After a last look at Ellen, naked under a blanket in the trunk, I shut the lid and drove home by a roundabout route with Angus sat beside me, giving me a chance to size him up a little. I reversed the car up to the door and had Angus lift "Eve" as he thought she was called, out of the trunk and carry her into the house over his shoulder. She was still wearing the hood. I figured that if her feet never touched the floor and she could see nothing, she would have no idea where she was.

He took her into what had been my office but now, thanks to a couple of set designers that Guy put me onto, it bore a somewhat theatrical resemblance to a medieval dungeon. In the spartan poorly lit room, the walls looked like ancient stones. The room was cold and damp. The walls had been sprayed with a plant mister and the heating turned off and a fan used for an hour to pull the temperature down further. The only furniture was a firm but lightly padded bunk and a large pot to pee into. Ellen was dumped onto the bunk.

I gave Angus very explicit orders to fix the chain from her collar to a ring in the floor next to the bunk and then he could take her mask off, undo the chains on her cuffs and spend as long as he liked doing whatever he liked as long as she came to no harm. I told him I would be watching and recording the whole thing.

Angus was gentle and effective. In some ways, exactly what she needed. He stripped and placed his cock in Ellen’s hands as he removed her mask. She recognised his cock. She obviously had an eye for such things; where she acquired that skill was yet another thing to worry me.

"You were one of the strippers," she said. "Did you buy me in the auction?"

"No. No way, I couldn't afford you. Your new owner offered me a freebie because I missed out on you, first time around."

Ellen laughed. "You had too much stamina."

"That's what they say."

"What happens now?"

"I think I get to fuck you, so long as you're okay with that?"

"I thought I'd been bought and sold as a sex slave?"

"Sure, but a guy can have principles."

Impressive, I thought. Maybe I shouldn't have offered him the freebie, she might want to keep him.

"What's he like?"

"The buyer, your owner?"

"Yes."

"Are you worried?"

"I don’t know what to think. This all seems to be out of control."

"He seems decent. I wouldn't worry."

Good of him to say so, I thought.

"How long does this go on?"

"You don't know?"

"No one told me."

"If I was shelling out fifty grand I’d want to keep you, but what do I know? You'd better ask your owner, it was his money."

"Could you ask him?"

"Why?"

"I wouldn't know what to believe. He could keep me as long as he likes especially if he realises that I don't know the deal. He could make anything up and I wouldn't know." By now there was a catch in her voice, a hesitancy that wasn't Ellen's usual style. It reminded me of the times I tried to press her to tell me about Guy.

"When I go out of this door it'll be up to him if I can come back," Angus said. "Even if I can find out I doubt if I'll be able to tell you. If I tell him you don't know it'll be the same as you asking. I'm sorry, I don't think I can be any help with that. Are you worried?"

"Yes, no, well a bit. I mean it's all a game... it's supposed to be a game I think... but now I don't know what to think..."

Ellen pulled him towards her and kissed him, wrapping herself around him and pulling him onto the couch.

“Fuck me,” she said. “No messing around, we’ve been doing foreplay all night. Fuck me, get it out of your system, do whatever you like but make me come.”

“I’m really big, are you sure?”

“My hubby’s not small and I've pushed two kids out of there,” she said, “I think I’ll cope. Anyway it’s your treat and I want you to help me get out of here, so this is a downpayment.”

I was in two minds whether to watch; it would all be on film and in some ways watching everything afterwards had some advantages. On film I could distance myself a little, I could manage my angst, pause the action any time I liked, whereas watching live, even on the monitor felt different, somehow there was more pressure on me.

There was no logic in the way I was thinking. If I'd been watching a football game I could pause the recording and catch up later but this wasn't football. What if something went wrong? That was the catch, through all this crazy saga I realised that I was trying to do three things at once; I was accumulating evidence that I could use to blow things open with Ellen. I was pushing her to extremes so that she could learn what playing with fire was really like, but at the same time, I was trying to be her guardian angel, making sure that she was safe but I had to see.

Could I cope with watching someone else fuck Ellen? She'd gone to a lot of trouble, stringing me along to get into this lifestyle— I had to know if I could cope. I didn't dare think about what was hanging on this. If it was too much for me then was it all over? Best not to think about it, I told myself. Watch and learn, thinking and all that comes later.

