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“Leather or Knot” by SwitchMan (switchman2002@yahoo.com)
F/m, M/f, bdsm, bondage, machine, slave, toys, kidnapping, cons, reluctant, nc, torture, XX
Chapter 10 – The Employment Agreement
A black Mercedes-Benz panel van with darkly tinted windows was idling in front of the shop as Juliette stepped out onto the sidewalk. She entered the van through a large rear passenger side door, and James began driving toward her estate. The panel van had a luxurious burgundy interior. Juliette smiled and relaxed on a rear-facing Italian leather sofa behind a soundproof glass wall separating the passengers from the driver’s compartment. She took in the view of Dan bound and frightened, still attached to the dolly James used to load him into the vehicle.
Dan’s mind and senses were working overtime. He was physically aware of the stress caused by his predicament, but his thoughts were mostly of Amanda. Juliette made a big production about using a timer to release Amanda, but Dan wondered if that was just a show for his benefit, and he wondered if the brief stop they just made had something to do with her. Not knowing she was safe scared him more than whatever might happen to him.
Juliette regarded him a few moments more before she reached for the remote controller embedded in the arm of the couch.
“As much fun as this is, I’m afraid I need to teach you a little something about being a slave,” she said ominously as she manipulated several controls on the touch-screen of the remote.
Without warning, all of the restraints binding Dan fell to the ground except for the crotch harness and the head harness with attached blindfold and gag. After a few more taps on the screen, the LCD screens of the electronic blindfold became completely transparent, enabling Dan to take in his surroundings. He slowly stood up, stretched his limbs and looked around. Uncertain what to do with his new found freedom of movement, he decided to sit in a leather chair on the driver’s side of the van. He glanced out the window, and he realized that they were traveling north toward the more affluent suburbs.
“The human anatomy can withstand tremendous stress and difficult circumstances, but it isn’t designed to do so for extended periods. That is why I have released your restraints,” explained Juliette. “You will continue to wear the thong and head harness as a safety precaution.”
Juliette reached under the sofa and pulled out a leather briefcase. She set the briefcase on the couch next to her and opened it. Looking through a few documents, she selected one and handed it to Dan.
“Do you recognize this?” she asked.
Dan looked at the document’s title “Leather or Not Employment Agreement.” He nodded his head, wondering where this was headed.
“Turn to the last page. Is that your signature?” continued Juliette, pointing to the page.
Dan examined the signature above Juliette’s index finger and nodded. Then, he noticed the signature to the right of his own. It was Juliette’s signature, and the title under her signature read “Juliette Bouvier, President, Leather or Knot, Inc.” After a moment of initial confusion, he realized that Juliette was the reclusive owner of the boutique. His revelation gave him some solace that Amanda would not be hurt, but he wasn’t too sure he could say the same.
“This employment agreement is one of the documents you signed on your first day of employment with Leather or Knot, Inc. In this document, among other things, you acknowledge that any and all bondage activities related to your employment at Leather or Knot are completely consensual. In fact, to ensure that the activities are consensual, you were provided a safe word which you could use with your co-workers in order to be immediately released. Were you aware that you had such a safe word?” Juliette inquired.
Again, Dan nodded.
“Did you use your safe word at any point this evening?”
Looking down, Dan shook his head.
“Then your bondage must have been consensual, right?”
Dan vigorously shook his head.
“Silly me! I forgot. You’ve been deprived of your voice. Of course you couldn’t use your safe word, isn’t that right?” Juliette said understandingly.
Dan’s head bobbed up and down.
“Were you aware that you had a safe gesture?” she said smiling.
Dan sheepishly nodded.
“You didn’t use that either, though, did you?” Juliette questioned with a knowing smile.
Dan took a moment to think, and then pounded on the floor with his feet once, then twice in rapid succession, then three times in rapid succession. He looked to Juliette with his eyebrows raised.
Juliette let out a hearty laugh. “Is that your safe gesture?” she asked rhetorically. “Please review section 10.3 of your employment agreement,” she said, still chuckling.
Dan read: “Employee’s use of the Safe Word/Gesture is effective when provided to any employee having a position of Store Manager or lower. Employee may use the Ultimate Safe Word/Gesture to be released from any bondage situation applied by any employee, officer, director, owner or agent of Leather or Knot, Inc., including employees having a position superior to Store Manager.”
Dan looked at Juliette quizzically.
“I’m afraid that the safe gesture you just provided won’t work with me. You see, I’m the President of Leather or Knot, Inc.” She paused for effect. “Yes, right about now you’re probably wondering about the “Ultimate Safe Gesture” mentioned in the agreement, aren’t you? Check out Section 1 where all of the safe words and gestures are defined,” she said in a tone a teacher might take with a pupil.
Dan flipped back to the second page and found his safe word and safe gesture defined just as he had expected, but the ultimate safe word and gesture were obscured by a black marker. He turned to Juliette angrily.
“Oh, my. This copy seems to have that information redacted,” she said in mock surprise. “Of course, I have the original in my safe with all of my other important papers, and I’m sure you have a copy of this somewhere at your house, right?”
Dan gave a resigned nod.
“Well, there you have it. If you can remember your ultimate safe word or gesture, you will be immediately released. Otherwise, I will assume that you are a man who abides by his employment agreement, and I will consider this little endeavor we are on completely consensual.”
Dan turned away sharply. She knew that there was virtually no chance that he would ever come up with the right word or gesture. She also knew that he hadn’t bothered to read the agreement when he was hired. “Who reads that stuff, anyway?” Dan thought. At the time, he figured that they were just standard employment papers, but he should have known better. After all, his job was certainly not standard employment.
They drove along in luxury and silence for 45 minutes or more, and along the way the roads became progressively more remote. Finally, the van turned off of a 2-lane drive covered by a canopy of trees onto a driveway secured by a large metal gate and flanked by two massive stone columns. Each of the columns supported a large figure carved out of stone, and small dots of red light gave away security cameras perched at the foot of each figure. They drove up the driveway for 300 yards until it intersected with a large circular drive which followed the contour of an enormous reflecting pool. An array of water fountains pulsed and sprayed in a beautiful, rhythmic, and slightly erotic pattern as the van came to a stop under a covered breezeway in front of two oak doors at least 30 feet tall.
Without speaking, Juliette gently ushered Dan, still clutching his redacted Employment Agreement, out of the van. Together, they walked up a set of stone steps and into the opulent three-story manor house. The front hall was like something out of a fairy tale. The floor was silver-gray marble that had been polished to a shine. A sprawling circular staircase emptied into the hall from a railed balcony, and several beautiful hand maidens were available to attend to anything that Juliette may have desired. She motioned for one of them to accompany Dan.
“Cynthia, please show our new guest his accommodations,” Juliette said, as though Dan was a client at a quaint bed and breakfast.
The attendant touched Dan above the elbow and motioned up the staircase. Still unable to speak, Dan followed the woman in numb disbelief.
As they ascended the staircase, Dan tried to take in as much information as possible for a future escape attempt. He noticed that each of the attendants wore a white translucent 2-piece nightie as a type of uniform. Each of them also wore a harness around their waist and crotch, most likely to allow Juliette to maintain control over their actions. Whether it was because of the harnesses, job satisfaction, or some other reason, the staff seemed to operate like a well-oiled machine. Dan figured that escaping from this prison-estate would be an extremely low percentage proposition.
