“I have to tell you a secret,” I whispered.
“What is it?” she asked, smoothing my matted hair away from my forehead.
“I’ve cheated.”
Bettie’s eyes went wide as she studied my face, her mouth opening to speak, but closing quickly.
“I’m sorry. It was at the party the other night. It was so tempting and I just took it,” I whispered, tears returning to my face. “I can’t tell Norman.”
She pulled me into another hug while rubbing my back.
“Honey, why?” she asked. “Why would you do that when you have us?”
“Maybe I got bored,” I said. “I’m not sure, but now I just want to do anything I can to fix it.”
“You can’t tell him,” she said firmly. “He’ll go nuts.”
“I know, but what else can I do?” I asked.
Bettie shrugged, unsure of what to say. She hummed and rocked me side to side for a bit, keeping me calm in the wake of my panic. I nuzzled her neck.
“You know,” I said. “I still want to get back at him.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For the unwarranted punishment. As much as I felt absolved by it because of my little mistake, I still want to overpower him,” I explained.
“Do you think it’s a good idea?” she asked.
“What’s a good idea?” asked a voice from the other side of the door.
My eyes went wide. Had Bettie left the bathroom door open? Could they hear us? I looked through the glass and noticed Courtney on the other side. I opened the glass door to allow her inside. When she stepped inside, she stood under the shower for a moment and then wiped the water from her face.
“I hear that we want to do something to our master,” she said slyly. “What’s this little plan?”
Could we trust her? The thought caught me off guard and I shook my head, unsure whether it was wise to even keep talking about it.
“Don’t worry,” Courtney said. “He’s fast asleep.”
Bettie and I exchanged glances. I wasn’t going to be the one to explain it.
“We want to take power,” Bettie said boldly. “For him punishing Sammy the other day.”
Courtney regarded this statement with some thought, chewing it over in her mind while grabbing the shampoo from the shelf.
“Well, we ought to clean ourselves first if we’re going to do that,” she said playfully.
“How are we even going to pull that off?” I asked. “Wouldn’t he overpower us?”
“No, I think I know a way to do it,” she said.
As we scrubbed ourselves clean, Courtney outlined the plan. It seemed she had been thinking of doing this for a while, but hadn’t ever had the opportunity or resources to pull it off.
“He’s sleeping now, so it would be best to tie his wrists down to the bed. There’s already a set of restraints in place. We’ll have to bind his legs down, too, so he doesn’t get out of it,” she explained. “And then we can tease him to pieces.”
She giggled maniacally. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen and it made me excited to enact our plan. I wondered whether we would be able to get away with it or if he might get mad.
“But won’t he be upset?” I asked.