The 30 Days Day 07-09: Party Spirit

By the time Alex knocked on the door to collect her, Grace was sat on her bed in a dressing gown, makeup on, hair curled, with her outfit hanging on the wardrobe door. As she opened the door to let him in, his eyes lit up, just like they always did when he saw her.

"Come in," she smiled, stepping back and quickly closing the door behind him as he stepped through it. As soon as the door closed she through her arms around him, and enjoyed the warmth as he returned the embrace

"Thank you so much for coming over yesterday," she told him, "you really are amazing."

"Oh it's okay kitten," he smiled back as he loosened his grip on her body, "are you okay? Have you been alright today?"

"Mostly," she nodded in reply. "I'm ready for the party, I'm gonna be brave."

"That's great! I hope you're not just going in your dressing gown though," Alex laughed.

"Oh no," Grace smiled mischievously, "I'm wearing the devil dress, I just thought you might like to watch me put it on." She didn't want to admit that the real reason she hadn't put it on yet was because she was worried she'd have another panic attack and wanted him to be there just in case, but she suspected that he knew that anyway.

"Well I'll certainly not say no to that, lead the way, Satan," Alex joked, as the pair walked into the bedroom.

"Sit," Grace commanded, pushing lightly on Alex's chest as he slumped onto the bed. "Good boy."

"Woof..." commented Alex sarcastically, earning him an exaggerated eye-roll. Shaking her head, Grace turned away and undid the ties of her gown, before sliding it off her body, revealing the jet black underwear beneath. She first grabbed the garter belts from her desk and, bending over enticingly, pulled them up her legs, fastening them tight at the top of each thigh. The soft flesh squished a little as the metal and leather pressed against it, and Grace loved the way it looked on her slim legs, the tough black leather contrasting against her soft pale skin. Next came the brilliant red stockings, which felt soft and silky in her hands and hugged her legs so perfectly as she pulled them up, and clipped them onto the garters. Finally, standing up straight, Grace took the dress from a hanger and lifted it over her head, wiggling her hips back and forth as it slid down over her body, and feeling the fabric stretch and grip her curves as the zip was pulled closed. It felt great on her, but she was nervous, scared of what she'd think when she saw herself in the mirror, anxious about what everyone would think of her. Nobody's opinion was more important to her than Alex's though, and as she spun to face him she saw the huge smile on his lips.

"So," she smiled, "what do you think?"

"I think you look fucking amazing," Alex told her, "I think if the devil looked like that I'd quite happily spend eternity in hell just to enjoy the view!"

"Hah!" Grace couldn't help but laugh, "wait until you've spent a while with me, that'll be so much worse than an eternity in hell," she joked back. With him here, his eyes wandering all over her body, a smile growing on her lips, she actually loved this outfit. He had this amazing way of giving her confidence when normally she'd have none, of making her smile when otherwise she'd cry. She just hoped that would last through the party. "Go on then, quit staring and go get your costume on. We're already late."

"Do I have to stop staring?" Alex quipped with a sly smile, struggling to take his hungry gaze off of her.

"Yes. Go change. Now."

"Fine, fine," he pouted, "I hope you're not expecting a strip tease though. You look much better doing those than I do."

"I look better doing everything than you do!"

"True," Alex agreed, "especially begging for mercy on your fucking knees." His voice and turned deep and cruel, and it sent sparks through Grace's body with every razor sharp syllable. "Which is where you'll be if you don't cut that fucking attitude out. Understand?"

"Fuck," Grace whimpered, feeling her body come alight at the crack of her master's tongue. "Yes sir."

Without even realising she was doing it, Grace sank to her knees as Alex stood and pulled his costume from his bag. Much to her disappointment he didn't have to undress to put his on, he simply pulled the robes over his head, and placed the tall hat firmly in place. Finally grabbing a bottle of spirit labeled as holy water, and a copy of the Bible he was given in school years ago, the outfit was complete.

"Every devil needs a nice, innocent man to corrupt, right? And who better to corrupt than the Pope himself!"

"Oh yeah," she giggled, "because I'm the one who corrupted you..."

"You were! I was a nice innocent boy before you came along with your big boobs and pretty face and begged me to choke you."

