Assumed Master (27 page)

"Unnecessary." That was all Dante
had to say before stepping forward to grab Julie by the upper arm and turn her
toward the house. "I’ve got it."

"Oh, this should be good," Keegan
said, trailing a few steps behind. Allen took up the rear an evil look in his
eyes.

"Allen, please…" Julie started.

"Oh, hell no.
You want to play the role of child, you get
treated like one," Allen said.

"That’s right, love. You want to dance so
badly, time to pay the fiddler." Dante’s grip bit into her flesh as he led
her through the house and down the long hall to the play room.

Julie felt a bit like she was walking some
proverbial mile or other.
A convicted sub going to the
gallows as it were.
When she stepped into the room beside Dante, who
hadn't uttered another word, she found several people from the party who'd
apparently caught wind of her impending doom and gathered to watch. In one
corner, Nicki was perched in a swing Allen had rigged for her for when they
played lost girl in the park. She swung happily back and forth, a shy smile
gracing her lips which were sealed tightly shut around the stick of a lollipop.
Her pigtails bobbed with every movement of the swing and Allen grunted in
obvious satisfaction at seeing her in such a state.

"I still have to give that one something
else to suck on," he mumbled, following Dante as he pulled Julie across
the room to the paddling horse.

"Blake, can’t you talk to Master?"
Julie hissed over her shoulder at the man on his knees beside the swing.

Much to her dismay and astonishment, Blake
didn’t look up, move, or say a word.

"Did I say you could speak?" Dante
asked, stopping at the end of the bench.

"No."

"No, what?" he demanded.

"No, Sir."

"Try again!"

Never had Julie seen Dante in such a state.
Not in all the years he’d publicly scened with Blake had she ever witnessed him
the likes of which he was now. "No, Master?" she squeaked.

"That’s right. I’m your Master until we
mutually agree otherwise. Not before," he explained in no uncertain terms.
"You took it upon yourself to do otherwise and you’ve upset me greatly.
On the horse,
princess
."

Princess?
And the way he said it. Did he think that way
of her? Like she was some diva sent down to make others miserable? Was she that
demanding? She’d never thought so. Her needs were simple. Her needs... Was she
really that cold? So calculating that all she thought of was
herself
?

"I’m sorry, Master," she said,
looking around at all the eyes on her, her voice beginning to tremble as much
as her body.

"Oh, you’re going to be.
On the horse, now!"

Something in Julie balked at the notion of
doing what Dante ordered while a little something else bid her to obey.
Confused, she straddled the horse, her ass hanging off the end of it, arms and
legs dangling down either side. The smooth, leather padding settled between her
breasts and the smell of it seeped through her. Normally that would bring about
the first stirrings of arousal, but now, not so much.
 
Fine.
He wanted to
beat his chest and shout, she’d let him. What was the worst thing that could
happen? He got over his caveman need to drag her around by the hair of the head
and if she was lucky, she got an orgasm out of the deal.
Seemed
a fair trade.

"You've been an extremely bad girl, Julie
Marie Hayden Chelsea Stevens-Seidler," Dante said, cuffing her left wrist
to the leg of the horse.

"Yes, well, you weren’t exactly the
most well-behaved
Master the last time we saw each other
either," Julie said snidely. "You snubbed me and my money. You said
you would
never
treat me like a piece
of property again, but you ignored my requests and did just that."

The room went dead silent as the chattering
among the spectators immediately ceased. The cold metal cuff now wrapped around
her left ankle clicked shut with an eerie snap and Julie swallowed hard against
the sudden acidic burn of bile in her throat. With three heavy steps, Dante stood
at the head of the horse. He grabbed her by the hair of the head and pulled her
face up.

"I said I would never again
intentionally
hurt you or make you feel
like property. Taking care of our family and making decisions isn’t a
democratic process when I’m responsible for the welfare of so many." He
dropped her head and reached to the shelf behind him for a ball gag. "Since
you can’t seem to listen without absorbing and can’t keep from mouthing off,
we’ll try it this way."

With both her arms restrained and Dante’s firm
grip on the back of her head, Julie had no choice but to accept the small
rubber ball as he pushed it past her lips and over her tongue. He pulled either
end of the clasp to the back of her head and snapped them together, securing
the gag in place. With her voice stolen, Dante placed her left cheek on the
horse so she could see what he was doing at the toy shelf sitting next to it.

"How did
princess
act less than princess like? Let us count the ways,"
Dante said in his school teacher voice.

He took a hair clip from the bench and after
gathering her long hair up in his fist, twisted it in a knot and secured it
atop her head. That didn’t bode well. If he had her hair tied up, it could only
mean he was out for more than her ass. Picking up a wooden paddle, he looked at
her with one side of his mouth up in a half-smile and maintained eye contact
with her as he brought it down with great force against the bench he’d
retrieved it from, sending a resounding, thunderous pop surging into the air.
Julie jumped and strained against her cuffs to no avail. He’d well and
thoroughly lashed her down with not an inch of room to spare.

"This is not for your pleasure,"
Dante whispered, leaning down until his lips almost touched her ear. "It’s
not even for mine. This is strictly for discipline’s sake."

With that he raised up, walked slowly behind
her, and without any warning whatsoever brought the paddle down across her ass
with a crack. The scream that welled up in Julie was lost behind the little
rubber ball wedged in her mouth and one hot tear spilled down her cheek.

"That one was for running away."

