Josh has the ball-muzzle. "Open our mouth, Slave."
I do as he says.
"Wider!"
My jaw strains as he stuffs it between my lips. It fills my mouth grotesquely. I'm on the verge wretching. He fastens it quickly, deftly, while all I want to do is swallow and swallow.
He walks me towards the far wall where there are manacles set in stonework.
"Remove her cuffs, Darling Girl."
She takes the key from Josh and comes over and frees my hands, manouvres me so my back is against the wall. The surface is uneven, whitewashed stonework. Her hand goes to my throat and pushes me back against the wall determinedly.
"Raise your arms, Slave," he calls to me.
One arm and then the other raised and secured. She walks over to the implement rack and returns with a riding-crop and without hesitation reaches out and strikes at my nipples, each in turn, right and then left. The keenness of the blow is stupefyingly painful. I want to scream, but no sound escapes my mouth, only a stifled groan grates my throat.
She stands back, watching me squirm — for that is what I now do, twist my body like some deranged exotic dancer in a bid to avoid the next blow I am sure will soon follow.
She is about to strike again when the sound of a ringtone distracts her.
"Shit!" He takes his phone from his back trouser pocket, turns to Becky, and says, "Sorry Babe; I'll have to take this. It'll be Hendrix about the Renshaw deal. It's at a crucial stage."
He takes out the phone, and without looking who the caller is, he answers.
Darkness settles over his face, "Ian, Mate."
I watch Josh's face, try to read what Ian is saying to him.
Josh says,"What here . . . at our gate?"
Becky's face drains of colour. The magic of the night is no more, a spell undone by a name: Ian. Rumplestiltskin has come to claim his princess.
I stare intently at Josh, willing him to understand me as I mime words, "Please, no. I can't face him tonight."
I turn to Becky with pleading eyes. Her demeanour became like when they came for me at my house, full of concern. "You won't have to, Cass." She begins to unfasten my manacles.
When she takes the ball-gag from my mouth, I spit and cough, let saliva dribble to the floor. I wipe my lips with my bare forearm.
Tonight has been a whirlwind, but now all I am now confused, deflated. Ian is outside in the night. His anger will be driving him into a frenzy. Oh god, If only he knew what I have just allowed them to do to me.
I do not move. I strain to hear Ian's voice over the phone . . . And when I can't, I imagine his rant. And on top of all everything else, my backside is raw as steak, my nipples sore as a bruised ego.
After a moment, Josh puts his hand over the phone and says to Becky, "He's down the drive, at the front gates. Wants to know where his wife is."
"Why does he think she's here?" Becky asks.
I remember our neighbour's face looking in at me as we sped away in Becky's Range Rover. "One of the neighbours saw us driving away. Stupid old busybody."
Becky looks into my eyes, trying to reassure me. She strokes my cheek, "You Can't see him tonight. You're in no state."
Josh is talking to Ian. "Now calm down, mate. Cassie is asleep. I'll tell her you came by when she wakes. I'll get her to call you. Okay?"
Josh takes the phone from his ear, says, "He's going off on one. Says he'll ram the gate with his motor if Cass doesn't see him." Josh puts the phone to his face again, says to Ian, "Just calm down, mate. I'm coming down now. Just hold onto that thought."
He turns off his phone and says to Becky, "He's talking like a lunatic, saying what he'll do if we don't let him see her."
I say, "You won't let him in, will you?"
Josh looks into my eyes, "I would never let anyone harm you, Cass, not cause you actual harm. You have to understand that's the truth." Then he turns to Becky, "I think I'd better go sort this muppet out — Once and for all. When I'm gone, take Cassie up to the house.
As Josh goes to the door, I call out, "Be careful. You don't know what he's like!"
"Josh can handle himself," Becky says.
When Josh has gone, Becky goes to a closet at the far end of the room and retrieves a magenta silk kimono and slips into it, then brings me another that is identical.
I put it on. "Thanks," I say, pulling the belt tight.
I look at her and try to understand what has just happened between us; her spanking me, her fingers inside me! What does it mean for her and me, for all of us? Are the people we used to be gone forever? And then there is Ian. I've walked out on Ian. I never intended that.
Becky is talking. "Come on, Cass. Let's go up to the house and have a nightcap."
I follow her outside, stand and watch her lock up their sex-den, and then trail behind as she guides me to the house, the narrow path picked out by torchlight.
In the kitchen, she pours us chilled, white wine. We go through to the lounge with our drinks, where we sit side by side on their giant couch. At first, we drink in silence, then she pulls up her legs onto the leather and turns to face me, tucking her feet beneath her.
She asks, "Want to talk?"
"About the den?"
"You were brave. Braver than I could ever be."
"I'm still getting my head around it all."
"It's just our game, Cassie. Roleplay. We have some friends who introduced us. They've taught us so much. You'd like Marshall and Verity."
I sit quietly, averting her gaze, staring into my glass. I think about how their attention made me feel, how the pain affected me. Deep Between my legs, my cunt, even now, twist at the memory of her hand.
"It was intense," I say, "but fun too."
"I knew you'd enjoy it. I said to Josh you would."
She puts down her glass on the side table and wriggles her way along the sofa and settles close to me. She begins to stroke my hair, hooks a wayward strand behind my ear.
"I've always loved you, Cass. It hurt me to see how you envied me. Because of Josh Don't deny it. I knew you were jealous."
"No, really, I wasn't — well maybe a little No! I was glad for you . . . Just that what you had with him, well it just made what I have with Ian seem so . . . pathetic."
I warned you about him all those years ago, didn't I?"