"You didn't exactly need much encouragement!"

"Shhhh!" Alex protested, pushing his finger against her lips, firm enough to act as a threat. Enough to make her salivate just a little as she thought about what he might be threatening her with.

"C'mon," he said after a pause. "We're already late. Let's go find you some souls to harvest."

~~~

The party was busy, and loud. Music blasted from speakers scattered around the house, people danced in one room, in another there was a beer pong table, in the garden people gathered to smoke, or to get some fresh air. Alex's friends always threw the best parties, at least that's what he said. But despite the booze and the music and the great atmosphere Grace was struggling to enjoy herself. New people always made her anxious, especially when there was alcohol. Most of the girls were dressed in short dresses, or tiny shorts and crop tops, amazingly her outfit didn't seem out of place at all. But still it felt like every guy there would glance at her as she walked past. She couldn't tell if they were admiring her, or judging her. She did feel sexy, still feeding from the energy Alex had given her, but something still played on her mind, something didn't feel quite right. Despite the niggling fears, Grace told herself it was just the biting cold of the autumn air, and did her best to throw herself into the party. Luckily, as the festivities went on, everyone got more and more drunk, more and more rowdy, the anxiety began to fade slowly as she fell into the rhythm of the night. She was actually enjoying herself, even trying to dance, although it had never been her strong point. A few guys even tried to dance with her, and she was happy to play along, singing songs back at them and doing shots from each other's bottles. The odd hand would skirt across her waist, and she'd catch a few pairs of eyes staring at her body, but she didn't mind that in the state she was in. Actually, she quite liked it. She wanted to be admired, to be an object of lust. To get a guy obsessed knowing he couldn't have her. Only one guy could have her, and she couldn't wait for that time, later. She couldn't help but imagine the way his hands would feel through the thin fabric, the way he'd rip the slutty little outfit from her body, and make her feel like a real slut. His slut...

One guy though suddenly pulled her from her drunken daydream. She felt his hand on her, gripping her behind through the fragile fabric of her dress. Instantly she knew it wasn't Alex, and as she spun to face the direction it had come from she came face to face with someone who seemed much more drunk than anyone she'd ever seen. Stepping away, she thwacked his arm from her, and scowled at him to fuck off. Slipping into the party crowd, she was happy to be away from him, but only a moment later she felt breath on her ear, and smelled smoke and booze and god knows what else on it.

"You look... So hot," slurred the voice, and as Grace turned to face it she confirmed what she already knew: it was the same guy. She stepped back, and he followed. Another step. Her heels hit the wall, and she was stuck. His arm reached up to steady himself, simultaneously propping his drunken mass up against the wallpaper and blocking her escape. Her heart rate shot up further as her response turned from flight to fight

"You should... You should come up-upstairs wif me," he struggled to suggest. His other hand went to her face, and his hot fingers made an attempt at caressing her cheek, sending terrified shivers down her spine. Her fingers clenched into an angry first, and her chest began to shake. Fear filled her body, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry, but she knew that wouldn't get rid of him. Summoning up all of her confidence, just as his fumbling fingers reached her lips she screamed.

"FUCK OFF!"

Over the sound of the music half a dozen people must have heard, and they all turned to look. From the background one of the biggest guys grabbed her assailant, and dragged him away with a forceful tug.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Her protector's voice was deep and booming, and seemed to have put the fear of God into the eyes of the little creep. As a couple of people gathered around to comfort Grace, and a couple more dragged the mystery man away, she felt herself go dizzy. The crowd, the alcohol, the adrenaline was too much. Her breaths became deep and hard to take, her vision spun and blurred, her stomach churned. As Grace's heart rate went through the roof, she suddenly felt her legs go from beneath her, and she wobbled to the carpet.

Someone must have shouted for Alex, because it was only a moment later that he'd scooped her up into his arms. Instantly she felt safe. The smell of his aftershave, the sound of his voice as he reassured her, the feeling of his heart pounding in his chest against her cheek. This was her safe space, the one place that always helped calm her down. In his arms, it felt like nothing could hurt her.

"Do you need some fresh air?"

