Top for a Cowboy

[Veroe]

((Closed for Myself and LadyThunder))​

IC: Ethan McBride

http://media.queerblog.it/c/cow/cowboy-nudi-e-sexy/cowboy_hot_34.jpg

In New York city there were many fetish and BDSM clubs but ask anyone of the lifestyle would tell you the best was the Zone. The Zone was an exclusive club in an unmarked building nestled deep within the concrete canyons of Upper Manhattan. It was a collective with a number of its more prominent members as part owners allowing a very select group of kinksters into their club.

Ethan had moved to the Big Apple from Austin just three months ago. He'd quickly heard about the nearly mythical reputation the Zone had among those in the lifestyle here and had applied for membership. After background checks in his old haunt back in Texas. He'd been given the grey bracelet of a probationary member and allowed inside. It wasn't that the amenities were better than any where else in the city. A playhouse was just a playhouse after all, though the Zone was definitely on the high end and less seedy side. The real draw to the Zone for Ethan was the people. It was well regarded as having the very best tops on the Eastern Seaboard. The submissives were nothing to sneer at either. Some of the most physically attractive girls were in here.

Which sad to admit was a consideration for joining but not the biggest. The biggest was the quality of the subs in the Zone. They knew the masters and mistresses here went through a thorough screening process so they were free to trust him from the get go and so many here were untaken.

It was perfect for Ethan. He could practice his particular lifestyle with any number of pretty submissive girls without the emotional attachments that complicated such relationships.

He knew it sounded crude, but he just was not interested in the emotional hang ups that a dom/sub relationship beyond more than a quick if not intense session involved.

He was nearing the end of his probationary period now, and he had taken a pretty little redhead from Jersey named Dinah into one of the playrooms. It was a bare room with no ceiling. It did have a catwalk for those who wished to observe. Ethan noted that his last four sessions were gathering a larger and larger crowd, and one spectator in particular was here again as she had been every time he had reserved this room.

He had asked about her of course and found out she was one of the original members and she was regarded as the finest domme in the whole city. Though he'd never seen her show her stuff. Why she was so interested in watching him he couldn't rightly say, but whatever floated her boat.

For a moment his eyes met hers, and he couldn't rightly say what passed between them, but it startled him and he had to take a moment to collect himself to continue his scene with Dinah.

He turned from her and adjusted his costume. His cowboy hat, red flannel shirt, tight jeans with a silver belt buckle and worn in cowboy boots. Growing up on a ranch outside Austin it was not too far from the truth of him. Though he was a landscaper rather than a ranch hand. Still everyone in these walls had put on some sort of costume...Leather, Latex, Rubber...Schoolgirl...Cowboy getup. All of it was just what that person wanted to present as themselves to others here in the Zone.

The breathy sigh made him turn his attention back to Dinah. She was in the middle of the room under a metal boxlike frame. Her ankles tied to the vertical beams of the frame spread wide. Her arms tied to the horizontal above her head. She was a petite girl and the frame was high. He hadn't given her much slack on the rope either. The result was she had to rest her weight on the balls of her feet naking her body lean forward in an enticing arch.

Dinah moaned now as her thighs trembled and her pretty little butt made circles in the air from her stirred arousal. The remote controlled vibrating panties he'd fitted on her before tying her to the frame might have something to do with that. Over that she wore one of those shelf bras that lifted her cute little breasts but left them exposed for the vibrating nipple clamps he had attached to them.

The programmed vibrator in the panties nestled against her clitoris had ramped up to its top speed level again now and she bit her lip fighting back the moan and the climax trying to rip free of her.

He strutted over to in front of her. "That's good, Jersey Girl." He reached out and stroked her cheek. She nuzzled her face against his palm with a needy growl. He rarely touched his girls for his own pleasure. He always kept his distance. Even the seemingly intimate gestures of stroking Dinah's cheek and the nickname he'd given her earlier were just part of the costume tonight. As a result most of the girls he'd chosen in these play sessions sought out even that little amount of contact, but for Ethan this was all about control...walking the razor edge without falling off.

His hand drifted down to the remote control he had hung from D-ring in her collar so it dangled in the cleavage between the burring nipple clamps. "Hold it down enjoy it as it builds up inside of you, but don't you come yet, Darlin'." He lifted the remote and made her watch as he dialed the intensity down to level three again.

Leaving the remote to hang between the nipple clamps again he turned his back and headed for the table of whips and floggers and a paddle. His fingers traced over the woodgrain on the paddle. He glanced up and saw his audience had grown but his biggest fan was still there.

Too bad she was one sexy little drink of water, but from what Ethan had heard about her was that she never played the bottom.

He turned his glance from her again to regard Dinah over his shoulder. "How long you've been comin' here, Jersey Girl'?"

"S-six years-s..." Dinah grated out between more of the breathy sighs.

He may have to lower the vibes to level two. though if she came without getting his permission he'd get the pleasure of punishing her for it.

"Six years," He nodded in appreciation, "I reckon you been put through a lot already."

The only response he got was another moan. He turned and lifted the remote again and lowered it to setting two.

"Jersey Girl," He said to get her attention, "You been flogged before?"

She nodded, "Yes, but I like it..."

"You been whipped?"

She nodded again.

"You been caned before?"

Her eyes widened but she nodded again, "Once with Mistress Tory. It really hurt, but she made it so good."

He glanced up to his favorite spectator. That certain indescribable something passed between them.

"You ever been switched before," He asked.

"No sir," She said her eyes searching the table for such an item.

He crossed over to his coat and bag and pulled out a good hickory switch. "Back on the ranch I was a real ornery terror. My grandpappy had me go out to the tree in back of the barn and cut one of these off every time I acted like a right out rascal. He'd whip the tarnation outta me, right proper."

He took the switch where Dinah could see it. "It may not be as scary as a rattan cane, but take it from me, a good switching can hurt like the blazes." He placed the tip under Dinah's chin. He lifted it up so their eyes met. "Care to give it a go?"

As he stood there he could feel his spectator's gaze tighten onto him.

 

[Ladythunder]

http://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w546/lts10/Sexy-Woman-1920x10801_zpsd8fa9072.jpg

Tory Wilcox was pissed. She planted her hands on the desk, leaned forward and glared at the man sitting complacently behind it, watching her near tantrum enigmatically.

"For Christ sake Jack, I already told you I'm busy for the next week! I don't have time for it!" Tory blew out an explosive breath at his response.

"Tory, you're up next on the rotation and you know it. Deal with it! It's one of the perks of this place, and not something you've complained about before. If you're that busy maybe you should sell your piece...I'm sure a buyer could be found?"

Her eyes narrowed as she answered, "You know damn well I always meet my responsibilities. I'll figure something out." With that she spun on a heel and stalked from the opulent office.

They had been arguing about one of the many perks/responsibilities that came with being a part owner of The Zone. Each person who came through the doors of The Zone was subjected to careful screening, but the process the subs went through was nothing compared to the dominants. The subject of their discussion had been a dominant who was nearing the end of his probationary period and apparently it would be Tory's job to complete the process.

Tory's finely shaped brows furrowed as she strode from Jack's office, the file he'd handed her tapping irritably against her thigh as she paused to wait for the elevator. The Zone was her only love but far from her only responsibility and she had little time to do as she had been asked. It wasn't as though she had a choice though, failing to take her turn would cost too much.

So it was, a few days later that she found herself on the catwalk above one of the playrooms, watching as the client brought in his latest submissive. From his file, Tory knew he rarely took the same sub twice and never got more than superficially involved with any of them. He never took his pleasure with them, even though that was allowed at the club, never touched their inner core. Tory knew there were some that were that way naturally, but this guy seemed to have distance down to an art form.

