by Sarah Veitch
She left. Gradually most of the customers and all of the other stylists drifted away. Soon there was just a woman in her mid-twenties who'd been booked in for auburn highlights.
'Talk about lousy timing. I've been changing my image in small ways but had just psyched myself up to try something more adventurous,' she said.
'I know. We've never had a power cut here before,' Kenneth started, just as the dryers and lights buzzed their flickering way back on. 'Great! I'll do the highlights for you now,' he said before proceeding to mix her an attractive coppery shade.
As he finished spreading the dye over selected strands, Ms Ardale walked back in.
'Thought I might as well take the towels to the launderette...' she started. Then she stared at the girl in the swivel chair. Silently she beckoned her young male employee to the backshop. 'You're not qualified to do highlights yet.'
Kenneth could feel his cheeks going a patchy red. Not technically, Miss, but I've watched the senior stylists do it at hairdressing college. I know what to do.'
His superior pursed her lips. 'Did you remember to check that she hadn't used henna?'
Kenneth thought about lying then decided against it and shook his head.
'God, if you put highlights on recently-hennaed hair then it can go green. I even saw one hairdressing video where the client's hair started sizzling,' the tall slender brunette said.
Together they hurried back into the salon. As they reached the client her hair gave a little hiss. Ms Ardale put one strong hand on his arm and steered him swiftly to the door.
'Be back here tonight at 6pm. I'll have fetched my longest rattan from home by then. I'm going to give you six of the very best.'
At the appointed punishment hour Kenneth arrived at the large well-lit salon. He entered then locked the opaque door.
'You'd better close the window blinds unless you want passers by to see you getting a well-striped arse,' his employer said. She'd changed, he noted, into a lightweight wine silk skirt suit. It was teamed with matching medium-heeled shoes.
He tautened the blinds cord and turned to see her holding a cane. It was long and medium thick and ebony-coloured.
Tie over that chair so that your hands and feet are on the floor,' she said.
'Those ruined highlights. I didn't mean...'
'I'm here to teach you obedience - not listen to excuses,' his boss replied. Kenneth looked at the chair. Was he really going to bend over it and be caned by a woman who was fifteen years his senior? He looked back at her compellingly imperious features and realised that he was going to do exactly as he was told. 'Trousers and boxer shorts off,' his employer continued impassively, 'I like a laugh so you can keep on your socks.'
Feeling increasingly ridiculous, Kenneth exposed his pallid lower half. He put his clothes and shoes neatly at Reception. When he hesitated, Ms Ardale pointed again to the nearest leather chair. Reluctantly the young man angled his body then adjusted his limbs until he was lying prostrate across the upholstered seat. It held his belly in situ whilst the rise of the chair arm assured that his defenceless bum was pushed high in the air.
'A fitting target. Now I'm going to punish it until you squeal for mercy,' his employer said.
Kenneth held his breath. He heard the rod swish through the air - then it smarted its way across his upturned regions.
'Aaaah!' he yelled, instinctively bucking and almost sliding sideways off the chair.
'Be quiet or I'll really give you something to cry about.'
With effort, Kenneth scrabbled back into place. He gripped the pile of the carpet and willed his naked legs to stop jerking. When he'd stilled his nervous body he sensed Ms Ardale drawing back the cane.
This time it went higher than the first and felt even more painful. The hairdressing apprentice kicked and howled.
'Four more like that?' he whispered when he'd regained control of his torso.
'Four more,' his boss confirmed. 'You're lucky I'm not making it a more exacting twelve.'
'But I didn't mean to damage the customer's hair,' Kenneth muttered, pushing himself into a standing position then turning around to look at her beseechingly.
'You broke my rule about just doing admire and shampoo n' sets,' Ms Ardale said. She ran the pitiless black cane through her hands. 'You've cost me five-hundred pounds in compensation to that poor client. It was either that or risk being sued.'
'You could take the money from my wages over the next year,' Kenneth said, trying to sit down on the arm of the chair and then wincingly getting up again.
