by Robin Roseau
I thought for a half second and then said, "I'd like that."
She took my arm and led me back into the house, depositing both our empty glasses on a waiting tray as we passed. We returned to the ballroom then, without a pause, onto the dance floor. She turned to me and pulled me into her arms. A moment later, we were moving.
She held me close to her, our cheeks side by side. And the dance was, well... I wasn't impressed with my dance partner. So I leaned into her a little, offering more of a connection, and she froze.
"I'm sorry," I said. I began to pull away, but she tightened for a moment.
"You tango," she said.
"Yes."
"Well, if I had known that..." She adjusted her stance, and I adjusted mine. And then we had proper connection, and from there, proper dance.
I wasn't a great tango dancer, and I whispered to her I didn't know many steps. And so what we did wasn't fancy, but it felt good nevertheless.
The song ended, but I didn't move away. Instead I sighed. "I haven't danced in a while."
"There's a tango contingent here," she said. "I am not going to monopolize you, but I can show you off if you want more offers."
"I'm not that good."
"You're good enough to show off."
"All right," I said. "Yes, I think dancing would be nice."
The next song came on. Neither song had been tango music, but you can tango to a wide variety of music, if you aren't a purist. For me, it's just about being held, and so I was willing to tango to anything.
She gave me two and a half dances total, the first counting as a half, before leading me to the side. "You require another adornment for your collar." She led me from the room, collected the adornment, and showed it to me.
"I didn't see these on the list."
She smiled and added a fire red clip to my collar with a TD on it.
"What does TD mean?"
"Tango Dancer, of course." Then she returned me to the ballroom, leaving me near the dance floor before wandering off. But I watched her progress through the room, and I saw her talking to several different women. Each time, they looked in my direction for the moment, and I tried to look away, as if I weren't watching.
After that, I wouldn't say I had a steady flow of dance partners, but I was invited onto the floor with some regularity.
A few times the person who asked was also wearing a collar, although mine was the only pink collar I saw. The second time someone with a collar asked me to dance, and offered to lead besides, I commented. "I wasn't expecting anyone with a collar to want to lead."
She laughed. "Submissive in the bedroom doesn't necessarily imply submissive in the rest of my life." She asked for a grapevine, and at the end, she explained, "My name is Kendra. Nina sent me."
"Oh?"
"You are free to dance all night if you like. But is this why you came tonight?"
"I'm having a nice time."
"That's not what I was told to ask."
"Are you telling me I shouldn't be in this room?"
"Not at all. I'm only giving you a question to think about. You could roam the party a little more and always come back here."
"I'm nervous," I told her.
The song ended, and we held each other for a moment. Then she turned us and led me from the dance floor.
But at the edge, Kendra didn't release my arm, and I felt myself being drawn from the room. I let her.
I balked when we reached the stares to the basement. "Kendra?"
"Trust me."
And so I let her lead me downstairs.
It was, well, it was a basement. I thought perhaps the rooms were storage rooms, but each had been outfitted. I'm not quite ready to explain how. It was as overwhelming as anything.
Several, although not all, of the rooms were in use. "If the door is open, we can step in," Kendra explained. She led us through the rooms until she found the one she wanted. Once inside, she pulled me to the side, and we stood watching.
The light was dim except at the other end of the room. There were four women. One was tied with her wrists hooked to a chain from the ceiling, and she wasn't quite naked, but she could have been. She wore panties and a bright red scarf as a blindfold. Two more women were kneeling.
And the fourth woman was clearly the domme. She was caressing the faces of the two kneeling to her, then pulled one's lips upwards, bending down to kiss her. I stared, enrapt.
"What are they doing?" I whispered to Kendra.
"A scene," she said. "Loretta won't touch the chained submissive. Instead, she'll make the other two do everything." She moved closer so she could whisper into my ear. "She picked me once. I thought I was in heaven."
We watched for a while. I couldn't believe we were watching, and if there had been enough light to see, I am sure people would have realized I was blushing.
But I was panting a little, too. I tried to hide that from Kendra.
"It's exciting just to watch, isn't it?"
"Yes. God."
"Tell me. Which would you want to be?"
"I don't know."
"I bet you do."
"I don't know if I'd want to be naked in front of everyone," I said. "In fact, I'm sure I wouldn't."
"She seems to be having quite a bit of fun," Kendra said. The woman was writhing and moaning with the attention she was receiving, so I believed Kendra's comment would qualify as a total understatement.
"For the other two, I'd be afraid."
"Why?"
"Doing it wrong."
"Loretta wouldn't let you do it wrong. So does that mean you wouldn't want to be any of them?"
I didn't answer right away. No, that wasn't what I meant. I could easily envision myself as any of the three, but I wasn't sure I was going to admit it.
"I'd want to be Rylie."
"Which one is Rylie?"
"The long hair." Rylie was the one who was tormenting the chained woman, although the woman seemed to love everything Rylie did.
