Authors: Ella Quinn
Channing shook his head to the side out of frustration. “I know I was brought to you for a reason,” he murmured. “Surely we can figure this out together.”
His words sounded all too familiar, how clever of him. He used the same deterrent she had with patients.
A promise to work things out together.
However, she knew she had never helped anyone, at least, not to her knowledge. Now he was turning the tables. But why? What more did he want from her? This Channing character was pretty cunning; he was much more clever than Jace ever seemed to be.
Allison bit her bottom lip in a childlike way. She was at a loss. Her mind was spinning. She had no prior experience dealing with men who were out of control, except in bed of course.
She tried to recall something—anything from her clinical reference books. There wasn’t anything that came to mind. She could not think of a case where someone late in life had suffered from post-traumatic distress after a sexual encounter and then had a sudden on-set of schizophrenia. Oh yeah, there was that life-changing ordeal with Mr. Patterson’s outburst, however, since then things have been very different for her. She’s been the one in control with men.
Now, she was at a risk of losing her beloved practice. The thought occurred to her,
can she get convicted and sent to jail for sending a patient over the deep end?
Her inappropriate actions could cause a scandal and, worse yet, she could end up facing ten to twenty years in prison for malpractice. The thought of getting locked up with a bunch of hard-ass dikes making her their bitch was frightening. She could handle a lipstick lesbian, but being someone’s bitch was out of the question. She could see it now, being forced to kiss a woman who looks like a dude with full on facial hair. The dreaded images that flooded her mind caused her to shudder.
She had to erase any thoughts of jail time. Allison quickly recalled her first aid classes—she liked the dummies and the control she had with them. Hence, dummies make the best patients. Jace—Channing he wasn’t remotely dumb.
Then it dawned on her…when someone goes into shock, you keep him or her calm and entertain the victim with conversation. She could definitely handle talking this out with Jace. This should work...eventually he would have to turn back into himself. What happened to him after was not her responsibility.
How did she get into this mess?
Chapter nine
Her mind drifted back to the day when Jace entered her office. He showed up unannounced on a slow Monday. The knock on the door jam was so unexpected. FedEx had come and gone hours earlier and she didn’t have anyone scheduled for hours.
“Can I come in?” A man’s voice asked through the cracked opening of the door.
“Yes, come in,” Allison replied listlessly.
When Jace stepped into her office, she almost fell out of her chair. The man had a Hollywood wattage smile that made her heart quicken. He took her breath away. It was, after all, very unusual for Allison to be smitten on a dime.
“Hello, Allison Holmes, right?”
“Yes, hello. And, you are?”
“Jace Silver. I was referred to you by your father...he’s a friend of mine.”
“My father is a friend of yours? I didn’t know he had any.” She inadvertently blurted out. “I mean, he’s just so busy with work that—”
Jace could see she was struggling to recover from her faux pas.
“Perhaps friends, isn’t the best word to describe our relationship...but what I do know is that he thinks the world of you.”
“Are you sure we are talking about the same man? My father Henry Holmes?” She smiled, but her eyes didn’t.
“I’m certain.” He returned her smile. It was apparent she didn’t have a fond connection with her father. That was too bad considering they’re area of expertise was psychological. Jace supposed the old saying was true “The shoemakers kids went without shoes.” What a shame. “My wife has been seeing him for two weeks now. Your father thought it would be a conflict of interest to counsel me too—you know because he’s treating my wife.”
When he mentioned he was married, despite the ring around his finger, Allison’s heart sank. Aren’t all the good ones? But he’s here, so that meant to Allison
that there must be trouble in paradise.
“Yes, I suppose that would be.” She twisted her pen in her mouth and then quickly jotted down some notes. “Hum...so, how can I help you?”
“We’re having some troubles—I mean my wife and I—big troubles...and I need to talk to someone. Your father believes you’re that someone.”
“Really? Okay, well, I have a few minutes right now if you have the time?”
“Yes, of course, that’s why I’m here.” he chuckled softly, the dimples in his cheek deepened in a sexy delicious manner.
There was no way she was turning this piece of eye candy down. Besides, the referral came from her father so she had to accept it. Most referrals understood the discreet services she provided. Of course, this was not the case with Jace. So, Allison had to ke
ep things on the up and up.
Her eyes darted to his left hand. The small diamond in his wedding band sparkled brightly. Damn, why did he have to be married?
It doesn’t hurt to look,
she thought. “Please have a seat.” She waved to the chair in front of her desk.
“Thank you,” Jace said as he walked across the floor, his swagger was elegant, and poised. Allison was spellbound by his charm. He parked his cute butt in the chair closest to her desk. The closer he got to her he appeared to become
more nervous and awkward. Where was his self-confidence? Damn, he was dreamy. He could hardly make eye contact with Allison.
“Before we begin, I have to inform you that my fee is three hundred an hour,” she said without missing a beat. His clothes looked expensive so she raised her prices another hundred dollars per hour. “And, I don’t accept insurance—out of pocket only, cash is good.” She cleared her throat.
Jace did not blink an eye when she coughed out her cash only services.
“I understand,” he said.
“Does that work with your budget? The last thing I’d want to do is cause a potential client any financial struggles,” she lied. Although based on his looks alone, she would have provided him counseling for free.
“Your fee is acceptable,” Jace complied.
