The Darside of Amanda

"Good afternoon!" John greeted Lisa DeMotte as she stood in the doorway to their condo.

Lisa smiled at him. "Hey John." She turned slightly. "John, this is Tina and her son Brian."

John gave them a warm smile. "It's so nice to finally meet you both. Please, come in."

Amanda came out from the kitchen as the three visitors were walking in. She smiled at the two ladies, having already met Lisa. "Welcome!" She said with a smile as she walked up to Tina with her hand held out. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Lisa's told me you and I have a lot in common."

Tina took her hand returning the smile. "I guess we do. Probably not something either of us wanted. But something we're both dealing with."

"I know it would have been a lot nicer meeting for nice dinner somewhere." Lisa spoke up. "But I think this is a lot safer for you two." She said looking at Brian and Tina. "I just didn't want to take the chance of you two being seen in public."

Tina gave her a weak smile. "I understand. Thank you for all you're doing for us."

"I'll just be glad when all this is over." Brian added. He wrapped his arm around his mom's shoulders. "I'm tired of seeing you always scared."

"Let's sit in the living room and get to know each other." John spoke up after an awkward pause in the conversation.

"I need to get back to work." Lisa smiled at John. "I'll be back in a couple hours."

John opened the door for her. "They'll be safe here." He whispered to Lisa as she stepped into the hallway.

She turned and winked at him, smiling. "I know they will. I think you and Amanda will be good for them."

John stood in the doorway for several seconds, watching Lisa walk down the hallway towards the elevator. 'Why did she wink at me? What the hell did Sam tell her about us?' His mind raced. He closed the door and walked into the condo. Amanda, Tina and Brian were already sitting in the living room. The ladies were already talking and getting to know each other. "Would you ladies like a glass of wine?"

Amanda looked up at him smiling. "Yes, please!" She looked at Tina. "Red or white?"

Tina smiled up at John. "Red, please!"

"Two reds coming up." John replied. "Help me out Brian?" He said to him as he nodded towards the kitchen.

The two guys walked into the kitchen. "Grab a couple of beers out of the fridge." John said to him.

Brian hesitated. "You know I'm only twenty, right?"

John smiled at him. "I know. I joined the Army when I was eighteen. I could go to war for my country. I could kill for my country. I could die for my country. But I couldn't drink a beer because I wasn't old enough. Just another jackass law on the books, put there by politicians, most of which are alcoholics. Now! If you want to have a beer with me, then grab two. If not, then just grab one for me. We also have soft drinks in there."

Brian took an immediate liking to John. John was treating him like a man. Something he needed. He grabbed two beers from the fridge.

"Take them out on the balcony. I'll join you as soon as I'm done playing bartender." John walked into the living room carrying two full glasses of wine. "Your son is having a beer with me on the balcony. You ok with that?" He said to Tina. He fought to keep his eyes from drifting down to her chest.

"Yes." She replied smiling softly. "He needs a man in his life. Thank you."

"You ladies get to know each other. Brian and I will be on the balcony talking about guy stuff." He saw both ladies eyes widen. He knew Amanda hoped it wouldn't get too personal. He had no idea what Tina might be fearful of. He chuckled. "Don't worry. We'll keep it PG rated."

The ladies watched him walk out to the balcony and slide the glass door behind him. "Is he always that 'take charge?'"

Amanda giggled. "Oh yeah! Just what I needed too."

The two ladies began sharing their stories, slowly forming a bond.

"I love the view up here." John said to Brian as they stood beside each other, leaning on the railing.

"I feel safe up here." Brian added. "Like, looking down on the city means it can't touch me and mom. At least it feels that way up here."

"You two have been through a lot." John wanted to encourage him. "Takes a lot of guts, what your mom is willing to do. Buckman is a piece of shit. Won't be long and this will be behind you. You and your mom want to move to Florida? I know Lisa brought that up to you."

Brian's eyes lit up. "Yes! We really do! The more we've talked about it since it was offered, the more excited we are getting about it. I just want to start over. Away from this place."

"Tell me about yourself. Tell me about your dad." John wanted to know everything about this young man and his mom he was about to put himself out for.

