Release

by Jade Chandler

  I nodded thinking how I could create a scene at the lake, I’d have to figure that out, I had some stuff at the shop I could use, but nothing like what Marr wore.

  “Consent is easy, but let’s talk scene.” She studied me. “You can create a scene anywhere at any time—clothing, tools, but mostly attitude. How you speak, act, talk, look is about ninety percent of any scene.”

  “Really?”

  We spent a bit talking it through, I started to see how a scene worked—I liked setting the stage, it appealed to my creative side.

  “Today you’ll learn two toys and one of the simpler tools—crop or paddle.” She grinned at me. “Which one?”

  I closed my eyes, breathed in deep, calm breaths. “What would he like best?”

  “Paddle.” Her reply was instant.

  “Then paddle it is.”

  She nodded and reached down beside her.

  “A gift for you. Put it on and I’ll be over in a moment.” She stood and walked to the back of her rooms.

  I was dismissed, I guess. I opened the beautiful black box—inside was a leather outfit, like the ones I saw the girls in Bound wear.

  I held it up and grinned wide—my first leather outfit. “Thank you, Marr, you’re a great friend.” I yelled the words, knowing she’d hear them even if she pretended not to.

  In her dungeon, I stripped then I pulled up the leather piece, it was like a leather body suit, strapless with stays on each side and a snap away crotch that made me feel extra dirty. In back a longish ruffle hid my ass and created the impression of a skirt. I twirled and stared in the wall mirror. I looked badass, especially now that my tat showed. In this get up, my red hair made me look intense instead of whimsical, and I liked that. I scooped up my clothes and shoes to put them in the secret closet.

  Marr grinned at me. “You look hot as fuck.”

  “Thanks. I’ll literally rock, Rock.” I giggled.

  She rolled her eyes. “No giggling in my dungeon.”

  “Yes, Mistress.” I was a touch sassy.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Avery

  Marr laid two things out on the table set up in the middle of the floor. One looked like a fancy meat tenderizer and the other like a soldering wand, but I doubted that’s what either actually was.

  “Do you know what these are?”

  “No, Mistress.”

  “Drop the Mistress until we are trying the items or the sub is in here when you wield them.”

  “What?” She’d never said I would be using them on some stranger who didn’t even have a choice in the matter.

  “This is the way. Yes or no?” She tapped her boot.

  I sighed. “Yes.”

  “This is a six-wheel Wartenberg wheel.” She held up the meat tenderizer. “The single wheel is a medical tool, but this is made especially for BDSM.” She handed it to me. “Run it up your arm.” I did, it prickled and left small indents, but no serious marks.

  “Inner thighs, ass, genitals—he likes the wheel in all the most sensitive spots—soles of the feet too.”

  Anger pushed up inside me, Marr understood my man so well, and it pissed me off in the green monster kind of way. Not that it wasn’t completely irrational, but I had to swallow down the anger.

  “Go lay on the table face up.”

  I did.

  “Spread your legs—this will be five on each thigh. You will count or we start over.”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  At first she rolled it up my inner thigh and it sort of tickled. “One.”

  We moved through the numbers and at four, tears streamed down my face. The pressure she used made my inner thighs feel like I’d worn sandpaper pants. The fifth pass made me cry out and the trickle of warmth on my legs was blood.

  “Sit up and examine the marks.” She handed me a towel. “A true trainee wouldn’t be allowed to continue until she accepted the pain without tears or noise.”

  “Yeah that sucks for them,” I grouched. My inner thighs were scraped raw, but only two little trickles of blood ran down my inner thighs.

  “If you ever can see open wounds or blood in thicker rivulets, that’s too far. You could receive seven or eight on each side before I reached that point with you. Rock, maybe ten per thigh to achieve where you are now.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I just know. Years of doing it. I haven’t used the wheel on him in a few years, but he likes it.” Marr moved to the table. “Come get this cream and apply it to your thighs.”

