Author's Note: I normally split these into parts, but this time I thought I'd try leaving it a whole story. Let me know if you prefer the parts better :). It's a Master/slave romance story and M/f. I hope you enjoy and have fun, like always!
Deirdre
The start of this story, like the start of many stories, doesn't begin in a happy place, but it is a happy story, so I'll try to rip the band-aid off as easy as I can. Bear with me! It's worth it.
Once upon a time, there was a little princess and she was loved by everyone. Her family wasn't large, but they adored her and it was a little weird when she did things like try on Christmas charms that were meant for the family dog's collar or when she locked herself in a closet, even though she was a little claustrophobic, and imagined she was a mermaid trapped in a giant clam and had to be rescued.
When the little princess grew up, her fantasies kept evolving until she dreamed of the prettiest cages and she tried on the dog collar charms to pretend like she was a pet. She started to keep these things secret because she knew that early in life it was cute, but later it wasn't so much. She dreamed of being trapped still and being rescued, but the little princess didn't like the knights in shining armor so much anymore. How could a knight whose armor glistened so brightly ever hope to do anything like kill the sea monster who held a little princess captive? It didn't make any sense, was pure ludicrous really. So she imagined she was rescued and the knight was handsome, but his armor had blood on it. When he kissed the princess awake she was scared at first, but he fixed her with a pretty dog collar and pet her head and told her that he would take care of her.
That's what she dreamed of anyway. As you can see, the little princess was a little naive and she was eager to play and she wanted to love. She wanted to be called a good girl all the time and she wanted to do anything to make her wicked prince happy. And then the princess met someone. At first, he looked like the prince of her dreams and he acted dominating and he made her happy. He liked substances sometimes, but he always gave off the appearance that he had control. The princess thought she'd found someone who would pet her always and give her a pretty collar.
But it wasn't. It was a spiky collar. After a while, nothing seemed to ever make him happy and she got sadder and sadder. It took her too long to realize that he didn't have any control and violence without control is just violence. It isn't games. It's a head fuck, a bad thing. By the time she understood that the two of them should have never played together, the damage was done.
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Okay, sorry for that! That's really all of it, though, for the most part, I promise. He was a Dom, but I think he was a very confused one. He hurt me and at first I wanted to hate him for it, but I think he was hurting too, at the time. I think I couldn't make him happy, in the end, because nothing ever could have. I don't know what happened to him and I hope he grew, hope he did find something that fulfilled him in life. As for me, well. I did find my own ways to get over the sorrow. It left scars and I won't lie. Those scars are bad sometimes, really bad. I can't date anymore. It always goes south and it's never what I want anyway, but that's okay! I play at a place called Sulfur's fetish club and I'm a goddess in the place, which sounds really conceited, it's true, but I only fit so well with the place because of my past, to be honest. I was just ready made for it.
People love me there, now that I'm healed a little. See, I met the owner, Asher Lavrov, before the place opened and he helped me heal a lot. He had picked up another friend of mine named Matt, who became a best friend and, yes, a kinky fuckbuddy too. They taught me how to fulfill my needs with light playing so I could have a form of therapy. After what happened, I had a lifestyle mindset where I craved, but I could satisfy myself with one night play stands at Sulfur's. I never wanted anything more and Doms never had to take very long to give me aftercare. Needless to say, I was intricately involved with the goings on in the place. My picture was behind their bar and I was on their payroll. What was even better, my day job was as a sex toy store owner and, with the circle I ran with, my life became a dream. Sulfur's branched out and Ash had need for more help.
And that's where the real story starts, the happy story. Ash asked me to go check on one of the other branches of Sulfur's that had opened and everyone in the circle knew me by then. I was the submissive kitten of our world. Ash had trained some of these Doms on me and it had all been kinky fun games, so a night getting paid to go check up on another branch? It was a carefree night. I grabbed a submissive friend of mine, Lily Lofton, and took her along to go play and make sure their paperwork was up to date.
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"It's so weird being in these other branches." Lily glanced at the entryway where a spanking bench and sawhorse sat against the wall, kinky decorations for enticement. "It's like Sulfur's, but without Ash. Like if you could see four different versions of Sulfur's from different multiverses, you know?"
I laughed. "Lily, I love you. Come on." But I did kind of see what she meant. The decoration in the place just felt like it had the touch of a Dom, but one that wasn't Ash. Instead of the neat bar and play area setup of the original Sulfur's, this place had pictures hanging all around it, arousing pictures. The ceiling was higher and it was a single floor setup, where the Sulfur's I was used to had two floors. Two birdcages hung from the ceiling on either side of the bar, these iron monstrosities, and both of them had submissives dancing in them. One was a male that made me shiver because even my submissive radar thought he was a D type. He just had that X factor, that force of will, except he wore a collar, which seemed a pretty clear sign to the opposite. The female across from him looked like a fucking movie star and she danced with the grace of a ballerina and the sensual taunt of a stripper.
"Woah. Digging those birdcages, though."
Lily giggled beside of me. "So, Ash must give some decent freedom to the people he has running these places, right? This is definitely not his style. This place is softer somehow... but still with hot fucking." She tilted her head, studying a scene with a dominatrix and male submissive not far from us. The Domme had him locked in a cock cage while she fucked his ass with a dildo, trying to milk him. I shuddered, horny from the sight. The scenes in this place weren't at all like Ash's Sulfur's. They all had raised daises so that they were clearly and obviously on display, where the scenes from Sulfur's Alpha weren't so obviously displayed. Against two of the walls, opposite each other, were separate stages.
"It depends. I think a few of the others he keeps on some pretty tight leashes. You know how Ash is. If he trusts you, then he gives you a lot in return until you betray it. I think the guy he has running this one was a friend of his, but I don't remember where from."
"Oh." Lily drew out the word, voice going breathy. "A guy? Definitely a Dom, too." She giggled. "Maybe we can play with him like we used to play with Ash before he got engaged."
"I shouldn't have brought you. You're a bad influence." Lily snickered again at my side, but I was grinning. "Well, I mean, Jesus. It seems like a wasted trip so far. The door guard here looks mean as fuck and no one is going to try to get past him. Hell, even the bartender looks fucking terrifying."
Lily's voice turned even more breathy beside me. "Oh. Oh, I didn't even look at the bartender."
I laughed. "Come on. Let's start by talking to him since you so obviously want to. We can ask about some of the people and any incidents."
Lily was already spellbound, so much that I had to pull her along beside me. The bartender, you see, was somewhere in his 40s, if I had to guess, and he was terrifying to look at, something that would probably make Ash happy to hear about. He was pretty big on people never playing under the influence, so if people came to Sulfur's and drank, then they didn't get to play. The big, burly guy behind the bar was a perfect build to discourage people from trying to cheat. What was more? He had a high and tight military haircut, a grisly scar along his cheek from God only knew what, and he had tattoos running the length of his arms beneath his short sleeved, collared "Security" shirt. He looked a lot like a really hot stereotype, to be honest.
Before I sat at the bar, I settled Lily into one of the high sitting stools, laughing as I did. "Sit up straight, Lily. You know how Ash taught you."
She stared at me as if a little dazed - I pat her head because Lily loves to be degraded in front of her interests - and then glanced at the bartender, who finished pouring a drink and came down to where we sat. When he smiled, it seemed like a gesture that was intended to be soothing, but even that was terrifying. It made the scar on his face twist. "How can I help you? Fair warning, if you get anything-"