He spotted her as she turned the corner and looked up and down the street. He stood and waved so she would see him among the tables lining the sidewalk. She saw him, gave a slight wave and started walking the treelined street. Even without the wave, she would have no trouble picking out his salt and pepper hair, and suit among the sea of business casual outfits on the younger patrons on the sidewalk, When she got there she pressed against him and turned her face up for a kiss. He kissed her gently on the lips, lingering, but not long enough to attract attention.
“It’s good to see you, Daddy. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too, Baby, but it’s only been eleven days.”
“Yeah, but a long time, anyway. It’s such a pain when my parents decide to visit for a week. Why can’t they stay in Florida like good little retirees?”
“It is their condo.” He held her chair out for her.
“I know, I’m grateful and all but still…”
“Have trouble getting here?”
“No, but that’s one long escalator ride out of the station. I didn’t realize how far underground I was till I looked up. Good thing or I would have been scared.”
“That station is over a hundred feet underground.”
“Don’t tell me that stuff. I’m not going back down there. It’s too much underground.”
“How can someone live in Atlanta for their whole life and never take MARTA anywhere?”
“I dunno. I never come downtown. I’m not from Atlanta, I grew up in Lawrenceville. Nothing here I want to see.”
“You never come to concerts down here?”
“Well, yeah, but that’s not downtown, that’s in the arena or the Dome.”
“They’re only a few blocks from here.”
“Really?” Her phone rang and before the second ring, it was at her ear. “Ally.” She listened. “Yes, I’m down here with Byron now. Right out on the sidewalk.” She looked at him. “What’s the name of this street?”
“Broad Street.”
“Yeah, at The Keats Cafe on Broad Street, you can’t miss us.” Another pause, then she hung up and placed the phone on the table.
“When did you become Ally? I always thought Allegra was such a pretty name.”
“They called me that at school and I just started using it at work, too. Doesn’t sound so stuffy.”
“I never thought Allegra sounded stuffy, thought it was elegant.”
Allegra picked up her phone and started typing. Her thumbs moved with a youthful speed that amazed him whenever he saw it. The waiter appeared at Byron’s shoulder. “Would you like another, Sir? And for the lady?”
Ally giggled at that, and spoke to Byron, “The usual, please, Daddy.” As was their custom, he ordered for her.
“I’ll have another Glenfiddich and she’ll have a Cosmopolitan,” Byron said, with visible distain for the girly drink.
“Yes, sir. May I see some ID Miss, please?”
Allegra fished in her bag and pulled our her driver’s license and handed it to the waiter.
He glanced at it, then handed it back and left to get the drinks.
“How’s your father doing?” Byron asked.
“He’s ok. It wasn’t a real heart attack, just something odd in the rhythm. They kept him overnight and sent him home. My stepmother is taking care of him.”
“Do anything fun last weekend after they left?” Byron asked.
“Yeah, Shelley, and Ada and I went to that place you told me about, The Dungeon. “
“Fun?”
“Well, yeah, I guess.”
“See anything interesting?”
“Oh, yeah. Lots of stuff I’ve only heard of. Interesting to see it in action.”
“It’s very different in real life. Somehow you don’t believe it until you see it.”
“That’s so true, I guess I got the intellectual bit but it wasn’t till I saw it and experienced it that it became real.”
“Experienced? What did you experience, Allegra?”
Allegra smiled then looked over his shoulder and waved. Byron turned around and looked at the two women approaching the table. He stood as they approached the table.
Allegra said, “Hi. Glad you found us. This is Byron. And these are my friends Shelly and Ada.”
Byron took Shelly’s hand when she offered it. “How do you do? Will you join us for a drink?”
Ada answered for them, “Thanks, but we’ve got to get on. We have to meet some friends at the Hard Rock.”
“Well, nice to meet you.” Byron sat down as the two women moved up the sidewalk.
“Bye, catch you later.” Allegra said as they left.
“Interesting route they chose to get to the Hard Rock.”
“Oh, they just wanted to come by and get a look at you.”
“Me? Why? What vicious lies have you been telling them?”
“I might have let it slip that you were my Daddy.”
“And they assumed…” The waiter cut him off as he delivered the drinks to the table.
“Probably.”
Byron laughed. “Good for me, then.”
Allegra sipped her drink. Her phone dinged with a text message. She picked it up and read it.