Cynthia led Dan down a long corridor with doors on either side. As they approached a room about three quarters of the way down the hall on the right, Dan heard a door automatically unlock. They entered the room which was to be Dan’s bedroom for the evening. It looked like a five-star luxury hotel suite with a desk and credenza, a computer, and a large HD video monitor in front of a king-size bed.
In a professional voice that was in stark contrast to her appearance, Cynthia began to recount the amenities of the room like a flight attendant providing safety information before a flight. “You will sleep here tonight. For your protection and the protection of those around you, the door will automatically lock once I leave the suite. Another attendant will come to get you in the morning before your breakfast with Mistress Juliette and your friend Amanda. In the meantime, feel free to make yourself at home. You may take a shower, bath or Jacuzzi to relax if that suits you, as all of the equipment that you are wearing is completely waterproof. For your peace of mind, you should further know that each piece of equipment has a variety of safety mechanisms in the event of any malfunction, including a water-induced electrical short. Of course, we will do our best to make sure your stay with us is safe, sane and consensual.”
“Cynthia, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dan thought. “Clearly, you’re in no position to judge sanity.”
Cynthia continued. “The television receives a variety of movie channels and in certain circumstances may operate as a video conferencing station. There is a workstation with a high-speed Internet connection over on the desk if you prefer on-line entertainment. I hope you have an enjoyable evening.”
Breaking from her professional demeanor, she smiled like a gushing school girl and said “Between you and me, I think it’s so romantic that you are offering yourself to your friend Amanda like this. I actually requested to be part of the breakfast detail, but my request was turned down since I don’t really have any seniority.”
The mere mention of Amanda’s name caused Dan to raise his eyebrows in surprise. How could this woman know about Amanda, and what did breakfast have to do with anything?
Cynthia mistook Dan’s expression for one of disbelief at her lack of seniority, and she elaborated accordingly. “No, really. I just started here. I probably don’t even make as much as you and your friend do tending the Mistress Juliette’s shop.”
Forcing himself back in the moment, Dan suddenly and swiftly flipped to the second page of the contract he almost forgot he was holding. He pointed to the section defining his safe gesture, and he proceeded to stomp on the floor in the sequence described on the page.
Cynthia laughed. “How cute, you want me to know your safe gesture. Very good, now I know,” she said nodding.
Dan shook his head back and forth as he flipped to the section about levels lower than Store Manager.
A concerned look came across Cynthia’s face as she read. “You’re serious,” she said. “You have just given me your safe gesture, and you expect me to free you.”
Dan nodded quickly and tapped the page of the employment agreement.
“Well, I don’t know. Nobody said anything about this. I’m going to have to check with my manager.”
Dan flipped the contact to the last page and pointed at his signature and Juliette’s signature.
“Yes, yes, I see that this is between you and Mistress Juliette. I’ll call her.”
Dan vehemently shook his head and he pointed to the gag preventing him from speaking.
“Are you suggesting that I take the gag off so that you can explain?” she asked, as though they were playing a game of charades.
Dan first gave her a “thumbs up” then held up his thumb and index finger to suggest “just for a little bit.”
“I don’t know…” she said thinking a moment. “Well, alright, but just long enough for you to tell me what you absolutely need to.”
Cynthia reached behind her back and produced a remote controller seemingly out of thin air. “There must be a well disguised pocket in that outfit,” thought Dan “because I thought I could see everything.”
With a few taps of Cynthia’s finger on the touchpad, Dan’s tongue was released, and Dan turned his head allowing the gag to fall harmlessly onto the bed. Dan breathed a deep sigh of relief, and swallowed hard before speaking.
“Cynthia, please don’t contact Juliette or your manager. I don’t trust them. This is my employment agreement with Leather or Knot which requires that I be released from any bondage equipment when I provide my safe signal to an employee at a store manager level or lower. Unfortunately, I don’t know my “Ultimate Safe Word or Gesture” since I didn’t pay attention when I signed the agreement, and Juliette won’t tell me what they are because if she did, she knows that I would use them.”
“Surprised, Cynthia said “Wow. That’s a lot to take in. So, how do I know that you didn’t just make all of that up?”
“Well, I guess you really don’t. Not yet,” Dan said considering his situation. “Look, let’s take one thing at a time. Are you at a lower level in the organization than a store manager?”
“I’m really not sure, but I would bet that I am. I just started working here last week, and it is an entry-level position,” she reasoned.
“Is there someone you could ask other than your manager? Maybe a co-worker?”
Cynthia agreed to call her roommate who was also a co-worker. Cynthia used the telephone next to the bed, and after a short conversation she hung up and said “Yes, my friend Vickie said that we are at the same level as a janitor which is far below a store manager.”
Cynthia then tapped her finger on the remote controller a few times, and picked up the gag from the bed. “Okay, time to put the gag back on,” she said nicely.
“Wait a minute. We aren’t done yet. What about my employment agreement? You should be letting me go since you are at a lower level than a store manager,” Dan implored.
“I’m sorry, but we can settle all of that once we get your gag back on. Vickie also warned me not to let you go without proper authorization because unlike your employment agreement, my employment agreement includes my consent to corporal punishment for breaking the house rules. So, even though I want to help you, I’d rather not find out what will happen to me if you’re lying,” Cynthia explained. “Now please, just put the gag back on, and I promise I’ll try to help you.”
Dan knew that he had no choice. Even if he overpowered her and took the remote controller, the minute anyone found out that he was gone, they would send a signal to his helmet or thong that would make him regret his actions. He started to reason with her, but she insisted and threatened to do it “the hard way.”
Just as he was putting the gag back on, a woman in a blue translucent nightie entered the suite.
The woman looked directly at Cynthia and said “I came as soon as I received your signal. What seems to be the prob…” She stopped short, looked at Dan and then looked back to Cynthia. “Who authorized you to remove his gag?” she demanded.
Cynthia searched for the right words. “Well, he gave me what appeared to be a safe gesture, and I needed to be certain that I understood. So, I temporarily removed his gag for him to explain, but we put it right back on. I’m so sorry if I did anything wrong.”
“Of course you’ve done something wrong!” the woman said, raising her voice. “What in the world made you think he would have a safe gesture, and how would you have known what it was, anyway?”
Dan, having reinserted the gag, held up his contract and pointed to the section describing his safe gesture.
“Yes,” Cynthia explained. “He has this employment agreement that identifies his safe gesture, and requires anyone at a store manager level or lower to remove his restraints.”
The woman dismissed the thought. “That’s nonsense! They’re just words on a page. There’s nothing here to suggest that this is a real contract.”
“Actually, there is,” said Cynthia taking the agreement from Dan and turning to the last page. “It appears to be signed by Mistress Juliette. That’s why I called you.”
Cynthia’s manager studied the document. She spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the signature page.
“Well, there’s only one way to settle this. We’ll call Mistress Juliette.”
Dan stared at the ground resigned to his fate.
The women stood in front of the HD monitor, and the manager tapped the remote controller touch screen several times. The monitor displayed “Connecting… please wait” superimposed over a beautiful panoramic shot of the estate grounds. Twenty seconds later, they were on a video conference with Mistress Juliette.
With an air of skepticism, Cynthia’s superior reported the events in a fairly accurate fashion to Juliette. Juliette asked Cynthia “Did he give you the correct safe gesture as described in the agreement?”
“Yes, ma’am. He did. That was what prompted me to call Miss Francis,” Cynthia said, gesturing to her manager.
There was an uncomfortably long pause. Dan expected Juliette to order the women to add more restraints. Cynthia was certain that she was going to be punished for even considering this. Miss Francis was contemplating the appropriate punishment for a first-time offense.
