In the Rain (20 page)

I
couldn't help smiling at the pet name which had
become so much more than that. He never used it outside my submission, but
somehow it offered me a sense of comfort, and slowly, I started to relax. I let
my mind go blank and dropped onto my knees, using the towel as a bit of padding
between myself and the hard floor.

Clothes
weren't an issue. After taking a long shower, Thayre demanded I wear a
towel—the very same one he had me fold and place in front of my feet once I
entered the room.

Damp
hair swept from the middle of my back, over one shoulder and onto my breast as
Thayre guided it across my otherwise warm skin. Goosebumps pricked on my arms
and legs, and my nipples hardened from the burning cold tendrils of fire that managed
to reach them.

I
took a shaky breath, trying my best to stay alert as the room tilted to one
side. I'm not sure when it happened, but I'd closed my eyes, and after weeks of
wearing a blindfold, I knew better than to open them to see where we were. We
were still in the guestroom, but as Thayre caressed my left cheek, stepped in
front of me, then away, my sense of direction vanished.

I
felt more than heard Thayre's footsteps as he moved across the room. Drawers
opened, and my spine straightened at the sound of chains jingling together. I
breathed in through my nose. Held it. Let it out slowly. He wouldn't gag me.
There was no need when I wasn't on the cross. And yet, I still whimpered loud
enough for him to hear as he turned toward me.

"Not
all pain lands on your back,"
he'd said at one time.
"Sometimes
it isn't pain at all."

Hot
and cold. Hard and soft. They had completely different meanings when I was on
my knees as opposed to whatever we did outside this room.

I
lifted my head, trying to track Thayre as I'd lost mental sight of him again.
The air around me was warm. Still. A droplet of water freed itself from my
hair, and I focused on that single
drop of moisture as it traveled past my breast, around my navel, and finally
stopped above my bikini line.

I
wanted to brush it away. To pull my hair up and wring it out while Thayre
wasn't looking. I unclasped my hands from behind my back and slowly—

"Don't
make me cuff you," Thayre said, his voice equal parts playful and
demanding.

I
put my hands back in place, lowered my gaze and smiled. At least now, I knew
where he was—still across the room, getting closer. Something opened and closed
again.
The fridge.
I shuddered. Either he was getting out our water
bottles, or—

Crack.
Crack. Pop.

I
winced.
Ice.

Footsteps
again. Toward me. He stopped off to my side, setting the ice down with a gentle
thud so close to my feet I could feel the cold coming off the tray.

"Are
you okay?" Thayre asked somewhere behind me.

"Yes,
Sir."

"Are
you uncomfortable?"

I
shifted my weight front one knee to the other, and nodded. "A little,
but I'm okay, Sir."

"Let
me know if it gets to be too much."

His
warm touch trailed along my right check to my neck. My collarbone. Slowly, very
slowly trailing his fingertips closer to my breast. He stopped centimeters from
my nipple.

"I
love it when you're like this,"
he said, his hand still.

"And
how is that,
Sir?"

"When
you have no idea what's to come and end up expecting it all. So many different
opportunities. So many ways to make you—"

"Oh
God!" I yelped as a cube of ice fell onto the center of my back.

Thayre's
laugh made me shiver even more
than the ice had. He was great at tormenting me, and tonight would be no
different. The ice burned my skin as Thayre moved it alongside my spine. I
jumped when the cube suddenly disappeared, reappearing at the very same moment
on the backs of my legs.

It
was the worst kind of mind
game. While my body still registered the cold of the cube in one place, Thayre
could easily surprise me by moving it somewhere else. Without warning.

His
hot-as-fire lips kissed the frozen flesh at the same moment he moved the ice to
trace the side of my breast. Down my ribs. Along my hip.

I
whimpered. Tried to draw away from the cold, but was then touched on my other
side with the ice. The cube was shrinking, but it wasn't small enough. Just
like the single
drop of water that had freed itself from my hair and trickled down to my bikini
line, the cold cube was superimposed in my mind.

