Helena had been right about one thing – she didn’t get much sleep that night. Several times over the course of the night she was all but ready to get up and start packing her stuff, and the only thing that kept her from it was that she couldn’t think of anywhere to go at that hour of the morning. Before she’d left the bathroom, Acacia had admitted that she’d had her ass spanked several times – with a hand, a paddle, and finally, a belt, and had been eager for more than she’d gotten. She’d asked if it hurt, and Acacia had said mildly that of course it had, it was supposed to. It had been a little tender sitting in her car for the drive home, and only the warm glow of the weekend had kept it from being excruciating. How in hell could anyone enjoy that?

Acacia seemed to enjoy it – and being handcuffed, and led around on a leash, and apparently making love while chained up, too – not once, but repeatedly, although she hadn’t exactly been clear about that part of it. What kind of a weirdo was she living with?

When morning finally came, Helena was exhausted. If she weren’t so tired, she would have been ready to move out, but exhaustion drove her to do the simple thing, which was get up and go to work, riding with Acacia, which was the normal routine most days. Nothing much was said, but Helena found herself stuffed up against the right side door, determined to not get any closer to this crazy woman than she had to. The day was endless, made worse by the lack of sleep, and on the way home that night, she actually fell asleep in the car. Acacia had to help her up the steps to their apartment, and offered to make dinner, but Helena was too tired to eat – she went into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed, still dressed for work.

Her body ached the next morning. She remembered having disturbing dreams, but couldn’t remember what they were, but at least she felt better once she got moving around to take a quick shower and change into different work clothes. She came out into the kitchen, to find that Acacia had already made some coffee, and had a couple of toaster pastries ready to go. “Ah, the dead have arisen,” she smiled. “Do you feel better?”

“I guess,” Helena admitted. “I had two very sleepless nights, and I guess my body finally rebelled.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out like that,” Acacia said, sipping her coffee. “I can see that it’s hard for you to understand.”

“I swear to God, I don’t understand at all,” Helena said, shaking her head, the honesty of not yet being fully awake fully upon her. “I mean, the hardest thing to understand is why you seem so complacent about it. I mean, if I was treated like that by my boyfriend, I’d be calling the cops.”

“Most women would,” Acacia agreed. “But, well, it’s different with Wade, with me. Wade is very honest, very kind, always keeps his word, and he’s very careful to not go beyond what I want. If anyone else tried the stuff we do with me, it’d be 9-1-1.”

“How long has this been going on?” Helena asked.

“Over four years, now. Since Wade and I were both in college,” Acacia said. “I mean, not quite like we do now. We’ve changed since it started. It just keeps getting better and better. That’s why I told him I wouldn’t marry him.”

“It shows you’ve got some sense,” Helena snorted. “I can understand you not wanting to marry someone that beats you up.”

“Helena,” Acacia said flatly. “Wade has never beaten me up. I’m dead sure he never would. He’s not that kind of person.”

“Bullshit,” Helena replied, just as flatly. “It wasn’t my ass that was red Sunday night.”

“That’s not the same thing,” Acacia protested. “God, Helena, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like I said the other night, either you understand or you don’t. Yes, he’s spanked me, paddled me, even whipped me. But always out of love, never out of anger.”

“Funny way you have of showing your love,” Helena shook her head in disdain.

“I suppose,” Acacia smiled. “But it’s what we like.” She let out a long sigh. “Helena, I said he’s whipped me. I gave him the whip, as a birthday present. I could barely wait until he chained me up and used it on me, and it was ecstasy when he finally did. But I realize that you can’t make the leap of imagination to understand it. There’s a part of me that doesn’t understand it, either, but a long time ago I said the hell with examining it, just enjoy it.”

“This just gets weirder and weirder,” Helena shook her head. “Acacia, you lost me a long time ago. I mean, I have to think that you have a few screws loose somewhere.”

Acacia let out another long sigh. “I realize how hard it must be for you to understand. It would have been as hard for me a few years ago. Look, maybe if you met Wade, you’d have a better idea. He’s not a monster or anything. Just a nice guy, very kind, and like I said, very honest. Maybe that would help.”

“And the next thing I know, I’m chained to a wall while he’s standing over me with a whip. No way, Jose.”

“No, nothing like that,” Acacia protested. “Look, I talked to Wade last night while you were asleep. This is an on weekend for him, but he’s off during part of the day Saturday. We could do lunch or something. I think you might enjoy it, and you might learn something.”

“I don’t know,” Helena said dubiously. “Let me think about it.”

“I promise you, nothing will happen,” Acacia said intently. “And, like I said, you might learn something.”