She watched him for three visits, taking his measure, deciding how to handle the last of his probation. She knew now that though impersonal, he did take reasonable care with the subs he played with, and that his tastes seemed to run toward control and pain, with a healthy splash of pleasure thrown in for the lucky sub. Tory thought he would make a good dom in the end, but she wished too that he could lose some of the stuffed shirt attitude he wore like a second skin.

She knew too, that he had taken note of her presence above his show night after night, and knew of the discrete inquiries he had made about her to some of the staff. He had glanced up at her on a couple of those visits and their eyes had met briefly, some invisible spark passing between them. Tory couldn't have said just what the spark was, but as she watched the handsome man in the cowboy get up, there was a part of her that wished he swung on the other side of the fence.

So it was that last night. Tory was dressed in tight leather, a black high necked one piece catsuit that clung to her frame accentuating her full breasts and tight ass. There was little left to the imagination when she wore it, but somehow she made it not look slutty. Scarlet knee high stiletto heeled boots completed the outfit, and she propped one of them on the wrought iron railing that acted as a safety rail watching the scene below emotionlessly.

She saw him look at her a couple times, but on each of those she kept her face expressionless, feeling the flare of...attraction? with each glance. She stayed emotionless until Ethan began questioning Dinah about a switch.

Personal toys were generally not allowed in the club unless special arrangements were made beforehand and there was no note on Ethan's file about such an agreement. It was only Tory's discrete nod at the security camera that prevented the resident DM from rushing in and stopping the scene. She wished to see just what he would do, and after taking Dinah through her paces with the cane, she knew the girl could take it.

Tory stayed until the end of the scene, relaxing fractionally as Dinah screamed her way to an orgasm to conclude the scene. Ethan had done perfectly, and though the girl would have a hard time sleeping on her back for a few days, she seemed satisfied. Only then did Tory retreat to her office and pick up the phone.

When Ethan went to leave that night, the door security staff informed him that his presence was requested in one of the private offices. When he arrived, he found Tory seated behind the desk, her booted feet propped on the edge, regarding him over the edge of a file folder.

She waited for him to come to a halt in front of her desk before she finally lowered the file to the desk and swung her feet of the desk, rising to her feet. "Ethan...A pleasure to have you in The Zone. I hope you're having a nice time here?"

She offered him her hand, her handshake cool and firm before she waved him invitingly to a seat. She reopened the file and he could see his picture on the front page. Obviously, it was his.

Without glancing down at it, she smoothly said, "I see you are nearing the end of your probation. How do you think it's going so far?" She looked at him again, waiting on his answer, simple feminine appreciation in her gaze as her eyes raked almost offensively up his body, starting at his feet.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Ethan McBride

He took the switch where Dinah could see it. "It may not be as scary as a rattan cane, but take it from me, a good switching can hurt like the blazes." He placed the tip under Dinah's chin. He lifted it up so their eyes met. "Care to give it a go?"

As he stood there he could feel his spectator's gaze tighten onto him.

Ethan had of course read the by-laws for membership in the Zone, and knew a probationary member such as himself was not technically allowed to bring in outside equipment such as this switch, but he caught in the corner of his eye the small nod to the camera the ever so feared and ever so equally revered Mistress Tory made. No one stepped in and asked to speak with him a moment to remind him of that rule.

Ethan's mouth quirked in a small grin as his hunch was confirmed for him. Mistress Tory wasn't just watching him for her own entertainment. He was being evaluated by her.

He tipped his hat to her in acknowledgement of the trust she was giving him (or rope to hang himself with) before turning back to Dinah. The session went well. He had allowed Dinah to climax from the artful combination of pain and pleasure. He hoped he was impressing his overseer.

He didn't come though Dinah had offered in the way subs communicated with nonverbal cues, but he didn't get close to her, he couldn't. He had to maintain an iron hard self-control but he did not relieve his own arousal with her. Not that Dinah's submission to him didn't have an effect. When he left the playroom he had a hard on that could hammer nails and a world-class case of blue balls.

All he wanted was to get to the tiny apartment in the Bronx he called home where it was safe and controlled and spend the rest of the night with just his hand and a bottle of lotion and the high he had gotten here in the Zone and Dinah.

Yet when he was heading to the door someone stopped him and told him to go to one of the private offices in back of the building. Ethan had a good guess who he would find was in it waiting for him. He wasn't exactly certain why he was being called to see her tonight. Perhaps he was going to graduate to a full member now, though he was supposed to have a final exam process for the last two weeks, though Jack the master that had given him his grey bracelet for his probationary period hadn't been exactly specific what that exam entailed.

He approached the office he had been directed to and was entirely unsurprised to find one Mistress Tory there sitting back behind the desk with her high heeled boots propped up atop the desk.

He stopped taken aback looking at her. She was an incredibly attractive woman but a lot of the women here were. Most of the women were submissives and the attraction to them was their vulnerability and willingness to trust implicitly their masters or mistresses in the club, but Mistress Tory's attractiveness was a different animal altogether. The other women were cute and pretty and adorable like a housecat. If Mistress Tory could be ascribed any kind of cat it would be a tigress with all the aura of power, certainty, and danger that hung over one.

She was captivating. Wearing a skin tight leather catsuit that left little to nothing to his imagination, and it was currently imaging quite a bit of the treasures beneath it. A good pair of breasts-not too large and not too small-a good size for a man's hands to fondle and squeeze, a lean lithe figure (maybe she danced or worked out) with hips that flared out to long toned legs that was portrayed by the leather over them and the thigh high boots. Ethan approved he like breasts and butts on beautiful women just fine but the body part on a woman that held his primal male attention more than any other were her legs. Mistress Tory had a killer pair of them: lean without becoming like chicken legs. Muscled without going to the point of distracting exuberance like a female body builder, the perfect balance between the two.

He took off his hat and placed it over his heart and bowed his head in a brief gesture. An acknowledgement of one dom to another. "Much obliged for giving me some faith back there."

He took the seat she proffered for him before the desk. He sat down noticing how it was slightly lower than hers and the desk. It forced him to adjust his eyeline up to look her in the face if and or when his eyes weren't migrating lower over the graceful lines and curves of her body. The difference in their height was slightly discomfiting, reinforcing the difference in rank between them. Like the black bracelet with gold bands around it on Mistress Tory's wrist marking her as one of the owners and full members of the Zone compared to Ethan's dull grey probationary member's bracelet didn't do that enough.

Without looking she reached over and opened a manila folder flipping a page over with his picture on it. "I see you are nearing the end of your probation," She said her eyes never leaving his, "How do you think it's going so far?"

Her eyes began to strafe up his own body. Ethan could see her imagination working on stripping his jeans and flannel shirt off to conjecture what his body looked like underneath.

Well, fair enough. After all he'd been ogling her since he'd stepped inside this room. To help her efforts out he leaned back in his chair and spread his legs wide. His hat he rested on his knee (his granpappy-god rest his soul-would tear a strip off his hide if he didn't keep his hat off in the presence of a lady).

In answer to her question he replied in his Texan accent (the thing came with the hat and boots and he fell deeper into it the more he allowed himself to speak in it), "I can't rightly complain. The club I belonged to back in Austin didn't have so much an involved process or a secret evaluator watching over my shoulder as you did, but I understand the reasoning and I reckon to pass the final exams with flying colors."

