Shibari

“I know you’re hurting, but why did you have to turn into such a bastard!”

I pressed a hand to my stinging cheek. Ever since I’d broken my arm, my girlfriend had been sympathetic and helpful bordering on smothering. She really didn’t deserve my bad attitude, but I couldn’t help it. I suddenly felt like the whole world had turned against me and the only way I could cope was by withdrawing into a protective shell.

“Oh? So you’re going to deny sleeping with my best friend behind my back?” I asked in a tone that conveyed absolute certainty in my belief, despite the fact that I had no reason at all to believe such a thing.

“I have never and I will never cheat!” She roared indignantly.

“Don’t give me that! He told me all about it!”

She slapped me again. “He did not because it never happened! But you know what? If you were going out with a girl who would cheat and she did it with him, I wouldn’t be at all surprised! You call him your best friend, but I don’t think you’ve EVER let anyone into your heart enough to be called a friend much less a BEST FRIEND!”

Hmm… she might have a point. I considered my best friend my best friend simply because he was my neighbor, we’re the same age, and we’ve basically hung out ever since we were little kids. And for that same reason, he might actually be the only person I even call a friend, but even I have to wonder sometimes why we hang out at all. We were basically opposites and had nothing in common.

But since I knew my accusation wasn’t true, I supposed that I just had to ride the burning flames of deceit all the way to the bitter end. I glared at her as if she had just murdered my favorite dog.

“Trying to turn this around on me as if this is somehow my fault just proves that it’s true,” I pointed out with a soft growl. “Dimitri is the sort of guy who can have five or six different girls in one night and still manage to keep them all happy and they never suspect for a moment that he’s playing them all. Do you even KNOW how many times I’ve gone over to his house to hang out only to walk in on him in bed with some girl? So, when I found YOUR underwear in his room, I asked him how long he’d been screwing you, and he told me all about it!”

She looked utterly shocked. “Those can’t have been mine! You only think they were because I wear plain white panties! But they’re the same sort of underwear that EVERY girl wears at least a couple of times a month! I am NOT a cheater! I thought you knew me well enough to know that!”

“Listen Amanda, who would you believe? Your best friend that you’ve known for your whole life, or someone you’ve only known for about three years?”

She had moved from sheer fury to silent tears by this point. “So you’re going to break up with me with no proof simply because you’ve known him longer?”

I felt like that was a trap. I could practically see her mind scrambling to figure out how she could prove the accusation wrong and fix this mess. I had absolutely no desire to drag this out any longer than necessary.

“Oh no, not at all. Who said anything about breaking up? If you just come clean with me and tell me honestly what happened, I’ll forgive you. Didn’t I already tell you? Dimitri has at least five or six girls a night; he’s slept with my girlfriends in the past and I’ve even had his sloppy seconds when I was in the mood.”

This took her aback so much that she literally took a step back. “But… you said I was your first girlfriend… your first kiss — your first EVERYTHING!”

This was actually true. She had been my first everything, and the three years that we’d been going out now felt like a wonderfully perfect dream. So wonderful that it was now suffocating me.

“I lied,” I lied with a careless shrug. “You really think I haven’t had others? Come on! Every girl wants me!”

This successfully reignited her rage. She slapped me for a third time before punching the cast on my right arm before shoving me so hard that I hit my head on the edge of her bed as I fell to the ground.

“FUCK YOU! FUCK THIS SHIT! YOU DON’T WANT TO BELIEVE ME? WELL FINE, FUCKING DO WHAT YOU WANT! BUT DON’T YOU DARE ACCUSE ME OF CHEATING JUST BECAUSE YOU TURNED INTO A BASTARD AT SOME POINT AND FUCKED AROUND BEHIND MY BACK!”

Having gotten exactly what I wanted, I immediately stopped pushing her. Instead, I simply got up and grabbed my bag, fully intending to leave without another word.

“DON’T YOU EVER COME BACK HERE, BENJAMIN, OR I SWEAR I’LL STAB YOU IN THE GUT WITH THE DULLEST PAIR OF SCISSORS I CAN FIND!”

She continued to rant even as I left. I know I had just hurt her worse than I ever wanted to, but it was better to get it over with now rather than months or even years from now when she finally realized that she couldn’t love me anymore. After all, I’m never going to be who I was supposed to be. I can no longer be the man I was planning to be, the one who loved her and could make her happy.

From her house, I drove directly to Dimitri’s. He saw me enter his room and gestured for me to sit without saying a word. More than that, he kindly let me lay on his bed and brood in silence while he continued to play his game. Eventually, I felt like talking.

“I told Amanda that you confessed to helping her cheat on me.”

“WHAT?!?!” Dimitri burst out in extreme shock and confusion.

“Then I told her that I’ve been coming over here to cheat on her with your sloppy seconds.”

“WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?!” Dimitri roared, clearly still very much shocked and confused.

“Because I can’t be with her anymore. Better to let her think I’m a bad guy than a pathetic loser,” I admitted.

Dimitri rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Come on man, you only broke your arm!”

I sat up and glared at him. “You say that like this is a temporary condition that I’ll recover from and go back to normal!”

“That’s because it is!”

“It is not!” I roared, feeling for too close to tears for my comfort.

Even Dimitri looked surprised by my outburst, since this was probably the first time in my life I’d lost my temper or raised my voice, much less, well, I probably looked like a loser who was about to cry. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said that we were opposites. Like my father, I was stoic and even tempered and always did the right thing. I never got upset about anything and my life had always been more or less perfect.

Dimitri — on the other hand — was always fairly emotional. If he was mad, he shouted until he felt better. If he was happy, he was like an overly excited little puppy. He didn’t have a dad, so I didn’t know if they were alike or not. For a while after his dad’s death — when we were still so little that I don’t remember his dad at all and would be surprised if he remembered much — his mom was a fairly attentive and loving mom. And she hadn’t changed except that she was now running a company and worked so much that she was almost never home. She slept in her office and only seemed to make it home in time for dinner on Sunday nights.

This left Dimitri with an enormous amount of freedom, and so, he actually did have a fair amount of girlfriends and one night stands, even though I had vastly overstated just how many.

Sighing from a feeling like I had just lost a battle, I ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t think you understand. My whole life I’ve had two choices: Be a useless little rich kid who never did anything because I will inherit more money than God someday, or devote myself to something I’m interested in and eventually be recognized as a person of worth because of my OWN achievements.”

Dimitri rubbed his chin in thought. “Is that why you were always on the honor roll? I just thought you were naturally gifted with intelligence and didn’t have to work at it.”

I mildly glared at him again. “You still don’t get it. I AM naturally gifted with intelligence — just like my mom and dad. Being on the honor roll ISN’T something I had to work at. Hell! It wasn’t even something I had to be awake for! I simply had to breathe and I got the best grades in the school! That’s NOT any sort of worthy achievement, that’s just being a spoiled rich kid who doesn’t have to do anything because my parents are both geniuses and they passed that onto me — just like they both come from wealthy families and will pass that onto me as well.”

At this point, he unsurprisingly glared at me and grumbled: “Now it just sounds like you’re bragging and being a shit.”

I sighed. “I’m not trying to be. My point is that baseball was the one thing in my life that I had to struggle at. I had to work my ass off for every small improvement. I had to practice for hours every day just to get decent! And then I finally got good enough that I was scouted to be on a college team! And not just one! I’ve got probably a dozen offers! With no need to worry about tuition or a scholarship — although they’d all give me one if I accepted — I could pick the best college and be nearly guaranteed a spot in the major league sooner rather than later!”

“So stop shouting at me for no reason and go do that!” Dimitri roared at me in frustration.

“DON’T YOU GET IT?! I CAN’T!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “THE DOCTORS HAVE ALL SAID THAT THIS ISN’T A SIMPLE BREAK! IT HAPPENED RIGHT NEAR MY ELBOW, AND EVEN WITH SURGERY, I’M NEVER GOING TO HEAL UP GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY PROFESSIONALLY! THE BONES MIGHT EVENTUALLY BE GOOD AS NEW, BUT THE LIGAMENTS NEVER WILL!”

“Oh… man…” Dimitri murmured softly in profound sympathy.

I sighed and flopped back onto his bed so I could look up at the ceiling. “Now I have no choice but to be a spoiled little rich kid who’s so smart that I can easily get any college degree I want that will ultimately do me no good because I’m just going to have more money than I could ever want! I mean, why bother working? Say I get a degree as a doctor or a lawyer or something, it wouldn’t even be hard. Then what? I toil for a paycheck I don’t even need?”

At this point, I felt so pathetic that I covered my face with a pillow and focused on breathing until the stinging in my eyes went away.

