A Betty's Pledge: Volume One (29 page)

“Oh, God.”

The vast expanse of her neck and chest opened more and were ready for the taking.
My arm remained around the curve of her lower back, using my upper body strength to
hold myself deep inside her. The other one I used to tease the place where we were
connected, feeling myself disappear inside her.

As my head bent to taste her skin once more, I moved the pad of my thumb to her swollen
clit. I knew this would bring her to completion, knew that it would be her undoing,
but I didn’t care. I needed to feel her clamp down on me, to know that I was the one
who brought this beautiful woman the bliss that she deserved. The combination of my
shaft deep inside her, my thumb pressing on her pulsing bundle, and the warmth of
my mouth surrounding her supple breast, had her exploding above me.

With an aching moan bordering on a cry of pain, she went soaring over the edge.

The feeling of her coming to pieces around me sent me over as well, and my whole body
tensed as I jutted inside her, spilling deep.

It took us a while to gain any kind of normalcy after that kind of intensity. I placed
her softly beside me, her body limp and going through little aftershocks of pleasure
as she moved. I could tell that she was incredibly sensitive—every nerve ending on
alert—and if it wasn’t for the fact that she’d made me come so hard, unlike anything
I’d experienced before, I might have felt a little smug about her reaction.

She fell asleep next to me a short while later, not even uttering a word. I watched
her for few a moments, trying to see past her meek exterior into the seductive, sensuous
woman she was only moments prior. She looked so serene, a porcelain doll: the ideal
of perfection. Her lips were pouty, her expression peaceful. She still looked so innocent
to me that it was hard to wrap my mind around the variance.

I hoped that with time, I’d be able to work out the puzzle that was Mady Cain.

I awoke sometime later to an empty bed. The fire was nothing but gentle embers in
the pit; the candles were burnt to a low flame. I pulled myself from the bed, looking
around in confusion for just a moment. Mady’s side of the bed was cool, her discarded
clothing gone.

She must have left sometime in the night.

Running my palm over my face, I let out a deep sigh. Without further preamble, I rose
from the bed and redressed. Luckily, no one was in the halls as I made my way to my
bedroom.

I paused outside Mady’s room, my hand itching to knock. I just wanted to make sure
she was all right. We hadn’t really spoken about anything, and I wanted to make sure
she was feeling okay with what had happened. It had been her first session, after
all.

First, implying more to follow.

But with whom?

I pushed those thoughts away, not wanting to add more emotion to the Grant fuckery.
I’d let that happen once. With pure will, like an iron gate, I shut down any notion
or inkling of feeling, and turned toward my room, not even daring to look back.

I didn’t think about it as I showered, didn’t address it as I changed. My mind was
a complete blank as I made my way down to the kitchen, pulling a mug from the cupboard,
pouring myself a cup of coffee.

“Rough night?” I heard a voice say. Of course, the one fucker I didn’t want to see.

“You could say that.”

“Come on, Isaac,” Nate said, hopping up to sit on the counter beside me. “You gotta
give me more than that. I’m living vicariously through you now. Reliving the glory
days through my baby bro!”

I glared at him. “Oh, really? It didn’t look that way the other day. Seems you get
to keep Di and have fun with other women.”

I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, I really did. I didn’t want there
to be an issue with what I’d witnessed the other day, but the fact of the matter was
seeing my brother with Mady did bother me. Even if he never touched her, it was still
unsettling. I just wasn’t one to admit it to anyone, let alone to myself.

It was her . . . she was the one making me feel this way. I’d let her get to me, past
the barriers I had and straight into my head.

Damn it!

“So it’s her, then?” Nate said, implying way too damn much in his tone.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Dude, I’m sorry. If I would have known, I—”

“It’s nothing. It’s not like that,” I lied.

“Isaac, don’t do that to yourself. If you feel something, then you need to address
it.”

“I don’t feel anything.”

There was silence for several minutes, and I could tell my brother was watching me
as I poured milk into my bowl, grabbing a spoon from the drawer, and shoveling cereal
into my mouth without a word.

“You know she’s going to be with other men.” He said it without inflection. A statement
and warning in one.

“I know . . .” I swallowed thickly on the half-chewed flakes, causing a burn in my
throat as they fought their way down.

“It’s not easy,” Nate said, giving me his unsolicited, brotherly bullshit advice.
Part of me wanted to hear it, the other half fought against it, hating all it implied.
“But it’s important to let them figure their crap out first. Trust me, bro. It sucks,
but at the same time, it’s needed.”

“Figure their crap out?”

“Yeah. There’s a reason they’re here. Each one of them has to find out why. It’s not
just about sexual barriers they have to overcome. It’s about intimacy and trust. Things
they have to demolish before they can give themselves to another person fully. Same
with you, bro. So start figuring your shit out.”

“This is so fucked up,” I said, setting my bowl down and running my fingers through
my hair in exasperation.

“Yeah. The joys of being a fucking Grant.”

The Dominatrix

~ Madeline Cain ~

“And then what happened?”

Mina seemed eager for all the details of my night with Isaac. I watched her through
half-blurry eyes, having just woken up from a deep sleep.

“How much coffee has she had this morning?” I turned to look at Diane, covertly leaning
over toward her as she sat next to me.

“Well, you would know if you came down to breakfast,” Diane said, giving me a snarky
look as she took in my disheveled state.

“I had a long night.”

“I see that,” she said, staring pointedly at the clock glaring next to my bed. I followed
her gaze. 11:00 a.m.

“Will you two stop talking about me and answer my damn question.” Mina’s voice came
out high-pitched and bitchy as she rounded on the pair of us with one of my throw
pillows, landing several small swipes to my covered legs.

