Salim looked up, dark eyes under long lashes. “Everything! Jesus, the auction, I thought I was going to die, I didn’t want to be sold to most of those people, I was so afraid—and everyone said she was one of the worst, the heaviest, she likes to hurt slaves for real! And, oh, fuck, she kept telling me she was going to mess me up, cut my balls off, have me fucked by ten dykes with huge straps-ons; she was going to... I just... I know most of it was bullshit, but it was so real! And it wasn’t going to end, I had to go home with her and no one would be there to make sure I was okay!“
Oh God, total meltdown, Michael realized with dismay. Salim had a fantasy and now it became too fucking real for him?
“What did you expect, you asshole?” Michael asked. “What do you think this is all about? This is real! I mean, Christ, you know no one was gonna chop your balls off, but come on! She’s an owner, not some skinny chick in rented latex you get to hire to do exactly what you want for an hour! Isn’t that what you want?“
Salim shook all over and nodded, but then covered his face again. “I don’t know! I don’t know anymore!“
I guess I didn’t know how he would react, Michael thought, absently patting the slave’s shoulder again. And I thought he was ready? He isn’t even ready to go away for a fucking weekend!
He wanted to take out his annoyance on the slave, kick him and slap him around. But he was supposed to be supplying aftercare, and who knew if the cameras were on in this room tonight? “Okay, okay,” he said soothingly. “It’ll be okay. Geoff will take care of it. Pull yourself together, take a shower. Go to the quiet room, okay?“
But as Michael left the room to find someone to go in and clean up the piss and towels and pack Heather’s toys for her, all he could see in his mind were images of his training house fading into the late night mist.
* * * *
The last guest went home or to one of the rooms to sleep just before dawn. Shaking with fatigue, Michael sprawled on a lounge by the pool, watching the thin grey line of light edge into the darkened sky. He heard the slap of footsteps on the damp paving and arched to see who was coming.
Geoff was barefoot in white linen drawstring trousers and a loose shirt of the same material. He had two glasses of orange juice and put one down on the table next to Michael.
“Long day, eh, Mike?“
“Only the usual deadly length,” Michael said ruefully as he reached for the juice. He drained the glass in several long gulps and collapsed back into the pillows of the chair.
“Salim is fine,” Geoff said gently, sitting on the edge of a nearby chair. “Thank you for taking care of him.“
Michael nodded, thinking he didn’t do all that much. “What happened to him?” he burst out, pushing himself up on one elbow. “I swear, I thought he was eager for the sale, couldn’t wait to be sold for real. Did Heather do anything wrong?“
“Well, wrong is a harsh way of putting it. She combined real threats with impossible ones, perhaps confused him, and definitely scared him. She’s very good at that! I’m thinking she needs someone with a little more strength in the core ego, someone who enjoys the fear sensation more than Salim. She also called him some names he found personally hurtful, so it was good to get additional information out of him.“
Of course Geoff interviewed him right away, Michael thought. Great. I just called him an asshole.
“Will... he stay? I mean, does he want to really leave?“
“Oh, he’ll stay for a while,” Geoff said reassuringly. “It was just a bad case of auction panic! We’ll work on his confidence a little more and give him some exercises to show him how to discern reality from role-play. I think he really wants to serve, just as you do. We won’t discard him for a little setback.“
“What about Heather?“
“Oh, I sent Rudy to her; she’s in the Bear River room now probably sleeping like a baby. She was a little upset, no one likes to see a client fall apart like that. But she understands that Salim just needs more seasoning. Time will help both of them! Time and the company of more experienced partners.“
Michael nodded and sank back down into the chair. “I thought he was ready,” he repeated.
“Well, so did I!” said Geoff, smiling. “See what I meant when I told you that sometimes you never really know? That’s why we use the micro contracts, why we work so hard at finding the right slaves for the right owners. It’s not an easy job we have, or an easy calling. But with discipline and extraordinary patience, we can overcome so much, create such magic.” He patted Michael firmly on one shoulder as he got up and stretched. “It’s a new day, Michael! I’m going to spend the morning sleeping; maybe you should think about that for yourself. I realize you didn’t have the best time yesterday; you have my gratitude for the work you did. In fact, I think you’re coming along wonderfully; the owners like you. It’s time for you to meet some of the world’s finest trainers, see what else is out there. I’ve decided to take you with me to England for my training line annual meeting.”