The physical risk was what mattered now. Here, in our house, Ellen should be safe, but I had set her up with a man sporting the biggest cock I’d ever seen. He seemed civilised and actually gentle, but he’d been thrown into a scene where he had no idea what was going on. The risk was too big to take my eye off the screen.

By then it was almost midnight. I had no idea how much stamina Angus still had but I had to stay awake. I picked up the video feed on my phone and made some very strong coffee. Angus was doing his best to be gentle, force of habit I guess. There’s a lot of rubbish about size on the internet but I’ve read equally persuasive reports from men with huge equipment who have learned to take it slowly or their women complain; had Angus been through that?

Angus wasn’t my worry, Ellen was. How was her desire to be a slave playing out? She was being fucked by the biggest cock she’d ever seen, wielded by a man who was displaying kindness and reticence. She must be deeply confused. What was worse was that, she might end up being completely captivated by him, I might end up losing her. Put that out of your mind, I told myself. She's in our house, Angus thinks she's bought and paid for, there's no way he can take her.

Fortified by half a pint of very strong coffee, I concentrated on what was going on.

The dialogue was hardly riveting— “Yes, yes, yes.” Well, I’ve heard that before.

“Are you okay?” Angus said.

“Keep going, keep going. Ignore me. Keep going till you come.”

From the only camera angle I had, downwards from the side opposite the bunk, I had a decent view of Ellen's face but only an angled profile of Angus— hard to make any sense of his expression. Ellen had a look of intense concentration— I guessed it was hurting some, but she was determined to keep going. Each time she winced I could see Angus pull back a little, his gluteals were something to watch, but he kept going. Each time he pulled back he went in harder the next time until I guessed there was no more to go.

I should have been jealous or anxious I guess but watching the way I was made it more of a technical thing; I found myself fantasising about what it would be like to watch the film again with Ellen. Who would do what? I wondered. Should she suck me while I watched or should I go down on her while she watched? Endless possibilities bounced around in my head.

Both facing the screen with her sitting on my cock seemed like the best bet. I'd probably be turned on and jealous at the same time but right then, all I was concerned about was that he didn’t hurt her; or not too much anyway. I guess with what he had done so far tonight, Angus must be well wound up and Ellen naked and collared was an erotic feast so I didn’t have to watch for too long. Afterwards, the two of them lay panting for a few minutes.

“Have you got something you can write with?” Ellen said.

“My phone.”

“Great. Give it to me.”

Ellen grabbed it, typed a number and handed it back. “I loved what you did,” she said, kissed him, rolled over and kissed his cock, cleaning it, smiling up at him.

”I loved what you did, I hope I was good enough for your magical cock. If you enjoyed it please would you call that number? It’s my husband. I’ve bitten off more than I can chew here. Tell him where I am. He has to get me back.”

She looked at him, holding out the phone. “Please.”

“What about your owner, I’ll have to talk to him, he’s here somewhere. He paid a lot of money for you?”

“I don’t know.”  I watched her face collapse. “I’ve been a fool. Being a slave was supposed to be a game. It turns me on so much but it’s insane. I thought I could trust Guy but I must have got that wrong. I have to get out. I’ve got a husband and kids. He'll be home tomorrow with the children. I have to be there.”

By the time that outburst had ended, she was weeping. A real test for Angus, I thought. I felt sorry for dumping him into this— I mean a weeping regretful slave wasn’t part of the deal. He could have cut and run but he stayed a few minutes to calm her down and quietly got dressed, made reassuring noises and when Ellen had stopped crying he put her mask back on and told her it had to stay until she heard the door close. I was waiting in the hall.

"Was she good?”

Poor sod, he was in two minds what to say to me.

“She’s great,” he said. “But what’s the deal here?”

“How do you mean?”

“It’s illegal to buy slaves, so what’s the deal?”

“She agreed to it.”

“Yeah but she’s got a family. You can’t keep her.”

“I paid a lot of money.”

“Yeah, I get that, but you can’t keep her. I mean tonight maybe but she’s not property.”

His face was a picture. He was trying to be reasonable and persuasive, clearly a decent guy. He must have been considering whether he could overpower me— my guess was that he probably could, and then he’d take Ellen away... On the other hand, he was in my house and had no idea if I had help around. He'd seen me bid fifty thousand for the woman he'd just had sex with, so he must think I had resources; would he risk anything physical?

He didn't know that if he took her outside she'd recognise the house and he'd have to bring her back to me. That seemed way too complicated so I thought it was time to put him out of his misery.

