Belinda (23 page)

‘I cannot tell you,' she sniffled.

Belinda held her hands in her own, feeling sudden pity and affection for the poor girl. ‘Tell me – I may be able to help.'

‘You cannot.'

‘Try – it'll help you just to talk to someone.'

‘My…'

‘Yes… tell me,' she prompted gently.

The girl took a deep breath. ‘My guardian… he's going to beat me,' she blurted miserably.

‘Why?' asked Belinda, squeezing her hands reassuringly. ‘What have you done?'

‘Nothing,' she looked at Belinda with clear blue eyes. Her chin quivered slightly. ‘The till was down a cent this morning. He says it was my fault, but I know it was him. He's always making mistakes, whereas I'm very good with sums.'

‘Then you must tell him,' advised Belinda.

‘I daren't – you don't know him. He's a very strict man. He'd beat me all the more if I spoke against him.' She lowered her gaze and continued softly. ‘And besides – he's a good man really. He takes care of me. He keeps me safe… as long as I am obedient and nice to him.'

Belinda suspected as much.

‘He'll be down in a minute.' An idea clearly came to the girl and she brightened hopefully. ‘Perhaps you could speak with him on my behalf?'

Belinda's heart went out to the lovely girl. ‘Of course I will,' she said warmly. ‘Do you think he'll listen to me, though?'

‘Oh, I'm sure he will…' said the girl joyously, ‘because you are so beautiful.'

Belinda didn't quite see why that should make any difference as to whether he punished his charge or not, but decided not to dampen the girl's renewed spirits by raising such trivia. ‘Tell me,' she said. ‘Why do you have a guardian in the first place? Where are your parents?'

The girl looked a little sad again and Belinda immediately cursed herself for being so tactless. ‘My mother and father are both dead,' she whispered.

Belinda could have ripped out her tongue and fed it to the strays out in the streets. ‘Oh – I'm so sorry… I didn't mean—'

‘It's all right,' smiled the girl bravely. ‘It happened when I was very young. I barely remember them. The court made me a ward of my guardian and his wife because they were close friends of my parents and they had this good business.'

‘And has he always been strict?'

She nodded. ‘Ever since I can remember. But it got worse a couple of years ago when his wife died. He suddenly got much more angry, and started paying a lot of attention towards me.'

‘What sort of attention?' asked Belinda, although she had a pretty good idea.

She blushed. ‘I would rather not say.'

Belinda took the girl in her arms and comforted her. Her hair smelt clean and fresh. Their curves moulded nicely together and Belinda felt a pang of guilt as she experienced a warm tingle in the pit of her stomach. She gasped slightly as a thigh innocently slipped between her own. ‘What…' her voice trembled slightly, so she paused to delicately clear her throat. ‘What is your name?'

‘Sally,' whispered the compliant girl. Belinda reciprocated and affectionately kissed the silky hair at Sally's temple to reassure her. She lightly kissed across her forehead, and then her fluttering eyelids. She kissed the tip of her cute nose, and then they stared deeply at each other. Time stood still, and then their flushed faces moved closer – inch by breathtaking inch. Their full moist lips parted in readiness of the inevitable kiss. Belinda knew it was folly to allow it to go any further, but she really didn't care…

‘Well, well, well,' a whiny voice broke the beautiful spell. Belinda and Sally sprang apart, coughing and smoothing down their clothing. Sally, doing the first thing that came into her head, snatched a feather duster and turned to the window display, while Belinda looked up at the source of the interruption. A man stood on the wooden stairs in the rear corner, his booted feet and trousers in view, his top half obscured by shadow. ‘What have we here then?'

Step by step he descended until he stood at the bottom of the stairs. He was a thin lizard of a man, and his beady eyes quickly inspected the gorgeous newcomer. ‘So,' he smiled crookedly, ‘you have a visitor, Sally.' The smarmy way in which he licked his thin lips made Belinda shudder. ‘And a very lovely visitor – if I may say so.'

‘Yes sir,' Sally said nervously, without taking her eyes or the duster from the already dust free merchandise. Belinda had to admit that she felt uneasy in the presence of the slimy man, but now that her life was so close to being complete she had to stay and do what she could to help Sally.