Dimitri was quiet for a long moment, then he must have thought of something to say. “So… don’t. If you don’t need to work, then don’t work. Find something else that makes you happy. Make art. Start a YouTube Channel and make stupid videos that only five viewers watch. Buy a yacht and go sailing. Hell! You could turn into a party boy for a while — God knows you’re overdue for a bit of rebellion.”

I tossed the pillow aside and rolled my eyes at him. “Being a party boy would require me to actually party. Can you even imagine me drinking? And what? Doing drugs?”

“No, but that’s exactly what I mean,” he stated, pointing at me. “You’ve never done anything like that, and you’ve only ever had one girlfriend. So go to a party, get drunk, and pick up a random girl. Then keep doing that until you realize that you’re happier just being a useless little rich boy who never does anything.”

“Ugh!” The very though of it made me sick to my stomach. “If I’m just going to end up useless, I might as well just go for it! Pick some random girl to marry and have kids with and spoil them rotten until THEY become useless little rich kids who never have to do anything of value either.”

“Then wouldn’t blowing up your relationship with Amanda be a bad thing?” Dimitri asked in confusion.

I huffed derisively. “I can’t marry her.”

“Why not?” He questioned with a frown.

“Because she’s in love with the me that was working toward being a professional baseball player,” I replied sensibly.

“You think she’s so shallow as to abandon you now?”

“No… just that I can’t be that person, and eventually, it’ll be obvious that we built our relationship on me working towards my goals while she worked towards hers. We always supported each other, and we always will — or would if we stayed together. The problem is that she still CAN achieve her goals and I… can’t. If I asked her to marry me and have kids now, she’d do it. She’d abandon her dreams and settle down to a simple life with me.”

Dimitri snorted in amusement. “Oh no! Such horror! She’d have to suffer as the wife of a rich kid who never lacks for anything!”

“Besides, she wants to be an actress. If we got married, she’d have a much harder time getting into the roles she wants. It’s better for her if she just focuses on her life for a while. If we’re truly meant to be together, it’ll happen eventually.”

“There you go sounding like an old man again! I swear! You have always been like some old man! If a kid hit you, you’d shrug it off and say that he was probably having a bad day. If I cried because my mom had to work on my birthday, you’d remind me that work is important and that she’d make it up to me by giving me whatever I wanted. You can rationalize anything! Can’t you ever just be selfish for a minute and say that you want Amanda to marry you and have your kids and give your life meaning?”

I shrugged because I didn’t know what to say to that. Suddenly, a thought made me chuckle a bit wryly. “Amanda said that you and me, we’re not really friends because I never let anyone into my heart. For a moment, I thought it might be true.”

He shook his head and made a laugh that sounded a bit like heh. “It only seems that way because you almost never show emotion. I’m still seriously shocked that you’re acting like a normal person today!”

“Yeah, well don’t tell anybody,” I muttered, not really liking the fact that HE saw me at my worst. If anyone else found out, I’d probably die from the shame.

“Why would I do that? If I did, you’d just tell them about the time that I got so drunk I ended up puking all over my lap and underwear while I was sitting on the toilet and you had to help clean me up.”

“True,” I murmured even though I was lying. I’d never tell anybody about that because it wasn’t exactly a pleasant memory for me either.

Now that I felt slightly better, I decided to go home before my parents got worried about me and started calling and texting me. After all, they’d both been there when the doctors told me the news, so they probably thought I was out contemplating suicide or something. If I was totally honest with myself, I did give it about two minutes of consideration before deciding to break up with Amanda instead.

As I drove home from Dimitri’s, I could see my parents staring at my car through the window, so I knew they’d probably been trying to subtly keep an eye on me ever since I showed up at Dimitri’s. It made me feel slightly better that they cared enough about me to be so obviously worried.

Once in our house, they clearly couldn’t decide if they should come over and smother me with affection — in their own rather stoic way — or leave me alone until I went to them for comfort. A maid announced that dinner was just about ready and I murmured that I wasn’t hungry.

Then I walked over to where my parents were still standing indecisively by the window. “I’ve decided that I’m not going to college.”

“O…kay…” They replied in a slow and concerned tone.

“Dimitri told me to basically find something else that’ll make me happy, and I don’t think it’ll be found by attending classes I don’t care about.”

“Makes sense,” my mother agreed in a soft and encouraging tone.

“So… what are you going to do?” My dad wondered.

I shrugged. “Make art or something. Keep trying new things until something makes me happy.”

“And then turn it into a business?” He asked, because he knew that I never needed to earn money, so for him, turning a hobby into a business — even if it was continually in the red — made far more sense than sitting around doing nothing at all.

I shrugged again. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably.”

My mom smiled warmly. “In that case, Benjamin, why not take a few art classes. I don’t mean at college, just the local community education classes.”

“Maybe,” I murmured noncommittally.

“Just don’t push yourself. You have all the time in the world,” my dad advised me gently.

Nodding in agreement, I turned to go to my room.

“Why don’t you invite Amanda over for the weekend? We can dress up and go to her favorite restaurant for dinner,” mom suggested, still in her gentle and supportive voice.

“We broke up,” I stated flatly even as I kept walking toward my room.

“What?!” Mom called after me in alarm.

I could hear my dad murmur softly. “We should keep our noses out of it.”

“Yeah, but this is too sudden! First he graduates highschool with his future all planned out, then he breaks his arm during a practice game, and now he suddenly decides against college AND breaks up with his girlfriend?!”

“Well, even if you run after him, what can we really do?” My dad questioned.

“I don’t know, but something!” Mom practically hissed.

“Just give him some time to think things over. When he’s ready, then we can try to talk him into fixing things with Amanda and going to college after all.”

I stopped in my tracks halfway up the stairs. Then I turned and called out to them even though they were still in the sitting room and couldn’t see me. “What good would getting back with Amanda do if I went to college? We’d be on opposite sides of the country. She’s going to a prestigious acting school in California, and IF I went to college at this point, it’d be Harvard or Yale, so, we wouldn’t really be together anyway.”

My parents came out of the sitting room so that they could look at me. “True…”

“Besides, cheer up, I gave some serious thought to picking a different girl and getting married soon so that I can have kids. Isn’t the girl in the mansion two blocks over turning 25 and ready to get married? I could always ask her.”

They both gave me a mildly horrified look. I rolled my eyes at them.

“Don’t give me that look. The two of you always tell me that you met in college and didn’t actually love each other when you got married. You both just wanted to quit wasting time doing nothing in classes that were so easy they offered no challenge, and decided that having a kid would pacify both your families. If you can do it, then why can’t I?”

“That’s true, but we also told you many times that we genuinely fell in love before having you, and now that we know what love is like, imagining you having a marriage without that…” my mother trailed off with a faint shudder.

“Look,” my dad interjected. “Just don’t make any sort of decisions regarding marriage until your arm has healed and you’ve had some time to think things over a lot more.”

“That’s fair,” I agreed. As I turned to finish going up the stairs, I noticed that my mom looked like she wanted to cry.

I think I heard her faintly mutter: “I know I always wanted him to get married and give us grandchildren, but not like this…”

A glance over my shoulder showed my father holding and rubbing her back in stiffly stoic silence.

 

***

 

“What the hell is Shibari?” I asked as I checked out all of the ads on the community board in the Starbucks down the street from my house. I’d been coming in here every couple of days to see if anyone was advertising any sort of classes that sounded interesting.

A man next to me laughed softly. “Before I can answer that, how old are you?”

“18, why?” I asked suspiciously.

“Uh-huh, sure kid. If you’re actually 18, I’ll buy your coffee,” he said with a scoff.

I was mildly taken aback. “Don’t I look 18?”

“Nah, you look like you’re about 15 or 16.”

Strangely indignant, I pulled out my driver’s license and showed it to him.

“Huh! Not only are you 18, but you’re one of those poor bastards who has your birthday right after school starts, so now that you’ve probably graduated, you’re almost 19!”

“Yeah, that part sucks,” I agreed because if I had been born in June or July, I’d have actually graduated before turning 18 — which would have been a year ago. Chances were good that my life would have been drastically different if I’d graduated a year ago. I’d probably be in college already. Maybe even scouted by a professional team.

“What happened to your arm?” The man asked curiously.

“I broke it,” I stated in an emotionless tone. “What’s Shibari and why are there classes on it?” I asked, pointing at the ad on the board.

He huffed a laugh and grinned at me. “Hold on, let me buy you that coffee before I explain.”

“I can’t stand coffee, but they have a Vanilla Rooibos that I like,” I informed him, again in an emotionless tone. It wasn’t anything against him, I was just fairly emotionless in general.

He looked faintly puzzled as he looked me over. After a moment, he shrugged and turned to go order our drinks. By the time he had them in hand, I had read every ad on the board and had sat down to wonder why none of them seemed interesting. There were ads for classes on things like pottery, singing, dancing, and painting, but none of those felt worth the effort of showing up for the class, much less actually learning them.

