“Wow,” Andy said in a quiet voice, his jaw visibly dropping with astonishment. “Check that out.”

“What?” Helena frowned. Andy was a nice enough guy for a first date, although she’d already made up her mind that there wouldn’t be a second one. All that he’d wanted to talk about was baseball and NASCAR, both of which bored her to tears. But still, he’d been nice enough to bring her to this Greek restaurant, the Mykonos, which was a new experience for her. The food had been … interesting. Nothing that she’d want to eat every day, but fun for a change. It wasn’t a really, really nice restaurant, but it was pretty good. There was nothing like this around home, and that made it exotic.

“Over behind you,” he said, eyes wide at the sight.

Somehow sensing that this was something that she didn’t want to stare at, Helena set down her after-dinner coffee and stole a glimpse over her shoulder. She couldn’t figure out what Andy was talking about, and was turning away before what he was looking at caught her eye … oh, my Godddddd! There was nice-looking guy in a suit and tie, holding out a chair for his lady friend in a black cocktail dress as she sat down on it … nothing strange about that, except for the fact that her wrists were locked in chrome handcuffs behind her. Helpless to keep from looking again, Helena swung her head back for a better look, noting that the raven-haired woman wore a wide collar around her neck, with a chain leash attached … and the man was holding onto the leash …

Even though her eyes were bugged out about as far as Andy’s were, if not farther, Helena knew it was impolite to stare. She tore her eyes away from the scene, and swung back to him. The restaurant wasn’t terribly busy, but she could see from looking at the reactions of some of the other patrons that the scene hadn’t been unnoticed. Nothing was said out loud, but the whispering was obvious. “Wow, right,” she said in a whisper as she nodded to her date.

“You don’t see that every day,” Andy smirked.

Helena shook her head, impressions bouncing around in her brain. “I should say not,” she agreed.

“College town,” he shrugged. “You get some weird ones running around, I guess.”

“Guess so,” she said. “Can you say ?kinky’”

“Kind of my thought,” Andy grinned. “Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah,” she said, the sight still reverberating around the recesses of her brain. It was not something that you saw every day. There was a strong temptation to turn around and stare again, to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. There was kind of a hard spot down in the pit of her stomach and it had nothing to do with Greek food. What would ever possess a woman to be treated like that? She couldn’t imagine. “What was that you were saying about Jeff Gordon?” she asked in a deliberate attempt to change the subject and get her mind off the leashed woman with the handcuffs on.

“Beats the hell out of me,” Andy mumbled, his eyes still on the sight behind her. Somehow, she could imagine that his mind was covering much the same ground.

“Uh, Andy,” she hesitated, her uneasiness showing a little. “Maybe we ought to get going if we’re going to catch the nine o’clock show.”

“Yeah, right,” he agreed, snapping out of his daze. They’d been about ready to leave, anyway – the bill had been paid, and there was a generous tip lying on the table. “If you don’t mind, I need to hit the head.”

“Fine with me,” she smiled, grateful for a moment to get her thoughts at peace. There was something there that she couldn’t understand, something that reached deep within her, something she couldn’t explain … and, for sure, something that she didn’t want to admit to her date.

Helena stood up and turned for the door as Andy came back from the rest room. She had a much better view of the couple that had caught her attention now, only a few feet away. She mostly only had a rear view of the woman, but could see her arms wrapped around the back of the chair, the handcuffs holding her wrists together. Her black hair was piled high on her head, and she could see that the collar she wore was decorated with studs and rhinestones – and a small chromed padlock in the back, holding it on. The man picked up a long-stemmed wine glass, and the woman elegantly leaned forward a bit as he put it to her lips. She took a brief sip, and he took the glass away. “Adequate, My Lady?” Helena could hear him ask.

Her answer shook Helena right down to her shoes – not the words, but the voice they were delivered in. It couldn’t be! “Most excellent, My Lord,” the woman purred and turned to him. “You are very kind, sir.”

It was all Helena could do to stifle a huge gasp as she got a look at the side of the woman’s face, with the intense smile on it. There could be no doubt. It was Acacia!

Now, her jaw was really dropped, her eyes bugged out. She didn’t think Acacia noticed her … and that was just as well, since she felt weak at the knees, her heart pounding. What in the name of hell was going on? She knew her roommate was planning on spending the weekend with her boyfriend Wade, who she hadn’t met, and didn’t know much about … but, my God, no wonder … Andy was heading for the door, and she started after him. As she turned to leave the room, she caught another glance of the couple, noticing the chromed chain leash dangling from a big loop on the front of Acacia’s collar. Maybe she hadn’t been noticed. At least, she hoped not.

