Prince of Darkness vs Prom Queen 03

Turned out -- he didn't have to. The fan had finally reached maximum speed and the shit was flying in every direction.

By the time he went looking for her, she had moved lock, stock, and stuffed unicorn, out of their bedroom to the guest bedroom at the far end of the hall. When he tried to talk to her and point out that two people who cared about each other shouldn't go to bed angry, she pointed out that he didn't have to worry because she wouldn't be going to bed with him.

Stupidity, thy name is Donovan Corbett, except, he wasn't stupid. He was exceptionally smart and ran his corporate empire and his Dominant empire with a very skilled and controlled iron fist.

And then there was Laci, Donovan's own personal, blue-eyed, angelic form of Kryptonite.

The calendar was waving to him, pointing out how little time he had to unfuck all that had been fucked.

Real life wasn't always a big budget, passionately gripping theatrical release with a predictable but happy ending. It wasn't long until his first anniversary and Donovan had the very distinct feeling if he didn't figure things out, there was a good chance he wouldn't be having a sequel of his own.

Chapter 2 Egregious Miscalculation

Victor was clattering around the kitchen while Donovan was having a cup of coffee, pretending to read the newspaper and attempting to sort out his dilemma. How in the hell could Victor make so much noise? He was one person with a decibel level usually in the range of a herd of stampeding elephants.

"Victor, could you stop whatever it is you're doing and give me a little peace and quiet?"

"Not doing anything. Just standing here waiting for you to tell me what's on your mind."

"Nothing is on my mind. I'm simply trying to read the paper and would appreciate some quiet."

"Which you'll get as soon as you tell me what's on your mind," Victor retorted.

"There is nothing on my mind. I'm minding my own business and hoping you'll mind yours."

"How's the coffee?"

"It's fine, Victor."

"So what's on your mind?"

"Damn it! Can't you just leave me alone to enjoy my coffee?"

"Need more sugar?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Victor, what the hell is your problem?"

"Me? Got no problem except wondering what's on your mind and why you've been sitting there for almost an hour drinking coffee and haven't noticed that I never poured coffee in your cup. Other than that, no problems here. So what's on your mind?"

Donovan huffed in annoyance. "Laci and I had a disagreement. Are you satisfied?"

"Nope."

"Victor, are you going to badger me forever?"

"Until the end of time. So what's on your mind."

"I already told you. Laci and I had a disagreement."

"You fucked up, didn't you?"

"Why is it always my fault? A lot of people make mistakes every single day and not everything that happens is my fault."

"That's very true, Donovan. People make mistakes all the time. While you've been sitting here, there've probably been ten thousand mistakes made in every corner of the world, and only some of them have been your fault, so, what'd you do to fuck up?"

"Victor, it's a long story."

"No shit. When have you ever had anything but a long story? What'd you do this time?"

"I told Laci I was having an affair. Now are you satisfied?"

Victor was actually shocked. "You're cheating on Laci?"

"Of course not. Other than when I'm training, I haven't looked at another woman since Laci."

"Donovan? Are you gay?"

"No, I'm not gay." Donovan was having a hard time hiding his annoyance. "What the hell is wrong with you? You've known me for years. If I was gay, wouldn't you have figured it out by now?"

Victor didn't seem convinced. "One would think, but if you're having an affair, and you haven't looked at another woman, what's left? Sex has a pretty short menu, Donovan. Men. Women. Not much else to choose from. Well, there is, but let's not go there. Even you're not that crazy."

"Victor. Shut up."

"So, why're you cheating on Laci?"

"I just told you that I'm not."

Victor looked at him in confusion. "Okay. Let's start again. What's on your mind, Donovan?"

Donovan's level of exasperation was about to reach its peak. "I already told you. Laci and I had a disagreement. I misunderstood something and I told her I was having an affair, but I'm not having an affair. I would never cheat on my wife. That would be reprehensible."

"So you told her you were having an affair that you're not having, but she thinks you're having?"

"Exactly."

"Okay. Let's start again. What's on your mind, Donovan?"

"Victor, just shut up. I need to figure out what I'm going to do."

