A Short Demonstration

“Hello?”

“Hi.”

“Todd?”

“Hi. Surprised?”

It was an understatement. My heart had leapt into my throat at the first sound of his voice. Years had passed since we had last spoken, our ways parting gently and without anger. But something in his voice still made my heart pound, my blood pump, an instant arousal spread through me like a flood.

“Todd…” I couldn’t think of anything to say. For the first time in my life I was without words, images of my ex-boyfriend, my former master, flashing before my eyes.

“Kate, it’s good to hear your voice again.”

“How’ve you been?” I asked stupidly. My eyes found my reflection in the hallway mirror, my brown eyes wide with surprise, my large lips parted as words I’d longed to speak for years, pleas for him to come back into my life, drifted on the edge of my tongue.

“I’ve been good. How about you?” He sounded so damned cheery, so happy, and so casual. Was his heart leaping as mine was? Did he feel the same longing in his loins at the sound of my voice as I felt at his? I doubted it, but I couldn’t help hope.

“I’ve been okay.” Silence. Waiting for him to make the next move. Nothing in my mind could pinpoint even a hint at what he would want from me. Years ago we had been special, but it had seemed to die. Or, rather, his interest in me had. Reluctantly I had let him go, promises of friendship and keeping in touch which didn’t last more than a couple of months.

“Kate…would you like to come out to dinner?”

A date? My brain sparked in questions, my senses questioning his motives. Before I met him I would have accepted no question, but now I hesitated. Too much hurt. Too many broken promises. Not from Todd, but from others. I didn’t want to get dragged back in too quickly.

“What do you want from me?” I breathed, my heart not relaxing for a moment.

A heavy sigh on the other end of the phone.

“I’m getting married,” he said. My heart sank. My boiling blood, pumping so quickly through my veins, seemed to instantly freeze in my body making my flesh hard as stone.

“Married?”

“Yeah, Katie. I’m getting hitched. Tying the knot. Locking myself to a ball and chain ‘till death us do part. I want you to meet her.”

Another quick glance at the reflection in the mirror. Broken dreams written all over my smooth face, brow furrowed in confusion and hurt.

“Will you come?” he asked. “She wants to meet about the girl who stole my heart.”

Silence, too stupid to speak. Emotions ran rampant through my mind. What could I say?

“Congratulations. What’s her name?”

“Her name is Rachel. Say you’ll meet us. Tonight, seven, Charlie’s Grill? I have reservations for three.”

Anger rose in my body, but I pushed it down. There wasn’t a fourth to worry about, so why did I bother?

“Okay.”

“Thank you, Katie. We’ll see you then, okay?”

I nodded and heard him say goodbye. Numbly I hung up the phone and went to get dressed for dinner.

$$$

He always stood out in a crowd. Even from across the busy restaurant I saw him in his booth, a petite woman much older than myself, closer to his age, cuddled close to him in the seat. She was thin, willowy almost, with pale blond hair resting at her shoulders. Her eyes seemed overly large, engulfing her face, and despite her obvious middle age she seemed young. Pretty, but not as pretty as I’d expected. Somehow, something inside me was relieved that he was with someone I wouldn’t consider my equal. That was stupid, though, and selfish, and I tried to squash the smug feeling before it reached my face.

Todd saw me and raised his hand, and I made my way through the maze of tables as he scooted off of his bench. His arms were akimbo and I allowed his embrace, his hot lips against my neck as he kissed me eagerly. My body tensed at such a display in front of his wife-to-be, but when he held me at arms length and smiled with such pleasure I couldn’t help but relax.

“You look great, Katie!” he exclaimed, looking my body up and down. I was fitter than I had been with him, fat turned to muscle through years of working out, struggles to eat right and exercise. I was still not a skinny, tiny thing like the woman still sitting on the seat, but I felt better about myself.

“It’s been a long time,” I sighed, looking at his face. He hadn’t changed a bit. Raven black hair, not speckled with gray yet even though some men in their forties had started to turn, his dark eyes, his square chin and jaw…it was the face I’d seen when I closed my eyes, the eyes I’d dreamt of in my sleep, the lips that even now I longed to kiss. My love and lust for Todd hadn’t died, but he had rejected me.

Todd moved aside, exposing me to the eyes of his fiancé.

“Rachel, this is my friend Kate. Katie, this is the love of my life, Rachel.”

My heart sank with each word he spoke, but I forced a smile.

