“Okay. Pull your jeans up. That’s it for today.”
Sophie pulled up her panties and jeans in relief while he turned off his camera and recapped the lens. Then he came to her, handing over her bra and helping her pull her shirt over her head. When she was dressed again he pulled her close. His strong arms came around her and he pressed a kiss on the top of her head.
“My good girl. I know that wasn’t easy for you.”
Sophie didn’t answer, just nestled closer to his chest. His happiness made it all worthwhile. She fought back the urge to tell him he’d be disappointed later when he developed the film, that she’d never had a good picture taken. She hadn’t even smiled in any of them. But then she thought better of it, and after that Cerberus went tearing through the trees after a squirrel or chipmunk again and Dave got distracted calling him back. Once Cerberus was reclaimed, they returned to the main trail by a different route. The sun was high in the sky now, it was probably noon or later. It filtered down onto the floor of the quiet forest, creating a soft light. They walked slowly, in silence, as if they both just wanted to enjoy the peaceful solitude.
“This way,” Dave said when they came to a fork in the path. They walked around a bend, stepping over gnarled roots and stones, and then came to a small clearing where the path sloped down sharply. “Be careful here,” Dave murmured, reaching for her hand. But Sophie stopped.
She looked around, experiencing an odd feeling of alertness, or déjà vu, or some strange mixture of both.
“What is it?” he asked.
She didn’t answer for a moment, couldn’t answer, because she didn’t know what to say. She knew this place. She had been here, she was sure of it, but her mind couldn’t settle on when. She was vaguely aware of him lifting the camera again. She heard the short series of clicks as if in a dream, as she looked up at the sky, the pattern of the branches against the blue, cloudy backdrop.
“Are you okay, baby?” he asked, lowering the camera.
“Yes.” She hugged herself and narrowed her eyes in confusion. “It’s just… I know this place. But I don’t know how.”
“Maybe you came here as a child.”
“Maybe.” But she’d never gone hiking as a child. She turned around once more, trying to clear the confusion in her mind. She looked down the steep slope before them. “I don’t know. It’s so weird. Oh well.”
“It’s pretty here, isn’t it?
“Yes, it’s beautiful with the clearing and that slope.” She looked downward at the rock-pocked, eroded pathway flanked with dense trees. “It feels special here, I guess. Almost as if that path could go anywhere.”
Dave smiled and took her hand again. “I know exactly what you mean.”
They continued down, slip-sliding when the path grew steepest. Cerberus blew by both of them, waiting at the foot until they finally caught up, laughing from the exertion of not tumbling down in a heap. On the main trail again, as the trees cleared and the sun reached its zenith, Sophie smiled up at Dave. He winked at her and strolled a few more yards before he dropped her hand and made his way over to a tree. He flipped a few of the smaller branches back and forth. It only took a moment for Sophie to realize his intent and start to flush crimson.
Don’t make me cut a switch, girl. Because I will.
When he returned, he was holding a thin whippy branch. He sheared the leaves from it with casual movements as they continued on their way back to his car. When he finished stripping it bare, he handed it over to her.
“Hold this until we get home.”
“Yes Sir.” Sophie accepted the switch with shaking fingers. Cerberus ran ahead, jubilant and oblivious, until Dave called him back to snap on his leash. Then Dave took her other hand, squeezed it, and whistled a bright tune as they made their way out of the forest into the city park.
She blushed as they walked through the parking lot. Did anyone wonder why she was carrying what was obviously a switch? Dave opened the door for her, ushering her into the car. Sophie held the switch on her lap, hot and scared and aroused and joyous, the entire drive home.
* * * * *
Dave tried not to smile like an idiot. It wouldn’t be conducive to the scene he was trying to develop. But he couldn’t stifle the grin that lurked just around the corners of his mouth. There was nothing on earth like a midmorning hike into a forest to photograph your beautiful sub, and then making her drive home with a switch on her lap. A switch she very well knew was going to be applied to her gorgeous, heart-shaped bottom as soon as they arrived home. He was looking forward to bending her over and cuffing her to the bed. Maybe even making her stand facing the wall. And then he would mark her lovely ass with the switch, watch her cry out and fidget as he disciplined her—
He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. His jeans were growing tight in the groin region. But God, he loved her. He reached out for her hand and she had to move the switch to her other hand to take it. Nice sweaty palms. Well, he wouldn’t really hurt her. Not too much.