"Or Steph. She's the one who is chained."
"Not the third?"
"I wouldn't say no if offered, but those would be my two choices."
"If we were alone," I said. "I'd pick the same two, but the other order. But I don't know about an audience."
"Right I don't think Steph cares we're watching. Well, that's not true. Steph gets off at being watched. But if you were there, you would have stopped caring a long time ago."
I thought she was right.
We watched for a long time, and then it was over. The four women accepted applause from the waiting women, and then Kendra slipped us from the room ahead of everyone else. She took me to an unused room, which made me nervous, but she just wanted to talk.
"It's time for me to abandon you," she said.
"Oh."
"There are other rooms here," she said. "You could watch, like we did. If you hang out in one of the unused rooms, wearing a collar, it's sort of an invitation."
"Oh. Are we offering something-"
"If I were anyone else, yes, actually. But everyone knows I'm here on an errand from Nina."
"How do they know that?"
"Because everyone knows I belong to her."
"I didn't."
She smiled. "Now you do."
"What's that like?"
"What's what like?"
"Belonging to someone like Nina?"
She smiled widely. "I'll tell her you asked. She might slip you a phone number, and you can call. We could meet for lunch or something. That's not an offer for more. Just talk."
"I understood." I paused. "I'm supposed to ask..."
"You want a hug."
"Uh huh."
We hugged for a minute, and she whispered, "If you stay here, someone is likely to invite a scene. You can say no. Or you can always go back to dancing or wander the party. The choices are yours." A moment later, she was gone.
I missed her immediately.
* * * *
I roamed the room for a whi
le, but I wasn't ready for anyone to invite me to play. I was curious about the things in the room, but I wasn't ready to ask anyone, either. A small group of women stepped in, coming to a stop when they saw me. I smiled, said hello, then slipped past them before it could turn into more than that.
"You could stay," one said.
"Too soon," I said.
"Maybe later."
* * * *
I danced some more. I wandered some more. I snuck downstairs some more, staying to the shadows while watching what was going on.
I watched for Precious. I hoped she would come. I was still intimidated, but I was having a nice time. If nothing else, I did more dancing with other woman than I had in years. Normally when I go dancing, I have to dance with the guys and the occasional woman, so this was a pleasant change.
I ate a little food, but I decided one glass of wine was enough.
A few of the women invited me into their conversations.
I wandered out to the front. Tessie was gone, and there was only one woman manning the reception desk. She was talking to another woman, but I stood by the side until she turned to me. "Yes?"
I stepped closer. "Is there one of these that allows gentle touches without asking me first?"
She smiled and nodded. This wasn't a bead. It was a thin ribbon she wrapped around and around the collar. You could still see the pink, but now you could see the blue ribbon, too, from any direction the collar was visible at all.
I headed back to the banquet room, made a little plate, and then wandered the room until I was invited into a conversation. A few seconds later, the woman I was standing next to rested her hand on my shoulder as if it was nothing. I thought that was nice.
I stayed there for a while, and the conversation morphed into a discussion of slang on both sides of the Atlantic. I tried coming up with examples for them, but the Brits seemed to have a lot more slang for just about everything than the Americans did, and I was outnumbered besides. I finally laughed and admitted defeat.
"It's about time a Yank surrendered to us," one of them said.
A while later, Nina stopped by, stepping to my left, and then her hand was on the back of my neck. I looked over at her and smiled.
"Having a nice time?"
"Yes," I said. "Thank you."
"I see your collar has taken on additional decoration."
"I think I like this method of advertising. I put on a little TD, and people ask me to dance. I add a ribbon, and suddenly they start touching. Do you know how long it's been since anyone touched me this way, this casually?" I looked over to the woman on my right. "Just what you're doing feels good."
"It's supposed to," she said.
Nine leaned closer until she could whisper into my ear. "Were you hoping for an offer from one of these women?"
I turned to her and whispered back, "We're just talking."
"Does anyone mind if I take Brandy away?" Nina asked immediately. No one objected, although the woman who had been touching said she hoped to see me later. I wasn't sure what that meant.
"I've never felt so popular," I said to Nina. She smiled, took my arm, and led me through the house. We went upstairs to the third floor, Nina deftly avoiding three different people who tried to draw her into conversation. She produced a key, unlocked one of the rooms, and we stepped in. She locked the door behind us.
"Um."
"Relax," she said with a smile. "Although Kendra said you have questions. I'll give you my number before you go."
"I'd like that."
"I don't get to play tonight, or this offer might come from me."
"You're with Kendra though."
"We both like bringing in someone else."
"A three way?"
"Yes."
"Cause I don't fool around or deal with people in a so-called open relationship."
"Understand. But you're saying you do three-ways?"
I blushed. "I never have."
"I should have added a three to your collar?"
"Nina..."
She smiled. "You've been invited to play a game."
Invitation
"A game? What kind of game?"
