The light touch from behind on my shoulder made me shout out loud, way past startled and in to the realms of abject terror.
With the recent lock down closing everything but the essentials one needs for life, I had become all but house bound over the last two months. Life had become so small. No socialising, no meals out, working from home so no going to the office. A trip to the shops was basically the only thing that stopped me from going insane.
The last week had been worse with Sue my house mate, she chose to break all the rules and stay with her mother for a few weeks. Her Mom was going through a depressive period following her divorce. So now I was even more bereft of company.
TV and books only went so far to occupy my down time when not working. I had never had a huge social circle and what I did have did not extend to calling someone up just to have a chat because I was what I call "boneley," bored and lonely.
Sue was great, we had known each other for years. A fortuitous moment the previous year had her leaving where she previously lived due to the landlord selling, just as I had lost my previous house mate. She was superb company, always had a smile, was cute as a button and did wonders for my self-esteem.
I'm a bit of a geek, well a major geek to be honest and I know it. Sue was always there with a nice comment if I had to suit up for something special, or when we would go out for a few drinks and guys would hit on her, she would tell them that I was her man.
With Sue being away, books having been read, my interest in TV having been exhausted and my latest work project having been completed, I was alone in the apartment. It got so bad that I had resorted to wandering around the place opening and closing cupboards and doors, basically seeing if by some miraculous hand of fate something had changed since I last looked.
In the absence of anything better to do with my life, I sat at my desk in the lounge and www'ed up some porn. I have quite the set up at home with two large screens on the wall above three on the desk, 9th gen Intel Core i9, 64 GB Ram, Radeon RX 5700, RAID disk storage and a 100Mbps fibre...
Yeah well, like I said, I'm a geek, but that's not why you are reading this so...
With my feet up on the desk my boxers on the floor and my right hand taking a firm grip on matters, I was indulging myself in various levels of depravity. I have quite varied tastes when it comes to fantasies and porn, which are basically the same thing in my book. I'll appreciate a good "story," followed by some erotic sensual love making, a threesome here, some lesbian sex there, a good hard fuck flick there and from time to time a bit of BDSM.
Being the geek that I am, you could not say that I have a way with the ladies. Far from it in fact. But I'm not a monk and just as a broken clock gets it right twice a day, I occasionally strike it right and manage to have an inevitably short relationship of some sort. Some of these dalliances have been pure vanilla, some have been a little bit more "out there" sexually. So, although I'm not any form of pornstar superstud, I've been around, learned what I like and have an open minded curious experimental streak.
I had been in the mood for something a little more, "out there" and so was watching a lady of simply statuesque, scantily leather clad proportions, indulging in what some would call the abuse of a bald-headed gentleman. The man was on his back on a bed, bound by the wrists to a headboard with his feet separated by a bar with ankle cuffs at each end. He was being whipped by Miss Leather Clad dom queen. Not to within an inch of his life you understand, I may have a few kinks but I'm not that far out there. A few red welts were starting to form on his chest belly and thighs though.
Eventually the lady decided to change things around, unbound the poor chap, had him crouch on all fours on the bed and made him handcuff his wrists together. Once more the whipping started but, if it is possible to envision it, there was a tenderness and subtlety to it now, mixed with a little bit of candlewax play, something I had only once been able to encourage a girl to try on me and thoroughly enjoyed. Between the movie I was watching and the slide show on another screen flicking through some of my more "out there" stills I was very occupied with what was going on.
The lady disappeared out of view for a moment while the poor guy, well lucky guy in my opinion, composed himself and took a breather for a minute or two. Upon returning she was sporting a really quite impressive strapon. I hadn't seen that coming so started watching a bit more intently.
There was once a lady that I associated with, I wouldn't say we were an item, I was more of an experiment for her, if not more of a willing victim. She had indulged in all manner of obscenities with me, I believe simply because she was angry at men, but in me she had someone that let her do her stuff and get it out of her system. Anyway, she had strapped me on a couple of occasions and I have to say I didn't mind at all. I won't say I was the biggest fan but it was something to add to the list of things I might try again should the opportunity present itself.
I was really quite wrapped up in the moment and totally unaware that I had not been alone for quite some time.
"ARRRRGHHH! WHAT THE FUCK!" My feet flew off of the desk and I half fell on the floor stumbling until I stood up, mortified to see Sue standing there. While I have a few kinks and a little more than the common definition of an "open mind," I tend to cater to these character traits in privacy. Exhibitionism is not listed in my wants and desires.
"I'M SORRY, I'M SO SORRY," cried Sue with her hands to her face, while I stood there with mine covering a rapidly deflating erection.
