“Put this on her,” Luke said, handing me a gag that I’d never seen before. He raised an eyebrow in my direction and I knew what it meant. Yes, I felt more than happy to gag the bitch who had enjoyed the orgasm at the stroke of Luke’s whip.
The gag left Carlie’s mouth forced open wide. I gleefully fastened the two buckles behind her head. The scene we were staging left me wondering about the client.
Carlie and I walked over to Luke and he attached a carabiner onto the D ring on the back of Carlie’s girdle. He also wrapped a thick black climbing rope around her elbows.
“Lie down on your side … careful of the spikes,” Luke told Carlie. “Jane, grab the foot bib over there and slide her feet into it. Okay, we need to pull together. On three ... One, two, three.” He pulled both ropes that elevated Carlie’s torso; not much strength was required on my part to lift her legs. We tied the ropes off and Luke said, “Time to shift Tess … right under her.” I hung onto the spreader bar and we shifted her in direct alignment with the floating Carlie.
“We should braid Carlie’s hair, don’t you think?” I said, looking at Luke.
“Definitely, good thinking,” he said and smiled. He took my face in his hands and gave me a rough kiss.
I ran to our bathroom and, finding the right hair tie, hurried back. I had decided to be professional, let go of my baser tendencies and make quick work of braiding her soft red hair. As I draped her hair over her left shoulder I noticed a tattoo of a whip on the back of her neck. The strands were clearly braided like the whip Janice had used on me. This world seemed smaller by the day and made me wonder what relationship she might have had with Janice in the past.
I had no need to spray Carlie with water. Her uncomfortably elevated bondage left her naturally perspiring. She had to strain to keep her head up. “Please light the candles and dim the lights,” Luke ordered as he climbed the ladder that stood to the side of the women. “Hand me the camera body and then the 210 lens.”
The atmosphere shifted with the candle light. The darkness of the set, the beige rope and flickering of the candles rarefied the mystery and sex appeal of the shot.
“Tess, tilt your face to me a bit … yes, right there.” Luke began snapping shot after shot. “Carlie, lift your head as high as you can. Arch your back.” Then Luke, suddenly and without warning, slapped Carlie across the face. “Lift that head of yours if you want to keep it.” He kept shooting Tess wincing each time he hit Carlie. He got what he wanted out of the models and they knew what they were in for, but his tactics still made me uncomfortable.
“Jane, please give Tess’ nipples some incentive,” Luke ordered.
Tess smiled in what I thought was an effort to make me less uncomfortable. I twisted both her nipples with care until they reached their full peaks.
I could tell Luke wanted to capture the whip marks, Carlie’s distorted mouth, and her bound arms and still include Tess’s bondage below. After he shot more from the top of the ladder, he came down and lay on the ground, shooting many different angles from that position.
“Let’s change the light filter to gold. That’ll warm things up a bit. Jane, roll the lights to the left until I say stop.” Luke stared at his camera screen, watching for the right change in lighting. “Stop. Right there … excellent. Okay, let’s drop Carlie and remove the girdle as well.”
Luke and I adjusted the ropes and lowered her down. I pulled off the thick black panties, managing to avoid the spikes, and replaced the foot bib. After we reaffixed the ropes Luke took the whip and began to strike Carlie again across the base of her buttocks to mid-thigh until she gushed. He swung his camera around and began shooting furiously capturing the flow from Carlie onto the open pussy of Tess bound helplessly on the floor.
“That was good, Carlie. Excellent job. How are you doing down there, Tess? You okay?” Luke asked as he scrolled through the photos on the camera.
“Feeling squeezed, but I’m good for a bit longer,” Tess said.
“Great. Jane, the fish eye lens, quickly. Let’s make some art while we have these two beauties tied up,” he said as he handed me the 210 lens.
He danced around both women, the shutter constantly firing. I watch him in wonder. Seeing him chase his passion and lost in the moment made me love him even more. I still felt peeved about the orgasm but I also realized that he had made me an integral part of his life and work. That was what I’d always wanted and needed.
“These are great,” he said as he scrolled through the shots he had just taken. “Okay. That’s a wrap unless you just want to hang around, Carlie.” Luke laughed and looked over at me, winking. “I’ll get their money while you help them out of their gear. Be right back.”
* * *
I had gotten used to the never-ending stream of people tramping through our house and shopping for a horde instead of just the two of us. I had long stopped considering my nakedness around the company in our home. I became the hostess of our abode, making sure every model or client had what they needed. At first I was jealous of the sexy models parading naked through our place but after the first few weeks of watching Luke’s professional manner with them, I began to feel more maternal toward the young women. Luke never used Carlie again and it seemed the other models got the message or didn’t have designs on Luke. They confided their boyfriend woes, making me even more certain that I’d found the right man, that I had established the relationship everyone hoped to find.
I remember another day vividly from that time. We had a full schedule of shooting and clients due to come over in the evening. We’d stayed up late the night before watching Tokyo Decadence and when the alarm went off in the morning, Luke said, “I need a day off. How about you?”