'I intend to, but you still need an exercise in obedience. And I believe such lessons are best instilled through a hot sore arse.'
'I... I guess you're right.' At least this way he would make amends and maybe win her respect again. Kenneth turned back towards the chair but his instructress put out her hand and touched his arm.
'I was about to add that you left your punishment position without permission so you'll have to be spanked before tasting the rod again.'
Spanked? That at least meant her hand on his flesh. Kenneth brightened slightly. Then he blushed as she ordered him to curve his body across her lap.
Getting into place took all of his fortitude. He felt a whole new level of preposterous, was achingly aware that she was staring down at the twin red lines across his helpless globes.
'I'm going to enjoy spanking this little bum,' she said in a dispassionate voice, 'I'm sure it'll bounce and redden nicely. I know that it will soon acknowledge exactly who's in charge.'
'You are, Miss,' the twenty-five year old whispered, the last word turning into a low pained hiss as she whacked hard over his still-smarting stripes. He continued to make little gasping sounds as her palm rose and fell upon his naked contours. Warmth turned to moderate heat then intensified as she continued to re-educate his powerless flesh. 'Oh please, Miss! Please, Miss! I wish I hadn't disobeyed you!' he finally and grudgingly said.
His employer stopped spanking his reddened rear but kept holding him firmly. Then he felt one of her fingers trace its way down his secret dark cleft.
The sensation was exquisite. 'Jesus!' he whispered, bucking.
'Ah, so the naughty boy does have a sensitive side. Pity he's behaved so thoughtlessly,' Ms Ardale said.
Kenneth used his arms to lever himself up a little so that he could turn his head around. She was, he noted curiously, far less flushed with the exertion than he himself. How he longed to press his lips to her vulva, her belly, her breasts and neckline. Then he'd lick submissively all the way down again to her toes.
But she was clearly in charge, so he let his head hang down and lay there over her lap wondering what she was going to do next.
'Are you ready to bend back over the armchair and flinch under the cane, boy?' she asked dispassionately.
Kenneth trembled. 'It hurt so... Couldn't I have a further spanking instead?'
Now that he had grown used to the idea he wanted to stay held over her knee forever. Her knowing hands might even touch him sexually again.
'No, the palm isn't sufficient punishment for shoddy workmanship,' the salon owner said, squeezing his heat-treated haunches, 'and if you don't assume the position immediately I'll add on two brush strokes as well.'
She indicated one of the long-handled wooden brushes on the mirror ledge.
Kenneth suddenly had an idea. 'Miss... I don't mean to be impertinent. I know that you must do exactly as you want with me. But could I possibly have four strokes of the hairbrush instead?'
He winced as she started to palpate his haunches again, cruelly enlivening them. She exhaled thoughtfully as she squeezed.
'I don't see why not. But I'll have to tease your private parts after lash four for being so presumptuous. And I'll lay them on hard.' She pointed to the nearest brush. 'Go fetch it boy and bring it over to me without using your hands.'
Kenneth obediently pushed himself free of her lap then instinctively put his hands on top of his head in a submissive gesture. Slowl
y, his hot little bottom glowing like a beacon, he walked over to the wooden brush. Aware of her cool gaze, he angled the handle towards himself with his chin before carefully gripping it between his teeth. Then, feeling even sillier than he had when instructed to pull down his trousers, he returned to his punishment place and sank to his knees.
She smiled briefly after he dropped the implement into her silk-skirted lap.
'Good dog. Now kiss the hairbrush and beg forgiveness.'
He did so, realising that he was actually meaning it. He'd initially accepted this thrashing as a way of keeping his job and his reputation. But now something shifted in his psyche and he had an overwhelming desire to please. Slavishly he pressed his lips to the polished tan surface, knowing that he was the one about to get the tanning. I'll take my punishment without complaint, he promised himself. I'll make her so proud of me.
The reality, of course, was very different. What a brain thinks it will do and what a smarting hot bum actually does are never quite the same. Kenneth arched himself back over his Mistress's knee and asked sweetly for his whipping. But when the ungiving paddle-shape connected with his right hemisphere, he almost catapulted over the far side of her lap.
