“Are you offering sex in exchange for me dropping your fees? Is that why you’re bringing in these—women?”
Allie gasped. “Of course not. I’d never do such a thing. There is a sign out front, you know, that says there may be nudity on the premises. Do you have a problem with that?”
“What’s wrong with nudity?” Lucy jigged her double-D breasts at him.
Lou glanced from side to side as if hoping to be rescued. “I’ve been expecting one of you people to offer something of that sort. Do you know how much trouble you can get in for prostitution?”
“Prostitution? There’s nothing like that going on here.” Allie stood up, too, putting an arm around Lucy’s shoulders. “We’re just comfortable with our sexuality, and we encourage openness.”
“Well, go be open and comfortable somewhere else.” Lou opened his notebook and began writing furiously. “I’m going to get the whole lot of you run out of town if it’s the last thing I do. Your friend Carly is about to have a whole new list of problems.”
“Like her pipes bursting?”
Lou gave an ugly laugh. “Yeah, something like that. Let’s just say none of you are going to be able to afford the kinds of fines you’re going to be getting. Don’t think you’re going to be able to go to anyone about this, either. I’ll swear that you offered me sex to keep your little playroom here going. We’ll see who the cops believe.”
There was a sound from inside the cage behind Lou. He whipped around and stared as the cloth was thrown off the large piece of equipment inside it. The equipment turned out to be Chuck and a middle-aged man in a business suit, who was shaking his head.
“I’ve heard enough,” he said. “Miss Walker, I’m sorry Lou here has been harassing you and your friends. I admit I didn’t really believe it when you said he was targeting the leather community in Grandpointe, but he’s certainly said enough to prove your point. Chuck, did you get enough to indict him?”
“Oh, yes.” Chuck turned off the tape recorder in his hand. “We called a meeting of all of the kinky small-business owners we knew of in the area and started comparing notes. I’ve got copies of all his bogus reports and the fines he’s been charging. I think we can make a good case for abuse of position and fraud.”
“Good. In that case, Lou, I am formally removing you from your position as business compliance liaison.”
“You can’t do that, Dan!” Lou’s voice went high and whiny. “We go to the same church, for God’s sake! Don’t you want to see this kind of depravity removed from our community?”
Dan cleared his throat, giving Allie an apologetic look. “Lou, it’s not really our place to make those decisions. If what they’re doing doesn’t hurt anyone—”
“Doesn’t hurt anyone! What about the morals of our children? What about the beatings that go on here in the name of sexual freedom?”
“I am no expert, but I’ve talked to Miss Walker here, and I understand that everything they do is consensual and legal.” Dan nodded to Chuck, who took Lou by the arm. “Let’s discuss this somewhere else, if that’s all right with you.”
Dan nodded at Allie. “I think for now you can consider your establishment reopened. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.”
Allie shook his hand. “It’s not a problem. Thank you so much for humoring me and coming out to listen in on our little meeting. I think we’ll go ahead with the sprinkler installation after tonight’s party anyway. It kind of sounded like a good idea.”
Chapter 26
“I don’t think so.” Buffy stared at the two-inch, heavy-duty clamp in Crash’s hand. He was opening and closing it with relish, a roguish smile on his face. They could hear the sounds of the rest of the group scattered throughout the store, Lucy giggling and Roy and Greg making comments and guffawing at each other. Dennis, Allie, and her guys had brought them to the local hardware store on a “pervertables” field trip, as they’d called it.
“You said you were willing to try—”
AJ strode over and grabbed it, shaking his head. “That’s not what they use for nipple clamps, idiot. Don’t worry, Buffy. I’ll oversee his choice of toys.”
“I’m beginning to see the reasoning behind the extensive negotiations that Allie was talking about,” Buffy said, shivering a little.
Dennis came around the corner of the aisle. “Remember, Crash. These aren’t all sex toys. We just said some of them could be perverted into sex toys. You still have to get permission from your partner.”