 

[Ladythunder]

"I can't rightly complain. The club I belonged to back in Austin didn't have so much an involved process or a secret evaluator watching over my shoulder as you did, but I understand the reasoning and I reckon to pass the final exams with flying colors."

Tory gave a single nod, acknowledging his answer, but it was a long moment before she finally spoke, having finished her leisurely inspection of everything from his firmly muscled thighs, over his prominant bulge that hinted at something tasty beneath his jeans, to the fine hair she could see dusting his flesh above the shirt that had the first two buttons undone. Yes indeed, Ethan McBride was far more interesting upclose than he had been in the playroom.

Finally she spoke, choosing to address his earlier statement before getting to the point of why she had asked him to speak with her that night. She said calmly, "I wanted to see the measure of the man that was so bold as to flaunt the basic rules of my club, before he had gained the right to do so. I wondered, if you really wanted a membership here." She smiled then, just a faint curve of her full lips before she continued, "Thankfully for your sake, you showed exemplary control and talent with your chosen toy, and I have chosen to overlook it."

Tory finally glanced at his file then at him. "You have two weeks left of your probationary period and I will agree; so far you seem well on your way to becoming a full member." There was a pause, then Tory continued. "There is just one thing left to do."

"My name in this club is Mistress Tory.You, southern boy, may call me Ma'am. I have been tasked with the final part of your probation, providing you choose to proceed with your application."

Tory was intrigued in spite of herself. She had overseen the probation of multiple aplicants prior to him, and she never thought twice about them. She did her job, admittedly with enjoyment, but that was that. This man made her curious. She wondered why he kept himself so apart... She had seen the proof of his desire as he had left the playroom, and the curious, intelligent part of her wondered why he was the way he was. The answer didn't really matter, she told herself though. He was simply a buisness transaction and her association with him would end in two weeks.

With that in mind, Tory finally told him why he was there. "Our club is very unique, I'm sure you already know that. You have been told about most of the probationary process, but nobody has informed you of the details of the final exam as you call it. In this club, we are lucky enough to have some extremely talented submissives grace our premises. To entice such clientele, we pride ourselves on the quality of the dominants we invite to play here. We ask a lot of them, ask these dominant personalities to submit to rigorous screening processes. this much you know."

Tory paused then finished, "We also require our dominants to submit to much more in the last two weeks. If you wish to become a full member of our club, You will be required to submit yourself, to me. For a full two weeks, you will be asked to be as a submissive, to gain or display the knowledge of the inner working of a submissives mind and heart, in order to better understand their need and desire to be what they are. The idea is, with a better understanding of a sub, from the subs viewpoint, makes a better dominant. This has been proven over and over here, and though we know it isn't always true, for our purpose, this is a standing rule."

Tory stood then, watching Ethan closely. She knew most dominants, and how they reacted to such an outrageous demands and she didn't expect his reaction to be any different. Cooly she concluded, "If you agree to those terms you will come and take a single knee before me and swear to it. Or, you can walk out the door. The choice is yours."

The silence stretched between them then, Clearly the ball was now in Ethan's court.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Ethan McBride

In answer to her question he replied in his Texan accent (the thing came with the hat and boots and he fell deeper into it the more he allowed himself to speak in it), "I can't rightly complain. The club I belonged to back in Austin didn't have so much an involved process or a secret evaluator watching over my shoulder as you did, but I understand the reasoning and I reckon to pass the final exams with flying colors."

She nodded and let him stew for a moment in silence that gave her time to finish perusing him and undressing him with her eyes. Ethan allowed this noting with a rather unexpected surge in excitement from where those deep brown eyes dwelled on the tent of his jeans to the unbuttoned V in his flannel shirt. Why was the the pointed regard of her eyes the same as the caress of her fingers, lips, tongue.

"I wanted to see the measure of the man that was so bold as to flaunt the basic rules of my club, before he had gained the right to do so. I wondered, if you really wanted a membership here." Finally she spoke with a small and rather enthralling smile on her lips, "Thankfully for your sake, you showed exemplary control and talent with your chosen toy, and I have chosen to overlook it."

"As I said before; much obliged about the leeway you showed me," He nodded, "The switch stings like tarnation for a while, but it don't last too long. Jersey Girl, or Dinah, will be right as rain in a day or so, much faster than if I had used that cane on her that was left out for me."

Tory finally glanced at his file then at him. "You have two weeks left of your probationary period and I will agree; so far you seem well on your way to becoming a full member."

"Much obliged for that, darlin'," He said with a nod, "I figure the rest is merely a formality."

She paused for a moment before stating, "There is just one thing left to do."


Ethan's eyebrow quirked. "Oh?"

"My name in this club is Mistress Tory," She announced with a sure confidence that demanded absolute obedience, "You, southern boy, may call me Ma'am."

The eyebrow raised even further. Why was she trying to assert her authority over him so pointedly, almost as if she were addressing one of her subbies.

"I have been tasked with the final part of your probation," Mistress Tory continued, "Providing you choose to proceed with your application."

He straightened in his chair. Ethan was starting to wonder just where she was going with this. Before it seemed like this meeting was a mere formality, but now... "Somehow I get the feeling this final exam isn't going to be as easy I thought it'd be."

"Our club is very unique, I'm sure you already know that," She replied, "You have been told about most of the probationary process, but nobody has informed you of the details of the final exam as you call it."

"And those details are?" He was getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"In this club, we are lucky enough to have some extremely talented submissives grace our premises," She said, "To entice such clientele, we pride ourselves on the quality of the dominants we invite to play here. We ask a lot of them, ask these dominant personalities to submit to rigorous screening processes. this much you know."

"That was why I wanted in in the first place," He nodded.

"We also require our dominants to submit to much more in the last two weeks," She said after a moment, "If you wish to become a full member of our club, You will be required to submit yourself, to me. For a full two weeks, you will be asked to be as a submissive, to gain or display the knowledge of the inner working of a submissives mind and heart, in order to better understand their need and desire to be what they are. The idea is, with a better understanding of a sub, from the subs viewpoint, makes a better dominant. This has been proven over and over here, and though we know it isn't always true, for our purpose, this is a standing rule."

His eyes had widened at that. That sinking feeling had fallen from his stomach all the way down to the basement of the Zone.

She rose to her feet and looked down on him. "If you agree to those terms you will come and take a single knee before me and swear to it," She said, "Or, you can walk out the door. The choice is yours."

No. The thought of giving up one iota of control...he could never allow it. "You actually think you could ever top me?"

He raised up too and looked her in the eye (Jesus-why did she have to have such fucking sexy eyes)

"I apologize for the inconvenience," He said placing his hat back onto his head and straightening it just right, "But this isn't the right place for me."

He turned and walked out of his office. Ethan forced himself to go slowly, gathering his things and heading for the Zone's front door. He wasn't fleeing...not really.

He returned to his tiny apartment in the Bronx and his search for the right club for him. A couple nights later he returned to the Zone.

All the sadists within the walls of this club and none of them came close to lawyers. He signed the forms he needed...liability wavers and the like and returned to the main hall where a large gathering was being held. He saw the man who was the day to day manager of the club, Master Jackson Blake, Jack to his friends, and the man who had taken his entry interview and handed him the grey bracelet for his probationary period.

He held it out for him, "I should probably return this to you."

"Mr. McBride," Jack nodded but made no move to take the bracelet, "Sorry to hear you gave up on your probation period. You were so close to finishing it too."

"Well I'm not the type to kneel to anyone," He replied trying to hand him the bracelet and failing. Why wasn't he taking it? Ethan had turned the Zone down.

