“You’re still being punished for disobedience, remember?” Joshua’s eyes were alight, but his face was a mask.
“Yes, Master,” Gabriele sighed, crestfallen.
“But if you be a very good girl for me tonight, I may still reward you.”
Gabriele shuddered. Joshua’s fingers were pressing into the hot mess of her panties and squishing the damp fabric against her pussy. Finally the torture of his teasing ended. He took his hand away and suddenly became brisk and business like. It was like he had flipped a mental switch. One moment he was leaning over Gabriele’s lithe beautiful body, inhaling the scent of her sex and fingering her pussy through her panties. The next moment he was the business man again; stern and aloof, controlled and rational.
“Straighten your clothes,” Joshua said to Gabriele as he snatched the car keys from the ignition. He adjusted his tie and then reached for the car door. “Our table will be waiting for us.”
Chapter 12:
The restaurant was located through double glass doors on one side of the hotel’s foyer. Joshua strode purposefully to the front desk where a well-groomed young man in a dark suit was waiting, holding a menu in one of his hands. Gabriele stood a pace back from the counter while Joshua spoke to the man, and she took the time to stare at the luxurious décor.
The restaurant was lit with overhead lights above each table, and more subdued lighting on the exposed brick walls. The windows that faced the busy street beyond were all shuttered making the interior cozy and intimate. Between the tables, waiters glided silently amidst the darkness.
The tone was hushed, and the tables well spaced, so that each one seemed secluded.
The waiter led Joshua and Gabriele to a corner of the restaurant and drew back Gabriele’s chair for her to sit. Joshua sat back in the shadows while the young man fussed over Gabriele. She was smiling; her eyes glittering, and her face aglow. At last the waiter set menus on the table, and then disappeared in a waft of cologne. Joshua felt into his coat pocket, and his fingers brushed against the wrapped package he had brought with him.
But before he could present the box to Gabriele, she suddenly pushed her chair back and her face was apologetic. “I’m sorry, Master. But I need to visit the bathroom to powder my nose after what we did in the car…” she didn’t need to say more. Joshua understood. He imagined that Gabriele’s tight young pussy was still a wet mess of agitation. He inclined his head.
“There are bathrooms just outside the glass doors in the hotel lobby,” he said. “While you’re gone, I will order for you.”
Gabriele nodded obediently and got to her feet. She snatched up her purse. She could feel her pussy still slowly throbbing, and her panties were now soaked and cold against her inner thigh. She needed to take them off.
Joshua watched Gabriele weave her way between the tables, admiring the way she walked, and the sensual sway of her hips. When she finally disappeared through the glass doors into the hotel foyer, he set the small box down in the middle of the table and hailed a waiter.
Champagne would be required.
The lobby of the hotel was packed with milling groups of people. By the reception desk stood knots of weary travelers amidst nests of luggage, while other groups clustered around the chairs and sofas that had been dispersed along the walls. Through the frenetic bustling activity, Gabriele saw the bathroom doors. She weaved her way through the crowd, oblivious to the faces all around her until suddenly one voice cut through the hubbub of background noise and stopped her dead in her tracks.
“Gabriele? Jesus!”
Gabriele froze. An ice chill ran down her spine. There were three young men in a group around a grey sofa. They were gathered about a young blonde woman who wore a provocatively short skirt and a low cut top. The woman was perched on the edge of her seat with her knees pressed demurely together, though it was clear to Gabriele, through a flash of feminine intuition, that the blonde was enjoying the attention that the men’s money could buy.
One of the men had noticed her and then done a double take of shock. He came towards her like a dying man in a desert who has sighted an oasis.
It was Randall.
He was unshaven; the hair on his chin and cheeks growing in scraggly tufts, and his jacket was rumpled as though he had slept in it the night before. His eyes were bleary, but glittering with sudden wolfish avarice.
“You look fucking sensational,” Randall pushed into her way, so she could not pass. His eyes crawled all over her body like grubby little fingers. Gabriele felt her breath catch in her throat. She suppressed a shudder but could not conceal the contempt of her expression. She stared at Randall with stone cold eyes.