“How do you do?” she said politely, smiling timidly and offering me her hand. I took it and shook it lightly.

“Very well, thank you.” I couldn’t put warmth into my face, and I could feel Todd frowning behind me. His emotions had always been tangible to me, and I was frustrated that I couldn’t take him and kiss him the way I longed to.

“Sit down,” Todd offered, and I took a seat across the table from the two. He slipped easily in beside Rachel and put his arm across her shoulders, hugging her close. The seat next to me seemed lonesome and empty, the wide wooden table between us like a vast cavern separating me from the rest of the human race. “Katie, I have to admit that I had reasons to invite you here.”

Rachel’s face blushed, her pale cheeks turning bright red almost instantly. Her large eyes wouldn’t meet mine, but seemed fixed on the wood between us. Obviously she was in on Todd’s plan, but was ashamed.

I looked at Todd, waiting for him to continue. Emotions were as thick as butter, the air so tense around us that I felt I would snap in half if he didn’t speak soon. Silence, though, testing me to the limit. He was watching my eyes, watching the frustration, the fear, the excitement, and the possibilities of what he had to say play through my mind. Finally, he spoke again.

“I was looking through some old photos, Katie. Found some I can barely even remember taking. Pictures of you.”

My brain swirled as the pictures came instantly into my mind. Pictures of me bound, gagged, all manors of kinky pictures that Todd had taken to humiliate me at the time, and arouse me in the future. He’d promised to destroy them.

Unable to keep from blushing, I felt my cheeks turn hot and red. Across the table, Rachel’s face was as flushed as mine felt, and guiltily I looked down at the table. What she must think of me, to have done those things with her future husband.

“You know what I’m talking about?” Todd asked softly, and I nodded curtly. “I hope you aren’t offended…I showed them to Rachel…sort of jokingly…”

Embarrassment was replaced with anger. Was I a joke to him, then? Was my willing submission to his twisted fantasies and my own perversions a source of amusement for him and his wife-to-be? I flashed angry eyes at him, and then stared back at the table. The waiter chose that moment to deliver our food, but I couldn’t even look at it, my stomach was so ill.

“Please don’t be mad, Kate,” Todd pleaded. The betrayer. The one I had feelings for. The man I could see myself with for eternity. He pleaded with his voice, with his eyes, and then he bent across the table to squeeze my shoulder. My whole body relaxed, melting at his touch, and even as hints of arousal churned in my stomach I remained angry. A flustered, festering body of emotion and confusion.

“You said you’d destroy them,” I accused.

“I was going to, Katie. But I didn’t. I don’t know why. I guess I wanted something to remember you by.”

“Well, what do you want with me now?”

“I showed your pictures to Rachel because I wanted to try those things with her. She’s never tried D/s, never been bound or experienced any kink. She’s been pretty straight, frankly, and she wanted to know what it would be like to try something new.”

I saw Rachel’s arm move, and imagined that she was squeezing Todd’s leg. Receiving comfort from his mate, Todd went on.

“She’s scared, and I haven’t been a Dom since we split up. I’m out of practice. We…we were wondering if you would join us in an experiment.”

My jaw dropped open. I looked from Rachel’s blushing face to Todd’s flustered one. They were asking me to join them in the bedroom. I couldn’t believe my ears.

“An experiment?” I whispered. “You want to experiment with me?”

“Please,” Rachel said softly. “I want to see it. Those pictures of you…they did something I can’t explain. They made me feel…funny inside. I can’t even tell if it was a turn on, just that it was different. I asked Todd to call you, to ask if you’d join us. You don’t have to say yes or no right now, you can think about it. Why don’t we finish dinner before we discuss any more?”

I nodded, still shocked, and watched as the two of them nervously lifted their forks. They were trying to go on as if nothing had been said, and doing a pretty lousy job of it, but I knew I wouldn’t be the first to bring the subject up again. I cut a bite of my chicken and studied their nervous faces, the way their eyes drifted back and forth to one another, his gaze on her hand, her eyes on his lips, then back to their plates quickly. So this was what it was like to be a couple, a pair, in love.

While I chewed, visions of my past relationships flashed before my eyes. It had been so long since a man had dominated me, taken control over my body. My panties were moistening just at the thought of it. No doubt that Todd would use me well, as he had in the past. And in front of another woman…the idea made me shiver inside. It was exciting, all right, but it also set off warnings in my head. Threesomes never worked out, not for anyone. Maybe I’d break them up, but I’d still never get Todd for myself. Selfishness reared its head, a snickering voice inside me saying that anything was worth even only one more night with Todd.

