A Perfect Match

Part Sixteen: Confession

Once again, Jeremy was less than enthused about getting together with Natasha and Scott.

"You know Miss Natasha is going to want me to undress when we're there." He said.

Meryn frowned. "You're probably right. And you know I don't like that. Still," she mused, "we will be her guests, and it is her place."

"House rules?" He asked.

"House rules." She agreed.

As that Saturday marked three months since they first met, Meryn suggested that they go out for dinner before going to Natasha's. They went to a very nice restaurant and had a delightful time. While Jeremy only had a salad plate for dinner, his wine selection and his suggestions for Meryn's various courses were impeccable, and they both were in an excellent mood when they arrived at Natasha's place.

They were met at the door by a pink-panty clad Scott, who immediately dropped to his knees to kiss Meryn's shoes in greeting. He then rose and, as expected, indicated to Jeremy that he should disrobe. He then guided Meryn into the livingroom where Natasha was waiting. She hugged Meryn warmly, and they both sat, Meryn on the love seat, and Natasha on the sofa with Scott on his knees and elbows, head down at her feet. A moment later Jeremy entered wearing only his white briefs, knelt before Natasha, kissed her feet in greeting, and then crawled over to assume the same position at Meryn's feet.

"Well Tash, we're here." To Meryn's surprise, Natasha was not dressed to the nines, as she had been for their previous get togethers. This night she was wearing a loose fitting sweat suit, as if she was planning to work out.

"I'm so glad you came Meri. I think this will be very important for you both." She replied.

"So what is it that you feel is so necessary to show us?"

"Ah, you want to dive right in. Excellent. But it's not just to show you Meri. I told you that you need to be involved as well." Meryn wasn't so sure about that. "But a little explanation first."

Natasha paused and took a breath. "As you know, I've totally embraced this lifestyle, and I realize that you have, maybe, only come to enjoy certain aspects of it. And that's fine. This lifestyle is a big tent, and I don't think anyone takes part in all of it. But there are certain principles that must be adhered to, to make it work." She paused again. "One of the most crucial ones" she continued, "is that a slave must always be completely subservient and totally obedient, and his owner must find ways to ensure that this is always the case."

Meryn began to stir uneasily.

"Now I, personally, am not into whips and chains."

Thank God, Meryn muttered under her breath.

"Not that there is anything wrong with that for those who are. But it is vitally important that this dynamic be maintained, and that discipline be imposed to ensure it. And Meri, believe me, slaves desire, they crave this discipline. Some more than others. For some it's part of the sexual fabric of their psyche. But all of them have an intense need to have our will imposed on them, and to know that there are definite consequences for any failures to meet their obligations."

Meryn, her face neutral, remained silent.

"Each of us, Meri, has to find a way to do this, and I've developed a method that suits me very well. And knowing you, I think it would be perfect for you as well.' Natasha looked at her expectantly.

"I'm listening." Meryn replied evenly.

Natasha continued. "Once a week, on Saturday nights, I've instituted a ritual I call Confession. Scott crawls before me on his knees, and confesses all of his sins against me over the past week. And I keep a tally. For inadvertent accidents, one whack. For simple mistakes, three whacks. For minor infractions, five whacks, and for what I deem major transgressions, ten whacks.

Despite an ominous foreboding, Meryn couldn't help herself. "What in heaven is a whack?"

Natasha smiled. "After any confession, of course, comes Penance. And believe me, it's anything but heaven for Scott." With that she reached down under the corner table and pulled out a previously unseen paddle tennis paddle. It was all wood, a quarter inch thick, with a twelve inch diameter round head. "And this is what I administer Penance with, once the tally is complete.'

Meryn stared at the paddle, not fully believing.

"Now you may wonder why Scott would ever confess all of his sins, particularly the major ones, knowing what it will bring." She took Meryn's frown to be interest in her query. "Well, there is no problem at all with that. You see, Scott never has any idea what I do and don't know. So after he completes his confession, if there's any sin I know he's neglected to mention, we add ten whacks if it's minor, and twenty five if I deem it major. I think you can see why Scott always tries extremely hard to be very complete and forthcoming in his accounting."

Meryn remained warily silent.

