Still Taking Chances

by Roz Lee

She didn’t look up when she answered. “Names define people, don’t you think?”

  “No. Who are you, Mary Beth Winters? You’re not like any fem-dom I’ve ever met.”

  “I’m an open book, Elgin. If you want to know something about me, just ask.”

  He did. He asked, and she answered. He learned she was from Houston. She owned the art gallery he’d seen in town, and mostly sold her art over the internet. “I have to have someplace to store it, so it might as well be on display while I’m waiting on a buyer. Sometimes people come to the gallery because they want to see a piece in person before they buy it. I also display and sell work from other local artists. It helps pay the bills.”

  He learned she’d trained as a fem-dom in one of the best known clubs in Houston, and after she’d fallen for a sub and he’d confessed he only liked to play at the lifestyle, that he couldn’t live it for the rest of his life, she’d picked up stakes and moved to Prairieview. That bit of information about her training convinced him she knew what she was doing. By now, he’d pretty much decided he wasn’t in danger of losing his cock, which relieved him beyond measure.

  She didn’t ask again about his name, and he’d run out of questions to ask, so he did his best to ignore his screaming muscles and concentrated on her hands. It wasn’t that she sculpted the clay as much as she seduced it into doing what she wanted. Hud imagined her hands on him, stroking, molding and coaxing. To his chagrin, his cock began to swell. He hoped to God she didn’t notice, but he wasn’t to be that lucky.

  “You want me to touch you? Tell me what I want to know, Elgin and I’ll give you some relief. You want to come, don’t you?”

  Mary Beth returned her attention to the clay. Every finger stroke drove him closer to the brink. He wanted her hands on him, on his cock. He tried to will his erection to go down, but once he had it in his head that he had to have her, it wouldn’t obey.

  “If you don’t trust me enough to tell me something so personal, then tell me something else. Tell me why you came back to Prairieview.”

  “That’s personal too,” he said through gritted teeth.

  She slid off her throne and wiped her hands on a wet cloth she kept on the table. She went to the bathroom and a minute later he heard the water running. She came out with clean hands and rummaged in the canvas bag again. He cringed at the wicked piece of plastic in her hands. God, he was in deep trouble. No one had ever used one on him, but he’d seen plenty of other men milked before. It looked painful, and humiliating.

  She stopped in front of him. Her fingers were cool as she stroked along his stubbled jaw, then brushed a lock of hair from his temple. “Tell me something, Elgin. Tell me something, so I’ll know you trust me. If you don’t, I’m going to use this on you.”

  He clamped his mouth shut and let his head fall back. He closed his eyes against the panic making his heart beat like a runaway steam engine. He wouldn’t tell her. He wouldn’t.

  She freed the button on his jeans and shoved them and his underwear down over his hips. His cock sprang free of its restraints, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She took his cock in her cold hand and slid the plastic tube over it. The bottom edge pressed tight against his pubic bone. Oh God! She was going to do it. She was going to pump the come out of him. Air swished and whirred as she worked the bulb at the end of the tube, creating a vacuum, sucking his cock with every squeeze of her fist on the little ball. Ah, shit! It hurt like a son-of-a-gun!

  “Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll let you have relief in a much more pleasant way.”

  Hud thought about the way her tight little pussy would feel. She’d be tight and wet and hot, and there wouldn’t be a damned thing painful about it. He wanted her. God, he wanted her, not some godforsaken plastic torture device.

  “My mother. My mother gave me the name.”

  “Why?”

  “Stop the fuck torturing me, and I’ll tell you.”

  “Tell me, and I’ll stop.”

  “She had a one night stand. She didn’t know the guy’s name. He left his watch behind in the cheap motel. Elgin was the brand name on the watch.”

  As soon as the last word left his lips, Mary Beth broke the vacuum and slid the pump off his cock. Sweat poured down his face and stung his eyes, or maybe they were tears, he didn’t know for sure. He wanted to slump, but he had to maintain his posture or his shoulders and arms would pay the price.

