Chapter Two – Material Girl

Christopher checked his email for the sixteenth time that day. It had been almost five days since he left their apartment. His average of three calls a day since then were so far, unanswered. He cringed each time the ringing gave way to their outgoing message.

"Hi! You've reached Catelynn and" she paused and a faint static muffled the receiver. Tthe phone could be heard exchanging hands.

"Christopher. We're not here, so leave a message." He won the battle for lack of a song before the message, which he despised having to be put through when he called friends. He was still required to lend his voice. She claimed it really wouldn't feel like it was their message, if it was just her speaking. He grew to love the message, and especially the sound of her giggle before the beep cut in. He used to call it sometimes, just to hear her voice.

His miserable cell phone showed no missed calls. He hadn't dared to go near the apartment for fear that she had filed a report with the police, and he would be shackled in handcuffs in front of the bellman. Sending an email to any of her friends, pleading for help would obviously be a bad idea, and could possibly be considered as incriminating evidence. Besides, they were never his biggest fans. 

Although, if she had gone to the police it wouldn't have taken much investigative work to locate him crashed out on Jonathan's couch. He had relayed the events of that night to him (without the mention of Jon's cameo) after a brief cab ride. Jon had covered the cost of the taxi without question, and sent his secretary to Chris' apartment the next day 
with a list of things to gather while Catelynn was at work. 

His own assistant tiptoed lightly into his office, and assessed from his dazed gaze out the 30th floor window that he was not prepared for his 3:30pm appointment.

"Mr. St Patrick, I can reschedule the milestone meeting with the team for next week. I know Schwartz is behind schedule, and sweating the deadline. But Edgeco called this morning, and have extended the release until next year."

"Thanks, Jenny. Let everyone know, we'll meet up Monday." His eyes remained focused on the rise of steam above the skyscraper two blocks over. "And cancel anything else I have for the day. I have to go out." 

"Is there something I can get for you? I was just about to-" she always tried to sound helpful and proactive, but she knew her desire to please and cater to him could not be well hidden. 

In his angst, he lacked his usual charm and grace, and coldly cut her off. "That will be all, Jenny."

As she disappeared through the large frosted glass doors, he took in the last dance of the steam among the low hanging fog, and gathered his jacket and gloves. 

He was accompanying a mousy clerk from accounting in the elevator when he felt the pulsing vibration in his jacket pocket. Chris cursed under his breath, and decided to screen the call. Nothing was important, right now. He fumbled to find the tiny device, and was surprised to see there no call waiting or missed, but a text message. His frustration gave way to curiosity, since it was rare if ever that he received a text message to his PDA. Emails were rampant, and calls the norm but messages were quite unusual. 

Within two clicks, Catelynn's name popped up as the sender and the cryptic message threw him off even further. 

12-Nov-04  03:32
From: Catiebug

3:45pm Wharf Centre Mall Unit 23B

Proceed?

The elevator doors slipped open, and his quiet companion exited without notice. Chris remained leaning against the mirrored frame until someone else entered his space, wakening him from his concentration. He threw his soft leather messenger bag between the titanium monoliths as they attempted to close, and he began a quick jog through the lobby of Allisec Corp towers. 

The cab driver picked him up outside the building and was more than happy to accept the $50 bill in return for breaking a few laws, during the short ten minute drive. As they reached the mall, an already packed parking lot signaled to Chris that shopping season had definitely begun. The various scenarios and explanations for the mysterious message were demolished by this one new thought: She wants to meet in a crowded public place. 

"Holy shit. She's terrified of me." The driver made no response except to slam on the horn, and shout obscenities at a passing vehicle. 

"Here is fine. Thank you." Christopher bolted from the car, and began a brisk walk towards the main entrance of the beach side mall. He checked his swiss platinum watch, and saw the small hand ticking more quickly than he thought it should. Directly instead the entrance, he found the directory and searched for the unit numbers on the map. He located 23B on the floor above him, and right beside the major department store in the centre. 

