When it was time to move Adam home, she knew he needed to continue his recuperation in the country not in the city.
“I’m going to open the cottage this weekend so we can go there next week when they release you,” she announced to him happily. She hoped he’d be as delighted with the idea as she was.
“What’s this?” he looked at her amused, but in a way that reminded her that he was assuming command. She hadn’t seen that look often while he’d been in the hospital. The suddenness of its appearance swept through her system quickly with erotic reminders of his controlling nature.
“That’s where I thought you’d want to be,” she explained. “Don’t you think the country air would be the best for your convalescence?”
“I’m not an invalid, Eden,” he reminded her.
“But the doctors suggested you keep things low key.”
“But I have some work that needs my attention.”
“And I could be sure you have every thing you need at the cottage,” she insisted.
“Are you going to argue with me? And will my first act at home be to impale your ass with a buttplug and cane your behind?”
“I’ve had to be more assertive since the shooting,” she reminded him.
“And now that assertiveness can take a back seat,” he informed her. She could see the merriment in his eyes, so glad it was there, though she feared she wasn’t going to get her way. Still, if she knew anything, it was that Adam needed his country place now. “Listen to me,” he started again as he saw the meek and desperate look on her face, “you can go to the cottage this weekend and get it ready for us. And it had better be as neat as a pin when I arrive. We’ll spend some time there because I’m sure you’re right, it will be better for me. But you may consider this the last time you’ll make a decision for us, is that clear?”
She smiled delighted. “Aye, aye sir,” she said with a playful salute.
“And Eden?” The warning tone was unmistakable.
“Yes?”
“I am going to impale your butt and make it hurt.”
“Oh my, I’m so glad.” She had the man she loved alive and returning to his old, familiar imperious self. Nothing could have been better.
***
They’d been at the cottage a week, staying by the fireplace a good deal of the time because spring was temporarily on hold. There was a damp chill in the air. It was cozy for them together, little intimacies they’d shared in the hospital had not been forgotten. If anything, Adam seemed more peaceful and content than she’d ever seen her lover. It shouldn’t surprise her that having been so close to death, he’d made some changes in the spirit of his life, but she could never predict what the outcome would be.
They did resume the order they shared before. Adam controlling, Eden happily submissive. She took a fierce punishment just a few days after they arrived. Adam called her into his room interrupting her session at the piano, and he proceeded to administer a deep and painful enema that he required her to hold for so long she thought she was simply going to explode. After cleansing her thoroughly, as promised, he worked her asshole until the largest butt plug she ever had in her behind slipped beyond her sphincter and lodged inside. She couldn’t move without feeling a distinct and uncomfortable ache. Ordering her over the end of the bed, he tied her arms with rope. Then laying a strap on her bottom he warmed her cheeks to a dazzling hue. She might have enjoyed the moment except that each strike was a reminder of the tight feel of her speared ass. Following the strap with a paddle, the inflexible wood came down so ruthlessly she was in tears and crying insanely it hurt so much. The finale was a bamboo cane. Only then did she realize the true depth of the punishment when she felt a trickle of blood strike terror as it ran down her leg.
When he stopped, he left her tied. Recuperating from the harshest punishment—and really the only punishment she’d had since Jacob, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her wounded body welcomed his attention, welcomed even more the fact Adam was as much the ruthless lover and disciplinarian as he’d ever been. It was time to dive back into the darkness and let that darkness abide in them both. She couldn’t have the peaceful intimacies of the heart without the prick of the thorns to rouse their other side.
So much anxiety seemed to pass that afternoon. She was mellow, lush and erotically charged the remainder of the day. The feelings produced such a quiet happiness between them that she was shocked when he began the last conversation she wanted to hear. Just before bedtime, she was on the floor before him having massaged his legs and feet for nearly an hour.
“The first warm night, Eden …” he said as he ran his fingers through her shoulder length curls, “you’ll spend bound in the woodshed. All night.”
“What!” She gazed up at him stunned as fear gripped her head to toe and her heart fluttered in panic.
“You reneged on your promise to me, or did you think I’d forget?”
She remained motionless unable to speak.
“You left Jacob without permission.”
“But you were dying!” she suddenly found her voice. “You think I wouldn’t come to you?”
“You still broke a promise.”
“Some things transcend promises and orders and even obedience.”
“Yes, they do, but it doesn’t mean that you won’t experience the consequences.”
“And if I hadn’t left him?” She was almost in tears. It didn’t seem fair.
“Was there ever any doubt you would?” he asked.
“Not an instant. Not one moment after I heard about the shooting. Jacob was with me when I heard the news. In fact, the bastard had just used my body, pulling me from the studio in the middle of a recording session. He knew that you’d been shot and was using me one more time because he knew I wouldn’t stay with him. No, Adam, I didn’t hesitate for a second knowing where I belonged.”
“You know you took a chance making that choice?”
“I suppose I did. But it didn’t matter.” She could feel her anger rising, surprised to feel its intensity. “I don’t know why you made me serve him again in the first place. I suppose it was the dreams, but I still can’t fathom your logic …”
“You think I was wrong?”