  “I need. . . . ”

  “I know. I’m going to let you come now, Elgin.”

  “Don’t call me that!”

  “It’s your name. It’s a part of you. I understand it’s a part you wish you could change, but changing your name won’t change what your mother was, will it?”

  “Fuck, no, but that doesn’t mean I have to be reminded of it every goddamned day.”

  Mary Beth tucked the penis pump back into her bag of torture and came up with a rubber pussy, the kind lonely men use to get themselves off with. “God, no. Mary Beth, Mistress, let me down from here so I can make you feel good too.”

  “Not yet, Elgin. You still don’t trust me with all your secrets, and until you do, you aren’t going to touch me, not at all. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Mistress, I understand.”

  “Good, then let me help you.” Like he had any choice. She slid the rubber sleeve over his cock. He realized she must have planned this because she’d already lubricated the inside of the sleeve. It slid easily over his cock. It was tight and wet, and nothing like the real thing.

  Mary Beth worked the sleeve along his cock. He bucked his hips with every down stroke, despite the way his shoulders screamed in protest. He couldn’t help it. He had to move.

  “That’s it, Elgin. Come for me. Show me you trust me to take care of you. You know I’ll take care of you, Elgin. I’ll always see that you have what you need. You need to come now, don’t you?” She kept up a litany in her soft voice. “I’m going to let you come now, Elgin. When I tell you to, I want you to come.”

  “Oh, God, Mistress. . . . ”

  She tightened her grip and slid the sleeve over his cock faster and harder. Hot come welled up in his balls, and he thought they’d explode before she let him come.

  “Now, Elgin. Come for me now.” The burn began in the small of his back, and shot like lightning to his groin, through his balls now tight against his body, and burned through his cock like a hot poker and spurted from the tip like lava from a long dormant volcano.

  His legs gave way, and he slumped as far as he could against the chain holding him. He was vaguely aware of Mary Beth releasing him, and then he was on the sofa where her infernal pink bag of tortures had sat. She brought him water that she held to his mouth while he drank like a man too long in the desert. She rubbed feeling back into his arms and massaged his shoulders. She held him until he could stand on his own, and helped him into the tiny shower and dried him with a soft towel once the water ran cold.

  “Go home now, Elgin. Think about what you learned here today. You can’t change who you are, or where you came from. No matter how many times you risk your life, even if you tell yourself it’s for the good of the world, you’ll always be Elgin Huddleston, and your mother will still be the cheap slut you believe her to be. Getting yourself killed won’t change that. Leave me. I’ll be here again tomorrow. Come to me, if you want to.”

  “I won’t be back.”

  Chapter Five

  Mary Beth sat in the dark pre-dawn, curled up on the sofa in her living room, sipping her first cup of coffee. She waited for Elgin to return from his run. She’d been sleeping soundly, but the sound of his front door opening and closing across the street had woken her as if her consciousness was tied to his movements. She’d peeked out her window to see him lope off in his running gear. That had been hours ago, and he still hadn’t returned.

  A movement caught her eye and she scooted further into the shadows, even though with no lights on, he couldn’t possible see her. Elgin stopped on the sidewalk in front
of his house and bent, bracing his hands against his thighs. She didn’t need light to picture the way his skin looked with perspiration covering it like dew. She’d seen every delectable inch of him, touched him, cared for him. The image of his ripped torso, and his tight ass were a part of her now, as was the feel of his skin, hot, like marble too long in the sun. Her nostrils flared as she remembered his scent, how it escalated with physical exertion and made her want to rub herself all over him, to coat herself in it. Foolish. Stupid, to want him so badly.

  He straightened and turned to face her house. She hardly dared breathe as he struggled with the demons tearing him in two directions. At last, he turned and jogged up the path to his front porch and disappeared inside. Mary Beth let out the breath she’d held.

  Elgin would be back.