Grace could only nod, her words still choked in her quivering throat.

As the pair sat on the grass at the foot of the long back garden, they watched the stars drift in and out from behind the dim clouds, and listened to the dulled sounds of the party inside the house. Slowly, cuddled up against Alex, she began to feel better. Still drunk, but at least now not panicking, she leant up and gave him a long kiss.

"Thank you," she whispered. And as she did the first drops of rain began to fall. "For tonight, for last night, for the past week, the past months, everything."

His only reply was simply to pull her closer, enclosing her body with his warm embrace. And it was the best reply he could have given.

For a long while they sat there, until the drops turned to a shower, and the cold water forced them into action.

"Taxi?" Alex asked, pulling his priest's gown over the pair so that they'd stay at least somewhat dry.

"Yeah." Grace agreed hurriedly.

"Alright, let's get inside before we both get soaked, and I'll order us one.

Quickly the couple ran up the garden, joining the small crowd of others hurrying back inside to avoid the ever worsening weather. As luck would have it, the taxi was only minutes away, so the couple began to make their way through the house, saying their goodbyes as they pushed their way to the front door. As they huddled just inside the hallway, watching for the lights of their carriage home, Alex spotted a commotion just at the top of the stairs.

"Wait here, gimme a shout if you see the taxi," he suggested softly, before storming off to join the group of guys. As Grace watched him, she immediately understood what was going on: the creep had found a couple of his friends, and they'd started a very heated argument back at the gentlemen who'd helped her. As Alex arrived, Grace heard a shout of something indecipherable from that end of the house, and then she saw a punch. Alex got hit right across the head, and stumbled backwards for a second. A crowd rushed in, trying to pull the group apart and restraint the antagonists, but before they got there Alex had regained his composure. With the strong hands Grace knew so well, he grabbed the guy who'd punched him and slammed him hard enough against a wall that the whole house must have felt it, and landed one strong blow back on him before someone pulled the two apart. Alex stormed back down stairs with the first gentleman who'd helped Grace, both with red spots splattered on their outfits, Alex with more blood dripping from his nose

"Holy shit!" Grace ran over to him and began wiping away the red liquid from his face. "Are you okay? What the hell happened? Did he punch you? Who were they? Why are they still here? Is your nose broken? Is that your blood? Is it his blood? What did you do?" The questions seemed to tumble from her lips all at once, much too fast for Alex to answer them all.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he insisted, wincing as Grace touched his bloodied nose. "Ow! Fuck, careful, that hurts. Hey, shit look I think our taxi's here. I'll explain what happened on the way to your flat, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, pushing more tissue paper into his hands. "Keep this on your nose so you don't get blood everywhere."

As they sat in the taxi, Alex explained that the guy who'd groped at Grace had turned up uninvited. "He was a friend of a friend, apparently. And a couple of his friends had come with him. Those were the guys sticking up for him upstairs after Adam pulled him off of you."

"Was Adam the guy who was looking after?"

"Yeah, he's a good friend of mine, a really lovely guy, as you can tell. I'll have to introduce you both properly some time. Under better circumstances," Alex joked. "Anyway Alex and James, the guy whose house it is, were trying to get rid of the little cunts when I got there. Then long story short they said some not very nice things about you and me, I said some not very nice things about them, they punched me, I punched them."

"It looked like you beat the shit out of that guy!" Grace exclaimed, half horrified, half in admiration. She'd never seen anyone get into a proper fight like that before, much less Alex.

"Too fucking right I did," he replied. "Nobody gets to lay a finger on you like that cunt did. That's horrible."

"That's not the worst thing that happened to me, you know," Grace sighed, as her memory flashed back to her past, despite her best efforts to block those thoughts out

"What?!"

"I... Nothing." Grace knew she'd already probably oversahred, she's never told anyone fully about her past before, and she knew now wasn't the right time. "Are you okay? Why did you hit him so hard, you could get into trouble! You didn't have to do that to protect me, he'd already left me alone!"

Alex only sighed in reply. He knew he'd overreacted, that he'd gone too far, gotten carried away.