"What you're going to do about Laci and the affair you told her you're having but you're not having even though you told her you were having it? Is that what you want to figure out, because I'm telling you -- no way you're figuring that out. I know they say confession is good for the soul, but the way it works is you're supposed to do something before you confess. You don't confess first."

"Victor, you're giving me a headache."

"Donovan, way I see it, headache's the least of your problems.

"Unless you have something helpful to say, just don't say anything."

"You fucked up."

"Yes, Victor. I know."

"You finally found someone you care about more than you care about yourself, and you fucked up."

"What part of that was the helpful part?"

"How are you planning to unfuck things?"

Donovan sighed wearily. "I don't know. I have no fucking idea how I'm going to unfuck what I fucked up since I wasn't planning to fuck up, but fucked up anyway. Does that answer your fucking question?"

"So am I to understand something occurred, which because of your compulsively obsessive psyche resulted in an egregious miscalculation on your part leading to a prime target objective of retaliation, which manifested itself solely due to your inability to employ more efficient and maturely appropriate coping mechanisms? Would that be an accurate assessment?" Victor wanted to know.

Donovan stared at him. "What?"

"You fucked up because you're an asshole."

"Victor, go away. Go annoy your wife. Go annoy Trent Nichols. Just go."

"What kind of a friend would I be if I left you? You need me to help get you unfucked."

"All right. If you're so helpful, what do you suggest I do?"

"What I always suggest. Talk to her. You were alone for a long time and now you're not. It's not all about you anymore and at some point, you're going to have to start including her in your marriage."

"What the hell does that mean? I include her."

"I don't mean the bedroom stuff, Donovan. I mean the relationship stuff. Talk to her."

"Which would be easier if she was talking to me. In case you haven't noticed, she's barely said a word to me for the last couple of days. It's a little hard to have a one sided conversation," Donovan stated.

"Not true," Victor told him. "You do it all the time. You love hearing yourself talk. Listening to yourself talk and fucking up are two of your favorite hobbies. Thing is, Donovan, she's pretty tolerant, but one of these days her patience with you is gonna wear out and you'll be really miserable if she walks away."

"She may have already done that. She couldn't wait to move out of our bedroom and she said she'll talk to me when she knows what she wants to say. That doesn't sound very good, relationship-wise."

"Donovan, I don't get it. Why can't you read Laci the way you read everyone else? She reads you. I would bet anything she already knows you didn't have an affair and she's not planning to talk to you until she figures out why you told her you did. Why don't you just make it easy on both of you, tell her and get it over with? Why did you lie to her in the first place? Most men who have affairs lie to their wives and say they didn't. Only you would not have an affair and lie and say you did."

"You know that script you were reading with Trent?" Victor nodded and Donovan continued, "I heard her reading through it with him and I thought she was talking about me."

"No. Really. Why'd you lie?"

"That's really why, Victor. It sounded very authentic, at the time. She can do everything else, so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that she can also act."

"No. Really. Why'd you really lie?"

"Damn it, Victor, that's really why. I was in the office and overheard them in the garden and I overreacted a little. What if you'd heard Marian saying something like that? How would you feel if you heard your wife saying those words?"

Victor wandered restlessly around the kitchen for several minutes. "You know, Donovan, for once you have me stumped. I get what you're saying, but Master Donovan is no insecure guy. You're demanding, controlling, arrogant, egotistical, self-absorbed, dictatorial, narcissistic, pompous, domineering....."

"I get the point, Victor. Any chance you can get to your point?"

"My point is what would make you believe Laci would say things like that about you? Although," Victor looked at his friend, "it's actually kinda nice."

"What's nice? What's so fucking nice about thinking your wife hates you then screwing up your marriage to the point where your wife doesn't even want to talk to you? What's nice about that?"

"What's nice," Victor told him smugly, "is that you really love her and for once in your life, someone else is more important to you than you are to yourself. You really love her, even though she isn't submissive, you have no idea what's going on in her head and she makes you crazier than you already are, but you love her anyway and that's nice. So how about taking your dictatorial, narcissistic, pompous self to wherever she is, and telling her. Go talk to her Donovan. She knows you better than you know you, and she likes you anyway. Go talk to her. She'll understand."