“I’d never tell you that,” she said.
“But you thought it. Be honest.”
She hesitated, desperately wanting to know what he meant. “Of course I did,” she finally admitted.
He sat silently for some minutes looking at her thoughtfully. “Perhaps I did make a mistake, Eden.”
“What?”
“I was protecting you from my personal trials as much as anything. I didn’t want to make you a part of the ass I’d become over the shit that was going down. And yet, I regretted the command the instant I gave it.”
“You could have changed your mind, or let me go for a day and brought me home …”
“I’m not perfect, Eden.”
That was enough to make her think. “I suppose I think of you as perfect. You know me better than I know myself. But maybe real life is just not that simple. Maybe being perfect isn’t realistic?”
“No, it’s not. Don’t ever expect me to be perfect, that’s a burden I can’t take. I am your master, and you belong to me. I require you to trust me and so you have. But will I make every decision right? Will I always lead us on a perfect path? I can’t promise that, any more than you could promise me that you wouldn’t leave Jacob for any reason.”
He was right. He couldn’t be perfect any more than she could be.
“We are human, my love, above all we are human. Whatever happens we’ll get through it together, that I promise to you. And that, my dear, was my mistake, not allowing you to be with me even as ugly as I was getting. From now on, you can see me ugly and confused and even weak. You’ll see it all.”
“That would be a gift to me, to know you as well as you know me.”
“You already do in many ways. You’ve listened to a lot these past two months.”
&n
bsp; Tears came, ones wet with fullness and contentment.
“I love you with all my whole heart. And though it might have been a mistake to go back to Jacob, I learned one very important thing.”
“What’s that?” He looked at her as if he already knew.
“There won’t be anymore dreams. There’s just nothing there. Jacob is empty—and you are not. Perhaps with someone else he can be a complete man, but not with me. I gave him all I could, was as dutiful and obedient as I could be, but it wasn’t enough to create even half the magic I have with you. Perhaps the sex was good—sometimes—but we are so much more than sex. I’d rather spend a hundred nights in the shed as serve Jacob one more hour.”
Adam smiled. “I won’t ask that of you again, you can be sure of that. But you’re not going to avoid the consequences of your choice. We’ll call it closure if you like. You can close the book on Jacob Coltrain, and then forget him.”
“And it is the shed?” Having been so passionately sure and strong as the oak tree at the end of the garden moments before, she was suddenly feeling more like the weeping wisteria that grew over the shed in summer.
“It’s only appropriate. What you fear the most?” He sounded quite happy about the verdict while Eden still dreaded the thought. “And now, since you’ve had such an easy time of it since we’ve been back together, I think it’s time you spent some nights in your bed as a reminder. At least until it’s warm enough for you to have your necessary night of hell.”
“That too? Oh, gawd, it could be weeks before it’s warm enough at night! All those nights without you?”
“Gee, I guess you’ll have lots of time to think.”
How could he be so merry having given that dire command? She was utterly depressed. After all the intimacy, the warm cuddly sensations after nasty bouts of sex, to be shunned, castaway like an insignificant trifle, ordered to the other room, it was a fate almost as disturbing as a night in the shed. It was hard to remember the magical promise behind her submissive place. Though as she sat at Adam’s his feet and stared into his stirring eyes, she knew he made no mistake this time. This was one command that above all the others she needed to obey. Facing her greatest fear for him was one gift she could give in return for all he’d given her. These nights preparing for that moment would serve to remind her how precious his gifts were. It was important that she honor them this way.
Adam kept his emotional distance from Eden for three weeks. Nothing would please him. He was exacting and demanding and seeming without an ounce of care for her. While she sometimes relished that much abuse, she would wonder in her long nights alone in bed where that other man had vanished to. And still, no matter how long this trial lasted, she would endure it for them both.
When a surprising change of the weather delivered warm nights in the seventies, Eden was relieved. She couldn’t wait to get her trial in the shed over with … and get back in Adam’s bed. Still, he made her wait. As three days passed, she was afraid he would let the good weather give way to another cold snap. Waiting was torture.
On the fourth day of warm sunshine and aromatic breezes, she served Adam his dinner in the summer patio, wearing nothing at all but the collar he’d ordered. This was not the soft snug-fitting collar she preferred, but the ugly heavy one Adam liked for punishment. She’d grown accustomed to it as she had so many things since she was paying her necessary penance to what seemed like a very furious lover. She wondered, however, what real fury there was in him anymore. Not that his darkness had diminished, that was always there. But since he’d been home he was calmer and more peaceful than ever. She wouldn’t have imagined that possible since he always was such a steady and serene part of her life.
“You’ll spend the night in the shed tonight,” Adam told her as she was setting his plate of pasta before him. “Go there now.”
The order stunned her. Even though she expected it for days, she went white with fear hearing the command. Trembling, her clammy hands dropped his plate to the table. Though not more than four inches to fall, the crockery shattered before their eyes and the pasta became a mass of spilled red sauce and fetucinni all over Adam’s white shorts.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she cried, falling to her knees wiping away the mess with a towel.