'Uh!' he grunted, reaching one hand back to massage himself.
'Hands flat on the floor. It's time I made both these naughty cheeks equally crimson,' his employer said.
Kenneth whimpered but got back into the punishment position then held his breath until the brush landed on his well-spanked left sphere. This time he was ready for it so managed to stay in position, but the intensity of the sensation still momentarily robbed him of all logical thought.
'Being good... sorry. Promise,' he whispered vacantly.
'I'm going to make you good by making your bottom very sorry indeed,' his superior said. She held the smooth surface of the hairbrush a few inches from his open mouth. 'Kiss it again, and tell me what you deserve.'
Kenneth stretched out his head in order to kiss the cool wood. 'Please re-educate me, Mistress,' he muttered nervously.
He wondered exactly when he'd stopped calling her Ms Ardale and started calling her his Mistress. He wondered how he'd feel tomorrow when she was back to being his polite but distant boss.
The third whack reheated the already-chastened left globe. The twenty-five year old was again clutching his burnished bum without permission when the phone trilled out.
'Stay there,' Ms Ardale said, dumping him unceremoniously on the floor on his naked haunches. Kenneth moaned quietly and immediately scrabbled onto his knees instead. He watched as she crossed to the nearest extension, the one at the Reception desk. Listened for a moment and then said, 'Yes.'
'A late night customer, Miss?' Kenneth whispered, not liking the new gleam which had entered her hazel eyes.
No - just Lauren,' his employer said. She stared at him as he knelt obsequiously on the floor. 'You know how she's setting up a mobile salon so that we can travel to our busier clients?'
'Uh huh.' Kenneth nodded, knowing that Ms Ardale had lots of plans for her favoured Head Stylist and new van.
'Well, she's forgotten the perm neutraliser so she's popping back in for it later tonight.'
'You gave her a key?' Kenneth felt a small irrational pang of jealousy.
No, that's why she was phoning - to see if myself or the cleaning lady were here. She needs someone to let her in.'
Kenneth cast a nervous glance towards the front door. 'Then shouldn't we...'
'Oh, the traffic's quite heavy. She'll be ages yet.' She looked at him more closely. 'And if she does arrive earlier than expected then she'll get to feast her eyes on a very sore and sorry-looking arse.'
'You wouldn't,' Kenneth whispered. He was still coming to terms with the fact that she herself had gone this far in stripping and striping him. She'd fetched the cane from home and clearly had experience in taking it to a bare bottom. Did she use the implement on her male admirers or on the male sales reps when they did something wrong?
'Lauren and I went to see some male strippers once. She likes a fleshy show,' his forty year old superior continued, leaving the desk which held the phone extension and walking back to what he now thought of as the spanking chair. His brain balked at the prospect of two women staring at his half-stripped body - but his balls gave a little eroticised twitch.
'Don't you dare turn this into some little sexual side show,' Ms Ardale said as his penis lengthened. 'I really will have something risible to show Lauren then.'
'Please just give me my last brush stroke and... em... my teasing quickly, Mistress,' Kenneth said gruffly, skulking over on his knees to her side then submissively stretching himself across her lap again.
'Oh, I never rush a whipping,' his pitiless employer said. She moved her thighs about until she held him more securely across her lap then played with his bum cleft for tormentingly long minutes whilst he writhed. 'I do so enjoy taunting a lively arse,' she said. Then she seemed to remember the business in hand - or under her hands. Kenneth watched as she reached for the brush again.
'Not too hard please, Mistress,' he pleaded.
'Hard enough for you to learn to obey me,' his superior replied.
Her arm rose and Kenneth's face fell. He squirmed as he waited for the lashing. When the hard wood did make contact with his soft flesh it was almost a relief.
'Thank you,' he whispered ingratiatingly, hoping that she'd be more lenient if he was servile.
'What else do you say to the nice brush?' she asked provocatively.
Her words taking him to a new level of shame, Kenneth closed his eyes and dredged up the humiliating phrases she so clearly wanted.