He took the escalator two steps at a time, and could already feel himself breaking out in a mild sweat. Chris skirted the various groups of people moving (if that's what they wanted to call it), while trying to decide if they had already visited the shoe store on their left or if the sale at Burby's was worth the line up to get into the overhyped store. When he finally made it past the old woman with 15 bags, he realized he had found his target. It was a well known lingerie store that Catelynn favoured during those points in the year that called for another new shopping bag to be snuck into the closet while he was cooking. 

Surrendering to the confusion, he delicately maneuvered his way in by faking interest in some kind of awful leopard print bra and panty set with fur trim. An attendant in a smart black suit, and matching hair pulled back from her angular face greeted him before he made his way past the first table. 

"Hello, and welcome to Genevieve's. Can I help you find something for your.." Chris caught the flitter of her eye movement to his right hand. "For someone special?" she continued. 

"Uh, no. Thank you. I'm just looking." He had already begun to survey the store, which was unfortunately, larger than he would have assumed. Consumed by analyzing the faces of each of the 30 or so women in his field of view, Chris didn't realize the associate had caressed the arm of his black wool coat, and suggested she would be available for anything he may require. 

He found her near the back of the shop, fussing through hangers of lacy garments. Catelynn had already noticed him when he arrived, and had been keeping herself occupied. 

She was about to move towards the underwear table when suddenly, he was standing before her. 

"Cate, I've been trying to call." He stammered out the words, and mentally kicked himself for stating the obvious.

She smiled a warm smile, and even managed to blush a little. "I'm sorry – Do I know you?"

Chris had prepared a short and concise question about how they should work out what happened, when he registered what she had just said. Instead, a different short and concise question came out. "What the hell do you mean 'Do I know you?"

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've ever met. How do you know my name? Are you friends with Ralph?" She began to fondle a black garter belt, with small red rose buds decorating the seams. 

"Catelynn – why? What? What are you doing?" Chris felt like the world was spinning. She couldn't be this cruel. She wouldn't avoid him after what happened, only to draw him out and embarrass him in public. 

With one fluid grand gesture, her hand jutted through her long silky hair and escorted it behind her shoulder as she moved the rest of her body to continue the flipping motion. With a generous grin and a twinkling eye, she said "You are a friend of Ralph." Catelynn gave him a playful punch in the right arm, and turning on her heel to walk away she called over her shoulder to him. 

"Tell Ralph I said hi. You guys are crazy." After Chris took a few minutes to reassure himself that he was not indeed crazy, he regained focus and found Catelynn conversing with another associate in a sleek black suit. This one especially caught his eye, as she was wearing his guilty pleasure - black stockings. 

Catelynn edged closer to the sales woman. After a brief whispering of something he could only imagine to be a cry for help, the lady in black turned her head to look back and him, and blushed. She then ushered Cate into a changeroom the size of their apartment. Chris crossed the store, trying to look inconspicuous but Cate's handmaid was already moving towards him.

"Excuse me, sir. Your sister has requested your, uhm.. help." She pointed to the middle of three doors and he followed her directions, knocking lightly on the gothic wrought iron gated door. It had not been latched shut properly, and gave way to his touch. He saw Catelynn reclining on an exquisite daybed, sipping a glass of Moet.

"I was just thinking, that I need to send you back to Ralph with a good story." She stood up, and began to unbutton her blouse. By the time she reached the third button which was ready to give way to an anticipated peek, she turned her back to him, and said "Be a dear, would you? Help me with this."

Chris watched out of the corner of his eyes, several other versions of him moving backwards and forwards through the wall to wall mirrors that surrounded him as he moved came towards her. 

"Catie, this is incredibly interesting and if things were different I would-" He stopped short, as the thought crossed his mind. Who was this woman? For the last four years, he could set his watch by the routine and timing of their lovemaking. Never before, had it included public places. Then he caught himself. Poor Chris, she has you right where she wants you. "We need to talk about what happened the other night."

