Chapter 9: Let's Play a Game
Joe scrubbed the plate at the sink. It was a Saturday and ten days had passed since the reward. The dishes had been piled up, he didn't clean since last night. He was alone in the house. His mistress went out and hadn't returned since the morning. It was a horrible feeling, not being within the reach of his mistress. That feeling came to him every night when he leaves the mistress' house. He often had nightmares of his mistress leaving him, and that's why he was afraid of being alone without her. He took another dish to clean, and he realized the soap was finished. He washed his hands and dried them on his apron.
He was naked except for his apron and underwear beneath it. His back was littered with red streaks. The apron was filled with flower designs. "Since you like flowers so much, I got you this," his mistress had said to him. He felt he was so lucky to have such a considerate mistress. 'Yes, my mistress punishes me. But that is hardly her fault. It is me who makes mistakes and falls into all the trouble,' he thought. This was also not his first gift from her. A few days back, she handed him two pairs of knee braces. They had a great impact on his kneeling.
He got on all fours and crawled to the laundry room, that's where the supplies were. His brain hadn't tried to defy the authority of his mistress over him. That resistance was all but over. But it sometimes nudged him to take rest, it was more of self-preservation than an act of defiance. Like now, it told him not to crawl, and that his mistress would be happy if he gets the work done faster. He ignored all of it, he was committed to complete submission. So, he crawled to that room. The pleasure filled him.
He finished cleaning the dishes and hung his apron in the kitchen. He walked to inspect his work. He always crawled when he was working, and walked when he was not. He didn't know why he did that. He looked around the living room, and it looked clean. He walked into her bedroom, and that looked good too. He opened the closet doors and sauntered in. He was particularly proud of his work here. He spent almost all afternoon here. He picked up random shoes and inspected them. He brought them closer to his face to look for any missed strains. If he found any, he'd lick them off. He smelled the shoe when he was done with the inspection, they didn't smell that much but they had some traces of her scent. The pleasure climbed up. When he was about to pick up another pair, he heard a click at the door. He ran. In that moment of panic, all the pleasure had left him. In a moment, he was at the door and he could see that it was almost open. He quickly reached it dropping to his knees with a thud. His mistress might've seen that in rapid succession, she jumped and let out a mild yelp.
"Fuck," she said and quickly closed the door, "You could've hurt your knees." It did hurt. He wasn't even thinking about the pain. He was ashamed that he had startled his mistress. He thought, 'My mistress is so kind that she is thinking about my pain and not about the pain I've caused her now.'
"I'm sorry, mistress." She slowly smiled, 'Even though she is concerned about my pain, she likes it when I'm in pain,' he thought. Pleasure returned to him. He bent down and kissed her boots. "Welcome home, mistress."
When he got to his knees, she threw her coat over him covering his face. He quickly got it off his field of vision. She was pulling off her leather gloves, and she looked majestic. She was dressed in leather pants, a black top, and knee-length boots with short heels. He smiled at her holding her coat in his hands. She slapped him with her gloves and dropped them in his hands. The slaps didn't hurt him at all. She snapped her fingers and pointed to her back, "Get them," she said and walked off. He didn't notice the shopping bags at the door while he was watching his majestic mistress. He hung her coat near the door. He took the bags, one of them was her hand bang, and walked to her. She was waiting on the couch. He put all the shopping bags on the table and walked into her room with only her gloves and handbag. He put them on the bed and went back to her.
He knelt at her feet, and he felt a pain in his knees. She ignored him while she was looking through her phone. After a few minutes of waiting, she put her phone down and grabbed a bag. He felt the pleasure rush when she revealed the contents of that bag. It was a dog collar. She signaled him to come forward. He made his neck available to her.
She put the collar around his neck and asked, "Is that tight enough?"
"Yes, mistress," he answered. It was not that tight but he was afraid that would be hard for breathing. His mistress seemed sad, 'She knows it,' he thought. So, she found the next hole and buckled it up. She slid her fingers in between his neck and the collar and gave him a disappointed look. He felt ashamed. She held the collar tightly and pulled him to her.
"You lied?" she said softly.
"I was afraid it would be too tight, mistress."
"Does it matter?" she said, "What will you do if I try to strangle you with this collar?"
"I would thank you, mistress."
"Then why lie to me?" he felt the disappointment in her voice shredding him to his bare bones. He put his head down and apologized.
"You always apologize and make a mistake again," she said, "But this is a bad mistake. You know you can't lie to me, right?"
"Yes, mistress," he was almost on the verge of tears. He could take her anger but not her disappointment.
"Tsk, tsk," she shook her head, "A slave will only learn from punishments," she finished. He felt his back stiffen. He could feel the pain in those red strokes on his back. She hardly called him by his name. It was always 'Slave.'
"Yes, mistress," he agreed with her and looked up at her to see her smile. He didn't like the pain, but he also didn't hate it because his mistress enjoyed seeing him writhe in pain.
"Go get the crop," she ordered.
He ran into the closet and took the crop. Holding it sent shivers down his spine. He remembered the day she bought it, it was the day he was gifted with knee braces. They were not exactly a gift, the payment was the pain. She tested the crop on him. She beat him senseless that day. He screamed and yelled as he writhed in pain. He bellowed and pled for her mercy. All those only fell on his mistress' numb ears. She continued beating him. As a last resort, he shed tears. But he remembered tears were not safe words. There were no safe words, and it was he who begged to get rid of them. Now the moment this situation got too hot, he was thinking of safe words. He felt ashamed there. If he wanted her to stop, it only meant that he was greedy for her feet. When the safe words were in his way, he removed them and now, he wanted them again. That was not honor. That was not complete submission. He remembered at that moment his mistress' words, 'You're the bravest man I know.' That restored his confidence. He would be brave. He stopped crying and took it like a brave man. He remembered all that and shoved the fear down. He took the crop and ran to his mistress.
He saw her sitting on the couch, cross-legged. He bent down on the table and raised his hands in the air. He was offering the crop that was in his hands. She sat there looking at him for a minute. The pain was creeping into his shoulders. Finally, she took the crop from his hands and stood up.
"Bend from the other side of the table," she said.
He did so. She walked around the table. He realized why she wanted that. Because she would have more space for her legs and more room for the swing. Before he settled himself, he felt pain in his back. He screamed and heard her laugh.
"Lay your hands on the table and put your face forward," she said.
He put his chin down on the table and looked ahead. He could see the lower half of her body and the crop. He laid his hands flat, palms down, on the table.
"Bring them near to your face," she said. He pulled his hands back slowly. She put her foot on his hand when his hand was near his face. She tapped his hand with her boot twice, "Good."
He was mere inches away from her boot. If he just pushed his head forward, he could smell the leather. She moved her boot, so that her heel would be on his hand, and started grinding her boot on it. He grimaced at the pain and heard her giggle. Before he could recover from the pain in his hand, he felt another hit on his back. He yelled. She laughed.