“Whoa!” I said.
“Oh yeah. You’re going to like this,” she said again. She made one last tug. I made one last grunt.
Karma removed her gloves, threw them away, washed her hands, and, like a physician to their patient, she said, “You’re all done now. You can get dressed.”
I removed myself from the table. New sensations pounded across my body. This was even better than being nude beneath my blouse and skirt. Yet, there was a slight bit of pain. I walked over to get my clothes. My clit buzzed. It took my breath for a moment. It was a sensory overload to my sexual parts.
Karma ripped the white paper from the table, wadded it up, and threw it in the trash can. She whistled a little tune as she placed a new sheet of paper down.
“I’ll meet you up front, at the counter,” Karma said.
I could only nod my response.
“You’ll get use to it,” she assured before leaving.
I got dressed, but several times during the procedure I needed to stop, catch my breath. I heard my phone, ringing inside my bag. I unbuckled my bag, grabbed the phone and said in what had to be a breathy pant, “Hello.”
“I’m pleased, little Alice. You completed task two. Are you sure you are ready for Wonderland?”
“Yes, Master Hatter.”
“Very good. I want you ready to explode. That means no removal of your new jewelry.”
“Yes, Master. I-I-understand.”
“Sounds like you are enjoying your new little bobble, but you won’t experience real pleasure until I allow it,” he said. “Do you agree to these terms?”
“Yes, Master Hatter.”
“Excellent, little Alice. Now, Karma has something for you at the front counter. Take it. Do exactly as it says. You’re getting closer to Wonderland,” he said. The line went dead.
I gingerly made my way to the front counter. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to cuss or moan.
Karma slid a playing card across the countertop, pushing it toward me with one finger. It was the Red Queen of Hearts. “This is for you.” I took it. The electronic beeper on the front door sounded. “Have a great day, Alice.”
Karma went to help the man who entered. He was perusing the many options available in the way of vibrators.
I stood there momentarily, pondering my own sanity yet again, wearing a sexual semi-torture device beneath my clothing that I allowed some tiny tattooed woman to attach to my body, and she telling me to have a great day as if she were by best friend. My quest to find Wonderland was getting stranger by the moment, but I took the card in hand and headed for the normalcy of my little white car.
Chapter Five
My alter ego, Alice Smith, was sitting in a pool hall wearing silver body clamps beneath her clothing. I followed the instructions on the back of the playing card that Karma handed me, and it led me to Queen Pool Hall and Pub. I ordered an ice water with lemon, but got a vodka with a lime twist instead. Stuck into the lime wedge was a note attached to a toothpick. It said, “DrinkMe.”
When I asked Marla, the “Queen” who owned the pool hall about my drink, she informed me that Master Hatter called ahead and placed my drink order for me. I was beginning to wonder how many connections this Master Hatter truly had.
My cell phone pinged. Text message.
If you are wondering why the drink, it’s to take the edge off. Relax, Alice. Enjoy the journey. You’re getting closer to Wonderland. I must apologize for the text, but I am at the moment unable to call. I prefer the intimacy of voice to text, but nonetheless, we shall continue the journey. You are to find a partner, and partake in one game of pool. I warn you. The extreme movement of your body while you position yourself during play will push you to the edge, but you won’t go over. When you are done with your round of pool, exit out the back of the building. Beside the back door you will find something just for you. Put it on, and wait. You will get what you need, want, and desire.
I read the text, and downed my drink. I sauntered, none to sexily I’m sure, over to the far side of the building, asked a guy who was standing with his pool stick in hand if he wanted to play me, and plucked one of the smaller sticks from the hanger on the wall. When I lifted my arms up, the stretch sent prickles through me.
He grinned in a smarmy way, and said, “Sure thing, sexy.”
“You rack them,” I said to the man. It was my way of conserving movement.
“You got it,” he said. “Name’s Phoenix.”
“Alice,” I said.
“So, we playing for anything?”
