Working Out the Kinks (Chain) (9 page)

“Jesus, Mom, cut it out,” I muttered while I walked into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee. Once my cup had been made, I decided to finally search out my phone and see what she wanted. I took a seat on the couch and folded my legs underneath me. My phone lit up when I pressed the button, and to my surprise I found two new messages from an unfamiliar number. I opened the first message.

Something you should see.

My thumb began to tremble as I pressed the button for the next message to appear. It was a dark photo of a girl wearing nothing but deep red marks slashed all across her back. Her hands were tied, her feet bound. There was a gag in her mouth and a blindfold covering her eyes. She looked in pain, though I couldn’t really tell because of the coverings on her face. The message underneath the photo threw me into a panic, sending me jumping to my feet and gathering up my purse and keys quickly.
The punishment for lying to me.

I was on the freeway in a matter of minutes, after running through two red lights to make it through traffic. My fingers were starting to hurt as I gripped the steering wheel too tight. There was no excuse for what had been done, and Whitney was paying an unnecessary price. The only person that was lying anymore was me, and I didn’t know what to expect when I got there. What had she said to him? With my car speeding across west Los Angeles, I tried to pull all of my thoughts together and remember back to what we had discussed that afternoon. But I couldn’t come up with anything that would have given me away. Unless…

Unless he had somehow figured out I was lying to him, and then had taken it out on Whitney.

I pushed the gas pedal down harder and sped faster. The freeways were clear at that time of night, so traffic wasn’t an issue as it had been that morning when I had driven back home. I made it to Eric’s neighborhood in ten minutes.

As quickly as I could run, I hurried to his house and opened the front gate. There was a trickle of light coming in from the drapes, and only silence filled my ears. I didn’t like it. It was too quiet.

I rushed to the front door and knocked frantically against the wood.

No answer.

I knocked again and with my hand in midair, the door opened to reveal Eric standing there, with an unbuttoned shirt. He had a sheen of sweat covering his chest, the light from inside the house glistening off his stomach. He appeared to have been in a hurry to get to the door, and his surprised expression turned into a smirk. His eyes narrowed at me.

“What do we have here?” he greeted, tilting his head to one side.

“Where is she?” I demanded, not caring whom I was speaking to anymore.

Eric opened the door wider and I slipped in under his arm. The living room was empty as I turned every which way to find her.

“First door on the left,” he announced. I bolted for the door and opened it fast, fearful of what I would find.

Whitney was kneeling in the corner of the malicious-looking room. Her arms and feet were still bound, and her head was hanging down low. I noticed large, thick headphones around her ears plugged into a device sitting next to her.

“Whitney,” I whispered and started toward her. A firm hand stopped me and held me by my arm. I was yanked back against Eric and struggled to break free.

“Let me go,” I shouted and beat at his chest.

“Stop it, she’s fine,” he assured and then released me. I backed away several feet and held the area where he had grabbed me.

Eric held his hands up in defense. “Alexandra, she’s fine, I promise.”

I shook my head and turned back to her. “Whitney, it’s me. We need to get you out of here now.”

She didn’t respond.

“Whitney,” I shouted and began to walk toward her.

“No! Lexi, stop,” Eric shouted and rushed to stand in front of me. I tried shoving him away, though I knew he wouldn’t budge.

“She’s training. Don’t do this.”

“Like hell she is,” I spat back at him. “What the fuck did you do to her?”

“Nothing she didn’t want, I promise,” he replied and placed his hands on my shoulders. Immediately I shoved him away and Eric’s hands rose into the air once more.

“She’s a much more experienced sub than you think, Alexandra. This is all part of her training.”

“Then explain to me why you thought it was a good fucking idea to send me those messages?”

He closed his eyes a moment and sighed. “Because she told me something I knew she was lying about.”

I waited for an answer, folding my arms across my chest and scowling. Deep inside, I was panicking.

“She lied about not having lunch with you today.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And how did you know she didn’t?”

“Because I knew you would obey me. I was in the middle of her punishment when you interrupted us.”

My mouth was hanging open, but I didn’t know what to say. Why did she lie to him? I looked down at Whitney and then back to Eric.

“I assume she can’t hear us?” I asked and Eric answered with a nod.

“She can only hear white noise. This is a sensory-deprivation punishment. For all she knows, she’s alone in the room with the lights still out.”

Eric took a tentative step closer and once he realized I wouldn’t back away he took another.

“I’d like for you to join me out in the living room, please,” he said as gently as a Dominant could. Eric was trying to win back the control, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to let him.

I closed my eyes and ran my hand across my face and through my hair and then looked back at my friend. The noise coming from Whitney’s headphones was louder than I realized, and I could hear the faint humming noise coming through the room.

“Alexandra, please,” Eric tried once more. “She’ll be given another hour in here and then I’ll release her.”

My eyes were still transfixed on her figure while he spoke. The red marks looked to have come from a long whip or thin cane, I wasn’t sure. I looked back at Eric and he stepped away and extended his hand for me to take. Reluctantly, I did, and we left the room with him shutting the light off.