He seemed not to notice. He was undressing her with his gaze.
“What do you want, Randall?”
He looked affronted. His face registered a pantomime of hurt. “Is that any way to greet your boyfriend?”
“Ex-boyfriend,” Gabriele reminded him. There was steel in her voice.
“Well at least I deserve a kiss.”
“No,” Gabriele said. “You don’t. You deserve everything you get… and you won’t be getting anywhere near me.”
She started to walk on, but Randall sidestepped like a bully in a school corridor, blocking her and leering. He reached out to stroke her arm as though the physical contact might sooth her, but Gabriele twitched away. This time she made no attempt to conceal her revulsion.
“Don’t you dare…” Gabriele gritted her teeth.
Randall arched his eyebrows. He looked back at the blonde and his buddies. He was smiling but there was menace in his expression that made Gabriele suddenly wary. “What if I do dare, Gabby?” Randall challenged her.
“If you lay a finger on me Randall, I’ll call the police.”
He laughed. “Really. Is that the best you can do? The cops would call it a lover’s tiff.” He arched his eyebrows and ran his tongue lasciviously between his teeth and inside the lips of his mouth. It was the most lewdly revolting gesture that Gabriele had ever seen.
“No, it’s not the best I can do,” she forced a wintery smile. “I can do something better.”
She turned on her heel and walked back towards the glass doors of the restaurant, knowing that Randall would follow her. She pointed through the door to where Joshua sat.
“See that gorgeous man?” she asked. “The one with the broad shoulders, the dangerous eyes, the square, determined jaw, and the muscled arms?”
“Yeah. So what?” Randall could smell Gabriele’s perfume and some other vaguely familiar aroma that was maddening him. His cock was hard in his pants, and all he could think about was reaching a hand under the hem of Gabriele’s short dress and fingering her pussy.
“That man – who happens to be ex-Navy – is my Master, Randall. I’m his submissive little slut.”
Randall’s face seemed to drain of all color. “Bullshit!” he gasped.
Gabriele met his gaze steadily. He knew then that it was the truth.
“You’re a fucking submissive for some guy? After all the fucking time I tried to get you to submit?” His anger came upon him like a hot rush of wind.
“That’s right, Randall,” Gabriele rubbed salt in the open wound of Randall’s ego. “And God, does that man know how to make a woman want to get on her knees and beg for his cock. I know I have on countless occasions. I just can’t get enough of him in my mouth…”
Randall’s eyes turned to dark dangerous specks. “Then why were you never like that for me, bitch?” he spat the last word with venom.
Gabriele stayed ice cold. The smile on her face was a provocative taunt that left Randall seething with futility.
“It takes a man like him to bring out the woman in me, Randall.” Gabriele ran her own eyes up and down Randall’s body, her lip curled in revolted disapproval. “And you were never man enough.”
The wind seemed to gush from Randall like he had taken a heavy blow. Gabriele saw the arrogant confidence drain from his eyes. She strode conf
idently past him towards the bathrooms and his shoulders slumped like a collapsing empty shell.
Gabriele reached the bathroom shaking from the confrontation, but puffed with satisfaction. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her face was flushed, and there was a touch of hectic mayhem still in her eyes that was the after-effect of her shock. She dabbed at her lipstick and then went into a stall. Her panties were like a wet washcloth. She peeled them down over her thighs and stepped out of them. She felt a wicked thrill of mischief to be out in public and not wearing underwear. Somehow she sensed it perfectly suited her newfound self.
Gabriele scrunched the lace panties into a tight ball and was going to stuff them into her purse. Then another devilish idea struck her.
Gabriele came out of the ladies bathroom and pressed into the milling throng of hotel visitors. Randall was leaning sullenly against a wall, standing over the blonde on the sofa, while his two companions sat either side of her, each with a casual hand in her lap.
Gabriele strode across to them.
“I hope you’re being well paid,” Gabriele bore the woman no malice. In fact, she felt sympathetic. “Because this one,” she gestured to Randall with a nod of her head that shook her lustrous mane of black hair across her shoulder, “is a real disappointment.”
