My Body-His Marcello (21 page)

How could my life
spin so far out of control over the two silly words I said to
Jack?

I kept praying
for Janice to show up because I needed her support, but I was not
looking forward to seeing Marcello.

As more people
streamed into our home and Luke greeted them warmly, I felt cut off
from him. Because I had disappointed him, he was denying me his
energy. I knew I had to make it up to him and hoped the punishment
would be over with quickly, so I could escape from this painful
contraption. I should have been concentrating on my predicament,
but instead I was worrying about how I stood with Luke.

Marcello and
Janice were the last to arrive. As best as I can recall there were
about fifteen people at the party. Janice and I were the only
women.

When Marcello and
Janice came into the room and made eye contact with me, I was
struck by the expression on Marcello’s face. Luke’s earlier sense
of Marcello’s feelings for me showed clearly on his furrowed brow
and narrowed eyes. He must have known Luke’s party plans ahead of
time and seemed confused by what had happened to change them. As
sadistic as I knew he could be, I was surprised that his reaction
to seeing me strung up was concern, not excitement. Janice’s bright
smile spoke of her feelings for me but not of worry, since for all
she knew I was a willing victim. I must have held their gazes too
long, because Luke did not look happy.

To my utter
humiliation, Luke announced to the group, “Jane has misbehaved, and
to make it up to me and our guests she is free for the taking. Use
her in any way that doesn’t leave a lasting mark. Jack will be
first but after that please help me assure her obedience in the
future.”

“ ‘
Free for the taking’? Can one of us take her home for the
weekend?” said a man I recalled from the wedding. He was tall and
slender with thinning brown hair and a ridiculously large
mustache.

Luke replied,
“That’s a possibility, Jim. Let me think about it.” I could see
that Luke expected me to react—to yell out
no
or something
stupid like that—but all I did was narrow my eyes. He returned my
look in kind—a reminder that my fate lay in his hands. I made my
eyes go blank as I registered his coldness toward me. Sadness
consumed my heart.

“
So
what’s it going to be,” I heard Marcello ask Jack.

“
I
really want to taste her but thought I might warm her up a bit
first.”

“
Might
I recommend that whip? She likes that one,” Marcello said, pointing
to the softest whip Luke owned.

I didn’t look at
either of them. I wished I had a blindfold to save me from having
to witness my punishment. I had no idea how Marcello knew what I
liked and found it even more bizarre that he would encourage the
gentlemen to take it easy on me.

Janice approached
from the other side and stepped up on the platform.

“
What
the hell did you do, girl?” she whispered in my ear. “Have I taught
you nothing?”

“
I was
rude to Jack and so now I’m strung up.”

“
You
choose the oddest times to misbehave. I overheard some of the men
talking and they all want to take you home.”

“
Luke
wouldn’t allow that. He’s just trying to scare me.”

“
I
wouldn’t be so sure about that, Jane.”

“
Did
he send you off to other men when you were with him?”

“
Other
than Marcello, no, but that doesn’t mean he won’t.”

“
I
would never consider going and he promised me he would never send
me to Marcello’s again.”

“
He
said that?”

“
Yes,
but please don’t say anything to Marcello, because I don’t want to
start anything.”

“
Are
you sure he said
never to Marcello’s
?” she said, no longer
whispering.

Marcello looked
up at both of us.

“
You
did that on purpose,” I hissed at her.

“
What
is it?” Marcello said, coming closer.

“
Nothing,” I said, struggling to keep my balance and my temper.
“Just girl talk.”

“
Janice?” he said, ignoring my plea to let it go.

“
Janice—” I said before she had a chance to respond.

“
I’m
sorry, Jane, but I’ve pledged my loyalty to Marc and I take that
pledge seriously.”

“
Is
nothing sacred? Do you have any idea what you’re about to do to
me?”

“
Yes,
and for that I’m truly sorry.”

“
I’ll
protect you,” Marcello said and I knew he meant it, but the irony
scratched at my heart as my blood ran cold.

“
No
one can protect me,” I said. I looked at Marcello and then back at
Janice. I pleaded with her with my eyes.

She shrugged her
shoulders as if it was no big thing. She faced Marcello and said,
“Luke promised Jane that he wouldn’t send her to your house
again.”

He laughed and
said, “Did he now?”

“
This
is funny to all of you? I have entered the world of the insane,” I
said in a loud whisper. I tried to shift my wrists to relieve the
pain in my shoulders, but Luke had strapped them too
tightly.

“
I’ve
known him for a long time and know what motivates him. He’s funny
and transparent as well. I will take you home tonight, mark my
words.”

When Marcello
spoke those words to me, with such confidence and authority, I felt
a rush of arousal that went straight to my clit. He saw it in my
eyes before I could look away.

“
If
you’ll excuse me,” Jack said to Janice and Marcello as he stepped
in closer to me.

I looked at
Marcello one last time before closing my eyes in a self-imposed
blindfold. I remained that way until released from my confinement
sometime later.

Jack whipped me
lightly half a dozen times and then knelt before me, taking the
taste he had wished for from the beginning. I hoped he would take
all night, so that no worse fate would befall me. I tried to ignore
his persistent tongue, determined that not a single person there
would have the satisfaction of making me cum. However my body, with
its individuated personality, and Jack’s continued manipulations of
my clit made me cum in front of all of Luke’s clients and friends.
I tried to minimize the groans and moans but between my aching
shoulders and feet and the orgasm ripping through me, my will
failed me.

