Liverpool Ch. 13

Once again, huge thanks to my editor sdbnnc for all her help and for introducing me to her Master. Thanks also to my own Sir for giving me a kick up the arse when I needed it and last but by no means least, thank you to all the wonderful readers who's have given me so much encouragement. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Megan

*

We had our first big row that week over something really stupid. The Wednesday after the party, Sir came home early with a silly grin on His face, the kind He got when He's up to something. I'd been busy in the house and garden all week; Sir put the gazebo up for me on Monday evening, so all my plans for out there were coming together nicely, and we were really fitting together as a couple. The night before had been Mistress Alice and Sean's wedding, and it was gorgeous. She had looked Her usual fabulous self in a high-necked cream lace dress, and Sean had that stunned look on his face, like he couldn't quite believe he belonged to Her completely now. Afterwards at the reception, Sir tried to teach me to how to waltz, it wasn't going too well until I got a little drunk and relaxed.

On that Wednesday, when Sir arrived home, He said He couldn't be arsed staying in the office on such a nice day, and that we were going for a drive. I was always happy to spend more time with Him, so off we went, out into the countryside. I figured Sir was grinning coz of sneaking out of work early so I was a little surprised when Sir pulled up outside a cottage in the middle of a village, and a little suspicious when Sir turned to me and said, "Come here, pet, you need a blindfold on."

"Why?"

"'Coz otherwise it'll ruin the secret."

I was a lot suspicious now, but I trusted Him, so I turned round so He could wrap His tie round my eyes. He got out and opened the car door, helping me out. He led me up an uneven flagged path, and I could hear dogs barking nearby. I nearly tripped over on the way up to the house, but Sir caught me in his arms, and then steadied me on the narrow step at the cottage door.

"I did tell you to lift your feet, pet," He said, ringing the bell. The barking behind the door grew louder and clearer as the door opened. He leant forward and spoke quietly to whoever was there before pulling me into the hall. I was still blindfolded when He escorted me into another room. I heard squeaks and panting, raising my hopes that maybe we'd be getting a dog. Sir told me to kneel down beside Him, and then reached around to remove His tie. At the same time, I heard a cage door rattling, and saw a pack of the sweetest, lankiest puppies dashing towards me, panting hot puppy breath and leaping up to lick my face. The puppies had dark grey fur with little splashes of white on their chests or tails and I was held in place on my knees as they climbed over me, snuffling in my ears, and nibbling at my hair. Looking around to take them all in, I noticed one timid little puppy who had hung back when the others blasted out of the crate. She -- I could see it was a she from the way she was sitting -- sat just inside the crate and was watching me quite carefully. I crawled over to her through the thronging masses that covered the tiny sitting room.

The lady of the house seemed about to speak, but Sir shushed her as I began speaking quiet nonsense to the little puppy that had stayed behind. Slowly, she came out and sniffed at my hand, giving it a tiny lick before jumping back into the crate. We sat and looked at each other for a minute before she came back out, sniffed me again before wiggling her way onto my lap where she settled down with a sigh. I looked up at Sir and smiled. I pointed to the puppy now sleeping on me and said, "This one."

I stroked the puppy's lean body, then looked over at the lady and asked her what type of dogs they were.

"Their mam was greyhound crossed with a deerhound; da was a collie whippet cross. He got in the garden one day, and this lot were the result. That pup you've got there was the shyest out the lot; vet reckoned she can't see too well, so she won't make much of a hunter. If you want her, you can have her. I reckon you're the only one she'd have. She's bit most everyone that's been in so far, that's why I warned your fella here when you got so close."

"She wouldn't bite me. She's just shy that's all."

"You picked a name yet?"

"I think Magpie's nice. Eh, toots, will we call you Magpie?" I looked down and, as I spoke to the puppy, she lifted her head and wagged the very tip of her tail. She had the most white on her, all four paws looked like she'd wondered though a tin of paint, as did the tip of her tail and nose. As Sir went out to the car to get His wallet, one of the other puppies walked a little too close to me for Magpie's comfort. Quick as a flash, she was up and snapped at the other puppy, sending it howling. My puppy, on the other hand, settled back into my lap, and went back to sleep.

