by K D Grace
Chapter Nineteen
THE PAIN IN HER bottom was lessening by the time she returned to work on Monday. The one in her heart, however, hadn’t diminished at all. She wanted to believe – desperately wanted to believe – that Vincent really had been called away unexpectedly, but she didn’t. If that had been the case, he would have at least woke her up to say goodbye.
According to the manual, punishment never resulted in a rift between the Pet and the keeper, but rather it was a bonding experience. She wouldn’t have believed it had she not felt it for herself. If it were possible, the sex had been even better after Vincent had spanked her, and she was sure that there had been an openness between them that hadn’t been there before. In fact, when they fell asleep in each other’s arms, she felt closer to him than she had ever felt to anyone. And yet in the morning he had been gone. In the end there was no denying the pathetic truth. No matter what rubbish the manual spouted about bonding, she had still been nothing more than a glorified prostitute.
During the week, she had been busy with even more work than usual, for which she couldn’t have been more grateful. Working to the point of exhaustion helped keep her mind off Vincent, off wondering why he had left. Most of her week was spent in research at remote sites, which also kept her blessedly free of Anne’s unwelcome questions. Though strangely, Anne hadn’t called, and her phone conversations with the Boss had been completely Strigida-focused with no mention of the Pet Shop or her ruined weekend with Vincent. There would be a confrontation, she was sure of that, but at the moment she just didn’t have the heart for it. Maybe Anne already knew what had happened between her and Vincent and had the decency not to humiliate her further by prying.
It was Friday before Stella actually had a day in the office. Anne was always there by 8.30 a.m., but by nine o’clock she was still the only one at her desk. She was just beginning to get worried at 9.30 a.m. when the door opened and Anne entered with the Boss at her side.
There was a blush on the woman’s cheeks that Stella hadn’t seen before. A surreptitious look passed between Anne and the Boss, resulting in a hurried, if unnecessary straightening of jackets and collars, as though they’d just been caught having a quickie in the copy room. It was enough to tell Stella all she needed to know. The two had been together as sure as they were standing there, and the smile that passed between them said it was no one-night stand. Stella offered a shocked nod as they both greeted her. She had never suspected that they were more than just business associates.
‘Stella, could I speak with you, if you’ve got a minute,’ the Boss was saying as she jerked her attention back to business as usual.
She grabbed the Vanguard folder and followed him, wondering what the hell was going on as Anne headed off to her desk actually humming.
Inside the Boss’s office, Stella barley got seated before he spoke. ‘So, you’ve had your first weekend with a keeper.’ He didn’t bother with any preamble or any explanation as to why he was at the Pet Shop fucking Tino up the arse. Clearly he didn’t consider it her business.
‘Yes, sir.’
His smile was effusive, ‘Then why so glum?’
She felt her face burning, felt the lump growing in her throat at the thought of waking up to find Vincent gone. ‘It’s just that ...’ She looked down at her hands folded over the file in her lap. ‘I don’t think I did very well.’
‘Nonsense!’ He waved his hand as though he were about to conduct an orchestra. ‘I have it on the highest authority that Mr Evanston was extremely pleased with you, extremely pleased.’
For a brief moment there was a flutter of hope in her chest, but then she reminded herself that of course Vincent would want to spare her any embarrassment. His praise of her didn’t cost him anything, and didn’t commit him to anything either.
The Boss didn’t wait for her response. ‘You’re free to go home at noon today.’ He looked down at his watch. ‘A handler will be picking you up at six to take you to your next keeper.’
Stella felt heat flash up her throat and neck accompanied by a sudden wave of dizziness. ‘So it’s official then, I’m a prostitute now.’ The words were out before she could stop them.
The Boss looked as though he’d been slapped, but he recovered quickly. ‘You’re a Pet, Stella. That’s a far cry from a prostitute.’ He held her gaze until she looked away. ‘And your training isn’t finished.’ He rose and came around his desk to stand in front of her. He settled a curled finger beneath her chin and lifted her face so their eyes met. ‘Besides, we both know what your motives are, and they have nothing to do with prostitution.’
