trying to pay, but Sean wouldn’t take it. She’d never met anyone who wouldn’t take money even after several attempts to offer it.
But after several months, Tammy felt like she had enough saved that she could move out, but the thing was, she didn’t want to. She liked living with Alex and Sean; it was the nicest place she’d ever lived, she had a steadily improving relationship with her only daughter, it was free from drama and bickering, and nobody was tempting her by consuming alcohol.
Tammy decided she needed to talk to Alex and Sean about this. On a rare occasion when all three of them were home at the same time, she brought up the subject. “I want to talk to both of you about my status living here with you,” she said. “I’ll be forever grateful that you’ve not only let me stay with you these past months, but also that you’ve let me do it for free. I don’t know anyone else in the world who would have done that for me, and Alexa, I still can’t believe you agreed to it even after I’d treated you like shit all those years. I just can’t comprehend your generosity, Sean, and your willingness to put the past behind us, Alexa.
“I came here expecting this to be temporary; that I wouldn’t be able to stand it anymore, or you’d kick me out, or best case, that I simply saved enough to get a place of my own. Well, to my surprise, the first two never happened, and enough time has passed that third one has. And so, if you feel that it’s time that I move on and give you your privacy back, I can certainly respect that.
“The thing is, though, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be, or anyone else I’d rather live with. I know I’ve got a really good thing living here, and I’m not just talking about it being free. So, I’d like you to think about letting me stay here with you indefinitely. The only thing is, if you agreed, I would absolutely insist on paying you room and board. As much as I appreciate it, I can’t in good conscious allow you to keep footing the bill for me. So please think about it and discuss it between yourselves and let me know what you think, okay?” Alex and Sean agreed to do so.
A few days later they got back to Tammy with their decision. “We’ve talked about it, Mom, and this is what we’ve decided. Yeah, we’ve had to sacrifice some privacy having you living with us, but all-in-all, the pros of having you here outweigh the cons, and we’d like you to stay. Sean doesn’t want to profit from you being here, so he’s not going to accept rent. The guest room was just sitting there empty anyway. We think you should just pay what it costs us to keep you – the additional cost of utilities and groceries and the like, above what we were paying before you arrived. He’s still working on exactly how much that should be, but it’s almost certainly a lot less that you were planning to pay us. He wants you to take whatever money you don’t need for living expenses and start socking it away in a retirement account, so you don’t have to work until you drop dead from old age. He can help you get that all set up.
“That’s very generous of you,” replied Tammy. “I don’t know what to say.”
“As far as the privacy thing goes, well, we’ve been on our good behavior since you’ve been here. You’ve probably been as well. That’s fine for the short term, but if we’re going to be here together long-term, I think we all need to relax and get more comfortable being around each other as we really are. On the other hand we need to be mindful of things we might want to do that would be a problem for someone else, so we need to be able to talk freely about it with each other and perhaps compromise and negotiate.
“I’m not really following you on this,” Tammy admitted. “You’re beating around the bush. Just come out and say what you’re wanting to say, Alexa.”
Alex said, “Okay, Mom,” and took a deep breath before proceeding. “Sean’s really into bondage, and he’s gotten me into it, too. He has a whole dungeon in that locked room upstairs. With me going to college and having to work nights and weekends now, we don’t get as many opportunities to spend time in there. There’ve been times when you’re home that we’d really like to slip away and have a nice long bondage session together, but we’ve been polite and not done that.
“Also, I’ve discovered that I really like being in bondage outside of the dungeon, too. I used to regularly go around the house in shackles and chains on my days off, whether Sean was home or not. Again, with my school and work schedule, I don’t get as many chances to do that, but when I have, if you’ve been here, I’ve refrained, which has meant I hardly ever get to do it anymore.”
“So you want to be able to do your bondage stuff when I’m around,” Tammy summarized.
“Yeah,” Alex confirmed.
“I guess it won’t bother me if the two of you want to slip off and do your thing. I remember what it’s like to be young and in love. And if you want to go around in shackles and chains, Alexa, well, I don’t get it, but whatever. It won’t be hurting me any, and it’s not my place to judge,” Tammy said in response. “What else?”
“I’d like to be able to show some PDA* to my girlfriend when I feel like it,” said Sean. “Would that bother you any?”
* physical display of affection
“If you mean like kissing and hugging, then no, it wouldn’t bother me,” Tammy replied. “If you’re wanting to bang her on the kitchen table, then I would object to that, at least while I’m here.”
“What about something in between?” asked Sean.
“I suppose it would depend on what that something was,” replied Tammy. “Squeezing her tush; no worries. Feeling her up; yeah, I’d have a problem that.”
“Fair enough,” said Sean. “Is there anything you’d like to be able to do, Tammy, that you’ve avoided doing in front of us so as not to cause any issues?”
“Actually, there is,” she replied. “I haven’t read my Bible or prayed in front of you, just to avoid any wisecracks and so you wouldn’t think I was trying to be holier-than-thou. I take it seriously, and I know that I’m a sinner just like you are, so I’m no better; I’m just forgiven. I’ve been doing those things in my room, but it would be more comfortable to do them in the living room as long as it was quiet.”
“It won’t bother me any if you want to read your Bible or pray in the living room,” replied Sean. “I wouldn’t mock someone else’s religion, and I wouldn’t think you were looking down your nose at me.”
“Same here,” agreed Alex, “and we can certainly be quiet if we see you’re doing that.”
“If any of us thinks of something else later, that you’ve been avoiding doing in front of someone else but would like to be able to, let’s talk about it. It seems like we’re all pretty flexible here, within reason.
And so Alex, Sean, and Tammy all made a concerted effort to stop acting like Tammy was a temporary house guest and begin acting like she was a permanent member of the household. Alex began wearing shackles and chains and other similar bondage gear when her mother was home; Tammy couldn’t see the appeal, but she could see that Alex enjoyed it greatly, and it seemed harmless enough, so she just accepted it. Alex and Sean began openly flirting with and displaying their affection towards each other, which Tammy found endearing.
And when the couple would slink off to do whatever they did in the dungeon, well, that’s what young lovers everywhere do, so Tammy paid it no mind. As a Christian, she knew that they were “living in sin” and wished that they’d either stop having sex or get married, but Tammy could hardly act judgmental about it after Alexa had seen her shack up with man after man pretty much her entire life.
Tammy had been properly taught by her church that Christians shouldn’t judge unbelievers for not behaving like Christians were supposed to; of course they weren’t going to do that. What Christians were supposed to do was to set an example of how to live as God intended, and share the good news of the forgiveness they could receive by believing that Jesus had died in their place and paid the penalty for their sins. And pray for the salvation of others, especially those they loved.
Tammy tried as best she could to live an exemplary life, but not until such time that she got into a relationship with a man could she set an example of not living together or having sex until marriage. As far as sharing the good news went, she didn’t know how to go about that without adversely affecting her relationship with her daughter and her rich boyfriend, and all things considered, that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Alex and Sean couldn’t relate to Tammy’s desire to read the Bible and pray, but they could see that it was deeply meaningful to her, and to Alex it was infinitely better for her mother to embrace religion than it had been for her to embrace the bottle. Sean found it highly amusing when he’d see Alex sitting at one end of the sofa in shackles, chains, a miniskirt, and stilettos while studying for a class, and Tammy sitting at the other end, open Bible on her lap and deep in prayer.
But anyway, the three of them made it work with their new policy of being relaxed around each other, and they settled into a comfortable routine.