She nodded and backed away with slow, methodical movement in a subtle attempt to keep him in her sight.
Bella started toward the second floor, and Sophia changed her focus to call out, “Bella. Wait.” When she had her attention, she said, “I’m really sorry you got punished. Tami too. You guys were just trying to help. I would have taken your spanking for you, but Marcus told me I couldn’t interfere.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” said Bella with a shrug. “Jack mostly made me feel like shit for not trusting him enough to talk to him.”
She tried to apologize again, but Bella stopped her abruptly. “Just leave me alone for now. I’m not ready to talk to you about any of this.” She continued up the stairs, and left Sophia standing in the kitchen.
The tiny step Sophia had taken toward a friendship was shut down with Bella’s rejection, and the move increased the vulnerability she was desperately trying to destroy. Before she could react, Marcus spoke softly. “Give her some time, Sophia. Real relationships take a lot of work. She’ll come around.”
* * *
Bella’s emotional distance grew while June brought more beauty to the ranch and more peace for Sophia. The weekend resort was opened from Thursday through Sunday for adults simply looking for a private weekend, but her world existed in the gardens, and she seldom crossed to the busy house during the day. She and Bella spoke politely at meals and even watched a few movies with the men, but their roles at Cloudcroft sent them in two different directions and the space seemed to work for both of them.
Her training took a new direction in the evenings, and she spent hours learning how to work with a dom. In addition, all three men lectured her about safety and security when exploring the BDSM world. Their frightening messages unsettled her resolve, but Jack said, “You’re a lot safer playing here than going home with some guy you’ve picked up at a bar. Most people play by the rules, but just remember, some don’t. This game isn’t immune to assholes.”
“I never picked up a guy in a bar either,” she said with clear anxiety. “It’s a lot to process.”
Marcus wrapped Sophia in his giant arms. “That’s why you’re going to work with me. I won’t let anything happen to you, and you sure as hell aren’t going off to somebody I don’t approve of. I don’t even want you out of the family quarters during the next event unless you’re with one of us. Bella has the same restriction.”
At the sound of her name, Bella left the room without a word, and Sophia sighed heavily. Jack and Marcus exchanged an unreadable look before Jack followed his wife with a frustrated frown and a pulsing vein in his neck. Sophia was rapidly coming to recognize the action as a reflection of his mood. She looked at Marcus with a small sense of panic, and he spoke quietly while pulling her in for another hug. “It’s their relationship, Sophia. We live in pretty close quarters around here, but they have something special that doesn’t include us. You have to stay out of it.”
A few days later, Sophia and Marcus negotiated their agreement, and Bella sat by her side. Her voice was professional and polite, but Sophia could envision Jack’s pressure to convince her to help. Never having worked at a friendship, Sophia had absolutely no idea how to return to Bella’s good graces, but given overwhelming choices on a very frightening sex list, she was grateful for the interpretation a more experienced woman could provide.
Marcus started with a grin. “Well, you can put a good spanking on her list. She loved it.”
Bella laughed at Sophia’s obvious discomfort. “Check. Now, be quiet, Marcus. This is her list to create. Look at the rest, Sophia, and let me know which ones you don’t understand.”
Some of the options were easy to agree on and required little explanation. Even the vocabulary she could accept during a scene was carefully negotiated. Spanking benches, nipple clamps, paddles, canes, cuffs, and vibrators were all given the appropriate description along with their advantages and disadvantages, but the mental images caused her body to wiggle in nervous anticipation. Without making any eye contact, she checked the ‘yes’ column quickly for more items than she’d ever thought possible.
Other fetishes and kinks were so far out in her version of left field, she couldn’t even see herself in the same ballfield. Sex with multiple partners simply didn’t sound possible while urine and fire play actually defeated any rising endorphins. She also couldn’t embrace anything permanent like a tattoo nor could she envision a twenty-four/seven relationship. Her worried frown was an easy read, and Bella shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Kinky is in the eye of the beholder. Pick what you like, and that’s your list.”
