Voyage To Submission (22 page)

“I’m here.” Margrit rushed up, bumping into
Andy and breathless.

Andy saw the odd look Ethan gave his wife.
Still, her relief was so great she didn’t care. She winked at the older woman
and thanked Ethan before walking back to the table. With relief she sat down,
fanning herself.

“Is something wrong?” Jack asked her
softly.

“Oh, no, everything is fine.” She leaned over
and picked up her glass to sip her tea.

“Good. Margrit was acting strange. I tried
to talk to her after you left, but she seemed agitated and I swear she was
counting on her fingers.”

Andy couldn’t help it. She laughed, choked
and sprayed tea. Everyone offered her napkins.

“Hurray!”

Andy twisted in her chair and saw Ethan
lifting Margrit in his arms, swinging her around in a circle. The moment was so
romantic, in spite of her initial bungling. She grinned as she turned back
towards the table and found Jack staring at her. The look on his face revealed
his curiosity.

Before she could say anything, Ethan and
Margrit returned to the table. As if he were born to be a proud papa, Ethan
made the announcement. “We’re having a baby!”

The rest of the morning was spent
celebrating, with juice only for the mother-to-be!

Andy spent some intensive time researching
the topic she’d been sent here to learn about. One of the things she heard
during different sessions had to deal with training of a slave, or a
submissive. The course teacher had stated.

“The first step in training the sensual
submissive, or slave, is to understand what triggers passion, and desire in
you.”

He talked about the importance of knowing
yourself, and studying your own fantasies, to find the common thread that runs
through them all.

In the end, Andy knew some things were
hitting a little too close to home for her to be entirely comfortable. When she
did her self-discovery while losing weight, her sexuality had not really been a
topic for discussion. Now it was unavoidable. She was uncomfortable with some
of the things she saw and often how they made her feel.

In the beginning, she had been so sure she
wanted nothing to do with this whole scene. She discovered there were so many
sides to it and you couldn’t just pigeonhole the whole thing. Pain was one part
of it, but it certainly didn’t seem to be the overruling theme she once thought
it was.

She found some of the aspects arousing.
Like never in a million years would she have seen herself with pierced nipples,
or a tattoo. Both had seemed too far beyond what she had considered normal.
Now, she began to wonder what her
normal
truly was.

Many displays and seminars she’d seen the
last few days had her thinking about doing or trying some with Jack. She knew
the idea of being restrained excited her, and the idea of trying Jack up and
having her way with him got her wet each time she thought of it.

She wondered if Jack would like the notion
of playacting. Her mind kept going back to the scenes they’d witnessed at the
party. It excited her to imagine Jack’s fingers ripping away her bodice. And
several times she wondered what he would do if she smacked his butt.

There was also the idea of jewelry, and
she’d discovered it went far beyond her simple piercing. The places she learned
that people pierced didn’t shock or surprise her so much as that she shuddered
in thoughts of the pain. The worst had been the Prince Albert—

Andy shivered again.

So many things to consider and now
confusion was beginning to dominate her every waking minute. The future would
most likely take care of itself. The real question was no longer how far she
was willing to go?

How far would Jack ask her?

* * * * *

The Captain’s Anniversary Party was a
cocktail party, and while she enjoyed attending, Andy had much more fun with
her friends when they all met together for dinner. Sitting around the large
table, just the nine of them because Tony still had not hooked up with anyone,
it turned into a pretty raucous event.

Andy explained some of the activities she
had researched thus far, and the one that caught the men’s attention was when
she talked about polygyny versus polyamory.

“That’s what I need—a harem,” Tony said
with a big grin, sipping his wine.

Ruthie, seated across the table from him,
scoffed. “You haven’t even been able to get one girl, let alone enough to
qualify as a harem.”

“His mouth has always been making promises
and claims his body can’t keep,” Gayle jested.

Ray held up his hand. “I’m confused, Andy.
I thought the term was polygamy. What did you say?”

“I got confused, too,” Andy told him with a
smile. “Luckily, they had handouts. Polygamy is one person married to more than
one person at one time. Then specifically, broken down as to gender, polygyny
is when one man has many wives, or at least more than one. And then there is
polyandry, which is one woman with many husbands.”

Tony grinned as he spoke. “I should hope
sex comes into the picture.”

Liz rubbed her hands together. “And they
all look like Fabio!”

