by Vivien Sparx
“There are no Mistresses with submissives here ….and no young men,” Renee announced in a strained tight voice a moment later. “Every man here looks like he’s at least in his thirties or older.”
Everyone but Peter turned their heads at once to look around the room.
“It’s the wrong night for Mistresses,” Peter said. “The club has two nights a week it reserves just for Masters and their submissives, and another two nights a week for Mistresses and their subs. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights are when everyone is welcome.” He took a sip of his drink. “It wasn’t always that way, but it turns out that some of the town’s wealthiest businessmen lead double lives as submissives. They weren’t too willing to show themselves in mixed company.”
Renee leaned forward. The move forced herself harder against Stefan’s fingers and she bit her lip to stifle a soft moan. She had heard about the preferences of many wealthy and powerful men to be submissive, and she found the trait fascinating. She had read that many powerful men in the corporate world turned to submission in their private lives because it gave them a release from the daily demands and pressures of their high-profile corporate careers. She smiled at Peter. “Have you ever tried submission?”
Peter laughed, but the question had attracted Tink’s curious interest now too. She leaned closer, keen to learn more about the man who was her Master.
“I tried it once – for about five minutes,” Peter said to Renee. “I didn’t like it. Not at all. The woman I was with at the time was a ‘switch’ and she tried to dominate me. It didn’t work.” He swirled the ice in the bottom of his glass for a moment. “I think I’m too alpha, and too accustomed to being in control.”
Renee nodded. She wasn’t surprised.
“And as for the age of the men,” Peter continued, “Well, this is a serious BDSM club, Renee, despite the friendly appearance,” he explained. “And every man here is an experienced Master. You don’t get that experience in boys,” Peter said. “Up until a guy reaches thirty, he doesn’t even understand the difference between sex and erotica. He’s more interested in using a woman for his own sexual pleasure than he is concerned about her enjoyment or education, or training. No woman in their right mind would put themselves in the hands of some young guy who called himself a Master. It takes experience and that normally comes with age.”
Renee nodded. Then she glanced at the young girl kneeling at Peter’s feet. She was staring fixedly, and with a small shock she realized the girl had an unobstructed view under the counter-top. She was staring between Renee’s parted legs, and watching the way Stefan’s fingers were working skillfully inside her panties.
For a flashing moment Renee was shocked and embarrassed. And then she was shocked and aroused. And then she was aroused. She parted her legs a little wider, thrilled and made reckless and breathless by her arousal. She had never been so provocative or sexual in her life. The girl glanced up at her and Renee bit her lip and smiled dreamily.
Stefan seemed to notice the interplay between Renee and the girl Peter had bought for the evening. His eyes widened in realization and he pulled his hand from between Renee’s parted thighs quickly. His expression turned grimly to stone and he flashed Renee a dark glance. Then he reached across the table and shook Peter’s hand again. “Thank you for inviting us tonight, Peter. I think we will take a quick look around upstairs and then head home for the evening.”
He rose from the booth and Renee stood obediently. She was frowning but remained tight-lipped. Stefan clutched her by the hand and led her across the floor towards the staircase taking purposeful strides so that Renee was forced to totter precariously on her heels to keep pace with him. At the bottom of the stairs Stefan gipped her hand even more tightly and pulled her aside.
“Ten minutes,” Stefan said darkly. “Then we go home. Understand?”
Renee nodded. She was frustrated. Stefan’s fingers had driven her close to the brink of orgasm – and now his mood had changed completely. She considered defying him, such was her frustration and bewilderment, but she knew that to cause a scene in such a place would be the ruination of everything she was working towards. She lifted her chin and stared at him with a look that was hostile and inscrutable for an instant, but then she nodded with reluctant obedience and lowered her eyes quickly to the ground. “Yes,” she said.
The upstairs section of the club was divided into six rooms, three on either side of a long hallway. Each room was large, and there were no doors, so that as Renee and Stefan walked down the thickly carpeted hall they were given unobstructed views of the activities taking place within each room.
At the first opening on the left, Renee paused in the doorway and watched three young women arranged on their knees around a tall man who was standing in the middle of the room. The man was naked, his body darkly tanned. There were whorls of thick grey curly hair across his chest. The three women were all young and all wearing collars. They were arranged around him and taking turns to pleasure him with their mouths. As each girl took her turn, the other two kissed each other and their hands roamed freely across one another’s naked bodies. Renee leaned against the wall and watched with dark fascination. One of the women caught a glimpse of her and turned, smiling. Renee waved uncertainly. The submissive girl winked to her and then turned back to the glistening hard shaft that was before her. She seemed to make a great display of her talented mouth, knowing Renee was watching in the background.
Beyond the final door on the right side of the corridor was a room with three wide wooden benches. They were made of rough unfinished timber, each one painted black and each one a squat, solid piece. Renee lingered in the doorway long enough to see that there was a woman on her hands and knees, chained on top of one of the benches. The woman’s skin was pale – almost the color of alabaster. There was a collar around her neck, and a chain leading to a bolt in the bench. There were cuffs around her wrists dangling more chains so that she was fastened into a kneeling position. Around her were two men. One of them was wearing a leather mask.
