“Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up tomorrow?” Dad asked for the eighth time. He was driving me to Maitena’s like I was a ten year old attending her first parent - free party. I’d assured him that if I could get into Uni I could find a house three suburbs away via public transport but he insisted on driving me none the less. I secretly felt he was doing it to be nosey and my suspicions were confirmed when he whistled as we pulled through the impressive gateway and began winding our way up the asphalt drive.
“I don’t think Maitena really needs the money I pay her to tutor you,” he mused as we gawked at the oceans of manicured lawn on each side of the driveway, dotted with picturesque grottos of trees. “Woman lives on a bloody golf course,” my putt-putt mad father muttered jealously. The house finally came into view and I was actually a bit surprised at its modest proportions. Where I had been expecting a Gone with the Wind style pile was a rather futuristic, streamlined double storey with seemingly acres of black, tinted windows. The entire front façade of the house was glass interspersed with support beams and I wondered if Maitena’s family had shares in Sigma - Aldrich.
As we pulled up in front of the house, Maitena appeared in the front door, dressed as casually as I’d ever seen her in cut-off jeans that showcased her fabulous legs. I thought my stomach was going to turn inside out as I tried to appear as casual as possible, a blasé smile plastered on my face, an extremely difficult act whilst having a frantically whispered last minute conversation with my dad.
“Dad, I’m a fully functioning adult now, I don’t need you to pick me up. And yes, I will ring you if I change my mind and yes, I will make sure I don’t drink too much and I’ll have a good time, so stop fretting,” all while trying to extricate my overnight bag from behind the seat in a silent hint for him to get lost. Maitena reached my side as I slammed the passenger door shut and gave me a friendly hug, waving along with me at my dad as he completed the loop the driveway had become and disappeared from sight in the general direction of home.
We stood looking at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before she leaned in and kissed me. Although not overwhelmingly passionate, it was enough to break the ice and I followed her into the cool surrounds of the house.
“I like your house,” I commented politely. “Do you live here by yourself?” I was unaccountably nervous and simply filling in empty space with chatter although it had occurred to me that despite knowing her body intimately, I didn’t really know much about Maitena’s day to day life other than she was incredibly intelligent and her father was from somewhere north of Spain.
She smiled and took my bag from my nerveless fingers. “Not exactly,” she answered. “It’s my parent’s house but now that my brother and I are older, they spend quite a lot of time through the year overseas so Cesare and I have the run of the place usually.”
So she has a brother, I mused. Despite being in a sexual relationship with her I was by nature a devout admirer of the male of the species and I wondered idly if her brother had copped an equal slap with the gorgeous gene that Maitena seemed so unaware of possessing. She led me upstairs to a tastefully appointed spare room with en suite and I spent a pleasurable half hour with my legs spread, being meticulously “groomed” by her, after which she instructed me to get showered while she sorted through the four outfits I’d eventually packed because I wasn’t sure what to wear.
As I shampooed, exfoliated and rubbed my fingers over my newly smooth pink parts I wondered if there were any other guests in residence and if so, where they were. “Rachel,” she called from the bedroom, “this dress is gorgeous. Wear it and nothing else and I’ll meet you downstairs in about half an hour.” Her head popped through the bathroom door. ”I’ve got some people arriving soon so I have to go meet them.” I nodded to her, my curiosity satisfied, and adjusted the heat.
The diaphanous silk dress was my formal dress from last year and I’d never had an occasion to wear it since. The rich burgundy-wine colour suited my rather neutral colouring and the material flowed down from the high under-the-bust waist to drape my slightly flaring hips in a way that I hoped looked alluring. The bodice basically consisted of banded layers of silk that pulled up over each breast and somehow managed, through the sheer genius of some unknown designer and the weight of my own breasts, to stay anchored just at the point of my shoulders. The beautiful confection had been a nightmare of paranoia at my graduation dinner, I was so worried the whisper - weight fabric would slip off my shoulders without me noticing and expose one of my breasts to the entire Class of 2010.
I blow dried my hair and elected to leave it down, discarded the idea of shoes and, completely naked underneath as per her directions, headed downstairs in search of my hostess. As I reached the foyer I heard the muted sound of Maitena’s laugh and followed it towards the rear of the house, down a handful of stairs into a vacant sunken lounge, bathed softly in the reflected light of afternoon sun on the pool surface outside the lounge room’s sliding doors. It was a modern room with leather couches and huge, framed Impressionist paintings hanging at intervals on the walls. I noticed this distractedly as I stopped, quite puzzled because I was sure I’d headed in the direction I’d heard her laughter come from but it was obvious the room was empty and no one was on the decking surrounding the pool.
“Maitena?” It was obvious that wherever she was, she was busy with someone, maybe a fellow guest, and I was loath to interrupt her if she was having a private moment before proceedings kicked off. To my complete surprise, one of the paintings hanging on the east wall swung outwards to reveal Maitena, dressed now in a very formal pencil skirt topped by a waistcoat that barely buttoned over her full breasts, framed in a narrow doorway hidden behind a Renoir. For once she wore no blouse under the tailored waistcoat and I was so astounded by her entrance that I didn’t feel even a hint of envy when I spotted her fabulous 1920s inspired shoes.
“Holy shit,” I laughed with amazement, “that’s fantastic.” I walked over to her, marvelling at how cool it must be to live in a house with a bona fide hidden passageway.
She gave me a once over. “You look pretty fantastic too,” she complimented. “You remind me of a wood nymph before she’s been ravished by Dionysus.” She reached out and lightly flicked the scrap of material on my shoulder. My hand shot up automatically to stop it as it began to fall and she smiled smugly at the ease with which she was able to dislodge it. “Very nice,” she murmured. She stepped back into the space behind her, inviting me to step through the wall. She took my hand and pulled the picture back into place, plunging us into darkness and led me toward a doorway outlined with soft light at the other end of the short passageway.
