A Fine Line

by Sue Horsford

  He took me by the hand and led me down the stairs to his bedroom and over to the mirror.

  “What do you see?” he asked me.

  I studied the two of us. Him fully dressed, dark and exciting all in black, and me pale and naked with my collar, the sign of his ownership, around my neck. I’d never thought of myself as beautiful but now, seeing myself with Gabriel, his beauty seemed to reflect on to me and, I had to admit, we did make a striking couple. I hesitated. What did he want me to say?

  “There’s no right or wrong answer,” he reassured me. “Just tell me exactly what’s on your mind.”

  “I see myself looking beautiful because I’m with my Master,” I said shyly.

  “You see yourself looking beautiful because you feel you’re being true to yourself,” he corrected me. “This is who you are. And you’re getting more beautiful every day, sweetheart.”

  “Thank you, Master.”

  As I watched in the mirror, he brought his hands to my nipples and squeezed so hard I had to suppress a gasp. “I think I’ll have to buy a leash for my pet,” he said. “I can lead you around on your hands and knees and I can tether you to the bedpost if I want you to stay where I put you.” He moved one hand slowly down my body and caught hold of my pubic hair, tugging it, hard. “If you were free to belong solely to me, I’d shave this off so I could see your pussy at all times.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Open your legs,” he whispered in my ear.

  I opened to him, quivering with anticipation.

  He slid one finger into me easily. “You’re very wet, my girl.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Did I give permission for you to get so wet?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “Then I’m going to have to deal with this disobedience.” He began spanking me slowly, stroking my buttocks after each slap as I watched in the mirror. “Does this turn you on, sweetheart?”

  “Oh, God, yes, Sir,” I gasped.

  “Let’s do it properly, then.” He led me over to the bed and pulled me across his knees. One arm encircled my waist, restraining my arms so I was unable to move and, with his other hand, he kept on spanking and stroking and sliding his fingers between my legs. Although the slaps hurt, I found I was eagerly awaiting each one, and whenever his hand pushed between my legs I had to clamp my teeth down on my lip to bite back a groan.

  When my ass was smarting so much I was wriggling over his lap, he administered six hard, stinging slaps that made me cry out. “That’s just to remind you that I’m your Master.” He laid me down on the bed. “I believe you said something on the phone about my tongue.”

  I swallowed. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Spread your legs wide for me, then. In fact, don’t move.” He left the room and ran up the stairs.

  He returned holding the spreader bar. He took hold of my knees and spread my legs as wide as they’d go and fastened my ankles to the bar. Next, he went to the drawer beside the bed and brought out a pair of nipple clamps, not the usual ones, I noticed. These were like tiny silver pegs and as he placed them on my nipples, I drew in my breath at the pain.

  “These are more serious than the other clamps,” Gabriel said. “I know they hurt, but you’ll wear them to please me.” He tugged on the slender silver chain that held them together, and I stifled a moan.

  “Yes, Sir.” The pain was exquisite and I relished it. I loved anything that served to remind me I was Gabriel’s property, that he could do with me whatever he pleased.

  Gabriel reached into the drawer again and pulled out a shiny metal cylindrical object about eight inches long with a rounded end. He stroked the dildo over my pussy, wetting it with my juices. I gasped as the freezing cold metal brushed across my clit. He ran it slowly down my labia then pushed it all the way inside me, swiveling it as he did. I moaned and bit my lip.

  Was moaning allowed? As if he’d read my thoughts, Gabriel reached up and undid my collar. “I want you to say and do whatever you want tonight. If you want to scream the place down, feel free.”

  He brought his face down between my legs, his breath warm against my pussy, and I groaned in anticipation of what was to come, then, when he brushed my clit with his tongue, I couldn’t help but lift my hips toward him. He responded by grabbing my ass and thrusting his middle finger deep inside.

  “That should hold you still, madam.”

