Simone had spoken at last, and her French accent shocked Tina completely – she hadn’t been expecting that at all. But it did seem to run nicely with all the other parts of this terrifyingly controlled woman. It all seemed to fit so well. Especially the dominance. This woman looked to be quite exotic – her skin almost as dark as Bette’s. Her hair lighter.

Taking another breath from her cigarette, Simone breathed it to her left instead, keeping a close eye on Tina’s reaction that time around. She was strong in her own ways, Simone could see, but she would be easy to break. However, Simone didn’t like to break those ones. And this one wasn’t hers to break anyway. She stared for a long moment at Bette, and then she let her eyes rake up Tina’s body.

“Fit.” Fitte

Bette had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at Tina’s shoulders, pushed back in frustration.

As more smoke drew itself to the ceiling, Tina let her eyes wander to the woman tied to the table, just waiting.

Simone was blunt and always speaking to Bette, Tina noticed: “You’ve trained her well, I see.”

And most shocking of all to Tina was Bette’s response: “Thank you.”

Tina turned with the smallest smile on her face, just at the idea that Bette should take credit for her own physical attributes. The audacity! How dare … ohhh, you are awful, you know that?! But she couldn’t say anything. She had come to observe as Bette’s submissive partner. This was not Sunday at the supermarket. This was a real scene, and she wouldn’t disturb it. She settled when she realized that Bette had predicted that. Bette was also sending a little smile of her own, finally lifting Tina’s chin with just one simple finger.

“She’s something, isn’t she?”

Oh my god! – Is she talking about me? To Simone?! Tina wanted to laugh then, being the object of conversation and yet completely ignored at the same time. Treated like a true submissive, of that she was certain. So she held strong and said nothing. That was what she had wanted, wasn’t it?

Simone was not surprised at the insistence that Tina hold her own sort of power, but she was surprised that she noted Bette could get her to do just about anything in the world. It was all in Tina’s expression when she looked at Bette – and of that, Simone was jealous. She smiled to express to Bette that she had something fantastic there, but turned just when Tina did, so she couldn’t see it.