Finally, a smile crept across Juliette’s face. She began to nod. “Nicely played, Daniel. Nicely played. I wondered whether you would use the clues I provided. I wasn’t sure you would be able to identify a staff member at the right level in the organization, but you managed to make quick work of it.”
Dan looked up, eyes wide, stunned that she admitted that he was right.
Juliette continued. “Ladies, I am a woman of my word. Please see to it that you remove all restraints from Mr. Learner, and offer him every amenity that you would offer any of my most honored guests.”
The women were amazed, but they promptly complied. Miss Francis reached down to operate the remote controller, and Dan’s head harness, goggles and gag slid off of his head to the floor. The harness covering his manhood gently opened. Dan gladly removed it and tossed it on the bed. Suddenly naked, Dan felt extremely self-conscious.
“I don’t suppose there are any men’s clothes in the closet?” Dan said sarcastically.
Cynthia immediately walked to the bathroom and held open a luxuriously thick terrycloth robe. Dan put his arms in the sleeves, wrapped it around his body and began to feel human again. Walking over an armoire near the closet, Cynthia said “We have a variety of clothes for you. I believe that they will all be your size.” She opened the armoire and the closet to reveal an immense wardrobe.
Stunned, Dan said “The robe will be fine for now.”
Juliette spoke again from the HD monitor. “Daniel, you are now free to move about in any of the public areas of the estate, but if you don’t mind waiting, I would love to give you a personal tour. Please relax. Settle in for a bit, and I will be down in just under an hour. Agreed?”
“Sure,” replied Dan, not knowing what else to say. This day had been long and eventful, but it wasn’t over yet.
Chapter 11 – Juliette’s Domain
After reviewing his clothing options in the armoire and closet, Dan had decided to put on some khakis and a golf shirt. As promised, Juliette arrived at Dan’s door just before midnight, 45 minutes after disconnecting from the video conference. She was dressed in jeans and a long sleeved tee shirt. Initially, he thought that she had removed all of her make-up, but upon closer inspection, he realized that she was just more conventional and subtle about its application. She was a naturally beautiful older woman.
“So, how does it feel to be a free man?” Juliette inquired playfully.
“Wonderful, but I won’t really be free until I’m back with Amanda. She is alright, isn’t she?” He asked, concerned.
“She’s fine. She’s probably home asleep by now. As you know, I’ve invited her for breakfast tomorrow.” She paused to see recognition in Dan’s face. “Of course, she thinks that she is coming here to decide your fate, but you seem to have taken care of that yourself.”
“What do you mean ‘decide my fate?’ Does she think you were going to kill me?” Dan asked incredulously.
“No, silly. After taking you from the shop earlier tonight, I gave her the power to decide what would happen to you. I would have let her decide to do almost anything with you if you hadn’t freed yourself by tomorrow’s breakfast.”
“What would there be to decide?” He asked rhetorically. “She would have told you to let me go, and we’d have gotten out of here.”
“No. I don’t think you’ve thought this through completely. She would have had all night to think about this decision. It’s true that she could have decided to set you free, but there are a number of other possibilities that she might have considered.”
“Oh, really?” Dan said acerbically.
“Sure. For example, she could have told me to keep you both on at Leather or Knot, since it did bring you both together,” she said smiling.
“No way. I’m done with the shop. Using my safe word was my last official act as an employee, thank you very much,” Dan said sarcastically.
“That’s fine. Consider your employment terminated, but you’re missing the point. Amanda could have decided anything. She could even have decided to keep you for herself. You certainly wouldn’t have been in a position to argue about it. Or, maybe I could have convinced her to let me keep you, you never know…”
Dan considered the implications of what might have been.
“So, if I didn’t use my safe signal, she could have decided to keep me as her slave… if she wanted to?”
“That was actually the outcome that I was hoping for,” Juliette said matter-of-factly. “I have seen great things ahead for Amanda ever since I hired her, and you would have been lucky to have her,” she said with a hint of sadness. “But that’s all moot now. Let me give you a quick tour before bed.”
Mindful of the late hour, Juliette decided to limit the tour to the vanilla areas of the estate before retiring. They wandered around the grounds, and she pointed out landscape lighting in the front garden. They toured the ball room, the conservatory, the game room, the exercise facility and the sauna. Juliette pointed out the two pools, the stable and the four tennis courts.
She delighted in explaining that hidden within the lovely vanilla exterior was a wonderfully kinky facility. She and her husband had originally considered having two estates: one vanilla and the other alternative, but they ultimately decided it would be more fun to have them both operating in the same house, but each completely separate from the other. As Juliette and Dan concluded the tour in the dining room, she explained that it gave her a secret thrill to entertain her socially acceptable guests in a house infused with hidden kinkiness.
“Most of my guests have no idea, for example, that there is a hidden staircase right behind that wall that leads from this dining room to a dungeon in the basement,” she said smiling like a school girl.
At that moment, Dan realized that Juliette may have had a truly playful and happy side that he hadn’t seen before.
Juliette escorted Dan to a table for two off to the side of the formal dining table. The table held a variety of late-night snacks that Dan eyed as he sat down.
“Dig in. You must be hungry after the evening you’ve had,” she said, nodding toward the snacks. “We’re pretty much finished with the vanilla aspects of the house. I’ll give you a quick tour of the kinkier side of the house in the light of day.”
“Agreed. I’ve already seen more of that side of the house than I cared to for one night.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Then Dan asked “How did you end up living like this, anyway?”
It came out more judgmental that Dan intended. What he had meant was that he marveled at her ability to compartmentalize her vanilla and alternative sides. For the past few months, his vanilla side and his alternative side had been co-existing without really interacting with each other, and he felt torn.
“That’s a fair question, actually,” Juliette said with a hint of sadness. “It didn’t start off like this. My husband and I built this estate so that we could live out our fantasies without sacrificing all of the ordinary pleasures that we enjoyed.”
“So what happened? Where is he?” Dan asked.
“He passed away about ten years ago. An automobile accident, and ironically, he wasn’t wearing his seat belt, a safety restraint,” she answered with a sad laugh.
“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry,” Dan said sincerely. He was beginning to see Juliette as more than just an S&M caricature.
“Actually, Brent and I were rather similar to you and Amanda when we first started out. We were getting by on what I made working at a resale shop, and Brent had just graduated with a chemical engineering degree when he invented a non-toxic, quick-setting glue that is still used by most dentists to this day,” she said reminiscing.
Dan listened as she continued.
“We had experimented with bondage in the bedroom, and the money we made from his discovery allowed us to take our dark fantasies to another level by building this house. When he died, he left me a fortune in life insurance proceeds, not to mention the royalties that I collect from his patent portfolio, but he left my heart and our house empty.”
Her eyes began to water, and Dan offered her a napkin. Juliette accepted it, rose to her feet and started walking Dan back to his suite. As they walked, Juliette collected herself and continued.
“I see that same passion between you and Amanda even though you two probably don’t fully recognize it, yet. Brent used to call me his ‘little pistol,’” she said. “If you had read your employment agreement before signing it, you would realize that I now use that as the ultimate safe word for my employees,” she said smiling sadly.
“So, if I had just said ‘pistol’ you would have let me go earlier tonight?” he asked, trying to gently guide the conversation back to the present.
“Yes, immediately. But there was little chance of that happening since you were well silenced. You would have had to hum or tap out “Take me out to the Ball Game.” While humming, she snapped her fingers in time with the words. “Brent loved baseball.”
Finally, they arrived at Dan’s door, and Juliette looked at her watch.
