Beyond 10 Nights (33 page)

“I think we should get started,”
Alex said, seeing the nervous tension in Leah’s body language as she sat
between the two of them. “Rhett, would you like to start us off?” He was trying
to be agreeable, but the look his friend gave him didn’t please him. He could
see the possessive side of Rhett’s nature as he put his hand on Leah’s leg and
had to resist the urge to reach over and remove it.

“I think Leah knows what I desire in
a submissive.” His eyes shot daggers at Alex, making his meaning clear. “What I
don’t think she understands is just how intense training as a pony can be.
Perhaps it would be best if you tell her about the training she would have to
undergo to become your pet.” He wanted the meeting over, and was sure that
getting Alex to discuss his methods would terrify her.

“The training is very intense,
Rhett, you are right, but it doesn't have to be, at least not in the beginning.
There are methods that can be used which reduce the intensity of the training,
especially for a new submissive.” He knew exactly what Rhett was trying to
accomplish, and found he couldn’t entirely fault his friend for such a tactic.
Rhett hadn’t become such a successful businessman, who always got what he
wanted from a deal, without knowing just how to manipulate a meeting. “What I
would propose is that Leah spends a weekend at the Ranch, during which time she
could learn what being a pony is about.”

“A weekend on the ranch, being
trained; what you’re really saying is you want to take her down there and force
her to be little more than a dog as you take her through her paces, right?” The
thought of his Leah being treated that way pissed him off, and he didn’t give a
damn if Alex knew that was how he felt.

“No, Rhett, and I don’t appreciate
you coming to that conclusion.” The man was being an ass, Alex thought,
surprised his friend wasn’t being more rational about the situation, despite
the unusual nature of it. His lifestyle was extreme, to some people, he knew,
but it had proven satisfying for him, and for the many other people who lived
it.

Sensing the rising anger between the
two men in her life, Leah decided to step in before it escalated. “Maybe you
can tell me what happens during the first day at the Ranch for a new person in
the lifestyle, Alex.” It was something she needed to know, if she was to make a
decision that would affect her future.

“This should be interesting,” Rhett said,
directing a smirk at Alex. He was certain that when she learned what the
training for Alex’s version of the lifestyle consisted of, she would be
disgusted.

“For anyone with an open mind it is
interesting,” Alex responded. “David, Janie, do either of you have a laptop I
can borrow for a moment?”

“You can borrow mine,” Janie told
him. “I’ll just get it.” Since she was curious about the pony lifestyle herself
she was more than happy to lend him her laptop, and she hurried from the room
to fetch it.

Taking the laptop from Janie when
she returned, Alex smiled his thanks and quickly typed in a web address. Once
the page had loaded he turned the laptop so Leah could see the screen. “Before
your training would begin you would be fitted for most, if not all, of what you
see here.”

A lot of what she saw on the website
was familiar to Leah; she had seen and used it on the horse farm where she had
worked back in Mississippi. Its familiarity did not explain how the items she
was looking at were meant to be used by a human though. “So as a pony I would
have to wear this stuff?” she asked, nibbling on lip as she tried to imagine
himself in the equestrian gear.

Alex nodded patiently. “When we are
the Ranch you will be dressed in that during your training.” He would walk her
through each object, and explain its purpose, before she put on any of it, the
explanations, and the demonstrations, which always took place with another
pony, would make it all seem less strange to her.

“Why don’t you tell her about the
stalls, Alex,” Rhett suggested to his friend. Though the equipment the ponies
wore was strange in some respects, it was no stranger than some of the items
submissive's wore in his corner of the lifestyle, it was the way they were
treated that he was sure would send Leah running. With a smirk, he waited for
the reaction he expected the answer to generate.

“I hadn’t planned on leaving it out,
Rhett,” Alex told him, a touch of bite in his voice as he reacted to his
friend’s judgmental attitude, though he quickly got himself under control
again.

