“Any manacles or silk rope? Canes or floggers?” Brad offered helpfully.
The man shook his head and started toward the door. “No, I think I’m good for now. I’ll pay for it today and send over one of my hired hands to pick it up Monday. I suppose that beautiful little slave in the cage doesn’t go with it?”
Brad laughed heartily, handing him a slip of paper. “Afraid not. That’s our shop helper. Eric is punishing her.”
“Too bad. But I’m glad to see Eric wasn’t completely destroyed by his last little sub. What was her name, Emily? That little girl, were she mine, would have been put over a bench and flogged until her ass had welts…”
Their voices drifted off as the door closed behind them. Luckily the room was warm so she wasn’t cold. Though it seemed an eternity before the door opened again. Her knees hurt and her mind had gone numb. She’d almost fallen asleep a few times.
Eric crossed his arms over his chest. “It seems your lovely display sold a cage. It’s been a little longer than two hours so I’m going to let you out.”
She was afraid to meet his gaze so she kept her eyes downcast.
He walked across the room and opened the cage. “Get dressed; use the restroom if you have to. There’s some lunch left over up front if you’re hungry. It’s only three o’clock. We still have a few hours before closing. Then I thought we’d go to Bistro Forty-One in Tiddsdale for dinner.”
She nodded numbly. “Okay.”
With that he left the room and she chastised herself. What the hell was she doing saying okay? Her
boss
had just stuck her
naked in a cage
for two-and-a-half hours! If she had any sense at all she’d just leave. There was nothing keeping her here. There were other jobs and she’d find something just as good. Then she remembered the paycheck. Her last few checks were better than what she’d gotten at her other jobs. Drawing in a deep breath she stood and put on her clothes as quickly as possible. Before going back into the front of the store she stopped off in the employee restroom and freshened up. Cautiously she stepped back into the store. She really hadn’t decided what she was doing. She didn’t want to leave just because she knew the
reality
of her prospects for as good a job weren’t
that
good. At the same time, was it worth being caged? Well, it’s not like they would do stuff like that
just because
, she assured herself. After all, she
had
broken the rules. She just wouldn’t break any more rules and she wouldn’t end up in a cage again. Besides, the cage was sold, unless they had another one boxed somewhere, waiting. Not to mention she liked it.
Brad was behind the computer again and Eric was at his usual place behind the register.
She had no idea what to say.
The store traffic had died down considerably and a few customers milled about flipping through books.
Brad was the first one to break the silence. “So eBooks.”
“What about them?” Eric said with a frown.
“I was thinking we could consider selling eReaders.” He shrugged and looked both of them expectantly.
Amy couldn’t hide the surprised look on her face. Was that it? Would they never discuss her being naked in the cage again? Or was this so normal for them that it just wasn’t a big deal?
“Why are you both looking at me like I have two heads?” Brad threw his hands up and leaned back in the chair.
“So let me get this straight,” Eric looked at Amy as if he were speaking for both of them. “We sell eReaders and encourage people to buy eBooks that we don’t sell?”
Amy couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Eric had a point. “But you could put up a website and encourage local and indie authors, maybe a few small presses, to offer eBooks through your site, and just install WiFi here. Let people hook up, buy and download books from your website. Maybe put some café tables over there by the magazines and put a public computer terminal here on this side of the counter so that people can browse the catalog.”
Brad gave her a broad smile. “That’s visionary. Of course it could take a few months to put into place. What do you think, Eric?”
Eric frowned, clearly thinking about it. “Maybe we could try it. It also means we’re going to need to find someone to design the website and get together with some small publishers and independent authors to discuss selling the books in a format the eReaders can read.”
Brad continued to grin. “I’m just worried if we don’t keep up with the new technology we’re going to be left behind and end up out of business.”
“Well, we could always open a public shop for the other merchandise if it came down to it.” Eric suggested. He winked at Amy. And just like that, Amy felt excitement run through her at his warm regard toward her. Any anger she may have felt toward him for caging her vanished.
This time it was Brad’s turn to frown. “And deal with the city council and hard core Christian groups? I’d rather stay under
that
radar. Though we could always use Amy as a floor model if we ever decided to go that route.”
Eric shook his head and rolled his eyes. “We’d have nothing to punish her for. She’s already broken the only rule we have and now it no longer applies since she already knows what’s behind doors number one and two.”
It was as if she wasn’t even in the room.
“Well then I guess we’ll have to make new rules. The guy comes in for a bench and a spreader bar,” Brad lowered his voice when a customer came in. “And next thing I know he buys a cage and a cross. That’s a lot of money and I’m pretty sure it’s because he liked what he saw in the cage and she gave him a better
vision
of his home playroom.”
Eric lifted an eyebrow as if he were considering it.
