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“You still don’t understand.” He sighed.
“Christy, I don’t want to lose you again. I need you to believe me
in this.”

“What’s to believe?” she snapped.

“Photographing BDSM play was one of my
businesses.” He raised the professional camera that he had set
beside him. “This one happens to tie in with my passion. You can
see I was fully clothed. There was nothing sexual between the women
and me.”

“Is that why you took pictures of me and you
when we played?” Heat made her body burn. “Because of your
business? Because of your passion?”

He rubbed his temples with his thumb and
forefinger. “No. That was just for us.”

“Unlock my wrists and ankles.” She pulled
against them and tried for another tactic. “Please.”

For a long moment he studied her, then slid
his hand into his front pants pocket and drew out a key. He stood
and reached in and unlocked the locks from the cage at her ankles
and her wrists, but he didn’t take off the cuffs and he kept her
wrists secured behind her back.

He helped her to stand inside the cage, then
picked her up and set her on the floor.

She wanted to kick him in the shins and run,
but she supposed that might be a little childish of her. Instead
she took a deep breath and raised her chin. “Take off these cuffs,
Zach, now.”

He shook his head. “Not just yet.”

Pain welled up inside of her. “I was cheated
on once, Zach. I’m not going through that ever again.”

“I’m not cheating.” His gaze hardened. He
took her by her upper arm and practically dragged her toward the
large TV screen that hung on one wall, near the desk and chair. He
pushed her down in a chair in front of the screen.

“What are you doing?” She frowned when he
wouldn’t let her stand. Before she could try again he clipped her
cuffs behind her to one of the chair’s spindles.

“You’re going to watch this.” He went to the
desk and returned with a remote control. “What you’ll see is
everything from the start of the session to the end.”

Since she didn’t have a choice she set her
jaw and stared at the screen. When it started, on the screen Zach
was sitting behind his desk and Mistress Donna and Vicky were
seated in front of it. The two women had their clothes on, the same
clothing they were wearing when they’d left.

He had one set of papers in front of Donna,
and another in front of Vicky. The onscreen Zach said, “Everything
we do here is recorded from the moment you enter this dungeon to
when you leave. This is for legal purposes only. I do not use the
video for any other purposes.”

“Okay,” the sub said, and the Domme added,
“Of course.”

“Just so we understand each other,” he said
as he pointed to lines on the pages for them to read, “This
describes the scene and what will happen and you are consenting to
what will happen. It also says I have the exclusive right to use
all the images that are taken of you.”

“Understood,” the Domme said and the sub
nodded in agreement.

“Vicky, are you at least nineteen?” he
asked.

“Yes.” She had a soft, pretty voice. “I’m
twenty-three.”

“Let me see your driver’s licenses, please,
both of you.” He took one from the sub then ran it through a
special scanner that she’d seen somewhere else. It was obviously to
make sure the license was legit.

He went through several other conditions then
had each of them sign two copies of the forms. He gave them each a
copy and kept one for himself, which he filed in a drawer.

“You ladies get ready, and I will make sure
I’m prepared,” he said as he stood.

Christy frowned as she stared at the screen,
watching everything that was happening. Was he telling the truth?
Or did he not participate in this one later, for her benefit?

“This part gets a little boring, so I’ll
speed it up,” Zach said to Christy and he raised the remote. He
fast-forwarded until the Domme and sub came out of the shower room
and then let Christy watch as the session began.

It wasn’t long before the onscreen Zach
looked toward the dungeon door, set down his camera and left. The
door was not onscreen, the camera only showing at an angle from the
desk to the play area.

A little bit later, she heard Zach’s voice
and him telling the Domme and the sub, “She’s supposed to be here
for the next shoot but wants to play a little since she’s here
early.”

And then from that point on the scene was as
Christy had watched it unfold. He fast-forwarded once it got into
the part that Christy had already watched.

The whole thing was recorded through the
moment the Domme and sub left the dungeon.

Christy sat still as she let everything
settle in her mind. Zach came up behind her and unlocked her
cuffs.

She stood and looked at him, her chin raised.
“All right,” she said. “How do I know this isn’t just an example of
you photographing and not playing as a part of business?”

“Would you like to see another?” He walked to
the set of drawers beside the desk and rolled open a drawer. It was
full of DVD jewel cases. “Pick any one you want.”

She followed him and looked in the drawer.
The cases were labeled, numbered, and organized by date. She picked
up one at random and handed it to him. “This one.”

He took it from her then loaded the DVD into
the player. Again he pointed the remote at the TV and a similar
scene unfolded with a male Dom and a female sub signing papers, and
then changing into latex outfits and playing.

“Well?” Zach paused it and looked from the
screen to Christy. “Do you see all of the lighting in the room?
It’s set up for this. From time to time I rent this dungeon out to
others from the same club that participated in the auction, I am
just very discreet about this due to my other businesses. I started
doing this years ago. I separate my business from my personal time
here.

Christy frowned. “Are you telling me that you
don’t have photos of women you have played with yourself as you did
me?

“I told you,” he said. “I have dated women
and this is a part of it. I am monogamous in a relationship.”

“Where are the other photographs, with those
women?” she asked.

“I deleted the photos for both women when we
broke up,” he said. ”They asked me to and I did it.”

She gestured to her surroundings. “Then why
this huge dungeon with showers and a desk and a TV?”

“I did it for myself,” he said. “I can afford
it and I always wanted a dungeon, and I appreciate quality. I used
it for my business and my fun. But now it doesn’t get used a lot
because I hadn’t found the right woman.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me
that you don’t play just to play for fun?”

“No, I don’t.” He shook his head. “I need the
emotions involved to play. I used to do casual play, but it was
empty. You may find that hard to believe, but that’s the
truth.”