"Stay and watch the show," Jack stated gesturing to the center of the hall where a leather padded St. Andrew's cross was set. "We're in for a treat. Mistress Tory is having a session today."

He looked around the hall and there were quite a large number of people around. "She that good?"

Jack looked at him and smiled wanly. "She's all domme. The Domme. Domme of all Dommes. So, yes she is that good."

"You sound smitten with her," Ethan said warily.

"Not smitten, but I respect her a lot," He answered, "The two of us built this club together. She's a dear friend of mine. I'm good, real good, one of the best Doms in the city, but her...when she's in the zone she's something else entirely."

He looked at Jack skeptically. "Sounds like you're playing it up to me a little thick. Trying to rub my face in what I could've had? I told you I'm not-"

"Maybe I am," Jack raised a hand interrupting him, "You'll just have to wait and find out."

He nodded to the far door which as if on cue swung open and there she was in thigh high boots with fiendishly tall stiletto heels. She was a master at sauntering: the art of walking within heels that would break the ankles of lesser mortals, but not her. She walked with confidence and a regal queenly air that bent the laws of physics by the sheer expression of her will and authority in every step.

Heel, toe, heel, toe. The heels on the hardwood floor made a distinctive 'Clack' 'Clack' 'Clack'. Each step a statement of her sensual power over everyone in the room.

Their eyes connected and that certain indescribable thing between them passed, but then it was over as she pulled on a chain behind her. It brought out a naked man by the collar around his cock.

"That's Brendan," Jack said from beside him, "One of the male subs here. He has a vibrating tongue stud and the skill to use it, it makes him quite popular with the Dommes of the club, but he often tries to top from below with them."

Ethan found himself asking, "Does he do it to Tory?"

"He tried once," Jack shrugged, "She taught him the error of his ways, but she likes to remind him every now and then."

Ethan watched the scene unfold and tried to be unimpressed with her. He failed miserably. And as it progressed he found it harder and harder not to picture himself in Brendan's position under her sensual dominance.

 

[Ladythunder]

"You actually think you could ever top me?"

The shock and disdain in Ethan’s voice didn’t even move Tory. She had seen this sort of reaction from almost every one of the dominants to apply for membership. Some of them seemed to think they were better than the subs they played with, some figured they could never submit. Some thought they had enough lifestyle experience that they didn’t need or couldn’t see the potential benefit of such an experience. Some of them were even right. But not one of those that refused the offer were currently enjoying the pleasures of this particular club either. A few had left and come back, but the requirement never changed.

Tory felt a pang of disappointment though, when Ethan rose to his feet and clapped his hat back on his head. "I apologize for the inconvenience," He said placing his hat back onto his head and straightening it just right, "But this isn't the right place for me.”

As he turned to leave, Tory took one last admiring glance at his ass but after her cordial, “I’m sorry you feel that way, good luck in finding what you seek,” She seemed to dismiss him from her mind, returning to her seat. As the door closed behind him with a decisive click, She was busty writing something instead. When he left though, she laid down the pen and stared at the door. She couldn’t explain the sense of regret she felt at his decision; he was a Top with a capital T. Definitely not for her. Still…Her mood was a bit sour for the rest of the day.

Two days later, the mood hadn’t improved much. Because Tory had promised Jack she would fill her responsibility, she had cleared her schedule of other commitments to be able to devote the time required for Ethan’s test. Two days of nothing to do but think, Tory needed an outlet. She was popular enough, and played rarely enough, that all she had to do was pick up the phone and make a single call, lining up an engagement that night.

That evening, as Tory dressed in that nights costume, she found herself thinking again about Ethan, Ethan’s insufferable holier than thou attitude, and especially the snug package in Ethan’s pants. As she pulled the tight leather shorts she would wear that night over the firm curve of her ass, the black over bust corset, and the thigh high boots with their damnable mile long laces, her mind returned to him once more. Tory knew that the sub she had lined up was in for a special night as she relieved a few inexplicable frustrations on his hide.

His name was Brendan, and once, a long time ago he had tried to take control of a scene she was doing with him. Topping from the bottom was the one thing she had no tolerance for, and apparently her punishment had been so effective, that he sent flowers at least weekly, and if she even hinted that she might like a scene with someone, somehow he managed to find out and make sure his name was up on top for her consideration. She took a certain delight in denying him regularly, but for tonight she knew she needed someone she knew well, to be able to release the tensions she had felt building in her for a while, brought to a head for whatever reason by the meeting with Ethan.

She spoke to Brendan for a while, outlining the basics of what was expected that night, then snapped the short steel chain to the o-ring of the collar he wore. He was already naked, kneeling and waiting for her to be ready. She led him then through the door from the dressing area to the main floor of the club.

Even though it was a scene for her own enjoyment, Tory knew she had a following that waited eagerly for her scenes, so she played it up. As she moved purposefully across the floor listening to the click of her heels in the near silence she thought…and this is why I don’t play in public much. She hated the near spectacle her scenes had become in the last year.

Just then, she saw Ethan standing with Jack. There was just something about him. The mere sight of him had a shiver race up her back. She was busy though and tore her eyes from him, giving Jack a look that clearly said “Butt out!” then the moment was past.

She led Brendan to the padded cross and handed him up onto the tilted board at the base of it that held him a few inches off the floor before attaching the restraints snugly. She ran her hand over the naked back in front of her down to his ass, then pinched him. Brendan jumped and she leaned in against him fighting back a laugh. She said loud enough for those at the front of the audience to hear, “If that makes you jump Sweet, you’re in for a rough night…”

Stepping back she picked up a medium weight flogger and began flogging his back, watching with pleasure as his skin began to pinken. When it had reached the right colour, Tory set down that flogger and picked up a matched pair. Stepping back momentarily she spun them, one, then the other, setting up the rhythm then stepped in once more. She loved the intricate nature of florentine flogging, and the way the falls would fall almost continuously on Brendan’s skin.

She worked him over as time passed, moving from the floggers to a dragon tail, to her crop. She paused many times though, running her hands over his flesh, soothing him, creating the connection needed for him to take a little more, just because she wanted him to. Anyone close to them, could see that Brendan’s cock was angry, hard and aching, twitching and leaking, but Tory ignored it.

Until the last. She stepped up to him and pressed the full length of her body against him as she whispered in his ear, making sure he was still alright and informing the man of a change in plan. Only then did her hand finally fist his cock and stroke it slowly while she spoke. Receiving an answer, she stepped back once more.

Reaching the table her toys were set out on, she picked up a slender willow switch, for the first time since she had started the scene looking right at Ethan with a slightly sardonic smile. Moving back to Brendan, the switch swished through the air, flicking at the skin of his ass. Almost instantly a welt appeared, while Brendan groaned. Six more times her switch bit him, the angry welts showing in stark relief on his back. Brendan was shaking in his bonds, lost in that place that subs go when Tory set it aside and came to him once more. She took hold of his cock again and stroked it while the fingers of her other hand teased and played with the raised ridges of the welts she had left, feeling her heat of his back scorch her hand.

It was only moments before Brendan came, his seed painting the wood of the cross he hung on and he sagged, his head against the wood, seemingly on overload. Tory unfastened the restraints and helped him off the cross, wrapping a warmed blanket around him and handing him a water bottle while the crowd applauded. She began to lead him once more to the door they had come through, but she looked once more at Ethan on the way. Her eyebrow arched at him as if to say ‘why are you still here?’ and then she was gone.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Ethan McBride and Jackson Blake

"That's Brendan," Jack said from beside him, "One of the male subs here. He has a vibrating tongue stud and the skill to use it, it makes him quite popular with the Dommes of the club, but he often tries to top from below with them."