The two guys talked for almost two hours on the balcony, finishing off a couple more beers, as the two ladies shared their stories inside. Before their time was over the ladies were hugging and holding hands.

True to her word, Lisa DeMotte returned to pick up Tina and Brian almost three hours after dropping them off.

"So what do you think?" Tina asked her son when they were finally alone again in their safehouse. "Still excited about moving to Florida?"

"Yeah. I am. I know there will be lots of adjustments. But John told me he would help me find a job. Plus he told me about all the schools within the area. I could keep going to school if I wanted to. And I really like him. I think it's going to be great having them as neighbors. At least till we find our own place. What about you? You still want to do it?" Brian responded as he searched for a snack in the kitchen.

Tina hesitated before responding. "I guess I'm both excited and scared. I'm excited about being away from this place and starting over. Amanda showed me a few pictures of the house we'd be living in. It is so nice. Bigger than anything we've ever had before." She stood in silence not knowing how to voice her fear.

"What scares you?" Brian asked when Tina didn't explain the second part of her statement. He looked at his mom as she stood in silence not answering him. He walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Tell me what scares you. I want to know."

Tina looked up at her son, a sadness in her eyes. "What scares me the most is the thought of losing you. Once we're down there, and away from this place, we'll develop our own lives. You'll get a job. I'll get a job. You'll find some nice girl, and leave me for her. Just like your father left me." Her last statement dripping with self-pity.

Brian stared at her, not wanting to respond harshly. "Knock off with the self-pity. It's not a very attractive quality, and it's not you. I have no intention of leaving you. I have no idea what the future holds, and neither do you." He wanted to put it back on her. "How do you know you won't find a nice man who will love you and take care of you? Don't you want that?"

Tina responded without hesitation. "I don't want another man. I don't trust any of them. As I listened to Amanda's story this afternoon, she found her man after Buckman, John. He is exactly what she needed. As I listened to her I realized I'd already found the man that I needed. You! You're the man I need Bri. The thought of losing you terrifies me. But the idea of coming home to you everyday gives me such peace and happiness."

Brian squeezed her arms, holding her even tighter. He wanted to assure her of his love for her and his commitment to her. But he didn't want to make some unrealistic promise. A promise, neither of them really knew if they could keep. Tina was trembling from the mixture of fear and excitement.

Brian wrapped his arms around his mother and pulled her into his body. "It's going to be alright. We're going to be alright. I'm not going anywhere. No one is going to steal me from you. And I'm not going to abandon you, like dad." He lifted her face up from being buried in his chest, kissing her tenderly. He felt her body responding as the kiss lingered. He felt his own body responding as the kiss lingered.

Tina began to moan softly as she crushed her body against his. All she wanted at that moment was to feel that union with her son. She needed him inside her, filling her. The words to that Debbie Boone song kept echoing in her head. "How could it be so wrong, when it felt so right." She knew she had violated every natural law there was, when she seduced her son the first time. She knew that she had messed her sons life up more than anything Buckman had ever done to her. Still, her fear of losing the last man in her life that she really trusted drove her in her most base instincts for survival. Everything Buckman forced her to do, she was willing to do for her son. She'd be the best slut and whore she could be for him. All the while, blocking out all the consequences of how it might affect him. She slid her hand between their bodies and grabbed the bulge in his pants. Right and wrong no longer mattered to her. "Let me take care of you baby." She gasped. "All I want to do is take care of your every need."

He stared in her eyes as his hands slid down her back and cupped her ass. He pulled her into his body, crushing her hand against his cock. His mind and psyche raced with the dichotomy of their situation. While one side of him screamed at the twistedness of their unnatural relationship, the other side was intoxicated with the knowledge he had this beautiful, sensuous creature at his disposal. Eager and willing to service his every sexual desire. That line between seeing her as his mom, and seeing her as a sexual creature, was becoming more blurred each day. He struggled with two overwhelming truths: his love for his mom, and his desire for this sexual creature. She'd opened this door. There was no turning back now. "I have many needs. And you WILL take care of all of them." He was going to take a deeper level of control. "Right now, I'm starving. Make me some dinner." He kissed her hard as he squeezed her ass again. "After dinner you can take care of my other needs."

