Chapter 4 - Edward and Lisette's story

Chapter 4“Lisette.”The way he said her name gave her goose bumps.  He took such care with it; like it was a fine jewel he had just found and was afraid of losing.“Yes sir,” she responded obediently without thought.“Do you know who I am?”“Yes sir.  You are Master Edward,” she answered, lowering her eyes from his now in a submissive move.“Thank you for not saying something earlier.”“Master Jonathan told us never to acknowledge club members outside the club.”“Very good.  I will let Master Jonathan know how well you did today.”He smiled when he saw her flush with pride at the compliment.  “Thank you sir,” she replied shyly.“Why are you here at my gym Lisette?”“Joan is my roommate and she didn’t want to come alone so she made me tag along.”“She made you?”“Yes,” she hesitated slightly before answering.“Did she point a gun to your head?”“No sir.”“How did she make you then?”“She played on my – love for her,” she finally said after a few seconds to think about what had happened in the parking lot.  “She begged.”“You respond well to begging?”“Yes,” again she answered after a moment’s hesitation.  What was he getting at?  He had to have a reason for this line of questioning.  A Master didn’t do anything without a good reason.“Do you let her talk to you like that as well?”“What do you mean?” she asked confused by the turn around in his inquiries.“You let her call you ‘cow?’  Does she call you other names as well?”“She doesn’t mean anything by it,” Lisette tried to defended her roommate finally looking up at Edward warily.  “She’s just showing off in front of you.”“By putting you down?” he asked arching an eyebrow in reprimand.“I – I – don’t, I mean … Joan and I have been friends for the last three years.  She’s my biggest supporter.”“Supporter of what?”Lisette began to squirm under this long and direct interrogation.  But she had to obey him as a Master where she worked.  She couldn’t risk her job just because she felt uncomfortable.  Well it was a little bit more than uncomfortable.  Anger started to spark in her about his delving into her personal life when she couldn’t return the favor as a club employee.“She let’s me tag along with her to parties and events she has been invited to but I haven’t been.”“Why do you think she does that?” Edward pushed again.“Because she – likes me.  She’s my friend.”“But that’s not why she asked you to come here today was it?”“No!” Lisette snapped, reaching the end of the rope with his low, authoritative inquisition.“Why did she?” he kept at it.“Because she wanted to look – better!”Edward finally nodded his head and his posture relaxed.  Finally they had gotten to the truth.  “And standing next to you she feels better about herself,” he continued.  “Because you’re so – fat, her word not mine.”“Yes!” Lisette barked, her eyes narrowing with the anger his truth telling was causing in her.  “Yes!  She thinks she looks better when she’s standing next to me because I am so – fat and ugly.”“How are you ugly?” Edward asked confused.  “She only said you were fat.”“As you have already pointed out, my scar makes me – ugly.”“When did I point this out to you?”  Now he was getting angry at the wrong assumptions this woman was making about him.“At the club you can’t stand to even talk to me.  I see that you don’t have a problem with – bigger women, you love Ms. Darling and Ms. Ava, but ugly me you can’t even stand to be near.”“What makes you say that?” Edward asked honestly curious about what made her think that he couldn’t tolerate her presence.“Any time I am in the vicinity you make sure to stay as far from me as possible, sometimes even turning around and going in the opposite direction just so you don’t have to pass by me, look at me, see me.“I get it.  I’m ugly for a lot of reasons but foremost among them is my scar.  I’m not perfect.  I’m sorry that Jonathan thought I was good enough to be a server in the Club.  Did you ever consider he hired me because I am so ugly?  He didn’t want to replace another employee who ran off with a client?”“Don’t even think about leaving!” he said his voice low and authoritative.  Lisette had turned and was reaching for the door handle.  “Now that you’ve had your say I get to have mine.”“Are you so cruel that you would subject me to your low opinions of me?” she fought back twisting back around to face him.  “What do you want from me?  Tears?  Are you that much of a sadist?  I’m not into humiliation.  Just leave me be.  I’ll quit if you’ll just leave me alone.”It took Edward a few seconds to realize that she was crying given that her head was bowed down and her straight hair hid her face from him like a black waterfall.When she hugged herself he lost all control over himself and stepped up to her to put his arms around her.  She stood stiffly in his arms.“I’m not into humiliation,” he whispered.  “I would never do that to a woman.  A man maybe but never a woman.  You all get humiliated enough by the world.”As he ran his hands up and down her back, he felt her begin to relax and start to lean into him.  The weight of her soft body intoxicated him.  He loved being able to help hold her up, to be someone she trusted enough to lean against.“I think you’re beautiful Lisette,” he finally told her.  “Your scar just adds to your beauty because it tells me how strong you are to have survived the ordeal you went through.  I love strong women.  I find them very sexy.”“You do?  You think I’m – sexy?” she asked fearfully.“Incredibly.”“But I’m so – fat.”“No you aren’t.  You’re curvy and soft which is the type of women I love.”“You do?”“Yes.  Like Ms. Darling and Ms. Ava.”“Oh, right.”“Since you don’t want to work out, how about having dinner with me?”What the hell was he doing?  He needed to stay away from this sweet innocent girl!  He had to be at least ten years older than her.  She deserved someone better than him.“I would … like that,” she said softly, pulling back in order to glance up at him.  She stared at him with nervous expectation.  Did she think he would take back his offer?  When hell froze over!“What do you feel in the mood for?” he asked, letting go of her reluctantly in order to put away his laptop and restack the paperwork.  He saw her pull her hair back in front of her scarred side.“Uh – do you like Indian?” she asked.“I love Indian.  You got a favorite place in mind?” he asked shepherding her through his office door with a hand on the small of her back.  After he locked up, he took her hand and walked through the gym holding her hand.  Almost everyone in there did a double take or literally stopped working out to watch them walk out.Lisette noticed their stares but didn’t say anything trying to concentrate on the list of restaurants Edward was reciting where they could go to get good food.“Jace has a great restaurant with this wonderful Tikki Masala on his menu that is wonderful,” Edward suggested.“That sounds great.  Will they care that we are dressed for the gym and not to go out to eat –”“Lisette!”She stopped and waited for Joan to catch up with them.“Where are you going?” Joan asked jealously, looking at their entwined hands.  “I thought you were going to exercise with me.”“She changed her mind,” Edward answered for her.  “Back to what her original thought about the whole gym thing.”“I can’t believe you’re enabling her behavior,” Joan exclaimed angrily.  “She needs to lose weight and she can only do that by eating well and exercising.”“I think she’s perfect,” he purred looking down at Lisette and making her blush at the seductive sound of his voice.“You’re the gym owner!  I can’t believe you just said that.  Lisette, let’s get out of here.  Clearly the owner isn’t interested in helping people get healthy.”“No Joan,” Lisette said softly but determined.  “Edward and I are going out to eat.  I’ll be home after my shift.”“Fine leave me alone,” Joan pouted crossing her arms over her plastic breasts.  “I don’t need you to be my friend.”“Joan I’m still your friend,” Lisette said taking a step toward the other woman and reaching out for her.  Joan turned and walked away from the couple.“That wasn’t very friendly of her,” Edward commented coming up behind Lisette.She shook her head.  “She’s jealous I think,” Lisette said astounded by the thought.  “I think she was interested in you and now you’re going out with me.”She suddenly turned and looked at him. “Not that this is a date or anything,” she continued nervously.  “Don’t worry I don’t think of this as a date.”“You should,” Edward countered emphatically.  “It is a date.”“But why would you be on a date with me?” she asked confused.
“Come on let’s discuss this on our way to Jace’s.”