Closed Books

"Muhhh?" was about the sound James made when Deidre jumped his back as he was sleeping on his stomach. "Wh???" came next as he struggled to keep his eyes open for more than two seconds.

Deidre said nothing. Was she planning a surprise scene? It seemed to him that he'd only just went to sleep after a full night's work at the factory. He felt his arms being put in the restraints that Deidre kept fastened to the headboard, then a blindfold was suddenly lowered onto face, covering his eyes. She practically ripped his pajama bottoms off of his legs. After he was naked, Deidre turned around to bind his ankles to the foot board. He didn't resist at all. He knew better; resistance would only have brought him pain.

By this time, he was finally awake enough to form words. "Mistress?" he ventured. No answer. This may not be good, he thought.

Finally, she seemed to be finished and got up off of him to stand by the bed. He was helpless, arms and legs spread out, as well as blindfolded. "Mistress?" he tried again.

Her voice, when she spoke, was very soft and pitched low, almost a purr. He knew he was in trouble then. "Why does Eva still have a key to our house?"

"Huh?" he replied intelligently.

Deidre gritted her teeth. "Your ex-wife, Eva! Remember her? She still has a key to this house. She just walked on in this morning like she still lives here! Why. Does. She. Still. Have. A. Key?"

"Because I forgot to ask her to give it back, Mistress. I'm very sorry."

"Your marriage to her ended ten years ago." Flat, cold tone of voice. Oh yeah, big trouble! "And she's been allowed to just walk in anytime she wants after ten years?"

"Mistress, honestly, my marriage to Eva is a closed book! There wouldn't be anything between us at all if it weren't for Jo." Jo was their six-year-old daughter. It had been quite a relief to James to see his new wife and his daughter hit it off so well. "I gave Eva that key years ago because she needed it to get Jo to school while I was work when Jo stayed with me. But I'd forgotten she had it."

No response. "Mistress?"

Deidre was now sitting on the edge of the chair next to the bed, her rattan cane poised over James' back. Her left hand covered her mouth and nose lightly to muffle the sound of her breathing. She was almost as still as a statue. The discipline she had endured during her days as a submissive paid off as a domme every now and again, she thought grimly. Let him sweat it out.

James became very quiet, listening intently. "Mistress?" he called again.

Deidre debated within herself how likely his claims were true. How often had he and Eva slept together after their divorce? She didn't know, hadn't asked. When she had taken him first as her sub, then as her slave, it was apparent that Eva was still a big part of his life. He said it was because she was Jo's mother, but he had attempted to distance himself from her to make his Mistress more comfortable about it. Not enough, in Deidre's opinion, but she herself was loath to confront either James or Eva about it because she feared it would impact Jo's relationship with him. Jo was actually a very sweet little girl and Deidre would have been fond of the child regardless of her status as James' wife and owner.

"Mistress?" How long did she intend to leave him like this? Where was she?

She knew she was oversensitive about the issue of infidelity. She had reason to be. Deidre had wasted five years of her life in a vanilla marriage - despite her BDSM desires - to a man who had cheated on her several times. Eight separate occasions, to her knowledge, but she guessed there had been more. When she had found out, her only question had been why. The only answer that presented itself was simply because he could. She had never once cheated on him, despite the fact that she had wanted to sometimes, because their vanilla sex life hadn't really suited her. More than one opportunity to do so had presented themselves too. But he had never known any of that. She had packed her things and walked out the next day, having as little contact with him as possible during the divorce proceedings and none at all after that.

"Mistress? Please?"

Had James been carrying on a relationship with Eva in the recent past? She didn't know, but she had her suspicions. Eva was, in Deidre's estimation, still quite lovely, much prettier than Deidre. And their marriage had ended amicably. As in her own, the two of them had been incompatible. James had a strong desire to submit to a woman; Eva had preferred to simply make love. Of course, that didn't mean that they couldn't have still been getting together for occasional sex. That Eva felt comfortable enough to just walk in anytime lent credence to that theory.

Minutes trickled by. James shifted restlessly, still listening for her.

"Mist- ahhhhhhhhh!" he cried out as the cane hit his back. Hard.

He hated the cane. It was never used for play, only for serious punishment. Usually five strokes across his bottom was enough and that brought him to tears. This time, it struck his back. Worse still, he hadn't had the chance to brace himself for the blow.

The second strike hit him across the ass, leaving an immediate red mark. He hardly had a chance to draw a breath before the third blow. The fourth blow struck his back and he screamed. The fifth hit his upper back and he cried out again. The next two strikes were on his already sore bottom and tears flowed down his cheeks. The next hit his back again and he choked back a sob. The pain was unbelievable. Deidre has used all of her strength.

He drew in a breath sharply, hoping that was it. It was. He breathed again. Deidre put the cane away and then released him from his restraints. Usually she comforted him after punishing him, but not this time. She simply turned and walked away as he sat up on the bed. She was in the doorway when he spoke.

"Mistress? I'm really sorry about the key. Really, I just forgot she had it. I know you think she and I might still have something going on, but we don't. I'd never do that to you. I swear, Mistress. Never."

She turned slowly. He was facing the wall, his back to her. The long, red streaks and welts from the cane stood out brightly on his skin. He'd come away with as many marks before from her, but never such painful ones so quickly. She suddenly realized that she had struck him the same number of times as she knew her ex-husband had been unfaithful.

I was punishing him for my ex-husband too, she thought. Our past marriages shouldn't have any bearing on ours. But they did. They both knew it. She had told him of her ex-husband's infidelity, but had only said that was the reason for their divorce. Nothing more had been spoken of it. Nor had she questioned him about his relationship to Eva and he had told her very little.

Just because the past was a closed book didn't mean the story was forgotten.

She slowly took a deep breath in and let it out. "We need to talk, James. Really talk. We need to talk about Eva and a lot of other things. We should have talked about all of this sooner. And tomorrow morning the locks will be changed." She walked out quickly before he could turn around and see the tears in her eyes.