He handed me my Rooibos with a warm smile. “I’ll admit, that actually smells good, which I didn’t expect since I’ve never heard of it before. Anyway, I’m Kenneth. Some people call me Ken, but that actually bothers me, so please call me Kenneth.”

I shook his hand. “Hi Kenneth, I’m Benjamin, and just like you, I don’t really like when people call me Ben.”

“Fair enough. Alright Benjamin, to answer your question, Shibari is a Japanese word that means tying up with rope. They mean it in a decorative sense, but it has come to encompass a whole slew of bondage techniques.”

“Bondage?” I questioned with a raised brow. “Why would someone advertise classes for that? Wait. Why would someone offer classes on that?!”

Kenneth laughed so loudly that a bunch of other people stopped what they were doing and looked over at us. Then he slung an arm around my shoulder. “How else do you suppose people learn it? It’s not exactly something you can learn via tutorials. Well, I mean I suppose you CAN, but it’s really so much safer and easier to learn it from a teacher.”

“You seem to know a lot about it,” I pointed out, surprised to find myself slightly curious.

He shrugged affably. “Yeah well, that’s because I’m the one offering the classes. I’d only just put the ad up and stepped aside to read some of the other ads when you walked up and asked what the hell it even was.”

“Oh,” I murmured, not entirely sure how to respond to that.

“So… interested in taking at least one class to see what it’s all about?” Kenneth asked casually, as if he didn’t care either way, even though he was clearly eager for his first student.

“Hmm…” I hummed in thought. “You know, it’s the first thing I’ve heard about that seems even slightly interesting in a long time. I suppose I could try one class.”

“That’s the spirit!” He cried out happily, even going so far as to pound me on the back.

“But first, what exactly is taught in this class?” I asked, belatedly remembering that bondage was a sort of advanced sexual technique, and I’m not exactly free with my body.

“Actually, the class itself is really pretty tame. It really is just teaching the various tying techniques. If you want to put what you’ve learned into practice, that’s completely up to you to do on your own.”

I was inexplicably relieved. “Oh. So I won’t be tied up and raped in front of an audience. Wait. How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”

He chuckled and winked at me. “Oh sure, I can see why you’d be afraid for your virtue, but I’m offering this class through an official club. I CAN’T allow or encourage anything that would get the club in trouble. And actually, I work at this club because it places supreme importance on Safe, Sane, and Consensual. No matter what happens, you will never be forced to do something you don’t want.”

“Huh…” I exhaled in thought. “So… When are these classes?”

Kenneth picked up his coffee. “Come on. Since I haven’t set a date or time yet, I think it would be best to bring you to the club and let you see that I’m not lying. Also, you’d actually really be helping me out by being a sort of trial run before I have an actual class full of people expecting me to be a good teacher.”

So… private lessons? I suppose that it would be far less embarrassing to be tied up when there aren’t any witnesses, as opposed to in front of an entire class of strangers.

“Alright…” I agreed before taking a sip of my tea — which was still scalding.

A shockingly mere 20 minutes later, I was seriously questioning my decision to go to a freaking SEX club with a complete stranger. I looked around, trying to remain calm and show absolutely no emotion — which was normally my natural state — but I’m dead certain that my eyes were as big as saucers and about to pop right out of my head. After entering the club and getting past a lobby and a locker room, there… were no clothes…

Considering that it’s about 3PM on a Wednesday afternoon, I really expected the place to be nearly empty, but it was — well, not exactly packed, but had a good two or three dozen people all mingling in a state of either complete nudity OR in a costume so revealing and suggestive that they might as well be naked.

“I had no idea such a place existed…” And was so damn close to my house!

Kenneth chuckled. “In case you were too out of it to pay attention, as I said in the locker room, you don’t have to get naked — although you can if you want. Probably most of the people who take my class will be members, but I put up an ad on a few different community boards to see if I could attract some people who aren’t part of the club.”

“Why?” I wondered, curious despite myself.

“Mostly because I think that there might be a lot of people who are interested in taking such a class but can’t afford becoming a member of the club. Or maybe they haven’t even heard of the club yet,” he explained.

“Makes sense,” I murmured in understanding as I looked up at the logo on the wall. It was the name of the club in a script so fancy that I almost couldn’t read it. That said, I’d seen the name as we walked in: La Petite Mort — The Little Death. It was a french euphemism for orgasm. I took another shy look around. “This place is bigger than I would expect… had I thought such a place existed.”

He laughed and pointed over to the left. “That’s the room I’ll be using as my classroom. Those stairs lead down to the dungeon, that door over there is where you can get something to eat or drink — although it’s a full service bar, so you’ll be carded. This big room we’re standing in is a sort of general gathering room where people meet up, discuss their kinks, negotiate contracts, and even play around a little — so don’t be shocked when you turn around and see a man giving another man a blowjob in the corner over there.”

I took a step back and gave him a wary look. “Is this a gay club?”

“Not as such. It’s actually an all inclusive club, so you could potentially see people covering all aspects of the spectrum. Anyway, downstairs next to the dungeon, there’s a large bathroom in the sense that there’s a huge hot tub and a few open showers, plus a sauna. Tucked in here and there all over the club are semi private rooms for any sort of play imaginable. They’re semi-private so that bouncers can ensure that no one is ever being forced to do something against their will.”

“Really, there are bouncers here?” I couldn’t explain why, but this made me feel about 45 percent more comfortable — not that I had actually relaxed or anything.

“Of course. As I said, the rules are VERY strict about everything being safe, sane, and consensual. If a person who hasn’t contracted to non-consent says no about anything at any time, then their partner HAS to stop all play until the situation is thoroughly discussed and all parties are on the same page again — although it’s typically not that dramatic. Just a quick pause to ask what’s wrong and fix it,” Kenneth explained.

“Oh…”

Kenneth pointed at the ceiling. “The floor above us has a few different rooms, such as a room dedicated to Shibari — but far more advanced Shibari than I’m going to be teaching you any time soon. There’s also a dark room that is so dark just simply walking through the door is considered consent for any and all play. Don’t get me wrong, if you wandered in there by mistake and someone tried to bend you over, all you’d have to do is say no and leave — and a bouncer will use a small flashlight to retrieve you if necessary, but the point is that a lot of people want to experience complete anonymity, so they can go into the dark room and have casual sex with strangers they can’t even see.”

“Why…?” I couldn’t help but wonder.

Rather than attempt to answer, Kenneth simply chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, Benjamin. Just stick to this part of the club and my classroom. Are you still interested in my class?”

I took a moment to think this over, and then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Great! Stay there one moment!” He ordered before spinning around and running off toward a table that had five women sitting around it. Three were naked, one wore shiny black leather from head to toe that looked too tight to properly breath in, and the last woman wore what looked like a sexy bunny costume. He whispered in the ear of one of the naked women, and she gave him a brilliant grin before nodding and standing. Then she kissed the rest of the women goodbye before following him over to me.

“Hi…” I greeted with a blush as I tried not to look her up and down but failed when I realized that I was staring at her rather perky and nearly perfectly formed breasts.

“They’re gorgeous, aren’t they?” Kenneth asked, startling me.

“What?” I blurted out in confusion.

“Her tits! She’s never going to agree and can’t stop complaining that they’re more than a B-cup but not quite a C-cup –”

“Well it’s frustrating! I can never just buy a premade bra! I have to go to a special seamstress! It’s just easier to go naked, to be honest, and actually, I would stop bothering to wear a bra under my shirts if I could, but they’re just a hair too big to go without a bra in public!”

“Uh…” I droned, having NO IDEA how to respond to that.

“See what I mean, but as I was saying — or planning to say,” Kenneth continued. “This is Jessica. She’s absolutely in love with Shibari, so she’s more than eager to be my assistant during class.”

“You couldn’t keep me away unless you took me upstairs and tied me to the ceiling! Oh, mmm… Will you take me upstairs and tie me to the ceiling when class is over. And then leave me there to suffer for an hour or so? I’ll pay you back in any way you like…” she ended that with a sultry purr.

Kenneth grinned at her. “No problem!”

“Uh…” I droned again, feeling extremely off balance now.

Before anyone could say anything else, another naked woman ran over to us. “Oh hey! So happy to see you, Kenneth! Would you do me a favor and tie me to one of the benches in the dungeons? I want to be oh so helpless as naughty little perverts have their way with me.”

I couldn’t help but blurt out: “Why?! If you want people to have sex with you, just say so!”