“And I’m not made of wood,” Buffy added as Crash picked up a rubber mallet and began hitting his own forearm with it. A store employee who had been approaching them stopped at the sight, his mouth dropping open. “Can I help you find anything?” he finally managed to stutter, staring at Crash as if wondering what institution he’d escaped from.
“Hello, Jim.” Dennis gave him a professional nod. “We’re not looking for anything particular.”
“Just trolling for ideas,” AJ put in, smiling pleasantly as if he always took his friends out on Sunday afternoon to pummel themselves with construction equipment.
“Okay. You folks have a nice day.” Jim turned and almost ran in the other direction, glancing over his shoulder. Buffy thought he might be half expecting to be pursued by a flying hammer.
“It’s okay,” AJ said to his departing form. “Crash doesn’t really have any violent tendencies, at least not until you put a football helmet on him.”
Dennis laughed. “Once we get approached by all of the employees who are brave enough to come by and see if we’re really beating on each other, they should leave us alone. Now that’s a better idea, Crash.”
Crash had found bright-yellow caution tape and was gleefully stocking up. Then his attention was caught further down.
“Duct tape! Just look at all the colors! Buffy, come here. What color would go best with her complexion, AJ? Leopard print or tie-dye? Never mind, I’ll get them all.”
Buffy looked from one to the other, trying to gauge how serious they were. “That would hurt!” she protested.
“Well, I wouldn’t use it for full-body mummification,” Dennis said. “At least not without a layer of plastic wrap underneath. It hurts less when it comes off.”
“I was thinking more of a new outfit, with strategically placed pieces,” AJ said, tilting his head to give Buffy an appraising look. He reached out a hand to demonstrate where the pieces would go, but Buffy took a step backward, batting away his hand and looking around to make sure there were no other approaching store employees.
“It would save money on bikini waxes, too,” Crash put in helpfully. Dennis smiled and walked away to see what the rest of the group was doing.
A screech from the next section caused them all to hurry over. They met Jim and two other employees at the aisle entrance and all stopped to stare. There was a clatter behind Buffy, and she turned to see that Crash had dumped a handful of carabiners on top of the duct-tape pile.
In the next row, Susan was rubbing her ass ruefully. Lucy was holding out to their husbands what looked like a four-inch flexible strip of tire tread. “Look! Isn’t this cool?”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Roy said. He held it up for Crash and AJ and the horrified store employees to see. “It’s called a ‘safety step.’ Wouldn’t that make a handy little slapper?”
“It sure would.” Greg put out a hand and took it, turning it around to examine. “See here, it has an adhesive backing. If we mounted it onto a thin board it’d make a great little toy.”
“I need one of those!” Crash pushed forward and grabbed another one off the shelf.
“How did it feel?” Buffy asked Susan curiously.
“Kind of good, actually.” Susan was still rubbing her ass, but the look of outrage she’d had before was gone, and she giggled. “Kind of gives you a little rush, once the pain goes away.”
The employees were huddled together, staring as they backed slowly out of the aisle. Dennis and Karl came around
the corner just as they reached it.
“Hey, guys.” Dennis nodded at the group as the employees made their escape.
Karl looked after them. “Do they know that you’re kinky, Dennis?”
“Nah. They just think I’m weird.” Dennis gave a sharp laugh. “Some of the older ones joke around, but it’s amazing how prudish young people can be, isn’t it?”
“These are those things you had in the class, aren’t they, Dennis?” AJ walked over and picked up a small paint roller.
Dennis leaned over to see. “Yeah. You just glue thumb tacks to the outside, and you’ve got a mean little roller.”
“You could also make those vampire gloves out of these, couldn’t you?” Roy had found some work gloves and was regarding them thoughtfully.
“Sure. Tacks through the fingers and palm area and you’re all set—pointing outward, obviously.”
