In the Rain (16 page)

"You
ready for this?" Thayre asked, stopping me once I was in the center of the
room.

"Like
you wouldn't believe." I rolled my shoulders back. "I've been looking
forward to this all day."

"Take
everything off and do your stretches," Thayre instructed, stepping away
from me to grab a few things out of the bottom of his dresser. He returned
moments later with a blindfold, ball gag and one of his softer floggers. "Tell
me your safe words."

"Yellow
to slow down. Red if I need you to stop, Sir."

"Good
girl. Go on and stand in front of the cross—facing it."

The
cool wood beneath my feet groaned as I approached the cross, and like the
few times before this, I spread out my arms and legs so they were parallel with
the same on the cross. Thayre brushed my hair over one shoulder and kissed the nape
of my neck, forcing my mind to go blank. I knew what was coming next, and yet
the anticipation was as strong as ever.

He
lifted my arm, closing the leather cuff around my wrist before doing the same
thing to the other one. He squeezed my fingers, offered a nod of approval when
they weren't cold, then worked on cuffing my ankles.

"I
smell you," he said as I pulled against my restraints, which kept me from
touching myself or getting any closer to him than he wanted me to. "A
little eager
tonight, aren't we?" Behind me, he wrapped one hand around my waist, and I
moaned when he parted my pussy lips with the other one. "Look at that—you're
already wet. I bet I could slide in right now, couldn't I?"

I
nodded.

"Oh,
but you'd enjoy that too
much, and I'm not quite ready yet."

I
can help you get ready.
Not hung up like this
I couldn't. I whimpered, seeking his warmth when he pulled away from me.

He
came around in front of me, standing in the small gap between the wall and the
cross. "You know what this is, don't you?" He held up the ball gag
and smiled. "But it isn't meant to silence you, now is it?"

I
shook my head. "No, Sir."

It
was something Thayre had brought up shortly after practice a few weeks ago. I
not only censored
myself when it came to explicit language, I damn near held my breath long
enough to pass out to keep from screaming. The ball gag had holes it in, and
was meant to keep my mouth open so I could breathe. No doubt we'd be testing the
sound barrier again.

Thayre
circled me. Walked behind me and, very carefully, put the ball gag in place. It
wasn't uncomfortable, and if it weren't for the occasional drooling on my part,
it wouldn't have been bad at all. Still, I had yet to get used to screaming—to
letting go, but I was close.

He
covered my eyes with the blindfold, not that it
would matter in a few minutes. Once he started the rhythm of leather on my
back, my eyes would close on their own.

"Are
you okay?"

"Mm
hmm."

"Are
you uncomfortable?"

Shook
my head.

"You'll
let me know if you need me to stop, won't you?"

Nodded
again.

He
handed me a tennis ball, which I was expected to drop in place of a safe word,
if I ever needed to. I held it tight, and listening to Thayre's footsteps, I focused
on where he was in the room. For a long, anxious moment, he didn't move at all.
I tried to sense him mentally, but aside from the cuffs around my ankles and
wrists, I couldn't be sure of much else.

I
exhaled as he let the tails of the flogger slide over my collarbone. My
shoulders. My chest. He drew it away from me, and I arched my back, waiting,
begging for him to strike me. He did, but barely, the tails of the flogger
feeling more like a
breath of wind than anything else.

I
growled around my frustration and bit at the ball gag.
Fucking hit me.
I
needed to feel the sting. The rush of endorphins. The burning pain of flesh that had
been hit one too many times.

The
tails whisked past my right shoulder. Hit my left hard enough for it to have
the millisecond of a bite before fading again. I wrapped my free hand around
the chain connecting that cuff
to the cross, straining against it as Thayre struck me again, as gently as
before.

Come
on!

I
fisted my hands. Gripped at the tennis ball. By now, my shoulders were probably
a very light shade of pink, but all Thayre's strikes did was frustrate me. I
wanted to escape. To fly higher. To lose myself under wave after wave of
pain-filled bliss.