"Yeah, I reckon she's yours," the lady said. "I don't honestly think you'd get out the door without her," she finished with a smile. Sir came back in, and paid for Magpie, while I gathered her up and tucked her under my chin. We walked back out to the car, with me grinning inanely at Sir.

"Thank you so much for this, Sir. She is absolutely gorgeous."

"My pleasure, pet, I thought you'd like some company when I have to go away, and these are good dogs to have around."

"Why? How much research did you do?"

"Quite a lot actually; I wanted something that would be a good guard dog, but not need huge amounts of exercise. Lurchers need to blast once or twice a week; other than that they're quite happy mooching around the place."

"Who have you talked to?"

"One of the lasses at work has three lurchers, and she said they are really good dogs, though they do steal food whenever they can, so it'll have to stay out the kitchen."

"She'll be alright if I'm in there."

"Yeah, well, we'll put its crate in the hall."

"A crate?"

"Yeah, like the one in there."

"Oh, you mean a cage; no, we're not having one of those."

"Excuse me, 'No'? Since when do you say 'No' to me?"

"Since she is my dog, and I hate cages. Why bother getting her when you're just going to shut her up all the time? We might as well take her back, and get a refund if you think like that."

"We'll talk about this later. We need to go buy some food and a collar."

"We'll talk about this now. There is no point spending money if all you're going to do is keep her in a cage." I folded my arms around the puppy, and held her close. I really didn't want to take her back, but there was no way I was going to let Sir buy a cage. She was a dog, not a bunny rabbit that needed to be kept locked away, and I said as much.

"So, where is it going to sleep at night?"

"With me, where else?"

"In my bed? No way."

"Oh, so it's your bed now is it? I thought it was our bed, just like it's our home, or does that only count when you get your own way?"

Sir looked at me with such anger that I was frightened. I was determined though, and I was not going to back down now. She was just a tiny, baby thing, and she was not going to be treated like a prisoner. And what was this "His bed" thing? Sir spent the last few days telling me it was "our home," "our bed," "our kitchen," "our garden" and now all of a sudden they were "His"? If that was how He really felt, it was as well I found out now, rather than a year or so down the line when I'd had much more time to get comfortable. I knew I shouldn't be so confrontational about it all, but Sir was talking about treating Magpie the same way Mother treated her dogs. They went in cages from the day she got them, and she only took them out for grooming or walking. They never were cuddled or played with; to me it was just plain wrong. Looking back I know I probably should have explained this, and that would have settled the whole matter; instead I pushed myself into the corner of the seat, as far away from Him as I could get, and sulked. Sir drove in silence to the nearest pet shop, and asked me in a very icy tone if I wanted to go in with Him. I nodded my head and tucked Magpie under my arm as I got out of the car.

"Leave it here," He ordered sharply.

"Sir, it's a pet shop. I'm fairly sure they allow dogs in," I said as I walked straight past Him into the store and looked around for the collars and leads. In the past we might have been looking for something new for me, this time Sir simply stalked past on His way to look at cages. I found a delicate little set in royal blue with tiny white paw prints all over it that I thought would look so sweet on Magpie. Sir's only rather sour comment was "At least it isn't pink." I ignored Him and the cages, and took the collar out of its package so I could pop it onto Magpie, and see if it fitted. She looked owned now and I realized I must look the same when I when I wore mine. I found the puppy food, and was looking through it when Sir came over, picked up a six pack of tinned food and a bag of mixer, adding them to the trolley with the cage in it, and marched over to the checkout. I followed Him quietly, picking up a teething ring and a soft toy for Magpie on the way. He frowned at the extras, but allowed them to be rung up anyway.

We didn't speak on the way home; Sir just stared straight ahead at the road while I gave all my attention to the pup. When we got home, I took her over to the woods, and put her down so she could have a pee or anything else. I kept her on the lead, the garden wasn't secure enough to let her roam freely yet. I thought about asking Sir for some chicken wire to put around the inside of the rhododendron bushes, just until she was old enough to know where her boundaries were. That is if He was still speaking to me. I felt a wave of sadness wash over me, replacing the icy fury of before. I shouldn't have shouted at Him like that or been so cold. I was walking Magpie back over to the house when Sir came out with His holdall and slung it in the boot of His work car.

