Rule of Thumb

"I'm curious," Anna changed the topic slightly. "How did you feel about being on display to Richard's friends?" Anna watched as I turned my attention to Loren's face, hoping she would answer carefully.

"I..." she paused, collecting her thoughts and studiously ignoring me, smiling a little at the silent thought shared between us. "I hated it...I hated Rick for making me do it, and I hated you for putting me through it that way."

Her answer felt cathartic, as if Loren had been able to admit to someone the feelings she had already shared with me. It was honest even as it kept our own feelings private. It was like a landmine had blown up whatever Anna thought she had been setting up. I looked back at our hostess to see her eyebrows raised, her lips pressed into a thin smile, nodding slightly.

"But," Loren continued, before Anna could interrupt. I shot my eyes back to her, intrigued by how far she was going to go, "Rick helped me understand that I had complete control over the situation, and my failure to put a stop to it is nobody's fault but my own." She looked down when she said it, entering her submissive character.

"Well, something happened last weekend," Anna sniffed a little. "You've taken on a completely different look." Loren looked up at her, her face brightening at the possibility Anna liked her transformation. I smiled inwardly at Loren's presumption Anna cared one iota about how she looked. "But I think it's time to get out of those things."

As Loren stood to undress, Anna continued. "And," her tone and posture shifted a little. "The chef...how does she play into this?" She asked it as if she already knew, raising surprised looks from the both of us. "Oh please. Really?"

Who was this woman? How did Shelly even get on her radar what with the insanity of the rest of the evening? Did she have my house bugged? I thought about that for a moment and made a note to call Gordy for some help in that department...Hmmm...

"...practically devoured you with her eyes," Anna continued. "I hope to god you did something about that."

Loren hid her reaction as best she could, bending down to slide her jeans and panties to her feet. But when she rose back up, she couldn't hide the panic in her eyes as she looked over at me, begging me silently not to take the bait.

"Was it that obvious?" I looked back at Anna, student to teacher, stalling for time.

"Richard. Don't play me for the fool. You had everyone else in the room eating out of my hand, but the one most interested in the goings on...you didn't even bother to introduce me." She rose to refresh her drink, a slight nod to Mamiko signifying a shift in the evening. "And don't try to hide behind the excuse that she was just the help..."

"No, it's true, but I'm surprised at how you figured it out...it wasn't obvious to either of us until the end of the evening." I dragged out the answer watching Loren spread her legs and place her hands behind her neck. Mamiko had apparently left the room; I couldn't see her as I looked from Loren to Anna and back again. Seeing her spread open and vulnerable was too much for my cock; it started to stiffen.

"You're welcome to undress as well, Richard," Anna offered.

I had other intentions this evening. Tonight I wasn't going to play the submissive. I nodded in acknowledgment but made no move to take her up on the suggestion. "Yeah, anyway, you nailed that one," I continued, staring at Loren to watch her panic rising. "Shelly. She approached me after everyone had gone and practically begged me to do to her what we'd done to Loren." I raised my eyebrow and cocked my head slightly.

"And did you?" Anna had returned to the couch, her hand drifting onto my thigh. We both stared at Loren as she watched Anna start to fondle me. "Eyes down, cunt. Your Master is about to tell me a story. You have nothing to worry about, you will be punished this evening, and I think Richard is about to tell us why."

Loren looked down, closing her eyes, the struggle so close to the surface she was almost vibrating. What did I want here? And then I quickly realized it wasn't about me. What did

Loren

want here?

She

held the trump card – all she had to do was utter her safe word. But

how

I forced the issue was up to me. She and I could work through it ourselves, or we could expose her to Anna.

"Richard?" Anna's fingers closed around my fabric covered erection.

"Sorry, I was just taken by how gorgeous that cunt is," I swallowed, coming to a decision. It was time to start breaking away from this woman, and paradoxically, it occurred to me the fastest way to do it was to let her handle Loren's reticence around the topic of Shelly. "Yes, well," I took the step off the precipice, watching as Loren swallowed and kept shaking her head slightly.

