[Author's note: Feeling stifled in her marriage, Victoria has been receiving some unconventional counselling from Cassie regarding her fidelity issues (
WWS05
). Cassie has devised a programme that allows Victoria to explore her extra-marital needs in a controlled environment (
WOD06
) and work out whether she really wants to leave her husband.]
---
THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS
Victoria's cab dropped her off in the alleyway at the address that Cassie had given her, but when she got out she was confronted by a broad, featureless brick wall in the dark, lit by a single streetlight on the corner. Her eyes scanned it, suddenly doubting her instructions, and she reached for her phone.
"Over here."
Victoria turned, searching for the source of the voice. She located an alcove set into the wall a little further down where light spilled out onto the pavement from inside the building. In the little pool of illumination, she could see Cassie, and she felt a surge of relief. She approached the other woman, stopping just in front of her. Backlit, Victoria couldn't make out Cassie's expression, but she could see past her shoulder at the entrance she was guarding. Victoria composed herself, ready for what was ahead.
"I'm here," she said, then added tentatively, "Miss Grace."
"Good girl, Vicki, and right on time. Come in."
She disliked being called Vicki. It brought back memories of her school days, of the popular blonde girl who took a particular interest in belittling her. To be called Vicki now, all these years later, still made her guts twist. Cassie had used that name on purpose, responding to being addressed as Miss, as if they were back in school and Cassie was about to commence the lesson.
Cassie stepped to one side to allow her to enter the building.
"And I think we'll keep with Miss Grace tonight, Vicki. Are you ready for your lesson?"
"Yes, Miss Grace."
Face to face with the older blonde woman, having to look up at her as she towered over Victoria in her heels, calling her Miss came easier. It felt appropriate. Cassie smiled warmly and led her into the building, her savagely high heels clicking on the floor. Victoria scurried along behind, eager to keep up. They were at the bottom of a stairwell, and Victoria watched her mentor take hold of the handrail and ascend carefully. Victoria found herself watching the way the other woman's body moved in her tight, dark pants, the way her hips swayed in her heels, and Victoria began all at once to feel quite inadequate.
As her therapist, Cassie had always been kind and professional, but now as Miss Grace the blonde woman oozed sexuality, making Victoria very conscious of her own body, of the device between her legs, of her own inability to touch herself. Even her husband hadn't seemed interested in her in the last week, which was her only allowable excuse to be released from chastity, strictly at Cassie's discretion.
There was an unfairness to it, a power imbalance, to have her body controlled so strictly by the woman in front of her, unable to even touch herself due to the device that locked her up. It felt like a long time since she had first entered Cassidy Hayes' office seeking relationship counselling for her urges to cheat on her husband. The assertive blonde woman's methods had certainly proven to be unorthodox.
"Keep up."
Victoria followed behind her to the floor above, emerging at the end of a corridor with a set of doors set into one wall. She followed along to the third door, where Cassie stopped.
"Before I open this door, I just wanted to make sure that you're ready to go through with this. What you're about to see is going to be confronting, especially when you consider that you're going to be put in the same position."
The older woman paused, searching Victoria's face for an answer. Victoria nodded shyly.
"Not good enough, Vicki."
Startled, Victoria cleared her throat and gave a more formal response.
"I'm ready, Miss Grace. I understand that I can stop this at any time and that you're doing this to help me understand my desires."
"Better. Good girl. Open the door."
Victoria felt a little thrill at being called a good girl. A part of her wanted to do well, to earn Cassie's praise. She laid her hand on the door and after a slight hesitation she turned the handle. The door swung inwards to reveal a sight that made her freeze in shock.
"Suddenly very real, isn't it?" the female voice murmured from behind her.
Victoria turned to the older woman, then back to the wall in front of her. It took her a few moments to take it all in.
The room had been divided in two by luxurious ruby red drapes, gathered in ropes to expose a black-painted wooden partition wall between the curtains. Emerging from the wall were a woman's legs pointing towards the ceiling and secured in a wide v-shape by straps above and to each side of the hole. Victoria found herself staring at a splayed crotch, gleaming in the downlights, waxed and ready to be used. There was no hint of the identity of the woman behind the partition, other than her coffee-coloured skin and the dark red polish on her toenails.
Cassie pushed Victoria gently into the room and closed the door. She walked over to the strapped woman, stroking one outstretched leg all the way from her heel down to the rounded buttock.
"Ready?" she asked.
Victoria made the supreme effort to collect her wits and forced a short nod. Cassie frowned, and she immediately followed up with, "I'm ready, Miss Grace."
She watched mutely as her mentor reached up to release the straps around the mystery woman's ankles. In response, the legs stretched out, toes curling, and then slid back through the hole. A few moments later, the thick, red curtains rippled and a girl emerged in a silk dressing gown. She had long dark hair and chocolate-coloured eyes, and when she locked onto Victoria, Victoria could feel herself being inspected, sized-up.
The girl grinned. "Uh, like, this is the one, right?" she asked, not taking her eyes off Victoria.
Cassie nodded.