by Jamie Knight
Ray raised an eyebrow.
“Care to share what task?”
“Self-control.”
He nodded, looking at me like I might elaborate, but I didn’t. Ray didn’t need to know every little detail about Reese, but he knew me well enough to know I liked to set challenges for people to see how they fared under pressure.
So far Reese had passed with flying colors. Me, not so much. I was on the verge of desperation. Fourteen days was too much for both of us. Maybe the task should end tonight.
I shifted in my seat and Ray smirked at my discomfort. It was something he was familiar with himself, since he had also trained a pet or two. So, he didn’t give me any grief.
“When are you going to introduce her to the scene? Bring her to the club?” he asked.
“I haven’t given it much thought. She’s not ready yet, and, who knows, perhaps I never will. I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s time I put that hedonistic part of my life behind me. Made a fresh start.”
Ray blinked at me in disbelief. I ignored his questioning gaze and drained my wine glass. Raising a hand, I signaled to the server that we were ready for the check.
Ray was a good and loyal friend, but at the same time, I didn’t want to share anything more about Reese with him, or with anyone. I wanted to keep her mine for a little while longer.
Soon enough, everyone would know about us because I wouldn’t keep our relationship a secret forever, but I would keep it a secret for right now.
After the server had reappeared with the check and once I’d paid, Ray smacked his hand against the table.
“Kane, come to the Dark Club with me anyway, for one last hurrah. There’s no harm in looking, is there? If you’re not going to take advantage of all the free pussy, you can be my wingman while I do.”
I shook my head and laughed.
“As if you need a wingman. I think I’ll head home.”
I couldn’t—wouldn’t—wait any longer. Tonight, I would make Reese mine.
“There’s something I need to do.”
“You mean someone. Jesus,” he said, knocking back the rest of his drink. “You’ve got it bad.”
I smiled and didn’t disagree.
After leaving the restaurant, I slid into my waiting car. Max, my driver, greeted me.
“Evening, Mr. McKenzie. Home?” he asked, with his easy and patient voice.
“I’ll take one of the cars from the office,” I explained. “There’s someone I need you to pick up and bring to the beach house.”
Max nodded, put up the barrier between us and drove me back to McKenzie Technologies. It was a short ride but gave me ample time to come up with a plan for the evening. Reese had been a good girl the past twelve days, I was going to reward her, but first, I wanted to test her limits.
I smiled to myself and my dick twitched, eager to enact my dirty thoughts.
Tonight, I would see if Reese was an exhibitionist.
My good little pet was going to put on a show.
Chapter Seventeen
Reese
Almost twelve days without an orgasm.
Twelve absurdly frustrating days.
I’d barely heard from Kane, and I hadn’t seen Kane. Even though I had his personal phone number now, I hadn’t called him. I just sent a few texts.
If he’d wanted to talk to me or hear my voice, he would have called me, and he didn’t. It was frustrating as hell. I didn’t know where we were at or what he was thinking.
I’d taken to wearing shapeless maxi dresses into the office hoping they somewhat disguised the chastity belt. It felt so bulky between my legs. I didn’t want anyone to ask what it was.
Every day since he’d put the damned thing on, Melissa had been the one to release me from my prison to allow me to clean up, not Kane. Sure, I knew his trip to Europe was unavoidable but that didn’t mean his absence didn’t piss me off.
Every morning before I clocked in, I went up to Kane’s office via the hidden elevator and freshened up. Melissa gave me some privacy but there was no time to get any relief, I’d tried.
If this was the lesson he’d intended to teach me, I could for sure say I’d learned it. From now on, I would do everything he asked of me because I didn’t want to suffer this punishment ever again. No one deserved this kind of frustration.
I thought I would have been able to figure out how to make myself come, but it had been impossible. Every night I’d had explicit wet dreams starring Kane, but no matter how much I tried to grind against the panel on my belt or try to fuck myself with the dildo he allowed me for a day, I hadn’t been able to get myself off.
Now, here I was on for the second Saturday in a row stuck at home. I stomped around my apartment looking for something to do. I didn’t want to go clubbing with my friends. If I went out, what was I supposed to wear? I couldn’t wear any of my cute party dresses because the belt’s outline would be too obvious.
My two-week sentence was up on Monday, but I didn’t think I could take another day of this archaic torture.
I picked up my phone and almost started dialing Kane’s phone number to give him a piece of my mind. But I stopped myself. With my luck, he’d get mad and extend my torture to three weeks.
Staring at his name on the screen of my phone, I took a deep breath and rolled my shoulders back. No, I wasn’t going to yell at him. It was just two more days. I could wait till Monday.
Ugh. Monday. Work was as sucky as it had always been and was getting worse. The rumors I’d heard circulating about me were ridiculous. I never went on Watercooler but Eileen and Mandy filled me in on every single post that had my name in it. There were a lot.
Some of my coworkers were still pissed that Simon was gone. Sloane was thrilled to tell whoever would listen that I was the reason he had been fired and that everyone should stay away from me if they wanted to keep their jobs. It shouldn’t have worked, but it did.