Other items rested in the middle to muddle her clarity. She really didn’t want to wear a puppy tail or children’s clothing, but the removal of choice while somebody took care of her every need sounded so freeing that she almost shuddered. Faced with Bella’s current attitude, however, she couldn’t put the explanation into a sentence and added with a slight quiver, “I don’t think so.”
Her regret was almost instantaneous, and Bella said, “You can put it on a maybe list. It doesn’t have to be yes or no. Just tell him what you’re thinking. You have to talk to him.”
“I… I like the idea of giving up choice, but I don’t know about costumes. I… can’t help but think I’d feel silly. The bondage part and being submissive to Marcus is really… hot. I also think I want to get used to other people’s hands on my body. That doesn’t mean I’m ready to have sex with anybody except you, Marcus, but I think I want to take the steps that might bring me closer. I’m not sure I have what it takes to do any this in front of a crowd either, but I don’t want to say no to that. I trust you when we’re out there… and I kind of like the idea of doing something that makes me nervous.”
Marcus spoke firmly. “Make your list based on what you want, not what you think I want. You’ll have a miserable experience if you aren’t honest with yourself, but at the same time, you do want to come out of your comfort zone a little. Sex is a pretty basic instinct that has kept our species around for a long time. Some place buried deep inside you is a more animalistic reaction that wants to be separated from twenty-first-century societal norms. That’s what makes the games so much fun for both of us.”
Self-awareness and self-honesty were two characteristics she seriously lacked. “I don’t know. It’s an awful lot. Like, I want to learn about your whips, but they scare the crap out of me.”
He said dryly, “No kidding. I thought you were going for a world sprint record at the last event.”
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled with a return to her guilty conscience. “I really thought I could do it. I trusted you, but I just panicked.”
“Of course you panicked; you’d had one simple, private spanking your whole life, and you were about to be bound naked to a piece of BDSM equipment and whipped in front of strangers. That’s a big jump.”
“What do you mean, ‘simple’?” she frowned. “That first spanking hurt too.”
“Baby, that first one was about a two on a ten-point scale, just enough to light a little fire. The one in the barn might have been a four or five. You haven’t seen anything yet. Just wait until you’re really naughty.”
Bella shot them an evil laugh. “Definitely add the whips to your list if you think you’re interested. He’s not as good as Jerry, but he could knock the button off your shirt if he wanted.”
He returned her grin. “She ain’t going to be wearing a shirt, Bel.”
They laughed at Sophia’s crimson blush. Her embarrassment increased even further when they got to the medical contract as the whole discussion turned to a clinical evaluation normally reserved for a gynecologist.
“Never go to a dom without checking his paperwork,” lectured Bella with true sincerity. “It’s probably the single most important rule you can have. If he doesn’t have paperwork, don’t play.”
“Well, I can pretty much guarantee I don’t have any diseases. I only ever slept with one guy… uh… before I came here…” she added with
a blush, “…and he always used a condom. But I haven’t been to the doctor in a long time. I don’t have any paperwork.”
“How long is a long time?” said her new dom with a scowl.
“I don’t know, probably since I left foster care, and that was about five years ago. I have health insurance, but the deductible is so high I couldn’t afford the routine stuff. I’ve been healthy though.”
“You’re going to see Dan Garcia for a full physical and birth control as soon as I can get you in. You can’t rely on a condom, and you have to take care of yourself. No arguments.”
There was no talking him out of it. The doctor appointment was set up within days, and she was openly nervous on the drive to Marion. Marcus patted her leg. “Relax. He’s a nice guy. He won’t hurt you.”
She curled her knees up to her chin with a small sigh. “I’m not really afraid of him. I just don’t like doctors. I guess I never got to know one very well. Foster kids get bounced around medically too.”
