TRUTH (39 page)

She glanced at me through the mirror, and I realized she had a smirk on her face. I blushed and lowered my eyes to the floor.

“No need to be embarrassed, Brianna. I know Stephan likes hair pulling, too. And from the look on your face, you don’t mind it either.”

I shook my head but remained silent.

The next thing I knew, she was kneeling in front of me. “Don’t ever be ashamed of what you enjoy. As long as it’s something you both want, then who cares what other people think?”

“So it’s not . . . weird?”

“That you like it when Stephan pulls your hair? No. Not at all. I happen to love when Logan pulls my hair. It reminds me that he’s in complete control of me and my body, and that he can take what he wants from me.”

“It doesn’t . . . scare you?”

“Nope. Does it scare you when Stephan does it?”

“No. But sometimes . . . sometimes I think maybe it should?”

Lily smiled up at me. “Brianna, there are always going to be things in life other people don’t understand about you. Last year, my sister found out about my lifestyle. Logan and I hadn’t been dating all that long, and she still had a key to my apartment. She says she knocked, and when no one answered, she let herself in. When she walked into my bedroom, she found me tied to the bed, lying face up, with Logan’s cock in my mouth.”

My eyes went wide. “What . . .”

“What did she do?”

I nodded.

“She started screaming at Logan. Needless to say, it completely killed the mood, not that her walking in hadn’t done that in and of itself, but . . . Logan immediately began untying me as I tried to calm her down, but she wouldn’t listen. She pushed him out of the way and started loosening the ropes herself.”

Lily seemed to be lost in a memory for a while, so I remained quiet and waited.

“After I was free, I put a robe on, sat her down, and explained what she walked in on.” Lily paused. “She was furious.”

“She was scared for you.”

“Yes. I didn’t understand it at the time, though.” She seemed sad. “I found out later her husband had tried something like that with her once and she’d freaked out on him. She thought Logan was forcing me to do something I didn’t want to do, and when I told her he wasn’t, she couldn’t wrap her mind around why or how I could want something like that.”

“Stephan has ropes. He hasn’t used them on me, but . . . but I told him he could.” It felt strange admitting that, even to Lily.

She smiled. “I love ropes. They make you feel helpless, yet centered at the same time.”

“I don’t know if I’ll like them.”

Lily cocked her head to the side, studying me. “And you’re afraid if you don’t like them you’ll upset Stephan?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t be. Stephan’s a big boy. He’ll get over it.”

“But . . .”

“But?”

“I want to like it.”

“Because he does?”

I nodded.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret. When I first started playing, I was eighteen. During my first experience, my boyfriend at the time, Danny, put these nipple clamps on me. They were the adjustable kind, but he tightened them as far as they would go. After that, I swore I’d never let another set of nipple clamps near me again.” She moved to sit back on the bed. “But do you know what? Now I love them. Danny had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He’d never used clamps before, and it showed.”

“What changed your mind?”

“After we broke up, I realized a couple of things. First, I craved domination, especially in the bedroom. Sex was okay without it, but with it I’d experienced some of the most intense orgasms in my life.” She shifted again, this time to face me. “So when I went looking for another relationship, I searched out the local BDSM community and started going to munches.”

“What are . . . munches?”

“They’re social events. Nothing fancy. Usually just dinner at a restaurant.”

So people who liked ropes and nipple clamps and . . . well, I didn’t know what else . . . all met for dinner and . . . what?

“A few months later, I started going to some of the play parties. That’s where I met my first experienced Dom. He was older than I was and had been in the lifestyle for ten years. It took him about six months to get me to the point where I was willing to try clamps on my nipples again, but I will forever be grateful. It was amazing.”

She told me a little more about this Dom and how he’d opened her eyes to many things. By the time he’d moved away for his job, her list of limits had become more defined. “It all came down to communication. He was willing to talk to me, explain things. Danny wasn’t.”

We talked a little more before she glanced up at the clock. “We should get out there. They’re going to think something’s wrong and come back to check on us soon.”

Lily stood and slipped on a pair of heels.

I stood with her and walked toward the door.
 

She turned, reached for my hand, and squeezed. “I’ll be okay, Brianna. I promise.”

I nodded and hoped she was right.

Chapter 28

Stephan

“She seems nervous.”

I watched until I could no longer see Brianna before answering Logan. “She is.”

“Do you think she’ll be all right with this?”

“I have no idea. Brianna has the tendency to surprise me. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes, bad. I never know until it happens. The only thing that I know is absolutely off limits is name calling. We’ve been working on it, but even the words themselves, without any context whatsoever, can set her off.”

Logan nodded. “Lily was concerned about her this morning. We had a long conversation about it.”

Brianna had handed me her glass before she’d gone to see Lily. I placed it on the floor beside my chair, and leaned back. “She was worried about Brianna?”

“Yep.”

“Brianna’s worried you’ll hurt Lily.”

“Hopefully the two of them talking beforehand helps calm her fears.”

I took a drink of my water. “Hopefully.”

“How was your trip?” I wanted to steer the conversation away from the purpose of our visit before my own anxiety increased. As much as I tried to downplay it for Brianna’s sake, I was apprehensive about what might happen. Not with Logan and Lily, but with Brianna herself. As I’d mentioned to Logan, Brianna was unpredictable in new situations. I wanted this to be a positive experience for her, but that wasn’t guaranteed.

“I have to fly back next week.”

“I thought you were getting some time at home after this last trip.”

