She nodded. “And Master would like more ice?”
“Yes.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him. “Why are you doing this?”
She blinked. Her heart raced knowing discipline would be coming. “Doing what, Master?”
She knew he wouldn’t fall for her innocent act. Lately, she’d found it harder to provoke him into disciplining her, not like in the very beginning when they’d first come together. After almost a year of being together, he’d become wise to her tricks.
Master Blade tightened his grip around a thin dowel he used as a disciplinary cane. The sound of his leather glove-clad hand squeaking around the stick sounded in the quiet room. If he used the cane, she knew where he would hit her: on her hand.
She could almost feel the sharp, stinging pain going up her arm from the expected blow. She found that if she looked pained, Master Blade inflicted more punishment. For that reason, she grunted and groaned even more.
She could withstand anyone’s physical punishment. She couldn’t be broken.
After a tense second, he let her go and ordered her to go to the kitchen. Once she kissed the tops of Master Blade’s booted feet, then the hand that held the cane, she stood and went to the kitchen.
She poured iced tea into his glass. Just before going back to the living room, she stared at the rust-colored drink. Her incessant questioning hadn’t stirred Master Blade. She needed to do something else.
Glancing around the room, she found a sugar canister. She knew Master Blade liked unsweetened iced tea. With the ease of a cat burglar, she removed the ceramic lid without clinking it against its sides, then poured a spoonful of sugar into his tea.
She peered around as though someone had seen her devilish act. She mixed the drink with her index finger, then sucked off the excess liquid.
She returned to the living room and sat the glass on the coffee table in front of him.
“This Slave has brought you your drink.” She lowered herself onto her knees next to him.
Staring forward, she caught a strange expression on the face of their host, the Mistress of the house, who had always offered to train her. When This Slave turned around, she met her Master’s boot.
Master Blade knocked her to the floor. She didn’t know if the gasps she heard had come from the people around her or from herself. When her face crashed against the hardwood floor, she saw stars flashing in her eyes.
Master Blade had reacted faster than she thought he would.
“You know better than to walk around without permission.” Master Blade put the sole of his boot right on her face, keeping her pressed down to the floor. “You were supposed to crawl to the kitchen and crawl back, right?”
She pretended to struggle for air, but under his small, size seven shoe, she had no problem breathing. “Yes, uh, Sir.”
“Stupid bitch. I don’t know why I keep your ass around. Do you?” He pressed down harder.
A fireworks display burst in her eyes from the increased pressure, still nothing she couldn’t handle. “Please give me another chance.” Another chance to push your buttons.
“What did you say? I know I didn’t hear you correctly.”
She swallowed, knowing he’d picked up the intended error in her statement. “Please give This Slave another chance. This Slave longs to serve you and only you, Master Blade.” Aside from not following physical protocol like crawling around the floor, This Slave knew Blade hated when she used the wrong forms of address or none at all.
“Blade, please, we’re having a pleasant afternoon.” Mistress Siren’s strong voice resonated even down to the floor. “I think you’ve disciplined your slave enough.”
“You don’t understand, Siren. This one needs a firm hand.” Master Blade grunted. “If I don’t do this, she’ll be like a wild, ravenous dog, undisciplined and rough. Besides, I’ve never perceived you as the squeamish type.”
“You know better than that.” The indignation came through clearly in Siren’s voice.
“She’s much better than that last slave I had, Lil’ Mary. This one knows how to take the discipline. She practically begs for it daily.”
“Then maybe to punish her, you don’t discipline her.”
This Slave gasped. Siren shouldn’t be giving him that advice. This Slave could handle the little bit of punishment Blade dished out. She could manage the beatings. The verbal abuse got to her sometimes, but she had learned to tune him out…at least, she tried to ignore him. Sometimes the words hit harder home to her than expected.
Blade removed his boot from her face. “Fine. I’ll stop here.”
This Slave rose to her knees, not even daring to wipe her face. Times like these, she wished she had on her full head mask. At least his boot wouldn’t have touched her bare skin.
She watched Master Blade pick up his drink and take a sip. Although she didn’t want to stare, she ached to see his reaction when he realized she’d sweetened his tea.
As soon as she positioned herself in the correct spot, Master Blade grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her to her feet. She guessed he’d discovered her intended blunder. Even his small hand yanking on her hair didn’t hurt her as much as it looked. This Slave put on a front like his grip could rip her scalp from her skull.
“We’re going home.” Master Blade dragged her to the closet door.
Except for the black leather collar and cuffs, This Slave wore nothing else. She knew he wanted her to put on her coat first. Instead she opened the front door, not caring that neighbors could see her nudity. If it pissed Master Blade even more, then she would be nude in public.
“Blade, please, at least let her get dressed. I have neighbors watching everything that goes on here.” Mistress Siren stood and attempted to block Master Blade’s path.
“I did push her to the closet. You see. She’s doing this on purpose. She wants me to punish her.” He nudged her shoulder to spin her around so that she could look at him. “You want my attention? Fine, you got it. Looks like you’re going to get some time in the drawer.”