Ethan found himself asking, "Does he do it to Tory?"

"He tried once," Jack shrugged, "She taught him the error of his ways, but she likes to remind him every now and then."

Ethan watched the scene unfold and tried to be unimpressed with her. He failed miserably. And as it progressed he found it harder and harder not to picture himself in Brendan's position under her sensual dominance.

She came out wearing a leather corset done up tight lifting and accentuating her breasts and narrowing her waist down to the hourglass flare of her tight leather hotpants. She was a leather clad version of wonderwoman or Xena warrior princess and moved with all the feminine strength and confidence associated with those two icons.

Noticing Ethan's interest in her eyes Jack asked, "She's something else isn't she?"

"Beautiful and terrifyin' all in one," Ethan nodded not even looking at him as he replied to Jack. His eyes remained on her as she pulled poor-or lucky: depending on how you look at it-Brendan further out into the room. "What do you reckon she does outside the club? Is she a model or actress?"

Jack shook his head, "I can't answer that directly without breaking her confidence in me, but we do have another member who's a magazine photographer that's been after her for years to let her take her picture in her dominatrix gear..."

"So, I reckon, it would be a...no to bein' a model or actress then?" Jack didn't answer and Ethan didn't pursue it because they eyes locked. If looks could kill the one she gave him would've leveled small towns-part fuck you mother fucker, and part I'm going to go over there and throw you down on the floor and fuck you mother fucker.

It was disconcerting the thing that was between them. It was probably a wise thing that this was the last time he'd ever see her again. Ethan needed to maintain distance to exercise total control.

Jack beside him caught the look Tory turned upon him and shrugged in a 'just trying to help' fashion.

Ethan watched her lead Brendan naked over to the st. Andrews cross and begin binding him to it with the restraints. His breath was coming faster and his heart was hammering in his chest. The thought of being led out naked and vulnerable in front of so many people was doing some unsettling things to him. It was terrifying and illicitly exhilarating at the same time.

He swallowed past a lump that was forming in his throat as he watched her hand run down Brendan's back. His own skin broke out with a long line of goose bump up and down his spine. His breath caught as Brendan jerked when she pinched his buttock.

“If that makes you jump Sweet," Tory told him leaning against his back, "you’re in for a rough night…”

She then stepped back and set to work on him. Brendan was not exactly a big guy but was lean and wiry body of a rockstar. He had the lungs and voice for rock and roll too. He was free and vocal and expressive with it in pants, gasps, and groans. By the eleventh strike of Tory's flogger and each one after he was singing the song any submissive knew by heart. It would be music to every dominant's ear in the crowd.

Then when his back had developed an attractive shade of pink she picked up a twin set of them and began working them in continuous tandem together. A thudding baseline for Brendan's vocals.

Ethan had forgot to breath as he watched her. She was putting the floggers down and lifted a singletailed whip. The look on her face was a study in calm zenlike certainty. Like the act of whipping this man was centering her like hours of yoga or meditating or working out or riding the trail....She returned to Brendan the dragontail unfurling from her arm in swift and precise motions.

Throughout it her face remained calm and focused like he had been taught to break in broncos as a teenager. You go in distracted or upset and the horse would sense it and you'd wind up on your ass every time.

"She told me once she can hit a fly blindfolded with that dragontail," Jack said beside him, "And I believe her. I've never seen her miss..." He looked to Ethan suggestively, "...Whatever she aims for."

"Your still puttin' it on a bit thick," Ethan said to him in response, but at the end his mouth was left open as Brendan sagged his chest heaving and gasping hoarsely. She stepped forward and ran her hands gently, so gently over him. Her face was still calm but gentler now too as she forged a connection with the struggling sub to take more.

What would it be like to have that kind of connection with her for him. He found he was shivering where he stood. He avoided that kind of intimacy in sessions with his submissives. He needed the distance. He couldn't take the kind of closeness...being laid bare like Brendan was in that moment.

After giving him a moment to collect himself Tory then picked up a crop and began beating Brendan with it pushing him farther and farther into that naked vulnerable place.

"Who-uh..." Ethan tried to swallow again past the sahara that his throat had become. "Who topped her when it was her turn to submit?"

Jack looked at him, "I won't divulge that information. It stays strictly confidential."

He tore his eyes away from Tory using the crop on Brendan's reddened buttcheeks. "I reckon it was you," He said, "I aint wrong, am I?"

Jack didn't say a word. He leveled those eyes on him pointedly and they stared at eachother in a match of wills between them.

Exhaling loudly Ethan turned back his eyes on Tory as she stepped over to the equipment tray and picked up a willow switch. Ethan's exhale caught in his throat at that. Her head turned and she aimed a sardonic smile straight at him before proceeding to use it on Brendan.

Ethan watched biting his lip as she used his tool of choice upon her sub with a noticeable level of skill. Every stroke of that switch brought a cry from Brendan, but he was right there with her in that magic realm a sub went with a masterful dominant where the rest of the world faded away into the background.

Ethan could feel himself shuddering as she pulled him to that place with her and Brendan. He didn't know why, and he was not prepared for the connection at all. He was at war with himself now. Part of him wanted to turn and run, to escape this...thing between them, but another part of him was drawn towards it like the moth was drawn to the bugzapper.

"You all right," Jack asked as he watched Tory step up to him and wrapped her arm around Brendan's body.

Her fingers closed around his cock. Her other hand explored the welts and bruises she had delivered onto his back and buttocks and thighs. She stroked him and Ethan watched transfixed as that hand moved up and down on Brendan's turgid cock.

Ethan was torn. He was relieved on one hand that he had turned her down, but terrifyingly a growing vocal part of him was kicking himself because he had.

No, no, no. He could never do that. Submit, kneel to anyone in front of other people. The very thought made him white with terror.

Then why was he rock hard and hanging off every move Tory made and struggling not to picture her doing it to him instead of Brendan?

Brendan erupted and Tory turned her head her eyes taking his prisoner. Ethan shuddered fighting valiantly the urge to fall to his knees right there.

"I-I should go," He told Jack, "I need to go."

He turned and fled then out the doors, but he didn't leave the club instead he went to the bar across the street and a bottle of beer to settle himself. He sat his beer untouched watching the front of the club through the bar's front window. The day passed and evening was casting long shadows over the asphalt of the street. Finally he saw her in casual clothes striding out the club's entrance and turn to head down the street for the subway station there.

Ethan left a tip for her beer and followed after her not knowing why, but feeling compelled to do so by a part of him he did not want to recognize.

He didn't know what he would do if she noticed him following her, nor what he would tell her. He wasn't a creepy stalker. He should just turn around right now before...

...She turned around and looked right at him.

"I-ah..." He said to her, "...I wanted to walk you home."

 

[Ladythunder]

Leading Brendan through the door to the lounge area that had been set up for aftercare as required, Tory was torn. Instead of feeling relaxed as she usually was after a session, she felt even more tightly wound than before. She knew that it was directly because of Ethan McBride. She hated him with a white hot intensity in that moment for having that sort of power, and yet she wanted him still with equal intensity.

She needed to focus. Brendan needed her just now and that helped her to ground herself once more. She sat with Brendan on one of the low couches, his head in her lap, her fingers smoothing through his hair soothingly as he began to come back from the subspace she had taken him to. She whispered soft praise, telling him how well he had done until he sat up once more. Many subs required less aftercare than Brendan did, even Brendan usually needed less, but she had pushed him hard tonight.