  I closed my eyes and gave myself up to the sensations—the clamps pinching my nipples which, now that the initial shock had worn off, was quite exquisite, the restraints around my ankles, the coldness of the metal inside me, Gabriel’s finger invading my private space, circling my clitoris with his tongue. My orgasm, when it came, would be so powerful I would explode. I wrapped my fingers in his hair and murmured over and over, “Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel.”

  He felt my breathing quicken and my muscles beginning to tense and he stopped. “Someone’s right on the edge,” he said. “Let’s slow things down a little. I haven’t finished with you yet.”

  He opened the drawer again and pulled out a flogger, smaller than the one he’d used last time, and he began to flog me with light flicks of his wrist, on my breasts, the inside of my thighs, the soles of my feet. When I was tingling all over, he turned me onto my stomach and worked his way up and down my back and legs, using the same tantalizing light touch, except for on my buttocks where he flogged harder, making me squeal with pleasure-pain.

  Gabriel turned me back over and stripped off his own clothes. Then he pulled out the dildo, teasing me by twisting and turning it then rubbing the now-warm metal over my clit. He released me from the spreader bar and removed the clamps.

  I cried out as the blood rushed back into my nipples.

  “Shh,” he said, taking first one nipple, then the other into his mouth and sucking gently. Then he lay back naked on the bed. “Please your Master.”

  Feeling strangely honored, I let my gaze run over his body. Where to start? I began by kissing his lips, tasting my own muskiness on their softness. I kissed his neck, breathing in the scent of his skin, cedar wood, spice and salt. I planted kisses on his smooth chest, running my tongue around his nipples while I let my hand creep down toward his erection.

  His breathing quickened and I smiled to myself. I grasped his cock in my hand, feeling how it leaped and twitched at my touch, and I wriggled down the bed and took him into my mouth, running my tongue around the head, circling slowly at first, wanting to tease him the way he’d teased me, then flicking quickly backward and forward across the tip.

  Gabriel clutched at my hair. He groaned and I smiled again and pulled him fully into my mouth, moving slowly up and down the length of his shaft while I moved my tongue in circles.

  “God, Faye, you’re so fucking good at this!” he moaned.

  I loved the way his cock felt in my mouth, loved its smooth, polished hardness and salty taste, and I loved the intimacy of the act, too, the knowledge that I was driving him wild, that for just a moment my Master could be vulnerable, too.

  “Stop,” he said huskily. “Come up here.”

  I came back up to lie level with him, my head upon the pillow, and I gazed into his eyes which were now dark with desire.

  “You really enjoy that, don’t you, babe?” he murmured.

  “I do. I love the feeling of giving you pleasure.”

  “And that’s why you’re so good at it.”

  “Well, you give me so much pleasure. It’s an honor to pleasure you.”

  “An honor?”

  “Yes, you’re my king, remember?”

  He gazed at me intently for a moment, then he pulled me into his arms and kissed me passionately, yet so tenderly, that I was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion and had to fight back tears. I knew where my future had to be now. This weekend, I would find the courage to tell Paul our marriage was over and I would be Gabriel’s for as long as he wanted me.

  Still kissing me, Gabriel maneuvered himself above me, supporting himself on one arm, moving his
other hand down to between my legs. The moment his fingers touched me, my orgasm began to build again. Gabriel must have felt it too and kept his movements unbearably slow. He drew away from my lips and looked down into my eyes, holding me hypnotized with his gaze as he gradually quickened his movements, two fingers inside me, his thumb swirling around my clitoris.

  I came with a wild frenzy. I bucked my hips and pressed my face into his chest, crying out his name then immediately burst into tears.

  Gabriel pulled me into his arms, wrapped his legs around me and thrust himself inside me. My sobs died away as he crushed me against his chest and penetrated me so deeply it was as if he were touching my womb. When he came, it was so fierce, so carnal, he seemed to be trying to rip me apart, and I responded with equal violence, digging my nails into his buttocks and biting his shoulder.

  We collapsed into each other, entwined, panting and slick with sweat, his cock still hard inside me.

