As She's Told (10 page)

60

As She’s Told – Anneke Jacob

I shook my head, and sank to my knees before him, my head in his lap.

And whispered thanks.

***

"A locked chain? Oh, god, that is so hot!"

"No kidding. I can't keep my hands off it."

"But is this like, a collaring or what? What does it mean?"

"I don't – he didn't say."

"What, nothing? Oh, come on."

"Oh, Nikki, I don't know. He just said I shouldn't try to take it off, that I'd regret it. As if I'd want to."

"Regret it how?"

"I don't know. Come to think of it, that could have a few meanings. I think he meant he'd – punish me. From the look on his face."

"But if you took it off it would mean you were breaking it off with him, so he'd have no right – ."

"How would I get it off, anyway? It's locked; I thought that was the whole point."

"Oh, Maia, a bolt cutter would do it in a second; don't be stupid. Hon, do you want to get it off?"

"No! No, I want it on!"

"You're sure?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, okay, take it easy. You worry me, that's all. All this no negotiating, no safeword shit. I know Leda said he's okay but honestly…"

"He is okay. Honestly. And please don't tell me about bolt cutters."

"Well, you asked."

"I wish I hadn't."

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As She’s Told – Anneke Jacob

Anders spent Saturday morning in building supply stores, looking for the best prices on soundproofing supplies. He'd sent Maia to the library with a list of reading to do, feeling through her dress for the chain before he'd dropped her off.

On his way home he picked up an assistant. Anders did most of the work on his house by himself, but sometimes he needed an extra hand. Val was his most reliable employee, glad of any extra work; she was saving to buy her own truck so she could go into business for herself. She was also a good friend who knew all about the soundproofing and what it was for.

Eying him sideways as they worked, Val raised her eyebrows, pulled back on her drill and said, "Going good, huh?" He tried to get his expression in order. "Damn. I'm that obvious?"

"Sorry, did I undercut your imperturbable dom image, buddy? Hope it doesn't affect your aim."

He laughed. "Piss off."

"But I'd say you are looking too damned pleased with yourself."

The usual warning pressed its weight into his chest. Anders took note, then lifted it off and set it deliberately aside, packaged up like the fibreglass he was shifting. "Come on, share the joy, you miser."

Val had her own dommish leanings with the parade of girlfriends that passed through her life. There never seemed to be a lack of them, but never the same one two months running.

"I've moved us on a bit, that's all. The next step in the process." He felt again the buzz of power, the heat of Maia's flesh on his palm, listened again to the small click of the lock.

"Just a step? What are you waiting for, some other shade of green?"

Anders went out to the truck. When he came back in with a toolbox, Val stopped her drill and said, "I thought she was panting for it. She's probably chewing her fingernails to the bone waiting."

"Then she can wait."

"Oh, I get it. This is the joke about torturing the masochist by not hitting her."

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As She’s Told – Anneke Jacob

Anders laughed again. "No." He thought. "Wait. Maybe." He considered. "It's a powerful thing, withholding. Even withholding pain. I'm the one setting the pace. And that is what she needs." He got out his measuring tape and began marking the locations for new studs for the inner wall. "Though I did hit her. We're past that threshold at least."

"Hey, congratulations! At least the poor girl's not waiting for that shoe to drop."

His measuring tape snapped back into its case. "Val. I told you what she's like."

"Yeah, I know." She snapped in a screwdriver attachment. "Can't you tell when I'm pulling your chain? This girl's so scared she couldn't stand living in California, for god's sake.”

“Exactly. She has to feel safe. She has to know she can trust me."

"Mm." Val pulled a handful of screws out of her pocket. "But it's going to take a fucking long time to get where you want to go, at that rate."

"I don't think so," he smiled. He began on the next wall. "Anyway, it's worth it."

"I'd never have the patience."

"Is it patience? I thought you just liked variety."

She drove in three screws in quick succession. "Fun's fun," she said. "I hate it when they go all needy. Just because I steer the ship doesn't mean I want the barnacles to latch on to me." One or two of Val's past lovers had shown up at work sites searching for her and looking plaintive.