"We had Shelly over last night for a slightly different party," I turned to Anna, smiling. She looked amused, indicating I should go on. "Right, so Shelly's revelation last week inspired us to consider bringing her into the relationship." I let it hang there, ambiguously as I took the last swig. My stomach was feeling better, and the alcohol had cleared the remaining cobwebs. Anna's light strokes were making me uncomfortably hard. All of which inspired me to stand up and refresh my drink.

"I think Loren actually enjoyed being the dominant." I had my back to them, so couldn't judge either's reaction, but I knew I had given Loren the out she was begging for and allow us to leverage Anna's expertise. That it was true didn't hurt of course, but I knew there was far more to it than that –

I

would be punishing her for that, if not through Anna tonight, then on our own. A small clap and a giggle gave me Anna's reaction. I carefully breathed to release my tension, not wanting her to see how anxious I had been.

"You two. From the very first day. I knew we wouldn't need the full two months. You two are so ahead of schedule. This is fantastic. Fantastic!"

I turned back to see Anna smiling and Mamiko re-entering the room pushing a...an...armature was the closest name I could come up with. It was a column of wood – a small glue-lam beam actually, attached to a rolling platform. Mamiko had it tipped back slightly so she could roll it, which she did easily and silently up behind Loren where she couldn't see it.

Turning back to the couch, I continued as best I could. There was something building in me, changing. I needed to get us out of here, or more like, I needed to get home with Loren and punish her myself. "Right. Well. I'm glad you approve." I took a drink and watched as Mamiko began inserting a small black rod into one of the many holes drilled into the column. Based on its position, it was obviously meant for Loren to straddle, but I could tell it wouldn't be comfortable.

"Loren really hasn't admitted that yet," I continued, "and I was a little disappointed she tried to hide it from me this morning." I watched as she jerked a little at the memory of our breakfast conversation. "I suggested she would be punished for her lack of openness, and I was hoping you could offer us a particularly apt way to drive the lesson home." I sat back to take another sip and let Anna unzip my pants and relieve the tension on my cock. She slowly rubbed her thumb on the underside of the shaft, stopping just below the glans where she squeezed, gently at first and then with greater pressure until I yelped.

"Thermostat," I said firmly and she backed off. "Not tonight, Mistress Anna. Tonight is about you and the cunt. We need you to help her open up about this emerging need." I watched Loren swallow a small sob.

"Well, as Mamiko sets up, let's talk a little theory, just to set the stage, if you will," her eyes indicating the armature. She continued to stroke me with one hand, sipping her drink with the other.

"You both know where I stand on this: to be a dominant you must truly understand the submissive's position, literally and figuratively. I don't think you've bottomed out on that yet, Richard, but I respect your wishes for the evening. Now the opposite isn't necessarily true. Submissives many times don't have any desire to be dominants and in those cases it doesn't do a bit of good to put them in that position. However, there are plenty of cases of submissives who's dominant character is latent, perhaps even expressed as submissive most of the time, but who need to switch. I've not seen the statistics on it," she took a drink, her tone taking on a slightly academic nuance, "but in my experience it is more than a small minority of submissives.

"After all," she continued, moving her hand around the waistband of my trousers indicating I should help her move them down my legs. "the submissive's position is the lead in the power relationship – becoming the dominant only shifts her expression of that power. Of course, it immediately removes her true power, even if it allows her to express her need to dominate more explicitly." She paused, running her fingers down to by balls. "Look at my hand, cunt."

I watched Loren look up at our faces first, tears forming in her eyes and then quickly down to see Anna had cupped my balls, my shaft and head extending purple and angry above the heel of her hand.

"It's a conundrum, really, when you analyze it at that level, isn't it?" She looked between the two of us, professor and student. "Think about it. The submissive really owns the power exchange, no matter how the dominant sets up the scene. Why should she shift? What is it that motivates her to take the top position? She loses the power exchange, but she gains the opportunity to

explicitly control

the situation, even as the submissive implicitly is in control.

"Apparently, some submissives, and a fair number of dominants, need to switch between explicit and implicit control; from what I've learned, it is the

act

of relinquishing explicit or implicit control that is sought after." She paused again. "Interesting, don't you think?"

I nodded and Loren whispered, "Yes, Mistress Anna."

"Mistress Anna," I interrupted her. "If you continue, I'll make a mess."