Fixed and fastened into place, the submissive girl was completely vulnerable and open to the men. One of them had his trousers opened and down around his thighs. He was behind the woman, with his hands on his hips, filling her with long deep strokes. The masked man was stroking himself, standing before the woman’s face. As Renee watched the girl opened her mouth obediently and the man thrust himself forward. Renee heard the woman moan, and the sound was like an erotic bell being chimed within Renee’s aroused mind. Renee stifled her own instinct to moan.
Renee heard Stefan inhale sharply. He was standing behind her, watching on. Renee licked her lips and turned round. “You used to treat me like that,” she said softly, careful to keep any hint of criticism from the tone of her words. “You used to force me to take you whenever you wanted. I never once told you how much that thrilled me – but it did.” She turned back to watch the woman servicing the two men with her body and she shuddered deliciously. “I envy her,” she said wistfully.
As she spoke, Renee leaned back a little until his body was pressed against her own. Stefan was like a pillar – a solid unmovable tower. “I’d like you to treat me like that again. I really would.”
The man who was plunging himself into the girl from behind, looked up and saw the couple standing in the open doorway watching. He waved to Stefan. “Want a ride, friend? She’s very tight.”
Stefan shook his head. Renee felt his hand grip hers more tightly and he leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “It’s time to go.”
At the top of the stairs they met up with Tink and Peter and the young girl who Peter had won at auction. Tink was leading her on her chain.
“We’re heading home now,” Stefan said. He smiled tightly. “Thanks for the evening out.”
Tink and Renee exchanged sharp glances. Renee shook her head as a curt warning and Tink made a frustrated face.
“Maybe we can do it again some time,” Peter offered.
“Maybe,�
�� Stefan said. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Peter glanced sideways at the girl on the chain, and then smiled at Tink. He raised a knowing eyebrow in Stefan’s direction. “We will,” he promised.
Twelve.
Tink paused in the doorway of an empty upstairs room. She was wringing her hands.
“Master – should I go after them?”
Peter shook his head. From the top of the staircase he could see Stefan’s broad-shouldered shape already disappearing through the club’s entrance. “No,” he said. He came back to where Tink was standing and cupped her face in his hands, staring into her eyes. “We did all we could. You can’t do any more. It’s up to them to sort their relationship out now.”
Tink nodded reluctantly. She sighed again and glanced over her shoulder into the room. The young girl they had bought for the evening was stepping out of her panties and crawling onto a grey leather sofa that stood against the far wall. The girl looked over her shoulder at the couple and her eyes were wide and pleading. Tink’s gaze was drawn to the firm rounded shape of the girl’s buttocks and the enticing dark shadow between her parted thighs.
“Let’s go and enjoy ourselves,” Peter insisted. “Stefan and Renee will find a way, Tink. They will. I know they will.”
Thirteen.
Stefan had the car roaring back up through the mountain roads outside of Bishop’s Bridge, driving with grim precision, before he glanced sideways at Renee hunched low and brooding in the passenger seat.
“You knew that girl was watching you,” Stefan fumed. “You knew she could see my hand pleasuring you. You even made it easier for her. You encouraged her.”
Renee’s eyes flashed angrily. “So? So what, Stefan? What harm did I do? Jesus Christ! At least someone got some pleasure from the evening. I sure as hell didn’t – and you were never going to allow yourself to have any fun. You had your mind made up before we got inside the club.” The angry restraint that Renee had kept in careful check throughout the evening was suddenly unleashed. She turned in her seat and her words were laced with venom. “What harm did I do?”
“You are my wife!” Stefan snapped. “I am a private person. I do not want my sex life on display!”
“Sex life?” Renee hissed. “What sex life, Stefan?” She shook her head incredulously. “We don’t have a decent sex life. And as for public displays – you are a hypocrite! When we first met you made me parade to the letterbox in lingerie! What do you mean, you don’t want your sex life on display? How much bigger a display could I have made when you ordered me to do that?”
Stefan’s grip on the wheel tightened and the car’s engine howled as he swung the car over the crest of the mountains and began to wind back down towards the estate.
“That was different,” Stefan growled. His eyes flashed cold, like glinting shards of steel. His lips drew taut into grim lines. “Very different. You were just a woman then. Just another woman to me, Renee – nothing more. I had not collared you. I had not married you! You meant nothing to me then. Now you mean everything!”
“Everything?” Renee’s tone was vicious and mocking. “Everything except the woman you want to fuck! Everything except the woman you want to drag to the ground and mount like a man. Maybe I’d be better off if I wasn’t your wife, Stefan!” Secretly Renee was shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just mouthed the words she never meant to say. The thought of not being with Stefan appalled her – but so intense was her anger that she couldn’t stop herself from continuing, knowing the ground beneath her feet was crumbing away in a self-destructive rage.
“Maybe I would be better off if you turned the damned car around and drove me back to the club. I’m sure I look good enough to attract the interest of another Master. Maybe then I’ll get the kind of sex I need,” Renee spat. “I can ride home with Tink and Peter after I’m finished – and after I am finally satisfied.”