She pulled away and lowered her eyes, fearing she might cry, wanting to tell him that she was pretty sure that motivation was no longer a valid one. She was pretty sure that this coming weekend all she would be was just a glorified prostitute, and she wasn’t at all sure she could pull it off. But she said nothing.
He reached out his hand again and stroked her cheek then returned to his desk. ‘Noon, Stella, then if you’re not gone, I will physically escort you to the nearest taxi stand, are we clear?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Good. I expect you to go home and get some rest so you can actually enjoy the weekend. Are we clear?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Good.’ He nodded to the door. ‘Then send in Annie, if you would.’
She didn’t miss the fact that, for the first time she could remember, he called his secretary by her first name.
‘It’s not bad enough they saddle me with Tino, now I get his female counterpart.’ The familiar handler in his black suit pushed his way in and started tugging at Stella’s clothes. ‘Do I have “Torture me” written across my forehead? Is it bad karma? I swear I don’t know what I did to deserve you two.’
She tried to shove his hands away. ‘Look, I just can’t do this. I’m just not cut out for the Pet Shop. I was told if I spoke to a handler it would mean one thing, that I wanted out, and, well, I want out, all right?’
‘Bullshit! Of course you can do it, and it’s not all right, now get out of your clothes and stop talking or I’ll have to spank your arse, and don’t think I won’t do it. Fuckin’ hell, first Tino, then you, and now both of you. They don’t pay me enough for this.’
Suddenly she stopped fighting him, and he continued with the disrobing. ‘Did you say Tino? Tino’s with you.’
‘I’m speaking English, aren’t I?’ He gave her a resounding smack across the arse he’d just bared and shoved the trench coat at her. ‘Get into this, and you’d better manage to at least act horny ’cause I don’t have time to strap you into the Foreplayer.’ He smacked her bottom again, then wrestled her into the coat and jerked the sash tight. ‘Now let’s go unless you want both your arses spanked by your keeper for being late. Tino might like that just fine, but I’m not sure how your tender little bum would hold up.’
She was trembling so hard by the time she got to the van that the handler had to help her. He had taken the trench coat and practically shoved her into the large pet carrier before she realised she was sharing it with Tino, who scooped her to him in a tight embrace. The delicious scent of the big Pet filled her nostrils, made her cunt clench and her pulse race. But it was Vincent’s scent too. Her nose couldn’t be fooled now, no matter how differently the two of them behaved. And the clench in her cunt was followed quickly by an even harder clench in her heart and a knotting in her stomach as she thought of waking up to find him gone. What the fuck kind of game was he playing at?
With a growl that sounded too wild to belong to a Pet, she shoved her way out of his arms and elbowed him in the stomach generating enough momentum, even in the confined space, to make him grunt. The look of hurt on his face made her even more angry. How dare he be hurt? She wasn’t the one who ran away, and she’d had just about enough of this emotional bait and switch. When he reached for her again, she bit him, hard. He sucked air and flinched. She wasn’t certain, but she thought he might have actually had to wrestle
back a curse.
She shoved her way to the far corner of the carrier, banging her head on the side as the van took off. The handler, who stayed in the back with the Pets, pounded on the top of the cage, misunderstanding what was going on.
‘Tino, you keep your cock to yourself, you hear me? If I see any sign of spunk, or smell it, I’ll tell your keeper to tie your pecker in a knot and make you hold it all weekend, don’t think I won’t.’
Not if hell freezes over will he find any spunk, Stella thought. At least not any having to do with her. She could see Tino’s pulse pounding against his throat. His chest rose and fell like he would hyperventilate. And he was hard. He was always hard, damn him!
She pressed her cheek to the side of the pet carrier and tried to ignore the way his gaze bore into her, tried to ignore the press of their legs, which was unavoidable in the tight space. And the smell of him. My God, how could she ignore the smell of him? She dreamt of his scent. She masturbated to thoughts of his scent, and here she was trapped with it, and aching for it, and still so furious she could barely breathe. She wanted to yell and scream at him, she wanted to hit him with her fists, she wanted to know why, why he had left her. Instead she sat with her back pressed as tightly to the slats of the carrier as possible and tried to ignore him.
