Branded (The Club)

by M. C. Cerny

  Dust kicked up from my boots as I walked up to the barn doors. I heard the nickers of horses inside and shuddered. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them per say, but I had a healthy dose of fear given I’d never ridden before. My hand hesitated on the latch to a gate that seemed to separate some of the horses.

  “Sloan?” I peeked around the corner, not finding him, and walked further inside. A barn cat rubbed against my leg, and I leaned down to pet her. “Hi there. Where’s your daddy, pretty kitty? Hmm?” I scratched her soft head, and she leaned into me, purring, deeply contented.

  “Daddy is right here, but I told you to call me sir.” His boots rounded the corner scaring the shit out of me.

  “Jesus, Sloan.” I clutched my neck, and the cat scampered off as Sloan reached down to pick me up.

  “Good morning, Langley.” He helped me to stand on my weak feeling legs and pushed me against the wooded wall. His hands roamed freely, pushing up under the ridiculously short dress.

  “I couldn’t find any underwear,” I said.

  He shook his head, smiling. “I didn’t leave you any.”

  “Huh.” Our eyes followed each other, mine wary and his assessing. “I met Stella too.”

  “I hope she was pleasant,” he said.

  I shrugged my shoulders, feigning indifference. I hated when people didn’t like me, but what was I going to do? Stella was Sloan’s housekeeper; she’d been with him ages. Me—less than a full day.

  “I think she’ll warm up to me.” I wasn’t sure of anything but since I hadn’t done anything wrong, I was going to keep that assumption.

  “She will.”

  His hands continued a leisurely path upward, and as much as I wanted this, I also feared someone coming out and seeing us like this. I had no underwear on thanks to a certain cowboy. I pushed him back and he let me go, a frown covering his face as I walked away.

  “So, this is the barn.” I paced deeper inside, my fingers trailing against the grains of wood, and he followed me and rested a hand on my back.

  “Yes. Have you ever ridden before?” It was a question within a question, and I recognized the sexual innuendo right away.

  “Horses? No.” I’d never ridden anything a day in my life, not even a pony or an elephant like they had at the county fairs back home. The ponies always looked half-starved and the elephants so sad. I couldn’t bring myself to bounce on their backs for five dollars a pop, and after my parent’s divorce, my mother pinched every penny saying it would be a waste.

  I turned toward him, giving him a cheeky smile and pressing my finger into his chest. “You…maybe later.”

  Sloan’s laughter sounded like an unused horn, deep, loud, and without control. For someone who reported to thrive on control, I liked that he let his guard down in fragments with me. How could he be domineering twenty-four seven if he laughed spontaneously? It didn’t add up to me in a good way and reframed for me all the things I had read and researched about BDSM relationships prior to coming out here. Porn videos on the internet were perhaps not the best educators but quickly brought me up to speed.

  “Come, I want to show you something.” He grabbed my hand and led me outside the other end of the barn. A pasture surrounded by a split rail fence lay out before us. A large, black horse raced over the field bucking and kicking. His tail whipped in the wild, and his eyes looked untamed and beastly.

  “He’s beautiful.” My curiosity had me standing on the railing before I realized what I was doing. Part of me wanted to get closer and touch a bit of his wildness if he would let me.

  “He’s dangerous.” Sloan’s arms circled around me, trapping my arms from going out over the fence and keeping me immovable.

  “What’s he doing out here all alone?” The beautiful animal made those fair ponies look woefully inadequate.

  “He’s my stud horse. He’ll be breeding with a mare soon. Right now his temperament makes him too dangerous to keep in the barn. He kicked out a few stall boards, so I brought him out here so he doesn’t hurt himself or anyone else.”

  “Must be lonely like that,” I muttered.

  Sloan sighed heavily and turned me to face him. His fingers tilted my chin up, and his blue eyes bore down into mine so seriously.

  “Langley, the only dangerous thing on this ranch is Blackjack. I don’t want you near him under any circumstances, especially if I’m not here with you.”