Her right hand reached behind her to find his and led it to the small of her back. He reached down to the zipper of her skirt that brushed the floor, and let it slide effortlessly into the fabric just inches below her waistline. Just then, he felt a brush of smooth fabric against his wrist and heard the click of two tiny locks. Catelynn had trapped his arms in a pair of black satin pleasure cuffs, and was holding the chain that linked them with her other hand.

"Cate? What are you doing?" He was staring at her hand on the chain of the cuffs, when the quiet shushing sound of her skirt cascading down her legs distracted him. Chris saw the crumpled circle of cloth on the floor, surrounding her legs. But there was something unusual. His eyes followed the curves of her limbs as they stretched and became only dark convex and concave valleys and hills. That's it. They were dark. Just blow the hem of her blouse that now freely moved about her hips, he saw the tops of the black stockings, captured by leather garter straps. Catelynn did not wear black stockings, taupe maybe or nude. But never black. Chris immediately felt his groin tingle. 

"Ahh, see that's where you're wrong." He watched the horizon of her thigh as she turned to face him, like the fading sun on the crust of the earth as seen from space. With a quick jerk, he was pulled off balance and pushed down onto the day bed. Another flash of movement and her leg swung over his head, the heel of her designer stilettos dug into the chain between his wrists. The pinch between his shoulder blades and his limbs were forced from his body, struck him as being the best kind of medieval torture rack he could think of. "It's you, who is going to be doing".

Chris opened his eyes to see a patch of dark supple leather running from beneath the curtain of white silk, just inches over his face and back away from him. The orbs of her lushious cheeks peered just out of focus. To each side of it, were her pale thighs connected to the laced hems of stockings. Without realizing it, he had been straining to kiss and lick garter straps. Her perfeum was intoxicating, and the heat between her legs was comforting. Chris made a silent and small wish, to never leave this place.

"Good boy," she purred. She ripped the remaining button of her blouse, and let is slide delicately off her shoulders and down languid arms. One stablizing her on the frame of the bed, and the other teasing the bulge in his pants with the lightest touch. Cate leaned away from him, and Chris groaned at the rush of cool air separating his face from those stockings. He looked up in protest, and found the black leather panties were overcome by the studded ebony leather garter and corset. Her breasts were overflowing mounds that seemed ready to release themselves any minute.

He tried to push his upper body to meet hers, but the hold her heel had in the chain remained steady and she even gave a kick, to remind him. Chris winced, and felt the heat return over his face.

"Only when I say. This is a privledge for you, and you will treat it as such. Do you understand?" A stinging sensation followed the sound of someone snapping their fingers, on the thigh of his leg that now supported his weight on the floor. He felt himself slipping, and did not want to move an inch from her thighs. 

Catelynn had been toying with the ribbons jutting out from below the garter. Chris wondered if now was the time to be adjusting her wardrobe when the patch of leather he had been admiring was no longer masking her crotch, but became unleashed was now laying on his face. The aroma of her had become saturated and musky in the underwear. It would have made an incredible souvenier. 

He felt more of her weight putting pressure on his already over extended arms as she slid her hips forward and closer to his face. 

"Now, eat me like it's your last supper." Another quick sting bit into his thigh, and with a quick jump his lips were on her smooth wet cunt. He kissed gently around her swollen mounds, flicking his tongue into the apex. 

Another slap against his flesh and he realized she had been whipping him with a crop. This was a quick thought, as the sensation of his head being dug into his shoulders grabbed his attention. 

"You must not be very hungry. I didn't ask you to take it on date." She jarred his head into the front of her pelvic bone, burying his face from the eyebrows down. Another tingling sting struck as he heard her growl "I said, fucking eat it!" 