“Tell her how she’ll be living in a
small compartment, where she’ll be chained to a wall, with nothing but that
gear on, and she will be fed or beaten by you as you use her at will.” They’d
only been talking for five minutes, but that was long enough as far as Rhett
was concerned; his Leah was not some animal to be chained and caged for Alex’s
pleasure.

“I think you need to control your
attitude, Rhett,” Alex said sharply. “There is little difference between what I
do and how you choose to restrain a submissive so you can take her.” He shook
his head in aggravation, knowing he had to diffuse the situation. “It is a
different form of bondage, Leah, nothing more. I promise you he is making more
out of it than is necessary. Just as with what you have enjoyed so far with
Rhett, there is little to no pain involved in what I do, and what pain it does
entail is entirely enjoyable.”

“Please stop arguing.” Leah was
already nervous, hearing about the Ranch, and Rhett’s growing anger, which was painfully
obvious, was not helping her to relax and feel comfortable. Why couldn’t they
all talk like normal adults, she wondered; the moment the thought occurred to
her she was struck by the irony of it, most normal people wouldn’t be
discussing the topic they were.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I need
you to know what he’ll expect from you. If what you’ve heard so far hasn’t
opened your eyes to the kind of thing he’s involved in, why don’t you ask him
about how they breed their ponies.” He knew that breeding was a choice a
submissive made, but he wasn’t going to bring that up. He wanted Leah to be
terrified of his friend’s lifestyle, so she would give up the idea completely.

“Breed?” She knew how horses were
bred, it was part of country life, but she couldn’t imagine how that could have
any bearing on what they were talking about. Breeding was for creating horses,
not sexual pleasure.

“As an impregnate, Leah, Alex has a
whole little flock of ponies each year, don’t you, Alex.” He was being unfair,
and he knew it, but just then Rhett didn’t give a shit.

“You know very well that is only an
option that a true pony can choose for themselves.” It wasn’t something he was
fond of. It had only been a few years before when a submissive who wanted to
get pregnant asked the previous Ranch manager to put the idea out.

“They get pregnant?” The thought
made Leah nauseous. She had no intention of having children, at least not in
the immediate future, and she damned sure wasn’t going to allow someone to
‘breed’ her when, or if, she made that decision.

Rhett saw the look of disgust on her
face, and smiled at Alex. “Sometimes a kink can go too far.” He knew Alex’s
thoughts on the whole breeding issue, but that was something to be kept to
himself; the worse she thought of his friend, the better, at least as far as he
was concerned.

“I think I need a break for a
minute,” Leah said. The whole breeding thing was a game changer in her mind,
and she needed to get some fresh air while she thought about things.

“Let me explain, Leah.” Alex knew
just what Rhett was trying to do, and he wasn’t prepared to let him get away
with lying to Leah, not about something so important. If she decided she
couldn’t be a part of his lifestyle, he would understand and accept that, but
she needed to at least be in full possession of the facts, not to mention know
his thoughts.

“Okay, I just need a few minutes
first.” She attempted a smile, but knew it must look as false as it felt and
she quickly pushed herself up from the couch.

Rhett reacted the moment he saw Alex
lay his hand on Leah’s arm, holding her back in an attempt to prevent her
leaving. “Get your fucking hands off her, Alex; she said she needed a minute.”

The battle was won, Rhett thought,
as Alex let go of Leah and allowed her to walk away. The look on his friend's
face was one of a defeated man, and Rhett tried not to gloat over that, though
he couldn’t help one comment, “Accept defeat,” he suggested with a smile and a
shrug as he settled back on the couch to await Leah’s return.

Janie followed Leah out onto the
veranda, sliding the glass door closed behind them to cut them off from those
inside. “You okay, honey?” She didn’t know how much of what Rhett had said was
true, or how much Alex had failed to reveal, though she was sure Alex hadn’t
told everything, but she could well imagine the thoughts that were going
through her best friend’s mind.

“Better now, I just had to get away
from them for a moment.” Taking a few deep breaths she tried to wrap her mind
around the things Rhett had told her about the Ranch. “The Ranch sounds a
little extreme,” she said, turning to her friend in the hope of gaining her
opinion.

