It Had Been Years

by Malflic, Michael

  The Cherub kissed the lavender haired one and then turned to Vincent “She would like you to join us.”

  “Let her have fun with these festivities, I’m quite content here.”

  The cherub stood stunned, disbelief washed over her face. “She said to insist that you join us.” The cherub stated in a not quite firm tone but one that was clear that the request was not hers.

  “Tell her I said no!” Vincent’s voice firm and cold.

  The cherub smiled at him knowingly and said, “ If you insist, but she won’t be happy.” Vincent laughed all the while his rhythmic teasing of his new friend continued as the Cherub disappeared back into the crowd and then back into the scene that was now swarming with dozens of people posing locked in embraces while other stood like statues and models at a fashion shoot stoically adding their presence to the back drop.

  Part Two

  Self Doubt

  Five minutes passed and Nadrea emerged from the crowd to where Vincent was still distracting his new friend without hesitation and only subtle changes in the timing and placement of his touch.. Nadrea’s movement’s floated ominously toward him leading the red head like a possession by the wrist with only a thumb and forefinger and the cherub followed skittishly behind her sporting a hand print on her soft white cheek from the violent slap Nadrea had delivered for her failure to return with Vincent..

  “I asked you to join me” Nadrea said in an irritated huff.

  “No, you demanded that I join you, you insisted that I join you. The request was an order and not a request.” Vincent said coldly his voice sounding in a tone that Nadrea had never heard. He continued, “ And things like that don’t work on me like they do your minions.” No sooner than his words ended he turned his back to her and began to walk toward the door, leaving his overly aroused new friend still on the edge of an orgasm that she would have to provide for herself with his departure. She was insanely aroused and shook visibly with the release as the sensation of his last touch faded. The release was mentally self induced and not from actual friction. Nadrea and her minions passed by in annoyance following a silent Vincent out into the street and the cool night air. The air was a stark contrast to the humid stench that the gallery had been providing. Vincent walked a half a block down turning into a dimly lit alley way lined with a few parked cars, cold brick, stone walls and disintegrating pavement. Vincent stood silently his back still to the others and Nadrea’s nostrils flared still angry with him, she wanted her way. It annoyed her beyond words that he simply couldn’t be influenced by her and did whatever he damn well pleased; in fact it was because of that that she continued her interest in him. He was if nothing else a substantial challenge she intended to emerge from victorious. As Vincent turned his eyes fixed coldly on each of them for what seemed to be more than two eternities each of their hearts fluttered some with excitement and others with fear. The Red head in the passing moments began to find his cold glad strangely calming and seductive.

  “You do not tell me what to do.” He said stepping toward Nadrea who was determined to hold her ground against him. Her posture however began to tell another story. Vincent continued “Besides what you most likely intended could not have been done there.” The three just stood there silently, the cherub with a small devilish grin that only Vincent could see as he reached into his pocket removing an envelope and handing it to her. “Take her to this address.” He said his voice sounding playfully cruel producing a blind fold at the same time. “But put this on her and as soon as she’s in the cab and put these in her ears before you get out.” Nadrea looked downward now not daring to make eye contact with him, Red still seduced by his eyes as the cherub continued her wicked little grin that went unnoticed by everyone except Vincent. “Take her there but she can’t know where she is going and let her try to figure out why.”

  The Cherub opened the envelope containing an address and took Nadrea by the hand leading her back toward the cross street and out to the corner of 7th began to hail a cab. Nadrea waited on the sidewalk while the Cherub ducked in the open door to explain the route of their journey. The cabbie mercifully spoke English not as a second or third language but rather natively with heavy Brooklyn accent. He shrugged “whatever gets you off, as long as you’re paying” the Cherub handed him two one hundred dollar bills the fare wouldn’t me much more than 100, it was suddenly a good night. Nadrea’s face grew pale, the excitement build kept exchanging places with the absolute terror which in turn changed back to excitement of the absolutely unknown. As she approached the cab and began to enter she had become acutely aware of each step, each sensation and each passing burst of sound. Soon after she was seated the blindfold was placed over Nadrea’s eyes. She found it arousing and sinfully delicious taking note of the sensation of the cab pulling quickly away from the curb and out into traffic, soon they began to make their way across town and then upward toward central park. She could feel the tension building. The insanity of the situation had never occurred to her, the fact that she was riding slowly through Manhattan, blindfolded on the back of a cab with a woman who’s name she didn’t know or think to ask. She was headed to an unknown place, a place she was forbidden to know about until she arrived. She would be there for a purpose but one which she did not know but was quickly thinking about imagining what might happen, not all of it pleasant but that was potentially more enticing. Sure she could have removed the blindfold. Yes she could speak up, but why would she as she sat silently. She might as well have been a legal brief being curried across town winding its way through the city with no control over its fate. She was an object perfectly submitting herself to the will of another, the lack of information heightened her sense of excitement. She had never had a more satisfying sense of being objectified than at that very moment, she was lusted after, worshipped and chased. She was the tormentor not the tormented but on rare occasion she would surrender control and love every single second of the experience. As she imagined what might be ahead of her that evening she was lost in her own thoughts and lost track of the blocks and direction, the turns and the stops that the cab had made.