Anders got the ladder to mark the ceilings. "Your technique is obviously attracting the wrong type. Janice would have been good for you. If she hadn't been straight. Kept her head through the whole thing. Walked away without a qualm."

"Never accepted you as her personal saviour, huh?" Val said slyly.

Anders ignored this. "Yeah, she would have been good for me. Cute, too.

Too bad. I need subs and I keep finding slavey-types. You kept hoping you could turn a sub into a slave."

"I know." He climbed down, moved the ladder to a new spot. "I should have known then. All those limits. Hard, soft. Everything negotiated, everything on the table. I thought it might change, but no."

"That's easier than this is going to be. This is guesswork and fucking mind reading."

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As She’s Told – Anneke Jacob

"Educated guesswork. Damned good mind reading, if I say so myself.

Anyway, as my grandfather would have said, Gennem anstrengelser når man stjernerne.”

“Say what?"

"Bust your ass and you'll reach the stars. More or less. Per aspera ad astra in Danish.”

“Oh, brother. The stars are in your head, buddy boy. Big cartoon ones.

Or rocks, more likely."

***

At the end of the day Anders opened the door to Maia's apartment with the key he'd had made, and found her naked and kneeling up in the middle of the living room floor exactly as ordered. His breath still caught at the sight of her: those eyes, the luminous olive skin, fine round breasts on the small frame, smooth, succulent little haunches. He set his grocery bag down and circled, examining her in silence for several minutes, thinking over next steps. Checking on her day or her schoolwork could wait; for the moment he had no interest in conversation. All day long his body had been waiting for this; waiting just to own and command. He sat down on the couch.

"Crawl over here." The supple sway of the breasts between her arms was entrancing. "Kneel up." Maia's breathing was shallow, her tense body offering itself. Anders took a good look at the chain for any sign of distortion of the links, and at the lock for any sign of picking. It was a good solid little padlock, and would not be easy for an amateur to pick. Both were in perfect condition. He gave the breasts a squeeze, then traced the diagonal of birthmarks and navel, bisected by the chain, and felt her belly tremble. So eager; it was tempting just to take her as she was. But the paraphernalia of power was more tempting still.

Anders rolled her nipples between his fingers and watched her react.

When her eyes glazed he yanked a little to get her attention. "Ah-ah. Focus, girl." He took a narrow leather cord from his pocket. "Let's see if this helps."

Her eyes locked on the cord, and he shook his head. "I'm not tying you to anything today, Maia. Nothing to keep you from walking away." He tied the cord to the waist chain in front. "Turn around." When she had shuffled round he pulled it sharply up from behind. She gasped and stretched her thighs up as high as she could, gasped again when he tied it off. He pushed her forward onto her hands and knees, and explored her cunt from behind.

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As She’s Told – Anneke Jacob

Already the cord was wet. How sweetly she responded.

Then he gave her another lesson on how to suck his cock. She was allowed to direct her own movements at first, but by the end she was able to keep her throat open, albeit briefly, even when he controlled that sweet round head, the thick curls spiraling around his fingers. She moved obediently, trying so hard to please him even while she choked on the semen he sprayed down her throat.

Anders cooked dinner then, browning meat on the stove, grumbling about electric burners, otherwise speaking only to give orders. He sent Maia to fetch things from the bottom of the fridge so he could watch her shiver, her bisected bottom on display. As she was setting the table he slipped his fingers under the juncture between chain and cord and tugged. She let out a noise like a squeaky toy, making him smile. "One plate, girl."

Hastily, blushing, she picked up the second plate. Anders tugged a little more and judged that she had acclimatized to the tight cord. He drew it down even further in front, and pulled it up in back so hard she was up on her toes whimpering before he tied it off. The chain was in a deep V front and back, the links digging into her hips. He ran his hands slowly over the taut combination of chain and flesh, then leaned down and planted a kiss on one hip.

Maia put away the plate, fetched and carried and reached on command.

"Girl, the floor by the fridge is sticky. Wipe it up." Out of the corner of his eye he watched her on hands and knees, wincing and flushed.