For what felt like an hour the pair sat in silence, Alex tending to his wounds, Grace staring out into the soggy night, thinking about what had happened, and trying to bury any thoughts of her past. Instead, she decided she would focus on Alex, nothing made her feel better like he did. Finally turning her gaze back to him she saw that he was slumped in his seat, handkerchief to his face, groaning softly with every bump and roll of the car.

"Is your nose okay, baby?" She asked, leaning over to get a closer look.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he reassured her with a soft smile. "Are you okay? That's the most important thing."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she half-lied, "just shook up, that's all." Alex must have been able to see the look in her eye, or the shake still in her hands, because the look on his face told her that he knew she wasn't okay, really. He always knew. But as he reached an arm around her, and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, she did feel a little better at least.

"I've never seen you like that before, not seriously at least. What you do with me doesn't count!"

Alex only half-shrugged, woozy from the booze and blow to the head, unsure what to say.

" It... Was kinda hot," Grace admitted after another long pause.

He could only laugh at that.

Day 9 - Saturday

The rain which had started last night still seemed to be coming down as Grace awoke next to Alex, and reached for her phone on the bedside table. 'At least instagram liked my outfit,' she thought as she scrolled through the notifications which had piled up overnight. "Not one message from anyone who was there last night though. Hmph." She sighed as she threw her phone back down onto the wood, and slumped back down into bed with enough force to stir her partner from his slumber.

"Heyy... what's up?" he grumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes as he pushed the covers down slightly, exposing his bare chest.

"Oh... nothing," she fibbed, feeling a little guilty that she'd woken him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she sighed, sliding up close to him and wrapping her arms around him. "Just thinking about what happened last night."

"Oh," he said as he turned to face her with a sore groan, "are you okay? Has it been playing on your mind?"

"No, no, I'm fine," she reassured him. "Are you okay? You've got a great big bruise on your head!"

"Do I? Oh fuck. I'll have fun explaining that one to my boss on Monday..."

"Tell them you got it protecting your fair lady from a horrible ogre," Grace giggled, playfully prodding the black and blue mark on his head.

"Woah calm down princess Fiona," he joked back, "this isn't Shrek!"

Grace bust out laughing as he bolted upright in bed and gave a mock battle cry "GET OUT MAHH SWAMP!"

She did her best to fake a scream, but ended up doubled over on the bed laughing instead.

"Fuck off," she giggled, pulling him back down onto the soft duvet, "you'll scare a girl like that! Anyway, Shrek WAS the ogre, he didn't protect anyone from Ogres."

"Yeah, well... erm," he stuttered for a moment, thinking up a way out. "Shrek was the good guy and Fuckwad-"

"Farquaad."

"-Fuckwad was the real ogre. It's a metaphor, right?"

By this point Grace's head was in her hands, laughing to herself. "You're a fucking idiot," she sighed. "But thank you for looking after me last night, that guy really scared me and god knows what would have happened if someone hadn't been there to stop him..."

"I'm glad you're okay," Alex reassured her, pulling her close.

"I've never seen you like that before, so angry, I never thought you'd be the type to fight someone like that... I never thought a guy would fight like that for me..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I know I got too carried away," he apologised.

"It was scary..."

"Sorry..."

"It was... kinda hot..."

"Oh yeah?" He smirked back, the smile reappearing on his lips.

"Yeah" she answered, shyly looking at the ground.

"You like it when I get scary?" His voice had changed to a whispering growl. He lent towards her, his hand firm on her thigh. He was scary like this, she thought. She loved it. "You like it when I slam people against walls and threaten them?" Her heart raced, 'yes!' she thought, but she didn't say it. The sly smile on her lips and the blush on her cheeks was all the conformation he needed though.

Quickly his hand moved to her neck, and pushed hard, sending her tumbling into the headboard. "Do you like it when I slam YOU against the walls?"

She did, a lot. Her heart raced, her breath hitched. She tried to reply but still couldn't, whether out of shy embarrassment, or something else. Instead she nodded quickly, as much as she could with her hand on her neck.

"Do you like it when I hurt you?" he continued, his voice growing deeper.

Another nod was all she could manage, every word he said was sending sparks through her body.

"Answer me!" He demanded slapping her across her cheek, "Did you fucking like that?"

"Yes...yes... sir," she whimpered, feeling the sting in her face.

"Do you want more?" He teased, his face getting closer and closer to hers.

"I want... I wanna be fucked," she begged, her voice full of lust.