"But enough of explanations. I think it's finally time for a demonstration." With that, Natasha snapped her fingers, and Scott immediately crawled in front of her, and knelt upright from his prostrate position. He then thanked Natasha for allowing him to confess his sins, and for providing correction so that he would be able to serve her better. She coldly told him to proceed, and he began to list a number of transgressions, most of them dealing with his inadequacy with food preparation, a few with some minor cleaning mistakes. Natasha gave all of these either ones or threes, and before long he was up to fourteen whacks. Scott paused for a moment, and then admitted that he had been unable to completely remove a stain from one of her panties when hand washing them. Natasha gave this a ten, and Scott fell silent.

"Well Scott, is there anything else you wish to confess to me?" He shook his head no. "Twenty four then. I must say you are getting better every week." She paused. "But wasn't my dry cleaning supposed to be ready on Wednesday, and I don't believe you picked it up until Thursday. Is that correct?"

Scott's face blanched as he nodded yes.

Natasha turned to Meryn. "Well then Meri, what do you think I should do? I think we need to involve you some. What do you think? Is this a minor or a major sin?"

Meryn had no desire to get involved. But she had agreed to come over, so she would play the game, at least up to a point.

"I guess it would depend." She started. "Did you need any of those clothes on Wednesday?"

"I don't think that really matters. But no, I didn't."

"Then I would consider it minor."

Natasha laughed. "Ah, you're too good hearted Meri. I would have definitely given it twenty five. But I asked for your opinion, so a ten it will be, and I'm sure Scott will thank you profusely for that later." She turned her attention back to Scott. "So that brings you to thirty four. But before your Penance is administered, I think we should have Jeremy offer his Confession.

"I don't think so." Meryn protested. "We weren't prepared for any of this Tash."

"Oh come on Meri. You've owned him for three months now. I'm sure Jeremy has committed any number of sins in that time."

Before Meryn could argue further, Jeremy had crawled in front of he, and knelt up. "Miss Meryn, please allow me the opportunity to account for my many failures in your service."

She looked at him long and hard. Okay, she thought, if he wants to play the game too, she'd let him. She had forced him to come after all. She nodded assent.

"Excellent." Natasha chortled.

Jeremy began to confess his alleged transgressions, with Natasha keeping a verbal tally. Failure to shine a pair of her shoes until a day after she wore them. She didn't even know he reshined her shoes every time she wore them, and they certainly didn't need it. Failure to dust her desk in the computer room when he had cleaned last week. With her work papers strewn all over her desk it would have been a disaster if he had moved them. Failure for several days to fix the broken medicine cabinet door in her bathroom. Which she had broken, and it had take two days to find the special replacement part. Failure to discover that she didn't like asparagus before making them for her. A culinary sin? How ridiculous could he get after all the fantastic meals he had made for her.

Natasha gleefully kept the count, and before Meryn could catch her breath, Jeremy was already up to fifteen.

"And two weeks ago Miss Meryn, I didn't have enough time to handwash all your panties, so I put some of them in the machine."

"That's definitely a ten." Natasha pronounced gravely.

Meryn was aghast. Handwash my panties. She never asked him to do that. And she didn't want to believe that he really did. He had to be making half of this stuff up. Why? A dark suspicion crept into her mind. Natasha had said that they wanted punishment. Did Jeremy crave this? She shuddered.

"Is there anything else you have to confess to Miss Meryn, Jeremy?"

Jeremy looked up at her with anxiety. "One last thing Miss Meryn. This past week I bought some new clothes for myself without you."

"I'm afraid that has to be another ten."

"Now wait a minute Tash." Meryn was not going to put up with this. "He did that for me. So I wouldn't have to pay my half. To save me money. He can't be faulted for that."

"Dishonesty in a slave can never be tolerated Meri, no matter what the reason. For that I wish I could give him a twenty five, but since he did admit it, we'll keep it a ten." She turned her attention back to Jeremy. "I believe that adds up to thirty five whacks for you Jeremy, and thirty four for you, Scott. I think it's time to commence Penance.

Meryn was livid, not least because Natasha seemed particularly pleased that Jeremy had ended up with more that Scott. Well, that wasn't going to matter, she thought, as any whacks Jeremy might receive from her were going to be the merest of taps.