“Brad Pitt!” Gayle said quickly.

Ruthie shook her head. “No…Pierce Brosnan.
Give me the Bond man!”

Silence followed for a few seconds and Andy
realized her girlfriends were staring at her, waiting for an answer. “Uhm,
George Clooney.”

“Ooh, yeah!” Ruthie and Liz concurred.

Gayle spoke quickly. “If I get two, then my
second choice is Hugh Jackman. I’ll have one blond and one brunette.”

“We get a second choice?” Liz whined.

Ray interrupted. “I protest!”

“It’s been proven through time it needs to
be one man with several women. That’s how it works in the wild,” Mark added,
folding his arms across his chest.

Andy shook her head. “I beg to differ,
Mark. I watch the nature shows all the time, and it is often one female and all
the males come to her, when the time is right. Often they must perform
elaborate mating dances to attract her attention, or battle to determine who
has the best genes. That is the one she mates with.”

Jack shook his head. “Explain the other one
before this gets nasty.”

“Polyamory works in an ethical environment,
where all opportunities are afforded equally to all parties, regardless of
sex.”

“Put it that way, Andy, and no one would be
interested!” Danny pointed out, in between bites of salad.

“All members of a relationship have equal
rights,” Andy laughed, shaking her head. “It’s not about collecting women for
your harem, Tony. Instead it focuses on sharing, a part of your life and your
love, with more than one person. And your lovers share a part of his or herself
with other people. There is no ‘ownership’. If there is a primary relationship,
then they will establish their own boundaries and rules. In a polyfidelity
relationship, the people within it work out their interpersonal dynamic
relationships, and problems, among themselves. The focus is not who is sleeping
with whom, but who is in love with whom. Polyamory relationships are about love
and romance.”

“I don’t imagine anyone here is
interested—” Tony started.

“No!”

“No!”

“No way!”

“I don’t think so, Tony!”

All four women answered at the same time.

The men were laughing as Tony flushed, but
he added quickly. “Lucky for you ladies my ego isn’t too sensitive.”

While they were all still laughing, Gayle
interrupted, “Well, I did a little studying myself.” She paused and pulled out
a piece of paper. “Don’t laugh. I didn’t want to mess this up, so shush. Now,
the main problem submissive women encounter is non-dominant males pretending to
be Dominants. The men are back-lashing against the feminist movement and
searching for a submissive, but what they really want is a woman who they
believe is ‘begging to be abused’. And the guy is looking for something where
he doesn’t have to think, to understand, to be skillful beyond the act of
meeting genitals, or to feel or experience any degree of intimacy that one
would find in a true relationship.”

Andy leaned forward to look at Gayle.
“Could I borrow your notes?”

“Sure, sweetie, no problem.”

Jack touched her hand a moment later.

Andy turned to look at him, wondering if he
had an opinion on all of this. He had been fairly quiet throughout most of the
conversation. “Yes?”

“What did you want to do tonight?” Jack
asked her quietly.

Andy had to lean closer to hear him. “Oh, I
thought it might be fun to go to the slave auction. It’s being held in the back
room of the dungeon party. The proceeds go to charity.”

“Did you sign up to be auctioned off?” he
asked quickly.

“No. I didn’t want to get that close to the
action.”

“I’ll make a donation and you can be my
slave. How long is the contract for?”

Andy was intensely aware of Jack continuing
to watch her. “Oh, it ends tomorrow evening, before the last party, so people
can get ready.”

“Are you game?”

Andy felt her heart trip and then begin
racing. This was the moment she had been waiting for, right? Now she would know
the truth about herself…and Jack. “How do I know that you’ll know what to do?
Maybe you are some vanilla male—” She deliberately used one of the catch
phrases she’d picked up.

“Trust me, Andy. I know what goes where,
and why,” Jack told her with a slow wink of an eye.

Andy suddenly felt hot. Had someone turned
off the air conditioning? Perhaps she’d had too much to drink.

Jack interrupted her thoughts. “They’ll
probably have a contract for people to use and, of course, there are safe
words.”

Butterflies were dive-bombing in her
stomach. “All right,” she spoke quickly before she could change her mind. “I’ll
do it.”

“Hey, what are you two talking about?”

It didn’t take long for the other three
couples to agree.