The
tails struck me again. Harder. Faster. I bowed my head. Closed my eyes. And as
the hint of euphoria tingled at the front of my mind, I let go of everything
but that tennis
ball. The last thing I wanted—needed—was to drop the ball and for the entire
scene to end much too soon.

Right
on the cusp of falling into subspace, I focused on the ball. On the sting of
skin. On nothing at all. The room fell silent. And every time the tails of the
flogger hit my back, I felt them a little less.
Craved them even more.

Then,
all at once, tails clawed at my shoulders, so hard they forced tears into my
eyes. I moaned. Whimpered when the feeling stopped. Somewhere in my mind, I
knew Thayre hadn't let up on the flogging, but I couldn't feel a damned thing.
Instead, the gentle thud of what may have been leather sent jolts of
electricity to my clit.

I
cried out. Let my head drop. Relied on the cuffs around my wrists to hold me up
as my knees threatened to buckle under my weightlessness. Time slowed, lurched,
then stopped completely.

Lips
cooler than my skin kissed the side of my neck, forcing me to draw in a breath that was
as cold and stung my lungs as much as the flogger had done to my back.

Fingers
pinched at my nipples. Tugged and pulled on them until the hint of pain drew a groan
out of me.

Thayre
then parted my pussy lips, moaning against my ear. "You're fucking soaked.
You little pain
slut."

I
wanted more. To feel everything and nothing at all. I couldn't speak, and I
didn't dare let go of that damned
ball.  

He'd
flogged me long and hard enough to send me into subspace, but not nearly enough
to keep me there. No doubt this session had left my back pink, but whatever
marks the tails had made would likely be gone by morning. He'd only ever
flogged me hard enough to break the skin once, and while I'd asked he do it
again, so long as we were practicing twice a week, he wouldn't allow it.

"I
don't like the
idea of you being too
stiff and sore to play,"
he explained when I
first asked him about it. And his need for a first violinist was far too great
for either of us to give in to my submission. My wants, or my needs.

"Moyra."

I
blinked, even though
I still couldn't see. Cocked my head to the side to show him I was listening.

"I
asked you if you'd like me
to fuck you."

Oh
god, yes. Please, fuck me. Please.
I nodded the best I
could. Pulled at the cuffs that,
right now, were the only things
holding me up.

He
circled my clit with his fingertips. Parted my pussy lips.

Placed
both hands on my hips and thrust deep inside. My eyes flew open, but I couldn't
see a damned thing. I gasped. Tried to cry out, but my breath was lost
somewhere behind the ball gag, deep within my lungs.

I
moaned each time he hit my G-spot, and as I did, his thrusts became more
frequent. Fluid while increasing their tempo every. Damn. Time.

"That's
a good girl. Let it all out. Sing for me, Songbird. Sing."

I
bit the gag. Moaned. My legs and arms shook.

Sweat
cooled my skin, but inside I was burning up. Fire on my clit. Along my spine.
Deep within me. Thayre shortened his strokes. It felt as though he wasn't
moving at all.

Sharp
nails bit into my hips, sending bits of electricity all through me like a
Tesla coil.

He
removed my gag the same moment I let go of the tennis ball. Whether or not he
took it as a safe word was lost to me. I don't think I'd ever come so hard and
fast. My mind was all over the place, and yet, nowhere at all. I was floating.
Sinking. Turning sideways as the pressure around my wrists and ankles released.

I
want to say I was moving, carried off somewhere, but hell if I could open my
eyes let alone draw a breath.

Something
soft and warm hugged my shoulders, but once something cool hit the palm of my
hand, I opened my eyes. Thayre was beside me, holding on to a water bottle
until I could hold it myself.

I
hadn't realized I was thirsty until the first drop of moisture hit my tongue. I
drank over three quarters of the bottle, then handed it to Thayre.

He
put the cap on, then disrobed me. "Go on and lie on your stomach so I can
treat your back."

I
nodded, then lay face down on the massage table. Rolling my shoulders again, I
could feel some stiffness in the muscles of my back. I probably didn't need any
cream, but Thayre never let me walk away without a thorough massage first.

