TogetherinCyn (18 page)

I stopped a few feet inside the demonstration area so my
eyes could adjust to the darkness. I wished Jared would hurry. He’d sent me in
first while he prepared a few things.

Nerves tingled under my skin. Dozens of people clustered
near a white stage. It was brightly lit from above and glowed.

The raised area must have been at least thirty feet across
and almost as deep. A network of cables created a spider web along the ceiling.
Various devices dangled from some of them and I didn’t want to guess what they
were used for. One small cabinet, the same white color, stood open off to one
side. It was packed with coils of things too far away to identify.

Chris stood on the platform with his arm raised, a whip
poised in a tight fist. My whole body went a little numb.

“You have to control your speed. If it’s too slow, the
strike won’t connect. Too fast and you’ll tear skin.” He brought it down so the
leather snapped at the end and a biting sound crackled through the room.

My head whipped to the other side of the stage but no one
was there.

If some woman had been tied up there, I don’t know what I
would have done. I was so worked up I hadn’t considered the possibility of him
having a partner.

“I wouldn’t have let you come in here alone if he was
disciplining someone.” Jared moved to me and spoke low enough that I was the
only one who heard. He held me close and I soaked up his support.

“You have to learn your equipment. Master it alone before
you decide to try it on someone else. No Dom can practice enough. I suggest…”

“At your service.”

I peeked behind us. Nick stared at me. Jared must have told
him our plan. I hated needing his help.

Chris sent the whip flying again. I jumped and tried in vain
to calm my breathing.

Jared cupped my cheek and gazed at me. “You’re sure?”

No.
“Yes.”

He kissed my lips. His indecision was palpable.

“I’ve got her, J.” The reassurance from Nick was apparently
enough. Jared tipped his head, gave me one last squeeze and walked out.

When my “keeper” moved closer, I crossed my arms and faced
the stage again. “I don’t need a damn babysitter and I definitely don’t want
you here.”

“Too bad. My boss, your Dom, told me to stick to you like
glue. He didn’t tell me the whys of it, especially since Chris is here. But I
didn’t ask questions, I just did what I needed to. You should try it sometime.”

One mad Dom was all I could handle tonight so I didn’t defy
Jared’s wishes. I clenched my teeth—and, amazingly, held my tongue.

Chris opened the floor to questions and the next words he
spoke provided the perfect opening. “You shouldn’t let anyone punish your sub
for you unless it is part of the punishment itself. This is one of your main
responsibilities as a Dominant.”

“Really?” A hush fell at my snide tone. Chris jerked his
head in my general direction.
Now or never.
“So you preach it but you
don’t live it. Hmm…”

He recognized my voice and the true Dom inside him rose to
the surface.

“Well, now you’ve gone and done it, blondie,” Nick whispered
in my ear.

I turned my back on Chris to confront Nick. Not the smartest
move but I was nervous and Nick crawled under my skin like a rash. “Don’t.
Call. Me. That.” I wanted to knock the self-satisfaction off his pie-hole. He
was trying to get a rise out of me. I clenched my fists, trying not to take a
swing.

His focus flicked over my shoulder. He was stone-cold sober
when he looked at me again. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

I heard people scrambling out of the way close to the stage
and knew Chris was coming for me. Adrenaline shot into my system, making me
shake. “Hope so.”

Something behind Nick’s eyes changed and he spoke fast.
“Chris is one of the best Doms I’ve seen. They talk about you all the time.
‘Perfect Cyn’ everything. Smart, sexy, loyal. There’s always a catch. It’s why
I’ve been so skeptical. They put you on a pedestal and I don’t want to witness
you break. You’re taking a huge risk setting free whatever’s been eating him.”

“No bigger risk than loving him. He’s worth it. They both
are.” I peered at Nick and for the first time saw an ally. He’d been trying to
protect my men. I couldn’t fault him for that.

Chris stomped closer until he halted mere inches away from
my naked heels. “Turn. Around.”

I obeyed. The instructor was gone. In his place stood the
Dom I’d only ever glimpsed. “Master.” I could barely push air past my vocal
cords to form the word.

