On Display
Melissa shifted her weight, trying to get comfortable. She squinted at the setting sun, wondering how long she had been tied up. Looking over at the post that her left arm was tied to, she flexed that arm slightly, trying to keep it from cramping.
When she had come downstairs to the living area, she had been wearing nothing but a pair of black six-inch sandals, as instructed. The living area had a wall of sliding glass doors that were arranged in a gradual arc, separating the indoor living area from the outdoor patio. The floor of both the living area and the patio were covered with the same sort of irregularly shaped pieces of slate.
Standing by the windows, waiting, she admired how the continuous flow of stone connected the inside to the outside. The patio was shaped in a broad oval, nestled against the house, with its far side overlooking a meadow that descended to a stream valley below. The left and right edges of the patio were enclosed with knee walls, but the center was open, so nothing blocked the view downslope.
She realized that the patio furniture had been rearranged. Chairs and loungers were grouped along the far edge, facing back toward the house instead of toward the view. Then she saw that two posts had been set up on the patio. The posts looked solid, which made her think that some sort of mechanism must be built into the patio to hold them, which told her Erik had probably designed this set-up as part of the original plan for the house. She contemplated the two posts with equal measures of suspicion and nervousness.
Hearing Erik's footsteps, she turned to greet him. He smiled happily as he swept her into his arms, kissing her gently, but passionately. She responded enthusiastically, her tongue searching out his. Finally, he stepped back a little and said, "You, my dearest one, are absolutely ravishing, as always."
He stepped over to slide open the door to the patio and beckoned her out. Leading her to stand between the two posts, he lifted a rope from the right-hand post that she hadn't seen from inside the house. The rope was firmly tied to an iron ring set into the rough wood of the post about six feet high. In her heels, the ring was only slightly above her head.
The loose end of the rope was tied to a padded black leather wrist cuff. He raised her arm and buckled on the cuff. Giving her a smile, he went over to the other post and repeated the same process, leaving her stretched between the two posts.
Next, he walked over to a table and picked up two padded black leather ankle cuffs. Melissa stared at the table as he walked back. A wide variety of whips, floggers, and canes were artfully arranged on the table. Her eyes widened a bit, as she wondered what she had gotten herself into this evening.
After he buckled on the ankle cuffs, he went back to get some short lengths of rope, which he used to tie each of her legs to a post, so she stood with her feet about shoulder width apart. Then he tied a rope between her two ankles, so she couldn't move her feet more than a few inches in any direction.
Next, he selected a heavy chrome steel slave collar. Once he had fastened it around her neck, she was grateful to realize it was much lighter than it looked.
Finally, he brought over a black rubber ball gag with a leather strap. Holding it up so she could see it better, he said, "It's a cheater gag. There's a piece of black elastic hidden back by the buckle. When you have it on, you can push the ball out of your mouth, to give your jaw a rest."
He slipped the gag in her mouth and buckled the strap behind her head, taking a little while to adjust her hair, so it fell past the strap just the way he wanted. Then he said, "Okay, try pushing it out now."
She was relieved to discover that it was easy to pop the ball out of her mouth, so it rested softly against her front teeth.
He nodded, "Good, it'll be a little while until everyone gets here, so you'll probably want to leave it out until we all come outside to admire you. If you can, keep it in your mouth while guests are around, at least until I take it off you. If it's obvious that it's a cheater gag, it'll ruin the mood. Okay?"
Melissa nodded, not sure how to talk while holding the gag out of her mouth.
Erik smiled, then walked back to the house. She heard the door slide shut behind her. She looked out across the valley, toward the sun that was low in the sky.
A couple of minutes later, the door slid open again, and Melissa let the gag pop into her mouth. Abigail Grady came into her view, lighting citronella candles and setting them down all around the patio. Melissa was embarrassed at having Erik's housekeeper see her tied up naked, but Abigail handled the whole situation very nonchalantly. Abigail came over to Melissa and conspiratorially whispered, "Can't have the mosquitos eating you up while you're waiting. Do you want any water or a quick snack?"
Melissa shook her head 'no' and the other woman went back inside. Relaxing a little, Melissa pushed the gag back out.
After what felt like a long time, the sun had gotten much closer to the horizon and was nearly setting. Melissa was regretting not saying yes to a snack. She had been too nervous to eat any dinner, and now it was getting late. This early in the summer, she was pretty sure that sunset was around nine o'clock.
