Ivan stroked the side of Annette’s throat and turned her this way and that, inspecting her. “Not as waifish as my girls, but this one almost could have been a dancer. Maybe in a more contemporary company?”
Ivan was always trying to cast people. Anyone who could have at any point in their life been some kind of dancer, he could spot their missed calling.
“I took classes when I was younger. Just for a few years.” Annette said.
“Ah ha! I knew it! I can always spot it. You must have, too, subconsciously, Anton.”
Anton shrugged noncommittally, wondering if he’d been played yet again. “I thought you’d never been to the ballet, pet.”
A shadow of fear fell over her features; no doubt she was thinking about the last time she’d lied to him.
“Just because I took ballet when I was a kid doesn’t mean I’ve been to the ballet.”
A few eyebrows raised at her tone and lack of address, but Anton decided to let this one go. She was right, of course. Plenty of little girls took ballet and never went on to understand the art form more deeply.
“And that posture. You can’t fake that posture,” Ivan said, clearly trying to diffuse the tension. “Though a lot of girls who get away from the barre start to slump.”
“My mom was a doctor. She treated people with back problems. It’s why she put me in ballet. She was insistent that I wouldn’t develop a slump.”
Anton was irritated that she should be telling Ivan things about herself that Anton didn’t know. Maybe irritated wasn’t the word. Maybe it was… jealous. Immediately his mind was flooded with fantasies of punishing her for sharing her private history with someone else before him.
He knew these thoughts were unhinged. After all, it wasn’t as though she’d been with him long. It was far too early to be taking her out of the house. If he didn’t like that she was sharing her life with others before him, then he shouldn’t have taken her out so soon before he’d learned everything he wanted to know. It had been his choice not to have a private honeymoon period.
A moment later, Katya made her way over. She smiled at Annette. A genuine smile. The one thing Anton could say about Katya was that no matter how much she wished she was his sub, she didn’t begrudge the woman he was actually with. She didn’t have a spiteful bone in her body, and that was perhaps her greatest quality.
Anton whistled loudly into the room. Everyone went quiet and turned toward him. He emptied his coat pockets of the tubes of arousal cream he’d brought from the house and tossed them onto a table in the middle of the room. “Party favors,” he said.
Sergio picked up one of the tubes. “What is it?”
“It’s magic, a potion to turn any woman into your willing slave.”
Sergio laughed. “Sure. What is it really?”
“Just read the instructions and try it. I’m telling you, it’s magic.”
More dancers from the company made their way over to the table to inspect the tubes.
“This stuff can’t possibly work,” said one of the guys.
“Would you like a demonstration?” Anton asked. He felt Annette tense beside him. Maybe it was pushing her too far too fast, but he knew once he got her revved up, she’d be up for anything. Plus he felt an irrational need to prove she was truly his. Whether this display was for himself or his audience, he couldn’t be sure.
Annette felt the color drain from her face, which was quite a change since she felt like she’d been blushing nonstop since the second half of the ballet. Up until now, her biggest worry at the party had been that someone would start asking her questions about the performance she hadn’t paid much attention to. Now she had larger concerns.
When she’d seen all the other people wearing collars, and the kneeling and titles and all of it, she’d begun to relax a little. The club she’d been brought to had looked seedy on the outside, but inside it was posh and clean with kinky equipment and furniture so nice that she almost forgot how wrong the whole thing was.
By the time Ivan had asked her if she wanted to play with him, she’d actually felt up to it, though she was a bit concerned by what he meant by the term ‘play’. Still, she was sure that everybody here wasn’t some hostage or prisoner. She very much doubted any other person calling someone master or mistress here was truly owned in the same way she was. After all, they could leave the party or their respective relationships at any time, whereas she only got small windows of opportunity to escape.
Windows she kept inexplicably slamming shut.
“I am very interested in this demonstration,” Ivan said, looking at her in the same dark intense way Sergio had.
Annette glanced around the room to find Sergio standing a few feet away, ready for his encore performance. Other party guests, most of whom had taken one of the tubes of arousal cream to test for themselves, also seemed interested.
“Where should we do it?” Anton asked.
“There is a large open space downstairs with a St. Andrew’s cross in the middle under a spotlight. Good view for everyone.”
Anton nodded and took Annette by the hand. They followed Ivan through the darkened club and down the stairs to the lower level.
Downstairs there were even more people. The play and activity seemed more intense below ground with a lot more kinky furniture being used. The sounds of begging both for more and for less came from a multitude of bound women alternately being flogged and pleasured with toys, fingers, and mouths.
The group from upstairs had followed them, eager for the demonstration.
Anton pulled her away from them and lowered his voice. “Are you going to be a good girl?”
“Are you mad at me?” He’d seemed to go cold toward her upstairs when they were talking to Ivan.
“Why would I be mad? Because I thought you’d lied to me again so soon after a punishment? Because you didn’t address me properly and took a smart ass tone with me in public? I should punish you publicly.”
Annette’s lip started to tremble. She must have had extreme fear on her face because he softened.
“I’m not going to punish you, but we are playing.”
“I promise I didn’t lie upstairs, and I’m sorry for the way I spoke. I was defensive and scared because you looked mad.”
Anton nodded. “It’s forgotten. Just be a good girl for me tonight.”
Things were moving too fast. “Last night you spared me, and tonight you’re throwing me to the lions?”
He’d led her to a far wall that was leather padded with shackles to chain someone up. He pressed her against the smooth leather.
“I can’t help myself, kiska. I want to bring you into my dark world of pleasure. Let yourself go. I won’t let anyone here hurt you… or fuck you.”
“But Sergio...”
“Sergio is one of my best friends. It’s different.”
“But Ivan...”
“Ivan just wants to play with you. Not fuck you. We’re talking toys and touching, a few orgasms, a little light spanking. Not sex with everyone. You can handle this. You just let Sergio fuck you under a staircase at a public venue filled with normal people.”
Annette looked at the ground. She really had no explanation for how that had happened. Nor could she understand how even without an orgasm, it had been exciting and somehow still satisfying. She’d always thought her previous boredom with sex had been about the fact that her two other partners had found their pleasure and left her without, but that theory didn’t explain what had happened with Sergio under the stairs.