"Sex is like an atom bomb. A potent weapon whichβ¨ fascinates and frightens. We're afraid to let it loose,β¨yet we all have our finger on the button."
-- Zeena Schreck
CHAPTER 02
Author's Note -- though this chapter contains some eroticism, there is no overt sex. This chapter involves Elizabeth's initial exploration into the world of BDSM and how she meets someone online who claims to be able to help her.
I awoke the next morning to the sounds of Jonathan calling for me. I sprung awake and gathered myself, sitting up on the couch. I realized that the TV was still on, so I shut it off just as he came into the room. I gave him the obligatory "good morning" and politely answered his questions about not being able to sleep, about watching a movie and falling asleep on the couch. I lied and told him I fell asleep watching Crazy, Stupid Love with Ryan Gosling (now there's a guy I would run away with, and yes, I know he's much younger, but oh my, who cares!). I then went back to our bedroom, took off my robe, lay down in bed and pulled the covers up over me. He didn't ask any more as I closed my eyes and pretended to fall back asleep.
My mind, however, was still in a whirl about what I watched and imagined the night before. I played the movie over again in my head, the parts I really liked, like the BDSM contract negotiations scene and the restraint scenes. As my husband got dressed, I dozed. When he was finally gone, I rose and started getting myself dressed and ready for the day.
Jonathan is a bit older than I am, by 17 years. We met in law school. He had a different career first then went to law school later in life, while I went right after college. We are both attorneys now, so we are pretty much able to make our own work schedule, going in or leaving as we need, so long as we get our work done. Jonathan deals in the oilfield and environmental law (boring!), and I do insurance defense (just as boring!), though we both work for different law firms. We both have to get in a minimum number of hours every month that get charged to the clients, or the partners get upset and you will quickly find yourself searching for a new job. Jonathan had long ago made partner, so that wasn't as much a concern for him, but I never intended to being a partner in a firm. Instead, early on, I planned on a family and opted for a position as a staff attorney, which is kind of a part--time lawyer. It still meant that I worked more than most other full--time jobs, but I was given quite a bit more leeway in working hours and minimum time than someone who wanted to make parter. So long as I handled the cases I was assigned, I was pretty much left alone.
As I rose and showered, my mind again drifted to the movie. No, that's wrong. I didn't think about the movie itself anymore, I thought about the whole BDSM concept. I know it's something people do, that it's real and it's out there. However, what I really wondered... was what I watched an accurate depiction of what BDSM is really like? Is it really just women being beaten by cruel men for the male's pleasure, as I once thought? Or is it more? Is there something else there for the woman, too? As I got out of the shower, I threw on a robe and was intrigued by the thought of the whole BDSM environment. I wanted to know more. I sat down at my desk in our home office, opened my laptop computer, and began searching.
At first, what came up were hundreds of porn sites. Though sexy at times, watching people act like they are having fun as having sex held no interest for me. I wanted to know about the more intimate, deeper details, not just watch a fake sex video. I skipped those and moved into reading different articles on the subject on different websites, and before I knew it, several hours had gone by. When I noticed the time, I jumped up, hurriedly put on my makeup, pulled my hair up in a simple clip, threw on the first outfit I saw, and hurried off to work, my mind ablaze with thoughts of all I had just read.
To say it was daunting would be an understatement. For each different site, for each different person, there were multiple thoughts and reasons and ideas on each of their own experiences and on the subject of BDSM itself. Some said it was different based on each person's own sadistic or masochistic nature. Some condemned it. Others reveled in it. Some said that it was the duty of all women to submit to the superiority of men, and we should take our beating and whippings lovingly from men. (Yeah, right, like I would buy into that). Still other sites said it was the woman who had all the power, even she was the submissive in the relationship. (Though how could that be, I thought)? I found that idea the most provocative and wanted to know more about this aspect, but I got distracted again by some of the more extreme things people talked or wrote about... things like knives, cutting, blood, piercing... and even disgusting bodily waste. Um... no... no interest there for me at all. I guess each of us have our varying degrees of interests and limitations, and even perversions. Ah yes... limits... that actually turned out to be a very key term, as I was later to find out, and a very important one at that.
So the day went by and I found myself returning to somewhat normal, but the subject was never that far out of my mind. Though I had read more, I still was a long way from understanding what this BDSM thing was all about. For starters, I now realized that it was actually more of a lifestyle for some people. It wasn't just something they did on occasion when the mood struck them... it was something they lived their lives around. It became all--consuming to them, addictive, almost like a drug. Since I was never one to even try any illegal drugs (I never even smoked a regular cigarette), I found that concept to be the most surprising of anything that I had read.
By the time I was done for the day and on my way home from work, Jonathan had already texted me and said he was working late. Fine. I stopped by a small Chinese takeout restaurant and picked up some chicken lo mien noodles. I dropped these on my desk in my home office, went to my closet and stripped off my work clothing and put on a simple set of sport shorts and a loose T--shirt. I grabbed a bottle of iced tea from the fridge and returned to my desk, starting up my laptop again, eager to return to my search for clarity and understanding of this new BDSM world that I had just discovered.
As I nibbled on the food from the cardboard container, I now delved into some other, more 'in depth' sites than I had discovered previously. Rather than just the articles and explanations, I looked at interactive sites, like forums and meeting sites, where people would post their own stories or questions and have them commented on by others. Some sites were people seeking meetings, others were organizations recruiting members, while others were just general discussion forums.