Marketplace

by Laura Antoniou

  “Well, I’m sick and tired of getting beat on because he fucked up,” Sharon complained. “It might be OK for you, but when I don’t do anything wrong, I wanna know what I’m being kicked around for. It’s not fair. He doesn’t get beat when we fuck up.”

  “It’s not my fault,” Robert said softly. “They won’t even let me ask about it, because it has to do with my training. I’m so sorry. Really.”

  “You mean you don’t get it?” Brian asked. He sat gingerly on his own bed, amazed at the sensation of sitting down, with his knees bent and his feet on the floor. “I thought you knew but you just couldn’t control it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They’re beating on us whenever you act, well, sissy. If you mess up any other way, Chris just wades in with the strap, right? Like the time you knocked over the pile of trays in the kitchen?”

  Robert nodded.

  “But any time you put yourself up on tiptoes or you start to talk in that funny voice, wham, one of us gets it.” Brian spread his arms. “I think we’re supposed to be encouraging you not to do it any more.”

  “So stop doing it!” Sharon interjected.

  “Oh.” Robert thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know, Brian, or maybe I just don’t understand. How is beating you supposed to make me behave better? I can’t change so easily! This was the way I was taught everything! I... I have to think about it. Maybe I asked the wrong question. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” And he turned to go to sleep.

  * * * *

  Claudia found herself caught in all sorts of difficult positions.

  First of all, her ability to relate to and please Mistress Alexandra was improving, which was good. Oddly, she still hadn’t been in Alexandra’s playroom, something that only Robert had seen. Now, speculations about Grendel’s “workshop” had reached the point of accepted truth. So there were dungeons here! It’s just that they were reserved for special uses. They all prayed nightly that they would soon see the inside of one or the other. But the bad thing about Claudia’s getting better at sensual exercises was that Alexandra kept talking about it being time for Claudia to have more experiences with men. She tried not to look unhappy whenever the topic came up, hoping that her casual acceptance of the possibility would be taken as enough of an effort.

  Secondly, her new job as housekeeper was an endless array of headaches. Despite copious notes and assurances from Rachel (who she missed) that the job really was very simple, there was just not enough time in the day to make sure everything got done. And even though Brian didn’t exactly hide from her any more, neither was he much of a self-starter. He really did need her to tell him where things went, and he needed her to check things after they were cleaned. And if she didn’t, then Chris might just come along and notice things weren’t going well, and she’d have to take that cane to Brian again! Housekeeping was generally bad.

  But she threw herself into the work with energy and dedication, amazed at the sheer diversity of skills and knowledge a good housekeeper had to have. And she found out things that no one knew before, like where Chris slept (he had a suite of rooms on the third floor), and how they housed overnight guests who had slaves.

  “We never assume anything about someone’s bedding requirements,” Chris explained, showing her a special storage closet. “Here, you’ll find pallets for the side or foot of the bed, and even bedding for them. They should be placed on the folding rack by the bathroom in each guest room, so that they may make their own arrangements. If you find the pallet on the floor in the morning, replace it after the regular cleaning and treat it as you would a bed. Of course, some guests may have special preferences or needs, but most of them know to approach me with them.”

  How endlessly interesting.

  When Brian was summoned to go to Alexandra’s sunny studio, he thought it might be for some menial task that Robert was unavailable for. Instead, he found himself standing with his hands behind his back while Claudia worked his body over with her fingers and her mouth. It was excruciatingly pleasurable, especially when he got a hard-on and it thrummed with painful intensity against the narrow bars of the steel cage he still wore about his cock.

  “Yes, that’s it,” Alex said encouragingly. “Go ahead and get your mouth on the nipples, the rings are old, you don’t have to worry about special sensitivity. Of course, if you are working on a top, you may have to make sure before you begin how they feel about your even touching body modifications such as piercings.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Claudia whispered. And trying not to look up into Brian’s eyes, she put her lips to each of his nipples in turn and flicked the rings up and down with her tongue.

