Night slipped in.
Cool and welcome, it moved up my thigh. I leaned into him—what to call him now? my lover?—and he tried to transform the anxious tension in my body to something he would give me that approving murmur for. I had already opened the door, but there was something more he wanted. What?
Compliance.
Obedience?
That felt right. Obedience. And the thought didn't shake me. Rather that, and the reassuring sweep of his hand chasing that cool slip of night along my thigh, settled me; gave me some curious strength.
I knew there was another chapter, perhaps a whole catalog....a library full of warm, sweet and dark fantasy where I might pour my body out in a worship of indulgence.
Were those the voices again, outside...nearing...the boys he said would use me? One laughed and then I knew that they were real; the sound of rough and thoughtless anticipation, and my heart broke its rhythm.
"Will you go?" he whispered against my hair. "Will you give yourself...if I demand it?"
"Would you be with me?" I breathed back, voice as unsteady as my momentary composure.
His fingers tightened on my thigh, a reflexive declaration of possession. "Such things would be for my pleasure," he answered. "Never without me."
I closed my eyes; rested my cheek to his heart. "I will. For you."
My bland, boring world had just been torn down to nothing and rebuilt again on a foundation of freedom. There was no shame in it, nor regret, nor fear. Just an overwhelming sense of freedom and anticipation of more pleasure, something I had denied myself for so long in a world where I was the constant bastion of control. Lying there against him I felt complete in ways I had never allowed myself to dream were attainable.
"Vous êtes les miens, l'ange. Et pour ce cadeau, je vous honorerai."
And then he leaned toward the door, and closed it again. I felt his hands smoothing across my thigh; my back, and I drifted, eyes closing, the beat of his heart an erotic and comforting lullaby.
"Sommeil, ange. Vous aurez besoin de votre reste pour le Club"
I fell into sleep barely grasping that I had understood the last of that: 'rest for the Club'.
And then sleep took me as he had: wholly, without hesitation or resistance.
I woke in pieces, like an odd succession of movie scenes clipping disjointedly through my brain. The car stopping. More of the night's cool air bathing me, only to be replaced with a blanket. Being moved. His voice, whispering "sleep" and something that sounded like "baby", but in French. Then more sleep.
I woke the last time in bed. Not mine. It was too large by half and the bedding much too slippery; too silky. I slid beneath the feel of that silk on my skin and was smiling before I opened my eyes. Then the smile widened. I was naked, in a strange bed in a strange room. I had no idea who might walk through the heavy wooden double doors some thirty feet from where my toes flexed under pale silk sheets, and the very idea that someone might do just that....and the thought that they might demand something of me...made my cunt ache with wicked, wet need.
The thought had barely enough time to slip through my brain before the doors slammed open and despite my fantasy I made a harsh sound of surprise. A man did come in, and he was a stranger, weaving fantasy and reality together in my head. I slid up the bed, sheet held before my naked breasts like some pasty virgin in a romance novel, pushing up until my back was flat against the cold headboard. I didn't see his face; like that untried virgin I was keeping my face down. I could only see his torso when he reached the side of the bed; he was fit and smelled faintly of spice and was wearing a very expensive black suit. With one hand he took the sheet and tore it from me; it billowed out prettily before slumping into a silk puddle behind him.
"Are you afraid?"
I looked up. He was tall, obviously American, probably in his mid forties and he looked rather unthreatening, like a history professor I'd had in college. I shook my head and looked him in the eyes.
"Etienne said you had fire." Stepping back, he offered me his hand.
I took it.
"Would you care for a robe?" he asked.
It seemed rather odd, to be walking across the room naked with a man who was fully, and so formally, dressed. "Will I need it?"
He chuckled and said no.
I took a deep breath and said no.
When we reached the doors, I heard soft music playing. Chopin, I thought hazily as I was led out and into a hallway. The feel of thick carpet warmed my feet; another bit of sensation added to my Lady Godiva stroll. As we reached a stairway I froze, pulled back, and my hand slipped from his. He took a step before turning to look back at me. There was no anger in his expression, no frustration; just curiosity.
"Is it....will it be....only you?" I asked, my voice cracking a bit on the whisper.
He gave me a moment, perhaps to prepare me. "No," he said. Etienne invited four of us this evening."
Four. Five, with Etienne, whom I assumed was my lover. Five men.
He must have read panic in my expression but again, he showed no sign of frustration with my delay. Instead, he took the step back toward me, sifted a hand through my hair, watching it as it fell back over my shoulders. "No one is going to hurt you, little girl," he murmured. "Etienne is not that sort, nor are we. We are simply going to...enjoy you," he said huskily, moving a bit closer, slipping my hand back into his again. "And it would please us very much if we can give you pleasure."
He took his place to my side again, my hand in his protective one, but he didn't take a step.
I did.
The stairway was beautifully curved, a sweep of dark, well-polished wood. I moved down each step, closer to the sound of a mournful violin, as if I were moving in dreams. The staircase ended in a wide hall. Only the music disturbed the quiet, and as we neared the base of the stairway, voices—these were deep, rich and cultured; slightly muted, a sharp contrast to the voices on the street.
'still,' my thoughts whispered, 'they are going to use you, just the same'.
A room at the end of the long hall was the only source of light. Buttery yellow, it found its way through cracks in the doorway because the door itself was ajar, spilling onto marble tiles. We walked across them in silence.
At the doorway he released my hand, leaving me to squeeze my fingers around empty air. Moving in front of me he opened the doors, bathing me in the buttered light, and silence fell.
I saw my lover—Etienne—and kept my eyes on him where he leaned against a massive fireplace. The fire burned there...and in his eyes...and in me. I went to him, barely hearing the sound of the double doors being closed and locked behind me. Etienne put out his hand for me, and I pressed myself against his side; he wrapped his arm around me.
"I am so proud of you, cherie," he whispered, kissing my temple. "Did you sleep well?"
I nodded, slipping my arms around his neck.
"Do you want a kiss?"
I nodded; lifted my face for him, but he only smiled. "Remember," he whispered so that only I could hear, "for my pleasure."
I nodded; waited for the kiss, but he took me by the waist and turned me to face his guests. They were all in their late forties to early fifties, I guessed, and all dressed similarly: formal black suits or tuxedos. Two held snifters, one sipping leisurely as he watched me, smiling faintly. Another in a far corner leaned insolently against the edge of a heavy bookcase, paused in conversation, lifted a cigar to his mouth and took an appreciative draw; his expression was rather cold, his eyes direct.
Standing exposed, my back to my lover, I felt something terrifying—and wholly erotic.