She laughed so melodically that my heart may have melted a tiny little bit. “Where’s the fun in that?!” She put her right hand over her heart and her left hand on her cheek. “If I’m tied up so much that I can’t move nor resist in any way, then what if someone touches me? What if they pinch my nipples and spank my ass? What if they shove their rock hard dick in me and ram me into the bench before pulling out and making me swallow a huge load?” By her tone, she was getting more and more excited just thinking about it.

“Uh…” I’m pretty sure that my face was on fire. To the point that I would not be surprised if the fire alarm went off and the sprinkler system had to hose me down.

To my surprise, Kenneth answered her original question as if he answered it every day. “I would, Lily, but you know that if I do that, I have to stand guard or I’d lose my job, and I’m already busy.”

“Aww! Maybe I can get Steve to do it!” Lily pouted before kissing Kenneth on the cheek and running off.

Kenneth wasted no more time bringing me and Jessica to his designated classroom. Then he gently patted me on the shoulder. “You okay?”

I nodded my head. “I… just… didn’t expect that…”

“Fair enough,” Kenneth replied with a smirk.

“Here, take a drink of water?” Jessica offered, handing me a bottle she had taken out of a small fridge in the corner of the room. I was hesitant to drink it though, because she’d already opened it and taken a big swig.

Kenneth saw my hesitation and raised a brow at me. “Don’t tell me that you are still a virgin who thinks that girls have cooties!”

I blushed again and shook my head. “No! I had a girlfriend for nearly three years!”

“Sharing a water bottle isn’t cheating, oh wait, you said had,” Kenneth said, looking a little apologetic.

“It’s just… we only broke up a couple of weeks ago, and also, with my right arm in a cast…” I overtly turned so that my left arm was closer to Jessica so that I could take the bottle from her.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I guess I somehow didn’t notice your cast.”

“That’s okay,” I demurred, looking at the bottle. It may seem silly, but sharing a water bottle with a naked woman I’d never met before seemed… oddly intimate…

She laughed softly and gave me a quick smooch on the lips. “There! Now you have no reason to feel weird about drinking from the same bottle as me.”

I pressed my lips together in surprise. Then, since I really had no reason not to, I took a drink from the bottle.

“There. Better?” Jessica asked with a sympathetic smile.

“Alright,” Kenneth stated before I could respond. “I can already see one problem I would never have anticipated. It’s going to be harder for you to tie knots with a broken arm.”

I held it up and wiggled my fingers. “Maybe, but not impossible. Um… I thought I was going to be the one tied up…”

Kenneth grinned at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. Like a wolf about ready to pounce on a sheep. “I suppose that I could tie you up, but think about it for a second. If I’m teaching you about Shibari, then I’m teaching you to DO Shibari.”

“Oh. Right,” I mumbled, feeling stupid.

He gestured at Jessica. “Which is why I needed an assistant. I’m going to show you how to make a basic Karada Harness, then I’ll go through it with you so that you learn how to do it correctly. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, still a little embarrassed, but now actually somewhat excited to learn this new and unexpected hobby.

It really did take much longer than it probably would have if I could freely use both of my arms, but around an hour later, I understood what I was doing and could do it all on my own, with a little bit of help as needed. The only problem I had was that each time I took the harness off Jessica and practiced tying it again, her breathing got a little bit more erratic and she had started moaning at some point. Little begging whimpers that made it clear that she was turned on and about ready to jump me.

Kenneth chuckled a bit evilly, in my opinion. “You’re not doing it intentionally, but you ARE giving Jessica almost exactly what she wants. She’s a submissive who likes to be tied up and either left to float through subspace for a bit, or else teased and denied until she’s begging for it. Do you have a begging kink? She’s so good at it.”

“Yes I am! I’m SO good,” Jessica informed me a bit desperately. She even tugged on my left sleeve as she peered into my eyes. “Please? I’ll make you feel so good. Anything you want, I’ll do anything for you!”

“Um… no?” I responded uncertainly. Strangely, this seemed to make her happy. Her breath caught and she leaned in closer to me.

“Please, please, pretty pretty please? I’ll get on my hands and knees for you. I’ll pretend to be a cat — OH! I know! Kenneth can tie me to myself and then set me in a sex swing so that you can pound into me for hours! Yes please!!!”

I’m pretty sure that my eyes were bugging out again as I stared at her. “Uh…”

Kenneth smirked and chuckled. “Don’t feel bad if you keep telling her no. It’ll just turn her on more and more until she finds someone else to finish her off.”

In response, Jessica got on her hands and knees and ran her hands up and down my sides. “Please? I want it so badly. Please? You can take me in any and every way. In my mouth? Please use my mouth! In my ass? Oh God, please use my ass!”

“Whoa!” I blurted out in shock, holding my hands up in the air because if I touched her even a tiny bit, I was probably going to cum in my pants! “Wait, slow down, let me catch my breath!”

“Oh, so you’re not opposed, just caught off guard,” Kenneth observed.

“Y-yeah…” I mean, I HAD done my best to regard Jessica as a practice dummy, but I had ALSO just ran my hands all over her naked body for almost an hour. Parts of me were a lot less stoic than the rest of me. This seemed to catch Jessica’s attention just then. She purred in delight as she brushed her hand up and down the front of my pants.

“Mmm, there it is, the part I want so badly. Please…” She looked up at me with a perfectly adorably pouty face. Then she licked her lips and lowered her gaze to where her hands were fiddling with — but not opening — my zipper. “Please…”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at Kenneth because I’m about 500 percent sure that my face was red with a mixture of lust and embarrassment and sheer longing. Instead, I looked toward the door and discovered that another naked woman was leaning against the frame, watching us with an expression of approval and eagerness to enjoy every moment. Then I looked up at the ceiling.

“I can’t believe this is happening in front of an audience…” I muttered.

“I’ll leave the room if it’ll make you feel better, but just remember, the rooms are open to ensure that NO ONE can abuse or break the rules, so others will probably walk by and watch for a minute or two. If you really want privacy, you’d best firmly say no and go find someone else you can take home with you,” Kenneth advised.

“It’s not… being watched, so much…” I murmured, still firmly looking at the ceiling and trying my best to think of math or something to calm me down. “It’s just that she has me so damn close already and I’m afraid that if she so much as opens my pants, I’ll cum in front of everyone and be laughed at like a loser.”

Wow! That was really really honest and forthcoming of me!

Kenneth straight up laughed at me. “Don’t even worry about that! I can guarantee that even if you did, it would only be the start of the fun, and by the end, everyone watching will be happy for you that you enjoyed yourself.”

Not sure I could trust him, but also not able to force myself to leave the room for any reason short of a bomb going off, I took a deep breath and — still staring at the ceiling — unbuttoned my pants.

“Just checking real quick, but are you consenting because you want to, or because you feel like you have to?” Kenneth asked.

It took a deep breath and came out in a whisper, but I was able to admit: “Want…”

“Alright then, enjoy!” Kenneth cried out happily as he turned to leave the room.

I didn’t have time to feel relieved that he was giving me a tiny bit of privacy before Jessica slowly pulled my zipper down. “Oh please can I blow you? I want this hardness in my mouth! Please let me lick you and suck you and even swallow your cum!”

“Oh God!” I gasped out as once again, I nearly orgasmed before she even truly touched me.

“Give her clear commands,” the other woman suggested helpfully. “It doesn’t even matter what, but the more you make her beg for it, the more into it she’ll get.”

I snorted a scoff. “What can I possibly say?! I’m going to burst if she so much as breathes on me!”

“So tell her to stop touching you and back off a minute,” she advised.

“Oh no! Please don’t tell me that! Just let me swallow it down, and then you can order me to play with and tease myself while you recover,” Jessica cried out as she stared at my now exposed erection without actually touching me. She looked like it was her favorite dessert and she couldn’t wait to devour it.

Feeling like it was inevitable at this point, I threw my hands up in the air. “Fuck it! Go on and blow me! And be sure to swallow every drop!” To my utter amazement, I didn’t go off the exact second she covered me with her mouth. Instead, I lasted long enough for the other woman to come over and push my pants down to my ankles so that she could grope my ass.

“Do you mind?” She asked with a purr.

“Unt-uh,” I mumbled even though I was a tiny bit shocked by her wiggling a finger over my hole. To no surprise, that was the last straw. I gripped Jessica’s hair in one hand as I pumped her mouth full.

For the next hour, Jessica begged me to do all sorts of things — such as spank her — even as the unnamed woman delighted in touching me everywhere. She’d occasionally pinch my nipples or nip my chest. The biggest shock was when — after I’d given into Jessica’s pleas to put on a condom and use her ass — the other woman took the opportunity to lick my hole a couple of times before putting a finger in there.

“Uh! Wait!” I protested, having never thought about this possibility before.

“Oh? You don’t like it?” She asked.

“I… don’t know. I can’t think about it at the moment!” I cried out.

“Alright, I’ll stop. Just try not to go off inside her so that you can do me too.”