  “When you leave them, use your fingers on them, and let your mouth trail down the center of his chest, that’s it. Now you’re working your way down to his belly, so let the nipples go and put your hands around his hips. Good. Nice. Now like you did on me, across his abdomen, just like that. See how effective it is?”

  Claudia could see how effective she was, and hear it, and even—oh, God—smell it. She was blushing again too, partly from doing this to poor Brian, who was forbidden to come at all, and partly from Alexandra’s casual references to what Claudia had done with her in Alex’s bedroom on a number of nights. It was disconcerting to hear of those intensely private times being discussed as though these were things done while shopping at the mall.

  “Very good. Now go around to his back and start at the back of his neck.”

  Brian moaned but stayed still as the young woman pressed her lips to that sensitive spot he loved so much. It was all the more agonizing when Claudia was told to remove his belt and cage and kiss and lick at his cock. He bit his tongue and squirmed, and somehow managed to keep himself from coming. It was truly a Herculean effort. Although without Sharon’s expertise, Claudia was still talented, and her attentions, amateur as they were, had a charm to them that was refreshing and undeniably hot. By the time Alexandra called the end of the session, Brian had a hard-on that just wouldn’t quit, and there was no way it was going back into the cage. Alex eyed it, sighed, and gave it a brisk, backhand slap.

  Brian howled! And his knees came together as he doubled over in shock and pain. He literally saw stars.

  “Well, at least we know he doesn’t get off on that,” Alex commented to Claudia as she ushered the girl out of the room. “Get the cage back on and get to work, Brian!” she called over her shoulder.

  * * * *

  Grendel was watching as Chris taught the basic information about wine. It was such a huge topic that they could really only touch on it, so all four slaves were gathered to learn. They heard about types of wines, and how to drink them, and with what. They learned how to decant, and what letting wine “breathe” meant, and how to distinguish good crystal, and then how to pour. Chris let Claudia explain how to listen for the ringing sound that liquid made as it filled a glass, and they were all impressed at her skill at hearing it and using the sound as a tool to help her handle the wine better.

  They each took turns at pouring, and tried to listen, and then practiced different ways of presenting glasses, bottles, and trays. It would have just been one of their useful lessons on a specialized topic if Robert hadn’t noticed Alexandra coming in with a riding crop in one hand (she had just been out riding), and allowed his eye to wander from the tray he was holding. The tray survived, very well in fact. He whirled to catch it when it was falling, and bumped his shoulder into Brian, who was leaning over a glass that Claudia was slowly filling so that he could hear the ring. He fell into Claudia, who tried to save the bottle, and did so with some admirable grace before landing on her rump. Brian’s glass spilled, sending red wine to spread all over the table top and splash onto the floor.

  And in one moment of supreme panic and confusion, Robert simply lost it.

  “Oh dear! Oh no! Oh, please, let me help—oh, I’m so sorry!” His voice was an unrestrained falsetto, rising and falling in intensity as he wavered back and forth
between steadying the glasses on the table and trying to help Brian and Claudia. He bent down to give Claudia a hand up and hit Brian, who was trying to keep his balance, and Brian gave up the second time and just fell. Sharon, for once way out of the way of things, barely managed to stifle a giggle, and she quickly moved out of the tangle of bodies to grab one of the towels from a tray and use it to wipe up some of the spilled wine.

  Chris stood off to the side. He looked toward Grendel and then to Alexandra as he unfastened the strap from his belt loop, but didn’t move as Alex approached him. She pointed to the knot of slaves. “Bring Robert and Claudia to my playroom, right now.”

  He nodded and moved in, pulling at arms and hanks of hair until the three were disentangled. Grendel just shook his head and left the room with Alex.

  In the hall, as he caught up with her, he asked, “Now?”

  “Oh yes,” she smiled back at him. “Now.”

  “Oh, goody. Can I watch?”

  “Hell, yes. You can help!”