“Shelly thinks you’re hot and wants to know how old you are.”
“What are you going to tell her?”
“Old enough to know you shouldn’t be messing around with a girl half your age.”
“I see.” Byron smiled at that because he was. “You were telling me about your trip to the dungeon.”
“Oh, yeah. I went with Ada and her older friend who must have been in her late thirties and her friend who was in his forties, I guess. So we’re at the bar having a drink, and then Ada and her friend decide to go out for a smoke. That left me and him sitting there and he wasn’t a bad looking guy. I noticed he’d been looking at me a lot, and now he moved to the stool next to mine and started talking to me. More like chatting me up. Telling me how nice my hair was and how my dress really made my eyes flash colors. That kind of shit.”
“Did it work?”
“Well…. After we finished our drinks, he ordered us two more and asked me if I wanted to have a look around. So I said sure and we walked around and there were several people doing stuff to other people and people standing around and watching them do stuff.”
“That’s the way it usually is.”
“Then we were standing in front of this other place…” Allegra’s phone dinged again, she picked it up, read it, thumbed a reply and put it down. “This guy had a woman on his lap, bent over like, you know, and he was spanking her.”
“Yeah.”
“It sort of turned me on to see that. Percy, that was his name — I know, fruity, huh?” Byron raised one eyebrow. “He must have picked up on my vibe cause he asked me if I wanted to try it.”
“Perceptive of him.”
“Well, I did want to see what it was like, but there were all these people. But I figured what the fuck? So I said yeah, but can I just hike my dress up? And he was like whatever makes you happy. So we get to the bench after the other people had finished. Her ass was red, I mean bright red. Scared me a little. But he sat down and then I hiked my dress up to my waist. I had on pretty panties. And I laid across his lap. Her rubbed my butt a couple times, and then smacked it. I jumped. Then he rubbed some more, then smacked me again. I liked it. But it hurt. Stung. But I liked it. Then he asked me if he could slip my panties down, and I was so caught up that I said yes. He slipped them all the way to my ankles and I realized my ass is exposed to half the people in Atlanta, then he smacked my ass again. It felt even better. And then he kept up smacking and rubbing but now his hand was running between my legs and…” Allegra’s phone dinged, she picked it up, read it, thumbed in a reply. “He was touching my coochie. And smacking my ass more. When he tried to get his finger in me, I said stop and got up cause I didn’t want to get fingered in public.”
“Quite an evening you had, then.”
“Yeah, and Ada and her friend were watching the whole time. I was so embarrassed.”
“I’m sure they’ve seen more.”
“Not of me.”
Allegra’s phone rang and she answered it. “Hi…No…Sure…That would be fun, Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“How’s the new job coming?” Byron asked and took the last sip of his drink.
“Fine. There’s a couple of assholes there and I think my boss has the hots for me. She keeps bending over my desk and showing me down her blouse. Not like pulling it open or anything, but putting it out there to look at.”
“You should be careful with that.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s hard to figure out the best way to handle it. But I like what I’m doing, it’s interesting.”
Byron’s phone rang in his pocket. He ignored it through the three rings.
“I don’t see how you can do that.” Allegra said. “Don’t you want to know who it is?”
“I’ll find out soon enough.”
“But I mean, what if it’s important?”
As if on cue, his phone rang again, and he took it out and looked at it. Then answered it. “Hi…Yes…We will.”
Allegra looked at him expectantly.
“That was Augusta. Nothing important.”
“You’re always getting calls from your other women.”
“Not really. Why? Do you mind?”
“Because…”
“Do you want some kind of exclusive arrangement with me?”
“I couldn’t have that. You’re always talking to them.” Allegra’s face was flushing.
“You could be all I need, all I want. You could have me all to yourself.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“But it would have to work both ways.”
“No, you don’t want that! You ignore me and talk to other women. You say I’m fascinating, but we’re never one on one. There’s always others. You’re polygamous and probably always will be.”
“You could change that.”
Allegra’s phone rang. She answered it. “Yeah,…I’m on my way.” She swallowed the last of her drink and stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“Dinner with Percy. I think he really likes me.”
“We had dinner plans.”
“Sorry, this came up at the last minute.”
Byron watched as she walked up the street into the gathering dusk. He signaled the waiter for another drink.