I snapped my head to look at her. “Really? But… I don’t even know your name!”

“Does that really matter?” She asked with an amused expression.

“Yes!” I insisted, feeling a little bit like a slut since I was currently having sex with one virtual stranger and already negotiating the prospect of having sex with another.

“Fine, it’s Hannah, and Jessica is actually one of my best friends. We often like to team up on a guy like this.”

“It gives me more opportunity to beg if Hannah does her best to keep his attention away from me,” Jessica explained.

“Uh… alright…” I said, thinking that having a threesome was something I’d hoped for. I’d just pictured it happening differently, with Amanda and one of her friends. I hastily shoved that line of thought away and focused on what I was doing.

Several hours later, I was so exhausted that I was on the verge of passing out. “Is it okay to sleep here?”

“Yeah,” Kenneth assured me. He’d come back into the room at some point with a couple of partners of his own, so I’d had a chance to watch him and didn’t feel quite so embarrassed by the fact that he’d watched me for a bit. “But if you can stay awake for just a little longer, I’ll drive you home.”

“Mmm…” I murmured in thought. I’d actually left my car at Starbucks and caught a ride with him here, so it would be more convenient to get a ride back to my car, but on the other hand, I really don’t think I was in any condition to drive at the moment.

Hannah kissed me. She was also on the verge of passing out and sounded very drowsy. “Don’t worry about it, I can give you a ride home in the morning.”

Jessica giggled and slurred in her half asleep state. “More like we can both give him a ride in the morning, and then bring him home.”

I raised a brow in surprise. “Again?!”

“Definitely…” both agreed in husky voices, before kissing me and snuggling up so that we could all go to sleep. This totally explained why there had been a large cushiony futon bed thing in a room that was supposed to be a classroom.

After passing out and waking up to two extremely greedy and demanding women, I felt something so unfamiliar that I had to actually think about what I was feeling. I pressed a hand to my stomach as it growled loudly.

“Hungry?” Hannah asked with a laugh.

“Is that what I’m feeling?!” I asked in astonishment, because while I had felt a little hungry in the past, I’d never felt like I was practically starving before.

“Let’s head over to the bar and get something to eat before we bring you home,” Hannah suggested.

“And while you eat, I can beg you to let me feed you. And then I can beg you to let me sit in your lap. And OH! I can beg you to make me meow like a cat!”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. “I have a feeling that if I did that, we’d be back in here in less than an hour.”

“Something wrong with that?” Hannah asked with a knowing smirk.

“Uh…”

“The only problem is that he’d have to register as a member if he’s going to be in here fucking for several days straight.” A different woman said, startling me because I hadn’t noticed her coming into the room. “And actually, if you’re going to be taking the Shibari class, you might want to consider registering as a member anyway. I mean, you don’t technically have to as being here during a class counts as a free pass, but then you’re supposed to leave after the class ends. I have a feeling that you’re going to like it here, so just go ahead and register, yeah?”

“Sure,” I agreed with a tiny smile. It’s not like I couldn’t afford it. Plus. I’d probably need to pay Kenneth for the class he’d given me.

“Ooo! Please come here every day and let me be your right hand until your cast comes off!” Jessica begged.

“Yeah, you can tell her things like: With one hand on Hannah’s tits and the other in a cast, I can’t scratch my balls. Jessica, scratch my balls for me, and then lick them before swirling your tongue around the head.”

“Oh God!” I blurted out, still not used to being around people who could say such things with absolutely no shame!

It didn’t occur to me until we sat down in the bar, that I was still utterly naked. Just when I was going to stand up and go back for my clothes, Jessica begged to sit on my lap. I figured that since I would be covered, it would prevent me from being self conscious about my body — even though I trained a lot and had what could be considered an in shape body, I never really liked the way I looked in a mirror.

It didn’t take long for our food to arrive and as we ate, the manager went over the membership contract with me. After it was signed and our food was gone, we returned to the room to retrieve my clothes and ended up spending another two hours having sex before I finally managed to get dressed and leave the club.

“Come back tonight,” Jessica begged when I opened their car door after we arrived at Starbucks.

“Okay,” I agreed. “I just need to have dinner with my parents and let them know not to worry about me if I don’t come home at night.”

“Have fun with that,” Hannah said with a laugh. They took turns kissing me before letting me go.

That night at dinner, my parents were curious about where I’d been. It wasn’t unheard of for me to spend the night with Amanda, but she usually came to my house because her parents believed that kids shouldn’t have sex in their parents’ house, while my parents felt that it was safer all around to do it in my room than God knows where. Plus, it had only been a couple of weeks since we broke up.

I decided to be completely honest… within reason. “I found a club full of interesting people with different hobbies and interests. They like getting together at night and hanging out having fun.”

“Like a party?” My dad asked suspiciously.

“A little,” I admitted, tilting my head to the left.

They exchanged a look. “Well… alright. So long as you don’t make it a habit of getting drunk.”

“And just remember,” my mom added. “If you ever need a ride home, you can call us. We’d rather come pick you up in the middle of the night than receive a call that you’ve been in a drunken accident.”

“Yeah mom, but you really don’t have to worry. I don’t even like the taste of alcohol.” Or I suppose it was more to the point to say that my parents had always allowed me glasses of wine and the like, so I never felt the need to get drunk behind their backs since there would be no point.

After dinner, I took a surprisingly long time to figure out what I wanted to wear. After all, this was a place where my clothes would be coming off, and so, I didn’t really need to look good in my clothes. In fact, something that wouldn’t be a big deal if I lost it would probably be best. So I chose a basic tee shirt and some jeans.

Every night for a week and a half, I went to the club and let Jessica and Hannah introduce me to a LOT of women who were all too happy to have a new person to play with. It was shocking just how quickly I got used to being naked in front of others. Thankfully, I was usually too into it to be embarrassed about having sex in front of audiences that wandered by and took a curious peek.

On a Saturday night, I was in a great mood when something unexpected happened. A man in what I now recognized as a Dom outfit came over to where Kenneth was tying a harness on me.

“I’ve seen you here the last couple of days, and while you seem happy enough to try out all the various kinks, I actually think you should be a Sub.”

I tilted my head to look at him in confusion. “Why do you say that?”

“It’s the look in your eyes. You always look as if you’re searching for something. I get the feeling that you lack purpose in your life and that you are just now beginning a journey of self discovery — that THAT is what you’re searching for: purpose.”

“Maybe…” I admitted slowly.

“So, why not let me be your Dom for tonight? If I’m right, I can show you that what you are looking for is the joy and bliss of serving a Master,” he said with a confident yet warm and friendly smile.

I looked to Kenneth.

“Why are you looking at me? I can’t make the decision for you, but I will say this, I’ve actually thought much the same. Even your first time here, you assumed that YOU would be the one tied up.”

“True…” I murmured. “Just… if I agree to be his Sub, does that mean I have to have sex with him.”

Kenneth shrugged. “That all depends on the contract you two make. So far, you haven’t needed to make any contracts, because you haven’t done anything too far out of the ordinary. For this, you’ll need to sit down and talk about kinks and limits, what you’re looking for, what you’re not willing to do, and what your safeword is in case you need to use it. If you want all of the submissiveness you can get but none of the sex, then put that in the contract.”

“Hmm…” I hummed in thought. Despite nearly two weeks of having sex to the point of exhaustion each night, I hadn’t really had to think about what I liked or wanted.

“If he says no, I’ll do it,” a man only a couple of years older than me said.

“Oh?” The Dom asked with interest, looking him up and down.

“Yeah, and I don’t even mind the sex. You could use me as much as you wanted. My kink is being ‘forced’ to do things I don’t want to do — such as have sex with other men.”

“That’s confusing as hell!” I blurted out. “You don’t want to have sex with men but you want to be forced to have sex with men?!?!”

Kenneth laughed. “Think about Jessica for a moment. Her kink is being tied up and also begging. It’s really similar since if you were to tell her to do something she doesn’t want to — such as stick a bottle in her vagina — as much as she doesn’t want to, begging you to let her NOT would get her into it so much that she’d eventually do it so that she could beg you to let her stop.”

The other Sub — who was taking lessons in Shibari from Kenneth as well — nodded in agreement. “I already said that I don’t actually mind having sex with a man, so what I mean by being forced to is more along the lines of: maybe my Master finds a man who is big and scary compared to me, and he orders me to orally please that man. If I don’t do a good job, my Master will be disappointed in me, and worse! The scary man might get angry and try to hurt me. The potential danger of it excites me, but then again, doing as my Master tells me to excites me even more. And you know, when I’m in Sub mode, it’s not about gender. If my Master orders me to, I could have all kinds of sex that I would never want to try when I’m being my boring old vanilla self.”

