Unconditional Submission

Little Katherine

Author's Note: OK friends! These next few chapters are my absolute favorite! I hope you love them as much as I do!

"He wanted to know what kind of submissive I was," I told Clark as the bus full of seniors hummed down the highway that hugged the beautiful coast. That's where Clark's eyes lingered, on the ocean that stretched far out towards the horizon. His hand held mine, tucked warmly in my lap, but most of our conversation had been spent this way; his head turned from me.

"Who?" Clark asked for verification. "Doctor Whitlock?"

I nodded, though he couldn't see. "I guess he and Headmaster Warren had discussed me beforehand..."

"What did you tell him?"

"Headmaster Warren answered for me; said only you could answer that as the dominant."

"That's why they're letting you finish out the project..." he commented, almost bitterly. And then with a sigh: "Don't worry, Katherine. We'll figure that out before the end of the weekend."

I chewed on my lip, my eyes wandering past his head of curly hair and off towards the distance where the ocean stretched in one grand ever-moving body of blue.

We had been on the bus for nearly an hour, driving along the coast the whole way to reach the retreat that held the Vanidestine's Senior Trip every year. This was the final stage of the project; the several days unsupervised.

The prospect of being entirely alone with Clark sent shivers down my spine. Not out of fear or anticipation; but because I could think of nothing else but repeating the night of passion that had ended too soon.

Looking to Clark now, my eyes traveled up his tan forearm to his toned biceps, up to his chiseled neck where I imagined myself biting and tasting the salt from his skin...

With an unsteady intake of breath, I closed my eyes, shifting in my seat as I tried to will the sensual thoughts away. The movement caught Clark's attention and he turned to look at me. It was brief, as if he had been deep in thought and the movement from the corner of his eye had distracted him for a moment.

Once he assessed that I was OK, he turned back towards the window.

Frowning to myself, I looked down the length of the aisle. Sitting three seats ahead, Dawson and his submissive quietly chatted about something. I watched, something heavy and sad growing inside my chest, as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and warmed Dawson's yellow hair to a fiery orange. He squinted into the sun, holding up his hand to shield his eyes as his conversation continued with Bridgett.

He looked so normal; happy even. How did he and I find ourselves in the position of losing everything?

Looking at Clark, I wondered the same about him.

Pushing away the desire to cry, I stared off into the ocean again.

"I wonder what it's like over there..." I said quietly. Clark turned his head and actually looked at me this time.

"Over where?"

I nodded my head towards the window, towards the ocean, off in the distance where a land very different from ours stretched some thousand miles away.

"Why? Thinking about rowing yourself across the ocean to become a Berkelium?"

"That depends; how good of a sailor are you?" I teased and I delighted in the light crack of a smile that twisted around his lips.

"I've sailed a boat before," he confessed.

"A paddleboat?" I grinned.

"Careful, My Katherine," he warned, his voice dropping ever-so-slightly. His smile was still there, but the silky warning in his tone gave me goosebumps. He noticed, and he lifted his hand to brush the back of his knuckles down the pebbling skin of my arm.