Between the burning ache in his thigh, and the blood rushing to his raging hard on, Chris realized he was in no position to argue. And he didn't want to. He dug his tongue deeper into the crevice between her lips, and with a little searching and a lot of experience he found his target. Chris let her clit slid just to a sitting position on the edge of his tongue, while his sloppy wet lips engulfed it. He began to suck greedily, like it was a tiny nipple. Her hips swayed slightly back and forth with his rhythm, but she maintained a calm and content demeanor. He could hear her moan a little, a maybe a tiny giggle. 

"Yes.. " she rubbed his head, keeping him sunk into her and occasionally lowering herself completely onto his face. She'd lift back up when she felt his body convulse a little, from the lack of air.

Chris was rotating the sucking and licking of her clit and lips, with sliding his tongue into her dripping slit. She tasted like salty sweet syrup
and he only wanted more.  

A knock on the door, nearly had Chris choking or suffocating, or both.

"Is everything alright in there? Can I get you another size?" The voice sounded sincerely helpful, and a little concerned. Catelynn's hand reached back, and grabbed Chris' package with full force. A few nails dug in deeply and he gasped, swallowing a mouth full of her juices. 

"No thank you, Maria. These are all fine. Just having a hard time," she squeezed his member again, feeling it almost burst through his suit pants. "but the size, is fine".

Cate released a chuckle at her own pun, that turned half way into a gasp as Chris worked relentlessly on her round tip of nerves. He new the trick she loved, and used his nose to dig harder into the surrounding flesh. She approved by whiping his sides with the crop, alternating back and forth. The surprise of where and when the biting sting hit refreshed his spark. Cate responded by riding his face, feeling the sensations heighten. The tingling was pulling all the strings below her stomach straight to where his tongue was now pressed firmly against her clit. He rubbed it and licked it, daring her to cum all over his face. 

Chris couldn't be sure how long this lasted, but quicker than he had ever known her to she released a wave of fluid into his mouth. He gulped it down, and let some splash over his face. Her thighs quivered, and the cuffs stretched against his wrists with every movement. 

Then, the tension was released as her leg slid down past his shoulder to rest in between the cushions and his body, and her torso collapsed onto his own. Her panting only made him more excited, and he squirmed trying to find her mouth to kiss as well as to adjust his lower half. 

But in mere seconds, she was upright and standing. She stepped back into the circle of material discarded on the soft carpet, and slid it back up to her waist. Chris struggled to position himself to sit properly on the slippery fabric couch, unfamiliar with the balance of two unusable arms. By the time he was settled, she had her blouse on and was tucking in the back of it. 

"Cate, can we talk now?" Awkwardly, both arms lifted while one hand moved to wipe off what remained of her on his face.

She picked up a few items from the pile of garments laid out for her to try on. Moving towards him, she placed the pieces over the chained cuffs, and slid a key into his hand. 

She smiled that tolerant smile she gave to strangers she didn't know, and wasn't particularly interested in knowing. "Talking is overrated."

Again, she was walking away from him and called back to him 'But, do say hi to Ralph."

With that, she disappeared through the doors and he fumbled with the key and the chain. The lingerie was tangling with his fingers, and he realized she may leave before he was able to free himself. 

Chris peered out the door of the change room, and with no black suits in sight began his pursuit. 

Within 10 steps, a hand clutched his forearm just as he managed to release the lock and slip the cuff off his right hand. 

"Sir, your sister told us you would be taking care of her bill including those." The attendant gathered the items, and Chris managed to shove the still locked cuff high enough under his blazer sleeve to hide it while crushing the free one in his hand. 

"I'm sorry - there's been some mistake." He nodded and continued towards the exit, only to hear the annoying alarm attack his first step into freedom. A menacing security guard appeared out of nowhere, and Chris had a flash of the next few minutes, where he would try to explain what had gone on in the changeroom, why his 'sister' rushed out leaving him with the bill, and why they would eventually find an incredibly overpriced pair of jewel encrusted panties tucked into his suit pocket.

Back at the register, Chris sullenly groped for his waller. 

"All together, that will be $976.33. Will that be cash, or credit?"

