Tell Me

by Ashe Barker

  “Okay baby, I have you. Just take a moment. Let me take these off.”

  He tugged at the knot at the back of her head and the scarf fell away. She blinked at him, her expression startled but happy. Next he opened the blanket to reveal her still clamped nipples. It was the work of a moment to loosen the screws and slip the rings off, but he knew it would hurt her. Sure enough, she sobbed as the blood flow was restored. Tony rubbed both nipples hard to help speed the process along. But still, afterwards, she lay shivering in his arms.

  “Are you cold?”

  “No Sir. Just…”

  “You want your orgasm? Is that it?”

  “Have I earned it?” Her tone was hopeful.

  He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “I’d say so. I reserved a private recovery room.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  The rules about nudity were less rigid outside the main dungeon, and non-existent in the private areas. Tony wanted his sub naked for this. He stood and helped Thea to her feet too, steadying her when her legs threatened to give out again. He was quick about collecting up his kit and slinging his bag over his shoulder, then scooped her into his arms again.

  As they entered the recovery room he was pleased to see they had the place to themselves. He deposited Thea on one of the long couches and knelt on the floor beside her.

  “I’ll get you a drink.” He helped himself from the fridge full of bottles of water provided for members’ use and unsnapped the top from one of them. He held it to Thea’s lips. She sucked at it, swallowing greedily.

  When she’d had enough he emptied the remainder of the bottle down his own throat. He swept her hair from her face with his hand, tucking it behind her ear. “Do you want anything else? Apart from a rocking orgasm?”

  “Do you have chocolate?”

  “Is the Pope a catholic?” He peered into his bag, and produced a pack of chocolate digestive biscuits. He handed one to Thea and waited until she munched her way through it. “Another?”

  She nodded, so he handed her the packet. Far be it from him to come between a sated sub and her sugar rush.

  Thea made short work of another three biscuits, then offered him the pack. He took it from her and placed it on the floor. “If you want another just say so. Now, I’ll be having that thong please.”

  She wriggled out of the blanket and lifted her bum up to slip the thong down her legs. Tony took it from her and that too found its way into his holdall.

  Tony could have instructed her regarding the position he wanted her to adopt, but instead he arranged her himself. She was utterly compliant as he lifted her knees up and pushed them wide, opening and exposing her smooth pussy. Her labia were glistening, slick with her juices. Her clit peeped out from under the hood which partly covered it, and he swore it was becoming plumper before his eyes. Her arousal was obvious, blatant, her need approaching desperate.

  He took her clit in his mouth and sucked hard.

  “Oh, God. Oh, Sir…”

  He eased three fingers into her entrance, and pushed them deep. Her pussy was already contracting around his hand, spasming as she succumbed to the climax which had been gathering force as he tormented her in the dungeon. He wouldn't make her wait this time. He wanted her to experience the release, the total abandonment of just letting go.

  Moments later, her orgasm engulfed her. She went rigid, her face contorting as he sunk his fingers into her drooling pussy and rubbed her G-spot. He never let up the pressure on her clit, adding his tongue and teeth to the mix as he pleasured her, coaxing every last tremble and shiver and ripple of ecstasy from her.

  Only when her body was finally still, her muscles relaxed, her limbs boneless, did he snap open a condom, sheath himself, and drive his cock into her. She wrapped herself around him, clinging to him, her legs around his waist, her ankles crossed in the small of his back. She gripped his shoulders, her face buried against his chest as he rocked his hips slowly. He’d done the hard, intense stuff for this evening, now he just wanted to make love to her.

  “Sir, I love you. I love my collar.” She moaned the words, muffled in his shirt. He heard her though.

  “I love you too, little sub. My slut. My own beautiful whore.”

  He thrust harder, deeper, the head of his cock nudging her cervix as he buried himself as deep as he could get inside her. His balls tightened, started to contract. Within moments his semen spurted to fill the latex. He held still and let the sensation wash over him.

  This was what love felt like, and he was going to get very used to it.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tony ended the call and tossed his phone onto the sofa beside him. He’d received some of the answers he expected, but he remained far from happy. He cocked his head, listening, but heard no sound from upstairs. Thea must still be sleeping. He wasn’t surprised, she’d been exhausted when they returned to his house in the small hours of this morning. Their session at the club had been intense, both physically and emotionally. He didn't really expect her to surface until noon, perhaps later still. He’d let her sleep. She needed it.

  He sipped his coffee and contemplated the explanation he’d extracted from Jerome, the owner of The Wicked Club. Tony was well aware that the dungeon staff would have reported the flash photography incident, and there would be some sort of investigation. There had to be, the club’s membership would demand it. Discretion and privacy were watchwords in the BDSM community and any club unable to guarantee those would be out of business in no time.