“Go to the shed,” he said, his eyes not budging from her with their cold glare.
“But I should clean you first,” she countered, trying to hurriedly fix the ridiculous mess.
“What is this, a full scale rebellion?” he barked.
“But I can’t do it, Adam! I swear my heart will stop beating, I’ll turn cold and freeze, I’ll scream with the first bug that crawls over me. Anything, anything, anything.” She begged him from her knees.
Then his expression was furious, his manner turning from cool to hot. Even then, she couldn’t relinquish her panic. Bolting upright Adam grabbed her arm and made for the woods, not the shed, Eden wondering if she swayed him to some other trial.
He led her through a dense growth of trees and undergrowth, her feet not able to take the gravelly landscape, looking as though they might be bruised and heavily scratched before he stopped. When they arrived at a spot in the cool of the woods, she was shoved over a rock and her hands tied behind her with a length of vine he ripped from of a tree. Wound around her wrists a dozen times the thorny brier cut her into her skin as it held her fast. Seeing her furious dominant from the corner of her eye, she watched him find thin sapling branches that he tore from young trees. Discarding leaves and small shoots, the final implement was a dreadful bundle of eight lean stalks with nubs on the ends that would bite hard.
Feeling the tears before he even struck the first blow, she also felt the justification. Why had she balked? Why when she knew all along that this would happen? Why had she let herself be so weak to his command? This one that seemed so important to them both.
When the birch bundle struck, it landed first on her thighs, then with a rhythmic precision traced line after line up her body until he thrashed her upper back. Starting back down, she found the punishment going up and down the tender skin of her backside until she was knew she was a rash of nasty stripes and bleeding places. Her howls came wildly, rising into the air. So much anxiety in the many days of waiting, the constant mental torment, her lover distant and cold. She was glad for this moment of fire from him, glad for each terrorizing strike. But glad and relieved, she wasn’t sure how much more she could endure of this ferocious punishment.
Once he was finished, Adam jerked her angrily from the rock and pulled her with him along another path until they were at the shed. Pushing her through the door she was unceremoniously locked inside before she could find a place to sit, and pot to pee in, anything at all to soothe what would be a night from hell. Just a few minutes later, Adam returned, but only so he could attend to the roughed skin he left on her back, and bind her hands behind her. Though her eyes pleaded for some kind word, there was nothing—he had nothing to say.
In the early hours of the morning, Eden was pulled from sleep, Adam jerking her to her feet, still looking as intently angry as he was when he used the birch. It was still warm outside, and he washed her dirty body with the hose, stinging her backside where the skin was still sensitive. Swabbing her with alcohol the sting went deeper, augmented even more when he threw a sundress over her naked body and shoved her in the truck.
She wanted him to say something—anything. But he was speechless the entire time.
***
Eden could feel the heat of the branding iron the moment she walked into the back room of the tattoo parlor.
The act would be simple and quickly done. Though she, Adam and the shop’s proprietor were not the only ones in the room that morning. Her branding would be witnessed by three curious men and a woman. Eden didn’t want to guess what this odd quartet of people were thinking as they watched her submit to the ceremony. It was enough to know that she’d be stripped naked before them and her punished backside exposed for all to see the
whipping she’d taken the evening before.
“You must be her master,” one man spoke seeing her roughed skin.
“I own her, yes,” Adam acknowledged, the first thing he’d said in many hours.
The insignia we talked about?” Jack asked him.
You said you’d have it ready,” Adam answered.
“Yes, and it’s a beaut,” the man replied, holding the molten iron so Eden saw the vague looking metal glowing with the initials that would sear her skin.
Only then did she see the moment for what it was. This was not another punishment, but a sign that her surrender was complete. She could almost sigh relieved. She’d passed whatever tests that Adam had devised for her. And despite the fact that he still remained so cold and distant, she was receiving the last measure of his dominion over her, a brand that would remain for life. Thoughts to nurture her … her heart began to soften, her body relax.
“You were lucky you left some clear skin to do this,” she heard Jack add as he looked at Eden’s wounded buttocks. By then her mind had ceased to think much about her surroundings and who was watching. There was just surrender and completeness as she felt the heat from the molten metal descend on her ass. In seconds it was finished, the initial pain and then no feeling at all as the burn numbed the nerve endings of her upper ass. She felt little but a sensuous peace.
***
Eden walked naked through his gardens, planted flowers from seeds to see them sprout and grow in the warm sun. She watered, weeded, made calluses on her hands that she soothed with cream. Her music rained on the garden, like the rain that some days fell hard when the wind forced her inside—lightning and thunder following closely on its heels.
One day she was standing in the earth feeling a gentle summer rain pelt her face. There’d been no wind, no lightning or thunder, just the steamy clouds converging over head, breaking loose with a soft shower to dampen the earth at her feet and turn it to mud. She felt it ooze between her toes as the rain ran off her silken skin.
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