She nodded slightly and Mamiko was on her knees, her lips pressed to the top of my head, sucking only the surface of the glans, as if she were sucking a straw.

I jerked at the intensity of it, and my surprise momentarily stopped my ejaculation. "But, the other night...you?" I was confused at Anna's sudden change in heart about allowing Mamiko to service me. I looked up to see Loren's eyes widen. Why would Mamiko sucking me off be any more distressing than Shelly doing it?

"She isn't a stupid little whore, Richard." Anna said firmly, her fingers doing something to my balls and base of my shaft, starting me down the road of no return. "She needs to be punished regularly as well, don't you, you little cock-sucker."

Mamiko mumbled something, never removing her lips from my head, continuing to suck in, waiting for my sperm to erupt. The whole thing was too much for me and I relinquished to the exquisite feeling, moving my eyes between Mamiko's head on my head to Loren's tear stained face watching us. As I jerked my cum out up my shaft, Mamiko sucked in harder, pulling the stream into her mouth, keeping her lips stuck to my head, even as it jerked. It was over far too soon, and it only increased my interest in fucking her. Perhaps that was also part of Anna's intent – to tease me with the least possible engagement and leave me wanting.

Mamiko sat back on her heels, her cunt lips making a camel-toe of the black material. I stared between my legs, watching Anna's fingers continue to play on my shrinking member, taking in Mamiko's spread legs and swollen pussy. As late-cumming drops emerged, Anna took them, one by one on separate fingers, until I was done. Mamiko leaned forward and licked her Mistress' hand, like the pet she was. The effect was enough to make me jerk a little.

"Soon, Richard. Soon."

I wasn't at all certain what she meant, but I hoped it was more than just a reference to my getting erect again.

"And now, with the appetizer out of the way, let's move to the main course." At the announcement, Mamiko unfolded to standing and turned to Loren, silently motioning her to step backward.

Loren jumped in surprise when her waist touched the rod extending from the column and she turned to look. Mamiko touched her elbow, moving her up onto the platform and indicated she should step up on her toes to straddle the rod.

I watched in silence as the rod extended through her legs, pushing up against her pussy lips. She was on her toes – as if she were wearing high heeled shoes – in what I suspected was a terribly uncomfortable position. Once she had her situated to her liking, Mamiko whispered something in Loren's ear making her gasp and then reached a belt around her waist, attaching her to the wooden column.

Her hands had been behind her head the entire time

Such a trooper!

but now Mamiko took them behind the column, behind Loren's head and cuffed them there. Kneeling down, she attached Loren's ankles with small leather loops to a piece of steel at the base of the column, keeping her spread open about hip distance.

Loren's legs were trembling, no doubt from the strain of how she was standing, and we watched as she tried to let herself down. After an inch or so, the rod was pushed deep up into her pelvis – not inside her, just across her perineum, pulling in her pussy lips and I imagined her asshole. Nothing about it looked comfortable. Her legs were a little less strained, but in this position, she was still carrying her weight on the balls of her feet.

After a few more moments, I watched her try and settle down further, resulting in a small sob of pain and more of her soles touching the platform. Mamiko was studiously ignoring her, focusing instead on getting out the trainer and laying out its wires.

Anna sat and watched with me, her fingers idly tracing patterns on the top of my cock with one hand, the other beginning to drift between her legs.

Mamiko, satisfied with the trainer's wires, again turned her attention to Loren, pulling delicately on her pussy lips until they were open and free of the rod. Loren had eased down a bit more, her heels almost completely on the platform, but her thighs still tensing to absorb the pressure against her pelvis. With each of Mamiko's tug on her lips, she cried out slightly, tears dropping from her cheeks. Watching her submit to this punishment only confirmed my belief that she truly wanted this, truly needed it. What other explanation for why she didn't just put a stop to it?

Mamiko worked efficiently, clipping the wires to each of Loren's cunt lips – two on the outer lips and two on the more delicate inner lips – her clit and her nipples. Perhaps because the pain against her core was so intense, or perhaps because of how Mamiko did it, Loren barely winced as the clips closed.