“Well, it’s off to bed. Over the years, I have discovered that some of my guests like to indulge in any number of activities before bed. If you would like any of my staff to help entertain you before bed, please just let me know,” she said with a wink.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Dan answered, a bit disgusted at the implication.
Juliette smiled and said in a sing-song voice “It would be just our little secret if you want to. Amanda never has to know.”
“Seriously, no,” Dan reiterated.
“Yes, you two really are reminiscent of Brent and me when we were young,” she said, half to herself.
Dan was tired and his accommodations were superb. Nonetheless, he spent a restless night thinking about Amanda. He had wanted to pick up the phone and call her, but Juliette had asked him not to call, assuring him that Amanda was fine.
The next morning, he awoke at sunrise and decided to take a look around in the daylight. He dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and strolled down the wide circular staircase. Before he stepped onto the marble flooring below, Cynthia entered the hall from the dining room. Unlike the day before, she was dressed completely in leather: halter top, mini skirt, stilettos and gloves.
“Juliette has asked me to complete your tour from last night. Step this way,” she said professionally.
Surprised, Dan obeyed.
“So, why the leather outfit? Dan asked to make polite conversation.
“Well, we have a limited selection of uniforms, and if you must know, I chose this one because I was punished for the way I handled your situation last night. The mini skirt hides my red bottom,” she answered, clearly a bit irritated.
Dan stopped walking.
“But you didn’t do anything wrong,” he reasoned aloud. “Juliette even said as much when she directed you to let me go.”
“Well, I wasn’t punished for letting you go. I was punished for removing your gag without permission and for calling my roommate from your bedroom phone.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Dan said sympathetically.
“I suppose it was my own fault, really. I should have contacted Miss Francis immediately instead of handling it myself,” Cynthia replied, motioning Dan to continue walking. “My punishment was only two light swats with a cane, but they left marks that will last a few days. So, I’d rather not advertise my disobedience,” she said, pausing a moment. “I won’t be making that mistake again.”
As they talked, Cynthia led Dan out of the residence and to an adjacent four story building. It was the Development and Research of Leather or Knot, Inc. The employees often referred to it by the acronym “DARC LOK,” or “Dark Lock.” They met Juliette in the lobby and spent the next 90 minutes touring the building as Juliette pointed out the highlights of the innovative work being done. Juliette explained that with her inheritance and her husband’s connections, she was able to attract leading university scientists to develop new technology which could be used in a variety of applications, including bondage. Some of the scientists were Brent’s friends who knew of his interests. Others simply couldn’t pass up free a vacation at Juliette’s estate in exchange for their research activities.
On the ground floor, the staff was conducting final tests of an inhaler that was designed to deliver a muscle-relaxer which could temporarily remove a subject’s ability to speak. The tests today were merely a quality control measure to verify the results that supported FDA approval a month earlier. The FDA found that the inhaler was completely safe to use, with no long term side effects. The muscle-relaxer targeted the muscle tissue of the voice box to render the vocal chords so loose that they could generate no sound. The effects of one or two inhalations were estimated to last about 30 minutes.
On the second floor, Dan and Cynthia watched a subject receive a piercing that could be tracked by a handheld GPS device. They witnessed a demonstration of the technology in a lab. A pierced subject moved around a simple maze of office cubicle walls while a lab technician tracked his movements on an LCD screen. The GPS tracking software used a proprietary algorithm that enabled it to be accurate to within two feet.
On the third floor, a team of technicians was working on an electronic blindfold which delivered energy pulses to a subject’s temples temporarily interfering with the subject’s vision. The technology was at an early stage and could not even be tested on animals yet. Juliette, Cynthia and Dan briefly sat in on a brainstorming session at which various scientists sketched out ideas on a whiteboard.
On the top floor, the tour group looked in on a team of software engineers developing applications for realitime monitoring of vital signs using specially designed cuffs, collars, cock rings and chest harnesses. The customized restraints included embedded sensors for monitoring heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, perspiration and nerve sensitivity. Juliette joked that they should write an application that would use the monitored parameters to simulate a lie detector. When the technicians told her that the parameters would always suggest a lie since the biological levels of a restrained and aroused subject would continually be elevated, she said “Exactly! That way, I can punish my slave for dishonesty every time.”
After the tour, Juliette led the group to the dining room where Miss Francis was waiting with a variety of breakfast pastries arrayed along the main dining room table.
“Please, feel free to sit down for a bite to eat,” she said to Cynthia and Dan. She smiled a knowing smile at Cynthia.
Cynthia remained standing and took a sliver of cheese Danish, but Dan declined to eat due to the anticipation of reuniting with Amanda. Then Dan, Juliette and Miss Francis sat down, and Juliette began to review the morning schedule with Miss Francis.
“Amanda will be arriving in twenty minutes, and I would like the staff to be on their best behavior,” Juliette said with authority. “I trust that you have seen to it that we have no vanilla visitors on the grounds today. So, the staff can wear their alternative uniforms.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Miss Francis replied obediently.
“When Amanda arrives, please escort her to the back porch overlooking the stable where we can have drinks and talk girl-talk for ten minutes, or so,” Juliette continued. “We will then move here, to the dining room.”
“Of course,” replied Miss Francis. “I will see to it that the executive continental breakfast will be served promptly.”
After a short break in the conversation, Cynthia asked “Should I bring Mr. Learner in after breakfast?”
Raising her eyebrows, Juliette turned toward Cynthia. Miss Francis slowly shook her head with a frown.
“Excellent question, Cynthia. A bit presumptuous to jump into a conversation between your superiors, but an excellent question nonetheless,” Juliette said haughtily. “I suppose that depends on whether Mr. Learner would want to know what Amanda’s decision would have been had he not used his safe gesture last night,” she continued, turning toward Dan.
“I’m sure I already know,” Dan replied confidently. “She would want an equal partnership, and she would have let me go to make my own decisions.”
Letting his answer hang in the air, Juliette paused before replying “Did it ever occur to you that an equal partnership could include her making the decisions for both of you? It worked fine for husband and me.”
“Well, of course you thought it was an equal partnership. You made all of the decisions,” Dan replied smiling.
Juliette raised one eyebrow. “No,” she said. “I only made one. To surrender myself completely to his will.”
The others looked at Juliette in stunned disbelief.
Dan broke the silence. “You mean you were the submissive? But your personality is so strong.”
“Strength comes from having the conviction to follow your dreams and live by your decisions. Of course, it helps to find someone who loves you completely,” Juliette sagely replied. “So, the decision is yours. You are certainly welcome to attend the breakfast with Amanda. We can all drink Mimosas and have a delightfully vanilla time. But if you decide to have breakfast with us, you’ll never really know what Amanda’s decision would have been. Your presence will undoubtedly influence her.”
She paused to let Dan consider the option.
“As an alternative, you could surrender yourself to Cynthia and allow her to prepare you as she would have if you hadn’t used your safe gesture last night. You would have just enough time to get ready if you start now. By the time breakfast is over, Cynthia would be ready to present you to Amanda just before I ask for her decision.”
“But what if Amanda decides to keep me?” Dan asked uncertainly.
“Well, that might be the best thing that ever happened to you,” Juliette answered tersely.
“But what if I get cold feet?” Dan asked with a bit more urgency.
Juliette calmly answered his question with a question. “Are they cold now?”
“Well, no.”
“Then what would possibly change between now and then? Besides, if you were to completely change your mind, you now know the ultimate safe word and gesture, right?” She said, smiling at him as though they were both in on a juicy secret.