The next time he reached for her, she slapped him, slapped him hard enough to make her hand sting.
‘What the hell are you two up to?’ The handler rattled the pet carrier again. ‘If I have to drag you both out and wear the spanker out on your bottoms, don’t think I won’t. Now knock it off.’
Stella pulled herself as far into the corner as she could get and tried to ignore the smell of Tino’s arousal, made even more obvious by his erection bobbing against his thigh, the thigh he made no effort to pull out of her space. She shoved at him. But he didn’t budge. She tried to turn her back on him as much as she could, but he pushed in still closer, not allowing her to ignore him.
He kept pushing at her and pushing at her until she kicked at him, which was useless with bare feet in such tight quarters. But he took the opportunity to pounce, nearly upsetting the pet carrier. The handler cursed and uttered a string of threats, most of which Stella didn’t hear because she was fighting to keep from being pinned under Tino.
The van screeched to a halt with both pets being shoved by the momentum to the front of the carrier. Then the carrier door flew open and Tino was wrestled out by the handler and the driver. ‘Goddamn it, I said knock it off!’ The handler shoved Tino into the seat next to his, clamped his hands into cuffs attached to the side of the van, then snapped an equally attached short lead into the D-ring of his collar. Satisfied that the Pet would cause no further problems, he stormed out of the van and Stella could hear him shouting into his mobile something about all hell breaking loose.
Tino ignored it all, as though nothing else in the world had his attention but her. His gaze was now unreadable, a little more like Vincent, but then how the hell could she tell who he was playing at. The van driver stepped out to have a smoke, and she took advantage. ‘You left me, you son of a bitch. You left me without telling me why.’
She swallowed the last word as the door to the van burst open and the handler shoved his way back in to sit down next to Tino. ‘Lucky for you two miscreants the Professor assures me he’ll have no trouble handling misbehaving Pets. I think he rather likes the idea. The thought of you two being soundly disciplined definitely warms the cockles of my heart.’
The driver got in and started the engine and they were off again. This time the look on Tino’s face was utterly wounded, a look she couldn’t bear. She closed her eyes, fighting back tears.
Chapter Twenty
‘PERFECT, RIGHT ON TIME as always. And, oh, just look at them. Such a lovely pair they are.’ The man who stood at the door to welcome the handler and his two Pets – now clothed in their typical outdoor attire and hopefully not looking too much worse for the wear – was middle-aged, tall and lean and not hard to look at with his intelligent eyes and thick mop of dark hair.
An archaeologist, the handler had informed them as he’d dressed them, a man way too busy for a relationship, and too kinky for most anyway. He always arranged to have Pets in pairs. He didn’t care what sex they were. When celebrating his last successful dig, the handler informed them, he’d had three Pets, and they all rode back in their pet carriers sitting very carefully. ‘Has a heavy hand, that one,’ the handler had said. ‘And just what you two deserve. Tino’s arse has calluses from the spankings he’s taken, but Stella,’ he gave a wicked little laugh, ‘well, I’ll try to remember to bring a cushion for your tender little bum on the ride home.’
With a strange knot of emotion tightening her chest, Stella recalled the Boss saying Tino stayed in the dungeon because he was always getting punished, and Vincent had said after spanking her that maybe she should spank Tino harder. Was that why he left, because she didn’t spank Tino hard enough? She was still thinking about spanking Tino when the keeper shooed the handler away and motioned the two Pets into his lounge.
‘Shall we undress our beautiful little bitch first, Tino?’
Stella’s gut tightened at the use of the word, bitch. She’d never liked it when men used what she considered derogatory terms for women. But then the man added, ‘I specifically asked for a bitch on heat, ready for you to service, Tino. Though I hear she’s a feisty one, one you may have to fight for. All the better, I say. Oh it’s always so very exciting how the rutting ritual plays itself out.’ She was reminded once again that they were, after all, Pets, and a bitch on heat was exactly what she was playing at. As she sat down on the floor and lifted her arms for Professor to take off her top, she tried to ignore Tino’s ravenous stare.