Eventually Brendan thanked her profusely and left her alone. Only then did Tory’s thoughts return to Ethan, like a dog circling an old bone. She didn’t understand what it was about him that drew her the way it did. He had turned down her offer, just the same way that a few others had over the years had, but not one of them had affected her the way he did. Not since Jack…

Automatically her mind shied away from that topic, but with the same iron determination that she showed her subs, Tory forced her mind back to it. Maybe reliving it, would provide the insight to this situation to bring Ethan into perspective.

It had been almost 12 years previous. She had been friends with Jack for ages, they had a mutual crush on each other and one night he had asked her out. She of course had said yes, and the ensuing dinner had been very pleasant. So had the following dinners, movies, occasional clubbing in order to dance. Even the sex had been good, for what it was. But each of them had been hiding their true natures from the other.

One drunken night it had all come to a head. They had been to a party, and a few to many dirty martinis had been consumed. Going back to Jacks place, they had started another hot and heavy petting session when Jack had pinned her down, hands wrapped around her throat. She had panicked, thinking for some reason he was trying to kill her, and had used her own martial arts skills to throw him off, breaking the hold. She had pinned him, and demanded the truth.

Remorseful, Jack had confessed. Then Tory had confessed in return. Then they had fucked, and slept. In the days that followed, they had tried to maintain that relationship, but now that the secrets were laid bare between them, they both subconsciously tried to top one another. Until Tory had turned to Jack one night and told him she would always be a Domme, and couldn’t be anything else, even for him.

A year had passed then, with no contact, until one night Jack had called her. He had come into some money and wanted to open an upscale club, and he wanted her as his partner. They had one brief discussion about the past, each agreeing to forget it had happened. That hadn’t worked, but friendship and mutual respect had forged a bond once more between them, and these days, they were best friends.

Tory shook her head. All that trip down memory lane had done for her was to tell her to cast Ethan from her mind as nothing but trouble. The problem with that was, that Tory wanted him. Wanted him badly. And there seemed to be an indescribable something between them. She would give much to pursue that…

Shaking off both the unsettling memories and frustrating present, Tory took off her outfit and jumped in the shower, finally finding a measure of calm through sheer force of will. She dressed casually in her street clothes once more; Tight fitting jeans and a scoop necked blouse that clung to her curves. Glancing at the time, she cursed. She had intended to come in, blow off some steam, then go home and do some work, but she had been at the club for several hours instead. Now all she wanted to do was go home and curl up with a glass of wine.

With her long hair down and casual clothes on, nobody recognized her as she made her way back through the club, stopping at Jacks side. When he looked at her with one eyebrow raised, she informed him, “You’re an ass Jack. I see he ran off like a scared puppy. I wonder though, if that was because of you or me?” Her voice was humour filled, then turned serious, “He’s probably long gone, but thank you for trying Jack, I know you meant well.” Giving him a hug, she finally left the club.

Walking to the subway, she felt it. Someone was following her. Having attained second dan in jujitsu, she was less than afraid, but it irritated her nevertheless.

After listening to the soft footfalls behind her for a couple blocks, Tory had enough. She stopped dead, and spun around. Instantly her mouth dried, her heart rate kicking up a gear. She was instantly struck speechless. But, since Ethan had obviously followed her, Tory had an excuse to stand there and wait to see just what he wanted.

”I-ah…” He seemed as unsure as she was flabbergasted, …I wanted to walk you home.”

Tory nodded. Turning, she continued on her route. She was silent for a few minutes as they walked then stated softly, “I don’t let many people come home with me. It’s my sanctuary…” It hung in the air between them that she was also adding ‘So don’t fuck it up’

She managed small talk on the way to her upscale apartment, always mindful of the press of people around them that didn’t need to hear her business. One never knew who knew who, that might take it back to her boss. The whole trip though, Tory’s eyes kept returning to Ethan, filled with silent questions, even as she drank the sight of him in. She would have rather had nails pulled than admit she was glad to see him just then, but she was.

Arriving at her home, she automatically invited him up. Then she offered him a glass of wine and a seat. She perched on the arm of the chair across from him and leveled a stare at him.

“Why did you follow me tonight? You obviously have something on your mind?”

 

[Veroe]

Jackson Blake

Jack waited near the main door of the Zone. Knowing Tory as well as he did, he knew after such an intensive scene she'd want a quick shower after tending to Brendan's wounds herself. So he leaned against the wall waiting for her to emerge on her way back to her apartment on the lower Eastside.

Moodily he thought back on their shared history. He had known Tory for at least a dozen years or so. Back then he had been a closet kinkster, and was very hesitant to bring any alternative lifestyle into a burgeoning relationship. So they had tried it the vanilla way, too afraid to be who he was.

Then there was the night he had one too many vodka martinis, as dirty as you could ever want of course. He had screwed up, big time. The strain of maintaining the façade of the good vanilla boyfriend material version of himself, coupled with a few misperceived submissive signs from her...and douse liberally with a hefty dose of cocktails...well, he had deserved to be planted on his smug backside, and taught in no uncertain terms that she was by no means submissive.

He had been an idiot. Not just for being dishonest with Tory as well as himself, but by even attempting to play that far under the table. That was the realm for amatuers or fools. Normally Jack was no fool, but the chance to be who he truly was with the beautiful and passionate Tory was just too tempting.

When their mutual truths came to light that night it had changed everything in their relationship. The sex was hot but so was the surface of the sun, but no one wanted to live there forever. Their relationship became a contest of wills as they both tried to top eachother, and they pushed eachother to right on the edge of safety or sanity.

He still remembered how his heart felt when they had broken up. He had always regretted that, but what was done was done. Still they had grown into colleagues and friends and business partners now that they had built up this club for them to play in.

Still at times like this, he regretted, and thought on what might have been between them.

She came out wearing the casual and comfortable clothes he knew she would want to change into. A pair of tight blue jeans, and a blouse that dipped just low enough to show a hint of cleavage he had known so well so long ago.

Seeing him she strode right up to him and stopped at the door. She regarded him with one eyebrow raised. “You’re an ass Jack."

"I am," He nodded, "But this one interests me, Tor. I think he's hiding something under the cold cowboy surface, and you're the one that brings it out of him."

"I see he ran off like a scared puppy," She retorted with an amused note, "I wonder though, if that was because of you or me?”

"You kidding?" He chuckled, "I might as well have been reading the phonebook to him for all the effect I was having. That was all you." He gestured to the hall where she had just given the night of his dreams. "You were magnificent in there. He was eating out of your hands through the whole exhibition...though..." He rolled his eyes playfully at her. "...Your aim in your strikes are still veer to the left a little."

That was not precisely true of course. Tory's aim had always been dead on. He had even boasted about that to Ethan, but this was just another chapter of the banter between them now. Friends nothing more and any play was with words now.

“He’s probably long gone, but thank you for trying Jack," She told him.

He shrugged, "You know I could never stand a puzzle that hasn't been solved, and McBride strikes me as one big damn puzzle." He rolled his eyes at her. "If he swung my way at all I'd consider topping him myself." Jack was very Bi-in fact Tory had been the architect of that self-realization so many years ago, but alas Ethan McBride showed no signs of attraction towards him while he was drawn to Tory like a bee to wildflowers. "You're underestimating the hold you already have on him, Tor. Mark my words. You'll see him again and soon."

She pulled him into a hug which after a second he returned just as warmly, "I know you meant well.”