More than the boot to the face and the hair pull, she couldn’t do the drawer. Blame it on her claustrophobia. Maybe it had something to do with her father locking her up in a small closet to discipline her. Either way, that small, tight, cramped space could not fit sweaters, let alone a full-grown body.
The news of the drawer made her drop to her knees. “Please, Master Blade. Please don’t put This Slave in the drawer. This Slave promises to behave. This Slave will do whatever you like.”
“You’ll do what I like anyway. You’re wasting time. Get your coat and let’s go.” Master Blade walked out of the house.
She opened the closet to retrieve her coat. Her clothes, which consisted of a pair of panties, a shirt, and stretch pants, all managed to fit in her inside pockets.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. This is what you wanted, right? The rougher the better, right?
She wiped her face before slipping on her coat. Before going through the front door, she dropped down to her hands and knees and crawled to the door. Although she wanted to push Blade, she hadn’t meant to push him this far. She could withstand anything but that drawer.
With her head hung low, she heard as she got a foot away from the door, “Slave, if this is not the treatment you want, please tell us so that we can help you.”
In her life, she’d heard that before. People always offered to help, but no one ever did anything. As always, she would take care of herself.
Mistress Siren said, “Nod if you want help.”
This Slave waited by the door, torn between what she thought she deserved and what these other folks felt she needed. She’d pushed Master Blade to do this. She could take anything he dished out.
“Slave?”
A car horn blared, making her jump. She turned to Mistress Siren, then lowered her head again before crawling out of the door.
She crept over the gravel sidewalk and driveway, the small rocks and pebbles cutting and embedding in her palms and kne
es. At the truck, she climbed into the backseat and positioned herself on her stomach as she’d been trained.
“You know I don’t want to have to discipline you like this all of the time,” Master Blade began. “But you leave me with no alternatives. Why do you force me to be rough with you?”
She swallowed. “This Slave is sorry for pushing Master’s limits. Master is supposed to push This Slave’s limits, right?”
“Did you just ask me a question?” He sighed out of exasperation.
“No, Master Blade. My master will tell This Slave whatever it is This Slave needs to know. This Slave would never question you.”
Although she’d kept her head down, she could almost guess how Master Blade looked at her when he asked his question. With his shaved head, she could never pinpoint his age. They had signed a contract almost a year ago that she would serve him. Shorter than her five-foot-ten frame, Master Blade had demanded that she either crawled around on the floor when he stood or that she kept her head down so that she never appeared taller than him.
Blade screeched his truck to a halt in front of his home and demanded she get out. As she’d done to get in the truck, she scuttled out of it and to the house.
“Take off your coat.” Blade slammed the door behind her.
She removed her coat while remaining on her knees. In a crouching position, she hung it in the closet.
“To the dungeon. Now!” Blade barked.
She jumped, but without hesitation scurried to the dungeon in the den downstairs. Once she assumed her usual position in the center of the room, she wondered what punishment she would endure today. Then she hoped beyond hope that whatever occurred in the dungeon would take the place of being put in the drawer.
Master Blade had rarely punished her in addition to locking her in the drawer until recently. He must have recognized her crippling fear and used that treatment to break her. She couldn’t be broken. That’s what she had to prove to him…and to herself.
She kept her head down, waiting, wondering. Her heart pounded so hard it sounded in her head. She swallowed and hoped that the volume of her beating heart wouldn’t drown out Master’s voice.
“Up.” He stood behind her.
Knowing what he wanted, she stood and raised her hands over her head. Her fingers brushed against the fleece-lined cuffs that hung down from the ceiling. Master Blade strolled in front of her and glared at her. The whites of his brown eyes looked red, like blood in a riverbank.
Without a word, Master Blade cuffed her wrists. He made sure to position her fingers onto the panic releases.
“If it gets too intense, you use these.” Blade stared into her eyes as though searching for an answer; not just an answer to his statement, but a reason why she would push him to do this.
“This Slave will not activate the panic releases, Master Blade. This Slave deserves to be punished.” She stared back at him hard enough and long enough for him to break the stare first.
After securing her, he stormed over to the controls on the side of the wall and raised her off the ground just enough so that she had to stand on her tiptoes to keep from swinging back and forth.
Despite her best efforts, Master Blade still pushed her body to put her in full swing. The swinging kept her off balance in every sense. The motion made it difficult to watch what Master Blade did. She twirled around and tried hard to keep her stare on Master Blade. When she saw him walking over to the wall full of whips, she chewed on her lower lip. His whip play resembled a light tickle. At the end of this day, she could use a good laugh.
Her body twirled around away from him as he walked past the whips to the canes and paddles. She tried looking over her shoulder, but in her position, she couldn’t see his actions.
As soon as she felt his hand on her shoulder to stop her from swinging, she gasped.
“If you’re going to act like a child, I’m going to treat you like one.” He slapped her naked ass, then squeezed it to signify that he owned her. “Your safe word is ‘blue,’ understand? I want you to use the safe word if I’m punishing you too hard, got it?”
She didn’t respond.
Blade moved around to the front of her. “This Slave, you answer me when I ask you a question. What’s the safe word?”