“Nope.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“That’s all right. I hate taking money from a lady. I’ll just enjoy the beautiful scenery, okay babe?”
“Alice,” I said, sternly. “Not babe, baby, or any other pet name you can come up with.”
He chuckled, and snorted.
“Ready, Alice?”
“Sure.”
Phoenix was a pool-shark. He made shots only a pro could make, banking shots, and placing ball after ball into the pockets. He took it easy on me, allowing me to have a couple of turns. Even though I hate to lose at anything, I was glad the game would end quickly. Master Hatter was right. All the strange positioning made my body want to scream. A couple of times I think I moaned. Phoenix just eyed me, probably wondering why I crossed my legs while standing. Maybe he thought I had to pee, but what I had to do was cum.
“Another one?” Phoenix asked when the eight ball made the pocket.
“Sorry, I can’t. Prior commitments.”
“Come on. Just one more. I love to see you squirm as you bend over for a shot.”
“Can’t,” I said, placing the stick back into the holder attached to the wall, feeling the tug on my nether regions.
“Well, how about a phone number?”
“Don’t give out my number,” I said. My voice was taking on a breathy sound. I imagine he thought I was sending mixed signals, but those damn clamps were working me over. “Thanks for the game.”
My eyes narrowed on the back door. It was my escape from Phoenix, and possibly my ticket into Wonderland. I grabbed my bag, and headed to the exit.
Darkness had overtaken the sky when I stepped outside. There was a light at the end of the alley, but the dim, dank passageway wasn’t any place I really wanted to be. I turned around to secure the door behind me, and saw something hanging off an old rusty nail that stuck out of the wood of a boarded up window. It looked like a sleeping mask, the black kind that blocks out the light. I really had my concerns about this.
Placing the importance of my career and the story of the year to the front of my thoughts, I grabbed the mask, and positioned it over my eyes. Immediately, things became black. I noticed noises. Not just traffic noises from the street in front of the building, but other noises like things scurrying around. I hoped rats didn’t run across my feet. Somewhere at the end of the alley I heard a cat screech, followed by the sound of glass smashing. I thought about removing the masks, but from the distance I heard something else. The sound of a motorcycle. In fact, it was that distinctive sound only a Harley makes. I’d know the sound anywhere. My father worked on Harley’s as a hobby, and as a child I’d sit and listen to them thunder when he started them.
When the rumble resonated louder, I knew it was coming down the alley in my direction. Zaden entered my thoughts. He had a Harley. My mind raced with the fantasy of Mr. Mysterious.
The sound of the motorcycle revved. Stopped. Boots hit the pavement, the footfalls echoing my way.
“Turn around,” he said. It was the voice of Master Hatter. God, I wanted to see him. Rip the mask off and look at him, but I did as he commanded. I turned. “You are not allowed to remove the mask, or speak. You will do as I instruct without question. Nod your head if you understand.” I nodded. A warm hand grabbed my hand. “Come with me.” He walked me a few steps forward. “Stop, and lean your back against this wall.” I felt in front of me. It had to be the bl
ock wall of the building behind the pool hall. “Do it, Alice.” My fingers skimmed down the rough surface. I flipped around. Leaned against the wall. This would probably put more than a smudge on my champagne colored shirt, but if I got into to Wonderland, so be it. One ruined blouse was worth it. “Unbutton your shirt.”
I know my hands were shaking, but I unbuttoned my shirt. I knew when Master Hatter moved the material aside. The night air caressed my exposed flesh. He tugged at the chain, stretching my nipples, and elongating my clit. A sensation that I can only describe as hot, flashed across every inch of me. He tugged once more. Burning flames consumed my sex. I wanted to cum. No other thought but that lingered in my mind.
“Hike your skirt,” he said. That low grumble of stern mastery outlined each of his words. “Slowly.” I grabbed the material of my skirt, gathering it up, doing as he wanted, slow. “Stop, and give me your foot, Alice.” I lifted my right foot. Hands caressed my calf. He lifted my leg, placed my foot on something. Perhaps the seat of his bike. “Lift your skirt, higher.”
