Marketplace (6 page)

Down the hall and in the
bathroom, Brian heard the sharp whacking sounds and identified them
even before Sharon started screaming. He turned to the other two,
standing naked beside him, and grinned. “Someone’s in trouble,” he
said.

“Oh, my goodness, that poor
girl!” Robert said. He was trying to cover his genitals by holding
his bundle very low. “We should have gotten her up!”

“Shh!” Claudia lifted a
finger to her lips.

Brian sneered at her. “Oh,
please. Listen to miss goody-two-shoes. Or better yet, listen to
Miss Thing, down the hall.” They all did.

* * * *

Sharon screamed again, and
cursed, even as her butt hit the floor next to the bed. “Jesus
fucking Christ!” she managed to get out, before the strap caught
her on one thigh. Chris immediately reached down and took a handful
of her hair, jerking her head back. She screamed again, the cold
and the pain and the fear overwhelming her.

“Be silent,” the majordomo
hissed. He bared his teeth for a moment. “This kind of behavior is
unacceptable.”

“What the
fuck...”

He slapped her. Heavily and
slowly, across the mouth, her head firmly held by his hand in her
hair. “And your language is also unacceptable. Get up and
present.”

She started to get up,
fully awake, trembling and confused. It’s starting, she told
herself. It’s just the first day. They want to scare me. I can
handle this.

“Today, Sharon,
today!”

She stood, taller than him,
trying to get into a humble posture. From the corner of her eye,
she could see a broad scarlet mark on her thigh. She looked down at
it and her hand naturally floated over to gingerly touch
it.

In an instant, she was
turned around and pushed firmly down, until she rested with her
elbows on the surface of the bed. “Ow!” she complained.

“I told you to present,
Sharon. Ten for lateness. Five for discourtesy. Five more for
ineptitude. Try to control your hysterics.”

She did. The first blows of
the strap were light, but as Chris counted them out loud for her,
she realized that they were getting heavier. They all caught her on
her rounded, soft buttocks, expertly aimed, and each new one was an
explosion of heat, the impact driving her forward. This was nothing
like the wonderful, loving spankings she had gotten from some of
her previous lovers. And although she was always able to go along
with a scene that rose in intensity and take a pretty good
butt-warming, it was never like this! This was sudden and hard and
relentless. She tried to muffle herself at first, but it only took
three strikes to get her to cry out. Before the first ten were
finished, she started to beg.

* * * *

“The poor girl,” Robert
repeated. He was shivering, shifting his bare feet against the cool
tile floor.

“Lucky bitch,” Brian
muttered. “I’m sleeping in tomorrow, if that’s the wake up call. I
mean, she’s getting all the attention while we’re standing here
getting chilled. And you don’t even have your fur, Babette.” He
aimed that at Robert, who blushed and lowered his head
again.

“Shh!” Claudia
insisted.

“Oh, suck my dick!” Brian
turned his attention toward the sounds coming from down the hall
again. Claudia shrank back in horror.

* * * *

“Please! Oh God, please
stop! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Sharon was on the floor again. She had
tried to stay bent over, but the pain was just too much! No one had
ever hit her like that, ever! She had tried to turn, tried to get
away, but instead, she just slid down, bending her body to try and
cover her vulnerable areas.

“You have six remaining,
Sharon. Get up.” He pulled her up, the strength in his arm
surprising. She fell against him, giving him her best utterly
defeated slave girl look, but his eyes were still cold behind his
glasses. “Out into the hall. The others are waiting.”

She sniffed and nodded,
wiping tears from her eyes. The glow from her beating was beginning
to rise, and she craned her head to catch sight of the redness on
her cheeks. She failed to notice that Chris had never put the strap
back. He aimed and swung as soon as her bare feet touched the hall
carpet.

“Trot, girl! That way!
Move!”