"How... (gulp) h. h... how long have you been here" stuttering and spluttering wishing for the ground to swallow me up as I went down to grab my shorts.
"M... Mom, Mom told me she was fine and that I should come back home and make sure you were ok, I got back about fifteen minutes ago and thought you were at the shops or something, I walked past the lounge door and saw you watching... I... I didn't know you liked stuff like that, she said gesturing towards the computer screens causing me to dive for the mouse and turn it all off.
"I don't really expect an audience or tell everyone what I get up to in privacy," I said a bit harshly.
"I... I'm really sorry, I'm not judging, It... it's... I don't think is bad or wrong, I'm just surprised"
"Fuck Sue, you scared the crap outta me," the porn now at least minimised on the screens. "Fuck... damn" I said walking away to my room feeling more than a little shameful as she apologised even more behind me.
I heard Sue pattering around the place, taking stuff to her room, putting stuff in the washing machine and so on while I sat on my bed feeling mortified.
I don't know, it must have been an hour or so later when Sue tapped on my door, waiting for me to say something or invite her in. "Do you want a glass?" she said, quite sweetly in fact, "Yeah please" I replied thinking she would go to the kitchen and pour us both something.
Instead she toed the door open and came in holding two glasses of wine. "Look, please don't think bad of me, or don't feel bad yourself, I'm not really sure what you are feeling but you look angry," she said.
"I'm not angry, just majorly embarrassed, I... we... I mean we have never discussed or talked about such things."
"Don't be embarrassed, it's just a bit of porn, don't you think I might watch it when the need arises or there's an itch that needs scratching? No, I don't mind it at all, the thing is that you were watching stuff that I watch, it's a little niche" she said with a lopsided grin.
"Well as long as you don't think I'm some kind of depraved jerk, that's ok I guess, but for the love of God don't creep up on me like that again."
I really didn't mean to I was just watching from the door and just came closer because I thought it was hot, I really don't even remember touching you, it just happened."
I stood up feeling a little weirded out by the whole thing and we went to the lounge where she had her regular sofa and I had my regular chair.
"Have you ever done anything like that?" Sue asked nodding towards the now blank computer screens.
"A couple of times I guess, through the years I've given most things a go if I get the chance, I just don't get the chance that often."
"I never have, I've always wanted to be the leather clad, whip wielding dom, making men succumb to my every wish and command, I'm just a bit shy and have never had the opportunity and have been too quiet to ask I guess."
This was probably the most frank and open discussion that Sue and I had ever had. We had discussed our various partners, or lamented the lack thereof on occasion, but never strayed in to the area of sex or what we get up to when the curtains are drawn. To be honest I thought Sue would look great as a leather clad whip wielding dom, albeit a very petite small framed one. So, I said as much.
"You be a fantastic dom, like a little leather clad Munchkin.",
"That's the thing though, that's what men think of me, This small, blond slightly ditzy, no danger tame chick. Sometimes though I want to be more, I want to be the one that makes the decisions, to be more loud, to be.. to be her," she said gesturing towards the screens with a slightly sad look on her face, "I just never get the chance, men just laugh at me if I try to be a little assertive"
"I wouldn't laugh at you, I'd like to see you be a bit more full of yourself and have an attitude that makes people back off, back down or just listen." Sue certainly wasn't the most assertive of women and more than a couple of her partners in the past had taken advantage of it. "Consistency is the answer, you just got to start and keep at it, don't let people tell you otherways, you can be anything you want."
"Well I'd need the uniform," She said cheering up, looking at the screens and smiling.
"And a few tools of the trade to get started," I encouraged half in support and half at the thought of the potential little leather clad munchkin sat facing me.
"That would cost a fortune, I'd have to start small" she said laughing.
"You are small, so it's the only way to start! Now Mistress Munchkin, must I get us both a refill?
And that was that, we sunk back in to our day to day lockdown lives, with me making a concerted effort to be a bit more discreet in my viewing habits and nothing more was said of it.
As with all things, lockdown finally came to an end, but little changed at home. My employer realising that we could all work from home and safe them money on office space, shut up shop, or rather a lot of the shop. The same was true of Sue and the two of us spent considerably more time together.
We were having a glass of wine together one Friday evening watching "History of the Cosmos," or some equally mundane geekfest, when Sue turned to me and asked,
"Will you come shopping with me tomorrow?"
"Of course, whereawe goin, whadda we buyin and how heavy will it be?
"I actually want to go to that shop on Clark Street"
"The big pharmacy?"
"No stupid... the S.. Se... the sex shop, Lover's Emporium."