Chapter 1: The Collar
"You coming over tonight?" Travis asked.
"Yep! I'll be there around seven," I replied.
"Alright. Love ya, Jen. Mwah."
"Love you, too," I laughed as I hung up the phone.
I walked through the mall, glancing around at the stores I passed. I originally went there just to buy a new video game I had my eye on, but I figured I might as well window shop while I was there. As I made my way to the end of the hall, a store I wasn't familiar with caught my eye. The sign read: "Arcane Delights: Adult Novelties." I was surprised that the mall management had let a full-on sex shop operate there, though to be fair the windows and entryway were covered by some tasteful dark green curtains. Interested, I parted the curtains and walked in.
The whole place had a sort of boutiquey look, with wooden shelves and fancy glass display cases holding the sorts of things you'd expect to find in an adult toy store: dildos, BDSM gear, stuff like that. I didn't see anyone around, so I just started browsing. While most of the products were pretty standard, I did come across a few things that didn't make much sense, like a leather-bound book that had an eye-shaped blue gem inlaid in the cover and some kind of knockoff Jumanji board game. Weird.
I eventually made my way to the area I had my eye on: the BDSM section. So far, my and Travis's sex life had been pretty conventional – if a bit excessive – and recently I had been thinking of bringing up some of my more submissive tendencies. I was considering starting out with a blindfold and some handcuffs or something, but as I was looking around I was drawn to a lovely leather collar that was displayed in an ornate glass case. The main band of the collar was made of black leather, with a slightly wider layer of what looked like red felt stitched to the inside, presumably to provide comfort to the wearer. The ends of the collar were held together by a large silver peg, which had an adorable little heart shaped padlock holding it in place. A silver chained leash with a leather bracelet at the end was clipped to the padlock. I gazed at the collar with a strange feeling of longing, as if it were meant for me.
"Oh my, you must have a very wonderful relationship if you're attuned to the Love Slave collar," said a sultry voice behind me.
Startled, I turned around to find a tall, Asian beauty gazing at me. She had a mature looking face with large brown eyes behind thin-framed glasses. Her dyed pink hair was done up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a thin, black choker around her neck. Her long, shapely legs were clad the tightest miniskirt I'd ever seen, and her breasts were bound by a white button up shirt that was opened up enough to show a generous amount of cleavage. The whole ensemble gave here a sort of sexy librarian look.
"S-sorry? I didn't catch that," I said.
"That collar that your looking at. By putting it on you choose to create a connection between you and your beloved partner, surrendering your body and mind to his whims. As long as that connection is shared he can shape you and himself as he pleases. That feeling of helpless ecstasy as your will is subsumed by his...oh, it's just so romantic!" She gestured wildly as she spoke.
Wow. She was really into this. I could see where she was coming from, though. I also found the symbolism of a collar extremely arousing.
"Sorry. Seeing someone taking an interest in the collar got me a little excited. Especially such a cute girl," she said, regaining her composure. "My name is Mitsuko. Welcome to my little shop."
"Jennifer. Nice to meet you." I smiled at the complement with only a slight sigh in the back of my head. Standing at five feet nothing, I was fairly thin all around, with no ass to speak of and totally flat AA cup breasts. I had a pretty face – according to Travis, anyway – with bluish-green eyes and thin lips. The only thing I was particularly proud of was my shoulder-length, wavy blonde hair. Whenever I wasn't too lazy to take care of it, I could get it looking like I'd just come out of a shampoo commercial. I was confident enough in myself to see where someone was coming from when they called me cute, but I'd always wished for a fuller figure, one that evoked adjectives other than "cute".
"So, Jennifer, are you interested in buying the collar? It seems to have really taken a liking to you," Mitsuko said.
"I suppose I've taken a liking to it, too," I half smiled. "How much is it? I don't see a price tag anywhere."
"Well, it is a priceless artifact, but it's been so long since anyone's been attuned to it that it would really be a shame if it was denied a rightful owner. Personally, I wouldn't mind giving it to you for free, but I am running a business here, so...one hundred dollars?"
I was starting to think that Mitsuko was either a little crazy, or she was trying some weird sales tactic on me. As nicely made as the collar was, I didn't see how it could be priceless, and the bit about a "rightful owner" was just strange. A hundred bucks sounded like a decent price, though, and I never had the patience for haggling, so I agreed.
"Perfect! Let me just get it out of its case. You can wait by the counter," said Mitsuko.
Mitsuko walked into the back of the shop while I made my way to the counter. She came back with some keys she used to undo the locks on the display case. Before she opened the case, she did some elaborate hand gestures while muttering to herself. Yep, definitely crazy. Eventually she opened the case and brought the collar to the counter. After paying her, I was suddenly the proud owner of a pretty little bondage collar.
"Thank you for your patronage!" Mitsuko said, smiling. "I hope you have a good time with it!"
"Thanks," I replied, and under my breath added, "I hope I do, too." Placing the collar in my bag, I exited the shop.
Noticing the time, I quickly left the mall, and drove to Travis's house. It was almost seven, and I didn't want to keep him waiting too long.
* * *
Travis and I met about three months ago at a local video game convention. We hung out together for most of the con, going to panels and spending way too much money at the dealers' booths. He was in his mid twenties and about six feet tall. By most measures he was pretty hot, with a strong jaw, piercing blue eyes, and dirty blonde hair. He had a slightly muscular build from weight lifting, which was a little surprising to me considering he was such a big dork. At the end of the con, he asked me out.
It only took a few weeks for us to determine how great we were together. After a couple dates we were hanging out all the time, either at his house or in my dorm room. The only problem was that he never made a move on me for the first month we were together. I eventually had to pounce on him myself and make it clear what I wanted. That seemed to release the floodgates, though, and he'd been frisky with me ever since. He was constantly kissing me in public and fondling me when we were alone, and I loved every minute of it. We were having sex pretty much every day we had time to get together.
All of that said, I felt like he was still holding back on me. One night at his house, I got a bit sneaky and checked his computer while he wasn't in the room, only to find a disturbing lack of porn sites in his browser history. I guess I couldn't really complain, though, since I hadn't told him about any of my weird kinks, either. Hopefully the collar would get the ball rolling on a new chapter in our sex life.
I broke out of my reminiscing as I pulled into Travis's driveway. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I got out of my car and let myself into the house. I found Travis in the kitchen doing the dishes.
"Hey sweetie," I said as I hugged is back.
"Hey baby. How were your classes?"
"Boring, as usual. How was work?"
"Meh. I've got a lot of annoying projects going right now. Luckily I have a pretty lady to come home to to cheer me up." He turned around and embraced me in a big bear hug, lifting me off the ground.
