The Awakening (16 page)

“Yo, Dom, thanks for the heads-up,” I told him as he headed back to the unit. “And tell your partner there are no hard feelings, alright? I'll even throw in some tickets to the Male Revue Neferterri is throwing at the club next week, as a peace offering.”

“I'll let her know, K. She might need to release some tension, and I know how wild those things can get.” Dominic laughed as he gave me pound. “Oh yeah, make sure he gets a good attorney. She hinted at possible rape charges, too.”

16
RAMESSES

Being in the Fulton County Jail was a bittersweet moment for me.

Before I turned to professional shutterbug, I wanted to be a detective, like my father before me. So, being at the jail wasn't supposed to give me the butterflies in my stomach I felt. It felt like an eternity walking toward the communication area to speak to Amenhotep, but somehow I managed to get there.

Seeing Him on the other side of that window, my heart damn near broke. Here was a man who made me the Dominant I am. Now, here he sat, an accused rapist and kidnapper, eyes completely bloodshot from staying up all night in the holding cell before they moved him to general population. I refused to take pity, though. In my mind He was never guilty in the first place. I was going to move heaven and earth to make sure He came out of this without much of a scratch on him, mainly because I knew He would do the same for me. Family had to look out for each other.

I picked up the receiver, making eye contact with Him for the first time. He looked human to me, after looking like a god for so long. “How are You holding up?”

“Not good, youngster. I'm not even supposed to be in here,” Amenhotep stated through the receiver. “Ramesses, I didn't do it. she said awful things, man. Said I raped her…abused her, man.”

I sat there and watch helplessly as He was nearly reduced to tears.
The first thing on my mind was whether the other slaves were okay.

“paka came down as soon as she found out. The cops took the computers…everything in the dungeon that wasn't bolted down.” Amenhotep repeated what paka had told him earlier. “All of the girls gave statements to dispute what safi told the cops.”

“Why the hell would she say such things? You have a reputation within the community. she's got to be aware of that.” My anger was boiling and mounting with each passing moment and with each word I spoke.

“Something spooked her. I know it.” Amenhotep regained his composure. “Either that, or she's pissed about something. But what was it? I treated her like I treat all My girls.”

Yeah, every one of the girls was treated the same way, except for paka. The green-eyed monster was on the loose. Damn.

“I've got some tough questions for You, Sir, and I need straight answers.” Ramesses took over inside of me, and it was needed. “How old is safi?”

“You know better.”
Amenhotep didn't like my tone, but I really didn't care at that point. We were family, yes, but there was no time to look at things with rose-colored glasses. “I taught You, remember that.”

“What…was…her…
age?”
I commanded. I didn't back down like I normally did when He asserted Himself and didn't want to answer questions. Too much was at stake.

“Nineteen. Confirmed,” Amenhotep replied. “Next.”

“What was her status?” I stated, moving on to the next point of fact I needed. By status, I wanted to know in what capacity safi was supposed to serve. In His House there were two categories: sexual and domestic.

“Sexual and domestic.” Amenhotep again answered in a monotone voice. “Next.”

“Did You corrupt her station?” In asking that question, I meant did she begin to think that she was more than what her station dictated…and more importantly, did He give her the impression she meant more than her station suggested.

“I decline to answer.” Amenhotep shut down, pulling His ear away from the receiver.

“Not good enough, Sir,” I warned. I motioned for him to place His ear to the receiver. “Rumors will run rampant, and I need ammo to combat things until You post bond.”

“How long have we known each other?” Amenhotep asked, pushing His face closer to the glass.

“Sir, You are My mentor, and I love You like a father, but I need and I
will
get full disclosure.” I was blunt about my intentions, even if the answer would hurt.

“Yes, I did!”
Amenhotep stared me straight in the eyes, suddenly convinced of His own innocence. “I did nothing wrong, Ramesses. You, above all others, should know that.”

“Have You lost your mind?!?!?!?!
You may have violated Your core rules, Sir,” I scolded. “This will make things extremely messy.”

“her state of mind was solid, Ramesses,” Amenhotep said, getting more demonstrative by the minute. “she belongs to Me, in any manner I see fit. Who are
You
to judge Me, Sir?”

“What did she do to You for You to act this way?” I asked Him again, getting as close to the glass as he was. This was a showdown, whether we liked it or not. Time to throw down, and whoever backed down first, lost. I saw the fire in His eyes, looking at me like I was some cut-rate novice challenging His kingdom.

“You would never understand, and You never will! she…” And all of a sudden, He simply shut down. “None of the other girls betrayed Me the way she did. So, I dismissed her from the House.”