  I did and it stung, worse than the original wound.

  “Anytime you see blood, plan to use an antiseptic.”

  She went through the violet wand, which just shocked, mostly pleasant shocks, which I wouldn’t mind using, except the last setting—that bitch hurt.

  Following her to the back of the room, I wondered what was going on. We walked toward an empty wall, but she touched the wall and a drawer shot out. Inside seven different paddles lay perfectly in a red velvet-lined drawer.

  “They go from least to most intense. Pick the one you want trained on, that will be the highest one you can use, you may go down, just not up.”

  My nipples ached from wand’s shock treatment, my thighs burned in time with my pulse and now my ass would burn. Honestly, I wanted to walk away and be done because I already hurt worse than when Rock tattooed me, which had been the worst pain I’d ever experienced. Ten strokes of the paddle, I bet it’d hurt in a way I’d never experienced.

  I’d brought my she-balls today, so I picked number five when I really wanted to pick number three. I brought her the paddle.

  She grinned. “You never fail to surprise me, remind me never to bet against you.”

  “Why?”

  “I thought maybe four at most.”

  “I wanted three, but this isn’t for me is it?”

  “That’s a good point. I will restrain you for this one. You will count or I start over. The key for the paddle, never hit the same place two times in a row, they can overlap, but must not be exactly the same. Paddling is most often done to the ass and thighs, but can be done down the entire back of a person, not the front though.”

  I nodded. “Why?”

  “It’s a limit for a novice, the ribs and lungs are too sensitive, and the paddle is a heavy tool.”

  I nodded. “So like a one on a chest?”

  “Exactly, for you anyway.”

  I climbed up on the table and Marr restrained my arms to the table and then my feet. A band fastened across the back of my head, my back and at my knees—the result was I couldn’t move. This level of restraint shot adrenaline through me even before she unsnapped the leather crotch and peeled the leather up my ass so it was exposed.

  Shit this is really going to happen.

  “If you tense up it hurts the most.” The way she said it, didn’t encourage me to tighten or relax.

  Pain scorched through me and I yelped, “One.” That hurt worse because of my raw thighs. Shit, no way would I make it to ten. I’d pass out first. The second one made me scream, “Two.”

  I couldn’t move, there was no way out, I was caught in the purgatory of pain until she released me.

  The third hit the fat of my thighs and tears streamed down my face. “Three.”

  By five the fire consumed me, all I could think was each number was one less to endure. Seven almost killed me. I sobbed a long moment before I got the number out.

  I could use my safe word, but why endure seven rounds of agony only to give up when three remained—those seven would be for nothing.

  Tears flowed, my nose ran, my breathing sporadic. My heart raced and I wanted to crawl away, but I couldn’t go anywhere.

  The raw smack of eight on my ass vibrated thro
ugh me and I shuddered as I lost control of my breathing.

  “Nine.” I wheezed when the paddle hit the flat of my ass with swift impact.

  The last one came fast, hardest of all. I screamed loud, “Ten.”

  The belts snapped back and I was free.

  “Stand and walk now.”

  So torn up with pain, I complied, afraid to say no. I walked, each step a jolting fresh pain, but I walked, mind blank, slowly my breathing settled, the tears stopped.

  Marr handed me a towel. I put it to my face, letting it stop my runny nose and wipe away my tears.

  “You did well for such a low pain tolerance,” she spoke behind me.

  I turned to her unable to understand her words, I’d cried, blubbered, and wanted to beg for release.

  “I’ve had clients, men and women, who picked that paddle and the details are gross, but I’ve had them throw up, piss, you get the idea. One guy passed out, most all beg me, but you didn’t.”

  “It fucking hurt so bad, and I hated it, but the only way to the end was to go forward.”

  “Still, I didn’t think your aversion to pain so high, not the way you watched Rock.” She almost sounded apologetic.