“She gave you a number to call, right? To call her husband?”

He hesitated.

“Look, I have the whole thing on video I know what she did. I’d like you to call that number right now.”

"You’re not going to threaten her husband, are you? If you try any of that I’ll stop you.”

“Relax, just call the number.”

Angus dialled and my phone rang. I let it ring until it stopped.

“Ring it again.” He looked puzzled when my phone rang again so this time I answered.

“Surprise.”

“What the hell?”

“It’s a game,” I said. “Well, sort of a game. I’m her husband. This is our house, except Eve, as you call her doesn’t know. That dungeon is a stage set built inside my office. Come with me.”  I led him into the living room, there were several pictures of Ellen and me all over the walls including some of our wedding.

“You look like you need a drink,” I said. What can I get you, a Scotch maybe?”

I opened the cabinet and Angus nodded. I poured us both a decent malt.

“It’s like this,” I said. “Eve as you call her, real name Ellen Preston, has this submissive fantasy thing, whatever you call it, being a slave, being in someone’s power, but I think she feels ashamed about it, she hasn’t been able to bring herself to explain it to me. Until a few weeks ago, I went along with her having a bit of playing away. I knew the where and when but she wouldn’t tell me what.”

I paused for a second to be sure he wasn’t freaking out. “I did the obvious thing— detective work, and when I thought I had most of it figured out I organised this event to tempt her while she thought I was away at a conference. Pretty much the whole thing was recorded and a total set up. You probably think I’m being cruel but I figured unless she finds out what it feels like to be absolutely out of control we’re never going to get past her feeling ashamed, getting hooked on the buzz, not telling me and maybe getting into something dangerous. That make sense?”

“Jesus — you are some pair.”

“I hope you don’t mind. I felt bad about the way the blowjob thing went— I thought I needed to make it up to you— maybe it was a bad idea.”

“No, no. I’m good, but maybe next time you could let me in on the deal?”

“Maybe, but this time around I couldn’t risk it.”

“No, I get that.” He laughed. “Probably right, I’m not much of an actor.”

“Apart from doing porn shows.”

“Well, it doesn’t take much acting and mostly no one notices anything except muscles and cock— those I can do.”

“Too right,” I said. “Give me your number, maybe we can all have dinner or something. Mind you, I might be crazy to risk having you anywhere near her.”

“No man,” he said. “She’s safe with me. I wouldn’t want to tangle with a dude as devious as you and my old lady would be pissed. She’s cool about the entertainment business, but she can be kind of possessive too.” He chuckled. “I’d better be getting on, you must have work to do tonight. I’ll call a cab and get out of your hair.” He hesitated for a moment. “You will look after her... Tell her from me she’s worth every cent of fifty grand.”

When he’d gone, I had to decide if I should take it further. I could see Ellen on the screen, looking dejected. Should I quit now? I sat slowly sipping my whiskey for a few minutes more. What sort of a mess did she think she was in? What was she prepared to do to get out of it? She’d made one play by asking Angus to phone me. It was almost midnight— would she be expecting something to happen before morning? I doubted that.

She must be thinking about persuading her new owner to let her go. How would she do that? I needed to disguise myself if I was going to talk to her. I’d bought a mask as part of my plan, now was the time to use it.

I had a few more tricks that I’d prepared and if they didn’t get used now they’d be wasted. I finished the whisky and ran upstairs. In my suitcase was a padded vest that made me look a lot more muscular. I wore a black polo neck sweater on top of that and a jacket with yet more padding. I wore black slacks with shoes that had an inch and a half heel raise. With luck, Ellen would not realise that it was me.

The mask was one of those things that people wear to parties when they want to be anonymous. This was an expensive version. The cool thing about using a mask was that it made it easier to do that Marlon Brando trick of stuffing cotton wool in my cheeks to disguise his voice like in the Godfather. I’d done some practice, now I had to find out if it worked.

I watched Ellen until she’d definitely stopped crying and started to get herself together and then opened the door. I stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the light behind me. It had to be hard for Ellen to see my mask, let alone my face. I stood saying nothing until she looked at me.

“What’s with the tears, doll. You don’t like the stud I gave you? Are you being an ungrateful, slave? You looked the business at the sale.”

“No,” she said quickly. “I’m not ungrateful.”

“You scared of me, doll?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“I paid good money for you, doll. Very good money. Bought you body and soul. You belong to me.”