"One of the dominants has invited you to play a game with her," Nina clarified. "It's someone you have met, and while you may not realize it, you signaled to her you enjoyed her company. But that could be any of a dozen women, so don't bother trying to guess."
"All right. What game?"
"Here's the thing. You don't learn the rules unless you agree to play."
"I have to accept blindly?"
"I can tell you a few things," she said. "I believe Precious told you that your pink invitation meant you were eligible to win a prize, and she suggested they were nice prizes."
"Yes. But I'm not here for that."
"Nevertheless, if you agree to play, at the end of the evening, you'll have won a prize."
"Even if I don't win the game."
"Correct."
"That means this game isn't going to be in private, is it?"
"No."
"Oh, God," I said.
"I have a few more things to say. You won't be hurt." But then she fingered the little bead with the S on it. "Well, no more than this implies."
I laughed nervously.
"You are under no pressure. If you decline, the woman in question has a couple of backups. They don't know. Half -- perhaps nearly all -- of the submissives here tonight would jump at this offer."
"I know," I said quietly.
"If you decline, you'll undoubtedly spend the rest of your life kicking yourself."
"I know," I repeated.
"If you agree, you will most likely spend at least a portion of the night wishing you had declined."
Again I laughed nervously.
"Your heart will pound. You'll grow flushed. You'll be nervous and excited and scared. You'll feel alive, like you've never felt before." She paused. "Those are my predictions."
"I understand." I turned away and prowled the room. It was a basic sitting room, with a window looking out to the back. I couldn't see much, but I stood there for a minute, regardless. "What else can you tell me?"
"I don't know."
"What would you do?"
"If I were a sub? I'd play."
"Am I going to hate it?"
"I don't think so. I think you'll love it, but as I said, there are portions you'll regret. But you'll have an experience you wouldn't otherwise have."
"And you won't tell me the rest until I agree."
"That's correct."
I turned around. "My heart is already pounding." It was. I could feel it hammering away in my chest. "Is she going to-"
"I won't answer that sort of question."
"Can you tell me anything about her?"
"She is very good at what she does, and she has never been accused of being abusive. She clearly knows what color collar you are wearing."
I thought about the implications. "If I say no, I'm going to regret it."
"Anyone else here would. I think you would, too. How brave are you, Brandy?"
"Not very," I said, but then I smiled and nodded. "All right. I'll play."
"Excellent!" she said. "I'm proud of you. I need to touch you. I have a different collar for you."
She stepped forward. I didn't see how, but she removed the collar from my neck. I suddenly felt a little naked, which seemed weird. She transferred my adornments to a new collar and let me see it.
This collar bright red, more sturdy than the first one, and there was some sort of box on it. After showing it to me, she clipped it back around my neck, and I heard it snick locked.
She smiled. "This collar is nearly impossible to remove without the key or some serious power tools."
"I wouldn't."
"You are wearing the only red one."
"What does red mean?"
"You are now the main entertainment."
"What?" I screeched.
"You will not be allowed to leave while
wearing this collar. If you attempt to leave, you will be stopped, and a penalty in your game will be applied."
"Nina, you should have told me this!"
"No, I should not. Relax, Brandy. No one is going to hurt you. Trust me."
"I barely know you."
"I know. Trust me anyway."
"Fine, but if you had said 'main entertainment', I would have declined."
"Which is why I didn't tell you. And I won't let you out of the game, either. You're stuck, Brandy, but you knew that already, didn't you."
I sighed. "Yes."
"The game is simple. There is a hunt. You and your opponent are both hunting for something. She has a small team; they are hunting for you. She knows who you are, but they do not. It is a small team, which means more than two and less than ten. You won't know who they are."
"Oh god."
"You are hunting for the domme."
"Really?"
"There are clues hidden all over the house, but only in places you can access readily." She smiled. "Well, I could access them readily. You may need to stand on a chair for a few. Or maybe you won't. I'll give you the first clue in a moment."
I smiled. "That part actually sounds like fun."
"I did not hide these clues, but both Kendra and I ran this course. Each clue was clear enough to find the next, but some were puzzling, and it only made sense when I was standing in the right room."
"How long did it take you?"
"About two hours. Kendra was a little faster."
"Were you getting hunted while you were doing the hunting?"
She smiled. "That will increase the complexity for you. There are a total of twenty clues. The last one clearly identifies your domme and tells you where to find her. If you present yourself to her and hand her the final clue, you win. If her team catches you, she wins."
"This seems one sided."
"They don't know what you look like. They do know you're wearing a red collar." Then she adjusted my clothing, hiding the collar from behind. "If anyone catches you intentionally hiding more than this, there will be a penalty."
I nodded.
"They must hunt you in a group," she added. "And they must actively look for you, not attempt to lie in wait. They may not hover about the main hallways at all. They may only pass through them going from one place to a next, although that doesn't mean they must run."
"I could have a chance."