“You could even glue fur to the other one and alternate the sensations,” Karl said. “If you have lined winter gloves, you can fill the outsides with sand for a good SAP glove.”
Susan peered up at him. “What’s a SAP glove?”
“A weighted glove for punching—” he began when Brad and Allie came around the corner with a cart full of a variety of items.
“We wanted to give you some ideas—” Allie began, but then she stopped, seeing Crash’s load. He’d been following everybody as they picked things up, adding to his collection. The basket was over half-full already. “But I see you’ve had quite a few already.”
“Ooh, let’s see!” Lucy dropped the package of bungee cords she’d been holding and ran to check out Allie’s recommendations.
They began with a package of bamboo barbecue skewers. “You can tape these altogether with the pointy ends down, and they make a nice scratching tool.”
“This is nice if you want to do some role-playing, or just for its own sake.” Brad held out a forty-eight-inch wooden ruler. “Available in any paint store. There are also lots of fun things you can do with Sharpies, stencils, paint brushes, latex paint, colored wax, stickers, lipstick—pretty much anything you can think of.”
“You mean paint like you can buy here?” Lucy asked.
Allie shook her head. “No, it’s best to use special latex paint for application on a person. House or oil paints can have toxic chemicals. As for wax, some types are better than others, too.”
“What about rope?” Crash had a package of neon-pink twine in his hand. “They have some nice colors.”
“Yes, they do, and you can certainly get some for decorative work,” Karl said. “But the kinds of rope and twine you’re going to get here aren’t very comfortable for bondage. You’re going to want to get some good-quality hemp or cotton rope if you expect your bottom to stay in it for more than a few minutes.”
“They have chains, too.” Roy pointed to large rolls farther down the aisle. “Would those work?”
“Sure, they have a nice dramatic effect. But they’re pretty hard to attach elegantly, and they’re really bulky to carry around.”
There was the sound of voices in the next aisle. Allie glanced at Dennis, a concerned look on her face.
“Should you be worried about being ‘outed,’ being here with us?”
He shook his head. “I’m sick of being secretive. If anybody has a problem with my lifestyle, they can come and talk to me about it. Crash, what the—”
Crash had come from the other direction, lugging a huge piece of wood. He smiled at them mischievously.
“I was just wondering, if I wanted to make my own St. Andrew’s Cross, would this be the right size to get?”
Dennis shook his head and escorted Crash back to where he’d gotten the wood, promising to show him exactly what he would need.
Buffy turned to Allie, Brad, and Karl. “That brings up a question. I understand about the need for privacy, but how does it work the other way? Should we openly talk about this stuff in front of people who aren’t into it?”
Karl exchanged a look with his partners. “That’s a good question, and there are a few different schools of thought about that. There are some people who like to outrage ‘vanillas’ by wearing collars, leashes, and fetish clothing in public. It can be fun to shock people, and God knows there are a lot of people out there who could use their horizons broadened. But most of the community is of the mindset that if we expect our kink to be consensual, then we don’t really have the right to include other people without their consent. In this case, the employees have the opportunity to stay away from us, so we’re not really shoving it in their faces.”
Brad nodded. “If we were grabbing them and demanding that they, for example, help us figure out how to make toys out of this stuff, then that would be unethical, according to most kinky people.”
“Sometimes you can make subtle comments and things like that,” Allie put in. “Educating people is one thing. But you have to be careful. Doing domination and submission in public can easily be mistaken for abuse, and of course having explicit conversations in front of kids is always inappropriate.”
“That makes sense.” AJ nodded.
They all wandered into the next aisle and began examining the wares.
“I would never have guessed that hardware stores could be so much fun,” Lucy said, holding up a long, brightly colored, acrylic marker post.
“That would make a great cane,” Karl said, nodding at her.
Crash came back with his cart, which was piled with more new things. He looked like a kid in a candy store as he pulled out a tool belt and hooked it around his waist, turning to model it for AJ and Buffy. “I definitely need one of these.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s a sexy look, one that’s sure to instill confidence in subs everywhere,” AJ said, trying not to smile.