Dan Garcia greeted them in the reception room, and his power increased tenfold within his own pristine office. Under less dizzying circumstances than their first meeting, Sophia took the time to study his classic Native American looks and thick chiseled arms. Clearly a dom during event weekends, his strong persona provided an unusual level of comfort while he took easy control. “I’m a general practitioner, but I can take care of everything you need today. Let’s start by filling out the medical background.”
Sophia wrote down a few words, but handed the form back quickly with the same blush that was rapidly becoming a permanent part of her face.
“You didn’t finish,” said Dan. “What about your medical history and your family’s?”
“I… I filled out everything I could. I probably had all the shots every kid gets. I never went to the hospital or had any operations that I can remember. I had a lot of earaches. That’s all I know about me, and I don’t know anything about my family. I’m not even sure where my parents were born. I think it was Rhode Island. A social worker once told me they went to Gillette after a fight with their families, and I was born there. I never met any of them that I can remember, and they never contacted me after my parents died.”
“Don’t worry, honey,” he said sympathetically. “You aren’t the first person who doesn’t have that information.”
She shrugged. “I know. But it’s still hard. Sometimes I feel like an alien dropped here from another planet. I don’t even know my mother’s maiden name. My birth certificate is a short form with just my name and birthdate.”
“Everyone needs ties. Have you ever considered reaching out to your parents’ family and asking about your medical history? I’m sure your social workers would have some information to get you started.”
“They didn’t want me when I was four and really needed them. I’m guessing they wouldn’t want to hear from me almost twenty years later.”
Marcus tensed. “I bet you were a great kid. They must have been on drugs or something. Those big brown eyes of yours would have defined any baby face.”
Her voice reflected the stubborn nature she kept for protection from the outside world. “I wouldn’t know about being a cute baby. Other than the handful of school packages and an album one of my foster mothers made for me in the fifth grade, I don’t have a lot of pictures. I’ve never even seen a baby picture. They must have gotten lost somewhere along the way.”
The men exchanged a look she couldn’t read, and the realization she needed to work on interpreting nonverbal cues brought another small frown.
Dr. Garcia spoke first. “Let’s get the exam started. Marcus, you can wait in the reception room.”
Sophia gave a little whimper and grabbed his hand. “I… can you stay, Marcus? I really don’t like doctors… no offense or anything. You all make me feel like I’m ten years old again. My… most of my foster parents and social workers pretty much left me on my own whenever I had to see a doctor. They were always new and always scary.”
He pulled her close. “Of course, I’ll stay as long as you want.”
Dan briefly left the room while Marcus helped her out of her clothes and handed her the thin cotton gown that provided very little privacy. He ran his hand along her back. “Maybe we need one of these at home? You have fantastic curves under here.”
The preliminary ear, nose, and throat check were simple enough and caused no concerns. She quivered slightly when the doctor reached under the gown to check her belly, but when foreign hands moved to her breasts, she openly cringed.
Marcus joked as he fondled her second quivering mound. “Does it help if I massage the other one?”
She blushed deeply, but couldn’t stop her laugh. The doctor raised his eyebrow in a halfhearted scowl. “We try to stay professional here, Marcus. My examining room isn’t Cloudcroft on a Saturday night.”
Marcus laughed again as he pinched Sophia’s nipple into a hard tip. The slight pain made her gasp but the familiar awakening between her legs encouraged her wiggled response. With an evil glint, he stroked her outer channel with slow, methodical movements, and her eyes closed in a futile attempt to hide from her blush. She managed a weak correction. “Stop, Marcus.”
“Yeah, she loves this,” he laughed. “Check it out, Dan.”
Dan sighed as Sophia wiggled again. “I’m not going to play with a patient on my table. I’ll lose my license. I promise I’ll make it up to you at the next scene, Sophia. But if he doesn’t get his hand out of your pussy, he’s going to have to leave the room. I have to examine you.”