Amy finally found her voice. “Umm, I realize I broke the rule and I took my punishment without complaint, but if this is going to be a regular thing I’m not so sure I can…” Her voice trailed off as they both looked at her. She swallowed hard - again.
Eric’s light brown eyes went from serious to amused almost instantaneously. “She has a point. She hasn’t really consented to play.”
“And yet you saw fit to punish her for sneaking around,” Brad said in a subdued tone. There were still customers around, even though none of them were around the register.
“Well,” Eric turned to her, “Next time we say you need to stay out of a particular room will you stay out of it?”
She nodded almost instinctively and murmured, “Yes, Sir.”
He turned back to Brad, “There you go. Besides, she’s a sub and everyone behind this counter knows it.”
Brad nodded. “Well, you two work it out. Oh, and Amy – since you’ve already been in the back rooms you can go in there now, with authorization this time. Are we clear on that?”
“Yes, Sir,” she told him.
“Go start cleaning up the shelves and getting them back in order. We’re doing inventory tomorrow night and the shelves need to be as orderly as possible. It makes inventory a lot easier,” Brad ordered.
She nodded, “Yes, Sir. Do you want me to work late tomorrow night?”
“Don’t you have homework?” Eric asked in an almost scolding tone.
“Well, yeah, but,” she started.
Eric cut her off. “No. You need to have time to get homework done.”
Brad nodded in agreement. “I guess you better do your homework or you’ll end up bent over one of those spanking benches with a flogger across your ass.”
Her eyes went wide, her face red, and a strange smile crossed her face. She hurried off to the shelves to spend the rest of the afternoon straightening things up. When she got to the bdsm section she was tempted to flip through another book, but decided against it. There were a few older men nearby and a woman was browsing the horror novels just across from her. She didn’t want to get caught looking, not to mention she didn’t want Eric or Brad to come along and see that she was actually interested in learning more about it.
The idea of Eric spanking her actually caused a rush of excitement to flood through her and she felt herself dampen at the thought. What was wrong with her? Confusion and guilt coursed through her. She didn’t know how to feel. She remained confounded until closing.
Once they'd closed the shop she found herself in Eric's car, heading toward dinner. Amy decided she couldn't just not talk about it or act like it didn't happen. It had been treated with such nonchalance at the bookstore that her head was still reeling. Confused, she looked at Eric who seemed wholly unconcerned.
"I really think we need to talk about the whole cage thing some more," she started carefully.
Eric lifted an eyebrow. "Okay."
"I need to know why, why I liked it and was so willing and why I’m so confused," she admitted.
He was quiet for a moment, and then said, "Understandable. You read all that fiction in one sitting, perhaps you should look into some non-fiction about the subject. Each sub has her own reason for being a sub. Some just get off on being dominated, others actually need the release submission provides, and then there's the pain aspect where a sub needs the sting of the whip or the smack of a hand in order to release emotionally. You might actually understand that,” he said, nodding toward her arms. “In submission some people can relax or emotionally recover from stress or emotional pain. I'd say you're a combination of those types, many subs are," he told her.
She thought about this briefly then posed the challenge, "So what if I decide I want to stick you in a cage?"
He laughed. "Then we'd call you a switch. Switches can be Doms or subs depending on who they're with. Do you want to stick me in a cage?"
She rolled her eyes. Admittedly the thought of caging him did nothing for her. "No."
He chuckled. "It's understandable you're confused. I've met a lot of subs over the years. Brad and I had you picked out for one the day we met you. Sometimes a sub doesn't know she's a sub until she meets a Dom and experiences submission."
"Can't men be subs, too?"
"Oh, sure. I was using the general term
she
since you're a she. You remember Mistress Kali?"
How could she forget the dragon lady who wanted to use her as a test subject presumably for her new whips and bdsm furniture? She smiled and shook her head. “Yeah. How could I forget?”
Eric nodded. "She's the most sought after Domme in the state. All the Dommes wish they were her. If you ever want to experience a Domme topping you I could probably arrange it."
Amy jumped. "Oh no. I'm not going there. You better not hand me over to the dragon lady."
Laughing, Eric pulled into the restaurant parking lot and parked. "Okay, so that's one of your boundaries. I'll keep that in mind."
"Yet you never considered sticking me in a cage would be a boundary?"
"That was different. That was a punishment. Boundaries aside, you weren't supposed to go into the locked rooms without permission and you did. I could have very well taken a cane to your ass for that, but then I thought
that
would have crossed boundaries since we hadn't agreed to anything rough. The cage was probably a bit severe. I suppose I could have made you stand in a corner or something less humiliating. But then that may have not been enough to get the point across," he said thoughtfully.
They got out of the car and went into the restaurant. All the while Amy contemplated what he'd said. He had seriously considered it all.