She didn't believe him, but Jack was sure of it somehow. This was not the last time she'd see Ethan McBride. "I wish you'd let me walk you home." He told her, "The neighborhood is getting a little rougher every year here. So far they know better than to try anything against the club or its members, but I don't want you to be the first to be hassled by gangs."

She could take care of herself though. A point he knew all too well. So she left the club by herself and Jack was left alone thinking if she was different, or perhaps if he was different....what would their relationship be like.

It didn't matter of course. They were what they were, and neither would ask the other to change that. It would take away the part of the other they each cherished.

So here he was alone...and hell, maybe he'd go find Dinah. She was always around the club somewhere. She'd been doing a superb job so far as a house submissive, maybe he'd reward her efforts with the spanking of her life.

------------------------X

IC: Ethan McBride

He didn't know what he would do if she noticed him following her, nor what he would tell her. He wasn't a creepy stalker. He should just turn around right now before...

...She turned around and looked right at him.

"I-ah..." He said to her, "...I wanted to walk you home."

Ethan was expecting her to be upset, to yell at him, to hate him, to call the police on him, but she didn't. She actually nodded to him and without a word started heading down the steps to the subway station. He followed after her, still unsure as to why.

They waited at the subway platform. Ethan stood behind her as other people croweded around them waiting for the train to downtown. Tory didn't give them any visible notice. She stood still, calm, and serene like a queen in her throneroom, which was odd since this particular throneroom was the East 132nd street subway station.

The train arrived and the people piled inside. The car was crowded, so being a gentlemanly sort of guy Ethan allowed her to take the last seat while he hung onto the rail. He watched her sitting in the seat like this was her throne.

Her extravagantly long legs crossed. One Nike clad foot swaying in the air casually as she looked at him. Because she was sitting down the difference in their height allowed him to get quite the eyeful of her cleavage down her blouse, but he didn't take advantage of it but once. He was too busy looking at her eyes.

Was it scientifically impossible to have eyes that altered shades from brown to hazel to dark as sin itself at a moment's notice? Whether it was or not he watched hers do it three different times as they subway carried them downtown to the lower eastside of Manhattan.

He had to catch himself from falling into her as the train screeched to the stop at the platform in her neighborhood. The doors opened and the mass of people began pushing their way out.

That was when she said to him, “I don’t let many people come home with me. It’s my sanctuary…” Then she put in rising from her seat, "So don’t fuck it up."

He nodded as they were the last two people to leave subway car. He followed her to a highrise apartment building. She nodded to the doorguy who gave him the stinkeye but when she offered to let him inside the stinkeye disappeared.

So Ethan followed Tory inside. They took the elevator up the thirty-fourth floor and down the hall to the left and opening a door to a condo/apartment that had a living room as large as his single room and bath apartment over in the Bronx.

Softly he whistled at the size of it. In Texas it wouldn't be much to write home about-average in fact, but there in the big apple...Tory must be well off financially to be able to afford such a large apartment within the heart of downtown Manhattan.

She came back from the kitched and offered him a glass of water. Ethan took it and took a careful sip of it as he watched her sit on the arm of the soft designer lounger across from him.

“Why did you follow me tonight," She said those scientifically impossible eyes boring into him.

He swallowed and looked down at the glass of water in his hands. "I don't rightly know for sure."

"You obviously have something on your mind,” She suggested.

He shrugged again not meeting those brown, or maybe hazel, or dark as sin itself eyes. "I-ah-I didn't want you headin' home without someone to stand up for you in case someone were to-"

But even to him that answer sounded lame so he allowed it to die in mid-lameness. He took a deep breath and raised his eyes meeting hers again. "Look, I'm a damn good dom, and I aint sayin' you aren't a hell of a good dome too, but I can't submit to anybody. It aint in me to, that's why I turned you down before."

He took his hat and pulled it off his knees. "I don't wanna leave your club, but I can't be a submissive to anybody. It aint in me."

He looked at her and shook his head wracked with a feeling he couldn't identify. "It just aint in me."

 

[Ladythunder]

"You know I could never stand a puzzle that hasn't been solved, and McBride strikes me as one big damn puzzle." Jack’s words rang in Tory’s head as she eyed Ethan sitting on her couch, twisting his hat in his hand nervously. She agreed with Jacks assessment wholeheartedly. He was a puzzle for sure, in a similar manner that Jack had been, but something, maybe sheer gut instinct, told her that there were hidden layers to that man. Even more, she wanted to draw them out.

Why did she always find herself drawn to complicated men? This is what Tory wondered to herself just then. The last thing she wanted was another Jack. She still ached in the quiet secret places inside her with regret for things that might have been. She knew that void could be filled with the right individual, but also that the wrong person would just tear those wounds open once more.

"I-ah-I didn't want you headin' home without someone to stand up for you in case someone were to-" He stopped, and Tory was glad he did. If there was one thing she couldn’t abide, it was lying, especially to oneself. She could see the lie on his face, read it in the taut line of his body.

She offered him a small smile of approval as he stated instead "Look, I'm a damn good dom, and I aint sayin' you aren't a hell of a good dome too, but I can't submit to anybody. It aint in me to, that's why I turned you down before."

She had heard that from him before, in other words. She waited, watching him, reading the story he was telling her without words and was rewarded with another statement. I don't wanna leave your club, but I can't be a submissive to anybody. It aint in me." She opened her mouth a crack to speak when he looked at her and shook his head saying, "It just aint in me."

It was in that moment that Tory knew. She almost blurted out “Bullshit!” But caught it back in time. Besides, she could be wrong, but she really didn’t think so. She saw something in the dark eyes that met hers just then that said even if Ethan wouldn’t admit it, he most definitely had the capacity for submission. She just didn’t know if he would be able to release it.

Tory set her wineglass to the side and rose to her feet. She walked toward him, catching back the predatory glint that kept threatening to creep into her eyes. She stopped in front of Ethan and said softly, “I think you can be anything you want to be Ethan. Membership to my club requires bottoming to one of us for two weeks. It does not require full submission.” Tory hesitated, loathe to admit weakness in herself but sensing somehow that sharing vulnerability would either be good…or bad. For the first time in years Tory was unsure of the outcome of something she was going to do.

She said, “Ethan, I will be honest. I want you to become a member of my club. I don’t know why, but I am drawn to you in a way I cant quite explain, even though I know I should be repelled just by who you represent yourself to be.” Impulsively she sat, this time she chose to perch on the arm of the seat he sat in. then she continued, her nose filling with the faint masculine scent of him. “I could throw you down and force you to do a great many things, but that is not who I am. At least not without your consent, implied or otherwise.” She grinned, slightly ferally. “I am pretty pushy though…and well known for getting just what I want.”

Her tone turned serious as she made the next statement, guessing more than anything, “You wouldn’t have to do anything you truly didn’t want to, I could even complete the majority of the trial here in my home. Normally it’s done in the club, but there’s no set rule about it. Though, the last night it is a necessity to be at the club if you are to receive your membership bracelet.”

Tory stopped then, her eyes a dark well, examining him, taking the measure of the effect her words had. She wanted to slide down onto his lap and drag his head to hers for a kiss but she held back, well aware that Ethan was still very reluctant, and unsure if the only reason he hadn’t bolted from her once more was the simple fact that she had half blocked his path by where she was sitting.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Ethan McBride

He looked at her and shook his head wracked with a feeling he couldn't identify. "It just aint in me."

Their eyes met again, and that something passed between them once more. Something told him that she didn't fully believe in what he told her but for now was going to be tactful on the subject. That was good because tactful bought him time...to...to...do what exactly?