He
covered my hips and legs with the robe he had removed earlier, to keep me warm as
he massaged my shoulders. No doubt the endorphins would wear off soon, and when
they did, I'd be a shivering mess. But in the meantime, I rested my head on my
arms and let him work.

The
click of a bottle held my attention long enough to hear him warm the oil in his
hands. The moment his palms hit my skin, I was in heaven. I had yet to return
from orbit, and at least right now, endorphins aside, it would be a slow
descent.

"I
put my notice in at Kimber's," I said after a while, mentally following
the up and down sweep of his oil-slicked hands on my back.

"Oh?"
Thayre's voice strained as he worked out a knot under my right shoulder blade. "You
think that's
wise?"

I
was about to shrug, but thought better of it. "I gave Jay a month to find
a replacement. That will leave me open a few weeks before Webster. As it is
right now, between working his insane hours and practice, I can't seem to get
enough sleep."

"I
noticed." When I didn't respond, he continued. "You're restless when
you do sleep."

"Sorry."

"Don't
be. I'm usually awake anyway. Too much going on in my head."

I
drew in a deep breath, smiling from the eucalyptus and spearmint Thayre was
spreading all over my tired muscles. I lifted my head to glance over my
shoulder. "I have enough saved up for now. Jay never would've given me the
time off for Webster anyway. May as well concentrate on my music and worry
about finding a better, less taxing job once we return from New York."

"You
mean so long as you need one."

"Yeah."

Thayre
had spoken to me more than once about staying with the orchestra full-time, but
until I saw how things panned out once we returned from New York, I decided to
focus on the possibility of needing something aside from my music. And as far
as my submission was concerned, at least once we finished playing, I'd rather
not have to choose between subbing for Thayre or playing in front of hundreds
of strangers.

But
it might pay well.

And
that's
what I was worried about.

"Relax,"
Thayre said, pressing on my shoulder until I took a breath and, as directed,
stopped thinking of anything else.

Rest
now. Worry later.

I
closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

S
treetlights
changed and crosswalks chirped as Thayre and I made our way farther into town. As
it was the first dry weekend in close to a month, everyone was out and about,
crowding the sidewalks while stopping outside the smaller Mom and Pop shops to
see what sales were going on. But those weren't the only festivities
happening today.

"Want
to check out some of the booths?" Thayre asked, lacing his fingers with
mine.

I
smiled and glanced far ahead. While I couldn't see what crafters lined the
streets, my ears could definitely hear the musicians who had been lucky enough
to fit the registration fee and get a spot along one of the sidewalks.

"Who
in their right mind would come into town on a day like today
and not check everything out?" I asked, pulling Thayre alongside me as I
weaved between clusters of patrons who had stopped in the middle of the street.
Fortunately, the local law officials always closed up the roads in town during
The
Best Days of Summer,
but it was still crowded. "So long as we avoid
the south side of town, I'm all for it."

"Kimber's?"
Thayre asked, offering me a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah."

"You
never said how things went on Thursday."

"I
know, and it's not important. He belittled me the entire time I was there. No
way in hell he's getting me to stay by playing nice. I mean, even if
I did, I know what's to come—more hours, piss-poor pay and absolutely no
respect for dropping the rest of my life to do his bidding."

"Hey,
at least now you can have a nice weekend off, right?"

I
drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes, leaving Thayre to lead me to the
corner before he stopped. One day off a week would've been more than enough,
but having an entire weekend off while spending the following week practicing
with Thayre and the others? I couldn't ask for more.

Loud
voices bustled past us and, with a gentle squeeze of his hand, Thayre lead me
down the line. The air may have been warm but God, I'd missed this. The sun on
my face. The gentle breeze on my bare skin.

"Which
way do you want to go first?" Thayre asked, forcing me to open my eyes. "Looks
like there's
some sea glass over there. Or, if you want, we can try one of the three dozen
or so jewelry booths."

I
laughed, then looked along the way. But it wasn't what caught my eye that drew
me to our left. It was the music. "This way."