‘Well, my dearest Sally, I am sure you have enjoyed seeing your friend,' his eyes rose slowly from Belinda's feet to her breasts for the second time, and she knew that he had definitely enjoyed seeing her. ‘But you must tell her it is now time to leave. You know very well that we have a little unfinished business to attend to.'

‘Yes sir,' blustered Sally. ‘Sorry sir.'

Belinda summoned her resolve. ‘Actually, Mr…?' she began, but he didn't offer his name, leaving her in an awkward pause. ‘Actually sir,' she began again, ‘that's what I'd like to talk to you about. I don't think such a sweet girl should be punished so cruelly—'

‘Oh you don't, don't you?'

‘No sir, and I'd like to enter a plea on her behalf—'

‘Oh you would, would you?'

‘Yes, sir, I—'

His lip curled and Belinda fell silent, wondering at her wisdom in getting involved; it wasn't really her business, after all.

‘It's all right, Belinda,' said Sally moving towards the door. ‘I should not have asked for your help. I'll be just fine.'

‘No wait,' said the man, holding up his hand and slithering across to them both. ‘Perhaps I was a little hasty. Perhaps…' he openly gawped at Belinda's breasts.

‘Belinda,' prompted Sally.

‘Yes, quite…' his tongue darted across his lips, and Belinda half-expected it to be forked. ‘Perhaps – Belinda – would like to suggest an alternative.'

‘Well – no, I didn't actually mean—'

‘Because if Sally is too sweet to receive what she clearly deserves, then perhaps you are prepared to prevent her suffering by taking her place?'

‘No, I—' Belinda knew she was being manoeuvred into a trap, but the man was too slippery for her.

‘Because such a magnanimous display of human kindness would be a joy to behold, and would demonstrate that you are truly a sincere young lady…' his thin smile vanished as he hissed, ‘and not just a fake!'

Belinda was cornered. She looked at Sally's innocent face, so full of expectation and gratitude, and her heart melted. This was a chance to atone for all her sins; for her life of vice. And it certainly wouldn't be a beating in the same class as her other noble sacrifice at the fort. ‘Very well,' she said. ‘If I must.'

Sally brightened at once. ‘Thank you,' she gushed. ‘And afterwards I will help you with whatever it was you wanted,' which didn't really cheer Belinda at all, given that all she wanted were some directions.

The man wheezed unhealthily and suddenly became a hyperactive blur. ‘Sally, you are reprieved but you are not excused. Lower the window blinds; I'll need absolute privacy to savour this beauty at my leisure,' he instructed as he sifted through his drawers of stock. With his head buried he pointed vaguely. ‘Then get her over to the chair.' Straps and belts flew over his shoulders and onto the worn floorboards. Belinda wished she hadn't been quite so heroic.

Eventually he straightened up with an evil glint in his lifeless eyes. He was holding a particularly broad and supple belt. He held the brown leather and gazed upon it with a reverence bordering on mad obsession. He made Belinda's skin crawl.

He approached Belinda and Sally and sat in the chair that was there for the convenience of customers. ‘Come here,' he commanded, and parted his knees so that Belinda could shuffle between them. He laid the belt across the apparent bulge in his lap, leaned forward a little to lift her skirt at the back, and slipped his hands inside. He gripped her calves, and his touch was as insipid and clammy as she had anticipated. She suppressed a shudder, sensing his volatility and not wanting to incur his true wrath. ‘You see, the trouble is,' he explained matter-of-factly as he fumbled slowly up the backs of her legs and admired the rise and fall of her extremely impressive bosom, ‘that Sally is inattentive in her work, and I just will not tolerate that.'

Belinda held her tongue. She desperately wanted to voice her opinion of the lizard but feared for Sally's safety. One hand mauled her buttocks while the other groped around to the front. He kicked her feet and manoeuvred her until she stood astride his knees, and then without finesse or consideration he inserted a bony finger up into her vagina. She closed her eyes to the humiliation, more than aware that her juices immediately anointed his loathsome digit. She heard him wheeze and giggle triumphantly.

