He released her and picked up the cane again. With one hand, he covered her mouth, and with the other, he raised the implement. A blur of silver sliced through the air and connected with her flesh. She let out a muffled howl against his hand. When she’d composed herself again, he released her.
“You can’t follow the simplest rules. I said while I’m here you will call me Master. If that’s too complicated for you and too much for you to remember, I’ll leave.”
Panic filled her eyes. “No, wait. I’ll be good. I’m sorry, Master. I’ll do what you want. I promise.”
“Say you understand and accept my terms. I have to know that you understand you won’t gain a relationship out of this. If that’s what you think your goal is, lose the delusion.”
“I understand, Master.” Her head dropped to the bed and a single tear slid down her cheek.
Leo had a moment’s hesitation where everything paused and went quiet. Inside the stillness of that moment, he knew the truth. She loved him. Or what passed as love in her world, anyway. She felt for him as much as she was capable of feeling for another human being, and he didn’t return that affection. It was wrong to keep going here, to play with her. No matter what she said, deep down he knew she believed if she pleased him enough, he might keep her and send Faith away. She didn’t know how to be honest, and that was a deal breaker for him.
And yet, here she was all tied up, begging him to use her. Faced with a long stretch of celibacy and no outlets for his sadism in sight, Caprice was too much temptation. She was a last meal on death row.
But like before, being here with her was weak satisfaction, like masturbation that results in a bad orgasm, where you go through the motions only to find the resulting pleasure is such a dim shadow as to have been a complete waste of time.
That was how Leo felt standing in the deluxe courtyard room on the ninth floor of The Plaza hotel. Having driven half an hour from his estate to get to the edge of the city and then another forty-five minutes fighting traffic, and here was a willing woman tied down, waiting for him to use her in whatever way appealed to him.
But when he looked at her, in his mind’s eye, he saw Faith there, pushing past her fears to submit. It would mean more because it was a sacrifice for her. As much as Caprice wanted to do anything to be with him, once she had him, her tune would change. Her resolve would melt like snow to reveal the dead grass underneath. Her willingness to do anything would drift away and he’d be left with yet another sham.
Caprice, he would never own. She wasn’t the kind of thing a man could own. Faith, on the other hand, was his. Even with his resistance to hurting her, she belonged to him and would never be able to walk out the door and out of his life. If he wanted to tie her down and whip her, he could do it. He could do any depraved thing to her that his mind could dream up. The only barrier was his conscience. If he didn’t do this with Caprice, if he didn’t take the edge off the hunger, he would end up losing control with Faith. Then he’d be the monster he’d always suspected he was.
Caprice didn’t resist when he took the gag from his bag and pushed the rubber ball into her mouth. The truth was, even being who she was, her words could still touch him. Without them, she was a mere thing, a masturbatory sleeve, a blow up doll, a punching bag. Without a voice she had no life or form to stop him or create uneasy guilt. The guilt would come later. With or without consent, it always did, and yet, he couldn’t stop himself from gorging on the hedonistic delight of a woman’s naked and bound body taking pain for his gratification.
Faith thought she was safe with him? She was a fool. If he couldn’t keep the beast in check, she’d find out how much of a fool she was soon enough. Wanting to be with him? She had no idea what she was asking. Neither woman did.
With the gag in place, it was safe to take his time to wring out every ounce of agony he could take from the woman who had stupidly put herself in his hands. Although it was lightweight, the steel cane was more harsh than the rattan. It would be dishonest to say he’d chosen the steel only because it was collapsible and fit easily into the bag.
The welts and bruises he’d left on her that morning were more visible than before, so he moved on to an unmarked area on her thighs. She screamed around the gag, as if she was dying with every stroke, the tears streaming down her face.
When he’d marked all of her he could safely mark, he collapsed the cane and returned it to the bag. He watched the relief fill her and then drain back out again when he pulled a whip from the bag.
“It’ll hurt more if you’re tense.”
She whimpered behind the rubber obstruction. The display was pitiful enough for him to show some mercy. What was more, it wasn’t a calculated act meant to control him. It was real begging. After the cane, when she was still overloaded from the soreness of earlier in the day, her distress was genuine.
Leo unsnapped the leather from the gag and pulled it from her mouth. “Tell me, what did John have to say about the welts and bruises on your ass? Do you think he realized it was me who put them there?”
“I didn’t let him see them. I was on top so it wouldn’t hurt and he wouldn’t notice.”
“Ashamed?” Shame didn’t fit on Caprice. He’d always envied her that.
“He wouldn’t understand.”
“I see. So it appears I’m not the only one dipping a toe into the vanilla pool.”
Even in pain, she rolled her eyes, breaking the spell of the few moments he’d had with her before. “Andy is an old friend. We went to school together. We ran into each other in a bar. We were lonely. It just happened.”
Leo put the gag back in her mouth and started on her back. When he drew blood, he moved on to a fresh area until she was marked to his satisfaction.
Half an hour later, he cursed himself as he surveyed the damage. She would heal. He hadn’t done any permanent harm, but if she went into a nasty streak, she had evidence to show the police. There were witnesses placing him here. Just another example of how she held all the power and why he didn’t want this.
If Leo wanted to break free of Caprice, it wouldn’t be until after the holiday when she was home. He’d have to be more careful about leaving marks the rest of the week. As vindictive as she could be, she would use what had been consensual to put him behind bars. He didn’t do well caged.
He untied the ropes and unsnapped the gag, placing everything carefully back in his bag. There would be time for other toys another day.
“Why are you stopping?”
“Stretch out on your stomach and don’t question me. The rules are still in place.”
“Yes, Master,” she managed.
Leo removed a smaller bag from the larger one and unzipped it to reveal bandages and ointment. He went to the bathroom to wash his hands, then he smoothed the cream over each of her whip marks and welts and bruises. After the ointment he sprayed a soothing antiseptic spray, then applied bandages.
When he was finished, he undressed and got in the bed, pulling her against him and cradling her, much as he had Faith a few hours before.
“You don’t want to be with me, Caprice. You like the idea of me. The reality is never quite as good.”
“That’s not true,” she said, her words muffled against his chest.
“Yes, it is.”