  I snorted, glancing back to Blackjack who was carrying on as if he was showing off for us. “Right because I’m going to jump the fence and ride him.”

  A sharp smack landed on my bare ass. “Sarcasm will get you in trouble, and then I’ll be the most dangerous thing on the ranch to you.” His tone brooked no arguments from me, my ass smarted, and I was tempted to rub the pain away if it wasn’t for the stern look on his face.

  “O-okay,” I agreed, and he helped me step down from the post and walked with me back inside the barn. The shade cooled my bare shoulders when we stepped inside, making me shiver.

  “I’m telling you this for your own safety, Luchadora.” Sloan linked his hand in mine, and we walked back toward the house. I wondered what that name meant and asked him.

  “It means something close to feisty. My mother was Spanish and we had a cat she loved named Luchadora. Reminds a bit like you.” He squeezed my hand in his and warmth filled me. For a nickname, it was sweet.

  “What happened with Blackjack?” The horse made me curious and I had a hard time believing an animal so beautiful would be dangerous.

  “One of the ranch hands was injured this morning by that horse. Conner is okay, but it just reinforces how untrustworthy an animal can be.”

  “Does anyone ever ride him?” I asked.

  “I do but even that’s dangerous. I don’t want you doing anything foolish. Don’t try making nice with him, you could get hurt. This isn’t me asking either, I’m telling you. We haven’t outlined this relationship very well but this would be one of those things I would punish you for.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh. Ten spanks at least for disobeying and not the happy tapping kind to get you wet for fucking.” His bluntness wasn’t what shocked me, it was the almost meanness with which he said it. He was serious.

  “I guess I’ll have to find other things to occupy my time then.” I try to lighten the mood stepping up two steps to make myself almost even with him in height.

  He spanked my ass lightly under the dress, a wicked smile slashed across his otherwise stern expression. “You do that, Luchadora.”

  I was wet. I was so wet it was embarrassing. I ran the rest of the stairs up to the front door, my chest heaving and my thighs sticking to together with each step I took boots clacking on the kitchen tiles, and then thudding over wooden floors. I didn’t stop until I reached the bathroom inside the bedroom I woke up in that morning now clean, fresh linens tucked around the bed. In the mirror, my cheeks were bright red and my hair a knotted mess.

  11

  Langley

  The sun peeked through the lacy curtains in another blistering hot day. A week at the ranch felt like a season had passed. I woke in my room alone, Sloan already gone to do the morning chores in the barn. He was long gone before the sun pressed herself up into the sky dotted with fluffy white clouds in the vibrant blue–a blue sky that reminded me of his eyes which seemed fathomless.

  Besides Stella, I was the only woman on the ranch. Stella delivered our meals and cleaned house like a phantom. I rarely saw her, and when I did she smiled now. The rest were Sloan’s ranch hands, men whom he hired to watch over the cattle and horses, doing daily chores. He had a foreman who oversaw things at the bunk house including the men’s cooking and laundry duty. I wasn’t allowed to go near the building. Besides staying away from Blackjack that was one of Sloan’s first rules I had to follow. The men there left every Saturday night, rotating weekends because of the cattle, and had until Monday morning off. They could go into the small town, ten miles away, for their fun but were expected
back or fired. Another one of Sloan’s rules.

  I found him to be every bit as demanding with his workers as he was with me. Here I was holed up in the house, expected to wait him out and serve him. I learned he liked it best when I presented myself kneeling on the floor by the fire awaiting his pleasure. There wasn’t much for me to do, and over a lengthy lesson of orgasm denial I all but begged Sloan for chores to occupy my time while he worked the ranch. He had given me the task of seeing to his meals and his laundry for the sake of not letting me get too bored. Stella actually thanked me with one of her apple pies and came in the mornings to help me. He had a library I could sit and read in as well as a computer with internet connection I could use. For a ranch, he had a modern home but a few antiquated ideas about the roles of men and women. We were still working out the kinks, you might say.

