A girl, incontinent.
The woman heard the door creak on its hinges.
Pivoting on her heels, she turned to see who entered, her heart racing in sudden anticipation.
It was the girl -- naked, oiled.
Her hand clutched a black riding crop against her breastbone. The bleak february light sparkled off the jewel dangling from her tit.
The girl took only two, three steps, before sinking to her knees on the marble floor, sliding forward on her elbows until her brow touched the stone. Her ass rose high; her shining curls spread around her head like a fan.
"My treacherous slut," the woman whispered.
She walked closer, reaching down to touch the girl's creamy skin, tracing it with her fingernails. The bruises of their last, almost forgotten flogging session had become faint bluish traces, like shadowy veins in ancient marble. She delighted in the smooth, soft yielding of the flesh -- and in the girl's moans as she intensified the probing.
"Please rise," she whispered. "I need to see your jewel."
The girl rose hesitantly, presenting her chest by pushing back her shoulders. There was a deepening blush on her cheeks and throat.
Her eyes turned away.
The woman watched her and frowned. Then she touched the lily, dangling from a stiffened nipple. She pulled on it, making the girl lean forward to alleviate the stretching.
Looking closer, she noticed a telltale tiny gap where the ring closed -- slightly askew. She looked up, catching the girl's gaze right before it tried to escape.
"You removed it," she said, "you cut it and removed it." It was not a question. Tears welled up from the girl's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I...," she mumbled.
"You didn't want your lover to see it," the woman said, not sounding angry, but coldly accurate. "You were ashamed of... us."
Misery bled from the girl's eyes.
The woman took her jaw in the vice of her thumb and fingers, demanding attention.
"And you'd never have told me," she went on, "if I hadn't found out." Not able to look away, the girl's eyes closed.
"Forgive me," she said, her lips fighting the fingers' pressure. "I am weak. I'm not worthy."
The slap rang against the vaulted ceiling.
"Leave the judging to me, slut," the woman said, repeating the slap with her backhand. "And the punishment."
She took a step back; the girl stood with sagged shoulders.
"So, you forgot already what it stands for," the woman went on. "I wonder, honey -- did you ever understand?"
The girl shrunk further; her fingers traced her face where the hand had struck.
"That I'm yours?" she murmured. Her eyes wandered off.
"Were you ever?" the woman asked. The girl kept silent.
"You still don't know." Again, it was not a question.
Another silence lingered.
"Look at me, girl."
The chocolate eyes looked up -- hesitantly. The woman suppressed her impatience, knowing it was her main flaw. She forced a smile to her lips.
"It's a hard question, I guess," she said. "Maybe too hard."
"It..." the girl started. "It is so difficult to explain. I was determined to be yours. On the day you gave me this," she went on, looking down to her pierced nipple, "I would have cried
YES!"
Her face glowed with sudden passion; her hands grabbed the woman's, holding them.
"Yes," she repeated. "I was all yours then. It is always like that; I didn't need to think. I just..." Her voice faded into a mere whisper.
"You just?" the woman asked, holding her breath. The brown eyes returned, eyebrows rising into little desperate steeples.
"I just... ," she said, sighing. "Everybody leaves me. My girlfriend dumped me. And then the blond woman in New York...
"Nobody wants me. I'm so alone."
"I got scared," she went on after a pause. "I always do. I lay on my bed at home, feeling the numbness of my bruises, the lingering pain of our... sessions. And the exhaustion of my orgasms...
"When darkness falls, my demons gather around me. You know of my demons. They're mocking me, scolding me... telling me I betray them, that I should be ashamed of myself, scaring my certainties away. They leave me confused, worthless.
"On my own... I'm lost."
The woman waited for her to proceed, saying nothing. She ached to hug the girl, imagining her struggle. She also wanted to slap her hard for her insensitive words.
"And then," the girl said, looking up, blushing fiercely, "I decided to go to New York... again."
The name hung between them, untouched.
"I didn't phone or make an appointment. I also didn't think how it might hurt you. I... I guess I'm like that... insensitive -- so full of myself.
"I'm sorry."
"Stuff the damn sorry's," the woman growled through clenched teeth. "Get on with it; what happened?"
The girl's eyes were everywhere but on the woman's.
"I... I removed the lily. I'm so..."
The woman cried out, stomping her foot.
"One more sorry, you slut, and I'll
kill
you! I promise I'll kill you!"
The outburst made the girl cringe, raising her hands before her face. Then she resumed her story.
"Anyway," she said, "it was of no use. I still feel so ashamed of the way I threw myself at her the moment we met again -- surprising her at work.
"It was all a... mistake... such a shameful mistake."
A blush spread on her chest, clawing at her throat.
"She said all the nice things to let me down. She really is a sweet woman, you know? She said she liked me a lot and that what we had was special, she'd never forget it, but she wasn't into that and blabla bla...
"Oh god, I could have sunk through the floor!"
Her lips started to tremble and a new flood of tears sprang from her eyes.
The woman watched her; then she said, in a level, unemotional voice: "And then, after you were all cried out, you considered returning to good old push-over me.
"Anything better than being alone."
The girl wiped her eyes with an angry, backhanded swipe.
"You're right, of course," she said, trying a forced, trembling smile. "I guess I should leave."
"Maybe yes," the woman agreed, but she stopped the girl when she turned to go -- feeling another hint of déja-vue.
"Before you go," she said, leaning in, "please answer me. Why did you come back here in the first place? Why bother to get over here, naked, freshly shaved and oiled?
"Just to tell me 'you don't know' and then run off again?"
There was steel in her voice as their eyes met and locked.
"Why did you think I'd take you back?" she then urged. "Because I wouldn't remember what you said; or notice what you did?"
The girl's irises danced in the whites of her eyes; her head slowly shook in denial.
"No?" the woman asked. "Oh, but yes. I'm just your second-hand choice, aren't I? Until the next New York or Italian miracle comes along."
The girl looked utterly lost; she turned left and right, her thighs pressed together.
"Do you need to piss, girl?" the woman asked, suddenly grinning. The girl looked away, her head a pink light bulb.
"I... I don't know what to say," she then mumbled, both hands sliding between her thighs. "If I say I'm unworthy, you hit me. If I say: 'I don't know,' you scold me.
"I just want you to take my confusion away, my weakness, my demons... I... I just can't do it by myself."
The woman kept staring at her.
"You sure must be desperate," she finally said.
The girl didn't answer; she churned her thighs around her pressing hands.
"Don't dare lose a drop," the woman added.
The next minutes of silence must have been hell for the girl. The woman just looked on, watching the waves of painful need washing over the girl's face. She now danced on her feet to force back the urge, catching the drops with her hands -- praying the woman wouldn't notice.
The woman smiled, watching.
"So, you want me to take you back?" she finally said.
"Please," the girl begged. The woman wondered if it was an answer to the question or a plea to let her go and relief herself.
"Honey," she went on. "You remember when I told you I can only train girls who love me?" The girl nodded, her face grimacing from her ordeal.
"Well, you obviously don't love me. Not like you love your New York girlfriend," the woman said.
The girl started crying, but maybe that also was because a new wave of painful need hit her.
"All the girls I trained loved me, you know?" the woman went on. "You obviously think you can get a free ride -- have me relief you of your hang ups and get a nice string of orgasms into the bargain?
"Not going to happen."
"Please?" the girl asked again, dancing, feeling a small, treacherous rivulet running down her thigh.
The woman turned away from her. The scent of urine made her nostrils flare.
"Go to the toilet, slut," she said.
***
A girl, breathless.