When dessert came, I took a spoonful of ice cream and looked into Todd’s eyes.

“Have you been thinking about it?” he asked, quietly. I nodded. “And?”

“Tell me about this experiment,” I said.

Todd’s chest heaved as he took a deep breath, his face relaxing and tensing all at once. He was forcing himself to remain steady, to be the rock of the conversation, and I loved him for it. I loved his confidence, even when he was obviously nervous. Three years ago he wouldn’t have hesitated before asking me to do him a favor. Maybe even two years. But now we were practically strangers, and he’d never felt right asking strangers for anything.

“In a nutshell, I’d like you to come home with us and let me tie you up.”

My heart jumped and stopped and leapt and did all of the things it tends to do when I get excited. Bondage wasn’t D/s, not the way I wanted it, but it was exciting and the thought of being naked and bound at Todd’s feet excited me in a way I hadn’t felt in years. The flood of arousal was almost audible, and I could feel the moisture between my legs like a hot puddle of lava, burning my crotch. I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat.

“Okay.”

Todd’s face looked surprised for a brief moment, but he calmed himself down beautifully. Rachel didn’t hide her excitement, though, perhaps was unable to. A grin fit for the Cheshire cat spread across her face, and she turned her eyes from her man to me, the large orbs happy and excited.

“There are some rules we had discussed,” Todd said. Rachel’s face left me to look at him again. Hunger was in her eyes, and I frowned at seeing it. As much as the idea of going to Todd’s home and being bound by him for any reason excited me, having another woman there, one who belonged to him, who he belonged to, didn’t sit well in my mind. “We don’t want anything to happen that might jeopardize our relationship, Katie. Rachel’s and mine.” As if I needed the clarification. “The two of us, Rachel and I, we would keep our clothes on during the entire scene. You would be naked, though. It’s important to Rachel to see you bound nude.”

I nodded. As unfair as it seemed, it was a form of humiliation I had fantasized about. Being bound, naked, in front of one or more clothed people who would have total control over me. I swallowed deeply and looked Todd in the eye, trying to convey my acceptance of this rule.

“Also, we would not involve ourselves sexually with you. I’m not going to screw you, and I won’t expect you to blow me, or any of the things we used to do when you were bound.”

Again, I nodded. This was no surprise, frankly. I hadn’t expected him to treat me as he had before. We weren’t together, as hard as that was. We weren’t sexually involved anymore. Even though the thought of his naked body sent shivers down my spine, I looked into his eyes and once again tried to show him my acceptance.

“That’s about it. When we get home we’d go over what kinds of things would be done in the scene, so nothing will be a huge surprise. Does all of this sound okay to you?”

Rachel sucked in a breath and looked at me, holding it in, the excitement bubbling up inside her. I nodded a final time, and she relaxed, her grin spreading once again.

“Oh, Kate, I’m so excited!” she breathed. “When are you available?” She turned to Todd, holding his arm in her small hand. Grasping it, really.

“I’m available most any time.”

“What about tonight?”

The couple across the table from me watched me eagerly, their large eyes seeming to consume my body. The hunger between my legs was consuming me, and my breaths were coming in sharp, intense waves.

“Okay,” I agreed, and Rachel smiled again.

Todd paid the bill and we got into our separate cars. I followed their Neon through the city to their home, excitement flooding my mind. No sexual involvement, though…would I be able to handle that? Would I be able to handle any of this? My mind fought with itself, one part begging me to turn around and flee towards my lonely apartment, another part telling me that this is what I wanted, this is what I needed. But no sexual involvement…would I be able to handle that?

We had arrived, and Todd and Rachel were waiting on their porch for me to come inside with them. The chilly air cooled my hot body as I walked briskly up the steps, and when Todd opened the door I followed him in to the cozy house.

“Let’s talk in the living room,” Todd suggested, motioning. The three of us sat down, the two of them on the couch, me in a chair half facing them. Todd had a small smile on his face, one I couldn’t interpret. Was he happy I was there? Was he excited about what was to come? I wasn’t sure. “What we want involved,” he started, “Is a little bit of bondage. I want to tie you up in a few different positions, naked. We’d use leather cuffs and tie them together, to prevent chafing. Some positions I was thinking about are spread-eagled, hogtie position, and maybe a few others if we have time. You’ve experienced them all, and I think you can handle it.” I nodded. “I want to use a blindfold, and a gag. Nipple clamps, a collar and lead…I can’t think of anything else right now.”

