by Ray Gordon
Filling the coffee filter Hayley decided to mind her own business. Whatever Belinda got up to with other men in her bedroom was her business. Strange things went on at Hadleigh Manor, that much was for certain, and she'd do well to keep well out of it.
Just then Belinda drifted into the kitchen in a black silk dressing gown. 'Did I tell you to leave your room?' she asked, but before Hayley could defend herself she snapped, 'Come up to mine in ten minutes,' and then she immediately left again, leaving Hayley to wonder anxiously why she was to go to her boss's bedroom. Was her illicit friend still there? Was Hayley going to find herself an accomplice to the woman's infidelity? That would be totally unfair. It would put her in a more impossible position than she already found herself in. Hayley wondered whether she could endure Belinda's selfish mood swings and indulgences for much longer, but ten minutes later, still distracted by her conflicting thoughts, she again climbed the stairs and knocked on her boss's bedroom door.
'Now then, Hayley,' Belinda said as the girl entered the room and closed the door behind her, relieved to see she was alone, but intrigued to know who'd been here only minutes before. Belinda was sitting on her dressing table stool, still in her black silk gown. 'Do you want to stay here for several years and make a career for yourself?'
'Yes, ma'am,' Hayley replied, sensing the woman knew nothing about the possibility of her going to work for Dave Ruby, 'I'd like that very much.'
'Good,' Belinda said crisply. 'But first of all, there's the problem with my husband.'
'Problem, ma'am?' Hayley frowned. 'Is he all right?'
'Oh yes, he's all right,' the woman laughed, although with no evident amusement. 'But he has been chasing after you.'
'I beg your pardon, ma'am?' Hayley gasped, shocked by the suggestion.
'There's no need to deny it because I know,' the woman insisted. 'What's happened between the two of you so far?'
'I can assure you that nothing has happened between the two of us, ma'am,' Hayley said indignantly. 'Nothing at all - and I don't much care for the suggestion. He's been down in the studio most of the time, and I've been—'
'Hayley, let's get one thing straight,' the woman went on undeterred, 'there's no point in lying to me.'
'I would never lie to you, ma'am,' Hayley protested. 'But nothing has happened between your husband and me.'
Belinda studied her for some moments, and then suddenly lurched forward and grabbed the dumbfounded girl by the arm. 'Well,' she snarled, 'I'm afraid I don't believe you! I know my husband only too well, young lady, and I know a young flirt when I see one, too!'
'But—!'
'Bend over the bed!' the woman went on, ignoring the stunted protest.
Hayley twisted and turned, but the woman held her too easily. 'No please, I—'
'You wouldn't want your family to discover that you've been playing around with my husband, would you?' the woman threatened. 'And you wouldn't want it on your CV, either.'
'No, you wouldn't do that,' Hayley tried desperate to appeal to her boss. 'I mean, nothing has happened, honestly.' Stunned, she tried to break free as Belinda grabbed both her arms and forced her over the bedstead. Her short skirt was hastily folded up onto the small of her back, the tight material of her panties blatantly displayed, and she let out a yelp as the first slap across her tensed buttocks resounded around the room. From where had the lunatic woman got such an outrageous and unjust idea?
'No,' she cried as Belinda managed to pull her panties down, exposing the stinging cheeks of her rounded buttocks.
'You'll pay for this, young lady,' the woman vowed maliciously. 'You dare to come here and betray my good nature by seducing my husband?'
'Get off me,' Hayley pleaded, finally managing to push herself back upright, and swinging round to try and protect her poor bottom from further punishment she accidentally knocked the aggressive woman to the floor. At that moment Hayley expected her time at Hadleigh Manor to be over.
Pulling her panties back up she looked down at the woman; sprawled across the carpet, her eyes closed, she was motionless. Feeling slightly panicky she knelt by her side, assuming she must have banged her head on the floor. This was all she needed, she thought anxiously, shaking Belinda's shoulder.
'Are you all right?' she asked, again shaking her shoulder. 'Ma'am, are you all right? I didn't mean to hurt you.'
At that moment Michael burst into the room and rushed to his wife, kneeling by her side. 'What the hell's happened here?' he demanded.