  She padded into the kitchen and refilled her coffee cup. The anticipation that coursed through her was more stimulating than mainlining caffeine. She showered and dressed in her usual work clothes, shorts and a tank top stained from wiping clay covered fingers on it. Before the sun crept over the horizon, she was hard at work in her studio.

  * * * * *

  Hud cursed every step as he crossed the street to Mary Beth’s house. As he neared, he heard something that sounded like a power tool coming from her garage studio. It was early, but obviously she was already up and working. He angled his feet in the direction of the sound and stopped outside the door. He was three times the fool for returning. After what she’d done to him yesterday, the smart thing to do would be to turn around and go home, pack his duffle and get the hell out of town. A few days in Dallas at one of the clubs would take his mind off his troubles, and then he could go back to his job.

  The grinding sound stopped, and he wondered what she was doing in there. She was a dangerous woman, despite her petite size and Daisy Duke wardrobe. But, he cursed himself, she was the only woman he wanted right now, and he wanted her more than he wanted his next breath.

  He knocked on the door. Her response was immediate, as if she expected him. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Mary Beth knelt on the floor, an open toolbox beside her, screwing a large eyebolt into the wall. A cold knot formed in his stomach as he waited for her to acknowledge him.

  “Make yourself at home. I’m almost done here.”

  He looked around the studio. Her tools were laid out on the table in precise order next to the cheesecloth-covered sculpture she had begun the day before. He walked to the table and touched each tool with his finger. “Can I see what’s under here?” he asked.

  “Sure, go ahead. Fold the cloth when you take it off and put it on the corner for me.”

  He did as instructed. The lump of clay she’d handled so lovingly yesterday was taking shape. He easily made out the crude form of a man. “You do mostly people?” he asked.

  “Mostly.” She closed the toolbox, rose to her feet and stowed the box underneath her worktable. “Since you came back today, I assume you didn’t just come by to see what I’m working on. Did you come here thinking that you’d learned enough yesterday, and that I’d spread my legs for you today?”

  “No, that’s not why I came, Mistress.”

  “Liar.” The word was like a slap to the face. She was right. That was exactly what he’d hoped would happen, but he’d known, hadn’t he, that it wouldn’t be that easy. “Don’t lie to me, Elgin. I know you want me, but you still have a lot to learn. Do you want to learn more today?”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  “Stand over there,” she indicated the same spot he’d stood the day before. “Today I want you to keep your shirt on, but remove everything else. Fold your jeans and place them on the corner of the worktable. Put your shoes on the floor beneath the table.”

  “Yes, Mistress.” Hud turned his back to her.

  “Turn around, Elgin. I’ll see what is mine.”

  He obeyed. His hand shook as he unbuttoned his jeans and slid the zipper down.

  “I see you remembered my orders and left the tighty whities at home.”

  “Yes, Mistress.” He wasn’t going to tell her he’d put them on in defiance of her order, gotten halfway out the front door and returned to take them off. He took up his position as she indicated and waited while she rummaged in her pink bag of torture.

  “Do you trust me, Elgin?”

  “Yes, Mistress. I trust you with my life.”

  “That’s good, because it’s your life that’s at stake here, isn’t it?”

  He wanted to deny it, but couldn’t. “Yes, Mistress.”

  She secured the cuffs around his wrists and wrenched his arms behind him, and fastened them by a short chain to the new eyebolt in the wall. “Spread your legs, Elgin.” He moved his feet apart and she kicked his instep wider. “Don’t move,” she ordered.

  Mary Beth hopped up on her stool and studied the sculpture on the table in front of her. After a few minutes, she selected a tool and began to work. Elgin looked around the room, waiting. The only sound in the room was the occasional clink as Mary Beth put down one tool, and selected another, and the gentle hum of the air conditioner, keeping the room temperature hovering somewhere near freezing he guessed. Everything else was the same as the day before, except for a digital alarm clock sitting on the table directly in front of him. It wasn’t anything special, just a cheap little alarm clock. “What’s the clock for, Mistress?”

  “It’s a training tool, for you. You haven’t had a lot of training, have you? Have you had any mistress for longer than one night?”