‘My, my… you are a dirty one,' he goaded. ‘I think you like the feel of a man – and from what I saw earlier, I think you also like the feel of a woman.' Despite his total lack of any expertise Belinda feared her legs would buckle, such was the height of her arousal first ignited by Sally. The suggestion that she be coupled with the lovely girl to entertain him only served to fuel that arousal. ‘Sally's a dirty one too, you know. That's another reason I have to punish her – because she's too free with her affections.'

‘That is not true, sir,' Sally ventured.

‘Silence!' he spat. ‘How dare you speak without permission?'

Belinda could not hide her loathing of the hypocritical lizard any longer. ‘Do you not think,' she said whilst staring straight ahead so she didn't have to look at him, ‘that you are too harsh with Sally?' She sensed the girl stiffen beside her, and the clawing fingers stilled.

‘My dear young lady,' he hissed. ‘Do not presume to tell me my business, and I will not presume to tell you yours!' he shook his head. ‘Do you have no respect?' But before Belinda could answer him honestly he was holding the belt and addressing his ward. ‘Sally, over the counter with this outspoken hussy. Remove the skirt and then place her as you know I like it!'

Without hesitation – the lack of which disappointed Belinda – Sally obeyed her guardian's every order with due diligence. When Belinda was bent over with her cheek pressed to the smooth wood he stood and approached. Belinda heard his boots squeaking in the breathless hush; it would have been comical under any other circumstances. Suddenly her wrists were seized, yanked behind her back so viciously she squealed with the shock, and tied together by another belt before she could resist in any way. The leather bit into her flesh. Her shoulders burned and the position forced her hips, breasts and cheek harder against the uncomfortable counter.

It was not long before his clammy mauling returned to her upthrust buttocks. They were stretched apart and a finger entered her rectum without ceremony. It withdrew almost immediately, and then slipped into her vagina again. It was obvious to Belinda that he had no idea how to stimulate a girl, and it was equally obvious that he considered it an irrelevance.

‘Very nice,' he mumbled thoughtfully. ‘I will look forward to visiting these two charming little orifices in due course.' He stepped away and Belinda heard the leather belt creaking. It was being wrapped around a fist. ‘Sally,' he spoke again. ‘Come, stand just behind me.'

‘Yes sir,' she whispered obediently.

‘You know what to do.'

‘Yes sir,' she whispered again. There was a rustle of clothing – and then silence.

As the belt cracked into Belinda she jolted against the counter. The pain she had anticipated was not really forthcoming; she'd certainly had worse. The belt struck again… and again, in time with a slow wet squelching sound. Belinda knew what was occurring; Sally was masturbating her guardian as Belinda was thrashed. She could just imagine the lovely girl reaching around his scrawny waist and pumping his abominable penis in her dainty fists. Much sooner than Belinda expected the belt was thrown to the ground, and she realised the punishment was just a prelude to the main event, or perhaps the obscene creature had little stamina and had got himself too worked up.

‘Get the linseed,' he croaked. Sally skittered around the shop. Belinda tensed as oil was dribbled between her buttocks. Her fingers clenched and unclenched anxiously. Her feet were nudged apart, an insistent plum pressed against her anus, and then it popped inside. The lizard hissed and sank deeper, and then Belinda's latter assessment of the situation was confirmed as he squealed and filled her insides before she even had the chance to get accustomed to his invasion.

‘Oh yes… that was very nice,' he mumbled. ‘Very nice indeed.' Belinda could not agree. ‘I like your new friend, Sally,' he continued. ‘You must invite her here again. Perhaps next time she could stay the night. We could all share my bed, then we could have some real fun.'

Not a hope in hell, thought Belinda, but held her tongue. She tried to relax the strain on her bent and taut body, but then she felt the plum at her normal entrance and tensed again. Surely he wasn't ready to take her again. Perhaps she had been wrong about his stamina. He may not last very long, but he certainly seemed to have an admirable recovery rate, and the rigid column that proceeded to forge its way deep into her vagina proved that beyond doubt. This time he had more control, and as his thighs slapped rhythmically against Belinda's she felt her traitorous excitement mounting and mounting.