Sure she would. Who wouldn't understand such a simple plot twist?

Chapter 3 Are We Done?

What was he going to tell her? Presuming she would be willing to listen, how was he going to explain his insane reaction to what he thought he heard? Even he had to admit it was childish, but Laci had that effect on him. Donovan spent most of his adult life being prepared for anything, then dealing with it accordingly. Control was only a small part of it. It wasn't as if the world was swarming with submissive people. He'd dealt with plenty of domineering, aggressive and combative people every day and he was good at it, so why did Laci render him crazy and nearly powerless?

Love. Damn it, but Victor was right about that. Donovan Corbett truly loved Laci Grace Corbett. Loving another person was hard enough; loving her was like trying to reach out and grab hold of the wind, but the mistral known as Laci, made every bit of the effort worthwhile.

Donovan spent the rest of the day stalking the driveway, waiting for her to come home. Trent was back from wherever he'd been and was safely hidden away in the guesthouse probably doing actor things. Marian had pulled into the driveway next door and gone into the house she shared with Victor. That was still a hard one for Donovan. Cousin Marian had always been so sensible, but she and Victor were madly in love and very happily married, so it must be true that complete opposites attracted.

And where was Laci? Perhaps hiding was a good word. She had finished for the day with Trent and checked in with Marian, then had gone off on her own to think and figure out what she was going to say to Donovan, her wonderfully dear and mildly deranged husband.

Poor Donovan. He was trying so hard to deal with his dominant tendencies and his couldn't possibly be any less submissive wife. Everything in his world had been neat, orderly and completely in his control until she came wandering into that world and sent it into orbit.

Watching him try to coordinate Donovan the man, with Donovan the husband, and Donovan the Dominant was like watching a championship high stakes poker game. He understood his objective, he wasn't quite sure what card was going to be drawn, but he would be damned if he'd let anyone beat him. That was until Laci out-bluffed him.

True he was still trying to find his way around and figure things out. Falling in love had been hard for Donovan. Believing he was in love had been even harder, but accepting her love was pure wonderment for him.

Laci adored Donovan and considered herself the luckiest woman in the entire world. The relationship wasn't without its issues, after all, how many women watched their husband go off for several weeks to train sex slaves, but it was part of who he was and she could deal with it as long as she knew he'd be back and she knew he'd always be back. A man like Donovan was rare. When he loved, it was with his entire heart and every bit of his being. What woman could resist a love like that?

She wished he could see himself as she saw him. There was no question about his need to control, and when he was working, he was profoundly awe-inspiring. He was so smart and quick, watching him wheel and deal, demolish an opponent or command a meeting was a truly magnificent sight. Of course, watching him struggle with some mundane task like putting batteries in a flashlight made her love him even more. She would never get tired of watching his autocratic and formidable side, but his helpless side made her melt. His confidence in the workplace was paramount, and his uncertainty and confusion with all the little things made him human.

She recalled a day when she wanted to plant some seeds for a small herb garden. He didn't have the slightest idea where to start, in fact, she wasn't sure he'd ever touched dirt prior to that day but he jumped in wholeheartedly, made a huge mess and got every single seed planted. His almost child-like enthusiasm and wonder when he saw the seeds actually starting to sprout filled her with complete joy. He filled her with complete joy . . . when he wasn't having one of his breakdowns.

Every so often, all the components of his personality collided and his brain imploded. Why else would he tell her he'd been having an affair? Like she would ever believe that. For one thing, he was too honorable and for another, he wouldn't have the energy after she was done with him. Donovan might have many faults, but none of them were in their bedroom. Still, something had set him off, he'd overreacted, and sometimes his overreactions got a little out of control.

Laci didn't usually play games, but if he needed to realign his personality, his aura and chakras, or do whatever he did to take back his control, she could handle it and play along. She was used to his moments of lunacy, the only difference was this time she called him on it and moved out of their bedroom. She'd never done that before and he'd paced so much during the last couple of days, he probably could have made it all the way to Canada. It was only a matter of time until he told her what was on his mind and all the planets in Donovan's universe would once again be in harmony.