She shifted posture again, hoping that whatever was going to happen would be soon. She'd been hearing noises in the house that sounded like people arriving and chatting, but it had been hard to tell exactly how many.
Without warning, she heard the sliding glass doors being pulled back. The sound of sliding rollers went on a long time, and she realized that Erik must have had the entire wall of sliding glass doors pushed back into the pockets that were built into either side of the living area, opening up the full width of the house onto the patio.
A cool gust of air-conditioned air flowed past her legs, and she heard people walking out onto the patio. At the last minute, she remembered to let the ball gag slip back into her mouth. She tried to subtly straighten her posture. Holding her head straight, she let her eyes shift in an unfocused gaze off into the distance. She knew the formal role of a sub was not to be a person, at least in an ordinary sense. She was not supposed to look at other people or react to them. Her role was to be an object that was looked at by others.
People did indeed come around her, inspecting her. Without shifting her eyes to look, she could still recognize Michael leading Deborah on a leash. He was in a finely tailored business suit. Deborah was barefoot and naked, except for a collar and leash. Michael didn't seem to have the same fetish for high heels that Erik did.
She also saw Serena walking past, leading a pudgy middle-aged man on a leash as well. Serena was wearing a dominatrix outfit, including tall black lace-up boots, a close-fitting black leather dress, and an Edwardian large-brimmed black sun bonnet. The man only wore a black g-string and a collar. He looked faintly ridiculous, but Melissa was very careful not to appear to notice him.
A moment later, Mistress Amy stepped into view. Melissa successfully repressed her immediate instinct to kneel, which the ropes would have prevented in any case. Feeling relieved, Melissa was glad that she'd been so careful about her posture and about not obviously looking at the guests.
As Mistress Amy turned to walk over toward the chairs, Melissa let herself take in a little more of the scene. She was startled to see that Mistress Amy was leading two attractive young women by thin silver chains that were attached to nipples rings. The women were naked and almost seemed to be a matched set, although clearly not identical twins. Mistress Amy was dressed in a tight-fitting, dark blue business suit, no blouse, and six-inch red and black pumps with a one-inch platform.
Melissa decided that leashes and naked subs seemed to be the order of the evening. If she ever did decide to get her nipples pierced, she thought, she couldn't image letting Erik lead her around in public with chains connected to both nipple rings. After a moment's reflection, however, she had to admit that it did look really sexy. She wondered how she would look with piercings.
Her wandering thoughts were shattered by a loud, adolescent female voice right behind her. "Oh look, Daddy, Master Erik's got a new toy. Can I play with it? Please, please, pretty please?"
The girl came into view, and Melissa was relieved to discover that she was actually in her forties or fifties, even though she was dressed in a plaid jumper and saddle shoes. The woman carried herself like a girl barely out of childhood. A middle-aged man in black jeans and a black silk shirt followed her into view. The man said, "Now Tabitha..."
The woman interrupted, pleading, "Please Daddy, I'll suck you off and everything."
Melissa struggled not to react to the weirdness unfolding in front of her. She knew it wasn't really father-daughter incest, but she was shocked and disturbed by the woman's promise nonetheless.
Being careful not to let Mistress Amy see that she was doing anything other than staring off into the distance, Melissa slowly studied the couple in front of her. 'Tabitha' was a bit overweight, although her jumper and the shear white blouse she wore underneath it did a reasonable job of hiding that fact. Her partner, 'Daddy,' was similarly heavyset. The couple reminded her of two amateur actors at a local community playhouse, playing a farcical scene and greatly enjoying themselves.
Erik walked into her view, and Melissa nearly turned to look at him. She quickly steeled herself back into an unfocused stare. Even looking blankly off into space, however, she could sense disapproval emanating from Mistress Amy. Melissa guessed that Mistress Amy must have seen her brief reaction to Erik's arrival, which she found frustrating. While it was oddly exhilarating to be 'on display' in front of everyone, the rules surrounding the whole affair were annoying. Not being allowed to make eye contact with anyone felt silly. On the other hand, she told herself, fashion models never made eye contact with the audience either. 'Being on display' just didn't seem compatible with behaving like a regular person, no matter the setting.