We stopped before the door and as my eyes adjusted to the dimness I saw her turn towards me, her hands coming to rest on my upper arms. Through the door I could clearly hear other people talking quietly but blocked out the sound, focusing on her face in front of me. “Do you remember when I told you there were three things you had to remember if you wanted to be my pet?” I nodded silently, sensing that this may be some sort of test that I needed to pass before I could go through into the next room. “I’ve revealed two of them to you. What were they, can you recall?”
I inhaled deeply as I recited, “Obedience and obscurity.”
“That is correct. The time has come for you to learn the third, and possibly most important, thing. Emancipation.” I was busy wondering what the American Civil War had to do with me when she continued. “To free from restraint, bondage or oppression. To liberate.”
My heart began to thud heavily and I felt my inner muscles contract. Ever since she’d tied me to my desk chair I’d been secretly hoping she would tie me to something again. I’d tried to recreate the contradictory feeling of freedom that being bound by her had created within me but it’s pretty hard to tie yourself up and I know that if I’d have asked her to do it again, she would have denied me as one of her “lessons” in patience.
“What I elect to do to you or have you do for others is entirely my decision. By agreeing to be my pet you have forfeited the right to refuse any command I, or others I am directly involved with, give you.” My ears perked up at the mention of “others”. Was that what those people on the other side of the door were here for? To watch me be Maitena’s play thing? Were they expecting to play with me too or had they brought their own pets along? I’d never had any interest in watching other people have sex but my mind was racing at the thought of other people witnessing my abject subservience to Maitena.
“I know what your sexual demon is and I know that there will be times when you will say no when you really mean yes because it excites you to feel that you have been forced to serve. However, you do have the right to feel safe and that’s where Emancipation comes in. If at any time you don’t feel safe or a session is not stimulating, regardless of whether it’s me or someone I’ve lent you to, just say Paladin. It’s the safe word all of my associates are familiar with and is one that is instantly recognizable as not having a sexual connotation.”
It made sense to me that a “safe word” would be associated with historical warriors who went around freeing people from oppression and I knew with that as a reference point, I wouldn’t forget the word itself. She peered at me intently. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
I swallowed and a whispered “yes” escaped past my dry lips. Her fingers moved to the small pocket in the front of her waistcoat and in the dark I saw a flashes of light reflect off of a delicate jewelled collar. While it was no wider than my index finger and screamed elegance, there was no mistaking the fact that it was a sign of ownership. She smiled, fastening it around my neck. The gold links fitted snugly at the base of my throat, heavy with their dark stones and I felt my neck elongating with the urge to display it proudly.
She took my hand again and reached for the door knob. “From now on you will address me as “Lady” when we are in intimate circumstances or company.” I could only nod in agreement as she opened the door and led me through.
***
If the rest of the house could be described as modern and minimalist, this room was decadence incarnate.
The walls were a shade lighter than the dress I was wearing and decorated with antique looking Afghan rugs. Low couches were placed in clusters of varying sizes around the enormous room, all covered in beaded cushions and multi hued scarves and veils and I counted six people reclined on one group, chatting quietly, seemingly oblivious to our arrival. Brass lamps sat on end tables, giving the room the soft, glowing light I’d seen from the hallway and the air was sweet with the faint trace of patchouli.
As we made our way towards the room’s occupants, I look up at the ceiling and could barely see it as someone, presumably Maitena or an inspired interior decorator, had attached about twenty or more swaths of chiffon to a small ring in the centre of the ceiling and then radiated those outwards to the walls, where their trailing tails fell between the hanging rugs.
Maitena gracefully reclined next to an older man who bore a striking resemblance to someone I was sure I’d seen frequently before. She pointed to a spot next to her feet where presumably I was to sit and as I sank to the floor, I remembered where I’d seen him. My dad has the big time hots for Grace Kelly, the only reason I reckon he married my blonde, ice queen step - mother Elyse, and a name popped into my head - Cary Grant. The guy looked a lot like Cary Grant in dad’s favourite movie, To Catch a Thief. He was quite handsome and impeccably dressed in casual linen and greeted Maitena with an affection that spoke of long association. Now that I’d solved the puzzle of his identity, I was happy to sit and study the people surrounding me as it was obvious Maitena had no intention of introducing me.
The couches were arranged in a U shape around a low table laden with platters of fruit, cheese and powdery sweet confections that everyone picked at as they talked. The seat Maitena and her companions sat on was at one end of the U. Next to “Mr Grant” was a small, attractive dark haired woman of around his age who I presumed to be his partner, as she sat quite close to him and listened with quiet respect as he and Maitena spoke. Opposite us was a blonde woman and a man who could only be described as smouldering, with lots of brooding under-the-brows stares from dark eyes and a "fuck you" nonchalance. The woman was rather pretty but my attention was constantly drawn to the man, who was clearly Maitena’s brother, Cesare.
Everything about him was just the other side of acceptable. His hair was slightly too long by fashion’s dictates and a study in insouciance. Unlike his sister, he seemed to favour gothic inspired clothes and his military style sleeveless vest could have been plucked straight out of a My Chemical Romance video. Boredom practically oozed from him as he sprawled carelessly, taking up more than his fair share of the couch, barely contributing to the conversation taking place between the blonde and a pair of large breasted brunette twins sitting on the remaining couch and his behaviour bordered on outright rudeness. The only clue I had that his attitude was an accomplished veneer was when I first sat down. He’d looked over at me as I’d sunk to the floor at his sister’s feet, spotted the collar I wore and raised an eyebrow at his sister, smirking at me with a curiously cheeky look in his eyes before adopting his current lethargic mask.