"When did you want to head back home?" Amanda asked as they sat at the Mexican Restaurant looking over their menus.

"We still have the place for a week. I'm in no hurry. Besides, Buckman was released a couple days ago. I want to be around to see how things playout." John said without any emotion. He hadn't stopped thinking about his meeting with Buckman since Monday morning. John knew he'd been released from Cook County Jail on Wednesday. A side of him was hoping the Russians would do his dirty work for him. It didn't matter to him who killed Buckman. Just so long as he was taken out.

Amanda sighed. She began seeing a side of John that both scared her and excited her. His tenacious pursuit of Buckman made her feel so safe and protected. But then there was that unknown about him, that scared her. 'What was John capable of when pushed to the edge?' "I'll just be glad when we can put all this behind us. I can't wait to be away from this place. I'll always associate this place with him now. Even now, he's ruining things for me."

John laid down his menu and gave her a stern look, as she sat across the booth from him. "I'm not letting that happen. When you're with me, YOU'RE WITH ME, NOT HIM! Understood?"

Amanda heard a sternness in his voice she'd never heard before. She began to fear that he was growing weary of her not allowing what Buckman did to her go. Would she ever be able to let it go. She couldn't help herself, and John knew it. She saw Buckman everywhere. He was in her mind 24/7. She reached across the table and grabbed his hand. "Are you getting tired of me and my hang-ups?"

John's face lightened up as he smiled at her. Then he chuckled. "No! Not at all. You're stuck with me for the rest of your life." He paused for a minute when the waiter came to take their order. He debated if he wanted to tell her what he was doing after they ate. 'What the hell!' he thought. "You've told me multiple times you want some kind of mark as my property?"

Her eyes lit up as her pulse quickened. "Yes! Yes!" She thought he was going to collar her. They'd both been reading up on the whole D/s relationship lifestyle. Amanda seemed to gravitate to it more than John. But he was open.

"OK! I've never quite understood the need for that. But I'm going to give you what you want. After dinner we're driving out to the western suburbs. I have a friend out there who will help me out with that one." John ignored all her questions as they waited for their dinner to arrive. He just smiled as she rattled off one question after another. At one point he thought he was listening to a little kid trying to figure out what they were getting for Christmas. The waiter finally returned. "Eat up! As soon as we're done, we'll take care of that need of yours."

Two hours later they pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall in Des Plaines. The sun was still up. About the only thing he liked in that area during the summer months. Much longer days. John parked his truck in front of a tattoo parlor.

Amanda's eyes widened as her fait began to sink in. She looked at John, not saying a word.

He chuckled as he returned her look. "You wanted to be branded as my property. So be it." He opened his door, got out, and started walking to the store front. He turned to look at her as she remained seated in the front seat. "Come on! Let's go!" He shouted. "Haven't got all night. My friend is doing me this favor. I don't want to keep him waiting."

Amanda got out of the truck and walked up to John. He took her hand and led her into the place.

"Scared?" He asked.

"Yes and no." She replied sheepishly.

"Lee! How you been buddy?" John greeted the store owner when they entered. The store was covered in images and graphics of either the tattoos he'd put on clients, or advertising the images he could put on them. On the counter he had a half dozen three-ring binders of even more images he had at his disposal.

"John! I've been great!" Lee walked up to them and shook John's hand. "It's been too many years my friend. You don't like to come back here, do you?" He asked laughing.

"Hell no! Avoid it like the plague. How's business?" John asked.

"Kind of slow right now. This is the season it usually picks up. Not so much this summer."

"You should move to Florida, man. I think your business would skyrocket down there. From what I've seen. Just our two weeks of Bike week down there in the Spring and Fall would generate more business for you than your whole year up here."

"I have been thinking about moving down there. Funny you should mention Bike week. I just had two customers in last week who mentioned they were heading down there in October." Lee added smiling.

"Come on down man. Hot as hell in the summer. But eight months out of the year, you'll be laughing at all those folks up north. I know I do." John paused and turned to Amanda. "Anyway. This is my Amanda."

Amanda held out her hand. "Hi Lee. It's nice to meet you." She looked at John. "I think."