  “No, Mistress.”

  “That’s what I thought. You’ve just offered yourself up as a plaything, and in return, your mistresses let you fuck them when they were through with you.”

  He didn’t answer. What was there to say to the truth?

  “Well, that stops with me. You’ll come when I command it, Elgin. The alarm is set to go off sometime today. You have no way of knowing whether that is in half an hour, or five hours from now. When it goes off, I want you to come for me, all on your own. You have permission to move your hips in order to make that happen, but only for today. From now on, you’ll be expected to come on command, without moving your hips. Since you have no clue when the alarm will go off, I suggest you summon an erection and maintain it, as soon as possible.”

  How he was going to get and maintain an erection when the room was cold enough to freeze his balls off, he didn’t have a clue.

  “Tell me what you learned yesterday.”

  This is what he’d feared, that she would get back on the confessions kick, but he had to admit, he felt better for telling someone about how he’d gotten his name. He still didn’t like that Mary Beth insisted on calling him by it, but exposing the secret to the light seemed to have made it less important. “I learned that my name is just a name. The way it came about doesn’t have to define my life.”

  “It is a part of you, Elgin. You can’t completely dismiss it, but you don’t have to let it run your life. What about your mother? Do you see her?”

  Hud focused on the pink bag, and clenched his jaw tight.

  “Elgin?”

  “My mother died of an overdose when I was ten.” He closed his eyes against the tears that threatened to spill over. He hadn’t cried when she died, he wasn’t going to do it now.

  “I’m sorry. That must have been hard for you.” Her gentle words, laced with true concern touched him as those long ago half-hearted condolences from friends and neighbors never had. Half-naked, and chained to a wall, Hud cried for the mother he never really knew, and the boy who’d wished for her to be a part of his life. Mary Beth returned to her work without further comment, leaving him to cleanse the festering wound on his own.

  Time passed slowly and he wasn’t any closer to getting an erection than he had been when he arrived. Mary Beth seemed content to let him suffer in silence, glancing at him on occasion, but making no more demands on him. He was beginning to wonder if she’d given up on him when she spoke.

 
“It’s hot in here, don’t you think?” She peeled her tank top off, folded it neatly, and placed it on the table next to his jeans. He’d wondered if she wore a bra. Now he knew the answer. Her breasts weren’t the largest he’d ever seen, but by God, they were perfect. Her skin was the color of warm cream, and her nipples and areolas reminded him of raspberry jam. In the cold room, her nipples formed tight little peaks. The erection he hadn’t been able to muster came so quickly, his head swam with the sudden loss of oxygen.

  Mary Beth laughed. Hud glanced to her face and knew she’d noticed the change in his arousal status. “I see you’ve found your erection. Impressive.” She slipped off the stool and came to stand in front of him. He leaned toward her as far as his restraints would allow. His chest stopped short of pressing up against her breasts. He sucked in a harsh breath when she closed her fist around him. “You’re big, Elgin. I bet you’d feel wonderful inside me.” She let go, took the hem of his T-shirt and folded it under, then gently tucked his erection beneath his shirt and pulled the hem down to completely cover him. “But that will have to wait. You’re still holding out on me, Elgin.”

  Hud fought the urge to buck his hips toward her as she turned and walked away from him. She wet the cheesecloth at the kitchen sink and covered her work, then drew a small, folding chair from underneath the sofa. Set up, the chair was a small round thing, like a papason, but half the size. She dropped a small pillow from the sofa on the back of it.

  She rummaged through her bag of tricks and set a few things out beside it on the sofa. From his angle, Hud couldn’t see what they were. With her back to him, she shimmied out of her shorts and folded them, placing them on top of the shirt she’d removed earlier. Dear God, she didn’t wear panties either! Hud couldn’t take his eyes off her sweet round ass. He knew he was staring when she turned around. His cock jerked to attention at the sight of her shaved mound.

  “Mistress,” he begged and strained against the chain holding him.