“
Oh
fuck,” I said, hanging limply after my release. I couldn’t enjoy
the sensation for long because my joints began to ache. I tried to
transfer my weight onto one foot to give the other a rest but it
proved impossible to balance.

A few of Luke’s
guests didn’t seem at all concerned about my suffering. Suffice it
to
say that my lower
orifices and breasts were thoroughly manhandled and my physical
torment didn’t keep me from cumming. While strung up, I thought
many times of the similar predicament I had faced at Marcello’s
house and how that experience had felt so very
different.

One or two overly
enthusiastic guests made sure my punishment would cohere in my
mind. I’m not sure how long I stayed strung up before I left my
body altogether. Perhaps I hovered in the sub space that Luke
referred to or maybe the sheer endorphin overload freed me from my
torment. At some point, however, the excruciating condition of my
body brought me back to consciousness. When the pain of my
shoulders became intolerable I finally opened my eyes to see
Marcello staring back at me. I didn’t say anything, but he
knew.

He came over and
decreased the tension in the rope ever so slowly. “I need to
release your legs first, so you won’t fall.” He bent down and
unlocked the shackles that kept my ankles attached to the spreader
bar.

I felt grateful
to be able to close my legs. I wondered what Luke was doing and if
he would be mad at Marcello for taking me down. Looking around, I
saw that the party was still in full swing.

“
What
the hell do you think you’re doing,” Luke bellowed at Marcello as
he approached us from the kitchen.

“
Taking her down, obviously.” Turning away from Luke, Marcello
announced, “I need everyone to move outside for a bit.” His
authoritative tone broached no argument. As soon as everyone
scampered outside, he said, “Janice, get the doors.”

“
Marc,
you better be very careful because you are crossing a line here;
she doesn’t belong to you.”

“
She
can only be left vertically suspended so long without it causing
permanent damage. You should know better. You are letting your
anger get the better of you.” He looked over his shoulder and said
to Janice, who waited quietly by the door, “Help me lower Jane’s
arms.”

“
There
are guests who haven’t had a chance to—” Luke said, stepping
forward as if to take over the rope Marcello held.

“
Merda
, Luke. Either go outside with your guests or help
me get Jane down. Now!” After releasing more slack in the rope
Marcello told me, “Don’t lower your arms right away. Let the blood
ease back in first. Slowly, now.”

“
Oh
fuck, I don’t think I can,” I said, numb, yet in terrible pain. My
heart had managed to shut itself off over the course of the
bondage. I understood now the necessity of building a fortress
around that precious organ.

Luke and Janice
each massaged a shoulder and helped me to slowly lower my arms. I
felt absurdly grateful to Marcello. He was my rescuer, and yet he
was one of the people who had pushed me off the cliff in the first
place. Until that moment I had never understood women who stayed in
abusive relationships. It’s not that I believed I existed in one
myself, but I recognized the overpowering need to be loved,
accepted and given a place where I belonged—three important reasons
to forgive the unforgivable. Deep inside I must have known I wasn’t
very different from those abused women.

Marcello led Luke
away and I could see them arguing in the hall in front of our
bedroom without hearing what they said.

A few minutes
later, they came back and Luke said, “You will be going home with
Marcello tonight.”

“
Please ask Marcello and Janice to leave us so we can
talk.”

“
You
may speak in front of them.”

“
That
has to be a set-up of mass proportions. I spoke my mind to Jack and
see what it got me.” I pivoted around, giving them all a clear view
of my back. “Which marks do I have to thank you for?” I said,
addressing all three of them.

“
We
didn’t participate,” Janice said.

Marcello
nodded.

I confronted
Luke. “Whether you wielded a whip or not you are responsible for
all of it.”

“
As
I’m free to use your body as I please, you are completely
correct.”

“
So
tell me, are you breaking your promise to me?”

“
I
am.”

“
Fuck
off.”

“
Jane,
watch yourself.”

“
Oh
I’m watching myself all right. I can barely stand from tonight’s
ordeal simply because you got pissed off over two little words that
could’ve been punished simply by allowing Jack to go down on
me.”

“
Are
you trying to tell me how I should discipline you?”

“
I’m
telling you that there are consequences for your choices as well.
You promised me I would have the time of my life at
your
party and I most certainly did not. Now you feel you are justified
in breaking another of your promises to me? What happened to all
the bullshit about trust? You are showing me as clear as day that
your word means nothing.”

“
Jane,
I’m warning you,” Luke said.

His ears were
reddening with anger, but it didn’t deter me. All the anger I had
accumulated over the course of our relationship and marriage came
to a head.

I turned and
addressed Marcello. “Did Luke tell you his theory that you’re in
love with me? And did you tell Luke of your plans to make me
yours?”

Luke took a step
toward me, his eyes narrowing to slits and the heat of his anger
palpable.

“
You
are breaking your promise to me, breaking
us
in effect. And
the irony of it all is that I enjoyed most of my time at Marcello’s
and found him far more open and available than you.”

Luke took one
more step toward me and then did something I never thought him
capable of. He slapped me full handed across the face, knocking me
to my knees. I touched my nose and felt blood there. I gazed up at
him, utterly demoralized.

He raised his arm
yet again and struck me a second time. The tears didn’t come;
instead long buried rage seared through me.

“
Who
the fuck do you think you are?!” I screamed. I struggled to my
feet, taking a step backwards as he followed, poised to strike me
again. His menacing approach, fed by grievous rage, seemed to take
place in slow motion. Instincts of self-protection kicked in and
without thinking I bellowed, “GET LOST CREEP!”