She placed her glass of pinot noir down on the end table between the sofa and her chair. Rising back up to her feet Tory stalked towards him, hips swaying in the way that declared: 'Only those deemed worthy can have this'. Her feet automatically going to that power-walk he had noted before: heel-toe, heel-toe. It was quite the same in Nike crosstrainers and on carpet than her stillettos on hardwood but it wasn't very far off either.

Ethan swallowed past a dry lump forming in his throat. She didn't have the same predatory or imperial look on her face, but if he had to guess that was by an act of willpower on her part. He wondered if this was how Brendan felt earlier today watching her walk towards him.

She stopped right in front of him. The height of the chair left his head at the same height as her waist. She wore some Calvin Klein Jeans and plain blue T-shirt. Between the hem of the jeans and the T-shirt was a bare sliver of area exposing a narrow strip of bare skin to his eyes.

Ethan swallowed again trying not to dwell on his sudden desire to lean forward, stick out his tongue and trace along that narrow avenue. It would cause goosebumps to form in its wake.

“I think you can be anything you want to be Ethan," She told him, "Membership to my club requires bottoming to one of us for two weeks. It does not require full submission.”

He looked up at her at that statement, not certain what to do or even what to think about that. Part of Ethan wanted to storm out all affronted at her, but another part...the part that terrified him the most...couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be a submissive-no, not any submissive, but her submissive.

“Ethan, I will be honest. I want you to become a member of my club," She said, "I don’t know why, but I am drawn to you in a way I cant quite explain, even though I know I should be repelled just by who you represent yourself to be.”

"I-I reckon I'm drawn to you too," He said his voice gruff from his dry mouth. The glass of water in his hands all but forgotten. "But I can't see where that's leavin' us."

He flinched as she suddenly sat down on the arm of his chair making him very aware of the proximity of her thigh and ass to him. Those long legs sheathed in denim draped over the seat and Ethan's eyes were busy following their path down to the carpeted floor.

“I could throw you down and force you to do a great many things, but that is not who I am." She said with quite a frighteningly ominous quality to the grin on her face, "At least not without your consent, implied or otherwise.” Then added, “I am pretty pushy though…and well known for getting just what I want.”

"And what is it you're wantin' from me?"

“You wouldn’t have to do anything you truly didn’t want to," She explained, "Normally it’s done in the club, but there’s no set rule about it. Though, the last night it is a necessity to be at the club if you are to receive your membership bracelet.”

He looked down at the glass of water in his hand. He should just get up and go right now. So why in tarnation wasn't he doing just that?

The door was right behind him, past her kitchen and into the hallway to the elevator down. It would be easy to just leave, but...but he wasn't.

He lifted the glass to his lips with a trembling hand. What the hell? He wasn't the type of guy that got his nerves shocked like this. Not over an impossible proposition.

The water was cool going down and he drank all of it in one gulp, two, three... He lowered the empty glass back down to his hands. He found himself turning to look up at her.

"I will do it."

Who had said that. It sounded like his voice, but he wasn't conscious of saying that.

"But with three conditions," He quickly added, "Only here until that last scene, No nudity, and no questions about any scars or what went on in my past."

He knew she'd disagree. He would if it were one of his girls trying to dictate terms to him in this fashion. Especially since nudity was something of a prerequisite. The state of vulnerability it would put him in was a basic foundational experience in being a sub. Without it the entire exercise was fairly moot. Yet the only one he really wanted, had to, keep was the last. She couldn't know. No one could about his past.

 

[Ladythunder]

Tory was watching Ethan in much the same way as a cat watched a mouse. With hungry intensity. It was as though she was poised to pounce on him with the slightest provocation. Or maybe even without the provocation. Ethan in turn seemed to waver between looking as though he wanted to be lunch or clapping his hat on his head like armor and leaving. In a hurry.

Tory shifted her position slightly, having seen the way he was eyeing her legs and pressed one long cloth covered leg snugly against him, deliberately shifting against him as he squirmed in his seat.

"I-I reckon I'm drawn to you too, But I can't see where that's leavin' us." she thought on that while she made her next statements and then harder as he asked, "And what is it you're wantin' from me?"

She had already moved on to the next thing she’d had to say, but the thought that came to her then was...Everything. She had admitted her attraction to him, but saying she wanted him only brushed the surface of what she craved from this man. She wanted his body, but more, she wanted his mind. She wanted his will bent to hers, his head resting against her as he knelt waiting on her whim. She wanted his screams, his moans, maybe even his tears. She wanted it all. Tory scoffed at herself. It had been a long time since she had done anything but play at the club; now she was waxing maudlin!

"I will do it."

Tory almost fell off the arm of the chair. She had been lost in thought almost to the point of forgetting just what they were discussing in the sudden surge of ‘I wants’ that his sudden capitulation was utterly shocking to her. She couldn’t have named the emotion that came with his statement, but it was at least partly relief and excitement. It may have only for a two week period but those two weeks were going to be...memorable. Then Ethan’s mouth opened and he just had to ruin it. Her eyes narrowed at him as he began dictating to her. She was not going to have another Jack!

"But with three conditions," He quickly added, "Only here until that last scene, No nudity, and no questions about any scars or what went on in my past."

Tory moved then, shifting until she seemed to almost fall off the arm of the chair to land straddling his lap. her fingers slid teasingly into Ethans hair and tugged back until his head tipped back exposing his throat. It was as if she had taken his words at face value and said to herself ‘Well, he said yes...so lets get the fuck going!’ but that wasn’t actually the case.

Tory leaned forward, pressing the length of her body against his, knowing he would feel discomfort at the simple action. Her breath feathered against his throat as she growled softly, “A few things Ethan. There will be nudity. Lots of nudity. You already know that condition won’t work. How many subs have you toyed with fully dressed? Clothes are not armor and I won’t allow them.” Deliberately she rolled her hips pressing her heat more closely against him, even though she was aware he wasn’t really aroused. it was simply to underline a point.

She continued, “I agree however, to not discuss your scars or past, unless required. I do not promise not to be fascinated with them anyway, as I happen to like scars.” Almost as if she was reminding herself of it, Tory stated, “This isn’t a real relationship. In two weeks we are done and you get to go back to beating people while you cloak yourself in some guise of how untouchable you are. I therefore can see no reason to need your backstory. But, in the interests of covering my ass, I insist on the loophole.”

Tory had studied Ethan’s file extensively and was well aware of the limits he had listed in regards to his dom techniques and intuition allowed her to infer what they might be as a ‘bottom’, so she didn’t see the need to spend a lot of time going over minute details. She briefly spoke about the safeword she used in her home. same as the club, she used the stoplight system as long as he was there. Had he been her sub in reality, she would have allowed him to pick, but this way, it would be easier in the interim.

During the entire conversation, Tory maintained her position, in some ways forcing Ethan to listen, and preventing him from changing his mind just then. When she finished speaking, she leaned forward, her head dipped and she ran her tongue up the edge of his neck, then dismounted his lap and stepped back.

Ethans first test of his commitment was at hand and Tory was ready for nearly anything. Looking at him seeming somewhat imperious, She said, “If all that makes you change your mind, you know where the door is. If not, I want to see you naked from the waist up. once disrobed, as I requested in my office, I want you to say it. on your knees. Right here. Now.” she felt on edge in that moment, the beast inside her wanted out, to play with her new toy as such, but she caught it back, waiting to see what he was going to do. She knew she was pushing him hard, even from the start, but if he chose it, Tory knew Ethan would have an experience he would remember.