She sat silent, looking at the floor, back to me, around the walls, back to me.

“How... um,,how long for?”

“What you mean how long for?”

“How many hours?” She glanced at me but I tried to keep a straight face, easy enough under the mask.

“How many days?”

“I bought not rented. You belong to me until I sell you on...”

“No,” she said. “I never agreed to that. You can’t.”

“I did.”

“It’s against the law. You can’t buy a person.”

“Why not? Did you say no?”

“I was gagged.”

“You let them gag you.”

“I have a husband, I have children.”

“Husband, huh? He'll buy you back maybe? How much you figure he'll pay?”

“Oh God,” she said.

“Maybe I'll rent to him. Think he'll go for that?”

I knew I was being dirty throwing in an idea like that. Maybe I could even make that work. For a second my mind ran wild, spinning crazy cartwheels of possibilities.

Ellen collapsed onto the bed.  

“How did this happen? How did I get into this?” she mumbled

She was speaking to the pillow now and sobbing again. I closed the door. I’d had enough. I retreated back to the kitchen.

What was Ellie’s favourite food, the ultimate comfort food? Waffles with applesauce and cream. We kept waffles in the freezer, a minute in the toaster and I had them ready. The applesauce and cream were in the fridge, it took a minute to whip the cream into a stiff mixture that I could pipe— a little on the waffle and a dollop on the side. The last cunning trick was to pick a plate that I knew would seem familiar, one of our wedding set. I put it on a tray and made a stiff coffee in her favourite mug. Now for the fireworks.

I waited a minute, watching the monitor until she seemed to have settled a little and at least risen off the pillow. I nudged the door open, stepped in and set the tray on the bed near her, not too close to easily spill.

“Food?”

She turned towards me. I have no idea what she was about to say but the sight of the food stopped her in her tracks. I hadn’t given her a knife or fork, partly because I forgot but when I realised I didn’t go back. I didn’t want to risk getting stabbed before she knew who I was. Should I have worn a stab vest instead of fake muscles?

She starred at the waffle. “How... how did you know?”  She looked up at me and then at the waffle and then the mug. “How?”

“Eat,” I said. “This special for you.”

“But how did you know?”

“Know what?”

“This is my favourite comfort food and this is just like my favourite mug.”

“Auctioneer gave details about you— part of the package— in case of troubles.”

"I'm completely in your power, aren't I?"

"For sure. Number you gave Angus, that your husband?"

“Oh God," she said. "I thought I could trust him,” she said.

“All recorded on TV.”

“Everything.”

“You want husband see video. Maybe he'll pay more?”

“Oh no,” she said.

“Well?”

She lay on the bed with her face buried in the pillow.

“I send it, yeah?”

“Please don’t.”

“Then he'll know you safe?”

"He doesn't know."

"Know what?"

"About this, about me doing this."

Keeping up the halting English disguise was becoming tedious. I wondered if she’d suspect something if I eased up on it. On the other hand, keeping words to a minimum with cheeks full of cotton wool made sense.

"Not my problem, honey. I pay good money. You be good or I tell husband his wife a slut. He like that, you think?"

"No, no, please, no." Ellen collapsed sobbing again and I retreated. I felt like a total shit doing this to her but I still thought it had to be done. I left her another ten minutes until she'd stopped sobbing. When she had a few more mouthfuls of waffle and apple I opened the door again.

"How you doing?"

She looked up at me and she was a mess. I couldn't take much more of this. Her eyes were red, tear stains smudged her cheeks and she'd shrunk within herself. I could leave her to sleep it off and sort things out in the morning. Would that be better I wondered or had she learned enough already?

"You sure your husband don't know?" I said. "Maybe he's guessed?"

"I wouldn't tell him," she said. "I was stupid. I should have told him."

"Must be dumb not to guess," I said. "Dumb schmuck like that, better off without you."

"He's not dumb," she said, animated for the first time. The words were spat back at me with venom. "Don't ever say he's dumb."

"How long you play this game? You plenty smart to keep from him?"

"No," she said. "I'm the dumb one."

Enough of this I thought, watching this video with her is going to be something else.

"I'm glad we've got that cleared up," I said, reverting to Queen’s English. "I think it's time I let you into a secret."

She turned towards me and I wondered if she'd rumbled me.

"Please," she said. "Please don't mess me around, I've had all I can take. You can fuck me, do what you like but please let me go back to my husband. I have to tell him.”