  Jerome had assured him that Wicked took security seriously, and there would be no repetition of the problem. New signage was even now being displayed, and all members would receive an email by the end of the day reminding them of the absolute ban on taking pictures within the establishment or anywhere in the vicinity. Any member who disregarded this rule could expect to have their membership revoked. The club did reserve the right to conduct random bag searches, and would exercise that right with increased vigilance. Jerome had dismissed the incident as some idiot taking a selfie. A number of guest members had been present the previous evening, and one of them had failed to properly comprehend the regulations regarding use of phones. It was amazing how many people thought selfies didn't count, but the revised signage and the email to members would set them straight. The guest involved had been identified and warned. Jerome had had his assurance that the picture had been deleted. He was confident the matter had been addressed and no further action would be required. He hoped this unfortunate episode would not affect Tony’s continued enjoyment of the facilities.

  Tony rather thought it might. He was not convinced by the explanation, nor did he really believe that anyone would be so naive as to disregard the no photographs rule. Adequate signage was already in place, the rules were made clear to all guests as they signed in. Selfies don't count? Whoever heard such bollocks? Had the phone been checked? No. They only seemed to have this idiot’s word for it that the picture had been deleted. He would never have left it at that, not if he’d been in charge.

  But he’d had other priorities last night, namely a confused and distressed submissive whose care was his primary concern, then and now. Should he tell her what had happened?

  Probably not. She’d be distraught at the possible implications, and would be imagining all sorts of nightmare scenarios. Images posted on social media, blackmail threats, he groaned at the prospect. Thea adored her kink, but she’d probably never go near a club again if she knew about this. Still, it rankled. He was being less than honest with her and that didn't sit well.

  *****

  “I did what you wanted.”

  At Tony’s words Thea glanced across the office at him, her attention dragged from the third incarnation of the risk assessment policy she was trying to draft. Sometime these things just flowed for her, others, like this one, were squeezed out like blood from a stone. She was glad of the break. Risk management was not the most riveting subject, even on a good d
ay, and she’d be at it all afternoon. Still, she had an entertaining evening to look forward to, with luck. She intended to stay at Tony’s again tonight, even though she was due at Kershaw’s in the morning.

  She removed her glasses and peered at him. “Sorry, what?”

  “I did as you suggested. I went to see Jeremy Malone.”

  “You went to see him?”

  Tony nodded. “I did. He took some convincing to even agree to that, but I can be persuasive.”

  “True, you can. But I didn't expect you to go. I would have done it.”

  “I know. You said. But it was my responsibility. And I wanted to find out for myself what sort of bloke he really was.”

  “And?”

  “And you got it right. As usual.”

  She let that remark pass, resisted the urge to preen. No one likes I told you so. “How was he?”

  “In what sense?”

  “I mean, is he all right? Has he found another job?”

  Tony shook his head. “No, It seems the taint of a tribunal isn’t easy to shake off. He reckons that any potential employer will perceive him as a trouble-maker, no smoke without fire, that sort of thing. Even though Mr Malone won his case, and was shown to be the injured party, he’s been out of work since he left here, almost eight months now.”

  Thea abandoned any thought of risk assessment. Tony had her full attention. “That’s a pity. So, tell me about the visit. Did you go to his home?”

  “Yes. I phoned first, and he told me to fuck off. Oh, not in so many words, but that’s what it amounted to.”

  “You can't really blame him.”

  “No, I thought so too. So I persevered and managed to convince him there’d be no harm in sparing me a few minutes of his time. I offered to meet him at Costa in Millennium Square but he preferred to be on his home turf. So I went there.”

  “He lives in Morley, right?”

  “Yeah, a bungalow. It’s just him most of the time, and his daughter at weekends, like you said.”

  “She wasn’t there, then?”

  “No.”

  “I wonder if he gets lonely, now that he doesn’t have his job…?”

  “Perhaps, though he does some volunteering thing, helping to drag bikes and shopping trolleys out of the River Aire.” He paused, met her gaze. “He’s a nice guy, Thea. We screwed up, big style.”

  She’d already known that, in her heart, but even so she was pleased to hear it confirmed.

  “Right. So, if you’d known the full story, and if this had happened after you took over Dart Logistics, obviously, how would it have been handled? What would we do differently?”

  “We’d have changed his working hours, gone for a more flexible arrangement. He could have had his Monday mornings and Friday afternoons off, and just added a couple of hours to the other working days to make it up. Informally, that’s what he did anyway. He generally worked until six thirty or seven from Monday to Thursday, because on those days he would be going home to an empty house, and he was happy to come in early when needed. He could have changed Melanie’s transport times, but when he asked they told him that would mean dropping her off on Saturday morning and she’d have to return to her residential school on Sunday afternoon. Neither of them wanted that, they saw little enough of each other as it was.”

  “Well, that sounds reasonable. But why didn't he tell anyone at work that was what he was doing? What about his time sheets?”

  “If Eric’s team back then had cross-referenced Jerry’s absentee record with his time sheets the truth might well have emerged. No one did though.”

  Jerry? Interesting. “That was a fundamental error.”

  Tony’s grin was rueful. “Yeah, even I can see that.”

  “But Mr Malone could have told someone. He could have explained what his problem was, and the solution he’d come up with.”

