Previously...
With their marriage on the rocks, Abby and George turn to a most unlikely source for help. Unbeknownst to George, Abby has agreed to let the incubus, Damian, and his mate, Britt, act as marriage counsellors.
Following a morning of bondage at the hands of Damian, Abby discovers a newfound sense of freedom.
***
Abby awoke some time later, disoriented and stiff. She took in the rough wood of the horse stall around her and the straw on the floor. After a moment of confusion, the episode with Damian came back to her -- of having been bound in the barn, wrists tied behind her back and raised uncomfortably while Damian had done his work.
How long had she been sleeping? She stood in the stall and groaned as she straightened her back. Judging by the slant of the light on the floor of the barn, perhaps no longer than an hour.
Her shoulders especially were stiff and sore. Her privates tingled. Her thoughts chased each other within her head. Thoughts of the humiliation of bondage followed by thoughts of the shameful yet blessed violence of her release. Her body had betrayed her yet again, responding in quivering pleasure to the very things from which her intellect recoiled.
She was completely nude and wondered what she should do. A quick scan of the stall and interior of the barn revealed that her clothing had been removed. She could wrap the blanket around herself and seek out George. Unfortunately, she'd have some explaining to do. Or she could remain in the barn and wait for what came next.
In the end, Abby decided on the latter. She wound the blanket around her and tucked in a corner at her breasts. She sat on the straw, leaned against the wall of the barn and resolved to wait.
A few minutes later, the barn door opened and Damian appeared, carrying a bottle of wine and two long-stemmed glasses. He entered the stall and sat on the dusty floor opposite Abby. Without speaking, he poured two glasses of wine and passed one to Abby.
The blanket slipped and pooled in her lap, exposing her breasts. She left it. A little late for modesty, she decided. Like a bizarre if inexact parody of the Manet painting, "Déjeuner sur l'herbe", Abby sat nude while watching the fully clothed Damian, seemingly oblivious of the incongruity of the scene.
"Thanks," she said after taking a sip.
Damian studied her intently until she was forced to look away, gazing at the wine she swirled in her glass.
"You're a remarkable woman. I'm impressed," said Damian.
Abby remained silent. Until recently, Abby's idols, her pantheon of remarkable women, were those who had achieved great commercial success, who had crashed through glass ceilings and institutional sexism by outmuscling and outthinking their male counterparts. They weren't women who allowed themselves to be trussed up, manhandled, and brought to gibbering orgasms. While these last few weeks and answering Damian's challenges were remarkable for her, she laboured under the seemingly irreconcilable contradiction between her ideals and this new, unfathomable reality. The trouble was, she genuinely enjoyed the challenges she'd faced over the last few weeks. While achieving success provided intellectual satisfaction, there was no denying the rewards of Damian's brand of stimulation.
Damian interrupted her thoughts. "You mentioned before that I was trying to break you -- as in a horse."
"And you said the analogy was wrong."
"Partially. A lot of people think that horse breaking is a process of robbing the horse of its spirit until it is completely compliant and malleable, leaching it of what makes it vital and majestic."
"It isn't?"
"No. In reality, horse breaking involves training the horse so that it and the rider can work as a unit without one hurting the other."
"But the horse is still subordinate."
"What good would it be to the rider if it weren't?"
Abby mulled it over for a while. "That's the rub, I guess. Who's the rider and who's the horse?"
"True. That's the rub. We're almost done for today. But first, I would like us to explore the nature of horses."
* * *
George still couldn't get over it. He could see the angry welts curling around the side of Britt's buttocks. He had struck a woman. In fact, he'd enjoyed doing so. What's more, she appeared to have enjoyed it as well.
It was a strange world in which he and Abby had landed.
Britt held up her manacled wrists. "Could you unlock me, please?"
George hurriedly complied and Britt rubbed where the unforgiving metal had chafed her.
"Well, George, now you've gone and done it." She crossed her legs and leaned back on the bench, perching herself on her arms. The rings on her nipples glinted in the sunlight that streamed through the skylights. If she was self-conscious about her nudity, she hid it well. "How do you feel?" asked Britt.
"I should be asking you that."
Britt cocked her head. "I'll be okay, but I'm curious about you."
"Guilty."
"Despite the fact that I gave you permission?"
George shrugged.
"You have nothing to feel guilty about. I wanted you to do it."
George wasn't convinced.
Britt smiled. "Did you abuse me? Some might say that you did. As far as I'm concerned, absolutely not, and only I can judge. Don't you think that it's the height of arrogance for anyone else to judge? What happens in the bedroom between consenting adults is no one else's business."
"But this isn't normal."
Britt laughed. "Why are you so worried about normal? If it's normal for you, it's normal. There's no one else in your bedroom evaluating your actions against standards. You know, not too long, sodomy was a criminal offense. Now, it's a part of the menu. Are you going to wait for lawyers to tell you it's okay?"
Britt took his hand and placed it on her breast. "With consent, anything is possible."
Her nipple grew hard beneath his palm.
Britt continued, "It's something that has to be negotiated by the couple. It doesn't work for everyone. It requires a special kind of man and an enormous level of trust. It works for me because I trust my partner implicitly. That and I find it enormously satisfying."
George let his hand drop. "But we're talking about Abby."
"I think you'd be surprised at what Abby is prepared to do."