  I had finished prepping the chicken I was going to put in the oven to bake with scalloped potatoes, a recipe I emailed my mother. I felt like a meal always needed three things: A protein, a starch, and something else. The plate looked better with three items on it, and I would leave it at that. I racked my brain to come up with something until I saw the apples hanging off the tree out the kitchen window and decided homemade apple sauce would work.

  In the yard, I filled the apron over my dress with apples. Blackjack pawed at the dirt near the fence. The beautiful horse looked hungry and I took a step forward. I looked behind me and no one was there despite the itchy feeling I felt over my shoulder. What would it hurt if I gave him just one? Sloan said going near the animal was punishable, but he looked so lonely. If all his life was about mating with a mare he could rarely see or touch, it didn’t seem like much of a life at all.

  “Hey, boy.” I walked up to the fence and saw no one was out on this side of the house. Blackjack tossed his head up and down as if he was greeting me.

  “Must suck being out here alone.” His head bobbed again and I stepped closer with hesitation.

  “I’m alone here too. Well, not exactly.” I was talking to the animals now, great. I could just imagine what my mother would be saying about this if she knew.

  “I’m sort of Sloan’s mare. God that sounds weird doesn’t it?” Blackjack trotted along the fence getting closer.

  “Maybe you just want someone to talk to, huh?” I took one of the apples and pushed it through the fence, my hand shaking, careful not to expose my fingers for his teeth to bite.

  Blackjack nibbled on the apple, and I tentatively touched the top of his head. His coat was as soft as it looked and shiny. The black reflected the light, and the power radiating off his body was seductive.

  “You’re a good boy, Blackjack. Let’s keep this our little secret, okay?” I scurried back into the house washing my hands off just in time.

  “Langley?” Sloan’s voice carried through the front of the house to the back in the kitchen where I was. Guilt filled me for being outside with the horse, and I bit my lip wondering if he was also a soothsayer.

  “Back here…” I gulped, remembering another rule and added the last bit on the end. “Sir.”

  His booted steps echoed on the tile, and each step brought him closer to me and my thudding heart.

  “There are you are.” I turned from the counter at his voice, my back leaning into the hard marble of the countertop. The coolness of it gave relief to my heated skin.

  “I was preparing dinner.” I didn’t know how formal to be yet and my nerves got the better of me each time.

  “Were you now?” Sloan stood in front of me. I wondered if he knew, but he said nothing, and I steadied my breathing. His jean clad legs bulged through the denim and he surrounded me my placing his hands on the counter behind me, effectively trapping me.

  “Meat and potatoes, well, chicken anyway.” I was close to stuttering and instead shut my eyes when I felt the pad of his fingertips graze up the back of my legs to my ass. It was a barely-there touch that heightened the sensation, and I swallowed back any words I might have said.

  Sloan leaned into me, his hot breath on my neck as his mouth trailed up to my ear speaking softly. “There’s a bathing suit on the bed and sandals. Put them on and meet me on the back porch.”

  “Right now? But the chicken?”

  “The chicken can wait, Langley. I can’t.” Gasping for air, I run for the bedroom. Sloan slammed the door shut, letting it bounce back open. I didn’t know how much time I had, so I hurried and found the peach colored bikini on the bed. Sandals, gold ones were on the floor next to it. The suit had tags on it, and I wondered if he purchased it online and had it delivered. I guessed it didn’t matter. I pulled up the dress and dropped in on the floor. I would worry about picking it up later. After changing quickly and slipping the gold thong sandals on my feet, I rushed back downstairs and out the door, looking side to side for Sloan.

  “Down here, pretty girl.” I followed his voice down the steps and around the house to a little shed built off the barn. He was holding a door open and I entered behind him. The air felt humid and smelled tangy, chlorine if I had to guess, and I wondered how I missed this here the whole time. Sloan flipped a switch, answering my question as a hot tub roared to life. White Christmas lights hung on the walls giving it a romantic feel. I would have sworn a thousand summer fire flies where glowing, but it was just those lights.