He
kissed my neck as the ice cube slithered up the inside of my thigh. Toughed my
clit. I arched my back. Tried to clamp my legs shut, but Thayre's hands stopped
me.

"I
could've restrained you," he said against my ear, smiling into my neck
when he parted my pussy lips with his fingers, the ice cube or both. "But
you may have gotten the wrong idea."

I
let my head rest against his shoulder as he thrust two fingers inside me. My
body shook on its own, and I lowered onto my hands and knees.

Thayre
pulled my hair. "Did I say to get on all fours?"

I
forced myself up on my knees. My teeth chattered. "No, Sir."

Then,
in a gentler voice, Thayre said, "Are you uncomfortable?"

"Yes,
Sir."

"Can
you stay on your knees a while longer, or do you want to change positions?"

I
straightened my back. Leaned to one side, then the other. "I should be
okay, Sir."

"Let
me know if that changes."

I
bobbed my head and closed my eyes, giving in to the electricity that sparked
from his fingertips on my clit. I thrust at him as he quickened the pace,
breathing hard through my nose as I forgot all about the ice cube.

Thayre
reached his free hand around me, pinching my nipple until it hardened from his
touch. The fingers on my slit slowed, then stopped. I swallowed hard as that same
chain from before jingled behind me.

Something
cold touched my breast. "You know what this is, don't you?" Thayre
asked, twisting at my hard nipple before closing the clamp around it.

I
screwed my eyes tight from the momentary pain.
Breathe, Moyra. Remember to
breathe.
I did, with a little effort.

Inhale.

Thayre's
fingers pinched the other nipple.

Exhale.

He
kissed behind my ear.

Inhale-exhale
hard.

He
closed the second clamp, letting go of the chain between them so it hung from
my breasts. "Doing okay?"

I
nodded.

"Get
on all fours."

Thankful
for the rest, I pressed my palms into the wood and widened my stance, thrusting
at Thayre when I sensed him getting closed to me.

Using
one finger, he pulled on the chain just enough
to make me squirm. "I bet you’re tight. In fact, I know you are, and do
you know why that is?"

I
trembled. Shook my head. "No, Sir."

"Because
of this." He tugged on the chain again. Harder this time, sending bolts of
electric flame up and down my spine. "And this." He pulled on my hair
so I was looking up at the ceiling.

I
whimpered. Moaned as he pressed his lips to mine. Nearly screamed as he thrust
inside me. He released my hair, and I bowed my head between my arms. He'd
released the chain connected to my breasts, but every time he pumped inside me,
my body rocked, and as it did, the chain tugged on my breasts to keep them
tingling and my body aching for more. More pleasure. More pain. More
Thayre.

I
clawed at the floor. Winced from the odd texture under my nails. And Thayre
thrust faster. Harder. Grunted and grabbed onto both of my hips.

"Play
with yourself."

Steadying
myself on one arm, I circled my clit with my fingers. Pressed harder. Fucked my
hand faster as the first tremors of my orgasm threatened to tear me apart.
Not
yet, Moyra. For fuck's sake, not yet.
Not until Thayre was ready. While I
was free to climax whenever I wanted, going at the same time gave me more of a
rush than when I finished alone.

"Faster,"
I begged, my legs shaking beneath us.

Thayre
didn't ask me how close I was, and by now, he probably knew. Between the
pain-pleasure searing on my breasts, my hardening clit and the heated desire of
my pussy, I wasn't going to last.

He
dug his fingers into my hips, and, using long strokes, thrusts into me as deep
as he could. His hot breath hit against my shoulders, his moans causing my clit
to throb as much with need for my release as his own.

I
pushed back. Tightened my kegels. Held my breath. But as white sparks crowded
my vision, Thayre sent me tumbling over the edge. I gasped and came, and as the
euphoria passed, the pain of the clamps on my breasts grounded me.

"Sir,
may I?"

"Remove
them," Thayre grunted. Thrust again.

Wincing
at the very real pain that was
to come, I inhaled, exhaling with a strangled gasp as I removed the first
clamp. Thayre's breath caught, and timing his thrusts with the removal of the
second clamp, he came fast and hard. Hugged an arm around my middle. Slumped
over me until we'd both had the chance to catch our breath.