“You’re right. I’ll do it,” he said decisively.
“I thought you might,” Juliette said with a nod. “You won’t regret it. I never have.”
Chapter 12 – Dan’s Preparation
The meeting quickly adjourned. Juliette and Miss Francis walked to the back porch in anticipation of Amanda’s arrival, and Cynthia escorted Dan to an elaborate dungeon through the secret door in the dining room wall. They descended in a hidden elevator and walked through an unusually wide cinder block corridor in the lower level.
With businesslike precision, Cynthia directed Dan to a side room and helped him step up onto a metal platform which had two metal boots attached to the top of it. The boots were spaced roughly shoulder distance apart. Each boot was hinged at the toe and heel, and around the ankle of each boot was a latch which, when engaged, locked the front and rear portions in place. Cynthia opened each of the boots to reveal that the inner portion of the boots was rubberized, like an inner tube.
Understanding that the boots were meant for him, Dan removed his own shoes and socks and stepped into the metal boots. Cynthia trapped his feet by closing and locking the hinged portions of the boots. As if to test the comfort of his new footwear, Dan wiggled his toes against the rubber interior. “Not as good as my Nikes,” he thought, “but not bad.”
Looking down at his feet, Dan more closely examined the metal platform. What he originally assumed was ordinary corrugated metal was actually a finely machined grid for mechanically attaching a variety of elements to the platform. He reasoned that the bottom of his boots must have a corresponding grid which allowed them to lock into place.
Looking up, Dan noticed Cynthia attaching metal poles slightly in front of each of his feet. Each pole had a brushed chrome finish and was tapered to form a wide base for a sturdy connection with the platform. From a storage shelf under the platform, she removed a similarly finished, futuristic neck stock and attached it to the tops of poles. The circular center portion was attached to side pieces by ball joints that allowed the neck restraint to swivel with the movement of the subject without sacrificing secure restraint. Like the boots, the top half of the neck restraint was hinged at one side to allow positioning of the subject’s neck, and a latch on the opposite side locked the restraint. Further, the interior of the neck piece was rubberized, as well.
After adjusting the height of the poles, Cynthia opened the neck stock and nodded for Dan to place his neck in the lower semi-circle. Dan felt like he was placing his neck on a chopping block as he grasped the supports and gingerly lowered his head into position. Only as the latch sounded a telltale “click” did Dan realize how quiet it had been. Cynthia hadn’t spoken a word since they entered the elevator from the Dining Room. He suddenly realized that he had been quietly, submissively complying with all of her unspoken commands, and the realization made him uneasy.
Stepping out of view, Cynthia quietly removed a second set of poles from beneath the platform. A wrist stock, a smaller version of the restraint which encircled Dan’s neck, was attached to the top of each pole. Cynthia attached each pole slightly behind each boot and adjusted the height of each pole to just below Dan’s shoulders. One by one, Cynthia guided Dan’s arms behind him until his wrists rested on the lower semi-circles of the restraints, and she locked them into place with two quiet “clicks.”
Dan was now completely trapped in a position that looked as though he was beginning an Olympic dive. Cynthia reappeared in front of Dan holding an oversized ball gag. Smiling sweetly, she held it ho to his mouth, and he took in the rubber sphere, but not without some trepidation. She fastened the gag swiftly and tightly causing Dan’s heart rate to quicken.
As Cynthia moved out Dan’s view again, he strained and craned to see what she would do next, but to no avail. He could hear her rustling about behind him, but it was impossible for him to see what she was doing. Suddenly, he felt a cold steel blade sliding up his leg. She was cutting his clothes off with scissors! After parading around most of yesterday evening in a nothing but a high-tech chastity device, Dan was loath to be on display again, but he had little say in the matter, and he rationalized that it was for Amanda’s benefit anyway.
After all of his clothes were removed, Cynthia knelt down in front of Dan facing his genitals. He was hard as a rock, and he was panicked that Cynthia was going to take advantage of his position. She grabbed his shaft and pulled slightly as she applied a cool moist substance to his balls and around his crotch. To Dan’s surprise, Cynthia began shaving his genitals with a straight razor. Each stroke felt cool and crisp as air hit the skin where hair and shaving cream had been removed. Dan kept as still as he could, knowing that a blade was within millimeters of some very active blood vessels. Each stroke came closer to his family jewels, and after the fourth stroke, he began humming “Take me out to the Ball Game.”
Cynthia stopped shaving him immediately and rose to face him with a look of concern. She reached around the back of his head and unfastened the ball gag.
“Everything is alright,” she said soothingly holding his face in her hands. “Take a deep breath.”
Dan tried to control his panic and reduce his racing heart rate.
“You’re having second thought, aren’t you?” Cynthia asked, as though she was talking to a kindergartener on the first day of class.
“Yes, I’m sorry,” said Dan in a trembling voice.
“I completely understand,” Cynthia said empathetically. “You need to understand that this was the way that Juliette had planned to present you to Amanda. Are you sure you want to stop?”
Dan took a deep breath. He knew how crazy this was. A few short months ago, if someone had told him that he would be allowing himself to be presented to a woman as a piece of property, he wouldn’t have believed it. But here he was completely helpless, displayed like some kind of collectible doll.
“I wasn’t kidding last night when I told you how romantic I thought it was that you were giving yourself to Amanda,” she offered.
Last night, he was completely confident that Amanda would decide to let him go, but he hadn’t realized how the question would be put to her. In his current position, he looked like a slave, not Amanda’s boyfriend. Would she be inclined to continue the enslavement that was already started? It would be easy, he thought, but ultimately, he wanted to hear it from her. Besides, he could always just say “pistol” or start humming “Take me out to the Ball Game.”
Dan swallowed hard and quietly said “No, let’s continue.”
Cynthia set the gag aside and said “We can leave this off for now just in case, but I need to finish shaving you”
After shaving his entire body below the neck, Dan looked up to see a clock on the far wall. He estimated that Amanda and Juliette were probably exchanging pleasantries on the back porch at that very moment. Maybe Amanda was already demanding to see him.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Dan commented. “We’re actually finished sooner than I expected.”
“Oh, we’re not done,” Cynthia said from behind him.
Dan felt the platform jar slightly as Cynthia unlocked the wheels. She rolled the platform to the other side of the room facing a storage cabinet. Cynthia opened the cabinet to remove two metal spheres. Each sphere was eight inches in diameter and had a circular opening on one side. The opposing side was hinged. Dan watched as she opened one of the spheres into two halves. One half was constructed with a metal bar running across the center, perpendicular to the opening at the end. She stepped behind him and placed the ball near the palm of his right hand.
“Please grip the handle,” she said in a clinical tone.
Upon gripping the metal bar, Dan felt the device close around his fist. Although he couldn’t see what she was doing, he felt Cynthia somehow fasten the sphere to the metal wrist stock. It attached firmly with absolutely no give, but Dan could still flex his fingers inside rubber lined interior. Cynthia repeated the process with Dan’s left hand and returned to the storage cabinet.
As she turned to face him, Dan could see that she had what looked like an athletic mouth guard in her hand. She held the mouth piece in front of his lips and said “Please bite down naturally.”
He accepted the device and bit down firmly. His mouth slowly filled with a sweet strawberry taste as non-toxic glue seeped from pores of the soft rubber mouth piece to instantly bind with his teeth sealing his mouth closed. Cynthia next produced a rubberized metal harness which she fitted around his head and chin. She adjusted it until it was just a bit too tight. Metal bands extended from the harness near his temples, and she attached them to the neck stock, thereby completely limiting even the slightest head movement.
