The table in the private dining room was sparkling: crystal glasses, polished silverware, elegant crockery. I sit, transfixed by the main opposite. His perfectly tailored blue suit is cut around his body, his shirt crisp white against his tanned skin. He seems completely at home in this high class establishment, but at the same time there is something wild about him, and the image leaps to mind of a caged tiger, prowling behind the bars of a cage. He is comfortable here, but at the same time he longs to be unleashed, wild, free. It makes me shiver with a potent combination of fear and excitement.
Hayley, our waitress, brings our first course. He has ordered for both of us, of course. She lays a plate before me bearing a small salad, topped with what looks like a quail's egg. He has scallops. As Hayley lays the plate next to him, he runs his hand up her leg, cupping her ass, and she smiles at him before walking away, the swing of her hips a little more pronounced after his attention. I watch, wide eyed, as his gaze follows her out of the room, a flare of jealousy in my mind. His eyes flick back to mine and I can tell, from the half smile on his lips, that he knows exactly what he is doing. That this is all to show that I am his, but he is not mine. That this arrangement is not equal. That he owns me, but I have no claim to him whatsoever.
He picks up his cutlery, and takes a bite of his starter. I watch him, wide-eyed in awe at this man, so in control of himself, so self-assured, so confident. I pick up my own cutlery, and move to begin my starter, but his eyes narrow, and I freeze instantly.
"Oh, Scarlett," he says, disappointment dripping from his voice. I am petrified. It's clear I've done something wrong, but what? I look down at my fork, a salad leaf impaled on the prongs, and feel exactly like that leaf, stuck through with the spears shooting from his eyes.
"Sir?" I ask, in trepidation.
"Scarlett, I thought you were intelligent? With your university degree, and your way with words. I thought I had made myself clear. I am in charge. You do as I say."
"Yes, Sir," I respond, still puzzled. A pause lengthens, and we are frozen at the table while he waits for me to realise. I look down at my fork again, my error slowly dawning on me.
"Did I say you could eat?" he says, slowly, as though speaking to a small child.
"No, Sir," I reply, my voice barely a croak, as I lower my fork to my plate. He stares at me, his gaze burrowing into my very soul. I can feel a flush of humiliation rising up my body, the heat flaming along my neck and up into my cheeks. I can feel a tear pricking at the corner of my eye. Oh, the power he has over me is overwhelming.
He clears his throat, the smallest of noises, but Hayley reappears at once by his side. A whispered instruction, and she moves around to my side of the table. Gently, but firmly, she grips my wrists and bends my hands behind my back. I don't - I can't - resist, as she clips a pair of handcuffs around my wrists and secures them firmly. Then she steps around to the front, picks up my plate, and slowly, deliberately, empties my food all over the carpeted floor. She replaces the plate on the table, smiling sweetly at me, then turns and leaves.
I look at you in astonishment. Your eyes remain fixed on me, a half smile playing on your lips. "Eat up," you say. "Don't leave a morsel behind. And let's not leave any mess. The staff here work very hard. We don't want to make any extra work for them." And you return to your food.
I look at the salad leaves scattered on the carpet. The quail's egg has landed upside down, and I can see the soft yellow yolk oozing out into the rich plush of the rug. I look up at you, but you are intent on your food. I look down again, and my insides tighten and throb at this new humiliation, this new lesson I must learn.
Awkwardly, I manoeuvre myself off the chair and down onto my knees. My hands are cuffed tightly behind me, so I am unable to support my body weight as I lean myself forward, so I topple inelegantly forward until my face is pressed against the carpet. I shuffle forward and grip the first salad leaf in my lips, pulling it towards me and chewing it as much as I can before swallowing it down. There are a couple of carpet fibres stuck to the dressing, something that feels like a hair, but I stick to my task. I shuffle around like a pig rooting for truffles, chewing my food off the floor. Some dressing has splashed onto the carpet, and I do my best to lick it up, feeling the fibres rub against my tongue.
Last is the quail's egg. I scoop it up into my mouth with my lips, chew and swallow. It's still slightly warm, and delicious, despite being eaten off the floor. The yolk has run into the carpet, but I know that I have to earn your favour back again, so I apply my tongue to the task, licking each individual fibre, gagging a little as I pick up small hairs or crumbs or detritus from the carpet. I sit back a little to review my work. It's not perfect, but it's the best I can do. I look up from my position on the floor at you.
You are looking down at me, your smile still in place. "What do you learn from this, Scarlett?"
"That I must ask permission to eat, Sir," I say.
"Good girl," you say. "That's right. It must have been thirsty work, eating your food off the floor like a fucking pig," you say, your tender tone contrasting with the harshness of your language. "Would you like a drink, piggy?"
I feel a lump in my throat to be demeaned like this, but I nod. "Y-yes, Sir. Yes please, Sir."