Christy studied him, trying to sort through
what he was telling her and what her feelings were about it
all.

He pointed to his laptop. “You can go through
anything and everything you want to on my computer and in my
archives in every hard drive I own. You will see nothing personal
in there for the past two years, since I broke up with my last
girlfriend.”

“Do you have a website where you post some or
all of these photos?” she asked.

“It’s a website I sold. I no longer have it
but it does have my old work on it. I no longer contribute to it.”
He touched his laptop. “Would you like to see?”

She shook her head. “Maybe later.”

“Did you take video of us?” she asked instead
of responding to what he’d said.

“No.” He shook his head. “I did record every
session so that I have a record of everything that has happened in
this room including consent. This is the kind of business where you
need to cover your ass. I have the consent on video because I don’t
know the submissive she was working over.”

“When did you start doing this?” she asked,
still trying to absorb the whole thing.

“About five years ago.” He gestured to the
room around them. “That’s why I have such a large, well-equipped
dungeon.”

“That makes sense.” She pulled at lace on her
corset. “How often do you do this?”

“Quite a while ago it was once a week.” He
leaned back so that his ass was resting on his desk, his arms
folded across his well-muscled chest. “I paid the models and
prepared and posted the video and photographs on the website. It
just got to where it didn’t feel right. I didn’t like to be a part
of the website business. It was an issue with the last relationship
I had and I just sold the business and quit. Now, like I said, it
is infrequent. Maybe three to five months apart at most for old
friends only who ask me to do it for them.”

A part of her felt better now that she
understood. But a part of her wasn’t sure she could accept that he
did this with other people, even if he didn’t participate.

“Here’s my portfolio.” He handed her a large
black book that had been on the file cabinet. “Look it over.”

She opened the big book on his desk and
started flipping through the pages, one at a time. The photographs
were amazing. So clear and beautiful. It wasn’t some hackneyed job
for cheap thrills.

These were works of art. Each photo capturing
a vulnerable moment from a sub or an expression of power from a
Domme or Dom. The photographs were snapshots into the soul of the
person he was photographing.

“Why didn’t you tell me about all of this to
begin with?” she said as she went through the book.

“I didn’t want to scare you,” he said and she
looked up at him. “Like what happened when you discovered those
pictures before I had a chance to slowly introduce you to my way of
playing.” He shook his head. “You have a bad habit of jumping into
things before I can share them with you. You asked me about the TV
and the desk. I told you I would tell you later. I fully intended
to do that.”

With a sigh she finished looking through the
book and closed it. “I think you should have told me from the
beginning.”

“You’re right,” he said. “All that can happen
now is that you decide to trust me.” He put his hands to either
side of him on the desk as he spoke. “And that you believe me.”

She met his gaze. “I believe you, Zach. I’m
sorry that I didn’t listen to you and give you a chance to
explain.” She gestured around the room. “At the same time, I’m not
sure I can handle this. That you have people over and watch them
play in this room and more than that, you did participate in casual
play with women here for your pleasure.”

“Why does that bother you?” he said as he
studied her.

She looked at him. “You’re kidding, right?
You have to be able to understand that.”

“I quit doing the business when my restaurant
and nightclub took off,” he said. “I sold the website and I’m out
of that life.”

She waved toward the door. “Then what was
this Mistress Donna and sub Vicky?”

“I told you. Donna was an old friend who did
a few shoots for me in the past. Now I just do it now and then for
certain people.” He gestured toward the drawer of DVDs. “If you
look closely at the dates for the past four years, you’ll see the
difference in how many shoots I did before selling my site and how
many in the two years after. I’ve done maybe eight shoots in the
past two years.”

“Even eight is too much.” She walked up to
him and said, “I just need to think this through.”

Depression was not something Christy was used
to. She wasn’t really depressed she knew, but she was down.

She missed Zach.

This was far worse than the heartbreak she
had gone through with Ted. Next to this, her experience with him
was nothing.

Even though her initial relationship was
brief, her heart belonged to Zach and it always would.

There was plenty to do around the store, so
she kept herself busy, waiting for closing time as she worked
through her mind what she should do.

Three days had passed since the episode in
the dungeon with Zach and his side business. Three days since she’d
told him she needed time to think things over. He had called the
past two days but she had told him she wasn’t ready yet.

Was she ready today?

She paused to brush a bit of dust that had
settled on one of the mirrors she had for sale in her shop. She
moved her hand away and studied her reflection for a moment. She
looked tired, sad.

“Suck it up, Christy,” she said to her
reflection as she smoothed her hair away from her face. “You need
to figure this out and make a decision. The right decision,
whatever the hell that is.”

Could she handle strange people going to
Zach’s and him watching them play? How could he help but get
excited when watching what she had witnessed for herself yesterday?
She didn’t want him to be excited by anyone but her.

Anyone.

Was it jealousy? Or was this a genuine
concern? Should she be accepting of anything and everything he did?
Or should she stand her ground because it was something that
bothered her so much?

She pushed her hand through her hair, feeling
frustrated and lonely, like there was an emptiness in her life that
she needed to fill. She missed him more than she had the first time
she left him. It was like they were two souls that belonged
together and were finally joined again then ripped apart just as
fast.

But this… Could she do it?

“Damn.” She rubbed her temples. Why did he
have to put her in this position?

Zach was who he was. Did she have the right
to ask him to change?

Three days and she was nowhere near being
able to figure herself out. Since it had taken this long, it was a
good sign that she couldn’t accept this other business he had
established. With such an elaborate dungeon that included a private
bath and shower room, and even had a desk in one corner, she should
have guessed that something was different. But all that she’d been
concerned with was him and how much she’d wanted him and wanted to
do for him.