His nostrils flared, his jaw flexed. “Where’s Jared?”

Nick said, “Had to help out another Dom. Said he’d be a
few.”

Whispers rippled all around us but I never glanced away.
Barely even blinked.

This decision would make or break our future. I finally
understood why we had to have an audience and why Jared had to be absent.

Chris was a Dom at his core. He knew he had to punish me or
he’d lose the respect of everyone there. Making me leave or getting Jared
wasn’t a viable option.

“Don’t play games with me, little girl.” Menace filled his
voice. He grabbed the neckline of my shirt, ripping the jersey all the way to
the bottom, exposing my sensitive breasts. He shoved the scraps off my
shoulders and Nick peeled them the rest of the way off. “To the stage. You want
the world to see what a monster I am? I’m more than willing to show them.”

I stepped around him and deliberately stalked toward the
stage. Not two steps away, he grabbed the nape of my neck. He marched me past
Doms and subs alike to the front of the space. The stage was higher than I’d
originally thought. My head didn’t even reach the bottom of it.

After I stumbled several times on the way up, he practically
picked me up and carried me to the center. I tottered but didn’t fall when he
let go and paced a few steps away. He breathed as though he’d run a marathon.
His fists opened and closed at his sides.

The lighting of the stage was so bright I couldn’t see but a
foot or so off it. It made it feel as if we were alone and in truth that’s how
I wanted it. This was between me and Chris.

As he bore down on me, I shifted my legs together. My panties
were drenched. I was scared, yes, but I was wetter than I’d ever been before.
All because it was Chris standing in front of me.

“Safeword?” He vibrated with tension and I knew he was
making me pick one for both of us.

It took me no time at all because I already knew the word to
use. “Judge.”

He raised his hand and I prepared myself for the slap I
thought was coming but he grabbed my upper arm, twisted me around, forced me
over to the stairs. I was about to protest and apologize for pushing him too far
but he shoved me to my hands and knees.

The stage wasn’t a smooth surface. That close, I could see a
network of lines running all over it. Some straight, others curved, all sizes.

Chris shoved a U-shaped ottoman under my stomach and
fastened it into some of the grooves in the floor. The padded bench was narrow
enough that my breasts hung on either side of it, and the top of my mound
rested against the short side. He bound me to the padded rest using some kind
of twisted rope.

He took his time, dragging his knuckles across my ribs,
tying the rope around me. My head drooped lower and lower on every pass, along
with my eyelids.

A circular piece of the stage the size of a large kitchen
table elevated me a few feet off the floor.

Holy shit…
I tried to stay calm. There was enough
room for someone to stand behind me or kneel in front of me. I looked up in
search of Jared though I knew he wouldn’t be there yet.

I caught sight of Nick at a set of controls next to the
stage. He was the one manipulating it. Scott and Kyle, the men who’d restrained
me in The Library, stood off to his right flanking a petite blonde woman.
Fierce expressions twisted their features, telling me I was right to worry.

They seemed ready to come to my rescue and I prayed I
wouldn’t need it.

“Knees and ankles,” Chris barked, roughly shifting my lower
legs.

Bands came out of the table and locked tightly around my
ankles and above the meaty parts of my calves. I peeked behind me, transfixed.

I shifted my knees, which earned me a slap to the back of
one of my thighs. My pussy clenched.

“Stay still.”

“Sorry, Sir.”

“No, you’re not, but you will be.”

A quiver raced down my backbone. Chris lifted a piece of
metal with two wide cuffs attached to each end. He wrapped one of the cuffs
around my right thigh, yanking it tight, latching it behind me.

Then he wrapped the other cuff, binding my left leg the
same. The bar in the middle was some kind of spreader—I couldn’t close my legs
at all.

He grabbed something else and stomped around to stand in
front of me. I tried to stay calm as he set a stiff piece of leather next to my
hands. But when he took another, wrapping my left arm all the way from my wrist
to my biceps, my teeth started to chatter.

The cuff forced me to keep my arm straight. He tightened
latches along its outer edge. He repeated the process on the right side,
yanking each of my bound arms closer to the edge of the table when he was done.