  “Swimming before dinner?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

  “A lesson,” he said as he proceeded to unbutton his jeans and pull them down his unbooted legs.

  Oh—a lesson would be nice. He called our encounters lessons, and I supposed if he was teaching me to be submissive calling them that made sense.

  He helped me up the small set of stairs. Before I stepped into the warm water that pulsed around me he slipped off my sandals. Sloan pushed me forward so he could get in and sit behind me.

  “This feels good,” I murmured expecting him to agree. One arm snaked around my center pulling me back to his hard chest.

  “Put your arms up, behind you, around my neck.” He gave directions like a drill sergeant and the position left me open, my chest vulnerable and my nipples puckered. “Good girl.” I let me fingers rub his hair, holding on when his hands traveled downward over my breasts, squeezing them.

  I moaned, turning my head to my right and into his shoulder.

  “This is in my way.” I felt the strings at the top of my bikini slip down into the water, my breasts heavy with need for him bounced down teased by the lapping water.

  “Sloan,” I said forgetting yet another rule.

  “Hmm?” he hummed.

  “Sir.” I couldn’t see his face, but I felt his cheeks turn up into a smile as his fingertips rolled the hard buds of my nipples. He twisted and pinched them, eliciting a sharp cry within me but also an ache down below.

  He kept his hand pumping my left breast mercilessly while his other hand made its way down to the edges of my hip bone. Moaning, my mouth turned up into an O shape and deft fingers slipped under the spandex material teasing the hood of my clit. I bit my lower lip to keep from crying out.

  “That’s it, don’t come yet.” A blunt tip of his thick finger circled my hole before experimentally pressing inside me.

  “Sir…” I whimpered, unable to move and yet wanting to grind myself up into him. I settled for pushing back against his cock that was now digging into my back.

  “So wet, your juice mixing with the water. I have to be careful your thirsty cunt doesn’t dry out on me.” His finger pressed deeper, popping between my walls and pressing down on soft tissues, teasing the swollen bundle of nerves behind my pubic bone.

  “P-please,” I begged.

  “The lesson I’m teaching you is to enjoy the moment for what it is Langley. Tonight, I’m going to fuck every hole in your body.” Shudders racked my body as his finger pulled out of me tracing the soft and now slippery skin. I couldn’t imagine anything better in that moment, but Sloan began to work me over, thrusting first one then two fingers when I properly
stretched around his digits.

  “You like this?” he asked, and I licked my lips before responding with a yes. He pumped faster now, but I was so wet his fingers flitted through me and against me with ease. The water began slapping over the edge of the hot tub with the jerk of his arm and the twist of my body to reach the pinnacle.

  “Put your legs up on the rim.”

  “Ohh.” The movement opened me wider, more vulnerable as he fucked me roughly with three of his fingers, the pressure building. My speech was non-existent except for the grunts coming from deep within my body. The splashes of water hitting the floor outside the tub made swooshes with our movements within.

  “You like that, huh?” He kissed my ear before biting the lobe sharply.

  I was so close my eyes squeezed shut, leaking tears. “Yes, please sir.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to wait,” he said against my ear and pulled his fingers out before pushing me away. Water flipped out beyond the rim, and I grabbed the side hunched over breathing in shallow pants. My legs had fallen back in and were now shut tight, closed to the world. I was shaking and achy as Sloan jumped out of the tub to hand me a towel from a warming rack.

  I was wobbly from the adrenaline rush and felt a little lost from not reaching my goal. It was as if I experienced free falling but nothing caught me to break my fall. I was simply waiting for his cruel mercy.

  “I’ll see you inside for dinner. Don’t dress.” He left me in the shed contemplating how this lesson actually played out. I knew I lost this battle. Maybe this was my punishment for giving Blackjack an apple earlier? He forgot the ten spanks, and I wasn’t about to remind him either.