Leather Bound (26 page)

‘Come,’ she said.

The car was in an attached garage, but I was still shivering by the time we were sitting in the backseat. A curvy dark-haired minx clad in a barely-there drape of a red chauffeur’s uniform slipped behind the wheel. She gave me a smile in the rearview mirror, and then cranked the heat.

I tried to watch the streets, to see where we were and where we were going, but it was impossible in the dark. What was I doing here? Was this worth it? I still felt like I was wandering, uncertain and unsure, and yet I couldn’t stop. Maybe Lil was right. Maybe I was losing it, spiralling down into something that I didn’t understand, something that was way beyond me. I didn’t feel like I was in danger, at least not in the physical sense, but sometimes in the emotional sense, in the way of being wholly and truly me.

From the seat next to me, Cherise put her hand on my leg. She was impossibly warm, her palm soft. As she moved, I caught the scent of her, a soft peach interwoven with the scent of my own desire. Somehow her touch calmed me. And that was even more odd: that the touch of a near-stranger would be enough to make me feel less nervous. A stranger who’d just stripped me naked and put her fingers inside me, nonetheless.

The city slipped by, lights and streets and the woman in the front turning on something soft and melodious. If it hadn’t been for the soft touch of Cherise’s hand on my leg, I might have fallen asleep. But, every time she shifted, her nails scraped lightly across my skin and I was jolted awake, my pulse thumping.

‘Where are we going?’ I asked. I felt like we’d been driving for ever, but it might have just been the way I was trying to pay attention.

‘We’re here,’ the red-clad driver said. She turned, sliding one arm over the seat, and glanced at me. It was the kind of glance that said a lot more than ‘We’ve arrived’. It also said, ‘I adore this woman who’s holding your leash. If you so much as make her take a single faltering step, I will come after you and hunt you down.’

I wondered if Cherise knew; after all, she’d never seen that look. Did they have a relationship or was the woman staring me down just hoping that some day they would, just serving in silence, wishing that one day her employer would notice her? I hoped it was the former. I wanted everyone to have the love they wanted, even if I didn’t always know what
I
wanted.

‘The Harlion House,’ the woman said.

‘Thank you, Galin,’ Cherise said.

I took a moment to glance through the window at the house. It was the kind of place you see in movies, when they want to show that someone’s rich and slightly eccentric. Big old brick house with lots of gables and details. High walls around the yard, lots of soft lights that you knew were probably plugged into some high-end security system. Big circular drive with a couple of very expensive cars idling near the door.

The place was either saved from being a total cliché or turned into an even bigger cliché by the statuary along the driveway: tall green shrubs perfectly groomed into naked men, women and mythical creatures. A mermaid statue spat water from her mouth into a fountain filled with granite people fucking under the spray.

‘You may walk until we’re inside, and then I fully expect you to be in proper position,’ Cherise said. Her voice wasn’t unkind, but it was the voice of power, of authority. Clearly she was used to people obeying her. I wondered what would happen if someone gave her a hard time or rejected her orders. I had a feeling she knew just how to handle that.

We walked to the front door, Cherise’s hand on my elbow. The instinct to guide her properly just rose in me, and I made sure she knew where the flagstones were and the steps and anything else that would trip her up. She walked beside and a little behind me, her touch light. She had far more confidence than my bumbling attempts would seem to give her, and I wondered if she’d been here a thousand times. Maybe she was just holding my arm to give me the impression that I was helping her, when in truth she didn’t need me at all.

I rang the front-door bell, and someone opened it before I even took my hand away from the pearl buzzer.

‘Please,’ the young man at the door said. He wore a black suit, with a black shirt and a black tie. The combination was sharp and sexy and slightly unsettling against his pale skin and blond hair. ‘Come in.’

He was in a small foyer-like space that was empty except for coats and outerwear. When we entered, he closed the front door behind us, sealing us into the small room. It was warm in the space, and cozy for a foyer. More like an inner room in a house than an entrance way. I wondered how someone accomplished that.

‘You may prepare for the party here,’ he said. ‘Anything you leave will be quite safe.’

‘Thank you,’ Cherise said.