The position was uncomfortable with my legs and abdomen
bound, pitching my center of gravity forward. “Arm posts.” His muted request
made me sweat.

Almost silently, thin white posts emerged from the platform
next to where my palms rested. They stopped level with the tops of my
shoulders. Chris tilted them, attaching them to the rings along the spines of
each arm cuff.

The position was unnatural, making the act of breathing more
demanding.

“Head.”

I glanced at the table but a whirling noise above me snagged
my attention. A single cable with a strip of leather dropped lower from the
maze of restraints above me.

Chris jerked me around then wrapped some kind of strap
around my forehead and buckled it tightly behind my head. The hairs along the
edge of my scalp tingled as he tugged my hair upward, attaching my braid to the
same cable. Reflexively, I lifted my head and was surprised to find I could
raise it. The line attached to the ceiling obviously wasn’t rigid so I wondered
what the point could be.

Chris bit out, “Two inches.” The line got tight, lifting my
head until it rested at such an angle to barely see off the stage.

Nick hadn’t moved but it was the man standing next to him
that I fixed on.

Jared.
Tears filled my eyes at the sight of him. I
drew strength from the pride he exuded—and the arousal.

“Don’t you dare cry,” Chris hissed in my face. He grabbed my
neck, bringing me nose to nose with him. A sneer twisted his upper lip. “Like I
can’t see what you’re doing. This is the thanks I get? Giving you space to deal
with your shit. And you show up, all hearts and flowers, and it’s not good
enough. Or I’m not. Which is it?”

The bulge at his crotch made my mouth water. This turned him
on even if he didn’t want it to. More wetness eased from my core. His arousal
gave me hope.

I could handle more because it pleased him, whether he
admitted it or not. “I want all of you. I need—”

“You got me. Let’s see which one of us breaks first.
Collar.” The last word came out a curse. His rough fingers tucked beneath my
collar and he attached something under my throat. “Lower, one notch.”

My collar pulled at the back of my neck, making me aware of
it no matter what else happened. I understood the strap around my head. I
couldn’t move…

A handful of minutes had passed but I was completely at his
mercy. This level of bondage hadn’t come up in my searches online. I was in
over my head. I closed my eyes to keep the panic at bay while he tested all the
restraints.

He ripped my boy shorts on one side, tore the crotch seam
and then drew them across the flesh of my rear. I gasped at the simple contact
and again when he inhaled. I pictured him holding my panties to his nose.

“You’re wet.” It was more an accusation than a statement.

“Yes Sir.”

Out of the corner of my peripheral vision, I tracked him as
he came closer. He rolled the material into a long, skinny tube resembling a
belt. He covered my eyes and tied it with a jerk next to the head restraint.

“Now you can smell your own cunt, just like I can.”

The blackness that surrounded me turned sexy with the smell
of my pussy so close. My other senses painted the picture of what was happening
to me. I had a very vivid imagination.

Chris circled platform like a vulture waiting on a meal. He
squeezed my tingly breasts, pinched my nipples—hard. He tweaked and plucked
until I cried out. Then he sucked one into his mouth, drawing another sob from
me. Intense pleasure raced to my clit.

His mouth released my nipple with a pop and he asked, “Is
that pretty pussy feeling empty?” His flat palm caressed its way along my
spine, over the curve of my rear, oh so gently. The slap straight across the
top of my sex stole my breath.

“But—I thought…” I choked as his hand rained down on my ass.

“You’re not here to think. You’re here to feel.”

He latched on to my clit, trapping the bundle of nerves with
his teeth. He licked it with the tip of his tongue until I came with a wail.

Every nerve ending lit with pleasure, making me quake with
adrenaline. My fingers twitched, my toes curled and I strained against the
cuffs holding me in place. I tried to wiggle away from his mouth.

But he didn’t stop. My pussy and ass clenched over and over
again but he continued his assault on my swollen nub.

When he finally released it, I sighed, shuddered one last
time and floated in my dark prison.

Chris opened a door behind me but I was too blissed out to
worry about what he was doing. I paid more attention when he told me a new
cable was descending from the ceiling. The fog in my head cleared when Chris
attached some kind of device to the bench between my legs.