"And I think that since this is the first time for you two, Meri, I should show you the way." Natasha continued. "On Jeremy."

"Oh no, Natasha." She responded hotly. "That's not right. I can't let you do that."

Natasha laughed. "Meri, Meri. As I said before. I know you too well. You're too good hearted. And this is too important. Penance must be administered correctly for it to be effective. If, after watching me with Jeremy, you still find yourself too kind with Scott, well I can deal with that later. But you have to learn the right way for this to be done."

Meryn fully intended to put her foot down this time, and she looked down at Jeremy to reassure him. But as she did, he silently mouthed the words "House rules" to her, and this brought her up short. Was she going to allow herself to be trapped by her own proclaimed conditions? Even worse, did Jeremy want her to be? She stared intently at him, but he just looked straight ahead. Finally she sat back, defeated, and mumbled okay.

Responding to a finger snap, Scott scurried into the den, and returned with what looked like a miniature vaulting horse. It came to groin high, and had two handles in the front. Scott had Jeremy take off his briefs, and then positioned him bent over the horse, his hands gripping the handles in front. His highest body part now was his invitingly exposed rump, which was facing the chair where Meryn slumped.

Natasha stepped forward with the paddle, and began issuing instructions. "I'm now going to administer your just Penance Jeremy. You are to count aloud each stroke followed by a thank you to me. The handles in front are for your convenience. Do not even think to try to cover your ass with your hands. Any such attempt will add ten more whacks for the first offence, and twenty five for any following. When I have completed your Penance, you will climb off the horse, kiss my feet and thank me again for providing your correction. You then will crawl over to your owner and humbly beg her for her forgiveness for your sins."

With that she delivered his first whack, sounding a loud crack that made Meryn jump. "One. Thank you Miss Natasha." Another. "Two. Thank you Miss Natasha." And another. "Three. Thank you Miss Natasha". She struck random spots on both cheeks, sometimes hitting the same spot twice in a row, but making sure that no spot was missed. She also varied the rhythm, at times stringing four or five smacks in rapid succession, and other times pausing thirty seconds or more, so Jeremy could never be sure when the next blow was coming. By ten whacks his entire behind was a bright red, by twenty it looked like it was on fire, and his voice began to be strained. By twenty five his voice began to crack. By thirty his count was punctuated by quiet sobs.

Meryn sat with her jaw clenched as tightly as her fists. She was unable to look away. She was numb with frustration, anger, and another, deeper emotion she couldn't identify. Why was he allowing this to happen? She knew it wasn't a game to him, and he obviously was in real pain. Why didn't he put a stop to it? Why didn't she?

The last five whacks were delivered in a slow, excruciating manner. Each produced an anguished grunt before the sobbing count and thank you. After the last stroke Jeremy peeled himself off the horse, briefly kissed Natasha's feet, and in a barely audible voice thanked her one last time. He then crawled on all fours to a rigid Meryn, bent his head down to the floor, and began passionately kissing her feet, while in a tearful voice begged for her forgiveness. As if paralyzed, Meryn let this continue for about thirty seconds before she whispered. "Enough Jeremy." To her horror, when Jeremy knelt up, he had a raging erection.

"Meri, it's time for Scott's Penance. Please."

Meryn looked up and saw Scott already bent over the horse. She had initially planned to refuse to administer it, but her anger was now such that she stood up and took the offered paddle from Natasha. There was no way she would allow Scott to suffer less than Jeremy.

She stepped forward and delivered the first blow, a resounding smack that was no less hard than any Natasha had dealt. She delivered two more equally hard, paused, seemed satisfied with her effort, and then, unlike Natasha, proceeded with a steady rhythm, alternating cheeks, and didn't pause again until she reached twenty. Scott's butt was now beet red, but she was bothered that there was no change in his voice. She gave him two rapid, harder strokes, but his count remained firm, and his thank you vibrant. She looked closer, and was startled to see that he was erect. The bastard was enjoying this, she fumed. She had to do something about that. Enraged, she swung harder, this time producing a satisfying yelp, which was repeated with her next stroke as well. She then proceeded with four more in rapid succession, each one harder that the last, each producing a progressively more strangled cry before a now hoarsely muttered count. She looked again and was very pleased to see that his erection was now gone. She struck two even more vicious blows, which were both greeted with an agonized wail, before a whimpered count. Not enough, she thought, and swung twice more as hard as she could. The first produced an actual scream and no following count. The second landed with a sickening thud and no verbal response, but his right hand flew off the handle and arced back to protect his behind. Catching himself, he slowly let it fall to his side, where it hung limply. Was Natasha going to give him another ten for that indiscretion, Meryn wondered. No matter, she thought when none was forthcoming. She would make sure these final two were ones he would never forget.