Tino paid no attention to their keeper. He had eyes only for Stella, as the keeper removed her trousers and continued his running commentary of how hot and horny this little bitch was. All the while the keeper stripped Stella, Tino scooted closer and closer to her. As the trousers came down, he moved in for a sniff and a lick of her exposed pussy, but before she could stop herself, she shoved him back, landing a kick on the inside of his thigh that made him growl as she crab-walked away from him.
The keeper chuckled gleefully. ‘Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, big boy. I wager she’ll warm up to you though.’ He pushed Stella’s legs open. ‘You see, she needs your cock badly. She’ll come around when she’s horny enough then she’ll be raising that lovely fanny to you, begging you to mount her.’
Stella fought down the blush that rose to her face. He made her feel like some kind of breeding stock thinking only with her cunt. And to her humiliation, she knew he was right; she was wet, desperately wet for Tino, and that made her even more furious.
Professor left Stella to watch while he set to work removing Tino’s clothes. ‘Oh yes, you’ll want him soon enough, Stella, darling. He’s enough to drench that little pussy of yours and make your girlie lips swell with heat. He ran his hand down Tino’s chest then began to tug his trousers off over his hips, freeing his cock, which arched lewdly in Stella’s direction.
When Tino was naked, he lunged for Stella, but Professor grabbed his collar and held him. ‘Not so fast, Tino. You’ll get her when I say you can have her. And that isn’t going to happen until she gets acquainted with me. You know the rules.’ He turned his attention to Stella. ‘Tino is already well acquainted with me, darling, and you will be too before the weekend’s over.’ He sat down in an over-stuffed chair and opened his legs. Stella positioned herself to sniff and caress and lick, but not without making sure Tino had a perfect view of her gape, a fact that made her even more furious. She wasn’t a cock tease, and this kind of behaviour was no solution for her anger.
Professor was heavily erect through his trousers, and he smelled piquant, like good clean male sweat.
We recommend that keepers use no soap, shower gel or deodorant in their last shower before they meet their Pet. Smells of perfume only
confuse the Pets’ finely honed sense of smell and makes it more difficult for them to get to know their keepers, which means the keeper will have to wait longer before initiating sexual contact.
Even as she sniffed Professor, his scent was overshadowed by Tino’s scent, which was all over her body after their tussle in the van.
‘I smell your little pussy, Stella, dear,’ Professor said, cupping her breasts as though he were mentally weighing them. ‘You’re such a horny little girl, aren’t you? I don’t think the Pet Shop has ever sent me two more outrageously horny Pets than you two. Would you like to suck my cock for me, darling? Wouldn’t that be a good way of getting to know Professor?’ He was already undoing his fly. She sat back on her haunches between his legs, heart racing, suddenly struggling to breathe. This was it, then. No matter what the Boss said, she was a prostitute, and she was a prostitute because she had chosen to be one in order to chase down a man who left her without saying why. Well, she got what she asked for, didn’t she? And this man in front of her, none of it was his fault. He was just a keeper, and he had, no doubt, paid handsomely for her services.
‘Come, darling, don’t be shy.’ He manoeuvred his cock free enough to give her easy access. ‘You can see I’m ready for you.’
His cock was large, almost as large as Tino’s. He offered it to her as though it were the special treat he knew she’d been waiting for, as though he fully expected appreciation for such a delicious offering. ‘Come on, Stella, dear, be a good Pet and make Professor come.’
She took a deep breath. It was time she stopped whinging and just got on with it. She gave his balls a stroke and tried to give him her coyest Pet look, but just as she was about to take him in her mouth, Tino tackled her from behind, dragged her away from Professor, rolled her onto her back and straddled her. Before she could do more than yelp her surprise, Professor had Tino by the collar and physically dragged him off her.