'Nice brush. I'm glad that you taught me total compliance,' he said.
'Total compliance? That's a big term for a hairdressing junior. I hope you're not getting ideas above your station,' Ms Ardale mocked. 'I was thinking of a more earthy phrase - you know, as befits someone who isn't qualified to do highlights yet.'
'Sorry, Mistress. I want to obey your every command, Mistress,' Kenneth said.
What he really wanted was to nuzzle between her thighs for hour after hour. He'd show just how obedient an employee he could be!
'Tell me that you deserved that thorough roasting,' the authoritative brunette continued.
Kenneth writhed across her skirted lap then awkwardly repeated the shameful words.
'Good boy,' she murmured and he felt a rush of pride followed by a jolt of lust.
'Oh!' he gasped as her palm softly brushed his scrotum. The touch had been so welcome yet so fast.
'Don't worry - I'll give that trembling flesh time to recover,' the older woman said, beginning to coolly caress his nervous haunches. 'I like a boy to be well prepared for erotic torment, to meditate upon how it's going to feel.' She fingered the sensitive crease at the top of both his thighs. 'Mmm, you like that, don't you, Kenny? What else would you like, career-wise, boy?'
'To qualify. To work my way up the salon till I become assistant manager,' Kenneth said raggedly.
He held his breath, half-expecting her to say that promotion would never be forthcoming.
'That's what I had in mind for you too. You're a good worker - and very keen to learn,' she explained. Then she caressed his wildly craving contours again and again. 'That very eagerness is your main strength and your weakness. You rush things, Kenneth - another few months and you could have been doing highlights every day.' She tapped a finger against his rectal ring and he squirmed in nervous anticipation. 'Now it will be a long time before I trust you to do them. You'll have to be trained very thoroughly.'
Kenneth breathed in her scent but kept deferentially quiet. He didn't want to think about his training. He loved being this physically close to her - but feared the actual sting of the palm, cane and brush.
'Good boy, you've gotten control of yourself again. Time for another caress or two,' his employer said. She ran two knowing fingers up and down his shuddering penis then stopped as it reached full length. 'Doe
s this take your mind off your punished posterior?'
Kenneth squirmed. 'Still feels really hot,' he murmured honestly.
'It looks it too. Would you like to go see in the full length wall mirror?' she asked.
'I... yes, please,' Kenneth nodded, suddenly intensely curious. He scrabbled awkwardly from her lap and walked over to the looking glass, his shirt tenting out embarrassingly in front, the shirt tail flapping over his naked cheeks.
'Tie your shirt up around your waist. I like to fully admire the areas that I'm taunting,' the salon owner said.
Kenneth's sphincter tightened involuntarily at her command but he hastened to follow her instructions. She was in charge of him and of the situation - he fully accepted that.
When he'd finished lifting and securing his shirt he remained standing passively in place, allowing her to keep scrutinising his aroused front and cowed posterior.
'You may admire my handiwork now, boy,' she eventually said.
Slowly Kenneth turned full circle so that it was his punished contours which now faced the mirror. He turned his head and gazed at the mottled scarlet caused by the wooden brush back, the slightly darker twin cane marks beneath. The hand spanking she'd given him appeared to have faded for he could see no straying pink finger marks on his tautened flesh.
He felt a rush of servile love and looked back at her beseechingly.
'Mistress - can I make amends with my tongue?'
'Only after I've finished today's prolonged lesson,' his beguiling new trainer said.
Eagerly Kenneth walked back to her and got ready to return to her firm knee.
'No, stand and face one of the mirrors. Not like that - lean forward so that your elbows are on the ledge there. Excellent. Now stick your bum out further,' Ms Ardale said. She nodded as Kenneth fought to control his twitching limbs. 'Mm, that's nice - a totally exposed undercarriage. Now keep staring into the mirror as I amuse myself.'
Half-arched over, his shirt still tied up around his waist, Kenneth strove to stay in place as she offhandedly toyed with his scrotal sac. Then someone rattled the door and he straightened and whirled around.