She yelped and started to
run. “Not that way, you idiot! Knees up! Head back! Shoulders
straight!” All the way down the hall, Chris followed her with the
strap. She tried to do as he commanded, throwing her shoulders
back, pumping her arms and bringing her legs up smartly. Hadn’t one
of the books mentioned something like this? But every time she
thought she had it right, that damn strap hit her across her ass,
and she faltered. Her cries became steady and wailing, until the
last strike caught her neatly across the backs of her thighs and
she collapsed in front of the bathroom.

Brian, Claudia and Robert
all shrank back at the sight of her falling almost through the
doorway. Chris stepped in behind her, clipping the strap onto his
belt. He took a fistful of her hair and propelled her into the
room, her knees banging against the floor.

“That,” Chris said,
keeping his eyes on the assembled party, “was inexcusable. The next
time
one
of you
is late getting out of your room, all of you will share in the
punishment. Because you have not been informed of the rules, let
this sechrve as a lesson. There are no exquisite punishments here,
only uncomfortable, painful and inconvenient ones. Do you all
understand?”

Claudia nodded.

Brian snapped back, “Yes
sir!”

Robert whimpered, “Yes,
yes, I understand.”

They looked down at Sharon,
who was still on the floor, her eyes narrow with shock and anger.
She nodded, but by the time she did, Chris was already speaking
again.

“My name is Chris,” he
said. “Not Sir, not Master, not Mister. I am the majordomo of this
household and you are part of my responsibility.” He reached over
to a counter and picked up a Lucite clipboard. “I have been given
instructions for each of you, and I will be obeyed. In the future,
if you do not understand an order, you will remain still and admit
your ignorance. Part of the reason why you are here is to learn
proper behavior. If you attempt to do something you have no skill
in and your attempt is unsuccessful, you will be punished twice.
Brian,” he looked up, “I noticed your pathetic attempt at trotting.
You and Sharon will both join me this afternoon at 4:15 for a
lesson in that skill.”

No punishment? Brian
thought. How disappointing.

“For this week, you are
applicants to this house. You will be tested in various ways and
observations about you recorded. At the end of the week, we will
inform you or your owners of our evaluation. If you are determined
to have some value, you will stay here for a period of four to
eight weeks, and we will improve you.” He stressed the word
‘improve.’

“Standard rules of behavior
will be posted in your sleeping area. You are expected to learn
them and follow them in addition to any special orders given to you
individually. This morning, you will be interviewed by Master
Grendel or Mistress Alexandra. This afternoon, you will be assigned
your goals for the week.” He looked at them, sweeping his gaze
across the four. They were all shivering now.

“Every morning, you will
rise at five. You will assemble in the hallway and then proceed
here. You will have thirty minutes to shower and clean
yourselves... inside and out. There will be an alarm bell to notify
you when your time is up.” He pointed at the bundles. “Your
personal articles are here. When you are finished today, you may
place them on these shelves. While you are in this room, you may
speak to each other only in low tones. You may help each other
maintain cleanliness, and you are each responsible for how the
others appear. Is that understood?”

More nods. Sharon looked
up, her hair falling over her face. Carefully, she got her feet
under her and rose. Her ass and upper thighs were cherry red. She
crossed her arms over her body and hugged herself. Then, she raised
one hand.

Chris ignored her. “When
you are finished here, return to your room. If there is any
clothing on your bed, dress yourself. I will be back to retrieve
you at that time.”

Sharon spoke up as he
turned to leave. “Please... I don’t have a towel.”

Chris paused, his back to
them. He turned back around and took a pen out of his back pocket.
While the four would-be slaves watched and trembled, he wrote
something down on his clipboard, and then put the pen away. He
said, “Put your hands behind your back.”

She did, and very nicely,
too. Her back arched slightly, and her beautiful breasts rose
gently. Her nipples were hard.