* * * * *

After the auction, all the slaves, even
those bought in private agreements, of which there appeared to have been quite
a few, were brought up on the stage. Each Master, and then each slave, or sub,
were called. The Master, or Mistress, had been given the opportunity to buy a
collar, and at this point the sub was “collared” and chained, to be led off the
stage. Off-stage the contract was signed by both parties, during which a safe
word was decided upon and added to the contract.

Andy stood with her three friends, waiting
for their names to be called. There had been a moment when Peter had approached
her, bemoaning the fact he could not bid, but was very polite and gracious.

“Gayle G.”

The girls stopped talking when Gayle was
called forward.

Ray was there waiting, and he grinned the
whole time he put a narrow black collar around her neck and then attached a
silver link chain woven with black velvet ribbon.

Liz turned and smiled. “The black velvet
was a nice touch.”

Gayle’s outfit was a black vest and
trousers. With her dark hair, she looked good.

Liz had her dark auburn hair pulled back
into a high ponytail, with curls spilling down. She had gone to one of the
shops and purchased an outfit. It was red leather, sleeveless and laced down
the sides, but showed a gap of several inches of skin on the sides. The skirt
was tight to her knees and slit straight up the front, just shy of indecent.

Mark’s eyes almost popped out of his head
when he first saw the usually quiet, sedate chemistry professor.

Danny, Tony and Jack had all expressed
their surprise and appreciation, as well. They also applauded the other women’s
outfits as well, but Andy’s won hands down. She was wearing a leather bustier,
with a leather thong, black lace-top stockings, of which the right one boasted
a small red rose, and black high heels. Her breasts were mounded up high,
resting on a special shelf inside the bustier. When the breakaway was removed,
her breasts were displayed as if placed on a tray because sewn into the edge of
the shelf, was black lace.

Ruthie rented a French maid’s outfit and
Danny had not been able to take his eyes off her. She was called next and
received a collar that was black velvet with a miniscule white lace edging. Her
leash was black silk ribbons.

Liz was called next and received a
beautiful red leather collar and silver chain link leash. Mark swung her around
before they reached the table where they signed the contract and sent her
giggling.

When Andy’s name was called and she started
walking towards Jack, there were a number of “whoops” and catcalls, along with
people applauding. Obviously, Andy decided, they liked her outfit. Reaching
Jack, she smiled, waiting for her collar.

He pulled something from his suit pocket.
He didn’t show it to her first as the other guys had, but instead he fastened
the thick gold herringbone chain around her neck, fastening it in front, where
it clicked shut with a tiny lock. The key hung down the front from a small,
fine chain. There was a small circlet, where he hooked the thick gold curb-link
chain.

Jack turned, without saying a word, and led
the way to the contract. The safe word was set, and they both received a copy
of the contract. They joined their friends.

“Now what?” Ray asked.

“There’s a party…ow!” Andy stopped
abruptly. A light smack on one cheek caught her attention.

“My submissive only speaks with
permission,” Jack told her softly.

Andy felt something inside of her twitch.
It surprised her how quickly Jack had gotten into this. “Ja—” she stopped
abruptly. “Master, may I speak?” she finished her question softly.

“Yes, Andrea, you may.”

Andy froze at the sound of her full name
being spoken by Jack. It sounded so much sexier than her nickname. She
swallowed quickly. “There is a party for all owners and slaves.”

At the party, Andy got her first real
glance at the inside. Nearly all the slaves, or subs, were either standing
behind their Master, or kneeling at their feet. Many had part of their outfits
removed to bare their breasts. As soon as Andy saw that, she wondered if Jack
would remember the way her bustier could be broken down. She didn’t fancy that!

Jack sent her off to fetch him a drink as
they all stood, watching the comings and goings of the others. She and Gayle
went together, and when they returned, Ray and Jack led them to a quiet corner
where two comfortable chairs were arranged side by side. Jack took the silk
pillow from his chair and tossed it down. Pointing to it, he directed her. “You
may sit there.”

Andy started to sit when the leash
tightened. She saw him lift one eyebrow and she realized she’d forgotten
something. “Thank you, Master,” she murmured, sitting next to his chair.

Ray duplicated Jack’s actions, flushing a
little as he did so.

Andy glanced at Gayle, who now sat on the
same side as she. Her friend appeared a little miffed at the experience. She
could imagine that being submissive was something her friend, as a physician,
had rarely encountered, if ever.