Helena didn’t really make up her mind until Saturday morning, and then she was hesitant. Mostly, her curiosity was getting the better of her. At Acacia’s insistence, she put on a nice summer-weight sundress similar to the one her room mate was wearing, casual and cool. “It’ll help you make a good first impression,” Acacia said.

She couldn’t help but be nervous as Acacia drove to the town where Wade lived. What kind of insanity was she letting herself in for? There wasn’t a lot of talking, and a couple of times before they reached the chain restaurant where they were to meet, she almost asked Acacia to turn around and take her home. There, at a table in the back, was the guy that she had seen Acacia with at the Mykonos the other night. He was wearing a nice outfit, nothing fancy, a sport jacket over a polo shirt. He was taller than Acacia, something under six feet, clean-shaven, with sandy brown hair. While Helena sat down across the table, Acacia slid in beside him, and gave him a little kiss. “Hi, lover,” she smiled. “How’s it going?”

“Piss poor,” he frowned. “Bad one last night. I’m pretty bummed.”

“Oh, God,” Acacia said, suddenly serious. “What happened?”

“Two car,” he said. “Drunk driver, killed two kids. One dead at the scene, the other one made it to the ER, but died while we were giving him CPR.”

“Oh, God,” Acacia repeated sadly. “That’d bum anyone out. Look, we can give this a pass, if you’d like to.”

“Frankly, I’d rather have you around to take my mind off it,” he said. “Even for a few hours. This is Helena, I take it?”

“Yes,” Acacia said. “I should have introduced her. That was very impolite of me. Wade, this is Helena Curtis.”

“We’ll let it slide this time,” he smiled. “Helena, I’m Wade McCluskey. Acacia has told me a lot about you, and you’re just as pretty as she said you were.”

“Thank you,” she said nervously, reflecting that he was spreading it on pretty thick, right from the beginning. “You’re an EMT, right?”

“Paramedic,” he said. “That’s the next step up. I work Advanced Life Support, although on days like this, I wonder why.”

“It’s got to be hard,” Helena said.

“As far as I’m concerned, they can’t come up with a slow and painful enough way for someone like that to be executed,” he said flatly. “But let’s not talk about that. Acacia tells me that you went to school with her, and work with her.”

It was a perfectly normal conversation for half an hour, while they had coffee and a light breakfast. Helena found out a bit about Wade, and he managed to find out a little about her. He proved to be a very nice guy, soft spoken, a perfect gentleman, although it didn’t take any great psychic feat to realize that he was very troubled about the night before and was trying to put it out of mind. It was very hard to imagine him like she’d seen him the one time before, at the Mykonos, and even harder to imagine him chaining Acacia up and whipping her. Together, the two seemed like a normal boyfriend and girlfriend, just a casual couple, perhaps more polite than most. It wasn’t hard to imagine wanting to meet a guy like what he appeared to be.

Eventually, they were finished with breakfast. As they sat finishing their coffee, he said to Helena, “Bearing in mind that we’re sitting in a public place, Acacia tells me that you have some troubles about our relationship.”

“I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t,” she replied honestly. “If I understand her correctly, it seems, uh, pretty strange. I’m having a lot of difficulty understanding it.”

“Perfectly reasonable,” he said quietly. “I think it safe to say that we’d both be lying if we said we understood it. It’s something that’s evolved over several years, and both of us have had more than our share of discomfort in trying to understand it, so it’s not difficult to see why you would have troubles. I think it’s safe to say that neither of us are anywhere near where we expected to be when it started. Believe me, there have been many nights when I’ve woken up in the middle of the night wondering about it.”

“Wade is right,” Acacia commented. “Like I told you the other night, I decided a while back to try to quit analyzing it, and just enjoy it.”

“I’ve lost a lot of sleep this week wondering how you could enjoy something like you do, at least from what Acacia says.”

“Tell me, Helena,” Wade said. “Have you ever thought about taking up, oh, skydiving?”

“Not on your life,” she replied with a touch of fear. “I’d be scared shitless. I’m afraid of heights.”

“There are those who enjoy it,” Wade smiled. “Me, I can’t understand it, either. Oh, there has to be an adrenaline rush involved. But I used to know a guy who is a serious jumper. He’s made over 2,000 jumps. To the best of my knowledge, he’s landed in an airplane three times. He’s scared to death of airplanes, and equally scared of heights. If I could explain him, I think I could explain us.”

Helena nodded. “That much, I can understand,” she said with a smile.

“All right, that gives us some common ground,” he smiled. “I think that we’d both rather be standing on the ground than watching it rush up toward us. That much said, would you be interested in a quiet walk in the park, where we can talk a little more freely?”

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