“Huh!” I huffed in a strange understanding. “So what you’re saying is that it really IS all about the pleasure of serving your Master?”

“Exactly!”

“If you’re both willing, I could Dominate you both tonight. That would actually be perfect for giving this young man a taste of Submission without having to worry about being asked to break any hard limits,” the Dom suggested.

I stroked my chin in thought, suddenly indecisive about something I NEVER thought I’d give a single thought to. “Um… I suppose… If I was going to try it at all, I wouldn’t want there to be any sort of limitations. I’d want to give it an honest try.”

Kenneth shook his head. “No, Benjamin. Everyone has hard limits, and they’re usually the things you wouldn’t even think need to be said. For example, if he told you to drink pee, or lick shit. Most people consider that a hard no, but some Doms will use it as a way to test their Sub’s willingness to obey. That’s why there are contracts.”

I was definitely repulsed now. “Ew…”

“Come on, let’s take this discussion to a table and get comfortable,” the Dom invited.

“Alright,” I agreed, interested despite the fact that this entire subject was just about everything I thought I’d never even consider.

At the table, the other Sub — Xander — and I went over a contract with the Dom until we’d all agreed to things like no scat or watersports, and that Master Richard was going to use colors in addition to safewords when necessary. So, for example, if I looked reluctant to try something, he’d ask me for a color and I could then take a moment to decide if I was green to go, red to stop, or yellow needing a minute to really think it over.

After that, it seemed to me like I blinked and suddenly I was in Master Richard’s semi-private room. It was in a corner, so it wasn’t as likely to be walked by. It also had a bouncer assigned directly to it, which meant that he could actually turn away curious onlookers if they lingered too long without the Master’s permission.

Once in the room, Master Richard gestured toward a plush, oversized arm chair. “Get comfortable. Since this is your first experience as a Sub, I’m going to start very easy. And I’m going to blindfold you.

“Why?” I asked, suddenly apprehensive.

“Ah-ah! Remember, one of the things you agreed to was not to speak unless I tell you to,” Master Richard reminded me.

“Right,” I murmured before falling silent.

“But I’ll answer since — as I said — it’s your first time. The blindfold is to help you get into Sub Mode. Probably not subspace — which is a state in which you feel somewhat disconnected from your body, in a good way. Sub Mode is simply a frame of mind in which you are focused on being submissive and doing everything your Master asks you too.

“Oh…”

Holding still, I let Master Richard put a thick blindfold over my eyes.

“Do you feel you need one too, Xander?”

“No, but if you want me to wear one, I will.”

“Ah, that’s fine then. I want you to see every single moment.”

“Yes Master.”

I was still feeling nervous and apprehensive, but so far, the two of them seemed committed to keeping me as relatively comfortable as possible. Plus, there was a bouncer to help me if I needed it.

“Xander, I want you to demonstrate for me, on Benjamin, just exactly how good your oral skills are.”

What?! I nearly blurted out in surprise. I mean I knew I had agreed to sexual acts, but this had taken me by complete surprise. Wasn’t there supposed be a lot of other commands like bark like a dog or act like a bunny and other weird stuff first?

“Yes Master!”

Holy hell! I was NOT expecting how enthusiastic he was. He was sucking me like a freaking hoover! And damn, it felt good…

“Benjamin, I want you to use your hands and mouth on me and I need you to give me a color.”

“Uh… Yellow…” I fell silent again as I thought this over. With a blindfold on, I think I actually could forget about anything I was squeamish about and simply focus on doing as told. “Um… green… I think…”

“Alright, here. Start slowly and just get a feel for me,” Master Richard said as he literally placed his hard shaft in my left hand — since my right one was still restricted by a cast.

Slowly, probably frustratingly slowly, I did as told, stroking him with my hand until I worked up the courage to use my mouth too. Surprisingly, even though Xander was giving me arguably the best blowjob of my life, I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn’t get close to orgasm. That said, my knees were definitely shaking and I was making embarrassing little noises around Master Richard’s shaft.

“Good, very good. What color are you now, Benjamin?”

I paused to give him a faint smile. “More green than yellow.”

“Good! Then we’re going to change positions a little. I’m going to sit in the chair and you are going to kneel before me while continuing what you are doing.”

“Yes Master,” I murmured obediently. To my surprise, this whole serving someone thing was actually doing something for me. I felt a small thrill of happiness to — and I can’t believe I’m thinking this — give this man I’d never met before a blowjob.

Once it was apparent that I was going to try my best to learn what felt good for him, I felt him caress my naked (aside from the karada harness) rear. He used soothing strokes to more or less pet my ass.

“Good job, Benjamin. Keep up the good work. Xander, I want you to rim Benjamin.”

“Yes Master!” Xander exclaimed, every bit as enthusiastic to do this as he had been to blow me. I paused for a moment to lift up my blindfold and look back so I could see him actually pry my cheeks apart and press his face close enough to wiggle his tongue all over my hole. I groaned from how unexpectedly good it felt.

“Did I give you permission to stop?” Master Richard asked in a soft and somewhat deadly tone.

“No Master, sorry,” I hastily apologized, putting the blindfold back in place before resuming the blowjob I was giving.

Something strange happened, the rimming felt so good that I couldn’t stop moaning and groaning, which made it hard to give a good blowjob, I imagine. Even so, I soon had an odd taste in my mouth that I had to think about. It wasn’t a mouthful of cum — which would be hard to miss — but it did have a slightly bitter taste that was similar to that time I’d tasted my own cum out of curiosity. After a minute or so, I realized that this must be preejaculate.

Oh… so he was close? I had put swallowing in the yellow category, so I suppose that now would be the right time to think about whether I wanted to move it to the red category, or the green one. I honestly couldn’t decide. I mean I didn’t WANT a load of cum in my mouth, but the thought of hearing Master Richard praise me for doing such a good job swallowing it, well… I actually kind of wanted that.

Even as I thought this, my toes curled and I nearly came just from Xander rimming me. Or I suppose, the fact that he had stuck a few fingers in me and was wiggling them around while he rimmed me was what was actually getting me close.

“Benjamin, I’m going to move to the bed. I want you to remove the plug from my ass and fuck me. Color please.”

“Ah! Uh, um, uh… greeeen…?”

“That sounded more like yellow to me. Take a moment to think while I move,” Master Richard ordered.

I stood there thinking while Xander stood next to me, holding my hand and rubbing my back.

“Xander, you have permission to say whatever it is that’s making you frown,” Master Richard granted.

“Sorry Master, I… Benjamin, you feel it, don’t you?”

“Feel what?” I asked very softly, in case Master Richard objected to me talking before he gave me permission.

“I’ll allow it,” Master Richard permitted as sounds suggested that he was getting comfortable on the bed.

“The need to do a good job and be praised for it,” Xander clarified.

I scratched my right cheek as I thought this over. “Well… my whole life, I’ve been the best at just about everything I do. People stopped praising me for being the best a long time ago, and instead, started criticizing me if was even slightly less than the best. I think that’s why I actually liked working so hard to get good at baseball, since the praise when I did something right was genuine. So… yeah?”

“Alright, then take a moment to think about this: you’re about to consent to sex with a man simply because it’s not normal, and thus could lead to praise. Do you really want to have sex with a man for something so simple as praise? I mean if you do, great! I’m right here with you. But if not, now’s the time to say so.”

I took a deep breath. “Yeah… I think I really do…”

“Color,” Master Richard demanded in a stern voice.

“Green,” I stated much more confidently.

“Good, then come here. Xander, lead him here and help him get into position.”

“Yes Master.”

I know I had just said a fairly confident yes, but I was still a little unprepared to be in position less than a minute later. Xander even led my hand to where I needed it in order to remove the plug. It came out with a soft squelching sound that tugged at my groin for some reason.

Taking a deep breath, I took the condom Xander handed me, and then let out a tiny laugh as I handed it back to him. I can only assume that he understood me since he then put the condom on me. After another deep breath, I lined myself up with Master Richard’s waiting hole, and then slowly pushed forward until I was buried deep. So far, not any different than doing anal with a woman. Except for the fact that his legs were hairier and I could feel his balls thump into me every now and again.

“Xander! Are you hard!”

“Yes Master!”

“Benjamin, I want to watch Xander fuck you while you fuck me. Color!”

“Yellow. Yellow? Yellow!” I blurted out in surprise, although, by this point, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. In my surprise, I stopped mid-thrust.

“Hold still,” Xander murmured, presumably with the Master’s permission. “Let me rim you while you think it over.”

Well, his rimming had felt fantastic, so I really didn’t have a reason to object. Once again, his tongue and fingers got me close fairly quickly. When I started moaning and sighing from pleasure, it occurred to me that there was really only one way this could go.

“Green,” I almost purred out.