  Mean while back in the alley Vincent had emerged from the shadows and headed the opposite direction of Nadrea and the Cherub.

  “You coming with me?” he asked the red haired girl.

  “Sure” she replied.

  He led her out of the alley and into the assumed safety of a busier street. Vincent’s tone was friendly and conversational but his eyes and movements were still deeply seductive to her.

  “I’m Vincent what’s your name?”

  “Nina” she replied.

  He laughed an innocent little chuckle, “Ok Nina. Where are you going?’ His intent was just to create a little small talk to pass the time between their steps.

  “With you” Nina added. “You asked if I was coming”

  Vincent laughed yet again. “Sounds like fun. But why?”

  Nina chimed in without hesitation and with a dash of confidence. ”Because I like you.” “Works for me. But you can leave anytime you want.” Pausing, waiting for a reply and then adding “Ok?” Looking for agreement and validation that she knew she could leave if she got uncomfortable. Nina was feeling more comfortable and confident, Vincent had a way of doing that to people he had just met, not that it was ever a problem for her.

  She inquired “OK, so where are we going?”

  “To pick up some of Nadrea’s things, maybe a little shopping and then out to a club.”

  It was an odd time in the city, and while the city never sleeps it does from time to time take a second or two to breath. Too early for the clubs to be really hopping and the last lingering of the post theater crowd disappeared drifting into the quite slumber of their hotel rooms. A cab came by trolling for passengers and Vincent and Nina took the opportunity to hail it. A few seconds later they were making a straight line toward the W. Nina sat next to him like a smitten school girl, her following of Nadrea paled in comparison to her current enthusiasm in
talking to Vincent. As they pulled up Vincent interrupted, “I’ll be right back so just wait here.” Vincent disappeared into the hotel retuning 12 minutes later with a black gym bag.

  “Welcome back!” Nina exclaimed with a little too much joy but the intention was sincere.

  Vincent smiled as he took his place in the cab next to her and she hugged him. “Thanks Nina. Do you live here?”

  “My whole life, well except for the few summers I spent at camps upstate and the one in Colorado. Upper East Side.” Again her cheerful tone did not at all matching her pierced and tattered image. One who looks so desperate for something other than the normal boring existence perhaps had found it and was amazingly happy in contrast to the stereo type that her looks would suggest.

  “Good so now that Giuliani cleaned up the city where can a nice boy from out of town like me find a good porn or better yet, a fetish store open at this hour?” Vincent asked Nina playfully, the candor in his voice hidden by his bullshit innocence implying comment. Nina recited from memory with horrifying accuracy and descriptions location, and the quality of the selections.

  “I fuck myself…a lot.” she adds as a testimonial to the expertise. “At least daily.” Was tacked on without even a hint of hesitation to the picture she had just finished painting. Soon Vincent, Nina, and the cabbie were off on to the next several stops on their journey. Vincent would emerged with a few nondescript bags from most of the stops which he slipped immediately into the gym bag preserving the surprises for everyone else involved except himself.

  Nadrea’s and the Cherub’s separate journey had them wondering randomly and lazily through the streets, in no hurry to make it to the predetermined destination. The ride was long enough that Nadrea could have been in any of the boroughs. The blindfold added to the stopping and turning had her disoriented, Nadrea had lost all sense of time and direction. Had they gone through a tunnel, the Lincoln perhaps but no highway followed it. Maybe the Queens, Midtown off of 34th with a quick exit afterward. She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t taken the time earlier to pay attention to the sense of movement and the sounds the passed by her, by now it was much too late for any of that to be helpful. She could have been in Hoboken, or the Bronx or Tarrytown for all she knew. The legend of Sleepy Hollow then began to invade her thought process and her. She began to worry about where she was, not about what was going to happen to her but where was she physically, she could go inside of herself to escape an atrocity committed to her physical being short of being maimed or murdered. Fear again began to swell up inside of her, concern that caused her pulse to quicken and her senses to become elevated, a response that mixed a heightened arousal with the fear of eminent danger. The cab stopped and didn’t start again she waited and waited but it didn’t move, no one moved, no one spoke had she been left alone? “Good night ladies.” The cabbie stated out of nowhere and the Cherub took Nadrea by the hand and guided her carefully out of the car. Within a few seconds the usually bold Nadrea was standing tentatively on the sidewalk. “I’ve got to put these in so stand still,” the Cherub said and before Nadrea could react two ear plugs were placed in her ears. Muting all but the most obvious of sounds beyond recognition, deaf and blind to the world that surrounded her panic again began to rise; leaving her arousal in its wake.