  “He liked it, so I liked it with him. I personally hate pain. It took me two years to work up the nerve to get this tiny tattoo—I was so afraid of the pain.”

  “Come here, I will apply some numbing cream, and we’ll go have some biscuits before we meet with Shayna—our sub.”

  I nodded. “Why do you have biscuits in the afternoon?”

  “Bloody hell. I forget sometimes—cookies. We’ll have cookies.” A trace of some accent colored her words.

  “You’re not American.”

  “Am too, just naturalized.” She frowned at me.

  We ate cookies and I finally wormed out of her that she was Irish, but that was it.

  When we entered the dungeon again, a woman was secured to the table I’d been on. She faced up.

  “To put your mind at ease, Shayna is a fan of the paddle and the other toys.”

  “Shayna, do you consent to be used as a trainee with the paddle, the wheel and the wand?”

  “Yes, Mistress.” Her almond-shaped eyes were lit with excitement.

  I made it through the wheel and wand just fine, both of those only excited her, even though her thighs were worse than mine.

  Marr handed me the paddle. “Each strike must be incrementally harder and not in the same place.”

  I nodded. Marr had helped Shayna turn over and I stood there looking from paddle to ass and thighs.

  I saw how Rock enjoyed the pain, Shayna enjoyed pain, surely I could do this for them, give them what they wanted. Marr showed me the proper way to hold the paddle and how to increase the pain—a faster not harder swing brought more pain.

  The first one hit with a smack to the fleshy part of her ass. She counted out. I swung faster, each time, but she never cried out in pain, in fact, her voice turned breathier, more aroused with each number. Finally I made it to ten, uncomfortable giving this woman pleasure, not that I would mind giving Rock pleasure, but a stranger, it gave me the willies.

  Back in Marr’s room I waited for her to finish up what she needed with Shayna, which was surprisingly quick.

  “I assigned another apprentice to finish the session with Shayna.”

  “How many do you have right now? Apprentices?”

  “One slave, two apprentices and a journeywoman—she is almost a master.”

  “Did I pass?”

  “You did. At the front desk I have packed a big tote bag with the paddle, toys and some leather boots.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” The distant way she spoke bothered me.

  “Why is it so important to please him?” Marr shook her head. “Shit I didn’t mean to ask that.”

  “I don’t know really. I mean I guess he gives me everything all the time.” I told her about how he’d moved me perfectly without me lifting a finger. “All those things. I see him wind up with the tension, denying it’s there.” I blew out a breath. “If I can help a little between your sessions, then I will.”

  “If you ever learned the cane, he wouldn’t come here anymore,” Marr said.

  I belted out a sarcastic laugh. “You are a sadistic bitch, you’d love to see me lose my shit when you caned me.”

  “I would.” She didn’t bother denying it. “It’s what he most wants when he comes to me. I was being honest.”

  I considered it. “Is ten negotiable?”

  She put her finger to her lip. “I personally prefer to give 15.”

  I couldn’t help laughing. “Eight?”

  “I would do eight for you—you have a steady hand so you probably do not need the lesson to ten.”

  “When my ass no longer kills me and my thighs aren’t hamburger, I’ll consider it.”

  “Can I ask a personal question?” Marr gazed directly at me.

  “The others weren’t personal?”

  “Non-related to the training.” She waved her hand.

  “Go for it.”

  “What do you think of Jericho?”

  That was a question I didn’t want to answer. I had my personal answer, and I guessed Rock’s answer, so I’d probably better land somewhere in the middle, maybe closer to Rock than me.

  “He manipulated my best friend in all kinds of fucked-up ways, he’s the club president and Rock worked with him at Marked Man, likes him, and fears him. I like Dare best and Zero, but I think Jericho keeps his word, a lot of people don’t, but I’ve never seen him, or any one of the brothers not keep their word.”

  She nodded. “And Renegade?”