"We'll let you keep your mouth free, for now, cunt, as you've been extraordinarily quiet during your preparation...and because we'll want to hear you." Anna's meaning wasn't at all clear. Hear her how? "The equipment is a little novel this evening, in spite of the familiarity of the trainer. In a moment, Mamiko will relieve some of the remaining pressure off your groin, but you'll find that relief to be brief - the true torment is still ahead of you." She stood up, offering me her hand. "Let's have a little dinner while your cunt entertains us."

I stood up, my pants and briefs pooling at my feet. I stepped out of them, slipping my feet out of my socks and shoes as well, but leaving my shirt on. I wanted to be free of any clothing that might interfere with my next erection. As we walked to the dining room, I watched Mamiko step behind the armature, tilt it back using her foot against the base of the platform and roll it. Loren yelped a little as she slid back against the rod, her ass pushed against the column, but I could tell this new angle relieved her of the remaining pressure.

As Anna and I took our seats, Mamiko positioned the platform off to the side of the table where we could see Loren, "parking" it in its angled position, Loren spread open on display, the trainer's wires dangling from her nipples and lips.

"You have a remote control, Richard," Anna said, pointing to one next to her. I looked down and saw a simple black plastic rectangle with only two controls – an up and down arrow. "As does Mamiko and as do I. We each control a slightly different set of features on the trainer. This little game, and I've never found it to fail to be amusing, I like to call: Improvisational Torment. As you'll soon see, we have the power, jointly, to make your cunt's life miserable, ecstatic or somewhere in between. She plays a part in this little improv of ours – her part is her involuntary response, her likely pleas for release, and then ultimately her orgasm, which I predict will be loud, prolonged and anything but pleasurable." She motioned to Mamiko who exited to the kitchen, no doubt to get the serving cart.

"And, cunt," Anna directed her words to Loren, "you will tell us what Richard has intimated you've been keeping secret. It is the most delicious part of the punishment, truly, having you let go of whatever stupid little secret you think you can keep from us. Tonight, if I have any sense of how things are going, you will finally relinquish to your Master. Tonight, Richard, begins your true journey together as Loren finally let's go of her independence and commits herself to you."

I raised my eyebrows at the speech – it seemed to be practiced, almost ceremonial. I was compelled to raise my glass in a toast, clinking it against hers as she stared directly into my eyes. I nodded slightly, both acknowledging I'd heard what she'd said, and hopefully expressing my gratitude. In the back of my head, I silently hoped this was the last time we ever crossed her threshold. As much as I was learning, every time I felt more in over my head than the last.

What had I done getting my associates involved?

And then Gordy's face popped into my mind's eye and I almost choked on my drink.

No wonder

, I mentally kicked myself. No wonder he told me to stay the hell away. The woman was a demon.

A small moan-like squeak came from Loren, breaking me from my reverie. Anna had done something with her remote but I couldn't tell what effect it was having. I touched the up arrow and watched Loren jerk her torso – apparently mine controlled her breasts. I kicked it up a notch or two and was pleased to hear her cry out, trying to jiggle the clips from her breasts. As Mamiko served us, we adjusted our controls, observing Loren's reactions, until we got her into some sort of equilibrium, her breath coming in short pants, her hips moving back and forth along the rod, trying to find some kind of relief.

The food, as usual, was delicious. No doubt Loren was starving on top of all of the other discomfort she was feeling, the aromas of the meat and vegetables filling the room. Anna engaged me in small talk, mentioning some of the prospects I'd sent her way were coming in for their first appointment the following week, and did I have anything I could offer her about them.

A shriek from Loren stopped us mid-sentence and we turned to watch her. Mamiko obviously controlled the clip on Loren's clit, and she had turned it on after sitting down.

"Please, please, oh god, please...nooo, please, shit...please..." her head was moving from side to side, her eyes glazed, brimming with tears. "godgodgodgod...noooooo" No amount of bucking her hips would help, the rod only pressed deeper against her, offering her no relief. The pulsing of the clips was apparently not synchronized.

I turned to Anna. "It appears the clips aren't in synch with each other – is that true?" I felt like an art critic, or an audience member at a dress rehearsal, picking apart the technicalities of the performance, even as the actress was putting her all into it. Being clinical seemed the best strategy to avoid alarm or panic.