'I... I don't know, she just fell over,' Hayley told him with tears of worry meandering down her flushed cheeks. 'I think she might have banged her head.'
'She fell over?'
'Yes, she was spanking me again,' the distressed girl babbled, 'and I stood up and she just fell to the floor.'
'You must have hit her,' he accused, brushing Belinda's black hair away from her pale brow. 'Shit, you might have killed her!'
Poor Hayley shook her head in utter disbelief. 'No,' she squealed, 'no, I...'
'Go and wait in your bedroom,' he ordered uncompromisingly. 'And hope for all our sakes you've not done her any serious harm.'
'But all I did was try to protect myself.'
'Just go to your room, for crying out loud!' he snapped. 'You've done more than enough damage here already. I'll ring the doctor.'
Dejectedly climbing the stairs to her attic room, Hayley couldn't believe what she'd done. She'd not hit the woman, she was sure. She'd merely stood up and swung round to defend herself, and... perhaps she had hit her, she reflected in her miserable confusion. She must have caught Belinda off balance and struck her to the floor. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she wondered whether the poor woman would be all right. She might need hospital treatment, she thought fearfully. Or perhaps even worse...
Nervously biting her lip she wished she'd never heard of Hadleigh Manor. This was only her second day and she'd attacked and hurt her boss, knocking her unconscious. What a disaster it was all turning out to be!
Waiting for what seemed like hours Hayley paced the floor, wringing her hands fretfully as she imagined Belinda in a hospital bed. But on the other hand, Belinda should never have spanked her in the first place. To accuse her of having sex with her husband was absolutely ludicrous. She'd never, ever be so deceitful, let alone allow a man in his fifties to have sex with her. And besides, she'd never yet had sex with anyone, let alone her boss!
At last Michael entered her room and from where she perched on the edge of her bed she looked up at him with wide, worried eyes.
'The doctor's just gone,' he informed her.
'Is she...' Hayley started agitatedly, 'is she going to be all right?'
'She's sleeping at the moment,' he reported. 'She's concussed, but the doctor said she'll be okay. Why the hell did you do it, Hayley? What on earth possessed you to attack her?'
'I didn't attack her,' Hayley protested, wiping fresh tears from her eyes - tears of relief and tears of injustice. 'She was spanking me. She pulled my panties down and she—'
'And you lashed out,' he stated, clearly sure in his own mind of what had occurred between his wife and the new housekeeper.
'No, I... I don't know what happened,' she sobbed. 'I'll pack my things. I think it's best that I leave.'
Michael shook his head. 'You'll do nothing of the sort,' he told her. 'You're not walking out and leaving me with this mess to sort out.'
'But...'
'But nothing, Hayley,' he insisted. 'Knowing Belinda like I do she'll want to press charges.'
'What?' she gasped. 'She'll want to press charges? But she was spanking me. If anything she attacked me.'
'That's beside the point,' he argued uncompromisingly. 'You knocked her unconscious. You'll have to stay here; at least until we know she's all right. If you talk to her apologise and then perhaps she won't call the police.'
'The police?' Hayley couldn't believe what she was hearing.
'Yes, it wouldn't surprise me at all if she did.'
'All right,' Hayley conceded, hanging her head. 'I'll stay for a while. But you must believe me, all I did was—'
'All you did was knock Belinda to the floor with such force that she ended up unconscious,' he said, indifferent to her denials and attempts to justify her actions. 'That's what she'll tell the police. Shit, this is a mess. I'd better go down and sit with her.'
'Shall I come, too?' Hayley offered, keen to make amends and try to appease the couple. A police record for assault was the last thing she wanted or needed. 'I'd like to try and help.'
'No, no, you'd better stay up here,' he quickly quashed the suggestion. 'You've done more than enough already. I'll be back later.'
Pacing her bedroom floor for an hour or more, Hayley didn't know what to do or what to think. Michael was right; this was a complete mess. How it had all happened she couldn't quite recall. Fed up with being spanked yet again like a naughty schoolgirl, she'd pushed herself upright, swung round and... no, she still couldn't remember shoving or striking the woman in a way that would have pole-axed her like she apparently had.