  “I don’t know him. Rock has told me not to go near him and I don’t know why, but I trust Rock.”

  She stood. “Thanks, with the Old Man gone and Rebel not wanting to step up, Bound is in a bit of a pickle, and I wonder how it will all turn out.”

  “That’s more than I knew, but then I’m not an old lady, so I can’t know anything.” Bitterness echoed in my voice.

  “Get dressed, and beat your man well.”

  I choked, coughing, at her parting line, not something I’d heard before. She’d just told me to beat my man well, and I know she meant that literally. Marr was going to be an interesting friend.

  Driving home hurt, breathing hurt, and tomorrow would suck worse. When I returned home, Rock was gone, thankfully. I poured bath salts and bubble bath into his huge jetted tub along with gallons of hot water. I stepped in the scalding water and sank down, my body numb for the first time since she’d run that wheel over my thighs. I sank deeper so only my head peeked out, supported by a towel I rolled up to be my pillow.

  “Avery.” Rock’s voice stirred me. I must’ve fallen asleep. Apparently for a while if the tepid water was an indication.

  “In here.” I yawned and stretched, much of the stiffness and pain gone. My ass ached, and my thighs were still tender, but I was a thousand times better.

  “Hey almita, you’re sexy in bubbles.” His voice thickened and that made my core clench in the best way.

  I stood and his eyes dilated. “Hand me a towel, over there.” I pointed to my big, fluffy pink towel, bath sheet to be precise. It was one of my treasured possessions.

  He held it wide for me, so I flipped open the drain and stepped out, turning to snuggle my backside into the towel and him.

  “What the fuck happened to you?” His harsh bark made me jump.

  I turned to the mirror to see bruises sprinkled over my upper thighs. Fuck me, that I hadn’t planned for. Rock hadn’t bruised, so why did I?

  “Answer me.” His stark face had no trace of his jovial expression he usually wore.

  I grabbed my towel and dried off.

  “Your
fucking thighs are shredded.” He growled. “You best tell me now, before I lose the bit of control I still have.”

  That did it. He could stop being a jerk now. “I refuse to talk to you when you act like a freaking cave man.” I tried to push past him but he stopped me.

  “Almita, who hurt you?” The desperation in his voice did me in. Oh well, so much for my lake surprise.

  “Marr, I—”

  “What the fuck are you doing with her? Why? You hate pain. What did the sadistic bitch say to—”

  I pushed at his chest, but I’d move a brick wall before the idiot in front of me. “Either shut it and let me talk or get the fuck out of my way.”

  His nostrils flared as he inhaled and exhaled three times before he met my gaze. “Go on.”

  “Well, it was supposed to a surprise for the lake.” I stamped my foot. “But Marr offered to teach me about pain.”

  “I just bet she did,” he mumbled.

  I shot him a warning look. “And I wanted to learn, for you. You deny it, deny yourself, until it consumes you. I thought we could do some sessions, so I learned all about the wheel, the wand and the paddle.”

  His eyes widened. “Why would you do that?”

  “I love you, and I want to be part of all your life, not just the easy part.” I moved close and caressed his cheek. “You are into it, so I want to be your everything, acolyte and whatever Marr is called, I want to be your lover.”

  “You shouldn’t have hurt yourself. My needs are perverted, wrong—this addiction isn’t one you should ever be involved with.” He rubbed his neck, refusing to look at me.

  “Fucking ridiculous.” I smacked his chest. “You’re mine, and you’re perfect like you are. Tell me, and think about this first, if I was the one who was a masochist, wouldn’t you want to help me, be part of that too?”

  “Maybe, okay, yes. I would want to be your everything.”

  “Marr wanted me to train with her, like an apprentice.”

  His wide eyes showed fear.

  “And I said hell no.” I huffed. “But to play with you, do those, uh, scenes, with you, yeah I’d take twice the pain and be glad.”

  Disbelief made his face go slack. “I don’t want you hurt.”