One thing was clear: she’d have to make damn sure that she didn’t let on to Andy that Acacia was her roommate. What kind of ideas would that give him?

By the next evening, Helena couldn’t have provided the name of the movie that Andy had taken her to on a bet, nor did she have any idea of what it was about … well, it had something to do with secret agents and guns, but she really hadn’t been paying attention. Her mind had been running faster than that all evening. Andy had gotten her home at a reasonable hour; she’d gotten up to her room and gone to bed – but she couldn’t sleep. Finally, late at night she got up, drank a couple of wine coolers, and stared at the wall, her mind still churning.

What it came down to was that she couldn’t believe that the good-looking, downright elegant woman in the handcuffs and collar and leash could be Acacia! She’d only had a couple looks at the woman, neither really good, and in light that could have been better. It could well have been someone who just looked a lot like her. She couldn’t believe that this was her roommate and old friend.

She and Acacia were from the same small town. Acacia had been a couple years ahead of her in school, but they’d gotten to know each other fairly well in band, Honor Society, and cross-country. Friends, but not what you would call close friends. They’d gone to different colleges, but after Helena graduated with a liberal arts degree, there hadn’t been a lot of work out there around home. She’d happened to run into Acacia at home one weekend several months before, and talk of old times soon led to the mention that there might be an opening where she worked. Now they were both claims adjusters at an insurance company. Acacia’s former roommate had just gotten married and moved out, and she invited Helena to share the rent. In that time, they’d become fairly close friends. Acacia was out with Wade about half the weekends, and on frequent evenings during the week, and it did make those times a little lonely.

Being alone had given her plenty of time to think. Even if the woman wasn’t Acacia, what would have possessed a woman to go out in public, dressed elegantly and sexily, well made-up, wearing a collar, leash, and handcuffs? Worse, what did that imply about what went on in private?

Though Helena may have been from a small town and had attended a conservative college, she knew there were people out there like that … but try as she could, she couldn’t imagine what it must be like. What would cause a woman like Acacia to do something like that? Maybe she was just too straight to understand. After all, she didn’t think of herself as the prettiest woman in the universe. She was medium height and slender, with plain, straight brown hair, cut fairly short for convenience, and big glasses. Just average looking she thought, as she had on many occasions.

Fortunately, she slept late on Sunday – just as well after not getting to sleep until around dawn – and tried to think of something to do during the day. There was nothing on TV but baseball and golf, and worse, stock car racing. She tried to read a book, but almost gave it up when she realized that she’d been staring at the same page for over an hour while mentally replaying the same few scenes from the Mykonos the previous evening. Acacia – if it really had been her – had seemed so self-assured, so beautiful, so comfortable with the situation … so focused on the man with her.

She was lying in an armchair after dark that evening, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, still trying to read … and trying to figure out why she had been so obsessed with the sight – and by now, she had begun to realize that she really was obsessed with it. It had been half an hour since she’d turned a page, and she’d lost the thread of the story when she heard the key in the front door. She glanced up, to see her roommate come in, wearing a short summer dress, carrying her purse and an overnight bag. “So how was your weekend?” she asked nonchalantly.

“Wonderful,” Acacia replied, sounding very mellow. “Wade and I had a really good time.” There was something in her voice that told Helena that her roommate had spent much of the weekend in bed, enjoying every minute of it. “How was your date with Andy?”

“Oh, OK,” Helena shrugged. “He’s not really my type.”

“Going to go out with him again?” Acacia smiled.

“He asked me to go to a race with him,” Helena reported. “The way he said it sort of made me think I was supposed to spend the weekend in shorts and a bikini top, seeing how much beer I could drink.”

“In other words, no,” her roommate smiled. “Too bad.”

“Oh, I might go out with him again sometime, if I’m really bored or really desperate,” Helena replied nonchalantly. Damn it, curiosity – and obsession – had been getting to her for over a day now. There was no way she wasn’t going to raise the issue. But she might as well do it gently. “They have some really nice wines at the Mykonos, don’t they?”

“Very good,” Acacia smiled. “Their house wine …” she stopped and gasped. “How did you know Wade and I were at the Mykonos?”

That was all the confirmation that Helena needed. My God, it really was Acacia she’d seen! “Andy and I had dinner there Saturday night,” she smiled, not admitting a thing.

“I … I didn’t see you,” Acacia stammered.

“Not surprising,” Helena grinned. “Your attention was all on him, and your back was pretty much to me.”

“Helena,” Acacia said, obviously reaching for words as she came over and sat down on the arm of the chair. “We were just, uh, sort of playing a game, you know? Sort of like, uh, role-playing?”