She reached out and found the buttons of the wrap she’d covered me with. Sometimes she moved with such authority, such confidence in my own movements, that I forgot she couldn’t see me. How did she know exactly where I stood, or where the buttons fell? Had she memorised my body the first time she’d touched me? Was that what she’d been doing when she’d run her hands all over me and I’d just been swooning in lust at her touch?

The coat fell away and I didn’t think about it any more. Suddenly and fiercely, I was exposed. And afraid. I hadn’t thought very much about this moment, not really. And now it was here.

The man in the black-on-black-on-black took the coat from Cherise and then eyed me slowly, up and down. It wasn’t leering, but appraising and appreciative.

‘Lovely choice,’ he said.

‘Isn’t she?’ Cherise touched my cheek with her fingertips, a soft stroke of appreciation.

‘Are you ready for this?’ she asked. ‘Last chance to turn back.’

‘I’m ready,’ I said. I had no idea if that was true. My knees were shaking, and this time I knew it wasn’t from cold. Cherise took hold of the leash and looped it loosely over her wrist.

Then she leaned in and kissed me, that kind of kiss that leaves you breathless and panting even as it’s happening. Her lips were soft as velvet, cherry and peaches, her tongue a soft invitation to go deeper, to lean in and lose myself in the depths of her. I shivered slightly when she pulled away, her pale eyes unseeing, and yet, I knew, seeing some part of me, something that I wasn’t entirely sure I’d seen myself.

‘Down, girl,’ Cherise said.

I stood for a few moments, uncertain. Part of me – the aroused part, the turned-on part, the excited part – wanted to do as she said. To just get down on my hands and knees, to be her dog, to lead her around, to be naked in front of everyone. The rest of me, all of the rest of me, oh my fuck the entire rest of me, wanted to run screaming back to somewhere, anywhere else.

I’d left Leather Bound so far behind, hadn’t I? It felt like it. It felt like all of those miles between there and here were far longer than they seemed, and we’d entered another galaxy, another dimension, a Twilight Zone place where nothing was as it appeared to be and I would never be able to go back. And if I could go back, if I returned to my old life, would they remember me there? Would they look at me and say, ‘Who are you? I’m sorry, I’ve never seen you before in my life’? All pictures of me would have disappeared; even Davian would be shaking his head, giving me that ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t know you’ smile. Like some kind of bizarre Twilight Zone.

‘Janine?’ It was the first time I’d heard Cherise say my name in a while, and it brought me back into the moment. My real life was far away, yes, but it wasn’t gone. It was just waiting, on hold, until I figured this out. And that was OK, wasn’t it? This was me, standing there, in a foyer, wearing nothing but leather and rope, under the control of a blind woman, a stranger who’d finger-fucked me in her living room and was now getting ready to parade me around like a show dog in a room full of people I’d never met. All so I could find a book for a man that I was, what? Falling for? Maybe.

Was I really and truly OK with this? Yes.

Not only that, I was aroused by the idea. I knew I was already wet. I could feel myself dampening the ropes between my legs, could feel the heated lust rolling off my body, already beginning to take over the anxiety. This was no different than what I’d done before. With Davian.

OK, it was entirely different. But I could do it. I could.

Slowly, I lowered myself to my knees and then to all fours. The perfectly pressed pants of the man who’d let us in. The shoes of the others who’d come in and left them behind. Cherise’s tall heels. It was different down here, but somehow exciting.

Cherise moved to kneel in front of me. Her hands caressed the collar at my neck and I heard the jingle of metal, something I couldn’t see.

‘You’ll need a name while you’re here,’ Cherise said. My collar shifted and then I heard the sound of a click as she attached something to it. ‘So everyone knows what to call you.’

I expected her to tell me what it said, but she didn’t. Instead she stood and gave the leash a soft tug. ‘Let’s go,’ she said.

The man in black opened the door for us, and I led us through. The carpet was soft pile, plush and thick, cushioning my way. I had never thought of being glad of a carpet until that very moment.

Inside, the main room was filled with people. Some were on their hands and knees, or sitting patiently on their haunches, clearly waiting for their master’s command. Some of them even wore collars attached to leather or chain leashes. But it was clear from first glance that I was the only one in the room who was playing at being a dog. So much for being discreet.

