Free The Collectors by Lesley Gowan Page A

school for nonpayment.”
    “Is that right?”
    “Adele told me Jeanne paid for the rest of her grad school tuition and gave her a place to live. She’s amazing.”
    Danni got dragged away by the gallery owner and I went to find Jeanne, who’d drifted away. I saw her in the farthest corner from me, with Adele, which shouldn’t have been a surprise. Why wouldn’t she be here? I had a bad feeling. The generosity Jeanne showed Adele could only mean she would give Adele whatever she wanted. And Adele wanted me gone.
    I stood frozen where I was, streams of people walking around me like I was a post. It looked like Adele was raising her voice. I couldn’t imagine yelling at Jeanne was a good tactic to use, so I rooted for Adele to completely lose it. I hoped she’d make a big, awkward scene in the gallery and thoroughly disgust Jeanne. But before Adele had a chance to ratchet up the histrionics, Jeanne walked away. I saw her scanning the room, looking for me, so I waved my hand and walked toward her. She scooped me up and we were out the door in a flash.
    “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
    Jeanne looked annoyed, but I didn’t think with me. She was striding toward the parking garage a block from the gallery. I was a little annoyed to get the silent treatment.
    “Listen, I know you don’t want me to ask about Adele, but it’s kind of hard not to when I see you guys have an argument in a public place.”
    “That wasn’t an argument. It was Adele spouting nonsense and me walking away.”
    “What kind of nonsense. Was it about me?”
    I skipped a few steps to try to catch up with her and saw a scowl on her face. I was pretty sure that one was for me. She remained silent while the car was brought around for us, but once we were on our way she took my hand.
    “I know I’ve not talked to you about much of anything other than art.”
    “And how good I look tied up.” I was trying for a light tone.
    “And you do look gorgeous. But in terms of what it means to me, what it means to you, anything about how we are all in relation to one another? Not only am I terrible at talking about those things, but I also have a stubborn belief the women I have sex with should work out their conflicts among themselves. So far that seems to have worked. Adele has just informed me it’s not working for her.”
    I looked at her like she was a foreign species. Or a man. “Are you kidding me? I have to side with Adele on this one. I mean, maybe if you were a sultan, or the Queen of Sheba, you might expect your, uh, harem to fall into line according to your whims. But this is the twenty-first century here.”
    Jeanne pulled over and turned off the car. “Adele has refused to fall in line about anything, and that’s the last I’ll say about her. You have not been instructed yet, so I can’t expect you to know what to do and what not to do. That’s fine, because we’re getting to know each other. And you don’t need to know anything else at this point. But you should know at least this. If we are to have something ongoing, something you’d call a ‘relationship,’ it will not be anything like a relationship such as you’ve always defined it. You will operate in my world, and in my world I am like a sultan or the Queen of Sheba. You can reject the idea right now and I’ll take you home. No hard feelings. Or you can come home with me. I would like to be with you tonight.”
    I didn’t say a thing. I didn’t use the time to consider options, for I didn’t think there were any if I wanted to be with Jeanne, as I desperately did. I was silent simply to take in all the new information. She’d never revealed so much before.
    “I’d be sad if you left, Laura. You do mean a lot to me.”
    “I’m not going anywhere, except to your house,” I said.
    Half an hour later we were in the study, on the sofa, me naked and laying over her lap, my butt in the air. This seemed to be a favorite position of hers. After spanking me for an