Dan had never been so thoroughly immobilized. In all of his time at the shop, he had never encountered any restraints so elaborate – except maybe the remote control straps that Juliette had used to kidnap him, if you could call it kidnapping.
“Almost done,” Cynthia says in an encouraging tone. “But we’ll need to hurry if we want to make your grand entrance on schedule.”
Turning to the cabinet, she removed a small transparent mask on a hook. The transparent mask included a small rubber bulb attached to the bottom. Cynthia gently hooked the mask onto a loop built into the forehead of the head harness. Dan wondered what she could be doing. Cynthia adjusted the mask so that it lightly covered his nose and mouth, and she pumped the bulb twice before turning away to complete her next task. The mask filled with a mint smelling vapor which he had no choice but to inhale.
Once again, Dan felt the platform move as Cynthia wheeled him off to the corner of the room. After locking the wheels of the platform, Cynthia moved to the front of the platform and opened the double doors of another storage cabinet. She removed a retractable rubber hose that was attached to a small air compressor mounted in the cabinet. Dan watched as Cynthia bent over the base of the platform to access his metal boots.
She attached the compressor hose to a valve fitting in the toe of his left boot. He was surprised when he realized that he hadn’t noticed the valve earlier, but he was even more surprised when the rubberized interior expanded between Dan’s foot and the metal covering with a short “pssst” to completely prevent his toes from moving. After repeating the process on the heel of the boot, Dan’s left foot was one with the boot.
Circling around behind him, she filled both halves of the left fist sphere in a similar fashion, and Dan found his fist was as immovable as his foot. Continuing to circle him, she pressurized the other boot, the other fist sphere, both wrist cuffs, and his neck cuff. The inflated cuffs were tight but surprisingly comfortable. Even though the neck cuff was tight, it still allowed him to breathe freely. Finally, she moved back around in front of him, removed the plastic mask, and asked him “What do you think?”
Dan tried to “mmphff” out a response, but his vocal chords had been completely relaxed by the mist from the bulb. His surprised look prompted Cynthia to say “I thought so,” as she moved behind him once more.
Dan began to struggle helplessly. He was unable to make a sound. Not a whimper. Not a hum. Not a tap. He was held fast and silent.
The room was again eerily quiet and Dan felt Cynthia’s breathe near his right ear.
She quietly and deliberately whispered. “You can’t move, can you? There’s no need to respond. Your vocal chords have been disabled.” She paused to give him time to panic, but he was way ahead of her. “That means that there will be no safe word or gesture today.”
After a pause, he could hear that Cynthia was again removing equipment from beneath the platform and attaching it to the top of the platform.
“Mistress Juliette insisted that I save the best for last,” Cynthia whispered into his left ear. “Your safe word wouldn’t have mattered anyway.”
His complete vulnerability was punctuated by a squirt of lubricant into his anus. Dan’s heart was beating like a speeding train. He frantically tugged at his feet and wrists, but any ordinary observer would not have known unless they noticed the strained thigh and upper arm muscles.
“You were committed as soon as I locked down your first foot,” she continued in a hushed tone.
Suddenly Dan felt a metal probe being screwed into his ass. He had never allowed anyone to penetrate his ass. Not anyone.
“In case you haven’t realized by now, your attempt to use the safe gesture earlier was really quite meaningless,” Cynthia said smiling. “Think about it. You’re no longer an employee of Leather or Knot. As a result, your safe word and safe gesture mean nothing. You really should be more careful when you surrender control to Mistress Juliette.”
He thrust his hips forward as far as they would go to avoid the intruder, but his penetration was a certainty. Just as he thought it was in as deep as it would go, Cynthia attached the plug to a post she had installed behind him. With the post in place, he regretted thrusting his hips so far forward because releasing any tension on his hips pushed the plug further in. With his hips thrust forward, and his heart beating double time, his hard on was accentuated.
“It was fun toying with you though,” she continued. “I was hoping that my feigned sympathy would convince you to continue. It was so much more fun finishing the job knowing you’d be surprised in the end,” she said laughing. “No pun intended, of course.”
As a final restraint, Cynthia encircled the base of Dan’s scrotum with a metal band and attached it to yet another post that she installed and adjusted immediately under his package.
“Time to see Amanda for the show!” She announced, and with a few taps on her remote controller, the butt plug and the scrotum ring began to vibrate.
Chapter 13 – Amanda’s Decision
Sunlight shot down between the bedroom shade and the window frame onto the floor. Amanda opened her eyes again to focus on the digital clock. It was only 5:28 am. It was too early to get up, but she was too emotional to sleep. Closing her eyes, she worked through her schedule in reverse. She needed to be at Amanda’s at 9:00 am sharp. Any earlier would show anxiousness. Any later might be taken as disrespect, or worse – disinterest.
She determined that she could safely sleep until 7:15. But who was she kidding? She hadn’t slept more than 30 minutes in a row all night. She swiveled her legs off the bed and sat up to stare at a bedside photograph of her and Dan in the park. So much had changed since their friend’s camera had captured that moment. So much had changed in the last twelve hours.
Amanda took her time getting ready, thinking through the many ways in which her morning could play out. One common thread weaved throughout all of her imagined scenarios: she demanded that Juliette release Dan.
Dressing on instinct, Amanda automatically selected a provocative leather outfit that she might have worn to the shop. She was ready to go by 6:45. Rather than waste her time in the apartment, she decided to begin driving. She would spend the extra 90 minutes scoping out the area around Juliette’s house. It beat doing nothing.
With two hours to do nothing but think, Amanda’s thoughts swirled around her impending decision in ever widening circles until she began to consider scenarios that didn’t involve setting Dan free. She considered one, then another, and another. Yet, even as she considered those other depraved realities, she knew what she had to do. She loved Dan; and she knew that he loved her; and even though she was aroused by the thought of keeping him as her captive lover, she remembered the feelings she had when she was tied up in the store in front of her parents. Dan rescued her when she needed it most. She loved the loss of control to someone so trustworthy, and then regaining control at his hands. It was incredible.
Then she realized that she might be able give Dan that same incredible rush. Maybe she could take him away from Juliette while he was still restrained and release him at the apartment. Maybe his release would be as incredible as hers was.
She shook the thought out of her head. This wasn’t a couple of Midwestern parents she was dealing with. This was Juliette, a brilliant, powerful, deceptive bitch. She would need to free Dan immediately to ensure that they got out of Juliette’s house safely. Besides, she couldn’t betray Dan since he was taken against his will.
Amanda drove around the house for over an hour before finally deciding to turn into the long drive. She took her time driving up to the house, and then she realized that this was no house. This was a mansion. No, this was a compound.
As slow as she drove, she still arrived fifteen minutes early, and she was helped from her car by a valet in a leather tuxedo. A doorman in a leather chest harness and little else ushered her through the front door into the foyer where she was greeted by Miss Francis in a leather maid outfit.
“Miss Amanda, I presume,” Miss Francis said in a welcoming tone. “Mistress Juliette has been expecting you. Please allow me to show you to the back porch where she awaits.”
Amanda looked around in awe as she followed Miss Francis through a wide hall to the back of the house. Aside from the strangely dressed staff, you wouldn’t know that a deceitful sadist lived there, she thought to herself.
As she stepped through the double French doors to the back porch, Juliette was sitting in a comfortable leather loveseat looking out over the stable area. Several horses were being trained, each in a separate rectangular corral. The trainers wore the customary equestrian attire which made them the only people here, other than herself, who looked normal. Then, she laughed at herself when she realized that people in equestrian attire could hardly be said to appear normal, and she was wearing her work clothes.