She turned on her heel. Randall came after her, just as Gabriele knew he would. His face was swollen with impotent embarrassment. He snatched at Gabriele’s arm and she turned on him, snarling like a big jungle cat.
“Here,” she stuffed the damp panties into Randall’s grimy palm, whispering her venom. “This is the closest you’ll ever get to me. I figure you’re going to be spending a lot of nights alone with your hand while my Master is repeatedly fucking me. He did this to me in the parking lot, Randall. I hope these remind you of how inadequate you are in bed.”
The restaurant lighting was so subdued after the bright sterile glare of the lobby that it took Gabriele’s eyes several seconds to adjust. It was like stepping back into a movie theater after returning from the candy counter.
She stood just inside the glass doors, light with relief at how she had left Randall mute and gawking. Her heart was still fluttering in her chest, but she felt a sense of closure. It broadened the smile on her lips as she peered through the spot lit tables, seeking Joshua.
He was sitting back in his chair… and there was a very tall and willowy woman standing beside him. She had her hair up in a bun, and Gabriele could see the dark band of a leather collar clasped around her swan-like neck. Gabriele watched in slow uncomprehending horror as the woman smiled sexily into Joshua’s eyes and then leaned across the table. She was wearing a long shimmering red dress, cut low at the neck so that her cleavage bulged. Gabriele felt a slow creeping sense of despair wrap its tentacles around her heart and begin to relentlessly squeeze.
Joshua was smiling up into the woman’s sparkling eyes. She looked to be Gabriele’s age. She carried herself with elegant grace, her weight on one long leg and the fabric of her dress drawn tight and revealing across her ass. She wasn’t wearing underwear.
Gabriele heard the woman laugh and the sound was a flirtatious tinkle, like the sound from a delicate crystal bell. Then she reached into her purse and handed Joshua some kind of a card – or perhaps it was the keys to her hotel room.
Gabriele closed her eyes, feeling dread and despair drain the blood from her face. Her heart stopped beating, and she made a gasping sound of pain as she clutched to cover her mouth with her hand.
Joshua saw her, and knew instantly the expression on her face. He came out of his chair, dismissing the woman beside him without another glance. His mouth was open, his eyebrows knitted together in concern and alarm. As he rose to his feet, Gabriele turned and burst through the restaurant doors. She was crying, and gasping for breath. Her heart ached with a pain greater than she had ever known before. She felt betrayed. She felt foolish.
She ran across the lobby and saw the front doors gliding open. A cool breeze and a snarl of traffic noise washed across the room.
Gabriele turned towards it and ran out of the hotel, down the steps, and onto the crowded city sidewalk.
Joshua came out of the hotel, and ran into a crush of bustling pedestrians. He couldn’t see Gabriele. There was a throng of people at the next corner, waiting on traffic lights. He pushed into the tide of bodies, looking for a beautiful woman in a short white dress. Most people were dressed against the chill of the night, their coats drab dark colors. They stood with their eyes fixed on the blinking traffic lights with bovine patience.
“Gabriele!” Joshua cried out.
No one even turned their heads.
The street was crushed with traffic across every lane; cars speeding up to get through the intersection while the light stayed green. Joshua could hear the angry snarl of car horns above the undertone of revving engines.
He stood on the corner and turned his head in every direction, his eyes narrowed like a hunter seeking elusive prey. Overhead, there was a rumble of thunder, and then a soft spatter of rain. The crowd at the lights turned their faces to the sky and then turned up the collars of their coats as the traffic lights suddenly turned red. The crowd moved across the intersection in a dark mass. A rent of lightning lit up the sky, jagging electric blue between the skyscrapers.
“Gabriele!” The sound of Joshua’s voice was snatched away by a gust of wind and a long rumble of thunder. The breeze lifted litter off the sidewalk and carried the smell of smog to Joshua. He cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed again.
“Gabriele!”
