“Legs spread apart.”
She did.
Only then did he let go of her ponytail. He knelt next to her. “You are accepting your punishment. I will not restrain you. If you fight me or get up, the session ends and you leave. If you really want to continue, you will take every stroke I give you. I will not force you to take them. You will choose to take them. That’s why you have no safeword, because you are free to get up and walk away. Understand?”
Her fingers tightened around the bench. “Yes, Sir,” she whispered.
He stood and walked behind her. She couldn’t see where he went, but when he returned and she heard the first zwip cut through the air, she knew exactly what he held in his hand.
Only a rattan cane made that sound.
“Twenty-five for disrespect. Count every one out aloud. If you miscount, I start over. We will stay here as long as it takes, even if it means missing dinner and the club, for a full count of twenty-five. Understand?”
She felt the endorphins kicking in already. “Yes, Sir.” She tightened her grip on the bench even more, knowing these would hurt like a motherfucker.
And she’d show him she could take it.
She’d show him how sorry she was.
She’d prove it.
“Here we go.”
She closed her eyes as she heard the cane’s path even as it struck her squarely across the ass. She let out a cry as a stripe of fire seemed to follow in the same breath. “One, Sir,” she said with a shaky voice.
She was sobbing by the time he hit five, and suspected the endorphins had really driven her deeply into subspace because every stroke, while painful, felt lighter than the last from number ten on out, although they all hurt like a son of a bitch and drew a loud cry from her with each impact.
By the time they reached twenty-five, she hadn’t missed a single count and she was sobbing so badly a puddle of snot and drool had formed under her cheek where it pressed against the bench.
He grabbed a towel and walked over to her, tenderly tucking it under her face. His hand lightly stroked her ass and thighs where she knew there would be welts and marks visible to the whole dungeon that night.
But she’d done it. She’d taken them for him. The fire in her ass from every stripe he’d laid in her flesh was worth it.
He gathered her against him. “That’s my good girl,” he softly said, rocking her in his arms. “There’s my very good pet. All the bad gone. The board’s reset, and my pet’s all good again.”
She sobbed even harder, so relieved to hear the tenderness return to his tone. She clutched at him. “I’m sorry, Sir. I’m so sorry.”
He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “All’s forgiven, pet. In the future, you will code and talk to me, no matter how uncomfortable it feels. I will be patient with you, but you cannot fight me like that. You have to talk to me.”
“Yes, Sir.”
* * * *
Tony wondered how long it would take her to discover the ruse. She’d howled like she’d taken a hell of a beating, and in her distress that was what she thought she had.
She had two, maybe three cane stripes on her ass that would probably fade by the end of the night. The rest were light strokes he delivered with a thin metal rod he’d grabbed from the freezer in the utility room just before he started. In her deep subspace, she’d processed the cold as pain, especially when he’d combined it with swishing the real rattan cane in the air with his other hand to make the sound as he’d touched the cold rod to her ass.
When he saw she genuinely wanted to atone, he’d gone for the mindfuck, glad to be able to use it and not having the heart to truly whip her ass. Mark her head to toe in fun?
Sure.
Punishment?
He hated having to do it. She’d obviously beaten herself up mentally far more than he could ever in good conscience beat her physically.
And she hadn’t let go of the bench once. Not even after the first couple of blows from the rattan cane, which were physically the hardest strikes he’d delivered.
When she finally calmed, he waited until she blew her nose in the towel to point to the floor. She slid to her knees.
“Greeting, pet,” he softly said.
She immediately bent to kiss his feet, the sight of her rounded back as she did stirring his cock. Then she kissed the backs of his hands.
Then she nuzzled the front of his slacks before looking up at him, eyes red and puffy from crying.
She was beautiful.
He helped her to her feet and handed her dress to her. “Good girl. Go clean up, pet, and meet me in the living room.”
“Yes, Sir.”
He was sitting on the couch when she walked in a few minutes later looking confused.
That didn’t take long. “Problem, pet?” He patted the couch next to him and had her curl up with her head in his lap.
“I’m confused, Sir.”
He bit the inside of his lip to stifle the laughter. “Why?”
“You gave me punishment.”
“Yes?”
“And I counted out twenty-five strokes.”
“Yes?”
“I only have a couple of marks, Sir. Not that I’m complaining,” she rapidly added.
He laughed. “Oh, my sweet pet. Let me tell you about the art of a truly fine mindfuck.”
* * * *
Shayla awoke late Sunday morning with a sore ass and a happy heart. She’d laughed along with Tony when he explained the various ways to mindfuck someone in a scene. Including relating a firsthand anecdote he’d read from someone who’d been convinced they’d had chunks of their flesh taken from their body, which was then cooked and fed to them, only to find out a few minutes later they didn’t have a scratch on their body.
Obviously, that had been the extreme end of the scale, but after having been through it she could understand it.
Then they’d had another talk. About James.
About the emotional debris she still worked to clear from her heart and soul despite knowing what he’d done wasn’t about her as much as it was about him.