  Robert finally managed to contain his wailing when his knees hit the hallway carpeting. That was also when the enormity of the situation hit him. He had behaved like that in front of everyone! There could have been no worse time to lapse into that role, and he had managed to do it. He stumbled trying to get up, and Chris’s strap caught him neatly at the back of one thigh.

  “Crawl there, you idiot,” Chris snarled. “After that performance, you’ll be lucky if you get the privilege to walk out of this house! And for God’s sake, keep your mouth shut! Claudia, move! Follow the ungrateful asshole.” He pointed down the hall and turned back to the dining room. “And you two, clean up and get back to work!”

  He followed Robert and Claudia down the hall and around the corner through the wing to the door to the playroom. Without knocking, he opened it and pushed them in, Claudia with his hand, Robert with a well-placed kick. And when Alex caught his eye and pointed, he dragged Robert across the room by his hair, and then pulled him to his feet. A pair of heavy cuffs were suspended from a rigging set into the wooden frame Robert remembered from the last time he was in this room. While he bit into his lip to avoid whimpering, Chris wrapped the cuffs around his wrists and locked them on. When Chris walked away, he hit a wall switch and a gear mechanism drew the cuffs, and Robert, upward. The motion didn’t stop until Robert was balanced on the balls of his feet.

  Claudia was given the same treatment, her body placed opposite Robert’s, facing him. When they were bound, they were about five feet apart, and given perfect views of each other.

  “You’ve been warned,” Alexandra said, coming forward. In one hand, she had one of the whips that Robert had been afraid of when he saw her collection. In the other, she held a fat butt-plug. She passed it to Chris, and he came back over to Robert, and held it up to the man’s mouth.

  “Get it wet,” he growled. “As wet as you can, because it’ll be easier on you.”

  With a sob, Robert opened his mouth and took in as much of the silicone plug as he could. His jaw stretched and he slobbered over it, watching as Alex took a swing with the whip. It whistled. It wasn’t very thick, and it seemed to be made of some kind of harsh cord. When Chris took the plug away from his mouth, he tried to speak, to beg, but no sounds came out. And when Chris vanished behind him and went to work, what came out of his mouth was not articulate.

  “Ahh! Oh, oh, pl-pl-eeese...!” He arched his back, taking the weight of his body on his arms as Chris kicked his legs further apart and pushed the fat plug into him.

  “Better,” Alexandra commented to Grendel. “At least his voice is normal.”

  “Even if his asshole is tight. I think I might want a piece of that.”

  “Oh, you’ll get it. But first, this situation.” Alex stepped into a good position to flog Claudia and cocked her arm back.

  Robert panted and moaned, and struggled to bring his legs under him. When Chris’s hands left him, all that was left was a huge throbbing pain in his rear, and the fear/knowledge of what was coming next. Tears were on his face; he had no idea when they came. Again, he tried to speak, but now there was no moisture in his mouth, and his tongue felt thick. He tasted, dimly, as if through anesthesia, blood in his mouth. He had bitten his tongue when that awful penetration happened.

  Claudia screamed! Alexandra was just as good with the lighter, faster, meaner whip as she was with the luxurious one Robert had felt not so long ago. And each lash that fell on Claudia’s body left long, red lines, like heavy scratches.

  Poor Claudia had no idea what do to. She had never felt anything like it in her entire life! She gave an attempt to try and take it quietly, but then started to scream at each burning stripe.

  Robert sobbed, heavily, hanging his head between his up-stretched arms. An internal litany of “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” played in his head, and his lips mumbled the words, but he barely knew that he wasn’t shouting. Claudia’s screams were echoing through his brain, stabbing into him like gut punches. He closed his eyes, and then Chris was there again, pulling his head up and back by handful of hair, making him watch, making him see what was in front of him. A beautiful young women, writhing in pain, crying out her anguish, and it was all his fault, all his fault, all my fault, all my fault...!

  “Stop it!” he yelled, his voice as hoarse as it would have been had he been shouting instead of her, “Stop it, please, please, beat me, it’s my fault; she didn’t do anything!“

  Alexandra paused, but then let another stripe land, sharp and biting. Claudia wailed and tears flowed down her cheeks.