No, just enough. He was finally getting to the point of feeling comfortable with just how much she could take and not going any further. At first, it was always a tentative dance. Giving out pain, gauging reactions, the guilt of going too far, or the disappointment of not going far enough.
The intensity of pain play had never mattered to him. All he really needed was reaction. The gasps, the sobs, the tumble down into subspace and the freeing of sexual and emotional energy. That was all he needed to feel a scene was a success. He’d been with girls who’d given him complete surrender after a light spanking over his lap, and he’d been with girls for whom no less than outright torture fulfilled them. He drew lines at scarring or maiming, but otherwise he was up for however much, or little, pain a woman desired.
Sophie, so far, seemed most comfortable somewhere in the middle. A light spanking or sensation play was not enough. Serious violence and hard pain, on the other hand, drove her into a shell, and no wonder.
It had taken Dave a long time to get over the feelings of rage and vengefulness every time Sophie showed him her body, marked by scars. Some were more noticeable than others. Some were so faint that he only saw them when he was right up close to her, licking her shoulder or stroking her bottom cheek under the high-watt lights. He thought he must have seen them all by now. He subjected her to such scrutiny the first days and weeks of their relationship, as much to soothe and reassure her as to inure himself to the damage. He spent hours going over every inch of her, whispering,
You’re beautiful. You’re lovely. You’re perfect as you are.
Thinking the whole time that he’d like to smash walls for what Barry had done to her. Thinking of what he’d do if he ever met him face-to-face.
But there had been no word of Barry in the months since Dave met her, and she claimed she hadn’t communicated with him for months before. Dave made a halfhearted effort to get her to press charges against him, but her face at those words had stabbed at his heart. “I just want to let it go,” she’d said. “I can’t. Please don’t make me.” So he hadn’t, although he was a hard-ass about getting her to her therapy appointments even when she didn’t want to go. He knew they were helping. He’d seen a huge difference in her since they’d been together.
He also worked with her on self-defense techniques gleaned from his martial arts experience, which gave both of them peace of mind. If Barry ever showed up at her work or night classes when he wasn’t there to defend her, he was determined she be able to defend herself. He practiced with her a couple times a week at least, wonderful, grapply sessions that always put him in an amorous mood.
He squeezed her hand. Speaking of amorous moods… He turned into the driveway and looked over at his girl.
“Tell me, Soph. What’s the rule about eye-rolling?”
“I…uh… I didn’t think you—”
“Answer me. Is eye-rolling respectful behavior, even if I’m not looking?”
She swallowed, her hand opening and closing on the switch.
“No Sir. It’s not respectful at all. I’m sorry.”
“I’m glad to hear you’re sorry but we have a rule about disrespectful behavior, don’t we?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Remind me of the rule.” Ah, the squirming was delicious.
“It’s…um…ah…”
“Answer me without the stammering.”
“The rule is that disrespectful behavior is punished, Sir.”
“Punished how?”
“However… However you see fit, Sir.”
“Mm.” He took the switch from her fingers and tapped her thigh with it. “Inside. Take your clothes off and stand against the wall in the bedroom.”
He watched her go, secretly thrilling to the reluctance in her movement. Lovely subbie. He would hurt her a little, but he would love her a lot more than that.
He took his time corralling Cerberus from the backseat and collecting his photography equipment, enjoying thoughts of Sophie waiting, nervous and tense, in the bedroom. He even took a few moments to get a cola in the kitchen, then as an afterthought grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator for Sophie. He left Cerby waiting at the bedroom door.
“Sorry, friend. You won’t like this scene. I’m going in there to bring the pain to your favorite person.” Cerby gazed up at him, droll canine accusation, and let out a small whine. “She likes it, Cerb. Don’t give me that look. But you’d best stay out for now, boy.”