  Vincent stood there silently a few feet away watching as Nadrea tensed with the uncertainty of so many things and the Cherub grinned devilishly at her knowing what was about to happen, the hand print on her cheek all but gone except for the few remaining red splotches. The Cherub led her tentatively toward the doors, Nadrea’s strides shuffling and slow, swaying on her heels she had lost all sense of her defining presence and seductive motion giving way to a stride and posture of an elderly woman or the victim of a psychologically devastating assault. As the Cherub continued to guide her gently Vincent decided that is was time for her to realize how truly not in control she was. Vincent stepped up effortlessly behind her as she neared the threshold taking her by the wrist and bending her arm behind her roughly. Nadrea tensed and tried to pull away but he took her other arm as she reached for her blindfold having pulled it away from the Cherub. Vincent quickly grabbed the free arm just below the elbow with a force that sent a stinging sensation through her forearm where he hit her and closed his hand around down into her hand, her knees weakened with the force of the blow. Now with both arms tucked behind her back roughly Nadrea’s fear turned to genuine panic, no sense of direction, muffled sounds and now she was being physically overpowered she was no longer willingly submitting but literally being physically dominated without her consent. A scream started to build inside of her but she dared not let it out for fear of what would happen if she did. The Cherub now following a few steps behind the spectacle as Vincent led Nadrea through the doorway and into a dark hallway. The dim lighting showed walls lined with exposed brick and spaces littered with every imaginable fetish and freak loitering about before entering the main rooms of the club. Nadrea tried to count her tentative steps as she was led down the hall by her unknown escort. Somewhere deep inside of her she thought it was Vincent. She hoped it was Vincent but she couldn’t be certain and that uncertainty kept her on the edge of terror and fear.

  The long hallway as they drew near the end she thought she could hear music in the distance through her earplugs. Nadrea stumbled again losing count of her steps but was soon was turned to the left and Vincent pushed his terrified lover into a small private room where Nina waited, having dutifully laid out the contents of the gym back on a small sofa table along one of the walls. Vincent handed Nina Nadrea’s left wrist and a new stiff leather cuff was snatched from the table and quickly fastened around it. Then stretching her arm precariously upward and angled away from the body it was fastened to a cold steel bar. Nadrea’s mind began to race again and in a new way, this was a turn of events that were not exactly expected to her, the sensation of a cuff and outstretched arms was not unfamiliar but why it was happening now remained a mystery. As her second wrist was cuffed and Vincent stretched her arm upward whose control was she under and what was next lingered in her thoughts. She started to pull away a reaction caused by the panic of the unknown, she didn’t know who was there and still didn’t know where there was. Vincent again snatched her hand back quickly foiling her attempted escape. Nadrea began to kick and flail every muscle in her body tensed and protesting. Vincent wrapped a powerful arm around her picking her up and holding her unsecured arm out waiting for Nina to grab it and bind it overhead like the first. As it snapped into place Vincent released her from his embrace and Nadrea began to scream, pulling violently against her restraints. Restraints that were most often were used for show and for play but in fact they were more than capable of holding a person in place against their will if they needed to. Nadrea’s became quite the spectacle as the ball of her feet barely touched the ground arms her firmly above her. Her screams went from a release to genuine terror as Vincent, stood back fiendishly grinning right along with the Cherub. The only one of the three who showed any genuine concern was Nina. The Cherub found the cranks and raised the bar height a little more stopping just short of suspending Nadrea in the air. Then turning to Vincent “You had better tell her what is going on before she hurts herself.”

  Instead Vincent just sat on the small couch in the room watching in cruel amusement as Nadrea’s heart was pounding hard enough to jump out of her chest. “Not quite yet” he laughed before his voice turned wicked “let her suffer! Besides I can still see her hand print on your face. When did you become so fucking nice?”

  The Cherub continued on, “Is she really going to be ok with this? You know…”

  But Vincent interrupted “Yes it’s a matter of trust…I know Cindy. I’ve heard it before.” “Vince, I’ve never seen this side of you. I thought this wasn’t your thing.”

  He sat for a minute watching as Nadrea’s struggles against her restraints had left her tired and winded and she became nearly motion less, still fearful on
the inside, but the pure panic had again given way to her curiosity that something delightful might be happening around her. “It’s not” he finally answered, “but she’ll love it when she knows what is going on. She’s fairly twisted.” Nina still looked concerned but Cindy heard all she needed to, She had known Vincent for years and knew him well enough to know that this isn’t something that he would do on his own, this type of edge play was not him he was a rough fuck but not a sadistic bastard. It was a short coming in their relationship over the years.

  Vincent finally stood and while merely minutes had passed time was still lost to Nadrea as she stood there daintily, balancing on her exhausted legs, soaked in sweat which had already begun to soften the stiff leather around her wrists. “I’ll hold her you two take the ear plugs out.” He said approaching her from behind wrapping his powerful arms gently around her waist taking the strain off her legs dangling below her and her arms supporting her from over head. His embrace was calming and familiar, her mind again began to swim with the erotic possibilities enhanced with the sensation of fear and helplessness. She would have melted into him completely if she could have. Nina removed one earplug and a few seconds later Cindy removed the other. Her struggles completely stilled by his embrace. Lowering her back to the state between suspended and grounded on the floor his voice filled the room, “And I thought you’d really like this.”

  Nadrea now feeling playful and defiant “Fucking Prick!” she yelled. “You bastard, I was so terrified!” before she could continue Vincent cut her off “Do you really think I would have let something happen to you?”