The two men laughed. "It's nice to meet you Amanda. John was right. You are a drop dead gorgeous woman." He complimented her as his eyes roamed up and down her body.

"So did you come up with any ideas from what we talked about?" John asked. He knew Lee was enjoying his eye candy. And he was ok with that. As long as Lee didn't take any unnecessary liberties. Then things would get ugly.

Lee shot his attention to John. "Yes. Follow me." He walked them over to the counter and pulled out a piece of paper with a symbol sketched on it. "I went off what you told me she wants. That plus the fact I've done a number of similar tatts for folks who are in the lifestyle." He slid a sketch with a red circle with John's initials in the center in an Old English font in black. "What do you think? Circle represents she's owned. Your initials speak to your ownership. What do you think?"

"Perfect." John replied without hesitation. "Simple. Yet elegant and permanent." He turned to Amanda. "What do you think?"

Amanda stood silent for several seconds taking it all in. "I don't know. It is pretty."

"It's also something you'll be wearing for the rest of your life. You still want to be owned by me?" He asked with Lee not flinching a bit. He'd heard too many of these conversations over the years. Subs were always eager to be branded as their Dom's property till the moment of truth arrived.

Amanda looked at John. "Is it going to be permanent for you as well?"

He knew what she was asking. "It will be once your branded as mine." After several seconds of her not responding John looked at Lee. "Let's do this."

"I've got a chair in back I do my work. Gives us a little more privacy."

The three walked to the back. Lee closed the door behind them. He turned to them. "Now the moment of truth. Where did you want this placed?"

John looked at Amanda. "Unbutton your dress down to the bottom few buttons."

Amanda's heart began pounding harder than it already had been. Now she knew why he insisted on her wearing her buttoned down dress. Both of them liked it. But it wasn't as flattering to her figure as some of her other dresses. She began unbuttoning her dress till he told her to stop.

John spun her around to face Lee. Then he opened her dress, revealing her bra and panty clad body. "I want a bigger circle with my initials here." He made a circular motion over her stomach, just above her panty line. "But I want my initials backwards, so she can read them when she's standing in front of a mirror getting dressed." He bent her head over and pulled her hair aside, revealing the back of her neck. "I want a smaller circle here with my initials the regular way. Any questions?"

"Nope! Simple enough." Lee responded. "Amanda, my dear, why don't you get in the chair, and I'll do the front one first." He looked at John. "You might as well pull up a chair. This will take a little while."

"Is this going to hurt?" Amanda asked as she sat down and spread open her dress to accommodate what was coming.

"Not much." Lee said smiling, trying to calm her nerves. "You'll feel a little sting. But nothing you can't handle. I'm getting the impression you're a tough lady." Lee complimented her.

"She is!" John chimed in. His eyes locked on hers. "Toughest lady I've ever met. One of the things that attracted me to her." He said smiling at her.

Amanda returned his smile. That was what she needed to hear. "Let's do this!"

Lee took his time as he worked on her abdomen, wanting to do the best he could for John. The trickiest part was doing John's initials backwards. He'd done it before. It just took a little more time and skill.

"You know why I've chosen these two locations for your branding?" John asked. He wanted to keep her mind off the process as much as possible.

Amanda smiled. For some twisted reason, she liked his referring to what was happening to her as her "branding." It was a word that reinforced her craving to be John's property. She knew her desires were opposed to everything the feminist movement stood for. None of that mattered to her. John was the man who had rescued her from herself. She belonged to him as completely as one person could belong to another. "No. Why?"

"Neither will be easily seen in public. I will never do anything to humiliate you or denigrate you in public. Nor will I do anything to jeopardize your career as a teacher." He pointed to her abdomen, where Lee was working. "That one is always for you. Every time you look in the mirror, when your showering, you'll be reminded who owns you. The one on the back of your neck, only visible when your hair is pulled aside, is more for me. Just in case I ever need to declare my ownership of you."

Lee chuckled softly as he worked on Amanda. "You two sound like a couple I had in here about a month ago. Although he marked her on the side of her breast. She had big ones too. But they were in some kind of community where they had monthly meetings where all the subs were put on display."