“Amanda dear, so glad you could make it,” Juliette said rising from her seat with her arms outstretched for a pompous hug. Amanda allowed Juliette to hug her, but did not reciprocate. “And you’re early,” Juliette continued, looking over Amanda’s shoulder. “You must be anxious.”
“Damn!” thought Amanda, and her thoughts played out across her face as Juliette leaned back to take her in.
“No, no, it’s a good thing,” Juliette said reassuringly. “It only shows how much you care for Dan, a fact of which I was already keenly aware.”
Without hesitating, Amanda said “I’ve decided that you should let Dan go. I’d like you to bring him to me.”
She said it just as she had practiced hundreds of times in her head. She said it perfectly.
Juliette regarded her a moment and said “So, you’ve made up your mind. That’s nice, but I haven’t asked you for your decision just yet. Please, hold that thought until after breakfast. Daniel is in good hands. Let’s have a drink and get to know one another.”
A young woman in a leather waitress’s outfit walked over from a bar on the far side of the porch and said “May I get you something to drink? Orange juice? Tomato juice? Bloody Mary? Mimosa?”
Amanda looked at Juliette and at the waitress, and she couldn’t believe that any of this was real.
“Bloody Mary,” Amanda said reflexively, as if in a daze.
“My usual, Constance,” said Juliette with a smile.
The waitress brought the drinks promptly as Juliette and Amanda began to talk about the shop. Juliette wanted to know whether Amanda was happy working there. She asked about how long Amanda and Dan had been dating. She told Amanda about her deceased husband, and she asked about Amanda’s parents. As the two women continued to drink, Amanda was surprised at how relaxed she was beginning to feel. Still, she was resolved to leave there that morning with Dan on her arm.
After nearly a half hour of talking, Miss Francis announced that a continental breakfast was ready for them in the dining room. Juliette and Amanda walked leisurely to the dining room as if they were old college roommates catching up after years apart. The comradery continued through breakfast, and Amanda began to actually enjoy Juliette’s company. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she couldn’t manage to hate Juliette, despite the kidnapping that brought them to this point.
About fifteen minutes into breakfast, Juliette looked over to Miss Francis who was attentively waiting in a corner of the dining room and said “Amanda, it has been quite nice getting to know you better. You’re a lovely young woman with a bright future, and I’ve made you wait long enough. It is time for you to make your decision.”
Caught off guard, Amanda collected herself and began to repeat the words that she had practiced. But before she got only as far as “As I’ve said…” before Juliette leaned over and put an index finger to Amanda’s lips.
“Before you decide, I would like to give you a small presentation,” she said quietly.
Amanda stared at Juliette a moment.
“Go ahead,” Amanda said stubbornly. “It won’t change my mind.”
Juliette tapped a touch screen embedded in the dining room table, and a wooden panel on the far wall of the dining room opened up to reveal a darkened alcove. At first, Amanda couldn’t see what was in the darkened recess, but she soon made out a female figure emerging from the darkness. As the figure came into the light, it became clear that the she was pulling a cart of some kind behind her.
No, it wasn’t a cart. It was a wheeled platform, and the platform carried a sculpture.
Amanda looked over to Juliette who was smiling a devilish smile - the devilish smile of a child who was caught with chocolate all over her mouth after finishing the last cookie from the cookie jar.
By the time Amanda turned back, the platform was close enough for her to recognize it for what it was.
“Dan!” she shouted, rising to her feet. Juliette rose to her feet as well, and gently grasped Amanda’s upper arms.
“Don’t be too quick to judge,” Juliette cautioned. “Things are not always as they appear. I assure you that less than an hour ago, in this very room, Daniel freely agreed to be presented to you in this fashion so that you could decide his fate.”
Nearly hyper-ventilating, Amanda found herself frozen. She was stunned yet strangely excited. She couldn’t sit down, but she didn’t move away from the table either. She just stared at Dan as he was wheeled into the well lit center of the dining room. Then, she glanced over to Juliette.
“Please, he’s fine, really,” Juliette said calmly, trying to comfort her. “Sit down and give me five minutes to explain. Then, you can give me your decision.”
Dan was positioned directly in front of the women, and the attendant locked the wheels in place. Dan was utterly immobilized. The only things he could move were his eyes which darted from person to person taking in the scene. He became particularly concerned when he took in Amanda’s outfit. She wore a tight fitting black silk top with a plunging neckline and a black leather waist cincher that accentuated her assets.
Dan desperately tried to find a way to alert Amanda to the fact that he was no longer as certain of his position as he was before she arrived. He just had nothing to work with. On the elevator ride from the dungeon, Cynthia had used more of that strawberry smelling glue to seal his lips together, preventing him from moving even his lips.
“Thank you, Cynthia,” Juliette said, and the attendant took a position along the wall behind Amanda.
Amanda continued to stare at Dan. Aside from a few blinks of his eyes, Dan was completely motionless. Attached as he was to the platform, it almost seemed as though he was part of the platform itself. The light cast shadows which accentuated his firm but inanimate muscles, and Amanda paid particular attention to the muscle at his groin. She had never seen him more sexually aroused.
As she examined his predicament, she noticed a screen being lowered just behind him and to her right. When the screen stopped descending, the lights behind Dan dimmed, and an LCD projector threw an image onto the screen. It was a photograph of Dan, Amanda and Juliette in the shop the evening before, and a superimposed title read “Dan’s Devotion: The Story of how Dan gave Himself to Amanda.”
The relative positions of the screen and Dan’s platform were such that Amanda could not look at one without also seeing the other. The arrangement didn’t go unnoticed by Juliette who was rather proud of her staff for orchestrating such an impressive presentation.
“I’ve taken the liberty of having my production staff prepare a video montage of the events of the past twelve hours,” Juliette said proudly. “It was made using footage from surveillance cameras positioned throughout my estate and the boutique. It will take less than five minutes to view, and then I will ask for your decision. If you would like us to release Dan at the end of the presentation, we will do so without question. Agreed?”
Amanda, her eyes fixed on Dan, finally sat down and nodded. A tap of Juliette’s finger on the dining room table touch screen started the video.
Amanda began to watch the short documentary-style presentation depicting selected events of the past twelve hours. A recognizable female voice narrated the story. Meg Ryan? Jennifer Anniston? Although the narrator’s name escaped Amanda, she knew that it was a popular A-list actress.
Amanda watched as she relived Dan’s capture from the boutique. She was surprised when she witnessed Juliette’s explanation of the Employment Agreement, and she thought of her own employment agreement. “Why didn’t he read that thing?” she thought. “I read mine.”
Amanda listened intently as the announcer described Dan’s resourcefulness, and the video showed Dan using his safe gesture, cross fading into his release in front of the HD monitor. Amanda was proud that Dan had figured out a way to free himself, and she was initially surprised that Juliette lived up to the contract. But then, after spending the last forty minutes with her, Amanda felt a bit ashamed for judging Juliette so harshly.
The narrator explained that Dan had resigned his position at Leather or Knot, and to punctuate the point, the documentary showed Dan saying “I’m done with the shop. Using my safe word was my last official act as an employee, thank you very much,” as the screen faded to black.
After a brief pause, the documentary showed footage taken right there in the dining room just an hour earlier. In a flawlessly spliced audio track, Juliette could be heard saying “As an alternative, you could surrender yourself … to Amanda just before I ask for her decision.”