“Okay, okay,” I said hurriedly. “Calm down. Where was I?”

“Somewhere between ‘Unf’ and ‘Oh yes, right there’,” Diane cut in.

“Shaddup.”

“So he made you come, and then what happened?” Mina said, acting like what I was about
to divulge would make the earth shatter.

“What else matters?” Diane said, earning both a growl and a pillow toss from Mina
and me.

“Well, we fell asleep . . .”

Both of my friends stared at me, eyes held wide in confusion.

“You guys fell asleep . . . in a playroom?” Mina spoke first.

“Yeah . . . why?” I wondered why they were both acting so off this morning.

“Wow,” Diane said, looking a little taken aback.

“What’s the big deal? I mean, is that not allowed? If it’s not, I didn’t know. It
wasn’t like Isaac tried to wake me or anything, and technically, isn’t it your job
to tell me about those kinds of rules?” I pointed an accusing finger in Diane’s grinning
face.

“No, there’s no rule stating you can’t sleep in a playroom.” Diane chuckled. “Nate
and I used to do it all the time. I’m just surprised, is all.”

“Why is that surprising to you?”

“Well, I’ve never known Isaac to let his guard down so much as to leave himself so
vulnerable. Sleeping in a playroom has a ring of closeness to it,” Diane said, shrugging
as if what she said was obvious. I glanced over to see Mina nodding in agreement.

“I guess . . . he was just tired . . . then,” I replied, not really knowing how to
respond to their observation.

“Aww, isn’t it sweet?” Mina said in a singsong voice. “Mady fucked Isaac into a coma.”

“Oh God.” I placed my head in my hands in hopes of holding off the raging headache
that threatened to overtake me.

“Come on, Mina.” Diane chuckled, and I could feel the bed beneath me shift as she
stood up, grabbing my excited best friend by the arm. “Let’s give Mady a moment to
decompress before she goes postal on us.”

“But I wanna talk to my bestie.” Mina whined all the way to the door, and it took
my appealing expression through my fingers and another tug from Diane to get her to
comply. “Fine. But after your lesson today, I want your full attention for at least
an hour, deal?”

“Lesson?”

“Yeah, remember?” Diane said as she pushed Mina through the doorway and into the hall.
“The first of many. Be in the Observation Deck on the east side of the building at
one o’clock. Don’t be late.”

“What can I expect?”

“Expect to be entertained and highly aroused,” Mina replied, poking her head back
into my room with a lewd smile on her face, wagging her eyebrows.

“Shush.” Diane forced her head out and then turned to me. My Dame studied me carefully
before she came back into my room, shutting the door tightly behind her. “Listen,
Mady. In this program, the Grants will introduce various sexual lifestyles to you.
Some you may not be comfortable with, some may interest you. It’s about discovering
your sexual desires, finding that place where you feel the most enjoyment and passion.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“I know. Just don’t feel like you have to participate in anything. Every decision
is up to you, from the invitations you accept down to what you do with your free time.
If you are in the Deck and you see something that bothers you, you can leave. Promise
me that you will.”

“I promise, Diane,” I told her reassuringly, wondering why she was suddenly taking
a somber tone.

“This is a completely consensual establishment. Even if you are knee-deep in a scene
with someone and you want out, all you have to do is use your safeword.”

“Diane, I won’t do anything I don’t feel comfortable with. Don’t worry about me.”

She looked at me for a moment, probably studying my expression, seeing if she could
decipher any doubt or apprehension. I didn’t know how to make her realize the amount
of times I’d reevaluated my decision for coming to the mansion in the first place.
It was something I’d obsessed over constantly since the moment I’d contemplated filling
out an application all the way up to the moment I sat on that fur-covered bed. But
after last night, I knew I was all in. There were no longer any doubts about my being
here. This was what I wanted . . . what I needed to do. And I didn’t want her to worry
about me needlessly.

Diane took a tentative step closer to me, taking a seat on the foot of my bed.

“Are you okay, Mady?” I smiled at her and nodded, trying to reassure her without words.
“You just seem different. More, I don’t know, confident, I guess.”

I laughed. “I don’t think confident is the word I’d choose.”

“But you do, I mean, look at you. All sexed up in nothing but your undies. Must have
been a great night. You look really good, by the way.”

I blushed, realizing that I’d let the sheets fall into my lap, revealing the black
lingerie that Isaac had asked me to wear the previous night. “Thanks,” I told her,
all of a sudden feeling really weird about her compliment because I didn’t know if
she was saying it as one of my best girlfriends, or in a former-lover-type innuendo.
I loved being with Diane, but I didn’t think I’d be playing like that again anytime
soon, especially after my night with one of the Grant Consorts.

Diane seemed to sense my conflict, giving me a sly glance before she looked down toward
the comforter, not seeming to want to push her comment any further.

“I noticed you said that you fell asleep next to Isaac. Yet we found you here in your
room this morning. Care to explain?”

“Not really much to tell,” I told her. “I woke up in the middle of the night and decided
to come back to my room. End of story.”

“I see.”

“What?”

“Well, why did you leave? I mean, you could’ve just stayed with him. It seemed you
were comfortable enough with him to fall asleep in the first place.”

“I was . . .”

The truth was I hadn’t realized I had fallen asleep in his arms. After our time together,
I’d been so incredibly . . .
relaxed
 . . . so much so that I didn’t think I could’ve made it down the hall and into my
room if I’d wanted to. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, it just happened.

It was surprising that I ended up in Isaac’s arms, and he was just as relaxed and
content as I had been in my slumber. I sat there and watched him sleep for a moment,
contemplating what the protocol was for Betties and Consorts in this position.