If Belinda pressed charges Hayley could very well end up in court. Word would get around, her CV would be a mess, and her future employment hopes would be in tatters. No one would believe that Belinda Philips, wife of an eminent record producer, actually caused the confrontation in the first place by spanking her housekeeper.
Michael returned, tapping on the door and wandering in. 'She's awake at last,' he told her.
'And is she all right?' Hayley asked, although she wasn't sure if her concern was for the woman or for herself.
'She's seems a bit dazed, but that's only to be expected.'
'Has she said anything?'
'She keeps mumbling about you attacking her. What did you hit her with?'
'Nothing!' Hayley exclaimed in frustration. 'I didn't hit her with anything. Please, Mr Philips, you must believe me.'
'She said something about a shoe,' he went on, regardless of her protestations. 'Did you attack her with one of her shoes?'
'One of her shoes?' Hayley was shocked by such a suggestion. 'No, that's not true! Really it isn't. I've never attacked or hurt anything or anyone in my life!'
'Well one of her shoes is still lying on the floor near to where she fell.'
'Mr Philips, you have to believe me,' Hayley implored him.
'My wife doesn't lie,' he stated flatly. 'But perhaps she is a little confused.'
'Yes, yes she must be.' Hayley clung desperately to that faint glimmer of hope.
'We'll have to wait until she's fully recovered,' he decided. 'I still don't understand why you hit her, though. A little spanking never did anyone any harm.'
'A little spanking?' Hayley echoed, shocked. 'I'm twenty-two years old. I'm an adult, I'm not a child and I don't need to be spanked by anyone.'
'So rather than get all aggressive and knock my wife unconscious, why didn't you just leave?'
'Because you said...' the confused girl floundered. 'Because you made me stay here... because...'
'I made you stay here?' Michael pressed.
'You talked about Dave Ruby, and that I might get a job with him if I... oh, I wish I had left when I wanted to. In fact, I wish I'd never come here in the first place, what with that creep masturbating in the woods and your wife spanking me like I'm some naughty girl or something. I wish I'd never come here.'
'Well, you are here,' he pointed out unnecessarily. 'And you've caused more trouble than—'
'She accused us of having an affair!' Hayley blurted, unable to contain herself for a second longer in the face of such unfair accusations. 'She accused us of having sex with each other...' She fell silent, fearful that she'd said too much and wishing she'd kept her mouth shut.
Michael nodded his head thoughtfully, absorbing what he'd just heard. 'Okay,' he eventually said, shrugging, 'so she's a little insecure. All you had to do was tell me about it and I'd have spoken to her.'
Hayley was taken aback by his incredibly simplistic response, any further words failing her.
'Anyway,' he went on, 'I'm going back down to check on her.'
Watching Michael leave the room, Hayley once again couldn't wait to pack her suitcase and walk to the railway station. Once on the train heading for home she'd calm down and be okay. Nothing had gone right since she'd arrived at Hadleigh Manor and it was definitely time to call it quits, she decided, making her way down to the kitchen to get herself a cooling glass of water.
She'd not been long sipping it and gazing without seeing out of the window at the rear gardens, her mind in a spin, when she heard Michael coming downstairs too.
'You don't like Belinda much, do you?' he said, joining her in the kitchen.
'It's not that I don't like her,' Hayley sighed, turning to face him. 'I was hoping to get on with her, but that seems completely unlikely now.'
'Had you not repeatedly defied her you might have got on with her,' he said, utterly without justification, she thought. 'But anyway, it's no good looking back now. What's done is done. She's going to be in bed for several days so you'll have to stay and help out, at least until she's up and about again. I have bands booked for the studio, and I can't work and look after Belinda at the same time. You'd better go and see her; see if you can't make up.'
Hayley hated the idea of staying on, having already made her decision to leave. And she found the prospect of having to make up with Belinda hard to accept. 'Michael, I don't think I should have to—'
'She wants to see you, Hayley,' he cut in.
Hayley took a deep breath and shrugged. 'All right,' she acquiesced, her natural good nature coming to the fore.
'Good girl,' he said, smiling, although Hayley found the way he addressed her somewhat condescending. 'I have to get on with some work now. I'll see you later.'