She rolled her head back, then returned his stare. “I don’t remember, Master Blade. Is it black, like what we are? We’re both black.”
“Stop it.”
“And you’re older than me, probably the same age as my daddy.”
“Slave—”
“Can I call you Daddy from now on?” She knew that would get to him.
“That’s enough.” He spun her around again.
She felt his head by her ear.
In a whisper, he said, “Why do you do this? Why do you provoke more of a punishment for yourself? You know I don’t want to do this.”
She nodded. “Yes, you do. You need to discipline This Slave. This Slave needs it.” She cleared her throat. “This Slave deserves it.”
Just like when she had been at home with her father, she would take it. Just like her mother had taken the abuse for so many years.
“Use the safe word.”
The first smack with the wide paddle cut into her thoughts. She yelped and flinched at the contact, even though he had eased up on the intensity.
“You’re going to get fifty hits,” he said. “Then I’ll decide if I’ll cane you afterward.”
“Yes, Master Blade. Thank you for disciplining This Slave.” She gripped the chain above her hands.
“Count them down. I really want to hear you.”
“Yes, Master Blade.”
The next strike came fast, but had been as soft as the first one. The sound of the smack didn’t even echo off of the dungeon walls.
“Two, Master Blade.”
The next few hits started to decrease in force. Maybe exhaustion plagued him.
“Three, Master Blade.”
At the beginning of their relationship, he had disciplined her with much more force. The longer she stayed with him and the more she pushed him, the more he backed off of her. She had to find a new way to incite him.
Her voice remained steady even toward the end of the punishment. She knew he hadn’t given her his all for whatever reason.
At the final smack, Master Blade came at her full force, swatting her so roughly that it put her body into a full swing. That hit got her attention. If the entire punishment had been like that, she would have respected him more.
She’d done it. She’d borne his weak punishment without complaint. Now she could get through the rest of the day, cooking his dinner, drawing his bath, and giving him his ritual hand job even though he could never get it up. He never pushed her to have sex so, if he could achieve an erection or not, it didn’t matter.
Master Blade returned the paddle to its place on his wall of toys. As she swung languidly on the chain, he lowered her and unhooked her wrists from the cuffs.
“You didn’t use the panic releases or the safe word.”
“This Slave didn’t need to, Master Blade. This Slave is tough.” She rubbed her wrists.
She blew out her breath. Sweat beaded her head, and she wiped her forehead, then raked her fingers through her wild mane of hair. She would have to tame it after Master Blade slept.
To her surprise, Master Blade grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her to his bedroom. The pain of him fisting her hair didn’t give her that surge of adrenaline like it had when she’d first met Master Blade. A transformation had occurred inside of her, and something had changed with Blade. Now she didn’t know what to think.
“Because you can’t behave, I’m going to have to retrain your dumb ass.” He let her go long enough to pull open a full-length drawer from under his massive king-size bed.
As soon as she saw the drawer, her heart pounded again in concert with her now throbbing backside, still stinging from its treatment just moments ago.
She’d been in the encasemen
t under his bed several times before. She never got used to the confinement. Her hands trembled, and more sweat formed on her head the longer she stared at the cedar drawer.
As usual, Master Blade undid the cuffs around her wrists and neck. He showed her that one bit of compassion before entombing her in the drawer. She would have felt suffocated if she wore the neck cuff.
“You need help getting inside or can you manage by yourself?” Blade shoved her toward the drawer.
“This Slave thought you would be using the whip. This Slave deserves the paddling and to be whipped.” She hoped asking for the whipping would keep her from being placed in the drawer. Asking the question at least bought her some time.
“Not today. Not right now.” He pointed to the drawer.
Without a response, she climbed inside and positioned herself on her back just like Master Blade liked. With her hands balled into fists, she closed her eyes, trying desperately to transport herself into a happier time.
Hell, when was that? She’d never known any true joyous or happy times. Not in her childhood, not as a teenager, and definitely not now with Master Blade.
“Look at me!” Blade kicked the drawer, jiggling it and startling her.
She stared at him. Her toes felt like ice cubes dangled from each of them. She had to get her legs to stop shaking so that her knees didn’t hit the top of the drawer. Considering she did most of her moving around on her knees, the feeling would be torturous.
“How long you think you should be in there for your misbehavior?” Blade put his fists to his hips, bringing her attention to his protruding belly.
“An hour, Master Blade.” She’d figure an hour for her infraction would be long enough for her to personally take being inside before losing it.
Blade shook his head. “Stupid, stupid bitch. Some days you act as though this is your first time in training. The right and only answer is that the time limit is up to me. Everything is always up to me, right?”
She nodded. “Yes, Master Blade. This Slave apologizes again.”
“Enough fucking apologies. You’ll come out when I feel like getting you.” He kicked the drawer closed with his booted foot.
In the darkness, even with the miniature fan behind her head that whirred, giving her the needed air to breathe, she struggled to maintain her composure. Tears stung her eyes as she considered her situation. Did she really want to be here? Did she truly deserve this?
Woman In Chains Page 2