My eyes were on Rachel’s hand, still grasping at Todd’s leg. She was squeezing him softly with each word he said, her excitement giving him the strength to continue.

”Does that sound okay?” he asked.

“It sounds wonderful. How long do you want me to stay?”

He looked at his fiancé. They seemed to exchange thoughts telepathically, their eyes boring into each other’s. My heart ached at the easy communication between them. I wanted Todd to look at me that way, but it would never happen.

“You can stay the night,” Todd said. “When we’re done, and I don’t know exactly how long it will take, you’re welcome to the guest bed.”

“Okay.”

“So, if you’re ready…”

I stood up, my legs feeling like rubber underneath me. If we didn’t get started soon I feared that I would run away. I wanted an evening with Todd, even if another woman was there. An evening as his slave, his eager property, his lover. Perhaps two out of three wasn’t so bad.

In the bedroom my brain felt numb. I hardly knew what I was doing as I stripped off my clothes, Todd looking through me rather than at my exposed body, Rachel looking at the wall instead of at my figure. I imagined that she was excited to see me, but wouldn’t really look until I was helpless. My shaky legs held me somewhat steady as I watched Todd’s face intensely, waiting for him to say anything, to do anything.

“Rachel, will you grab the bag out of the closet?” he asked softly. Rachel nodded, and still avoiding my body went to the closet and pulled out a large duffle bag. I recognized it, the bag of toys something that caused even more arousal to flood through my body. The fact that my obvious excitement would be exposed to the couple in minutes scared me in a way I relished, the idea of my open legs glistening in the artificial light as the two others looked upon me sent more shivers down my spine. Arm modestly draped over my body to slightly cover my nudity while it was permitted, my erect nipples half hidden from the two who had yet to look at me, I waited for them to undo the zipper and get on with it.

Kneeling down next to the bag on the floor, Todd’s long fingers took the zipper and slowly undid the duffle bag. The sound seemed to fill the quiet room, overwhelming me and making my breaths come even faster. Emotions flooded my body, excitement, fear, pleasure, anticipation. He pulled out the leather cuffs and set them on the ground, digging through the bag for the tiny gold locks we had purchased together. Everything in that bag reminded me of our relationship, the years we’d shared together, the nights, the excitement, the love he no longer felt for me. Rope, the soft black blindfold, the ugly pink ball-gag that I loathed and loved in one breath. Piles of objects kept coming from inside the bag, our past spread out on the floor in front of me. Finally he stood up, two cuffs in his hand.

“Turn around,” he said quietly. The commanding tone I remembered was in his voice, and slowly I turned, exposing my back to him. “Arms please,” he said. I put them behind my back, and shivered again when he took my wrist in his fingers.

The cuffs were cool around my flesh, tight as he slipped the silver loop through the hole in the leather. They encased me and made me feel helpless already, even though I still had time to back away, to pull my hands out of his grasp, to take my clothes and cover my nudity. Then a click and the release of his hand, the light weight of the lock though the metal loop pulling my wrist gently, and the leather wrapping around the other arm. A second lock and I was in the cuffs, unable to free myself from them, captive until Todd released me.

“Sit down please,” his soft voice said again, and I sat my bare backside on the edge of their bed, the bed that they shared every night and would for all of their married life. Even as evidence of my arousal seeped onto their sheets, I thought of them together. The two of them, together, Todd locking me out for all of eternity.

He took my ankle in his warm hand and wrapped the third cuff around it, locking it in place snugly around my limb. Then the fourth cuff, and I was his. The click of the last lock almost made me swoon. Soon I would be bound and helpless in his possession once again, for however short a time.

“Up,” he said, and I rose from the bed. “Turn around.” I complied. He took the rings in the cuffs and pulled my wrists together, holding them there for a moment before fastening them together. When he let them fall back I pulled on them gently, testing the strength that held me. It was intoxicating, the feel of their unrelenting strength. I felt helpless. Lifting my head and eyes I looked at Todd, trying to analyze the look in his eyes. Arousal was there, for sure, and when my eyes drifted downwards I could detect a bulge in his pants. I looked back at his face, at his lips, longing for him to kiss me. Rachel’s voice startled me.