“Are you serious?” I asked, sitting up in bed, sure he must be joking. “We have a lot scheduled today.” I was bright-eyed with anticipation.
“Time to play hooky!” he said. He tackled me back down onto the bed and started to reach for the strap under the right corner.
“Hey, wait!” I laughed. “I need to cancel the appointments or the girls will be showing—”
He crushed his mouth over mine and took my resistance away. “I’ve already taken care of that.”
“But how—”
“If you insist on talking I’m going to have to find something to stuff in your mouth.”
With my free hand, I mimed a key turning over my lips and then giggled as he rolled me onto my stomach and began my capture ...
As we lay recovering together, Luke’s phone chimed with an incoming text. I had my head on his chest so when he grabbed the phone off the nightstand and held it up to see who had texted, I could see it as well.
“Who is Naomi?” I asked calmly, but inside chaos reigned. The text read: I need to speak to you. I knew all the names of the models and this was not one I recognized. Naomi.
He paused way too long for my comfort. “I have to take this,” he said, moving me quickly aside.
As I awaited his return, the turmoil kept building inside me. I was afraid the text had come from the woman Luke had brought back from Japan. My jealousy assailed me and forced me out of bed and into a restless pacing.
Luke was absent for what seemed like an eternity. I could wait no longer and stormed into the living room, expecting him to be on the phone, but he wasn’t there. Through the window I saw him moving about out back as storm clouds scudded toward the coast from the Atlantic. Plunking down on the couch, I watched him argue into the phone and waited. I could see how upset he was.
He finally came back in and said gruffly, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“What? Wait! That’s not fair. I can’t so much as speak to Scott and yet you can talk to any woman you like?”
“Don’t push it, Jane,” he said as he brushed passed me.
“Is Naomi the woman you brought back from Japan? You seem very upset. Please, trust me enough to confide in me,” I said as I followed after him back into our bedroom.
“She says
she’s pregnant.” He sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes black with fury.
“Is it true?” I asked. It felt as if my heart ceased to beat.
“She may be, but there’s absolutely no chance the baby’s mine.”
“Then I’m confused. Did you use a condom?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Then how are you so certain?”
He looked up and his expression chilled me. Was it sadness or regret? I couldn’t be sure.
“After the last scare, I got a vasectomy.”
“You what?!” Not able to process this new information I leaned against the door, trying to get control of my breathing. Fuming mad I said, “Did you ever consider that I might want to know that information?”
“I would never consider bringing children into this lifestyle, and you never expressed interest in kids so there didn’t seem to be any point.” He shrugged like it was no big thing.
“What else have you kept from me? Do I even know who the hell you are?”
“Jane, I’m already redlined so do us both a favor and shut the fuck up.” He stomped into the bathroom.
Unable to let it go, I came up behind him and said, “I’m confused, why would it take forty-five minutes to tell Naomi that it couldn’t possibly be you?”
“She threatened to contact you.”
“What could she say to me, Luke?”
“Jane, I’m warning you, let it the fuck go. We can talk about this later.”
I tugged open my drawers, pulled out my running clothes and clutched my sneakers.
I had to run off the anxiety that had been injected by another woman into what might have been another perfect day.
* * *
All Luke ever said about Naomi after that day was that he had taken care of it. We were still settling into our new life. Sex continued to alternate between making love and fucking with bondage, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle and most of it enhanced my pleasure. I still felt convinced I traveled on the path to Happily Ever After.
I could have remained in that cocoon of our life forever, but sometimes forever doesn’t last a lifetime. What would emerge from the cocoon became the ever gnawing question.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A few weeks later, after we’d been playing in the surf together, Luke led me up the stairs and past the pool, through the back of house.
“Let’s take a bath,” he said as I trailed behind him.
I knew his statement required no response.
Our bedroom held the same furniture I had observed the first night we met—he later had it transferred to our little downtown apartment and then here, to the beach house. This place was more spacious than either. As we passed the antique, dark wood furniture, I smiled at myself in the mirror on the dresser.
Our tub accommodated both of us comfortably and we sat on its edge waiting for it to fill.
Luke got in first. “Come lie between my legs,” he said. He soaped up a wash cloth and cleansed the salt water from my skin. Using the hand-held sprayer, he rinsed me off. He gravitated back to my breasts, spinning the knobs to the side of us to increase the pressure. My nipples became erect at the assault.
“Mmm.” I couldn’t help but moan and grind my hips. His growing erection bobbed at my back.
Trailing the water between my breasts and down my stomach, he swung his legs between mine, spreading them and lifting up my pelvis.
“What are you … ohhhh,” I said when the water hit my vulva.
He bobbed my body up and down as he swirled the water around my hard clit. With his other hand, he continued the torment of my nipples, pulling and squeezing. My pulse grew rapid as he leaned over to bite my ear, clamping his teeth down hard. My body shook, splashing water over the side.
The pain and pleasure had me so close to orgasm. “Luke, I need to cum!”