“Seriously, dude. Look at all the shit I can hang off this thing.” Crash seemed to be in heaven as he examined all the different pockets, loops, and clips. “I need more toys now!”
Then he noticed Lucy, who was bending over in front of her husband. Roy held the cane she’d found and was lightly whacking her ass with it.
Crash turned shining eyes back to Buffy. “That looks like fun! Do you think you could get into that?”
“I’m not really sure.” She watched for a minute, wondering if it was as painful as it looked and noticing the clerks who happened to be wandering past on the far side of the row. They all looked toward the group with huge eyes, but none of them approached again.
Their attention was caught by Susan holding a package of colored glow sticks. Greg let out a guffaw of laughter. “What would you do with those?”
“Insertables,” Brad suggested.
Buffy turned hastily back to Crash. “Go for the cane.”
“Personally, I liked the idea of stencils and Sharpies,” AJ said. “I’d rather decorate you than to hit you.”
Buffy nestled herself under his arm, sending an accusatory stare in Crash’s direction. “I like that idea better, too.”
“You’ll love it, I promise,” Crash told her, examining the colored acrylic. “Besides, these will look better on my belt than Sharpies.”
“Can’t argue with that,” AJ said. “You’ll need a flogger to hang off there, too. Should we make you one out of this?” He held out a packaged cotton mop head.
“It’s got possibilities.” Crash threw three of the canes of various colors in his cart and took the mop. “We could tie-dye them so they can be color-coordinated with Buffy’s outfits. They’d be more interesting if we coated the falls and put something hard at the ends. Give a nice sting.”
Buffy squeaked, and AJ squeezed her tighter. “I’ll protect you, don’t worry. If he gets too enthusiastic, we’ll get out the needles and let you play for a while.”
Crash scowled briefly at him before his eye was caught by a display of knives. “Buffy, did you say you like scratchy?”
“Well, I think so,” Buffy said, clutching at AJ’s arm. “But those things look deadly!”
> “They’re supposed to,” Crash said, picking one up. “Look at this, AJ. A ‘14-in-1 paint tool.’ It’s got a nifty little round area that’s supposed to be for”—he squinted at the label—“cleaning brushes, I think. It’s even got a can opener. Cool! This’ll look great on my belt.” He held it next to his side, grinning broadly. “And there’s a nice ratcheting tie-down with some nylon straps. That’d look bad-ass on a bondage table.”
A burst of laughter from another aisle caught their attention, and they followed the sound. Greg was holding up some kind of power tool. AJ squinted at it. “Is that a roto hammer?”
Buffy looked at him, confused, as the men all exchanged glances and started laughing. AJ leaned down and whispered into her ear, “Attach a dildo to the end, and it becomes a fucking machine.”
It took a minute for the concept to register, then she felt her mouth drop open and her face go hot. Even Lucy looked a little dubious at the prospect.
“Do people really do that?” Susan asked Allie, who had just joined them.
Allie glanced at the machine Greg was holding. “I’ve never seen one made out of a roto hammer, but there are such things around. People who like them tend to really like them. Now, are you guys ready to check out? I’d like to get started on lunch before you all work on your toys for the party tonight.”
“Almost.” Crash maneuvered his cart around in the small aisle. “You guys go ahead. I just need to get more glue and some dowel rods.”
Chapter 27
Looking from the pile of toys they had spent the afternoon making to the two men sitting around the table with her, Buffy felt happier than she could ever remember feeling before. She knew many wouldn’t understand, since they had only known one another for such a short time, but in her heart she was certain it was real. She practically bounced with the sense of accomplishment suffusing her. “It has been one hell of a day, hasn’t it?”
“Hmm,” AJ murmured distractedly as he finished attaching the thumbtacks to the glue on the small paint roller.
Double Dom Fantasies Page 28
