Bounce Down: 1st Quarter: Start of Play (3 page)

Surprised, I blurted out, “How
do you know my name, I didn’t....”

He smiled with a guilty look.
“I have a friend at Fone Corp. It comes in handy sometimes.”

“
So let me
get this straight, you know my phone number and I suppose you also
know where I live and other personal details, yet I am not even
allowed to know where I am?”

“
I’m sorry,
not until you sign the paperwork. If you can’t get past this, I can
take you back to your car.”

I looked
away; his comment really scared me. I didn’t want to leave and I
did want to explore the possibilities.
Maybe this was his way of saying he didn’t want to go any
further with me?

He stood up and pulled me to my
feet. “Suzanna, look at me.”

Once our eyes met, he
continued, “You know who I am. My reputation is on the line. Can I
trust you or not?”

And here I was wondering if I
could trust him, even though I had told Mandy that I did. But that
was before I knew he had checked up on me. In retrospect, it was
really no different from my wanting to look him up. I couldn’t very
well blame him for beating me to the punch.

“
Yes, you can
trust me.”

Smiling, he led me back to the
lounge and motioned for me to sit.

“
Great, how
about another drink?” He returned to the kitchen with our
glasses.

“
Maybe I
shouldn’t, I have to drive home.”

“
What if you
didn’t have to?” His question hung in the air, its significance not
lost on either of us.

After handing me my drink, he
asked, “Will you agree to sign the NDA (non-disclosure
agreement)?”

“
So I can’t
tell anyone about, anything?”

“
Yes it’s
like a prenup, except it protects your secrets.”

I couldn’t help thinking that
his secrets could soon become our secrets.

“
If I sign
it, what happens next?”

“
Didn’t I ask
you to think about that in the car?”

I smiled
timidly and knew I was blushing.
How could
I possibly tell him about the erotic scenarios I had fantasised
about?

Ignoring my non-response he
asked, “Suzanna, what are you going to tell Mandy?”

I thought about this for a
moment, before answering, “I will tell her I will call her tonight,
from home.”

He grinned broadly at my
response. “So you’ll give me until say, five o’clock then?” I
nodded my head in agreement.

After I had updated Mandy, he
took my hand and guided me towards the stairs.

“
My
bag?”

“
Leave
it.”

Well, I suppose it was safe
enough where it was, but I wouldn’t have my phone if I needed it.
Of course this was probably the reason he wanted it left on the
lounge, so I couldn’t turn it on.

The top floor comprised of a
hallway with many doors leading off it. Stopping at the second one,
he opened it to reveal a bedroom. I was starting to panic, but I
wasn’t going to let it show.

He guided me to a desk to the
right of the doorway. On the desk were a laptop and a small
printer. He pulled out the swivel office chair and directed me to
sit. Once seated, he opened a drawer and placed a form in front of
me.

“
This is the
NDA. Read through it carefully before you sign it. I’m going
downstairs. Wait here for me, understood?” His tone had changed
from warm to almost stern.

“
Yes, I
understand.”
Where had the easy-going,
likeable guy gone?
He could certainly be
serious at times. I filed that away for future
reference.

Left alone in the room, I
glanced around and noticed how sterile it was. Done in a pale lemon
colour, it was clean and neat but with no personal touches, like it
was straight out of a display home. This was definitely not his
room.

I got about a
third of the way through the form and stopped reading.
What was the point?
Understanding what the form entailed wasn’t going to affect
my decision to sign it. He had made it perfectly clear; if I wanted
to stay, I had to sign. It was that simple.

Once I had
added my signature, time seemed to drag. I tried not to fidget as I
sat staring at the closed door, waiting for him to return.
Was this some kind of challenge to see if I could
follow instructions?
I began to wonder if
certain rooms were out of bounds, or if this was the only one I was
allowed access to. Glancing around again, I concluded that it
didn’t seem to fit with the role I was here to play.

Unless...? Filling one entire
wall were built-in wardrobes with mirror doors. Perhaps what lay
behind them would reveal more about the room and its secretive
owner?

I was about to slide back one
of the panels when the door opened and Brendon came in.

“
What do you
think you’re doing? Did I say you could look in there?”

Bravely, I countered, “You
didn’t say I couldn’t look.”

He shook his head slowly as he
advanced further into the room, stopping mere inches from me.

“
Really? This
is how it’s going to be?”

I tipped my head back to stare
up at him. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“
Precisely my
point.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me forcefully towards the
chair.

He checked to see if I had
signed the form, before sternly addressing me, “All right, just so
we’re clear, you’re not allowed to look in any cupboards or drawers
except for the desk, unless I give you permission.

“
From your
actions, it’s clear you don’t know the meaning of the word
submissive. So right now, I want you to write down ten words to
describe submissive and ten for control. You are not allowed to use
the internet to get the answers.”

He reopened the drawer and
withdrew some loose blank sheets of paper, along with what looked
like another form, with several pages stapled together.

“
Then you
need to fill out these forms, truthfully. I am going to leave you
alone now. Will you do as I’ve asked?”

“
If you
really think it’s necessary.”

“
Yes I
do!”

I gazed into his eyes and
sighed deeply. “All right.”

He broke eye
contact first, nodded and left the room, closing the door behind
him.
Holy shit! What was this crap?
The expression on his face showed he was serious.
But he didn’t appear angry, it was more like determined.