Helena looked at her friend’s wrist; there were red marks there – faint, but there. She took her hand, brought her wrist up for a better look, and commented, “Interesting role you were playing. I take it that it went on most of the weekend?”

“You didn’t tell anyone, did you?” Acacia asked, concern written all over her face.

“I didn’t even tell Andy,” Helena said. “I, uh, didn’t want him getting ideas about me, if you know what I mean. Like, I didn’t want him to get the idea of taking me to a stock car race in short shorts, a bikini top, handcuffs, and a collar and leash.”

“That would be interesting,” Acacia laughed. “I don’t think you’d get the same reaction from people that we got in the Mykonos.”

“The handcuffs would interfere with the beer drinking, I’m sure,” Helena said dryly. “Acacia, why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you do it?”

“Because it’s fun,” she said. “Look, I know it looks pretty sick, but it’s fun. We both enjoy it.”

“That wasn’t the first time you did it?”

Acacia let out a sigh. “No, it wasn’t,” she said. “We don’t always do it, and we don’t always do it like that. That was just a casual evening out. We had dinner, went back to his place, and had some more fun.”

“With him making mad, passionate love to you while you were handcuffed?”

“No … uh, well, some of the time,” Acacia admitted. “Look, that’s not all we do, but we can’t get together that often, so when we do we try to make it count. Look, you’re not going to tell anyone back home about this, are you?”

“I hadn’t planned on it,” Helena said. “At least, so long as you come a little clean with me. Damn it, Acacia, I’ve been sitting here since last night wondering what the hell that was all about, what kind of a weirdo I have for a roommate.”

“And what it feels like?” Acacia smiled.

Helena took a deep breath before she said shyly, “Uh, that too.”

“I can’t tell you,” Acacia shook her head. “Other than to say that I enjoy it. It feels right. I wouldn’t want to be like that all the time, even with My Lo … uh, Wade.” She let out a big sigh. “Look, I don’t know how to tell you,” she managed finally. “Not without sounding really stupid. It’s fun, something to look forward to, and fun when it happens. Like I said, it’s kind of like a role that I put on, and it’s fun to be like that. When it’s over I’m looking forward to the next time. Either it works for you or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, I don’t know how I can make you understand. I suppose it’s like some people like to go out and get drunk on a Saturday night. That doesn’t interest me, but I can see how some people would like it.”

“It still strikes me as pretty weird,” Helena frowned. “I mean, I can understand a little about putting people on, like you did in the Mykonos. But there’s got to be more to it than that. I mean, it seems pretty degrading, in a way.”

“I suppose it does, when you stop and think about it,” Acacia said. “But I don’t think of it that way, not when I’m with him. I’m so focused on him, and he’s so focused on me, that I don’t really notice. We’re both the center of each other’s attention. I mean, if you’d come up to me and said ‘hi,’ I would have noticed you, but I would only have been aware of you as just another person in the restaurant, I was so focused on My Lo … uh, Wade.”

“But isn’t it uncomfortable to be wearing handcuffs like that, and led around on a leash?”

“No,” she said. “Oh, I suppose it is, in a way, but I really don’t notice it much.” She let out another big sigh and asked again, “Look, you’re not going to tell anyone back home about this, are you?”

“I don’t know,” Helena shook her head. “I guess if it’s what you want to do, I don’t have much room to complain. It’s really your business, I guess, but it makes me wonder a lot.”

“Thanks, Helena,” Acacia smiled. “I know it’s hard to understand.” She let out a yawn. “It’s late, and tomorrow is going to be a long day that’s going to absolutely ruin my good mood. I think I’m going to go soak my poor aching butt in the tub for a while, and then get some sleep. I didn’t get much last night. At least, I don’t think I did. I was kind of spaced out for a lot of it.”

“I think I’d better try to get some sleep, too,” Helena said, knowing that sleep wasn’t going to come easy – the conversation had done little to satisfy her curiosity, only raised it more. “Let me use the bathroom for a couple minutes, then you can have it as long as you want.”

“Sounds good to me,” Acacia smiled.

It didn’t take long to get through with the bathroom, and partway through, she opened the bathroom door so Acacia could come in wearing a short robe and start to draw a tub. She was just finishing up when she caught sight in the bathroom mirror of her roommate bending over the tub – the robe wasn’t long enough to cover her butt, and she was only wearing a thong under it. She couldn’t help but let out a gasp at the sight of the red marks on her roommate’s bottom. “D-don’t tell me you let him spank you?” she stammered.

“No,” Acacia turned and said with an enigmatic smile. “Let him isn’t quite the right word. Begged him to is more like it.”

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