She also resigned herself to the fact that she never would understand why he did what he did. There would never be a clear-cut absolute she could cite with any certainty.
“The only thing for you to keep in here,” Tony said as he looked down at her and touched his index finger to the spot between her eyes, “is that nothing you did or could have done would have changed what he did.”
“If I hadn’t given him a second chance—”
“Stop, pet.” He tapped her forehead. “You’re giving him rent-free space in here when he damn sure doesn’t deserve it. I know you can’t turn emotions and pain off like a light switch. But the first step to getting over it for good is accepting it’s not your fault. And in this case, it isn’t. You’re a good woman, with a good heart, and at the time, for you, it was the right thing to do. Maybe it wouldn’t have been the right thing for someone else. But tell me this, had you left him the first time, do you think maybe you would have been tempted to keep agonizing over the ‘what if’ option of giving him a second chance?”
She hadn’t thought about it like that. She had considered leaving James the first time around.
Then he’d proposed.
And she’d felt too much shame the first time at the thought of admitting to her full circle of friends and extended family why she was leaving him, didn’t know enough about porn addiction at the time to understand it.
Never dreamed he’d rob her blind, or that he’d already taken out the first credit card in her name without her knowledge.
She stretched and grabbed her phone from the bedside table to text Tony. Good morning, Sir.
He texted her back a little while later. Good morning, pet. How’s the ass?
She smiled. Later at the club, he had put marks on her ass. As she studied them in the bathroom mirror that morning she could see imprints from a riding crop, the dastardly silicone spoon, and more cane mar
ks.
Real ones, this time.
Good, Sir.
Excellent. How soon can you be over here?
A delicious shiver ran through her. He’d detailed all the things he planned to do to her today. Anal training was first on the list.
Along with more forced orgasms.
One hour.
He replied a few minutes later. Don’t be late.
She was already in her car thirty minutes later when she remembered she hadn’t checked the mail yesterday. Screw it, I’ll drive past it.
In a hurry not to be late, she grabbed the handful of mail that had filled her box and didn’t bother sorting through it. She threw it on the passenger seat and headed for Tony’s, her heart light even as butterflies created a hurricane in her stomach.
When she reached Tony’s driveway with eight minutes to spare, she was going a little faster than she meant and had to brake hard as she made the turn. The mail on the seat, along with her purse and phone, went flying.
“Dammit.”
She parked in her usual spot and shut the engine off. Tony appeared in the front door as she leaned over to grab everything.
That was when she spotted the envelope with a Cleveland return address.
From one James Tavery.
She sat there staring at the envelope, not realizing she was crying until the knock on her window startled her. Tony stood there, concern on his face, but he looked blurry through her tears.
He opened her car door. “What’s wrong, pet? What happened?”
She couldn’t talk. With a trembling hand, she held out the letter.
He took it, frowning as he read the return address. “This is from him?”
She nodded.
“When did you get it?”
“I forgot to check my mail Friday and Saturday. I stopped by when I left, but I didn’t look through it. It…everything just fell on the floor…I picked it up…”
Then he had her seat belt unfastened and his arm around her shoulder and was leading her into the house where he sat with her on the couch.
“Shh, it’s all right.” He pulled her head into his lap and rocked her as she cried.
When she finally got her wits together, she stared at the envelope, which he’d put on the coffee table. “Will you please open it for me, Sir?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Sir.”
He stretched to reach it and finally grabbed it without having to make her get up. He ripped it open. Inside, nestled in a folded sheet of paper, was a check. He handed it to her.
She read the amount. Three hundred dollars.
She snorted. “He’s getting cheaper. The last one was for five hundred.” She showed it to him. “I wonder how long until they trickle to nothing.”
He hadn’t read the paper. He held it up. “Do you want to read it?”
She considered it. “No. Would you please read it for me and tell me if there’s anything I need to know?”
“Of course.” He scanned it for a few minutes. “He’s sorry, he’s changing, and he’s asking your forgiveness. And he’s hinting he wants a second chance even though he doesn’t have the balls to come out and say it.”
She snorted again. “That sounds familiar. Same shit, different day.”
“What do you want me to do with this?”
“Do you have a shredder?”
“Yes.”
“Please shred it and the envelope.”
“Done.” He carefully repositioned her so he could get up. He walked out of the room, and a moment later she heard a shredder briefly grumble to life in another room. He returned empty-handed.
“Are you feeling up to playing?” he asked.
She nodded. “I think I need it more than ever, Sir.”
He laced his fingers through her hand, helped her off the couch, and led her to the playroom.
He lifted her dress up and over her head and draped it over a chair. Then he got her wrist and ankle cuffs and buckled them around her.
He pointed at the floor.
She sank to her knees and gave him their greeting. When she finished, she pressed her forehead against his thigh and closed her eyes at the feel of the warmth of his body through the denim of his jeans.
He always felt warm. Comforting. She’d come to love this simple moment, the blessed calm washing through her.
Just able to be.