Once more I
was left with the dilemma of choosing to do as he wanted, or leave.
Taking a peek at the form, I saw it was a list requiring a
yes
,
no
,
maybe
or a
don’t know
answer. At a glance, the
first few items were various sexual activities. I acknowledged this
was indeed necessary and definitely less embarrassing than having
to speak about them directly with him.

Even so, this was not playing
out as I had imagined. I presumed the role-playing would be on a
more physical than mental level. The physical side excited me; my
arm still tingled from his touch. So I guess I had my answer. I
would complete his silly English assignment before filling out his
sex questionnaire.

Okay,
submissive and control, I replayed his words from earlier. He
wanted someone who is submissive,
clearly
not me at the moment
. He wanted to be in
control,
obviously he meant in all
things
, to have someone who is at his
disposal and to chastise someone to comply with his
wishes.

Chastise didn’t seem like too
harsh a word. I made up my mind to have a look at synonyms for
chastise as well, if I had time. I knew comply meant to obey and
yes, submit. So compliant and obedient were my first submissive
words.

I was not able to go on the
net, but I could use the thesaurus on the word processing program,
right? Let’s face it, there was no way I was going to complete my
task without help.

On opening
the drawer I saw pens, pencils, even an eraser.
Should I use a pen or type them on the computer and print it
out?
I opted for a pencil. He did
specifically say to write, not type and with a pencil I could
easily rub out and change my answers if I needed to.

While waiting for the laptop to
start up, I began my homework. So, under the word submissive, I had
compliant and obedient. Opening a new Word document I typed
submissive and then checked the thesaurus for similar words. I was
surprised at how many synonyms there were and I only needed eight
more.

I quickly finished my list,
before typing control. The first word to come up was, of course,
dominate. I neatly copied it down, along with nine others.

On a separate sheet I wrote
chastise, just because I was curious. I envisaged chastise meant
telling someone off if they did the wrong thing, like a parent
would chastise a child. I was not prepared for the words – punish,
castigate, restrain, correct, penalise, repress, flog, whip, lash
and beat. In my opinion, those last four seemed too harsh to mean
chastise. Nevertheless, I copied them down and then put that sheet
of paper underneath the other one. After shutting down the system,
I glanced at the small alarm clock on the table next to the bed;
10.20 a m.

Okay, now to
tackle the form.
On closer inspection, I
noticed in addition to sexual acts, there were listings for
different types of bondage and discipline equipment and use
thereof. Under each section there were blank lines for
Comments/Questions. While a bit dazed at seeing everything listed
before me, it was more or less what I had been
expecting.

As I
proceeded down the list I noticed I had too many
maybe
,
don’t know
and
no
answers. Well, he
wanted the truth and honestly, I wasn’t sure about some of the
things listed. I assumed ‘maybe’ equated to
try it and see
and ‘don’t
know’
meant
not
sure if I want to try it
.

This was
harder than I imagined it would be. After completing the pages, I
went back over my answers, erasing and making changes, proud to see
my answers now had hardly any
nos
and fewer
don’t
knows
.

The forms done, I realised I
was thirsty – two much wine and not enough water. As a result of
the wine, I also needed to use the bathroom.

He had been
gone longer this time.
Was he even in the
house? Of course he was, right?
I recalled
last time he said he was going downstairs. What did he say this
time?
“I will leave you alone now.”
Did he mean alone in the room or alone in the
house?

I panicked and tried the door;
it wasn’t locked. Relieved, I quietly closed it again. At least I
wasn’t a prisoner here; I just didn’t know where here was.

This was surely another test to
see how patient I could be. Well, I knew one thing for certain, on
his return he would not find me looking in the cupboards.

To stretch my
legs, I ambled around the generous sized room. Apart from the desk
and the wardrobes, there were two bedside cabinets and an arm
chair; it did not look as comfortable as my bedroom chair at home.
Of course, the queen-sized bed dominated most of the space. The bed
furnishings were neutral in colour with a small floral pattern,
making the room appear quite feminine.
Perhaps if I stayed overnight this would be my room, my
bed.
I sat on the bed, bouncing on it to
test the softness of the mattress.

Of course this would be the
moment he chose to return. Instead of bursting into the room like
before, he was so quiet I didn’t initially notice him. I had my
head down and was facing away from the door, yet some feeling
alerted me to his presence.

I glanced up and saw him
lounging against the doorway, an unreadable expression on his
face.

“
Suzanna....”

Quickly I rose from the bed and
went to stand before him. “I’m sorry.”

He reached over and tilted my
chin up, like he had done at the park. “Beds are for fucking or
sleeping, got it?”

“
Yes, I’ve
got it.” I then asked softly, “May I use the bathroom,
please?”

His demeanour became less
serious as he answered, “Of course.”

Once again, he held my hand and
guided me further down the hallway. The door at the end stood open,
another bedroom. I noticed it was decorated in tones of black and
red, including a massive bed with a shiny black headboard. This,
undoubtedly, was his room. He steered me to the right towards a
bathroom; stark white complete with bath, shower and thankfully a
toilet.

When I came back out into the
hallway, he was there waiting. With his head he motioned for me to
follow as he retraced his steps to the other bedroom, with me
trailing behind. At the desk he picked up my pages. After he had
glanced at the completed lists, he nodded approvingly, “Good girl.”
Again he took my hand with the instruction, “Come.”

I was seated at the all-white
breakfast bar on one of the contrasting red stools. After placing
the notes on the coffee table, he had deposited me on one of the
stools, before moving to stand on the kitchen side of the
counter.