In the Morning
Su Lin's eyes blinked open with a start, but she froze, fearing to move. Against her small behind she felt the soft warm pressure of larger buttocks. Hearing Mistress Ginger's slow breathing, she felt protected, but was disappointed that after Mistress had come to her room and asked her to share her bed, they had just gone to sleep in each others arms. Then she remembered that she had been told to release Mike at dawn. Wondering if she had overslept, she slipped slowly from under the duvet, tiptoed out the bedroom door, and walked down the hall to her room.
Hearing the sleet blowing against the windows, she looked out and judged that it was at least a half hour past dawn. She decided, however, to take time to dress. After showering, she turned to a mirror. The reflection showed her to be slim and short with tightly corded muscles, still having the gymnast's body of six years before. Moving closer she examined the black irises of her almond-shaped eyes and raised her hand to smooth the boy-like cut of her silken hair. Quickly putting on a black bra, she stepped into and set plain white cotton briefs on her hips. A garter belt followed, to which she drew up a pair of white stockings, Finally she pulled on a thin white blouse that she tucked into a short pleated black skirt and put on her black velvet slippers.
Moving silently to the back stairs, she descended, stopping just above the first floor, where she pressed a panel and stepped onto a spiral stair, about which she circled to a short hall that led to a door. As she stood quietly, she sorted her emotions, for she knew what lay beyond. Given that the session had lasted several hours, she was both jealous of the attention given to Mike, but also empathetic to the pain that had been endured and undoubtedly still continued. She took down a key that hung from a hook, unlocked, and slowly pushed the door open.
She caught Mike's gaze in the mirror on the far wall as he raised his head. Soundless steps on the padded floor carried her to a cabinet, fridge and sink from which she removed some articles, filled a pan with water and moved to him.
A wave of relief swept over Mike and his eyes began to tear as Su Lin approached and he heard her calming voice. Knowing that his mouth was parched , she tilted his head back and brought a bottle of ice-cold water to his lips, followed by several pills that she explained were for the pain and swelling.
As Mike continued to sip, the force of will that had resisted the pain after awakening collapsed. Just as he had given himself completely to Mistress's power last night, so now he placed himself in Su Lin's hands as he shivered with emotion. She moved behind the cross and gently lifted the weights and untied the twine from his nipple rings. Then she unsnapped the parachute, freeing his balls. He moaned as the changes initially brought more pain than relief. She gently touched his cheek and whispered:
"Mike, I'm going to help with the pain, but first let's remove the hood."
She grasped a control unit that hung from the ceiling and reclined the cross to horizontal and switched on a floor fan. As she fumbled with the hood's buckles, Mike became aware again of its smell of leather and sweat, but when it lifted from his head, the sense of freedom was instantaneous, made more delicious by the cooling breeze and the bottle of water that Su Lin poured over his head.
She wiped him with a soft cloth, accepting the gratitude from his eyes, while studying his slightly lined face with its close grey beard. Laying a damp cloth across his eyes that shielded them from the lights, she ran her nails over his closely cropped dome. Moving to release his restraints, she then washed and massaged his hands and feet. Deep pressure and kneading brought them to life, finishing with gentle pulls on each toe and finger.
"Thanks, Su Lin," Mike said, " your touch works miracles!"
"Let's see what I can do for the pain and bruising," Su Lin replied.
She passed her hands just above his skin, feeling its heat in her palms, while studying its surface. Under the welts and bruises, she noted the prominent pink scar that ran down the center of his chest, which was crossed by fainter scars on his chest and stomach. She knew that these were also found on his back, buttocks, and thighs, the results of canings, much more severe than what probably happened last night.
There were no wounds to tend, so she wiped his body with a moistened cloth and gently applied analgesic salve. The bruises would make movement painful for a couple of days, but time and aspirin were the cure. Su Lin helped Mike sit up and ease off the cross, slip into a white terrycloth robe, and then she exited the chamber after lightly touching his cheek. Mike sat on the cross for a few minutes, thinking about and gathering himself for the coming week.
I straddled the machine and lowered my butt into the seat. Sliding forward to put my feet in its restraints, I just moved the seat back and forth on the glides as I thought about how I loved the repetitive movement of rowing. It taught you to accept pain and enter a zone where physical and psychological limits were forgotten. God, it had done that for me, after I had left the taunts at the lower school in Dokkum behind. Before, it had been "Rosie the Milk Maid!" over and over.
I would run home in tears and ask mom and dad why the teachers didn't make them call me Lieke, after all, that was my name when they took attendance. My parents would tell me that my red hair was beautiful, there was nothing wrong with living on a dairy farm, and the other kids would soon shoot up in height, things I just couldn't hear at the time. Loving their only child, they were also protective and strict. So, when a rowing coach spotted me and thought he could make "Rosie the Giant Clown" into something, I was more than happy to escape the name-calling and my parent's high standards and demands.
I now know that I didn't leave it all behind, it continues to both fuel and plague me. But it helped me perform well enough at the sport high school in Groningen for me to train and eventually gain a seat in the Dutch women's boat that won silver at the Beijing Olympics. It also help me achieve high honors in economics when I graduated from the University of Utrecht.
I reflected about all this as I programed the workout, but as I began and the seqence of explosion and release grew quicker, all was wiped from my mind except the determination to meet the goal that I had set for this morning. Now, having finished and with my upper body collapsed on my knees, my breath coming in gasps, and sweat soaking my tights and halter, I felt the pressure of a gaze on my back and suddenly realized that I had probably anticipated, perhaps even staged myself for Mike's eyes when he came up from the chamber.
Not bothering to look around, I just said:
"Mike are you OK?"
The question shocked him, since he thought that I hadn't sensed his presence, so he stammered:
"Uh, yeah, sore, but Su Lin helped. I'm going to shower and will see you downstairs for breakfast."
Continuing to his bedroom, Mike realized the similarity of his emotional responses to Lieke last night and this morning. The sight of her muscles and mind at work on the rowing machine was mesmerizing. Continually bunching and extending, her long body was a well-tuned engine that elicited awe, while the tangle of fiery red hair caught behind her head made his heart drop in his chest, a somewhat wary love.
In his bedroom, Mike removed the robe and examined his body. The bruises were spreading and worsening, but his body was still pretty fit. He had the thickness of a hockey defenseman, an identity reinforced by facial scars, the products of fights on the ice at Albany High School and Boston College.
Although his physique had lost some definition, the first impression of him, particularly when dressed in his tailored Italian suits, was one of power, a solid, but elegant block of a man. However, stripped naked with his hairless white zone and his imprisoned penis, he was diminished. Stepping closer to the mirror, as he looked at the bold scar where his chest had been cracked, a sense of vulnerability surfaced.