  “Please, ma’am,” Robert pleaded. “Please, it’s my fault, I’ll take the punishment, any punishment you want, please don’t... please...” He sobbed again, his voice low and breaking.

  And Alex tossed the whip to Grendel, who had already rolled up one sleeve. “Get out of there, boy,” he said, gesturing to Chris. And as Chris got out of the way, Grendel stepped into position and laid a line of fire across Robert’s shoulders.

  If this was what Claudia had been taking, Robert felt a renewed surge of guilt. He gasped in agony, barely able to take another breath before the second razor sharp slash landed, and then the third and then the fourth!

  “Good,” Grendel murmured, his mouth suddenly right next to Robert’s ear. “Very good! Take it like this until I’m finished!” And then he stepped back, before Robert could even begin to protest that his silence was because he couldn’t gather the energy to scream like a banshee. As Grendel continued, Robert groaned and gasped his way through the twelve unspeakably painful slashes, finally slumping forward in his cuffs, dizzy and more than a little nauseated. Dimly, he heard Grendel ordering Chris to go do something, heard the whimpers of Claudia as they let her down, where she just fell into a little ball near under her side of the frame.

  And then Grendel and Alex left. He just blinked and they were gone. He winced as sweat ran into his eyes, and shook his head to get the droplets away. It took concentration just to breathe. In, out, pull yourself together man, stand up! Shifting and wincing as he did, he gasped when the real pain of the cuts on his back reached him. For they were cuts—he knew, somehow, that all of the trickles on his back did not come from sweat. He opened his eyes and looked at Claudia, and mouthed yet again, “I’m sorry.” It came out as a croak.

  Claudia sighed and looked up. Although there were several deep red lines on her back, she was not damaged by her beating. She gazed at him and wiped her eyes, and looked around. They were alone in the room. Slowly, she pushed herself up, first on her knees, and then up on her feet. Steadying herself, she walked over to him, stood on tip-toes, and kissed him gently on the lips. She moved down to kiss his throat as she had been taught; then his nipples before she trailed her mouth down his belly.

  Suddenly, Robert was again aware of the plug filling his tight asshole as he twitched and his insides constricted with pleasure when she touched him. He moaned, low and long, as her hands wrapped around his hips, holding onto him softly, and then
her mouth descended to touch his cock, driven to softness by the beating and now miraculously awakened by her breath. He sighed, the combination of pain and discomfort and the restriction of bondage mixing with the incredible pleasure of her ministrations. When she carefully took the fat head into her mouth, letting her breath wash over it, he cried out and arched his back, not caring that it pulled at the lines of fire that decorated it.

  And then, her mouth was gone. He heard her shriek, and opened his eyes.

  Chris had pulled her away. He smiled, and took her by the scruff of the neck. “Get back to work, girl,” he said genially, and pushed her toward the door.

  * * * *

  Much later, Robert found himself spread-eagled on one of the low tables, a folded towel under his back. He had no idea why he was back in the playroom.

  The rest of the afternoon and early evening went back to the usual routine for the slaves. Robert was not excused from dinner or from finishing his tasks, so when Chris finally let him down, he staggered off to get back to work as soon as he could. The others were all impressed by the marks on his back. When he was told to freshen up after evening duties, he looked at himself in the mirror and gasped.

  And then he reported back to Chris, who delivered him here, secured him, blindfolded him, and left, without a word. “Am I going to sleep here tonight?” he asked himself. “Is this more punishment?”

  He heard the door, but the thick carpeting muffled all other sounds except for some vague clinking sounds that came from far away. He was only aware of someone next to him when they touched his hand. He jumped, as far as he could in bondage, and gasped.

  “Good evening, Robert,” Alexandra said.

  “G-good evening, ma’am,” he managed to reply. Her cool fingers traced the outline of his arm, and she walked around him, checking his bondage.