“There’s a good boy,” Master Richard praised, even going so far as to pet my head.

Those words inexplicably made a delicious shudder run through my entire body.

“Because you can’t see it, just let me tell you that Xander looks positively gorgeous as he puts the condom on. He’s a bit on the thin side, so that seems perfect for your first time.”

“Mm,” I murmured in agreement.

“Stay relaxed now, there’s a good boy. Good job Benjamin, you’re doing so well. He’s almost all the way in… Perfect! You’ve done it, Benjamin! Now, if you want, you can relax and let him do all the work for a bit.”

“Mmm…” I moaned in agreement. Now that he was inside me and moving around, it felt better than it had at first. To be honest, it wasn’t painful so much as scary, and had Master Richard not been encouraging me the entire time, I probably would have used my safeword.

To my surprise, having someone inside me while I was inside someone else was a level of pleasure I didn’t even know was possible. I mean sure, I’d heard of guys doing this, but I’d never realized that there could be more pleasure during sex than I felt during regular sex. Even really really good sex wasn’t quite this good.

“Mmm…” I moaned again, feeling up to trying to move rather than just letting Xander move me.

“Such a good boy!” Master Richard praised, probably both of us. “Benjamin, kiss me!”

I didn’t even need a moment to think about it, I simply covered his mouth with mine and prayed that I’d learned enough about kissing to earn more praise from him.

“Oh God! I’m gonna cum!” I cried out several minutes later.

“Stop!” Master Richard commanded. Xander promptly stopped, but I needed a moment to wrap my head around the sudden command.

“Huh?”

Master Richard gently tapped my ass with his hand. “No speaking without permission. I want to change positions before you cum. I want to be the one fucking you when you go off, and I want Xander inside me.”

I pouted since I was about to lose the incredible double pleasure, but other than that, I had no real objections. Until I felt the cold lube on the condom touch my hole. Master Richard felt a lot bigger than Xander had, and I suddenly had to question the wisdom of letting something I couldn’t even see inside me.

“Relax Benjamin. Breathe. You’re doing so good. Can you feel how beautiful this is? Your ass is opening up slowly but surely, pulling me in until I could get lost inside you.”

God! The praise was going to kill me! “Thank you, Master!”

“There’s a good boy. Only another second… Good! I’m all the way inside you! Good job! How do you feel?”

“Full…”

“Color?”

“Green,” I couldn’t help but admit honestly.

“Good,” he murmured, stroking a long line up and done my back. “So good,” he said as he moved. “You feel so fucking good! I think I could fuck you forever!”

“Thanks?” I replied awkwardly, because while it did feel good, forever seemed like a bit much.

After getting a really good feel for each other, Master Richard paused. “Alright Xander. Now please.”

“Yes Master!”

I’m not sure how, but I could feel Xander gently sinking into our Master. After a long moment that made me wish Master was still pounding me, Xander finally got around to pounding Master, who in turn pounded me.

“Ah!” I cried out, wrapping my arms around Master Richard and digging my nails into his back.

He paused to kiss me. “I normally don’t allow anyone to scratch me up, but I love how into this you are. Go ahead Benjamin, show me how good you want to be for me.”

I wrapped my legs around the both of them the best I could, then — still digging my nails into Master’s back — pulled him closer to me for some needy greedy kissing.

“Ah!” I cried out again, my back uncontrollably arching as my orgasm shot up and down my spine. “I’m gonna cum!”

“Good boy, Benjamin, cum for me!”

That was too powerful to resist. With another loud cry, I clung to Master and pumped out what felt like an ocean. Wave after wave of bliss washed over me, making me feel like the entire world had gone white from sheer bliss.

When I came back to myself, I was surprised to find that Master Richard had pulled out of me and was now pounding into Xander even as Xander kissed me like he was searching for water in a desert. Even weirder, I was responding with so much passion that my toes were curling. Xander experienced a delicious little full body shudder before pumping out a hot mess between us, and then Master Richard roared in triumph as he presumably orgasmed as well.

The next thing I knew, I was snuggling up to Xander as the Master stroked the both of us. “You both did so well. Absolutely perfect! But now I wish I’d spent longer just watching the two of you; you look so good together.”

“Mmm,” we both purred happily as we dozed off.

“No matter,” Master continued. “I can always watch when you wake up and realize that you’re horny again.”

I didn’t think much of it since I was swiftly falling unconscious, but he was so right! When we woke up, we just couldn’t keep our hands off each other until both our stomachs started shouting at us. Laughing, we gave each other a last kiss before heading off to search for something to eat.

“Is it just me, or is the food in this place unexpectedly excellent?”

Xander chuckled. “It actually is. It says right on the menu that they strive for excellence.”

“Yeah but…” I muttered, looking away to cover the fact that I was thinking about how many fine dining restaurants I’d been to that should have left this one in the dust, and yet… “I bet having sex until you pass out and wake up starving probably makes the food taste better than it really is.”

Xander laughed and kissed me. “You’re probably right, but who cares? It tastes good and will fuel us for another round, at the very least.”

I gave him a long look before deciding that I didn’t mind kissing him even when we weren’t having sex or being ordered to by our Master. So I returned his kiss.

“As much as I’d like to stay here and fuck around all day, I should really get home soon.”

“Oh? Do you have to?” Xander asked with a pout that made me want to kiss him again.

“I do,” I replied a bit sadly. “They complained last night that I haven’t been home enough lately and they want to see me.”

“Aww,” he pouted again until I had no choice but to kiss it off him. Then he grinned at me. “At least promise you’ll come back tonight.”

“Sorry, I think I probably won’t be back until Wednesday.”

“Oh? Why?” He asked, clearly disappointed.

I held up my arm. “I have an appointment to get my cast off tomorrow, and then I think I promised to go shopping with my mom on Tuesday.”

“Oh, alright, if you have to,” Xander permitted with a sulky expression. He kissed me. “Bet it’ll be nice to finally get your cast off, huh? I’m happy for you.”

I smiled and kissed him in return. “Thanks, and as much as I would love to linger a while longer, I have a feeling that if I did, we’d just wear each other out all over again. So, I’m going to see if Kenneth is here to help me take this harness off.” Which would minimize the risk of Xander and I getting horny again while helping each other out.

“Oh, I’ll go with you then, since I need him to take mine off too.”

“Mmm,” I replied happily, not protesting in the slightest when he slipped his hand in mind. We held hands until we reached Kenneth’s room.

About a half an hour later, I saw Dimitri jog over to my house the moment he spotted me driving down the street. I didn’t even have a chance to shut off my car before he pulled the door open.

“Are you okay? You haven’t been to my house in like two weeks!”

“Hey Dimitri, I’m actually doing just fine.”

He looked me over suspiciously. “You seem… happy…”

I snorted a laugh. “Is there a problem with that?”

“No, just… you NEVER show your emotions! Except now, you look happy. It’s weird, to be honest.”

Since I was still in the driveway and very unlikely to be overheard, I grinned at Dimitri. “You’d be happy too if you’d been to this club I’m going to every night for the last two weeks.”

“Oh? What sort of club?” He asked with interest.

“An honest to God sex club,” I informed him with an expression that let him know I was being serious.

“A WHAT?!?! THEY HAVE THOSE?!?!” Dimitri shouted at the top of his lungs in surprise.

“Shh!” I hushed him hastily. No need to attract my parents’ attention.

But it was too late. “Hi Dimitri! Would you like to have dinner with us tonight?” My mom invited cheerfully from the door.

“Hell yeah I would!” Dimitri accepted with a grin and a bounce that reminded me of a yappy puppy. But he was always like that, so I was used to it.

“Alright then, hon, I’ll let our cook know.”

“I suppose that you should probably come to my room with me so we can talk in private,” I said. Then I caught a whiff of myself and made a sound of disgust. “Probably while I’m taking a bath or shower, because I reek!”

Dimitri laughed. “I’m glad you said it before I had to!”

In my room, I immediately threw my clothes all around as I marched toward my bathroom. Meanwhile, Dimitri was looking through my game collection.

“Ugh, we have all the same games! Oh well, I think I’ll see how far you got in Breath of the Wild.”

“Knock yourself out,” I said, already a step inside my bathroom.

A few minutes later, I turned the water off and relaxed in a perfectly tempered tub. “Ah!” I sighed happily, a little surprised at how sore my muscles were. Apparently, I’d been using muscles recently that just weren’t exercised on a regular basis.

“Can you hear me now?” Dimitri called out from where he was playing on my Switch.

“Yeah,” I called back, having left the door open for this very reason.

“So… are you serious, or are you just pulling my leg?”

I chuckled softly. “I can see why you’d think that, but I’m actually serious.”

“A for real real sex club?”

“Yep, a totally real sex club,” I confirmed.