“Wait until I say so, love,” he said, bringing the shower head closer and increasing the pressure on my protruding clitoris.
“Oh god, oh Luke, I’m so close, please ...”
Just as I hovered at the edge of orgasm, the bathroom door opened, startling us both. Marcello strolled in as if it were his birthright. As I shifted to cover my body, more water spilled out over the side and our surprise guest backed up a step.
“What the hell are you doing in our bathr—” I began.
“Jane, stand up and get out,” Luke admonished me with his tone.
“Really, Luke? This man has the audacity to not only invade our house uninvited but our bathroom, where we are clearly making love and you want to admonish—”
Luke snatched me up by the hair and began maneuvering me toward the bedroom. As he forced me past Marcello I saw the man’s smile of satisfaction and wished I could slap it off his face.
Over his shoulder Luke said, “I’ll meet you in the living room.”
He tossed me on the bed as if I weighed nothing. “When are you going to learn to respect my friends?”
“So you are okay with him barging in our house and our bathroom?”
“That is for me to handle. I’m not very happy with you at this moment.” He quickly dried off and threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
“That makes two of us,” I said, rolling away from him. I heard him leave the room and shut the door. With the door closed, I couldn’t hear what Luke said to Marcello. I felt pretty sure I would be the one to suffer for the man’s outrageous behavior.
However, an hour later—after Marcello left and I was sitting in my writing room chronicling the last bit of drama in my life—Luke strolled in as if nothing had happened.
“Let’s have a party,” he said as he lifted me into his arms.
I leaned sideways to hit save and close the program. With growing dread, I asked, “What kind of party?”
He looked down at me and laughed. “What an odd reaction. I’m talking about a party here.”
“I have been to parties before ... Will I be naked?”
“Of course,” he said. He carried me over to the loveseat by the door and settled me onto his lap.
“Must we?” I hugged him tight.
“You haven’t seen your friends in forever and I have clients to entertain.”
“We can see my friends at Allison’s wedding and I have no interest in being naked in front of them again.”
“Okay, that’s even better. I’ll plan all of it.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
“Don’t worry yourself about a thing, I can promise you’ll have the time of your life.”
He meant to reassure me, but instead the overwhelming sense of dread twisted and turned inside me until I realized I had stopped breathing. Gulping air, I rose from his lap and left the room. This was all Marcello’s fault. What else could have caused Luke to interrupt the calm and joyful rhythm of our lives?
* * *
Over the next few weeks the anxiety never fully left me, but I managed to push it aside.
Sandy called, wanting to get together, but I put her off again. Taking so much as a second away from my life with Luke held little interest for me. I told myself she was busy with Jason and that she and I had never resolved our issues after the wedding. I no longer felt like I needed anyone other than Luke. He had become my entire life, the air I breathed, and the food I ate. He sustained me and filled me and if we never saw another soul I believed I could be happy forever.
Try as I might, I couldn’t stop worrying about the party. Who would be there? What would I have to do or tolerate? Would Marcello and Janice be invited?
The day before the party I ran alone on the beach, pushing myself to exhaustion. The apprehension of the impending gathering was playing havoc with my unconscious mind.
It started with a recurrence of the dream about the pitch-black vault. This time I sat on the cot staring in what I thought to be the direction of the door. I identified the smell as grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup that my father used to make for me as a child. The big locks clicked and the d
oor opened, letting in the blinding light. Summoning all the will I possessed, I focused my eyes. I needed to see my rescuer, my salvation. My vision finally cleared and I saw—surrounded by light—Marcello.
“No!” I screamed, sitting up in bed.
“Jane, what is it?” Luke said, groggy with sleep.
“Nothing, never mind. I had a horrible dream, just go back to sleep,” I said. My heart raced as I struggled to get control of my emotions.
I lay back down and Luke spooned me to him. He fell back asleep immediately. I, however, lay there worrying about the dream and what Marcello might do. I was confused about what I felt for him, and I was convinced that the three of us together at a party would be a dangerously volatile combination.
Later that day I made a phone call to my mother—evidence that anxiety about the party was making me behave strangely. I acted like someone who knew she would die soon and was reaching out for one last connection with her past.
“This is a surprise,” she said.
“I thought I would see how you’re doing.”
“Oh, I’m the same … other than the fact that I worry constantly about you.”
“Worry about me? Why?”
“Are things still okay with Luke?”
“Things couldn’t be more perfect. We’re very happy.”
“I guess my maternal radar is malfunctioning. Anywho … guess who took me to dinner last week?”
“The man in apartment 2A? Jim … Joe … something like that?” I was encouraged to hear she had any kind of social life.
“No, Brian, your old boss. We ran into each other at Whole Foods and ate dinner together. I still think you missed your chance with him.”
“I wasn’t interested in him, Mom, and I’m very happily in love sooo—”
“And anyway I told you James in 2A was a good-for-nothing. He’s never happy when his grandchildren come to visit. Which reminds me, any baby plans in the future?”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
“You need to get on it. Your biological clock is ticking.”
My Body-His Marcello Page 13