Acquaintances I used to chat with in the elevator or at the coffee pot suddenly stopped seeing me and pretended I wasn’t there. Even Tony, the old security guard, stopped smiling at me. It was depressing.
At least I still had Eileen and Mandy. They came to visit me in my cubical everyday—although they wouldn’t acknowledge me as much when other coworkers were around. I was becoming isolated and lonely.
So, I threw myself into my work. I skipped lunches and breaks and just kept my eyes glued to the computer. Finding a few accounting errors and hunting down their origin became my obsession. I figured Linda, my manager, would be pleased with my devotion, but she frowned at me more and more and just complained that I used the bathroom too much.
I dropped my phone and started pacing around my apartment again. Occasionally the waistband of the chastity belt would bite into my skin. It wasn’t super painful, but at present it was rubbing me the wrong way.
I ran a finger under the silicone but didn’t try to take it off. I wouldn’t. Thoughts of Kane rewarding me was the only thing that was keeping me sane. Well, sort of sane.
On Friday, Eileen poked her head over the cubical wall that separated us and told me about a new rumor on Watercooler. Grinning like a little girl, she explained that Sloane was now saying that I was fucking Kane, which was a lie because I wasn’t.
I wasn’t fucking him or having any kind of sex at all—I wasn’t even having sex with myself.
Lucky, lucky me.
So much for my luck changing. Eileen thought the rumor was hilarious and ridiculous. I tried to laugh with her, but it was hard with the stupid chastity belt digging into my skin.
I’d wanted to get back at Sloane so many times and put her in her place, but I turned the other cheek and got on with my work. I’d noticed numerous financial inconsistencies when crosschecking several spreadsheets against databases and I wanted to dig until I got to the bottom of those. I was thankful my mind had been occupied with that for the rest of the day.
On the elevator ride down from the fifth floor at the end of the work day, Linda,
who always seemed above office gossip had given me several weird looks and had said to be careful, and that if I ever needed to talk, her door was open. But I couldn’t bring myself to think of talking to her.
Linda seemed as straight-laced and as prudish as they came. What could I say to her?
Kane locked me in a chastity belt, and last week I massaged his cum into my tits.
I’d told no one about Kane, not even my closest friends. They wouldn’t get it. Hell, I didn’t even know if I got it.
I hadn’t watched any porn all week, which was unusual, but what would be the point? I’d only frustrate myself even more.
I stopped pacing in front of the windows and watched the snow fall through the night air. It was clumping into the sidewalks now.
Alright, no more feeling sorry for myself.
Since it was Saturday night, and I was all alone. I decided to throw myself a pity party. I made myself a bag of microwave popcorn and mixed in a family size bag of peanut M&Ms. I also grabbed a bottle of chardonnay. I would comfort eat and drink my way out of my depression.
I wasn’t in the mood for a chick flick or romcom. I needed a mindless action movie with The Rock to help distract me from what I couldn’t have. Just as I was settling down to enjoy Dwayne Johnson’s biceps saving the world, the doorbell rang.
It was probably my neighbor Ruby looking for the spare key to her apartment. She was forever locking herself out and losing her keys.
I pressed the intercom button.
“Hello.”
“Ms. Peterson?”
Unless Ruby had undergone a sex change within the last few days, she wasn’t the one ringing my doorbell.
“This is she,” I replied.
“I’m Max Hannity. Mr. McKenzie’s driver. He instructed I take you to him.”
Butterflies boogied around my belly. Maybe tonight my luck would turn another corner, and I would get to come until I passed out from exhaustion. I was too relieved at Kane wanting to see me to be mad about the past twelve days.
“Can you give me ten minutes?” I begged.
“I’ll be outside in the car.”
My clit gave a fluttery spasm. Kane had to take the belt off—he had to. So what if it was two days earlier than he’d said? Maybe he was suffering just as much as I was.
I glanced down at my clothes. I wore an extra-large Patriots t-shirt, no bra, and a pair of flannel PJ bottoms. This kind of outfit was something I would wear after a few months of being with Kane, but at this stage in our relationship—or whatever it was—he didn’t need to see me looking like a slob.
I scrambled out of my PJs and, not bothering with a bra, I threw on a black, long-sleeved t-shirt dress with a crew neck and draped a boho scarf around my neck to look somewhat dressed up. I pulled some tights over my legs and was pleased to see them fit over the belt.
I dashed into the bathroom, scrubbed my teeth and finger combed my hair to give it some beachy waves. I would have liked more time to get ready, but I would have to do.
To complete my thrown together look, I grabbed a pair of knee-high boots from the shoe basket in the hallway and shoved them on.
I threw my cell into an over-sized tote and slung the bag over my shoulder. Before I left, I took one more quick look at myself in the mirror by the front door. I was disheveled but sort of cute.
Good enough, I thought.
Whatever Kane had planned, I was ready for it.
Chapter Eighteen
Reese
A chill filled the air and stars sparkled as the night sky cleared. By the curb sat a shiny, silver town car with blacked-out windows. A middle-aged man dressed in a charcoal grey suit stepped out of the car and gave his head a slight nod.