“I’m sure Rhett is making things
seem worse than they are, it’s clear he doesn’t want you to go with Alex to the
Ranch. That said, I’m not sure Alex is telling you everything. I’m sorry,
honey, I just don’t know enough to help you out here, not really.” She was
silent then until an idea struck her, one which she thought might deal with
several things at once, though she wasn’t sure Leah would go for it. “Why don’t
we see if Alex would be willing to let us train together,” she suggested.

“You’d be willing to do that?” She
wasn’t sure why, she knew her friend loved her like a sister, but it seemed a
little much for Janie to train to be a pony simply to help her out and make her
comfortable.

Janie gave a brief shrug of her
shoulders. “Sure, though I admit it’s not just to help you out,” she said with
a smile, “I’m curious about the place myself, and well, if we’re together it
might be a little less overwhelming, for both of us.” She was sure that David
would go along with the idea, and it definitely appealed to her to be there
with Leah while she was introduced to the lifestyle.

“It definitely would be easier with
you there, and I’m sure they use safe-words and things like that to avoid
serious problems.” Just a few moments before she had been prepared to tell Alex
that she wasn’t willing to go to the Ranch, but now she knew that Janie would
be there with her she found the idea a whole lot more palatable.

“I’m sure they do, and if they
don’t, well we’ll just make Alex agree to them for us.” Janie pulled her friend
into her arms; she found the idea exciting, though she wasn’t quite willing to
admit that, even to Leah.

“No breeding though,” Leah said with
a laugh, the first she had felt like giving since the meeting began. “I like
Alex, but I’m just not ready to have someone’s kid, especially not under those
circumstances.”

“Definitely a hard limit for me
there as well.” Janie shook her head and together they shared a laugh over the
idea.

Returning to the living room, Leah
smiled at Alex. “Okay, here’s my offer. I’ll agree to a weekend of training at
the ranch, as long as Janie comes with me to be trained as well. There will be
no breeding though.”

Alex smiled at her words, and at the
idea of Janie coming along. He was always happy to train someone new in his
lifestyle, and he was sure if Janie came then David would too. The fact that
their presence would help to relax Leah, and make it easier for him to train
her, did not escape his thoughts; he was sure she was less likely to feel
overwhelmed by any aspect of the training if she had her best friend there to
support her.

“Have you lost your fucking mind,
Leah?” Rhett couldn’t believe that she was willing to go ahead with such a
stupid idea, especially after what she had heard that evening. He was sure
Janie was responsible for persuading her to go ahead with it, and he felt a
flash of hatred surge through him, aimed at her for her interference. “We’re
leaving, now!” If she had any sense, he thought, she would leave with him,
before he lost his senses and beat Alex to a bloody pulp. He’d had enough;
there was no way he was going to let his ‘friend’ turn his girl into some damned
pony ride for his entertainment.

Leah could only stare at Rhett in
shock as he slipped into full caveman mode. “Rhett, I’m sorry, but I’ve made my
decision.” She wasn’t at all happy with him telling her what to do and
desperately wanted to tell him where to go, but she knew if she did that it
would only make his anger worse and she wanted to avoid that.

“I didn’t ask what you wanted,
Leah.” Grabbing her elbow he began dragging her toward the door, ignoring her
protests.

Leah became even angrier than she
had been as she struggled against his grip. “I’m not leaving with you, Rhett!”
she told him. “You must be an idiot to think I’d leave with you, especially
when you’re like this.” She cast a glance back to Alex, a plea for help in her
eyes.

Moving quickly Alex stepped around
the struggling pair to block the doorway, hoping that he could calm Rhett down.
He knew just how volatile his friend could be when he was crossed. “Rhett, you
have to let her make her own decisions.” What had happened to the man he used
to know, the man who was so calm and controlled, he wondered. It seemed to him
that Rhett had regressed back to the angry young man he had been before
college, before he had learned to control himself.