Again the paddle came down, harder than the
first time and Julie fought to escape Dante’s reach, unsuccessfully.

"That’s for failing to discuss taking
your collar off with me."

The next blow landed squarely across both
cheeks at once and tears now flowed freely, mingling with the saliva that
dribble down her chin, a few of them seeping into the corner of her mouth
leaving a salty taste lingering just under her tongue.

"You abandoned your sons. Actually that
deserves more than one. You have no idea how hurt they are."

Three more times the wood made contact with
Julie’s searing skin. Where or where were her endorphins? Why the hell had they
not made an appearance as they normally would at the drop of a dominant hat?
Her question must have shown in her eyes.

"It’s because this isn’t for your
pleasure, princess," Dante explained of her dire situation. "This
isn’t supposed to feel good. Your body knows the difference." In emphasis
he administered another whack to her ass before walking to the front of the
horse and pulling her head up. "Do you have any God damned idea how
worried I was? How worried slave was?" He leaned in close enough to breathe
a rasped whisper. "How hurt I still am?"

Julie had no idea if the questions were
rhetorical or required an answer so she shook her head as quickly as she could,
accompanied by a grunting noise that was the result of her trying to tell him
again how sorry she was.

"You owe me an apology, you owe slave an
apology, and most of all,
you
owe the boys an apology."

She nodded emphatically, hoping this would
appease him, but finding quickly it didn’t. He resumed him position and began
the paddling again, citing at least a dozen more reasons she deserved his ire.
Then to her horror, he tossed the paddle to the side and grabbed a cane. Dear
God, he was going to cane her for punishment?

"Before this weekend is over, dear,
princess, you’re going to give me something you’ve never given anyone,"
Dante said, trailing the tip of the cane across her cheek.

She pleaded with her eyes for him to tell her
just what that was. If she knew, she’d gladly hand it over before he struck her
with that stick.

"You have no idea what that thing is, do
you?" he asked, tracing a circle on the side of her right thigh.

Julie could only shake her head.

"You will before I’m through with you."
With that he raised the cane and it screamed an angry hiss as it came down and
caught the back of both her legs.

It was going to be a long weekend.

Julie wasn’t sure how long she was strapped to
the spanking horse, she was just grateful when Dante decided this part of her
punishment was over, for he made it perfectly clear that until he was sure
she’d learned her lesson and had figured out what it was he sought, she would
be disciplined repeatedly, the degree and type varying.

"Slave, take her upstairs, clean her up,
and both of you better be kneeling beside the bed when I get there," Dante
directed Blake as he unlocked Julie’s arms and legs. He didn’t even bother
helping her off the damn horse. Instead he walked away without another word.

This pissed Julie off to no end. What further
angered her was the hurt running in a torrent just below the surface of the
hate.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Not looking back, Dante left the play room
with several sets of eyes staring at him as he walked through a gauntlet of
people. He didn’t stop until he reached the patio where he stooped over and
gulped in air like a drunk would inhale a shot. Exhaustion was setting in and
unless he enlisted help, it was going to be a long night.

"That was rather impressive," Allen
said from behind him. "What now?"

"Now she gets to sit all alone to think
about her actions," Dante said, turning and taking a seat on one of the
stone benches. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees, and put his
head in his hands.

"Tiring, isn’t it?" Allen took up
residence in a patio chair across from him.

"Like you wouldn’t believe."

"I would and I do. My question is, are
you sure you’re up to being her Master? I doubt one weekend will break her,
although after that display I’d say you’ll at least have her reined in. Are you
one hundred percent committed to her after this?" Allen handed Dante a
glass of what appeared to be whiskey before taking a swallow of from his own
glass.

"I’m up to the task." He drank the
contents of the glass in two gulps then set it down beside him, again resting
his head in his hands. "Do you have a key to that adjoining suite up
there?"

"All the rooms have keys," Allen
answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I’m going to make sure she doesn’t sneak
off in the night. If I have to cuff her to the bed, her ass is staying put."

"Wise man."

"Sunshine, go to my office." Allen
turned and it was then Dante noticed Nicki sitting on her knees a few feet away
with her head obediently down. "In the top right hand drawer there is a
key ring. Bring it to me."

"Yes, Daddy," she said, hopping to
her feet.

"Oh, and sunshine?
Bring Master Dante another drink."

"Yes, Daddy."

Dante watched as the young woman skipped off,
her saddle shoes sending up a cadence against the slate surface of the patio.
She darted inside and disappeared. "Just what the hell is going on with
that one anyway?"

"We’re servicing each other," Allen
said matter-of-factly. "She needs a daddy figure and I’m quite smitten
with her school girl act."

"Right."

"Entertain my illusion, would you,
please? I’m too old to believe I might care for her."

A half hour later and considerably more steady
on his feet, Dante climbed the stairs to find Blake and Julie on their knees,
naked beside the big bed they’d all shared just before Christmas. He pulled the
door shut behind him and locked it then went to the double doors that led into
the adjoining suite, swinging them wide open. After going inside and locking
the only door leading out, he pocketed the set of keys Allen afforded him and
returned to the other room. Neither of his slaves had moved a muscle.

Hesitating, he pondered his next course of
action one more time. Not only would it make Julie feel what real deprivation
was like, but he’d be using Blake to do it and using his husband was something
he’d vowed some months back never to do again. However, he knew of no other way
to make it expressly clear to Julie what she’d be missing by alienating herself
from him.