“Ms. Peterson.”
“Yes. You must be Max. Can you tell me where we’re going?”
He shook his head.
“Mr. McKenzie instructed I tell you nothing.”
“Of course he did,” I mumbled.
Max opened the back passenger door for me. I stepped inside and settled myself on to the soft leather seat. Curiosity ate me up. What had Kane planned and what did the rest of the evening hold?
The divide between Max and me slid up and mind-numbing elevator music drifted through the speakers.
From somewhere inside my bag, a beep alerted me to a text message. I rummaged around until I located my phone. The text was from Kane.
Are you ready?
I quickly typed out:
For what?
For your initiation.
Am I joining a fraternity? ;)
It’s a night where you become one of us.
I wasn’t sure if his reply thrilled or terrified me.
What do you mean one of us?
I might like kinky stuff, but I didn’t want to join a weird sex cult. I only wanted this to involve Kane and me.
Wait and see.
Do I get to take this thing off?
No texting bubbles appeared at the bottom of my screen. He clearly wasn’t going to answer.
Questions about what I was getting myself into filled my head.
What exactly did he mean by initiation?
Was it the same as hazing?
I reached up and stroked my star pendant, and a sense of peace settled over me. Perhaps using my necklace as a crutch was wrong and maybe it was a piece of metal and nothing more, but it made me feel better and ever since I’d started wearing it, I’d had more luck that I’d had for years, albeit sporadic luck, but luck all the same.
To pass the time and to take my mind off the initiation, I spent the rest of the car journey Googling Kane. It was something I’d done endlessly, and each time I did, I’d hoped to garner some new tidbit of information about him, but I never learned anything I didn’t already know.
There were no stories from bitter ex-girlfriends or bitter ex-employees, no kiss and tells or lawsuits. Everyone probably knew better than to cross him. The way he dealt with sleazy Simon showed me how intimidating he could be. When he wanted something done, he did it.
My mind wandered to the other pets he’d had in the past. I might have been naïve in a lot of ways, but I wasn’t naïve enough to think there hadn’t been anyone before me.
I wanted to ask how long it had been since his last pet and what had ended their relationship.
Was she the one who’d given him the hunted look in his eyes?
The one who’d broken his heart?
Melissa had hinted that he would tell me his story, but I wasn’t so sure he would.
She’d also said that he hadn’t selected a pet from any of his employees before. I was the first, and I was—not honored—but pleased he’d chosen me.
After all, he could have had any woman he wanted, but instead, he’d chosen me or was I the one who’d chosen him?
I wasn’t entirely sure.
Two long hours later, the car pulled to a stop on what sounded like gravel, but because of the blackened windows, I had no clue where we were. We could be in Timbuktu for all I knew.
After a few seconds, Max opened the passenger door. I was disappointed because I had wanted to see Kane, but he was no where around.
The salty scent of the ocean blew into the car, and a light breeze lifted my hair.
“Where are we?” I asked, as I looked up.
A large mansion stood before us; the town car parked in its circular drive. The house was two stories with large rectangular windows and white brick walls.
It was clean and neat, and shone brightly as the white walls reflected the moonlight. The walls rose up to a gray shingle roof that was interspersed with more rectangular dormer windows. It was a Hamptons house.
I felt my insides quiver with nervousness. I looked down at the expanse of brown and ice covered lawn. It was so neat and even, it could have been cut by hand. I swallowed hard and vowed to never make fun of Hamptons houses again.
“You are where you should be,” Max replied.
From his back pocket, he produced a
blindfold.
“Before you step out of the car, Mr. McKenzie has requested you wear this.”
I shook my head and then give myself a mental kick for getting into the car with Max in the first place.
“Not happening. You could be a serial killer or a sex trafficker, and this could be all a ruse.”
His lips quirked into a smile.
“I promise you I’m not a serial killer or a sex trafficker.”
My phone, which was clutched in my hand, rang. It was Kane.
“Why are you stalling?” he asked as soon as I answered.
His was voice tight with annoyance.
“Why do I have to wear a blindfold?” I sort of whined. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“Do you trust me?” Kane asked.
“Yes, but—”
He huffed into the phone.
“There are no buts. Do you trust me?”
“I trust you.”
“Then put on the blindfold and allow Max to take you to where you’re supposed to go.”
Wherever Kane was, he was watching me. I glanced around the interior of the car. There were probably numerous cameras documenting my every move.
“Fine. I’ll wear the blindfold,” I huffed back into my phone, “but I’m not happy about all the cloak and dagger crap.”
“Trust me,” he said before hanging up. It sounded like he was smiling.
“May I?” Max asked holding out the blindfold.
I shrugged. “I guess I have no choice.”
Without further comment, he placed the thick cotton fabric over my eyes and then secured it in place at the back of my head with a double knot.
The world vanished, and my heartbeat ratcheted up. Holy hell. What the fuck was I about to walk into?
Trust me. Kane’s words echoed through my head. I was doing my best to trust him, but it was becoming more and more difficult.