He Wanted A Submissive

cinco.

Valerie hadn't heard from Luca in five days.

Five days since she told him that she thought she deserved better. Five days since she started tossing in her sleep. Five days and she'd been guilting herself into thinking that she'd passed up the best thing she'd been offered in her life.

If she'd taken the bait he'd given her, in a year she would've been set for life. Rolling out of bed and stretching, Valerie walked to her closet and laid out her clothes for the day. A simple olive green turtleneck and blue jeans that were ripped at the knee. For Valerie to be on such a tight budget she managed to dress nice, and not like she was hovering just above the poverty line.

She padded out of her room and into the kitchen, digging through one of the drawers attached to the counter she found the debit cards she and Nicki shared for food expenses. She'd been saving up three months worth of money from their government assistance to go shopping for Thanksgiving.

As she thought over just what she needed, she realized that she finally had enough to not go to the corner store Walgreens for groceries.

I can finally go to the fresh produce store downtown!

Valerie had always wanted to go downtown and shop for food. She'd grown tired of the brownish-yellow lettuce they put on the display at the local market. Last time she'd gotten a loaf of bread from there half the loaf was molded when she actually opened it up. Grabbing her purse then writing a quick little note for Nicki when she came home from her yoga class that she'd gone out, Valerie went on her way.

Just as she was closing the door she heard the jingling of keys that she'd grown to hate ever since she'd moved into the building. Turning around she stared into the face of her oh so lovely landlord, Lucinda.

Lucinda was in her late fifties, maybe even early sixties and she was a complete pain in the ass. She was a widow, the building was first owned by her husband until he got so drunk he fell down head first down a flight of his own stairs.

"Well lookie here, it's little Valerie Stevens who I haven't gotten my rent from in...two months?"

Valerie winced and leaned back onto the front door of her apartment, silently praying if she waited long enough Lucinda would just evaporate.

But, when she heard the awful coughing of the woman getting closer to her she sighed and opened her eyes. There Lucinda stood in all her mildewed bathrobe glory with huge soda cans that she used as curlers in her hair that was the color of dirty rain water. "Lucinda I promise to have your money on the first of next month. I promise."

Valerie couldn't get thrown out this close to Thanksgiving, she just couldn't. "Tuh, you said that last month. Hmm, where ya going?" Lucinda asks, her beady blue eyes lighting up at Valerie's wallet in hand.

 "Just going to the grocery store..." Valerie trailed off and tried to shake the woman's gaze off of the only currency she had.

"How about you slide me any cash you have on you and I'll let you slide for another month. Tacking on another twenty dollars as the late fee, of course." The woman said nonchalantly, even though the grin on her face was diabolical. 

 Blowing a stray curl out of her face and holding fifty dollars out to Lucinda, Valerie caved. Quickly, the woman's claw-like magenta nails snatched the paper and stuffed it into the pocket of her robe.

"Nice doing business with you, Val. See ya next month. Better have my money." With those as her parting words, Lucinda walked down the hallway. The chiming of keys still following her.