Instinct told him to follow the crowd crossing the intersection before the lights changed again, and he turned to go that way when he caught a flash of white from the corner of his eye. He snapped his head around and saw a figure running along the sidewalk, parallel to the hotel block. It was Gabriele. Joshua felt a lift of relief, and then grim determination. He started to run.
The traffic was moving in a steady stream again, sweeping through the intersection and turning onto the street Gabriele had fled along. Joshua ran alongside the traffic, trapped on the opposite side of the road. Another jag of lightning tore across the dark sky, and then the wind came like a slap across the face with an ice-cold hand. It buffeted Joshua so he staggered for a moment. He stared across the street and saw Gabriele again. She had her heels in her hand, and she was running blindly. Then she disappeared into a dark alley.
Joshua dashed onto the street, and the passing drivers pounded on their horns and shouted abuse through their windows. There was the loud screech of brakes, the scream of rubber on the blacktop. Joshua ignored it all. His eyes were fixed on the dark mouth of the alley where Gabriele had disappeared. He zig-zagged through the cars and finally reached the opposite sidewalk. He was panting. He ran headlong into the entrance of the alley and heard Gabriele’s pounding feet against the pavement somewhere just ahead. He started to run again, then caught a flash of Gabriele’s white dress as she turned a sharp corner.
“Gabriele!”
He reached the corner of the alley and found Gabriele standing, exhausted, on the sidewalk. She was leaning against a set of apartment block steps. She was bent over and gasping. She was sobbing. Joshua could hear the painful rasp of her every shuddering breath. Her head was bowed, her hair hanging like a veil across her face. Her whole body was shaking.
“Gabriele…?” Joshua slowed, then stopped just a few feet away from her, fearful that if he even reached out to touch her, she would break into flight again. His voice was a soft question. “Are you okay?”
“Stupid!” Gabriele sobbed. “I’m so stupid!”
Joshua’s face showed his own agony and bewilderment. “Why? Why did you run?”
Gabriele shook her head. She wouldn’t look at Joshua. Her eyes were down on the cracked pavement. It began to rain.
“I have been so stupid,” Gabriele’s voice was low, like she was admonishing herself. “I became so wrapped up in… I let myself get swept away… I
thought we…”
Joshua reached for her at last. He put his hand on her arm. Gabriele was cold and wet and shivering. She flinched to his touch, then seemed to go soft and unresisting.
“Say it,” Joshua insisted.
Gabriele looked up into Joshua’s eyes at last. Her makeup was smudged, her eyes hollow and haunted. Her hair was wet and hanging in ropes. “I thought that we might… that you might want me…” she choked off the words and her frustration came back to overwhelm her. She hooked her hands into claws and began to tug at the dress. “But I was so stupid! You’re right, Joshua. I am naïve, and I do have a head full of silly, stupid romantic notions. I can’t believe how I let myself…”
“What?” Joshua insisted. “Tell me.”
Gabriele threw back her head, and the rain splashed into her face. “I’ve fallen in love with you,” she said. “And I thought that maybe – after the night we kissed – that your feelings for me might grow to become something more if I could just keep you interested in me. I thought that… that maybe you would want me as your submissive, and that one day you might even love me back. See! See how stupid I am!” The torture of her pain was raw and wretched on Gabriele’s face. “But I forgot what you do with your time. I forgot about all the other women who want you to train them to submit – women just like that one back at the restaurant who will all beg you to touch them and lick them and fuck them!” Gabriele shook her head in deep despair. She felt nauseous. She felt like the whole world was off balance and that she must surely fall at any moment. Her legs beneath her buckled, but she clung to the wrought iron railing of the apartment steps.
“I can’t compete with beautiful women like the one who was propositioning you tonight, Joshua. I can’t. I’m not beautiful enough. I’m not sexy enough… and I know I’m not skilled in bed enough to stand the comparison. And after Randall betrayed me… I know… I just know in my heart that my jealousy would tear me apart. I’d be forever scared of losing you to their charms, their seduction… their bodies. Every time a new woman came to you for training, a piece of me would die a slow agonizing death.”