  “I love you, Gabriel.”

  He couldn’t speak for a moment as he got his breath back. He shook his head and laughed. “You’re pretty fucking amazing yourself.”

  That would have to do.

  Chapter Seventeen

  My pussy throbbed and ached, but I welcomed the feeling. It was as if I could still feel Gabriel inside me. I wanted his marks upon me. I would have his name tattooed upon my skin if he asked me to. I would have body piercings. I would do anything for him. And, as soon as I was free, I would shave off my pubic hair for him.

  Reluctantly, I pushed my thoughts of Gabriel away as I forced myself to concentrate on the matter at hand. Today was going to be the day I told Paul our marriage was over. I tried to distract myself from the enormity of what I was about to do by concentrating on the practicalities. I would move out in the next few days and stay with Steph for the time being. I’d have to keep my relationship with Gabriel secret. It would kill Paul to know the truth. And after that… Well, one day at a time.

  “Shall we go out tonight?” Paul asked me over breakfast. “I could book us a table somewhere nice.”

  “No, I’d rather just stay in,” I said. “We need to have a proper talk.”

  I was doing my best to finish my cornflakes, but they seemed soggy and tasteless and there was just a cold weight where my stomach used to be.

  “What about?” He looked wary. “If you’ve got something to say, Faye, say it now.”

  My stomach flipped over. I’d meant to work up slowly to this, but now Paul was forcing the issue. Could I even do this? Was I ready to end my marriage?

  “I do love you,” I said, twisting my hands together under the table, “but sometimes, even though we’ve had a good marriage, I feel a bit trapped, and I know you do, too.”

  Paul opened his mouth, as if he was about to deny this, but then closed it again. His silence gave me the courage to go on.

  “Maybe we were too young when we got married. I mean, we’d decided we didn’t want kids, so what was the rush?”

  “You decided you didn’t want kids,” he corrected me. “I went along with it because I wanted you more than I wanted children.”

  “And don’t you ever regret that?” I said. “You’re only thirty-five. You could still have children. Don’t tell me you don’t think about it sometimes.”

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Paul spoke softly but he emphasized each word carefully and the chill in his eyes betrayed his growing anger. “Don’t you dare make out that you’re doing me a favor.”

  “Paul, I can’t just go on pretending everything’s fine. I can’t go on knowing exactly what I’ll be doing tomorrow, next week, next year. It’s suffocating me. Sometimes I just feel like getting on a train, any train, and seeing where it takes me. I want to have adventures. I think I need to have adventures.” I knew, even as I said the words, that they came from the heart and, even if Gabriel didn’t want me, I had to escape from the mind-numbing ordinariness of my life.

  “But you can still have adventures.” Paul took my good hand in his and looked at me with such understanding in his eyes that I wanted to cry. Why did he have to be so nice all of a sudden? The Paul I knew would shout at me and tell me what an ungrateful cow I was, not hold my hand and try to make it better.

  “If you need to get away for a while to find yourself or whatever, that’s okay. Take a few months off work. I’ll keep everything going here.”

  I shook my head. I didn’t want him to make suggestions to save our marriage. I just wanted him to let me go.

  But Paul wasn’t going to make it easy for me. “Is there anything particular you’d like to do?” he asked me, smiling as if he’d found the answer now and everything was going to be just fine.

  And there it was. Paul only ever saw what he wanted to see and if it was inconvenient, if it didn’t fit his neat little idea of how things should be, then he simply turned away from it. No wonder he’d never really seen me—he didn’t want to. I was just a blank screen to him, someone on whom to project his own image of what a wife should be.

  Perhaps I should mention the photos, make it all his fault, but that was a cop-out. That wasn’t why I was ending our marriage.

  “No, Paul, it’s not just…”

  The doorbell sounded, shrill and insistent.

  “I’ll go,” said Paul.

  I waited for him to come back, my stomach lurching so violently I could be sick at any moment. I‘d gathered up my courage to say what I needed to say and the sooner I did it the better.