She knelt beside him as he ate, and opened her mouth obediently when he put a fork in front of it.

"Did you send those job applications like I told you?"

She swallowed. "Three of them."

"Why not all four?" She looked up apprehensively at his tone.

"The fourth still hasn't been posted; I don't know who to write to."

"All right. Keep checking for the posting. What do you need to get done tomorrow?"

"Finish the water quality paper. Fix the database errors. Do my laundry."

"Type up your notes from today also."

"Yes, sorry."

"What about Friday's lecture notes?"

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As She’s Told – Anneke Jacob

She looked blank for a moment, then scared. "I forgot – we went out –"

He frowned. "You should have done them today, Maia."

"I'm sorry…"

"Do them now."

She sat in front of her laptop, naked but for the tight cord and chain, and typed. Anders checked it all carefully, made her expand on something she'd abbreviated, and at last let her kneel again next to him at the table. The food he'd kept for her was cold; he thrust it into her mouth and was thoughtful.

She was hanging her head between bites. Good. He thought about how to punish her. The people downstairs would hear anything louder than a groan. Anders made up his mind, and turned his chair toward her.

"All right, girl," he said, reaching into his pocket. "I was going to start you off gently with these, but I'm going to use them to punish you instead."

Her eyes went wide, staring at the nipple clips in his palm. Anders pulled on her already erect nipples to make them swell larger. The rings were right at the base, out of the way; he avoided them. The initial pinch he made relatively gentle, but then he tightened slowly, listened to her groan and whine and then squeak with pain. Her hand made an attenuated motion toward her breast, and then she caught herself. "Hands behind your back."

She obeyed. The second clip on and tightened, he watched her eyes brim briefly with tears before she blinked them away. "What do you say now, do you know?"

She looked up and opened her mouth, and then stopped, and shook her head.

"No, you don't. This is your first punishment; I haven't told you yet."

She was beginning to hunch forward, unconsciously curling around the pain.

He took hold of her shoulders and pushed them back. "Keep those where I can see them. All right. First of all it's time for a respectful form of address.

From now on misbehaviour gets punished, so you'd better show some deference in your language, particularly at times like this. It's too soon for

'master;' 'sir' will do fine. "

"Yes, sir."

A flicker of relief crossed her face. She'd been waiting for this. He'd noticed how she'd avoided using his name.

"Second, when I punish you I want you to learn from it. You'll apologize for what you did wrong, naming it quite specifically, tell me what 66

As She’s Told – Anneke Jacob

you'll do next time, and thank me for disciplining you." He pulled on the nipple clips, and her eyes filled again. "Do that now."

She bit her lip and then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, sir, that I forgot to type up my notes – my lecture notes this morning. I'll try to remember next time. And thank you – thank you for punishing me."

"What do you mean, you'll try to remember? That's not good enough."

"I – I'll type them right after – I'll type them as soon as I can after the class?"

"How will you remember?"

"I'll put a reminder on my laptop. A daily one."

"Better. It hurts, girl, doesn't it?"

"Yes, sir," she said, her voice almost a whisper.

"Do you deserve it?"

"Yes, sir."

"How did you do your work before I came along?"

"I was… disorganized and lazy."

"Yes, you were. All right. Get up and wash the dishes now."

She hurried to her feet and winced as the cord bit into her crotch. Not graceful enough; he'd have to work on that, but not just yet. For that he'd want a whip in his hand.

Anders picked up something called Digital Access: Designing Electronic Descriptive Tools, and rapidly gave that up for Issues in Communication Technologies. Neither could come close to engaging his attention; the vision at the sink was far too compelling.

After the dishes he made her wash down all the counters and wipe up the floor under the table. At last, glancing at his watch, he allowed her to kneel between his feet with her back to the couch. With one hand firmly over her mouth, her head pulled back against his shoulder, he removed the first clip. She keened and panted into his hand as the blood returned, keened again as the next one came off. He leaned over her and sucked and soothed her nipples, soaking in the music of her pain and grateful pleasure.