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“Technically, I’m in a supervisory role as a fellow. We should be colleagues but nothing more.”
“Technically, I’m not in your team so there’s no conflict of interest,” she said. “I checked the hospital’s policy. Like I said, I do my research.” She gave me a big smile.
I inhaled deeply and held in my desire to shout.
“See you at rounds,” she said and finally, Lisa got up and left the extra cup of coffee in front of me.
As soon as the door closed behind her, I took out my cell and texted Lara. I sat at my desk, debating with myself over how to approach Lara with the news I was being blackmailed by Lisa.
Finally, after considering, I sent Lara a text.
Hate to do this, but am having a problem with a colleague who I once topped at a dungeon party and who knows about my kinks. She threatened to expose me if I don’t treat her nicely. And by nicely I think she wants to start a sexual relationship. Which I don’t want, of course. I think she’s unhinged… Need your expert and wise advice.
Lara phoned me right away. I was glad to see her number on my cell and answered immediately. Before I could say anything, she stopped me.
“Tell me,” she said, her voice sounding tired. “You say it’s a colleague so I take it it’s not Kate’s little friend.”
“Thanks for calling,” I replied, rubbing my temples. “No, not this time. In fact, I think Dawn’s now an ally rather than a threat.”
“Tell me what happened.”
I told Lara everything, including all my encounters with Lisa during the first couple of weeks of the term at NYU.
“So you initiated nothing?” Lara asked, her voice calm.
“Absolutely nothing. I had no memory of her until she told me we met through Richardson and I topped her twice at dungeon parties. I try to ignore her but she’s now demanding I take her places for lunch, and dinner...”
“She sounds like a nutcase,” Lara said. She was quiet on the line for a moment.
“What are you thinking?”
She sighed audibly on the line. “It’s a Catch-22. If you don’t play along with her, she might actually follow through on her threat to expose you. It wouldn’t be good at all for your career if your involvement in BDSM, however mild, were revealed publicly. People in the general public don’t make the distinction between a hard-core sadist and a soft-core Dominant. All they hear is BDSM and that makes some of them go insane.”
“Tell me about it,” I said and rubbed my forehead.
“And if you do play along with her, it’ll encourage her to think there’s a chance you two might become involved. She’s definitely stalking you, even knowing you’re married. She’s deluded, at least. And then to threaten you and expect you to still be her best friend?” Lara didn’t say anything for a moment but I could tell she was upset. “I only remember her vaguely, but I have to tell you I think she’s dangerous, Drake. You have to find a way to keep her under control so she doesn’t go public. You say she knows Sunita as well?”
“Yes,” I said, thinking of how my past was coming back to haunt me in a very bad way. “She knows Sunita from NYP.”
Lara sighed heavily. “That girl turned out to be very bad news as well. A mistake on my part, but I’ve learned my lesson. Sadly, it’s come back to haunt us. She also threatened me. She’s really on a witch hunt.”
“What should I do?”
Lara was silent. “I don’t know, Drake. If you stay in the program, you’ll have to deal with her and things might get increasingly problematic. You can’t go to the authorities about it because you don’t want to have anything come out about your lifestyle choices.”
“I’ll quit,” I said finally. “I can take a year off with no real effect on my career. I’ll say it’s a paternity leave so I can spend the first year of my child’s life at home.”
“What will Miss Meddler think of that? She’ll know you’re trying to avoid her.”
“Fuck it,” I said. “If she comes after me, am I at risk of any kind of charges from the past? Could Sunita come after me in any way?”
I heard papers flipping on Lara’s desk and hoped I wasn’t imposing too much on her time but she was a legal expert on BDSM.
“Sunita signed waivers so you can prove that anything you did was consensual.”
I e
xhaled in relief. “I don’t want her coming at me with an assault charge.”