Unless she decided to make him work just a little harder for it this time. Control went both ways.

Finally. Finally he saw her car coming down the street. Where the hell had she been? How could he work things out if she wasn't around to work with him? "Laci, we need to talk about some things."

"Okay."

Did that mean okay, yes -- or okay, no -- or okay, I'll talk to you when I damn well feel like it? He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into his office. She stood watching him struggling to take back control. "Laci, I did not have an affair."

"Okay. Are we done?"

"What the hell do you mean 'are we done'? Is that all you have to say?"

Good sign. She seemed to be thinking about it. "Yes. Are we done?"

Maybe not such a good sign. "Laci, we need to discuss this. I need to make you understand. I did not have an affair. I told you I did, but I didn't. Have an affair. I never had one. Do you understand?"

'Yes. Are we done?"

"No, we're not done! We need to get this settled. Maybe you didn't hear me."

"Of course I heard you. You're standing right in front of me. You told me you had an affair that you didn't have."

"Exactly." Finally. She was finally understanding. "Do you forgive me?"

She looked slightly puzzled. "Why do you need forgiveness for something you haven't done?"

This was good. She was paying attention and asking questions. He just wished he had the answer. "I guess I don't since I never actually did anything. So it's all settled and everything's been cleared up and you can move back into our bedroom."

"Thank you for clearing it up, but I'm not moving back into the bedroom. Are we done?"

"NO! WE'RE NOT DONE! I thought you understood."

"Donovan, I totally understand. You told me you were having an affair that you never had. I absolutely understand."

"Then why won't you move back to our bedroom?"

Her glance was just chilly enough. "Because you lied to me. When we got married, the only things I asked for were love, respect, and trust. A man who loves his wife doesn't say he's cheating when he's not. A man who respects his wife tells the truth. A man who suddenly confesses to not having an affair he previously said he had is hardly the pinnacle of trust."

"Sometimes I get confused." Sometimes? He got confused every time she walked into the damn room.

"Then I'll clear things up for you. When you're ready to get unconfused and tell me what's really going on, we can talk about it. I think we're done now." She turned and started to leave.

"Laci! Wait!" This wasn't going as planned. Maybe he needed Trent Nichols to lend him a script. A fucking script was what started this whole mess. "I heard something and thought I understood, but what I heard wasn't what was really said, except, I thought it was. Then, I heard it again and that was when I knew what I heard wasn't really what I heard, even though I thought it was what I heard."

Let the babbling begin.

"And that was why you told me you were having an affair you weren't actually having."

"Exactly." Why the hell did it always take her so long to understand? He'd made it perfectly clear.

"Well, if you're hearing things that aren't being said, that's not really a good thing. Perhaps you should see a doctor. Are we done now?"

"NO!" he told her loudly and stubbornly. "We're not done until you forgive me."

"But, Donovan, we've already established you haven't done anything that requires forgiveness."

"Right." Donovan looked at her in defeat. "I guess we're done." He watched her turn and leave the room before he sank down into his chair. He tried to look at the bright side, although, whichever way he flipped it, none of the sides appeared particularly bright. I am a Dominant, he reminded himself. I am in complete and total control. Maybe he could give himself another round of applause. At least if no one else appreciated him, he could appreciate himself. Let's hear it for Donovan!

Chapter 4 Chain of Fools

Donovan loved their bedroom. Of course he loved it more when they were both in it together, but a reconciliation didn't appear to be happening anytime soon. Maybe sitting quietly in the sauna would help him think more clearly.

Donovan purchased the house years ago because Marian lived in Georgia and he liked visiting with her when his scheduled permitted. Although not as grand as some of his other properties, it was a stately and classic Southern colonial which hadn't been updated in years so when he decided it was time for some renovations, he was pleased they were able to make changes but keep most of the elegant charm that was the true personality of the house.

The only place they really changed was the master bedroom. Decorated in soft tints of blue and grey, it had become a tranquil oasis away from the rest of the world. It wasn't just a place for sleeping or sex, although they did plenty of both, but it was also a place of serenity. Well, maybe not for the sex part.