I did, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I was in a dark alley, with someone I didn’t know, my shirt open and flapping in the breeze, my leg hiked up, wearing nothing beneath my partially clothed body with tweezer clamps attached to not so secret parts. I had my skirt lifted up past my hips. Totally exposed.
“Exquisite,” said the Hatter.
Master Hatter tugged at the chain, this time a little bit harder. I was on the verge of exploding, but at the moment the need I was experiencing outweighed the risky situation I was in. I moaned. The clip released from my right nipple. It throbbed in bursts of feeling once the clip was gone. Lips wrapped around the rock hard tip, sucking. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from speaking.
“Beautiful, my little Alice,” he said, his warm breath teasing my moist flesh.
Fingers replaced his mouth. He rubbed and rolled my nipple then stopped. The left nipple clamp was gone. In its place, his tongue flicked across the well formed peak. He licked my neck. Nipped at my ear lobe. His cologne, familiar. He smelled like, Zaden. I pictured Zaden’s amber eyes, his broad shoulders, his long black hair. My body shook. A title wave of lust crashed over me.
“Is little Alice ready to cum?” Master Hatter asked. I nodded my head, fisted what had to be his shirt along with my bag in my hand. “Perhaps we shall wait.” I moaned a protest. He bit my neck. I shivered. He pried my clutching fingers open. The dull thud of my bag hitting the ground echoed. Master Hatter pinned my arms up above my head with one of his large hands. “You ache for what only I can give you, don’t you?” I shook my head. A shock of electric hit my nub. He’d pulled directly on the clamp that was attached between my lower folds. My head whipped from side to side. “Cum, Alice.” The last clamp released. When it left my clit, I was walloped with a sensation as if the blood all rushed to that one spot. A well placed fingertip, along with one pass over my clitoris from Master Hatter, and I came. It was hard, fast, and good.
Yes, I was in a dark alley, sprawled out, writhing against the wall, making sounds I’d never made before. The Hatter fondled my clit once more. I came, again, feeling my body shake to the point I thought I’d lose my balance and tumble down.
“My little Alice likes to be naughty.” He slapped my exposed pussy with his hand. It sent a shock of sensation exploding throughout my body. I moaned. “Oh, the adventures we will have,” he said.
I was still shivering from the aftermath of climaxing when Master Hatter pulled my skirt down. Re-buttoned my shirt. Help me put my foot upon the ground. Let my arms fall to my sides, and placed something inside my right palm. He closed my fingers around the object. Kissed my cheek.
“Inside your hand is the key to Wonderland. I will send a car for you tomorrow. It will arrive at your dorm around 9:00 p.m. Bring the key. Without it, you can’t gain entrance. We will continue were we left off here,” he said. I nodded. “Remove the mask when I’m gone. No sooner.”
The rumbling thunder of the bike shimmied up my already stimulated body. Blood surged through my veins. My heart beat wildly. As bad as I wanted my Wonderland story, the way my body felt, all tingly, starved, and satisfied at the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder if Master Hatter would become a habit. The kind of habit that was hard to break. My hand traced over the silk of my shirt. I tweaked my still erect nipple through the material, remembering the sensations he gave to me. Perhaps I was in need of a bad habit.
I removed the mask after the alley sounds returned, tucked it along with the antique looking silver key into my bag, and headed back inside. My legs were shaky, but I made it to the front bar of the pool hall.
“You look like you could use another vodka and lime,” Marla said.
“No thanks, I’m driving. But that ice water with lemon would be great.”
“Sure thing, doll.”
“Allison?” Zaden’s voice made my spine tingle. “What are you doing here?” I twisted around on the bar seat to see him. His shirt crumpled, and his hair pulled back into a pony tail.
“Zaden’s your name, right?” I asked, acting as if I didn’t know it.
“Yeah,” he said chucking. “Did you enjoy?” he asked.
I’m sure I looked stumped. “What?”
“The chocolates from the Bistro?”