* * * * *
She heard him shut the door. She was assailed with familiar feelings of fear, excitement and base lust. She tried to stand straight and still, her nipples and knees to the wall the way he’d taught her. Hyper-alert, she heard each soft footfall until he stood beside her and then the brush of hair against her ear.
“Hello, naughty girl.”
“Hello, Sir,” she whispered into the wall.
“Here. Drink. Don’t want you to get dehydrated when you start crying.” She snorted, stifling laughter as he nuzzled her. As she took a few sips of water, Cerby’s low whine sounded from just outside the door. “Go lie down, boy,” Dave called. “She’s in good hands.” He ran his hands down over her ass cheek. “Very good hands. Aren’t you?”
“Yes Sir.” She took a shuddery breath.
He ran his fingers through her hair, parting it, soothing the tension in her neck. “You hate it when I make you wait, don’t you?”
“Yes Sir. To be honest.”
“Well then, let’s not make you wait any longer. Put your hands on the wall.”
When she was in position, he stepped back and striped her bottom with the switch. She yelped and went up on her toes from the searing pain. Another stripe of fire and she was already pleading.
“Sir, Please!”
He put his hand on the small of her back. “Take some deep breaths. As you know, it’s not meant to feel good. You’re being punished for being disrespectful.”
She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her throat. She loved his discipline, but she hated it. Each painful stroke destroyed her and yet fulfilled her. They elevated her to a higher plane of existence—Dave’s will, and her submission to it. But it
hurt
. “I’m okay, Sir. I’m sorry. Please punish me as you see fit.”
“I will. But let’s remember once more why you’re submitting to this. When you disrespect me, even subtly, it undermines the entire basis of our happiness. Doesn’t it?”
His kind, patient voice shamed her more than any ranting or railing. “Yes Sir. I hate when I’m disrespectful to you.”
“And I am respectful to you, am I not? I handle you very carefully. I do that out of respect for you and respect for our dynamic.”
“Yes Sir.” She would cry in a moment if he didn’t just get on with it. “Please, Sir. I’m so ashamed.”
“That’s good sometimes, isn’t it? To feel ashamed? Sometimes it suits you.” He nuzzled her again, running his hand over her ass and between her cheeks, probing her asshole. It took every ounce of her control to be still and let him do it.
“Good girl,” he said, recognizing her effort. “I think I’ll plug you before I whip you. I know that always makes you feel very submissive and remorseful.”
Sophie couldn’t do anything but emit a small sigh of agreement and wait. She heard him rummage in the chest of toys and then go into the bathroom. He returned and she resisted the impulse to look over and see what toy he’d selected. She’d know soon enough anyway, by feel. He had larger toys he used to truly punish her. She wasn’t sure how angry he really was today. Disrespect was a huge sticking point with him. However, it hadn’t been an overt or verbal show of will, and he seemed in a pretty good mood. Maybe he’d just use the smaller one he put in to warm her up for anal sex.
She tensed and then willed herself to relax as he pushed the plug against her tiny hole. He eased it in slowly, pausing when she drew her breath in, when it reached that widest point of girth and she had to pant to accept it. He gave her just a moment before he pressed it all the way home. She felt full, impaled. It wasn’t the largest one, that made her feel pried open, but it wasn’t the smallest one either, that delivered mostly sensation. It was a medium one, enough to remind her that he was teaching her a lesson, but not so much that she forgot what the lesson was.
She’d barely adjusted to the fullness of the invasion when Dave resumed the punishment. Now there was the sharp, fiery sensation of the stripes to bear, on top of the throbbing in her ass.
One moment at a time
, she reminded herself.
You earned this. Present and accept.
Her hands made fists as each stroke fell. The switch licked across her flesh with a hot, stinging pain that made her rise up on her toes and grit her teeth. He didn’t make her count out loud but she counted in her head in desperation.
One, two, three, four, five.
Six was the hardest yet and she pressed her forehead to the wall with a soft cry, her body strung up tight.