Marcus withdrew his fingers, but the smirk never left his face as Dan positioned himself between her legs. The doctor spoke professionally. “Take a breath, Sophia. I’m just going to feel your uterus and ovaries to make sure they’re okay.” He slid his latex-coated digits between her already wet spot and manipulated her tummy with his free hand.
Her new dom kept her distracted despite another man’s fingers between her legs. “They say the size of a man’s hand is a tell to the size of his cock… so those tiny fingers feel good now but at a scene, you’d be very disappointed with the rest of him.”
Sophia giggled as Dan frowned. “Honestly, Marcus. You left the randy teenager behind a few years ago. Can’t you try to behave yourself?”
“Come on, Garcia. Don’t go back to high school. We both know I have a hell of a lot more stories to embarrass you with than you are willing to admit.”
“You need a tetanus booster soon. You don’t want to piss me off when I have access to your ass.”
She relaxed under the gentle banter until Dan approached with a hard plastic instrument that looked almost like an old-fashioned curling iron apparently destined to invade one of her most private spaces. She sat up quickly. “I think I’m done here.”
Both men dropped their joking manner, and Marcus spoke sternly. “You can do this, Sophia.”
“It’s necessary to exam your cervix, honey,” added Dan. “Don’t be nervous. You’ll feel a little pressure, but it doesn’t hurt.”
With an emphatic shake of her head, Sophia jumped off the table in an effort to get to the door. “I… I don’t think so. That thing just looks horrible.”
Marcus sighed and crossed his arms. “This isn’t a game. It’s your health, and I’m pulling my dom card. Get your ass back over here and spread your legs for the nice man, or I’ll tan your hide right here.”
Her mouth hung open while she processed her limited options. His look remained ominous while Dan simply waited for them to come to an arrangement. When her hesitation lasted several long seconds, Marcus moved his hand to his belt buckle. “Am I taking the belt off, Sophia?”
The thought of leather on her tender bottom did little to reduce her swollen need, but it was enough to force her return to the table. She settled her legs into the stirrups and looked to Marcus with no small amount of trepidation.
He rubbed her ankles and inner thighs carefully. “Good girl. Now just hold my hand and let him fini
sh the exam. You can close your eyes if you want.”
The support overwhelmed her fear while her mind adapted to the knowledge that somebody was really looking out for her. The hard plastic intrusion caused her to squirm and wiggle, but Dan placed his hand gently on her stomach. “Relax, Sophia. You need to focus on your breathing. If you tense up, you’ll be a lot more uncomfortable.”
Eyes closed, she tried hard but was failing miserably when Marcus whispered in her ear while gently rubbing her abdomen. “Come on, Sophia. Breathe slowly.” She focused on his touch but before she could determine a pattern, the plastic was removed.
Her relief was short-lived when she felt Dan’s fingers at her tight bottom hole. “Just one more invasion of your privacy. I want to check everything out.”
When he entered, the strange feeling caused her to squirm, and she involuntarily creased her brow, but Marcus just laughed. “Is she tight down there? I plan on finding out for myself with something a hell of a lot bigger than your finger.”
“Marcus,” said Dan with a resigned sigh, “remind me to never let you in my examining room again.”
When they were done, she was given a red lollypop and a kiss on the forehead from Dr. Garcia. “I look forward to a less clinical invasion of your privacy, but if you ever come back to this office, try to bring a different Cloudcroft dom. This one is an idiot.”
Marcus licked her lollypop with a grin. “I think she’ll be bringing me for a while.”
Chapter Eight
Marcus held her hand tightly while they walked back to his truck. “You did great, and you need a treat. When I was a kid and went to the doctor, my mother always took me to lunch.”
Sophia grinned. “I think I’m a little old for a hamburger and a toy, but I have to admit there was a time when I was so jealous of the other kids, I could have screamed. Other than my own dog, kid’s meals were probably my biggest dream.”
Saving Sophia Page 10