"Don't,"
I whimpered as he reached for my breasts.

"Still
sore?" Thayre asked, kissing the nape of my neck as he withdrew, more than
likely shuddering from the sensitivity of his now spent cock.

I
sat on the floor and watched him as he disposed of the condom, accepting his
hand when he offered it to me. Once I was on my feet, I joined him over on the
spare bed, climbing under the blankets and in his arms as we both tasted each
other's lips. The salt of sweat met my tongue, and I ran my fingers through his
damp hair.

"Looks
like we
might need another shower," I said, pressing my forehead against his own.

He
took a breath and held me close. "After a nap."

I
smiled, and, with Thayre's body warm against mine, I closed my eyes. With our
bodies more than spent for the time being,
and given the long days we'd had, the need for rest quickly honed in on us. And
before I could give it another thought, I was thrust into dreaming of what was,
what is and what I may become.
Sub. Violinist. Musician and lover.
I
wanted it all.

C
hair
legs screeched across the stage on the other side of the curtain, and as the
clamor of voices rose from a handful of people to dozens, then hundreds, my
heart skipped a beat. I took a breath, eased myself back into a normal pattern,
but it only lasted
so long until my heart palpitated again. It was my first big show, but looking
at the other musicians, they seemed as nervous as I was.

Tabby
busied herself by tuning her cello for what may have been the twentieth time—even though
we both knew it was at the perfect setting. Still, because of the viral videos
of us playing in town a few weeks ago, her anxiety was as ramped up as mine was.

Thayre
seemed unusually calm. All through practice he'd been wound tighter than the
rest of us, but either he somehow had released the tension on his own, or he
put his game face on. It had to be the latter. No way in hell he wasn't
nervous. Not when we expected a full house, and not when we were playing
Webster-freaking-Hall.

Speak
of the devil. I forced a smile as Thayre stepped toward us, the expression on
his face being one
I couldn't comprehend. "Okay, folks. This is the real deal, but we need to
change our plans a bit. The stage in front of the curtain has only so
much room, and unless you want to be bumping elbows, we're going to have to get
creative." He waved to someone offstage, directing a cart of folding
chairs into the middle of us. "We'll have to set up some chairs here as
well and play with the curtain open. No backdrops. That said, you'll still have
your normal seating arrangements, but you might be farther to the back."

We
nodded, and Thayre went to, I assumed, the front of the stage to keep his eye
on the audience.

Behind
the curtain and already on stage, cases clicked opened. Folding chairs were
rearranged as everyone else settled into their seats. Sheet music shuffled, and
stands clunked on the floor. We were just about
ready, but I hadn't taken out my violin yet. My hands were clammy as I worked
on the silver locks. I'd played the violin Thayre had gotten for me ever since
the night I'd brought it home.

In
fact, it had taken quite the beating, but it hadn't run the full marathon yet.
Almost
there.
It just had
to last me until the end of the night.
No problem.

I
opened the case, but my violin wasn't the only thing
inside. Nestled between my violin and bow was an envelope, and beside it an
elaborate band of steel.
A collar.
The size and shape was unmistakable,
and while it was nowhere near the cheap-ass collar Bret had given me, I'd seen
others like it.
Careful as to not alert anyone of the mysterious gifts, I glanced over my
shoulder, then opened the envelope.

I
told you you'd never have to choose, and now you don't have to. Wear this, and
be proud of who you are. You may have found your way into Transcendence due to
my loss of a violinist, but you've always had my heart. Always.

Your
adoring Master,

Thayer

The
stupid grin on my face would surely give me away, but the one person who approached
me was the author of the letter.

Thayre
stepped up behind me and kissed the side of my neck. "Do you like it?"

I
wiped the tears from my eyes, then turned to face him. "You have no idea.
Thank you."

"We'll
keep it in your case until later, but once we're alone..." He finished the
sentence with a lift of his eyebrows and a grin on his face.