THE FEAR
I was living a double life. In one, I was your normal high schooler, going to class, staying out of trouble. In the other, I had entered into bondage to a sadistic bully and her circle of friends, willingly becoming their plaything, knowing they'd play rough. I had done it to live out my sexual fantasies. Because surrendering control, getting humiliated and used, was a powerful rush, and turned me on like nothing else.
It's easy to romanticize the past. With time, the rough edges of your lived experiences are sanded away, and you are left with only the rosiest memories. The truth is, when I was in it, a lot of those events weren't what I'd call "fun." I felt the shame and the humiliation the same as anyone else. At times, the intensity would be overwhelming. I would want to run, to scream out a safe word and make it stop. But by the time it got to that point I was usually trapped, with no way out but through. Only afterwards, with a bit of distance and time to process, would the memory turn from painful to erotic. And then, like an addict, I went back and did it again.
A part of me was loving everything that happened to me. It made me very horny, and led to the most powerful orgasms of my life. But girls can get post-nut clarity too. I lay awake at night, worrying about it. Scared that eventually, the thin wall between my two lives would collapse, and all my dirty secrets would be laid bare.
I did all I could to keep the two sides of my life separate. But that didn't stop people sensing that something was off. My friends had noticed me acting weird. Every day, I would make some excuse to separate from them, and they started wondering where I was off to. My excuses were evasive and unsatisfying. A seed of mistrust was planted, and we started to drift ever so slightly apart.
I tried to only approach Ava and the gang covertly, but high school is a public space and there's always other students around. People saw us together and started talking. The most common theory was that I was being bullied. That assumption kept people at a distance. I got a few sympathetic "You doing okay?" some compassionate smiles. But for most people, self preservation outweighs kindness. No one tried to intervene, afraid of becoming targets themselves. But that was good for me. It kept people from digging deeper.
But for some, it didn't add up. If I was the victim, why was it so often me that sought them out?
Hazel got in my face about it once, when I was waiting for the gang after school. To stop any further questions, I took a gamble on a massive lie. I told her that Ava, the gang and I had become friends.
"Bullshit." Hazel said. "They stole your clothes, and now you're suddenly BFFs? No way they'd hang out with someone like you."
"Yeah we had... disagreements. But once they got to know me, we hit it off."
"You are such a bad liar, Skinnydipper."
"You better watch yourself, Hazel. I don't think my new friends would like you talking to me like that."
She flinched. By then, the gang had pulled up in Dylan's van and were waiting for me. I hurried to them, praying they wouldn't shout out something mean to me that would have contradicted the lie. I got lucky. The look on Hazel's face when I got in the van told me she bought it. She would think twice before messing with me now.
RIDIN' DIRTY
My cockiness vanished pretty quickly once I was out of Hazel's sight. The gang had plans for me, and a change of clothes. My outfit consisted of a loose white T-shirt and a pair of daisy dukes, no underwear. After I had changed, the gang threw my old clothes out the window, leaving a trail of them behind on the highway.
They took me to a biker bar near the edge of town. Rows of motorcycles stood parked outside. The place had seen better days. It was dark, dirty and smelled of smoke. A burly man in a leather jacket came up and gave Harper a bear hug. His name was Ryker, he was Harper's brother, and apparently he owned the place. While they bullshitted, I tried to mentally prepare myself for my task.
Before arriving, Ava had given me some instructions. There was a pool table in the bar. My mission was to go up and challenge whatever hustler would take my bet to some money matches. Only, since I didn't have any money, I would offer to pay with my clothes. Of which I only had three items - shoes, top and shorts. After losing all of those - and I had never played pool before so I had no chance here - I would continue to play and do forfeits when I lost.
Being forced to play strip pool in a dirty biker bar was bad enough. Having to be the one to go up to a total stranger and suggest it is even worse. I was cringing at myself, as I presented the wager that would obviously bite me in the ass. I might as well have walked up and said "Excuse me, I am a total idiot. Would you mind taking advantage of my stupidity?"