  Voices sounded in the hall, then Ginny came into the kitchen. She looked excited and scared at the same time. “Listen, Faye, I need you to come somewhere with me. It’s important.”

  “Does it have to be right now?”

  “It does actually, yes.”

  I should have refused, told her it wasn’t convenient, but Ginny had a way of getting people to put her first, and so I did what was expected of me.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’ll tell you in the car. It shouldn’t take too long, couple of hours, max.”

  I told Paul I’d see him later.

  “Sorry about the secrecy,” she said in the car. “I just didn’t want to say anything in front of Paul.”

  “Okay, so where are you taking me?”

  “Gabriel’s.”

  My cheeks flushed but Ginny seemed not to notice.

  “Why are we going there?” I said, trying my best to sound nonchalant while my mind went into overdrive. Did she know? How could she know?

  She looked at me, her eyes shining. “Do you remember the night of Fluff’s party when Gabriel was such an asshole?”

  I remembered that night. I remembered being tied to Gabriel’s four-poster bed and I remembered Gabriel stripped to the waist, flogging my naked body.

  “Do you remember I told you to watch this space?”

  I nodded uneasily. What had she done? If she’d done anything to hurt Gabriel…

  “Well.” She paused, her eyes dancing with mischief, then she pointed to her belly. “This is the space I was talking about.” And she laughed in delight. “Isn’t this just perfect? I get the baby I’ve always wanted and Mr. Gabriel ‘I’m God’s Gift to Women’ Scott gets totally fucked over.”

  I tried to breathe normally, but it was as if something large and heavy had sat on my chest. I looked at Ginny, so pleased with herself. She had what she wanted, just as she always did. But then, of course she had, that was the way of the world, wasn’t it? Ginny led a charmed life and I was left on the outside peering in like a hungry child with her nose pressed up against a sweetshop window. I had to suppress an urge to punch her in her self-satisfied perfect face.

  A moment ago, I had a future, an uncertain future, maybe, but a future with potential for excitement, love, sex, passion, adventure. Now what? I didn’t know. All I could see was a huge gaping hole where my future used to be.

  “Well, say something, Faye.”

  The hole was threatening to pull me in and I had to force myself to answer. “You
stupid bitch.” The words came out slurred, as though I’d been drinking.

  Ginny looked stunned, as if I’d just slapped her. “Why are you being so horrible? You know how much I always wanted a baby.”

  “And what about what Gabriel wants?” I had to fight hard to keep my voice from breaking as I said his name.

  She curled her lip. “What about him?”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “God, you must really hate him.”

  “I don’t hate him. I just think he needs to be taught a lesson, that’s all.”

  “Taught a lesson? This is a baby. This lesson is going to affect him for the rest of his life. And what about your life and what about the baby’s? How’s he or she going to feel, growing up knowing their father didn’t want him or her?” A thought occurred to me. “I thought you were on the pill.”

  “I came off it about a year ago. I wanted to be prepared. I used condoms after that, but when I met Gabe…” She laughed. “I told you he was the one.”

  “But he always…” I stopped myself just in time. Besides, he hadn’t always used a condom, had he? And there was me thinking I was somehow special. Bile rose in my throat, hot and bitter.

  “Why do you want me to go with you?” I asked. “This is your mess. It’s nothing to do with me.”

  The look of triumph faded, making her appear suddenly vulnerable.

  “Now that I’m actually going to tell him, I feel a bit scared,” she confessed.

  “Gabriel would never hurt you,” I said contemptuously.

  “No, I don’t mean I’m scared physically, but you don’t know him, Faye. He can be so cold and so sarcastic.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I really don’t think I can come with you.”

  She started the engine. “I can’t go on my own. If you won’t come with me, I’ll have to write him a letter.”

  I couldn’t let Gabriel find out by letter. He needed to find out face to face and I needed to be there when it all ended for me. It was no more than I deserved.

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll come with you.”

  The door opened and to my horror, Barbara stood there.