“Why did you send me that text?” I asked him once more after he had taken his seat in the chair and I was in my place on the floor next to him.

“Because I wanted you to see every aspect of bondage and discipline, not just the good,” he explained and laced his fingers together in his lap. Eric crossed one leg over another and looked toward the hallway.

“Whitney knows her punishments, and yet she still chose to lie to me.”

“So what are you going to do with her in an hour?”

“I’m going to take her out of the room and see if she’s willing to tell me the truth, then I’ll reward her affectionately.”

There was something about knowing Eric was going to pleasure Whitney that made me slightly envious. What would happen if I told him the truth? He would have probably punished me by kicking me out of the house, and that would have been my reward as well, since he wouldn’t have whipped or caned me. I could only hope for something like that to happen. But then he’d never speak to me, and I’d probably never speak to him again. And why did it matter? I was so torn inside I didn’t even realize Eric was staring at me the entire time until I looked up.

I shook my head and tried snapping myself out of the daydreams I kept having.

“What were you thinking about just now?” he asked curiously.

I chewed my bottom lip. “Um, nothing, I have a test to study for in one of my classes, and that’s what I was doing before I got here.”

Eric glared at me. “And why don’t I believe you?”

I needed to remember to be much more careful around him, if I was going to stick around. “I’m sorry, Sir, I had been thinking about you.”

At least it wasn’t a lie.

He smiled thin and leaned down to brush his cheek against mine.

“Just for future reference, Alexandra, you bite at your lips when you’re bluffing,” he whispered close. I shuddered and flushed embarrassment.

Gingerly he cupped my cheek in his hand and dipped down to kiss the side of my neck. I closed my eyes and leaned into him.

“I had a lovely evening with you last night, and I’m disheartened you had to come over, thinking I was some type of monster. I don’t beat and torture my submissive, unless that’s what she wants.”

I tried to shift and move so I could look him in the eyes and try to apologize, but he held me firm.

“If you want to see a sadist, you’ll get your chance very soon. You’re very lucky you’re training with me, and that I…”

His words trailed away. What was he going to tell me?

“That you’re not his,” he finished, though I knew it wasn’t what he was going to say.

“I’m yours, Sir,” I whispered and heard him chuckle softly.

“So eager to please me?”

I was desperate to please him.

“You’ll have your chance, in just a moment,” he replied and then stood up. I watched while he left the room and disappeared. Minutes later, he reemerged with Whitney, still gagged and blindfolded. He motioned with his finger pressed against his lips for me to remain quiet as he helped her walk through the room and kneel down next to me.

Whitney was shaking, her hands laced behind her head. There were streaks down her face where tears had run. Eric took his seat once more and kept one hand holding her throat.

“Are you ready to be a good girl?” he asked her after he unbuckled the gag from around her head.

“Yes, Sir,” Whitney answered fast. It was strange to hear the way her voice sounded, strained and unsettling.

“Why did you lie to me?”

“Because I went to lunch today with Lexi and told her about us,” she explained and my heart sank. It felt as if I had been the one to help her punishment, and in a way, I had by inviting her out and pressing her for information. I should have just not called her, and none of the pain she had endured would have happened.

“I’m glad you finally decided to tell me the truth, Whitney. You’ll be very wise to do so next time I ask you about your day.”

Whitney gave a tiny hint of a smile and Eric’s hand loosened from around her neck.

“Are you ready for your reward?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir, thank you,” she replied. He stroke her cheek affectionately and then kissed her lips. Whitney kissed him back, but didn’t seek out more, as I had done each time his lips had touched mine.

“Take off your blindfold.”

My head snapped in his direction and I started to stand to leave. Eric grabbed me by my wrist and I froze in place, still half kneeling.

“Your reward is a little shy, apparently,” he explained to Whitney. “I want you to keep your blindfold on instead.”

“Yes, Sir,” Whitney answered and then placed her hands back behind her head. Eric leaned back and his gaze moved back and forth between us.

“Whitney, you’re to move to your right and kiss your reward.”

He had to be joking
, I yelled in my mind. But I wasn’t given a chance to react, because Whitney had already reached out and brought my lips to hers as she held the back of my neck. Her mouth was soft, much softer than my experience with the several boys I had ever kissed in my life. She was careful to touch me, noticing my stiffened response to her touch. I closed my eyes and began to kiss her back since I wanted her rewarded as much as she did.

I gasped lightly when I felt her tongue reach out to taste mine and heard her moan softly.

“How does your reward taste, Whitney?”

“Very good, Sir,” she replied, pressed against my mouth. My eyes had closed as we continued to kiss without restraint. I raised my hands and held her head softly to guide her, teasing her playfully. I could feel Whitney’s smile and it made me happy in return.

I heard a groan and opened my eyes. Eric palmed himself slowly as he watched us.

“I think it’s time you took off your blindfold, Whitney,” he surprised me in saying.

I tried to keep her mouth to mine, hoping more kissing would stop her and please him, but it was too late. We broke away from one another but there was nothing that I could do. She obeyed our Master and removed her blindfold, her eyes growing wide with shock as she took in the sight of me.