Those who weren’t waiting were already tangled in piles, kissing and licking at each other. Soft grunts and groans were mixed with murmured pleas, and everywhere the sound of skin meeting skin whetted my senses.

As we walked in, a number of guests turned to look at us. Men and women fully dressed, and clearly seeing me. Some eyed me for a long time, not leering but definitely appraising. Smiling at me as though they clearly approved of the view.

I balked, pulling back behind Cherise, suddenly trying to hide. Why had I stupidly assumed that everyone would be blind here, that no one would be able to see me in this getup? I’d even assumed that everyone else would be a dog. I bonked hard against Cherise’s leg, felt her wobbling slightly in her heels. Her fingers tightened on the leash, not in anger but in an attempt to right herself from my jostling.

Damn it. I could do this. I could.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, forcing myself to come back to centre. If I needed to be on display to get what I wanted, then I would do that. Let them look. Let them think I was crazy or awful, let them remark on my body, let them think what they would. The one thing I wouldn’t let them think was that I was scared, that I was ashamed, that I wanted to roll up in a ball and die of my own cowardice. Which, of course, was what I really wanted to do.

Instead, I opened my eyes and lifted my head. I shifted myself away from my hiding place against Cherise’s leg and lifted my butt into the air. I could feel Cherise grow steadier as I did, and when I craned my neck to glance up at her – dear God, how did dogs do this all the time? They must have far more flexible necks than I did – I saw that she was smiling, the corners of her red mouth curled up as she lifted her own head. OK, I could do this. For me. For her. For Davian.

A pair of legs approached, clad in perfectly pressed dark jeans and a pair of well-shined leather shoes. Funny the things you noticed about people at this level.

‘Cherise, how lovely to see you. And who’s this new girl? She’s delightful.’ A hand reached down and gently touched my hair. I leaned into the soft touch almost instinctively. Everything felt good. My body was alive with electricity, with arousal, with the newness of it all. If I was going to do this, then I was going to do it all the way. No half-assed job for me, dammit.

Cherise murmured something I didn’t quite hear, and then a face appeared in front of me. Dark hair, pale-blue eyes, the kind of smile that is disarming and wicked all at once. ‘Well, hello there, little one,’ the face said. ‘Let me see what to call you…’

He plucked the tag on my collar between his fingers and read it to himself. His laugh was strong and beautiful, a cry of delight.

 ‘Hussy,’ he murmured. My face flushed, my cheeks going hot and prickly. Was that really what my tag said? Hussy? ‘That seems apropos,’ he said. He looked up at Cherise, one hand stroking me gently under my chin. ‘Are you planning to share your lovely pup with the rest of use, Cheri, or is she just for you this time?’

Again, Cherise murmured something that I couldn’t make out. If I had had real dog ears I would have perked them just to try and hear better. As it was, all I could do was turn my head sideways, but that didn’t help much.

The man responded with another laugh, and then his face lifted out of my view, leaving only his jeans and shoes again.

On one of the couches a man lounged, his arm along the back of the cushions. At his feet rested a woman wearing nothing but a purple leather collar and a matching pair of wrist cuffs. Her lips were pinkish-red, the colour of a tongue. Or of a pussy. I couldn’t stop looking at them, their wet plumpness, their dark contrast against her white skin. She caught my eye and flicked her tongue out, a gesture that was part playful and all sex. I felt my own mouth moisten in response. She leaned in towards the man, not touching him, but making him respond nonetheless.

He turned from the woman he’d been talking to – a fully clothed upright woman dressed in a long, simple black dress – and brought his hand to the pale woman’s shoulder. As he turned, I caught a glimpse of the man’s jaw, of his mouth, and then his face.

Wes?

I squinted, narrowing my eyes to see clearly.

Yes, it was Wes. A hundred per cent. What the hell was he doing here?

I ducked my face towards the floor, trying to hide my profile behind my hair.

If Cherise noticed my discomfort, she didn’t say anything. She was busy talking to a black miniskirt in knee-high boots whose submissive was leering at me from the end of his too-long leash.

I lay down on the floor the best that I could, trying to make myself small and forgotten.
Look. Listen. Hear. Keep hidden
. That’s what Cherise had said. So that’s what I would do.