As she stepped forward, gathering her strength for this final onslaught, she felt Natasha's hand grip her wrist. "Give me the paddle Meri." She said quietly. "Let me give him the last two... Please." Meryn turned sharply toward Natasha, and was about to snarl a no, but Natasha repeated. "Please." Meryn looked at Scott, and saw his whole body was shaking, and she noticed that her own breathing was ragged. She took a deep breath, nodded slowly, and handed the paddle to Natasha, who took it, stepped over to Scott, and delivered two light taps. She murmured to him, and he struggled off the horse, hobbled on his knees to the still standing Meryn, kissed her feet, and sobbing, muttered something incoherent, then he turned toward Natasha, and collapsed onto his belly, his chest heaving, his face resting on her feet, with his arms wrapped around them.

"Well Meri, you certainly took me by surprise tonight. I never thought you would take to this quite as enthusiastically as you did." Natasha looked down at Scott, snapped her fingers, and he painfully pulled himself up to his knees and elbows. "You have to realize though" she continued, "that there is a very fine line between punishment and injury, and you almost crossed it tonight. I hope it's something you learned." She paused. "For Jeremy's sake."

Meryn, her face a mask, stared back at her. "I need to go home now Natasha." was all she could say.

"I think that would be best." Natasha replied.

Without another word Meryn walked toward the front door, with Jeremy, still naked, hurrying after. Without waiting for him to dress, she walked out. Less than a minute later, a hastily dressed Jeremy followed.

Part Seventeen: Penance

Meryn was already seated in the passenger seat of the car when Jeremy arrived to get into the driver's side. There was no acknowledgment as she stared ahead in silence. Driving home, Jeremy had to shift his position frequently to try to ease his discomfort. He would be feeling like this for several days he realized, but he knew it was going to be far worse for Scott. He had been very glad when Miss Natasha had stopped Miss Meryn at the end. He had already started to rise to do so himself, which would have broken all the rules. But he would have done it, and not just for Scott's sake.

He had never imagined Miss Meryn like he had seen her tonight, and he still found it hard to believe. She certainly seemed to have been entranced with producing such pain, and he tried to understand what that would mean. He wasn't a masochist, and never desired pain, and he doubted he could take anything like tonight again from any one else. But he knew in his heart that he could never leave Miss Meryn of his own volition. If she wanted, if she needed this from him, he sadly concluded that he would accept it from her, willingly. He knew he would always give her anything she wished from him, to be allowed to remain with her.

When he parked the car in front of the apartment, Meryn got out without waiting for him to come around to open her door. Without her key however, she was forced to wait at the front door. When he opened it, she walked in past him. After he had closed the door behind him, without turning around she simply said "Follow me" and walked briskly into her bedroom.

As he entered, she sat down on the side of her bed, looked up at him, and said "Undress." He quickly rushed to obey, stripping down to his briefs when she added "Everything". After he complied she told him to come stand before her, but face away.

She stared at his still darkly reddened behind. There were several areas that were already purpling, and would become major bruises. She briefly wondered what Scott looked like, but immediately dismissed that thought. With both hands she began to gently stroke each cheek of his buttocks. She continued this in silence for several tense minutes while Jeremy wondered anxiously what she had in store for him.

"So Jeremy, did you enjoy yourself this evening?" She asked evenly.

Or was it suppressed excitement he wondered. He thought he knew what answer she desired, and he always strove to give her what she wanted, what she needed. But he knew he could not, would not ever lie to her, no matter what the consequences. "No Miss Meryn. I didn't."