“Yeah. So did I. Turns out some things that were supposed to be ready last week weren’t.”

“How’d Lily take the news?”

Logan pressed both index fingers against the bridge of his nose. I could tell he was agitated. Maybe work hadn’t been the best topic of conversation. “She wasn’t happy, that’s for sure. I thought she was going to make me sleep out on the couch when I got home Thursday night.”

I could see Lily doing exactly that. “You could have slept in her room, you know.”

“No. That’s her space. I wouldn’t violate it like that. Plus, she’d probably come in the middle of the night and dump a bucket of ice water on me or something.”

I laughed.

“It’s different with you. You’ve never had a twenty-four-seven relationship with someone.” He paused. “Well, until now.”

“My relationship with Brianna isn’t exactly what you’d call normal.”

“No. It’s not.” He leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “She seems happier, though. Even with the stress today is obviously causing her, you can see a huge difference. Especially from the first time I met her.”

“Yes. She has more good days than bad now.”

As if hearing her name, Brianna appeared with Lily.
 

Lily stopped right inside the room, and Brianna looked back for several long seconds before walking the rest of the way to where I was sitting. I set my glass down and opened my arms. She hurried to climb into my lap.
 

“Did you have a nice chat with Lily?” I whispered in her ear.

She nodded.

“Good. Now I want you to turn and watch.” She did as I instructed, maneuvering her body so that she was facing the center of the room. I wrapped my arms around her middle and rested my chin on her shoulder. “Just watch.”

Lily stood with her head down, her hands behind her back, and her feet shoulder width apart. My guess was this was an instruction given to her by Logan earlier, since their normal starting position had her kneeling. It made sense, though, to have her enter the room and pause to get into her submissive mindset. It also gave her a little more freedom given the unknown Brianna added to the scenario.

Logan walked slowly over to her, observing. He circled her, not touching at first, and then glided his hands over her exposed skin. I could tell by the change in the rise and fall of Lily’s chest that he was getting the reaction he wanted.

“Go stand in the middle of the rug and hold your position.”

She moved to comply and was back in her pose within a matter of seconds. So far, Brianna was doing well, but then again, nothing had happened yet.
 

We watched as Logan picked up a brown leather bag and placed it beside the couch. Kneeling down, he unzipped it and removed a black leather collar with a D-ring. He walked behind her, unlocked the silver day collar she wore, and replaced it with the leather one.
 

Going back to his toy bag, Logan removed three lengths of rope. He returned to stand in front of Lily. “Lift your arms.”

Lily stood with her arms out to her side at shoulder height. I’d told Logan I wanted there to be some simple bondage but hadn’t clarified what type. He knew what Lily liked, so I’d thought it best to leave it up to him. It made me smile to see he’d chosen breast bondage. It was one of Lily’s favorites, and something I’d love to try on Brianna one day. The ropes restricted blood flow to the breasts just enough to heighten sensation.

As I watched Logan bind Lily’s breasts, I realized how much more proficient he’d become since the last time I’d seen him use any form of bondage. It made me wonder if he’d found a rope master to mentor him, or if he’d been studying up on his own and using Lily as a practice model. Either way, I was sure she didn’t mind. Lily loved ropes.

Once the ropes were in place surrounding her breasts, he checked to make sure they weren’t too tight before giving Lily permission to lower her arms. So far, so good. Brianna was watching. Her breathing was steady. All was good. Hopefully it would stay that way.

Logan threaded the second rope between the center of Lily’s breasts, underneath her current bindings, and brought it up around her shoulders to create tension. The result was an increased tightening of the rope around each breast. Looking up at Lily’s face, I could already see the euphoria building.
 

With the breast bondage in place, he took the third and final piece of rope and secured her wrists. When he was satisfied with that, Logan went back to his bag and pulled out a pair of nipple clamps. Brianna saw them as well, and jerked in my arms. I placed a soft kiss on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze.
 

The clamps Logan had selected were connected by a silver chain. In Lily’s current position, her back arched slightly causing her breasts to jut out.

Leaning down, Logan took her left breast into his mouth and sucked. Lily closed her eyes.

It took several minutes before he appeared to be satisfied and released her breast. He immediately took her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, pulled slightly, and then positioned the clamp. The whole process took less than three seconds. Lily sucked in a breath. Brianna cringed.
 

Logan moved on to Lily’s other breast and did the same thing. With the clamps on both nipples, he released the chain and let it dangle between her breasts before giving it a light tug. I watched as her skin stretched in reaction to the pull. Lily remained unmoving except for another gulp of air.

“How does that feel?”

“Good, Sir.”

He lowered his hand between Lily’s legs and slipped two fingers beneath the small pair of panties she wore. “Hmm. I see you’re already wet for me. Such a bad girl you are.”

I glanced at Brianna. She was watching with wide eyes, but her breathing was still fairly normal and she wasn’t clenching her fists. I kissed the side of her face and refocused on Logan and Lily.

Lily teetered a little on her heels as Logan thrust his fingers inside her. I couldn’t see how many, but he wasn’t being gentle about it. With every upward motion, she moved, even though I could tell she was attempting to remain still.

“What do you think I should do about your naughty behavior, Lily?”

The movement had been scarcely noticeable, but apparently it hadn’t escaped Logan’s attention. Lily wanted to be spanked, and she wasn’t above being a brat to get it. Logan raised his hand and then slammed it down on her bare ass.
 

The sound of his hand connecting with her flesh had barely registered before Brianna was up and running. It took only a second for me to realize what had happened . . . and why.