This look of pure shock raced through me as I heard those words.
In the fifteen years I had known Amenhotep, He had
never
dismissed a collared slave from His House. That was not to say that there hadn't been a few who no longer wanted favor from Him or wanted release from service, but once the collar was placed, something severe would have to go down to have the collar removed.

“she tried to meet with another Dominant. she even called Me to lie about being at work late,” Amenhotep began. “What she failed to realize was that once she fucked him, he called Me to try and humiliate Me. Rubbing it in My face, saying I was washed up as a Dominant if He could take one from Me.”

Things were becoming clearer, but they were about to get messier.

“After I punished her, I don't know what came over Me, but I used her like a Midtown whore. In My mind, she was damaged goods, and no longer deserved to be in My House.” He finally finished His account.

He had done it. He broke one of His core rules a Dominant swears to: He must be in control of Himself at
all
times, to do no harm. In that split-second that night, Amenhotep had reduced Himself from a regally respected Dominant to nothing more than a jealous pimp on the street.

paka and two of the service slaves arrived, paka tapping my shoulder to alert me of their presence behind me. I gave paka the receiver and stood close by in case He needed to speak to me again. The smile on His face as they spoke let me know this part of the nightmare was soon to be over. The other two girls found an open table to sit as they awaited paka and the conclusion of the conversation.

“We've posted bond for You, my Master. You may leave with us as soon as possible,” paka stated as she spoke through the receiver to Him.

I saw the connection between the two of them, and another piece of this puzzle became clearer. Whether He wanted to admit it or not, Amenhotep and paka had fallen for each other.

I left them to their conversation, as I didn't feel it was my place to intervene or eavesdrop on the exchange. After all, there are things between a Dominant and submissive that were not for public consumption. I sat with the other slave girls to keep the leering inmates who were in the area from making them too uncomfortable. It was the least I could do to keep my urges at bay to find out what the conversation was about.

Still, despite all of the years paka served at her Master's feet, this could have been the only logical conclusion, the culmination of all of those years of being with Him.

I wasn't blind, but I guess I chose not to see.

At the end of the day, I guess I should have seen this coming a mile away.

17
RAMESSES

As I had suspected, the mailing lists were abound with news of Amenhotep's arrest.

Some were upset about it; others were venomous in their criticism of what He had supposedly done to “poor” safi—not to mention the haters that got on their soapbox about how “this would never have happened if she were a black submissive” bullshit. Sooner or later, the race card would be put out there.

I was in a quandary of sorts. What the hell should I do, knowing what I knew? My mentor was in the wrong, even though the situation did call for dismissal, according to protocol. With safi gone into hiding, so to speak, it would make finding the truth much more difficult.

Neferterri got home with the kids and was surprised to see enough IM windows to cause stimulation overload.

“What the hell happened this time?” she asked as the kids headed toward the family room to watch TV. “I expected turnout for Amenhotep's Halloween party, but damn.”

Before I could get the words out of my mouth, our oldest ran into the kitchen to where I was working, shouting, “Uncle Amen's on the TV!”

My worst fears had been realized. We rushed to turn on the TV in the kitchen in time to see the cameras showing Amenhotep, paka, and the other two girls leave in the SUV.

“Honey, go in the other room and watch a movie with your sisters, okay? Mommy's got to get some answers,” she told our daughter.

Once they skipped out of sight, Neferterri turned to me with a confused look on her face. “Okay, what was that about?”

As I broke the whole story down to her, detail by detail, I saw my wife's face turn to stone before my eyes.

“He's going to get crucified in the media for this,” she stated. “No one will touch Him for fear of getting burned themselves, baby.”

“I know, baby. The only way to get this out of the way is to find safi and hopefully get her to drop the charges,” I stressed. One thing I knew for sure, where there's smoke, there's fire. As long as the vanilla world didn't know about it, the community as a whole could continue to function without the microscope.

Neferterri closed her eyes before she quietly uttered, “Do what You have to do, just as long as it doesn't affect our family or our House. This is important. If the information in Amenhotep's computers comes out…”

She didn't have to say anything more to get her point across. A lot of people would be exposed, including us, and a lot were nowhere near ready to be brought out into the light. This was going to take a lot of finesse, not to mention built-up goodwill and some luck to get this done.

But first things first…I needed to find safi.

18
RAMESSES

See…this was why I didn't want to be a cop in the first place.

I went through every low-lying, sneaky, down-right ugly source at my disposal to get a location on safi.

When all of this drama went down, she literally tried to drop off the map, but fortunately she was sloppy in her disappearance. I began to pick up the clues that eventually led me to her.