Power Plays Ch. 03

"Claire! CLAIRE!" I heard Madison yell as I walked out her door. I didn't care what else she had to say.

I walked back to my desk, grabbed a banker's box and packed up the few personal items that had accumulated over the past 6 months. I grabbed my pitiful box, my purse and my pride and walked to the elevators. On my way out of the lobby, the main desk receptionist stopped me.

"Miss? Claire Manning?" the petite blonde asked as she hurried out from around her desk. I paused in my headlong stride towards the front door long enough to nod at her. "Miss Manning, Ms. Stone has requested that you wait here for her."

I shook my head. "Sorry sweetie, I've got better things to do. I'm done waiting for Ms. Stone."

I turned from the girl's shocked face that someone would disobey the Grande Dame herself, and walked out of Morris & Stone for the last time.

***

My life over the next couple of weeks was pathetic. Too much Chinese take out, way too many tears, and temper tantrums that left my apartment looking like a war zone. Mood swings were common. My other friends may as well not have existed. Julie tried to call me a couple of times, but stopped after I ignored her call a few times.

A couple of times I tried to carry my sorry ass out into the real world to hunt for a new job, but couldn't find the energy or the motivation to care enough. My entire world, the focus of my life for the past half year had been Madison, and it was a horrible awful awakening to realize that I had been losing myself, my identity in her. I was a total wreck, trying to sort out my own feelings, my own thoughts. Half the time I wanted to go crawling on hands and knees back to Madison. The other half of the time I wanted to kill her. Funnily enough though, I was not waiting by the phone for her call. I knew with every fiber of my being that Ms. High and Mighty would not ask me to come back to her.

I drifted along in my angry/sad stupor for about a month before I felt enough strength to face the world again. I was definitely on the road to getting over Madison, but I was a long way from okay. I decided to boost my mood at Fatale's on a Saturday night.

Walking back into Fatale's, remembering what had happened here several times between Madison and I was a punch in the gut. I almost turned on my heel and walked out, but steeled myself and headed to the bar.

I ordered my usual drink, and then stared morosely into it for a while. I began asking myself why I was even there. What was the point, really? I downed my drink in one long swallow and looked up to find Suzy and pay for the one drink I had. As my gaze turned down the bar, I caught the eye of the buxom blonde two stools down. She smiled at me, invitingly, and something within me answered her grin. I smiled back.

She stood and moved closer, taking the stool right next to mine. "Hi!" she said brightly. "I'm Cassie."

"Claire," I said in return, shaking her hand. "How are you this evening?"

"Oh, just great. Better now though...I was getting bored sitting here by myself." As she said this, she looked me up and down. Though I was far from my best tonight, I still presented a rather decent picture, and from Cassie's expression I knew she was interested in me. I returned the favor of checking her out...busty, a bit on the heavy side but in a nice way, with curvy hips and long legs showed off by her miniskirt. Her expansive cleavage spilled invitingly out of her tight top, and her shoulder-length dirty blonde hair curled enticingly over her collar bone. Her eyes were blue, a darker shade that bordered on a graying steel color. My week's dormant sex drive starting purring.

"Well, isn't it convenient that I am here to keep you company?" I asked sweetly. She smiled a 100-watt smile, and my gut clenched. Oh yes, my sex drive was wide awake now. "Can I buy you a drink?"

She agreed, and I called Suzy down to order the round for us. That round turned into 4 or 5. After hours of the getting-to-know-you dance and badly concealed flirtation, Cassie was giving me strong hints about leaving together.

"It's getting late," she said some time later, leaning over and placing her hand on my thigh. I covered her hand with my own, leaning closer to her as well, raising my eyebrows in question.

"Yes, it certainly is," I said. "The bar will be closing soon."

"I have use the ladies' room," she whispered. "But would you care to come home with me for a nightcap? I have a great Chardonnay."

I hated Chardonnay. But I smiled and nodded my head, using the hand I was holding to pull her closer to me. I placed a quick hot kiss on her lips.

She squeezed my fingers, then let go as she slid off the stool and headed to the bathroom. As I watched her walk across the room, a peculiar feeling came over me.

Almost in a daze, I slid off my stool and traced Cassie's footsteps across the room. One half of my brain knew what I was doing, knew what I was planning to do, but it was a very distant half of my brain. The forefront of my mind only had a driving need to see this unsuspecting woman under my complete control.

I opened the door to the bathroom, experiencing an inverted sense of déjà vu. Cassie was at the sink, in almost the same position I had been in all those months ago. I turned and locked the door, then strode quickly across the room to the pretty blonde.

"Claire?" she asked nervously. "What's up?"

"Nothing is up." I replied softly, hearing the menacing tone in my voice. "Turn back around Cassie."

"Huh?" she said blankly.

I had reached her by this point. I took her shoulders and turned her bodily to face the mirror. I met her eyes in the mirror as my hands slid under her arms to cup her large breasts. I squeezed the globes firmly, feeling her erect nipples through the tight thin fabric. I watched as her dark blue eyes opened wide at my touch. I leaned my head in and breathed softly in her ear. She shuddered delicately, and her eyes began to close as my lips roamed the soft skin of her neck.