Allison noted how he twisted and knotted his fingers together in his lap. It was clear he was extremely uptight. That could be a problem for Allison. A client with real issues may be more than what she bargained for and, now in hindsight, he was.
On a few previous occasions, her business card would land into the hands of someone that didn’t fit her desired profile. However, this rarely happened but, when it did, she would refer an undesirable case over to some that was better suited for his or her needs. Usually she would call on a colleague or perhaps refer them to her father who was actually interested in solving a real disorder.
In all reality, the final choice to render treatment to a new client was up to Allison. Because, at the end of the day, her patients had to bring something to the table that would tickle Allison’s inappropriate desires. If they didn’t, she would turn them away.
Unfortunately, Jace fell into a rare category—she had no business treating him. Although she could not turn him away, her father would have questioned her decision to do so and without a good answer, he would have gone ballistic. Subconsciously, despite what she tried to convince herself, receiving her father’s approval was high on her list. In hindsight, she should have turned Jace away as she had with any other complicated cases in the past.
Jace was a severe mess and in need of extensive treatment. Allison had no real experience treating the disorder he suffered from, at least not the
head on his shoulders
. Usually her focus went deeper than that—into the seat of a man’s pants. Ironically, this turned out to be one of his many issues, penile dysfunction, but it didn’t begin there. The problem was in his mind. Jace would not benefit behind the closed doors of Allison’s practice and she was well aware of this. But at the time, her eyes made that inappropriate decision to take him on as a client. Jace was the most gorgeous man that had ever graced her path.
Allison looked forward to their weekly sessions. He entertained her for the first two years of their patient-doctor relationship. She kept it as professional as she could stand. He was such an interesting man as well as beyond generous. Besides the Hollywood features he brought to the table, he also bought her the most exquisite pieces of jewelry. Never once did he behave sexually inappropriate toward her. This was extremely rare as most men always wanted to knock Allison’s socks off.
They talked and laughed for hours. Allison never grew bored of Jace’s conversations. She loved to talk to him and vise-versa. They both were great conversationalist
s, although she was the best. She had the gift of gab. She should have been a politician or perhaps a preacher. Wait...scratch off that last career option.
A preacher!
That would not have been a good idea.
The one-hour appointments that she scheduled for Jace turned into two then three consecutive hour sessions. Remarkably, although she cut her fee in half many times, he insisted on paying the full price. They never had qualms over her compensation. His funds were practically support
ing her practice.
Before long, Allison began canceling all her other appointments on the days Jace was scheduled. She didn’t want any interruptions. He became her main priority despite the fact that they were only sharing conversation.
Allison loved the genuine attention he gave her and the friendship that had developed between them. Jace filled a void that Allison longed for—there was nothing physical between them, other than a friendly hug once in a blue moon. Allison thought she could have gone on like this with him forever. But, as we know nothing is forever, especially in Allison’s world.
It was extremely out of the ordinary for her to desire a man more than he did her. The sound of his deep voice melted her like hot chocolate and stirred her feminine juices.
During many of his visits when he was stretched out comfortably on the therapy sofa, Allison would sit behind her desk and masturbate. Jace had no idea what she was doing because he was lost in his thoughts, rambling on.
“Just keep talking Jace, don’t stop,” she whispered as she peeled back the edges of her panties and pleasured herself.
Her curiosity grew restless. Allison wanted more. She was aching to take their relationship to a sexual one. What a waste of time he spent complaining about his feelings of guilt. Two years had gone by.
The problem was that Jace would not stop talking about his wife. He would go on and on
about how he let her down when she caught him surfing through a porn site for the first time ever in his life. Allison understood it was his wife that cut him off from any sexual enjoyment from that day forth. His wife shamed him in every way. She told him that married men who do this sort of thing should be ashamed. Her words were like swords, wounding him deeply. She strongly believed that porn was for single men and that he was behaving like a pervert and should be castrated! He felt so unworthy of her love.
To Allison’s surprise, what she didn’t understand is why Jace excused his wife’s radical judgment of him. Was Allison’s interpretation of his wife and marriage so eschewed? Perhaps she took his words out of context. He blamed himself that his wife felt inadequate compared to the women on the site.
Jace loved his wife so much that ever since the day he got busted he lost his mojo to get it up. His wife took him down along with his manhood
, too. Jace felt losing his libido was poetic justice for his lewd behavior. How pathetic.
With all his heart, he believed that his wife didn’t mean to react so harshly
, but the damage was done. This was his fault for giving into his manly curiosity of other woman. And now all he wanted was to be able to have sex with her again but felt too guilty for hurting her. For the longest time, if he even glanced at another woman, she accused him of wanting to have sex with them. The way she would look at him was none other than pure disgust. Jace’s description of his wife made Allison want to give her a taste of her own medicine. His wife was horrible, and an insecure bitch in Allison’s opinion.
It was Allison’s strong opinion
and
best advice that he should face his aversions from within and pursue an adulteress affair. And, she told him to do it. Her theory was by doing this he may relieve any real resentment he may have pent up against this wife. However, her hope was, at best, he would realize that it is time to move on and divorce her. Otherwise, he would remain stuck in a rut, ranting on about the same old bitter women forever. Although, there were times she gave him good advice. Allison told him that love doesn’t run (his wife turned him away) and it doesn’t turn away from a fight and, if it does, he should run just as fast in the opposite direction. Basically, Allison’s cure for his marriage was to shit or get off the pot.