"I've got a meeting down in London tomorrow morning; I'm going to head down there now," He said as He turned away from me and got in the car. I didn't even have a chance to say "Good-bye" before the door slammed, and He drove off down the drive. Watching His car moving away, my blood ran cold -- I know that's an expression from books, but this time it was the literal truth. I felt as if everything stood still; I felt faint and light-headed. I sat down on the grass as my legs gave way from underneath me, and cried huge, hot tears that rolled down my face. Magpie had been worrying the end of her lead, but stopped when she heard me, and crept onto my knee, licking away the tears as they dribbled down my chin. I couldn't think straight for the chant running round my head, "I've lost Him, I've lost Him, I've lost Him," over and over and over again. With each phrase, the pain hit harder and harder until all I wanted was to curl up in a ball and die.

I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket and jumped up, praying it was Sir so I could apologise for shouting at Him. I didn't look at the number, just opened it up and said, "Hello."

"Hello, little one, it's Ross."

My shoulders slumped, "Oh, Hi."

"Everything ok?"

I wanted to say, "Yeah, everything's fine," and act my usual cheerful self, but I couldn't. I very quietly said, "Not really," and left it at that. I couldn't start bitching about Sir to His best friend. I was in the wrong; I was Sir's sub. It wasn't up to me how Sir ran His home; I just needed to follow His rules and I hadn't done that.

"Did you not like the puppies?"

"I loved the puppies. I've got one of them curled up on my lap at the minute. Sir got a cage for her though, and I really don't like them coz Mother used to put all her dogs in cages, and it's just wrong, so I shouted at Him, and now He's gone off to London without saying "Goodbye" or even putting my collar back on me and I don't know if I'm allowed to wear it and I don't know if he is even going to come back or if he wants me to be here if he does and all I to do is tell Him I'm sorry." My voice kept on rising, as did the panic building inside me and I didn't know what else I could say.

"Ok, ok, slow down. First of all, did you tell Clive why you don't like cages?"

"No."

"Do you think you should have?"

"Yes. I just didn't want to bring up Mother. All I knew was Sir was insisting on one, even though I didn't like it, and how He kept calling her it instead of she, and how He said it couldn't sleep on His bed."

Ross sighed, "Would you like me to talk to Him and explain things a bit?"

"Would you? Oh, thank you, that would be wonderful. Can you tell Him I'm so, so, so, sorry, and I hope He will wants me when He gets back."

"I'll tell Him you're sorry; nothing else. You can work everything else out with Him when He gets back."

"Ok, then; thank you so much for this."

"That's ok. I was ringing to say I've got an appointment for you on Tuesday next week at one o' clock, if that's any good?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll go and write it down now. Where is it?" I wiped the tears from my face and tried to concentrate.

"The clinic's at the uni; I'll email you a map and directions in a bit."

"Ok, thank you; and thank you for saying you'll talk to Sir for me."

"He's a good friend, and I think you're very good for Him too."

"I do try; I'm just not trained well enough yet."

"This isn't about training, it's about communication. You need to talk to each other. I'll have a chat with Him, and see if I can't get Him to talk so you can sort this out."

"Thank you."

"Right, well, I'll speak to you later, bye for now."

"'Bye."

I closed my phone, and sat for a while longer. There wasn't anything else I could do for now; it was up to Ross and Sir.

Clive

I'd been thinking about getting a dog for Megan for a while now to keep her company when I was away from home. After speaking to Sandy, my receptionist at work, I'd decided on getting a lurcher puppy. She said lurchers are nice, quiet dogs that didn't shed too much coat and they could keep themselves entertained, so they seemed the perfect breed for Megan. I'd found someone with ten puppies for sale, and I figured there would be at least one that my pet would like. She'd been fitting in really well at home; her chores done with an attention to detail I liked, and she seemed genuinely happy to do whatever I asked of her. With the garden, Megan had started adding her own stamp to the house and I thought a puppy would be a good reward for all her hard work.

I called the woman about the dogs, and arranged to go out Wednesday evening to look at them. Getting away early from work was easy enough (there are advantages to being the boss) and Megan was always is happy to spend more time with me. I couldn't keep the smile off my face, I knew she would love her surprise. We drove out to the village; it was one of those hot, sunny days promising summer is on its way. We had all the car windows open, and Megan put her hand outside and giggled as the air pushed her arm back. I smiled her; she was so happy and giggly these days, just over a week away from her mother and already she was a different person, more open, more relaxed.