Going back upstairs Hayley felt her heart racing and her hands trembling as she neared Belinda's room. This was worse than a nightmare, she thought, again trying to recall exactly what had happened the last time she'd been in Belinda's bedroom. Had she lashed out at the woman? In the confusion of the incident, in the heat of the moment, she might have taken a shoe from the floor and swiped it against Belinda's head. But she hadn't bent down or picked anything up, she was sure. All she'd done was stand up straight and turn around... and knock the woman unconscious in the process.
Quietly, so as not to disturb the patient, she opened the door. 'Are you all right, ma'am?' she asked in a hushed tone, moving into the room and standing at the foot of the bed.
'Is that you, Hayley?' Belinda murmured, opening her eyes weakly as Hayley nodded. 'You attacked me.'
'No, I didn't attack you—'
'You hit me on the head with one of my shoes.'
'No, you fell over, ma'am,' Hayley defended herself. 'You fell over and hit your head on the floor.'
'Are the police here yet?' the woman went on as though deaf to the girl's denial. 'Has my husband called them?'
'The police?' Hayley gasped, her stomach sinking. 'There's no need for the police, ma'am.'
'I have to tell them what happened. I... I need some water. Get me some water.'
Going quickly into the en suite Hayley filled a glass from the basin, feeling nearly sick with worry. How would she explain to the authorities what had happened? They'd never believe that the well-known Belinda Philips had bent her over a bed, pulled her panties down and spanked her. There were no witnesses to that. But Belinda had been knocked out and the doctor had been called to attend to her, that much was irrefutable. Was it common assault, grievous bodily harm or actual bodily harm? How on earth had this happened and escalated to such a regrettable point?
Taking Belinda her water and finding her dozing, she put the glass on the bedside cabinet and slipped up to her room to pack her suitcase yet again. She needed to talk to her parents, to explain what had happened and why before they heard a different spin on events from someone else. Not that she understood any of it herself. Again and again she went over t
he incident in her mind. She'd straightened up and turned quickly, nothing more... surely that's all she'd done.
Changed into her jeans and T-shirt, she lugged her full suitcase down the stairs, grabbed the front door handle - and found it was locked. Then going back to the kitchen she discovered the backdoor was also locked. Dumping her suitcase on the floor she wondered what to do. Why had Michael locked the doors? Searching the room for the backdoor key, she suddenly feared that the police might be on their way. Had she been imprisoned until they arrived? Would she be taken to the police station and charged with assault?
'Hayley,' Michael said, appearing in the kitchen from the hall and eyeing her suitcase. 'Where do you think you're going? Why are you wearing your normal clothes?'
'I'm leaving,' she told him sharply.
'Leaving?' he echoed, shaking his head. 'No, you can't leave.'
'Why not?' she demanded.
'After all the trouble you've caused you can't just walk away as if nothing's happened,' he said, with fair justification, she had to admit to herself.
'I'm not walking away as if nothing's happened,' she countered, with more conviction than she really felt. 'I'm walking away from an absolute nightmare. This place is a nightmare.'
'Go and get changed,' he ordered. 'We need you now more than ever.'
'Michael, I don't want to stay here,' she said defiantly.
'Whether you want to or not, you're staying,' he insisted. 'You can't render my wife bedridden and then just walk away and leave us to try and cope. Unless your guilt is making you run, of course.'
'Guilt?' she gasped at the unfairness of his words. 'My guilt making me run? I'm not running anywhere. She spanked me, I was only protecting myself.'
'Yes, yes, so you keep saying,' he said dismissively. 'But I haven't got time for all this. Now stop behaving like a spoilt little girl and go and get changed.'
'A spoilt little...?' she echoed, aghast. 'Is that why you've locked the doors, to keep me here against my will?'
'Belinda asked me to lock the doors,' he told her.
It was hopeless to try and reason with such an unreasonable man, she realised, so having formulated no other plan for the moment, she grabbed her suitcase and retreated to the relative sanctuary of her attic room, from where she would re-evaluate her position. She should and would leave Hadleigh Manor, of that she was certain. Whatever anybody else thought, whatever assumptions they made, she had reacted in self-defence. Dumping her suitcase on the bed, she was sure she'd not deliberately hit out at the woman. In fact, she couldn't recall hitting her at all. Belinda had lost her balance and fallen to the floor, and hit her head in the process.