Through a bit of creative editing, Dan immediately replied “You’re right. I’ll do it.”
Dan couldn’t see the screen, but he heard the edited dialog, and he saw a profound change in Amanda’s expression. He could also see the smile of satisfaction on Juliette’s face.
That wasn’t how it happened! He was exploding inside, and he was nearly exploding outside. He thought he had a safe word. He thought he could back out. He thought his presentation was merely to prove that Amanda would set him free. Only when it was too late did he realize that his presentation was the one factor that might push Amanda over the edge. As exciting as the prospect might seem, he hadn’t expected that he might actually become Amanda’s slave.
The documentary concluded with a live shot of Dan immobilized and contorted in the metal display platform. Amanda looked at Dan in front of her and then at the video echo of Dan’s plight. She was as surprised, confused and aroused by this new information as Dan was worried.
Again, she noticed Dan’s intermittent blinking, and Cynthia dimmed the lights around the periphery of the room until Amanda and Juliette seemed to be the only two people in the room. A spotlight above them illuminated only Amanda and Juliette. The rest of the room fell into complete darkness.
Cynthia quietly made her way through the darkness to Dan’s side, and she whispered in his ear.
“I saw that little stunt of yours. You’re lucky that she didn’t recognize your Morse code S-O-S.”
Then she tapped a few commands on her remote controller, and Dan felt a jolt of electricity rip through his ass.
A barely audible “hffft” escaped through Dan’s nose as he involuntarily exhaled in reaction to the sudden shock. His unseen face contorted into a grimace in response to the pain.
“From now on, I expect you to be nice,” Cynthia whispered. “By the way, the scrotum ring is similarly equipped.”
At the dining room table, Amanda was still silently weighing everything she had just seen. Juliette sat patiently as Amanda slowly shook her head.
“He loves you very much,” Juliette said quietly. “He trusts you, and you can trust him.”
Amanda smiled. “With him like that, trust really isn’t an issue, is it?”
“Well, no. But it’s still nice to know what he would do if he wasn’t controlled,” Juliette answered.
Juliette then tapped a few times on the touch screen in front of her, and the projector came back to life.
“Check this out,” Juliette said as an image appeared on the screen.
The screen displayed raw video of the previous evening as Juliette escorted Dan to his room. Amanda watched as Juliette offered Dan the use of his staff for whatever he wanted before bed. It also showed Dan rejecting Juliette’s offer once and then a second time after being assured that Juliette would keep it secret.
As the screen faded to black again, Juliette reiterated “He really does love you.”
Amanda chuckled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but doesn’t that strike you as a bit hypocritical. In the video, you said it would be your little secret, but here you are telling me about it.”
Juliette raised her eyebrows.
“Hypocritical? Hardly,” Juliette said smiling deviously. “Young lady, I have proven time and again that I am a woman of my word. As you saw, I clearly stated that if he took me up on the offer it would be our secret,” Juliette said defensively. “He didn’t take me up on it. So, there is nothing to keep secret.”
The room was silent again. Amanda still offered no decision, and Juliette did not press for one.
“Have you considered what you will be doing with the $100,000?” Juliette asked.
“I plan to use it to tide me over until I find another job,” Amanda said responsibly.
“So, you plan to quit the boutique?” Juliette countered.
“Well, I don’t want to, but you told both of us that we should find other jobs.”
“What if I offered you another job? Would you take it?” Juliette asked.
“That depends. What is it?” Amanda answered, her curiosity piqued.
“Store manager of Leather or Knot,” Juliette said flatly. “Frankly, Linda has disappointed me with the way she handled Dan’s chastity incident. So, I’ll be giving her a two month severance package starting tomorrow. Of course, Dan has resigned, and we’re seriously understaffed.”
Juliette let Amanda absorb the circumstances before continuing.
“On the other hand, you have always impressed me. I’ve seen the way you treat the customers. I believe that you could rebuild the staff from scratch and run the shop the way it was intended, with customer satisfaction being tantamount.”
Amanda’s anxiety, confusion and arousal all mounted until suddenly all of the pieces seemed to fit together perfectly.
She loved Dan dearly, and he clearly wanted her to take him as her slave since he voluntarily allowed himself to be presented to her without a safe word. She truly enjoyed working at the shop, and the only thing that she never really cared for was being subordinate to Linda.
Quietly, she announced her decision to Juliette. “I’ve made up my mind. I will be taking Dan home with me as my slave, and I would be happy to accept the position as store manager of Leather or Knot.”
Juliette smiled like a little girl at her own birthday party.
“Wonderful! Let’s get you started at once. Come with me, and we’ll put together a little starter kit for your new toy,” Juliette gushed. “Cynthia, please prepare Amanda’s slave for his new life and meet us in the front hall in 45 minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cynthia said with a smile.
Over the next hour, Juliette and Amanda discussed Dan’s future. Amanda told Juliette that she would need periodic help in training him, and they arranged for training sessions to be conducted on Tuesdays and Saturdays at Juliette’s estate. The first two sessions, however, would be at Amanda’s apartment to ensure that she could provide the proper living environment.
Juliette cautioned Amanda that Dan may appear to change his mind and beg for his freedom. She assured Amanda that such behavior was typical in the non-dominant partner.
“He may tell you that he thought there was a safe word, but we know better,” Juliette said to Amanda taking a tone that a teacher might use with a parent of a difficult child.
“You need to be certain enough for both of you,” Juliette advised Amanda. “Daniel deserves no less. He’s a good man and he’s perfect for you. Don’t let his insecurity interfere with what you know to be right.”
While Juliette gave Amanda a brief tour of the dungeon and many of the accessories it housed, Cynthia dressed Dan in a discipline harness covered by street clothes.
An ordinary observer would be completely unaware that anything nefarious was afoot. The concealed harness included a number of features that made it a dangerous clothing choice. It included a microphone embedded in the center of the chest for detecting any sound Dan might make, and electrodes at the scrotum and anus that could be remotely controlled. Having already tasted the electric pain administered by Cynthia during the presentation, Dan was terrified of those electrodes.
As Juliette and Amanda met Cynthia and Dan in the front hall, Amanda pulled along a wheeled case filled with high-tech bondage accessories. Juliette also provided a brief tutorial on how to use the harness.
She gave Amanda a beautiful leather and diamond choker which included an embedded microphone, voice analyzer and transmitter. She told Amanda that it was synched with Dan’s harness and showed Amanda how certain commands would activate various features of the harness. For example, she instructed Amanda to initiate the “silence slave” command that would cause the electrodes to be energized whenever Dan’s voice was detected by the harness microphone. Juliette also directed Amanda to initiate the “heel slave” command which would activate the electrodes if he strayed beyond 4 feet of her. Although Dan was pretty sure his vocal chords had not returned to normal, Dan was smart enough not to test them. He was silent and obedient.
Juliette assured Amanda that those two commands using in conjunction with one another would keep Dan from fleeing or calling out for help. Juliette jokingly advised that Amanda deactivate the “heel slave” command after Dan was belted in the passenger side of the car, because Amanda’s walk around the car to the driver’s side would take her beyond the four foot limit.
As Amanda hugged Juliette and said goodbye, Amanda told Juliette how excited she was to start revamping the shop. Amanda revealed that she already had some ideas for finding the additional help she would need.
Cynthia called for Amanda’s car to be brought around, and as Amanda and Dan set off toward home to settle into their new roles, Amanda felt happy and satisfied. Just as Amanda had promised herself, she was walking out of Juliette’s estate with Dan on her arm.
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