He stroked her hair. “I had a pretty energetic agenda for my pet. You sure you’re feeling up to it?”
“Yes, Sir. Please.” She didn’t know how to vocalize her need. How in a short time she craved every session, every dip into the blessed abyss of subspace.
The peace it brought her mind and heart and soul even as her body was put through the wringer of pleasure and pain.
“All right. Stay here.” He stepped away from her. She didn’t open her eyes, choosing instead to listen to him move round the playroom. Once he’d assembled his items, he returned to her. “Up, pet.”
She opened her eyes and stared into his green gaze. He cupped her cheeks with his palms and seemed to search her face for…something.
“You really do enjoy this, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“It’s not just about the story anymore, is it?”
“No, Sir.”
He kissed her forehead. “Such a good pet,” he whispered.
He led her over to one of the benches and had her straddle it facedown, on all fours. She could rest her torso on the top piece, but it was narrow enough her breasts were exposed and freely accessible on either side.
He worked quickly, using clips to attach her wrists and ankles to the bench. He also buckled a leather strap around her midsection, firmly holding her to the bench. And he clipped a short piece of rope to her collar, the other end which clipped to the bench as well. She could only raise her head an inch or two.
He began stroking her back, her legs, her ass with his hands. Strong, warm hands that had seemingly unlocked every secret of her body. “Very little pain today, pet. Only enough to add to the pleasure. I want you to relax and experience this. Turn your brain off.”
Gladly. “Yes, Sir.”
His hand stroked between her legs, which were spread wide open by her restraints and left her cunt exposed. “You’re already wet, pet.” He chuckled. “That’s good.”
He put the soft leather blindfold on her before she heard him return to the end of the bench. He picked something up. The sound of a glove being snapped onto his hand, followed by the sound of something viscous being squirted, made her heart race.
Then his hand returned to her ass. “I’m going to take my time, pet. Relax. You’ll be here for a while.”
She felt his other hand touch her virgin rim and her whole body tensed.
“Breathe, pet. Yes, this will feel uncomfortable at first. But I have every confidence that you’ll take to it like you’ve taken to everything else so far. Relax and trust me. You have permission to come as much as you want.”
Cold goo smeared around her rim. Then he slowly began rubbing the puckered muscle with one finger, not attempting to breach it yet.
The hand on her ass disappeared. It returned holding a small dildo, which he slowly fucked into her cunt.
A soft moan escaped her and she tried to flex her hips in time with his motions.
“Good girl.” He began pressing his finger against her rim, applying more pressure now as he kept her distracted with the dildo in her pussy. By the time he had one finger worked into her ass and was slowly fucking her with it, she was rocking in time with his motions, not able to get over the edge though.
The finger and the dildo both disappeared at the same time and the sudden emptiness made her gasp.
“Don’t worry, pet. We’re barely getting started.” He drizzled more lube along the seam of her ass and apparently on his hand. The dildo returned to her cunt and the finger to her ass. He fucked her ass harder with his finger, making her moan at the strange sensation.
r /> Then he withdrew and started pressing a second finger for entrance.
Her body stiffened, anxiety breaking through her blissful haze of need.
“Relax, pet.” The dildo disappeared, quickly replaced by something else. When he turned it on and it started buzzing and rotating, she realized it was the rabbit.
He kept it turned on low, slowly fucking her with it as he worked the second finger into her ass. At first it felt strange, uncomfortable having both his fingers penetrating her rim. The stretching sensation struggled to dominate the pleasure she felt in her cunt until after a while, both felt really, really good.
He chuckled as she tried to rock back and forth. “Good girl. Now three.”
He added more lube and then began working a third finger into her. She froze, whining, unsure now if she could take it.
His voice turned stern. “Code or take it, pet.”
She hesitated only a moment. “Green, Sir.”
“Good girl.” He took it slow in her ass while he fucked her cunt with the rabbit, careful to keep the clit stimulator away from her nub.
She suspected he wasn’t trying to get her over yet, just to tease her to the point where she could barely think. More operant conditioning of his pet, getting her used to something new with a whole lot of pleasure to light the way.
When he had all three fingers buried as deep inside her as he could get them, she was gasping, rocking, whining, desperate for release and desperate to have the intrusion removed from her ass, and also desperately hoping he wouldn’t.
There was something wonderful about the full feeling in her cunt and ass at the same time, made only better by the little bit of discomfort she felt.
Then everything disappeared. She tried to rear up and complain but her restraints held her down.
“Stay, pet.” She heard the glove being pulled off, then the sink ran briefly. She heard another glove being pulled on and then the sound of more lube being squirted.
He inserted something into her cunt. She softly moaned in pleasure when she heard the familiar sound of him inflating the dildo. He kept inflating it until she whined as it reached the upper threshold of pleasure.
He patted her ass. “Good girl. You’ll appreciate that being there.” She heard a low buzzing and a vibrator brushed against her clit. Too lightly to get her off, she tried chasing it with her hips but he kept teasing her, tormenting her with it.