She looked suspicious when I blindfolded her, but relaxed and let me lead her up the path to the bungalow. Although she was listening hard to the noises around her, she didn't listen too carefully when I told her to lift her feet up onto the step at the front door. When the door opened, I leant forward and introduced myself. The woman nodded and smiled; I'd explained the puppy was to be a surprise for my girlfriend, so the blindfold was understandable.

The tiny sitting room was overflowing with furniture and a huge crate in the corner filled with wriggly black bodies. I told Megan to kneel, and stepped back to I could watch her face when she saw the puppies. They stampeded out towards her and she cooed and giggled as they clambered all over her. She didn't seem to mind them drooling and sniffing in her ears and down her neck, but she soon spotted the one puppy who hadn't come out to see her. As she carefully crawled over to the puppy, the woman began to warn her. I overruled her, and let Megan go and speak to it. Somehow, I knew she would be fine with the puppy, and she was. The pup gave her hand a quick lick and backed into the crate to stare at her for a few minutes. Megan persisted, murmuring so quietly to the pup I couldn't make out her words. Then, just like she climbs into my lap to claim my attention, the puppy came out of the crate, stalking up into her lap and curling up as if she belonged there. Megan's eyes sought mine, shining with her happiness and knowledge that she had found her pet, even as I had found her and made her mine.

I went to the car to get my wallet while Megan chatted to the woman. I got the pup at a discount since the vet had said it was half-blind and no good for hunting. That suited me; I didn't want it to hunt, rather to make my pet happy. Once I'd paid for it, it was gathered up, and we took it out to the car to return home.

Then I managed to put my foot in it. I was telling Megan about where the crate would go when I felt the chill coming from her side of the car. I put my foot down and told her we were having a crate, and that was the end of it. She just switched off -- wouldn't look at me, wouldn't talk to me, just IGNORED me. I couldn't believe my pet would act this way toward me, her Sir, her Dominant. I was in charge, not only of my house, but of her; I made and enforced the rules. When I said this out loud though, it came out all wrong, and I knew I'd just undone everything I'd spent the last week doing. I felt I had made her feel at home with me, and had convinced her that I wanted to share my home with her -- now all that had changed in an instant.

I drove to the big pet shop on the edge of the city, and told Megan to leave the pup in the car. She ignored me again, carrying the pup into the store in front of me. I slammed the car door, and got a trolley since I expected the crate to be heavy. I found a nice big one that would give the pup plenty room to grow, and went to fetch Megan. I found her pointing out different collars and leads to the pup like it was a kid, and I thought for a minute she would choose some horrible pink thing with sparkles on it. Thankfully, she showed a little more taste with the collar, but then looked as if she were going to spend hours debating foods. I took the trolley over, picked up the first foods that came to hand, and chucked them beside the crate. Now with the pup collared and on its lead, she followed me slowly over to the check out, adding toys to the pile of stuff. I didn't see the point of them, but I couldn't be arsed getting into an argument with her in the middle of the shop.

I could have ordered Megan to do as wanted, but her behaviour demonstrated how completely she had switched off her submissive side. I knew giving her an order or even an instruction would result in a public argument, so I decided to treat her as she was treating me. I didn't talk to her, although I watched her out of the corner of my eye. I could see the anger still flowing through her -- her shoulders were hunched up to her ears. And, although she wouldn't look at me at all, I still could see the frown dominating her face.

When we got home, she took the pup over to the edge of the woods to let it piss. I used the time to chuck some stuff in a bag for overnight. I had to go down to London for a meeting, but I'd planned to leave early in the morning so as to maximize time with my pet. Now I just wanted out the house -- to see if my going would upset her and to give Megan time and space to make up her mind if she still wanted to be my sub. I also needed some room to think things over. I wanted her -- oh, God, did I want her -- but I needed a submissive girl, not some ball breaker who would fight me all the time. I ran down the stairs and stuck my bag in the boot as Megan walked slowly back to the house. I made my voice cold and stern when I told her where I was going, and then got in the car without looking over my shoulder at her.