  “Yeah, I asked him about that. Seems he was being treated for depression at the time. He told me he just lost interest in everything during those final few months, let it all wash over him and took a fatalistic view. Dart would do what they wanted anyway, and so on. He expected to get fired, and when it happened he just went quietly.”

  “He didn't stay quiet though.”

  “No. Like I said, his depression was being treated. He got better. And when he came out of the fog as he tells it, he realised he’d been the victim of a massive injustice, and he wasn’t having it. He got some advice—better late than never—and put in his claim for wrongful dismissal. Even then though he didn't base his case on his circumstances, but on the process. He was able to prove that he hadn’t been offered a union rep or colleague because those were not mentioned in the letters he had from us. That’s in violation of our written disciplinary policy, and the tribunal had an easy time coming to the conclusion we didn't follow our own rules. He was told he’d be onto a sure thing with that, so why bother with the less certain, and much more painful route of laying his personal life in front of the tribunal and hoping they’d sympathise?”

  “Makes sense, I suppose.”

  Tony nodded. “I thought so. And it worked. He got paid out.”

  “But if he’s been out of work for eight months already he can't have much left.”

  “The twenty five grand amounted to about a year’s salary after tax, maybe a little more. He’s been living off that, and he’s made some economies so he can manage another six months or so before he runs out of savings. Then he’ll have to sign on. And things could get tricky. The council might not agree to pay for Melanie’s residential school, for example. She’s doing well where she is, which is why he kept her there even though he’s now at home all day and she doesn't need a residential place.”

  Thea levelled a shrewd look at him. “You offered to pay for the school, didn’t you?”

  He returned her gaze. “That was one option, yes.”

  “And the other options?”

  “There was only one other option really, apart from doing nothing. That he return to work, in his old job but on a revised contract.”

  She lifted one eyebrow, and waited.

  “He starts a week on Monday.”

  Thea let out a squeal which would have been more suited to their dining room, and leapt across the room at him. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth. Hard.

  When she allowed him up for air Tony chuckled. “Mrs Richmond, I’m shocked. Is this any way to carry on in the workplace? What do our policies on sexual harassment have to say on the matter? Maybe you need to write us a new one.”

  “I was sure you’d sort it once you knew. I love you.” She kissed him again, this time plunging her tongue into his mouth and taking her time as he returned the kiss. She managed to crawl into his lap, her shoes kicked under his desk. Tony found no further objections to offer

  The sound of a throat clearing interrupted the continuation of their ‘business meeting’. They both turned. Isabel was framed in the doorway.

  Thea thought the PA’s expression could best be described as glacial. Self-conscious, but interestingly not nearly as embarrassed as she might once have been to be caught in such a compromising position, she clambered from Tony’s lap. She tried not to make too much of a production out of straightening her skirt and offered up thanks that they had not had a few more seconds alone. Who knew what she might have got up to on her Dom’s knee? She shuffled around trying to locate her shoes, but despite her efforts Tony had to retrieve one of them for her.

  Tony met the interruption with considerably more aplomb. Thea was impressed. She hoped Isabel had not been treated to such displays before between Tony and his senior staff, but somehow she doubted it.

  Tony was all smiles. “Isabel, we have good news.”

  His PA lifted her chin and sniffed, her disapproval almost palpable. “I gathered that much. Am I to understand that congratulations are in order?”

  “What? No. Well, yes. Jeremy Malone’s comi
ng back. We’ll be needing a revised contract for him. Could you run one off please? Mrs Richmond will provide the details of the changes.”

  Isabel stiffened still more, glaring at the pair of them down her nose. Thea couldn’t recall ever seeing the loyal and usually so easy-going PA appear so disgruntled. Her next words were delivered with icy disdain. “I don't think that's a good idea, Tony. I explained that to you already, at the meeting last week. I suggest we all just consider this matter a little further before rushing into any decisions.”

  Thea was astonished. She was head of corporate services here, and Tony owned the bloody company. They had the right to ‘rush into decisions’ if they so chose and neither of them required Isabel Barnard’s approval. Nor had they asked for it. She opened her mouth to point out something along those lines, but Tony was there ahead of her.

  “I know you did, and I appreciate your input, as ever. But this matter is decided, Thea and I both believe this is the correct approach to take. Please make the necessary arrangements with Denise, if you don't mind.”

  Isabel was not giving up. “But, what about the money we paid him? Even if we did treat him badly, and that’s a matter of opinion, he’s been compensated.”

  That question had occurred to Thea and would have been among the next items she intended to raise with Tony. When she remembered.

  Tony was unruffled. “Mr Malone wondered about that too. He offered to repay the funds he still has, but I declined. He was the wronged party, his life has been turned upside down by this, and he deserves to keep the money.”

  Good answer. Thea approved. Isabel apparently did not.

  “But, that’s just ridiculous!”

  “Thank you, Isabel, That’ll be all.” Tony’s voice shifted in an instant to the cool, businesslike tone Thea knew he normally reserved for the bank manager. And for her, but only when she was bound and naked in his dining room.

  “But—”

  “And would you mind closing the door on your way out please? Thea and I have a number of other matters to discuss.”