“You will stay in that
position until the others have finished bathing. Then and only
then, you may ask them if they care to share their supplies with
you.” He smiled suddenly, teeth flashing. “I would advise you to
beg. Nicely. Because all four of you will be punished later on for
your bad manners. You three,” he said as he turned to the door
again, “are not in any way obligated to help her. Or,” he shrugged,
“to deny such help. A bell will ring in exactly one half-hour. You
may begin preparing yourselves now.” He left.

“Welcome to boot camp,”
Brian said. He unfolded the towel to look at what was inside.
Robert shrank back to do the same, and Claudia looked around
nervously. The square room had two shower heads in an open area
with three drains, two plain, gleaming toilets, and two white
sinks. There were no modifications for modesty. No place to
hide.

“Well, don’t just stand
there, princess, we only have thirty minutes.” Brian picked up a
specially designed tube and glanced over at the two shower heads on
one side of the room. Silver coils ran alongside them. He hooted
and walked over to one. The nozzle fit perfectly. “Talk about
hygienic,” he said cheerfully. “We all have our own butt
irrigators.”

“Oh my,” Robert said
weakly. “And we have to do this... in front of each other?” His
voice scaled up.

“Not only that, big guy,
but we get to help each other!” Brian chuckled and turned the water
on, adjusting the temperature as it ran. “Anyone wanna help me out?
Toss me the soap.” Robert squatted down to pick up the soap the
Brian had left on his towel and tossed it to him. Brian winked in
thanks and rubbed a little soap on the tip of the
nozzle.

Claudia pulled her own soap
and shampoo out of her bundle and went to the other shower. But
even as she turned the water on, she kept looking back at Sharon,
who was still standing with her hands behind her back. She was
already fidgeting, and the look on her face was
murderous.

Oh, this was just horrible!
To have to bathe and... and... her bundle had two nozzles in it,
and even though she tried to turn her body away from the room,
Brian’s coarse laughter followed her. What if I don’t do it today,
she wondered. What if they check? Oh, that would be much worse!
Fingers trembling, she tried to thread one of the nozzles onto the
cable. She dropped it twice.

“Oops! Don’t bend over to
pick up the soap around here, sister!” Brian turned around to show
that he had stuck his cigar shaped nozzle up his rear. He shook his
butt like a dancer. “Sorry about the indelicacy ladies, but it’s
almost time to open the gates of heaven!”

“Will you shut the fuck
up!” Sharon shrieked. Over the sound of the running water, her
voice reverberated around the sterile room. She twisted, but tried
to keep her hands behind her back. “This is not one big joke to
some of us!”

“Yeah,” Robert chimed in.
He was holding his own soap, almost protectively. “Please... we
don’t need to be in any more trouble!”

Brian jerked the plug out
of his ass and walked with exaggerated dignity over to one of the
toilets. Sitting down, he stuck his tongue out and laughed. He
leaned forward with a sigh and began to play with his nipple
rings.

This is a nightmare,
Claudia thought, as tears began to form again. She turned to the
wall and gasped as she felt a touch on her shoulder. It was Robert.
He screwed the nozzle onto the silver cable for her and then
retreated to the other shower head. There was no avoiding it.
Claudia adjusted the flow and temperature of the water and cleansed
herself. Front and back.

Mistress will be proud of
me, she thought, tears streaming down her face. I will be very,
very good.

Robert hurriedly showered.
His kit did not contain a razor, and he wondered what to do about
the stubble that was already appearing. One of his usual morning
rituals was to shave all of his body hair off, and he felt strange
not doing it. But he was used to cleaning his nether regions for
Mistress, just in case she deigned to make use of him. He just
wasn’t used to having another man—or a young, pretty woman, for
that matter—watch him.

To his horror, as tepid
water flowed into him, his nasty thing started to misbehave. He
turned to the wall, but there wasn’t really enough room. He blushed
and tried to cover himself. Frantically, he turned the water off.
Then, he glanced quickly at the remaining toilet and dashed for it,
his hands covering his growing embarrassment. Sharon, from her
vantage point in the middle of the room, made a snorting, derisive
sound.