Stefan ignored her and drove on, simmering and on the brink of fury. He turned the car into the estate, the tyres screaming through a haze of blue smoking rubber, and braked hard in the driveway.
Before the engine was off, Renee had flung her car door open. She stalked inside, choking back tears as she went.
In the bedroom she sank down on the mattress and a violent wave of reaction swept over her. She began to shake, wildly and uncontrollably. Waves of humiliation and despondency swept over her, like a storm-driven surf eroding the sand of a beach, until finally she began to cry the thick heavy tears of her heartache.
Stefan came through the front door just in time to hear the bedroom door slamming shut with a sound like a gunshot. A framed photo in the hallway shook and then fell to the floor. Stefan went down the hall and picked up the frame. The glass had shattered, tearing into the image and scattering glass across the carpet. The image in the frame had been a photo of Stefan and Renee on their wedding day.
Stefan took the photo into the kitchen and left it on the table. Then he stood at the bar and unscrewed the cap off a bottle of scotch. He didn’t stop drinking until he passed out on the cold leather surface of the sofa.
Fourteen.
Stefan woke to the realization that the weather had changed overnight. Rain was hammering loudly on the roof, pouring into the gutters and drumming against the bay window. He sat up on the sofa, fully dressed, and rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. He felt confused and disoriented, and the edge of his mind seemed dulled. He was vaguely aware of a sense of remorse and regret.
There was a loud rumble of thunder overhead, and then suddenly Jeffrey came bounding from his basket in the laundry and leaped onto the sofa. The dog was trembling.
Stefan reached out for the lamp and switched it on. A soft glow filled the living room, spreading in a circle of light that was wide enough to show the empty bottle on the floor and an upended glass atop the bar counter. Stefan shook his head and blinked himself awake. He glanced at his wristwatch. It was 3.30 in the morning.
He got up from the sofa and picked up the empty bottle, then stopped to listen for the sounds of Renee sleeping in the bedroom. He could hear nothing over the noise of the storm. He began to pace the carpet, and suddenly realized he was lonely. The thought stopped him in mid stride. He was lonely – and he was completely alone. The divide between himself and Renee had widened to a chasm, and from where he stood, it seemed almost impossible to breach the gap.
Being alone had never disturbed Stefan before. He had been a loner for much of his life. Apart from the brief years of joy with his first wife, much of his journey through life had been made as a solitary man. But the sudden sense of feeling lonely troubled him deeply. He wanted to share his life. He wanted to share his successes and failures, triumphs and tragedies with Renee. And so he stood in the middle of the floor, with the storm crashing all around him, and for the first time in a very long time, Stefan felt a sense of true fear sweep over him.
Losing Renee now would be worse than losing his first wife. When Tiffany had died, he had been helpless.
He began to pace the living room floor again but he pulled up short when he saw his reflection in the bay window. It was a ghostly shape of himself, distorted by rivuletted rain against the glass. He saw the hard edge of his jaw, the firm line of his mouth and the dark anger in his eyes and he stared at the image for long desolate seconds, imagining his life without Renee; imaging a lonely life.
He thought about his conviction then. Why was he resisting Renee’s insistence they return to a BDSM lifestyle? What was it about the change that he truly objected to? Was he too old fashioned?
Stefan believed the opportunity for true success came to every man just twice in life. It was up to each man to recognize the opportunities when they presented themselves, and to seize them before they escaped their grasp like mist.
For some men, the opportunities came as business and wealth; rare chances to make their fortunes that were either seized, or regretted for a lifetime. A man could miss one, but to miss both was a waste of a life’s potential.
He thought about his own life then. His waves of success had not come through business or wealth – such things had never interested him greatly enough to pursue them. No, Stefan’s two cresting waves were with women. The first wave he had caught, and it was only God’s cruel hand that had swept him back into the crashing turmoil of loneliness. Now, he realized Renee was his second great wave – his second and final chance to rise above himself, and to make his life a success, and a life worth living. It was Renee.
Was he simply too stubborn?
Renee was so passionate and so committed to her beliefs. She believed with all her heart that their way forward together could only come with the BDSM lifestyle that had drawn them together as their foundation.
Why was he so resisting?
He was old fashioned. He knew that. He was a traditional man in so many of his beliefs. The distinction between his wife and a submissive was such a clear one to him that he realized his resistance had always been reactive rather than reasonable. But were his moral values outdated… or was he outdated?
Could he ever set aside his love and tender care for Renee’s happiness to look at her objectively as a woman for his pleasure? Could he ever forget all of the tragedy and heartache they had endured as a couple long enough to look at her with the dispassionate intensity needed to inflict discipline?
Was BDSM what they needed in their lives… or merely what Renee wanted?
Could he change?
How could he not?
What did his instincts tell him?
He thought about that for a long time. He had always been a man of clear conviction and determination; once he knew what was needed he was unfaltering in his determination. But right now his instincts were chaotic and confused. He didn’t have Renee’s passion or belief – he was reacting without being rational.
Stefan turned away from his reflection and stood in the middle of the room. He closed his eyes in despair.