“Oh. Um, I’m still working on them. In fact, they’re in the front seat of my car, but yes. I love chocolate, so thanks.”
“No problem. I loved watching you eat one, so I’d say we both got what we wanted out of the deal.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled.
He took a seat beside me.
“So, you never said. What are you doing here?” he asked, again.
“A little research for a project.”
“A pool hall is research?”
I giggled. “Sounds weird, I know.”
“Maybe a little,” he admitted.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Meeting a friend of mine. We played pool a lot in college, and we haven’t played in a while so we thought we’d give this place a go.”
“Ah,” I said.
Marla brought my ice water with a nice lemon wedge and placed it on a coaster in front of me. “Down the hatch,” she said.
“Marty,” some guy at the end of the bar called out. He was teetering on the edge of his seat, two sheets to the wind.
“Travis, you know I changed my name to Marla. Don’t make me kick your ass out,” Marla said. Long, neon pick fingernails with little airbrushed black flamingos positioned in the middle of each nail glowed under the light as she wiped down the bar.
“Whatever,” he said, waving his arms.
Marla rolled her eyes. The sparkle in her lashes flickering.
While it was obvious Marla was a drag queen, she did one heck of a job with her adornments.
I took a gulp of my water, and noticed my shirt hadn’t been buttoned all the way. I was flashing some skin. I slammed my glass down, and quickly buttoned the top three buttons on my blouse.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be,” Zaden said. “You’re beautiful.”
I doubt there are words to describe how I felt in that moment, but when the man you drool over takes notice and calls you beautiful, well, it was as if I would float up and out of my chair. Maybe this feeling is what they call, cloud nine.
“Thanks.”
Zaden tilted his head, giving me the smile that could melt a polar ice cap. “Maybe I should be thanking you.”
“For what?”
He shrugged. I frowned. What did he mean? He really was living up to my pet name for him. Mr. Mysterious.
I took another long sip of my water. Placed it onto the coaster then swiped my fingers on the small cocktail napkin that Marla brought over on her second pass of cleaning the bar.
“I better call it a night,” I said, getting to my feet.
“Is your car around here?” Zaden asked.
“Yeah, just across the stre
et.”
“I’ll walk you. It’s dark out, and you never know.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem. It will be a pleasure, actually.” I probably blushed but tried to play it off by rummaging through my bag. I grabbed my car key, and left a few dollars on the bar for a tip.
“Thanks, doll,” Marla said.
“Sure,” I said.
“Come back anytime,” she said.
I smiled and nodded, but doubted I would have a reason to come back unless things went wrong with Wonderland, and I needed to question Marla about her connection to Master Hatter.
Zaden escorted me to the front door, even opened the door for me.
“Ladies first,” he said.
Once we were both outside, he walked me across the street to my Kia. When the breeze picked up, his cologne wafted in my direction. It was that same sweet, tempting smell that tantalized my senses before at the Bistro. The same smell from the man in the alley. My chin popped up. I gazed at his amber colored eyes.
“Where’s your car?” I asked. “There’s not many spots to park around here.”
“I didn’t bring my car tonight. I thought I’d free my Harley from the parking garage.” He pointed to the left front of the building. “It’s over there,” he said.
I stared at it for a moment before I returned my attention to the details of his face. His face wasn’t giving anything away. I imagined he was a superior poker player. The corners of his mouth twitched before giving way to the smile that made me shiver.
“What?” he asked. His underlying accent becoming a little more pronounced.
“Nothing,” I said. “Thanks for walking me to my car. I do appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome, Allison. Be careful going home.”
“I will.”
Zaden helped me into the car, shut my door once I was inside then tapped the roof of my car in two quick raps. I started the car, turned on my radio, and watched him cross the street. He walked over to his bike, the black beauty parked beneath the street light. I pulled out, turned right, and glanced up into my rear view mirror in time to see him tug something from the leather saddle bag that was attached to the back of his bike.
Tied Up in Wonderland Page 5