“Wow! Thank you, Geoff!” Michael brightened and grinned. “No kidding? I’ve never been to England!”
“You’ll love it. Delightful people, and my training line is very old; you’ll find a lot to think about there, and a chance to meet other trainees from all over the world. Don’t dwell too much on Salim and this little incident, okay? We all make little mistakes. You have a great future ahead of you.“
Michael nodded proudly and stared at the brightening line of light on the horizon over the trees.
I get to go to England! he thought with excitement. I bet only the best of his trainees get to go away like that! And in all of his self-recriminations, he had forgotten the neat fact that Geoff had cleared Salim for the auction.
So really, I made the same mistake that the boss did! It’s not that bad if Geoff didn’t know either! I am ready, I know I am—and Geoff knows, too. That’s why he’s bringing me along to introduce to all his snooty English buddies. He pictured himself sitting in some fancy parlor drinking tea with a bunch of guys in fancy three-piece suits and pretty French maid slaves all over the place. “This is my star pupil Michael,” Geoff would say. Or maybe, “My partner, Michael,”
Or, just California’s newest trainer, Michael Xavier LaGuardia.
Michael grabbed his empty glass and headed back to the house for more juice. Sleep? He didn’t need to sleep. He needed to get his cock sucked to the root by some lazy ass slave who didn’t yet know the honor they were about to receive.
About the Author
Laura Antoniou has become well known in the erotically alternative community as the creator of the Marketplace series (The Marketplace, The Slave, The Trainer, The Academy, and The Reunion), the first three volumes of which were originally published under the name Sara Adamson. One Marketplace character also appears in her first book, The Catalyst, but she leaves the reader to figure that out. The only independently written Marketplace short story, “Brian on the Farm,” appears in Lawrence Schimel and Carol Queen’s ground-breaking anthology, Switch Hitters: Lesbians Write Gay Male Erotica, and Gay Men Write Lesbian Erotica (Cleis), which has been published in English and in German. “That’s Harsh,” a new Marketplace story that appears as a bonus story in The Slave (Book Two of the Marketplace) won the 2011 John Preston Short Fiction award, presented by the National Leather Association.
Antoniou has also had great success as an editor, creating the Leatherwomen anthologies which highlighted new erotic work, By Her Subdued, a collection of stories about dominant women, and No Other Tribute, which features submissive women. Her nonfiction anthologies include Some Women and an homage to author John Preston entitled Looking for Mr. Preston. Antoniou’s work has been published in the United States, Germany, Japan, Israel and Korea, to international acclaim.
Antoniou’s short stories also appear in other anthologies,including SM Classics, edited by Susan Wright; Things Invisible To See: Gay and Lesbian Tales of Magic Realism, edited by Lawrence Schimel; The Second Coming, e
dited by Pat Califia and Robin Sweeney; Once Upon a Time: Erotic Fairy Tales for Women, edited by Mike Ford; Ritual Sex, edited by Tristan Taormino and David Aaron Clark; and Best Lesbian Erotica 1997, edited by Tristan Taormino. Antoniou was also a columnist for Girlfriends magazine from 1995-1997, the submissions editor for Badboy and Bi-Curious magazines from 1995-96, a regular contributor to The SandMUtopia Guardian, and a short-lived columnist for Alt.com. Winner of the National Leather Association’s 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, Antoniou is a highly demanded speaker at schools, leather/SM and sexuality conferences, and has become well known for her rants, thinly disguised as keynote speeches.
Antoniou is currently finishing the sixth book in the Marketplace series, entitled The Inheritor. She has no intention to stop there.
The Marketplace Series
Now Published by Circlet Press’s Luster Editions
Circlet Press is proud to be returning the entire Marketplace series by Laura Antoniou to print, as well as launching all-new ebook editions. These books are the first in our Luster Editions line of erotic books and books of alternative sexuality that are not science fiction or fantasy.
The Marketplace—available now as ebook or paperback
The Slave—available now as ebook or paperback
The Trainer—available now as ebook or paperback
The Academy, Fall 2011
The Reunion, Winter 2011
The Inheritor—in the works!
Stand-alone short stories also available as downloads for 99 cents each!
For Want of a Nail
That’s Harsh!
California Dreamin’
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