"Open your eyes," I demanded. I could feel the power flowing through me, intoxicating and undeniable. This woman would be MINE. She would quiver and come for me. And I would watch her as I made her body do my bidding. God, is this what Madison always felt?

Cassie's eyes flew open, looking at me in fear and desire. The power in me flew higher at the hint of fright and panic in her face, and the desire in me echoed her own. I pulled her top down over her breasts, exposing the large soft globes to my vision in the mirror. I tweaked her large dark brown nipples, and watched as the color began to flush her chest. Cassie's breathing was beginning to go ragged, and her eyes were open wide with trepidation.

"Claire, I don't think I can do this here," she said anxiously.

"Don't think," I commanded. "Just feel. Feel me."

Her breasts quivered in my hands as she took a deep breath. I release her right breast, sliding my hand down her abdomen to the waistband of her skirt. With a quick twist of my wrist, my hand was under her skirt, my fingers lifting the elastic band of her underwear and sliding further down her belly to the warm cleft below.

"Claire..."Cassie choked out, her hand flying to grasp mine through the fabric of her skirt.

"Put your hands on the counter," I demanded, stilling my exploration. "NOW!"

Her hand shook as she placed it on the counter, and she slowly placed her left hand next to it. I kept my gaze locked on hers as my fingers slid even further down, finding the wet slit that was my goal. I watched as her eyes went cloudy at my first stroke across her clit. Her soft moan was strangled in the back of her throat, and her breast was quaking in my hand in time with her shaky fast breathing.

I fingered her slowly, swirling the pad of my middle finger in circles around the hard nub of her clit. Her wet moisture soon lubricated the entire area of soft flesh, enhancing the smooth friction of my finger. I twirled and pulled at her nipple in time with my eddying finger. I could imagine what her body was feeling as I slowly, ever so slowly took her to the heights of orgasm.

Watching her was a revelation in ecstasy. I could tell she desperately wanted to close her eyes, but was afraid to. I knew she very much wanted to touch me, but didn't want to interrupt the fingering she was getting. I knew the moment the slow build up became a fast climb. I watched the blood pool under her fair skin in her cheeks and her chest, just as I felt her clit swell with blood too. Her quiet moaning was music to my ears, a symphony of pleasure that I was conducting. Her body was putty in my hands. I was completely in control of her feelings. Her orgasm was mine to give or rescind. At this moment in time, I OWNED Cassie.

The power erupted in me, and I saw my own hazel eyes glittering with it. I rubbed Cassie's clit with faster circles, pressing just a bit harder. In seconds, she was coming. Her face contorted as the orgasm ripped through her, her hands clenched into fists and her belly contracted. I felt the fierce throbbing of her clit against my finger, and the flood of wetness that came out of her. Her soft moaning turned into rough grunts, and her eyes watered with the pressure of keeping them open. Her gaze was locked on my face as my eyes roamed all over her body in the mirror, devouring her with my eyes. I lapped up the sight before me, knowing it was at my will it came to be.

I caught sight of my own reflection, and started at the stranger I saw there. This fierce woman, with hard glittering eyes and a slash of an angry mouth was not me. She frightened me. She was demanding, she was unforgiving, she was ferocious. But a part of me recognized the beast inside, knowing that under Madison's tutelage I had learned a lot. I reeled away from the realization that Madison was responsible for extreme pleasure in control that I was feeling now. I didn't want to think about Madison. I didn't want Madison to be responsible for ANY of my pleasure ever again. But on the other hand, it was because of her that I knew now how to proceed with Cassie. I knew how to wrap this poor unsuspecting woman around my finger, make her mine, and make her ache to do my every whim. I knew how, and I wanted to. The monstrous feeling of power that I had just felt was only an appetizer. I knew that there was much more, much better to come.

I quickly pulled my hand out of Cassie's skirt, and stepped over to the next sink to wash my hands. Cassie bent over at the waist, trying to catch her breath. I knew I had only moments to make my escape. I walked out of the bathroom to the bar, dropping a bunch of money next to my empty drink glass. I grabbed my purse and all but ran out of the door, glancing once over my shoulder to make sure Cassie hadn't come out yet.

I made my way to my car, and peeled rubber out of the lot, and drove home shaking with the leftover adrenaline in my veins. I contemplated how long I should wait before returning to Fatale's, before finding Cassie again and pulling the trap ever tighter around her. I considered with glee what I would do to her, the places I would take her, the humiliation I would force her to face, the humongous orgasms I would give her and watch erupt in her eyes. I pondered whether or not I would let her get me off, then decided quickly that no, I wouldn't. I would not accede any of my power to her. She would not have control over my body at any time. Only I would ever control my emotion, only I would have power over my orgasms. Never again would I give someone else that domination over me. Now, I would be the one with the power, with the control, with the dominance.

I laughed evilly and gleefully in the darkness in my car, my head thrown back. I caught the reflection of my eyes in the rearview mirror, and saw an echo of Madison's expression there. I laughed out loud again, sinister and hearty, and thought I could hear Madison's laugh echo after my own.

THE END

(Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in the final chapter of Power Plays – I have been planning my wedding! I hope you enjoyed the story, even if it wasn't the "happy ever after" I usually write. Thanks for reading! – Virginia Raine)