“BASTARD! WHY DIDN’T YOU BRING ME?!”

I laughed. “I honestly haven’t had time to stop and think about whether you’d even want to go.”

“HELL YEAH I WANT TO GO! WHO WOULDN’T?!”

“Hey, keep it down, will ya?”

“Oh. Sorry. Yeah, I can see you not wanting your parents to find out.”

“It’s not really that. I mean, what could they really do? Tell me not to go? I’m already 18 and they’ve put enough money in my bank account over the years that I could buy a house if they kicked me out and live comfortably for the rest of my life. It’s just…”

I could hear Dimitri laugh softly. “It’s just that your family doesn’t really talk about such things. I mean they’ve told you things like: be safe and do it in your room rather than out on the street — but they have also told you to have a nice girlfriend and be serious about her before doing anything sexual, so I bet they probably wouldn’t take this news all that well.”

“Tell me about it,” I grumbled. “I mean… would they want details? Ugh! I don’t think I could avoid bursting into flames and dying of embarrassment if they asked me for details!”

“Huh! I didn’t know you could get embarrassed!”

I laughed. “Who doesn’t get embarrassed.”

“You never seemed to before,” he remarked.

I shrugged. “That’s probably because nothing truly embarrassing ever really happened to me.”

“What about touching Amanda’s tits for the first time?”

“Well yeah that was embarrassing, but I was really motivated to ignore my embarrassment.”

“Makes total sense to me!” Dimitri agreed with a laugh. “And same. The first time I touched some tits, I wanted to crawl in a hole and hide because I probably looked like a total creep, but thankfully, she seemed to feel that it was natural to look like a cooked lobster. After that, I remember feeling embarrassed for a minute or so with each new girl, but after the — I don’t know, sixth? The sixth or seventh one, it just seemed normal and nothing to be embarrassed about anymore.”

“I completely understand,” I said. “For example, at this club, practically no one wears clothes. It’s not a rule or anything, so I was fully dressed in a small crowd of naked people, and I was the embarrassed one! But slowly, I got used to it. Now I don’t even notice it. How do I not notice it?!” I scratched my head in bafflement.

Dimitri snorted. “Well, I imagine that you’re too busy having sex to notice it.”

“True,” I admitted.

“Whoa…” Dimitri breathed out in awe. “I didn’t expect you to admit it. I thought you were going to tell me that you worked there as a towel boy for the pool or something.”

“Why would I need to work there?” I questioned with a weird squint to my eye.

“To find that fulfillment we talked about,” he said with what sounded like it might be a shrug.

“I think actually did find it,” I said in amazement.

He snorted in amusement. “Sex is something you do for fun when you are lucky enough to have a partner, it’s NOT a goal to dedicate your life to!”

“Well, I didn’t really mean it like that! But actually, some of the people I’ve met DO sort of dedicate their lives to sex. But not just ANY sex, the kind that challenges you as a person and teaches you your limits.”

Apparently Dimitri was just too curious about this concept to stay put. He was now leaning against the frame of the bathroom door, still playing with my Switch. “Oh? Like how exactly?”

“Well, I know one woman who gets off on begging. The more you make her beg, the more she wants it. And I just met a guy last night who will do anything for praise… and I might actually be like that too…” I admitted, looking away from him and scratching my cheek.

“That’s… cool. I mean whatever makes you happy, right?”

“Even if it’s with a guy?”

“WHAT???”

I chuckled wryly. “I don’t know anything for sure yet, but that guy I met, I think I like him. Like… a LOT…”

“Oh… well, like I said, whatever makes you happy. Just don’t get any ideas about me! I am firmly straight!”

I laughed. “I knew that. And also, I thought I was until last night too, so no, I haven’t been ogling you behind your back.”

“Good!”

With that out of the way, he decided to just walk over and sit down next to the tub, facing away from me. For a moment, I was worried that my Switch might be damaged by the faint steam from my bath, but then I decided that he could easily buy me another if that happened.

“So tell me about this guy. Why do you think you like him?”

“I don’t know if I can explain it, but when we were kissing, my toes kept curling and I wanted to keep on holding him until the end of time.”

“Whoa! That sounds serious! God! I’m not sure I’ve felt that way about anybody since Veronica. And even then, she made it clear that it was only going to be a one time thing, so I couldn’t get my hopes up.”

I smiled, happy that he had felt that way at least once.

“So… so wait! You’re saying that you met this guy last night… and already kissed and cuddled with him?”

I rolled my eyes until I was giving him a dry look. “It’s a sex club. I did a whole lot more than kiss him! Like I said, I hadn’t ever thought for a second that I was anything less than straight, but last night, it was so good that I kinda want to tie him to my bed and keep him there for the rest of our lives.”

“Kinky! So… are you going to bring me to this club or do I have to stalk you until I figure out where it is?”

I laughed. “Yeah sure, I can bring you, but I already said — not to you, mind — but I already said that I probably won’t be going back until Wednesday since I’ve got a few things to do over the next couple of days.”

“Oh, right! You’re getting your cast off tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“Yep!”

“Great! Then everything will be back to normal!”

I frowned at him. “Well, not everything. I’m actually probably going to need a lot of rehab before I can move my arm like normal again. Ligaments don’t heal quite as quickly as bones do — or so I’m told. The doctors are still afraid that I’m going to need a few surgeries before I’m even close to ‘normal’ again.”

“Oh… sorry…”

“Still, I am excited to get my cast off,” I admitted.

Dimitri gave me a quick smile over his shoulder. “Hey, you probably don’t know this, but Joel came over here when you were gone on, hmm… Thursday? Anyway, since you weren’t home, he came over to my place to ask me to ask you to call him — he even gave me his number to give to you.”

I couldn’t help but glare at the ceiling. “Did he say why?” I nearly snarled.

“Yeah, he wants to apologize.”

“He already did that,” I stated coldly.

“Well yeah, but he probably thinks you didn’t believe him.”

“And he would be right,” I confirmed, still in a cold voice.

“You don’t have to believe him, but maybe hear him out? He seemed really apologetic.”

I sighed and shifted so that I could grab my shampoo. “Yeah alright. Can’t hurt. It’s not like he could break my arm again over the phone.”

“I know I didn’t see it up close, but it really looked like an accident.”

“I know it was an accident, but I also don’t think it would have happened if Joel hadn’t been fucking around by swinging the bat wildly. He should have been careful!”

“I can’t argue with that,” Dimitri agreed. “Anyway, his number’s in my phone, I’ll text you with it when you get out of the tub.”

“Whatever,” I grumbled. In silence, aside from the noise from my Switch, I finished shampooing and conditioning my hair.

“Dinner’s almost ready!” Mom announced over the intercom in my room.

“Will you go over and tell her we heard her while I get dried off?” I asked.

“Sure thing,” Dimitri said, jumping up and bouncing his way over as asked. Meanwhile, I found the feel of the soft and fluffy towel against my skin to be far more sensual than I’d ever noticed before. I stared at my cast, which only had a few signatures on it, and bit my lip as a thought occurred to me.

“Maybe once I’m fully healed up, I should get a tattoo on my arm. Something that symbolizes how much I loved baseball.”

“That sounds cool,” Dimitri agreed encouragingly. “But if you don’t want to wait that long, we could always go in and get something little this weekend.”

“You want a tattoo?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah! Only I can’t make up my mind on what to get, so having you with me would be a big help.”

“Good point. And maybe I could get a piercing while I’m at it.” Since I happened to be drying off my groin at that exact moment, Dimitri roared with laughter.

“Oh sure! You start going to a sex club, and now you want to pierce your dick!”

I blushed. “I didn’t mean there! I actually mean my ears… and maybe a nipple…?”

“Hey, go all out! Get it ALL pierced!”

I raised a brow at him in disbelief.

“Just so long as you don’t try to talk me into getting pierced too!”

That made me chuckle. “Alright.”

 

***

 

On Wednesday, I led Dimitri into the club and stopped to greet Regina at the front desk. “Am I allowed visitors?”

“Of course! I’ll just have to make sure he’s old enough; ID please!”

“You didn’t card me my first time here,” I pointed out with a puzzled frown even as Dimitri handed over his license.

She gave me a quick kiss. “That’s because I knew Kenneth carded you before even bringing you here.”

“Ah,” I murmured in understanding.

“Alright, do you want to play tour guide, or do you want me to call for an attendant?” Regina asked as she handed the ID back to Dimitri.

“I can do it,” I replied with a tiny smile.

“Alright then, have fun! And don’t you dare forget to tell him all the rules!”

I nodded in acceptance, beckoning for Dimitri to follow me.

“This place looks normal, so far. Like any other gym,” Dimitri observed as we went from the lobby to the locker room. The locker was co-ed because there really wasn’t much point in separating the genders when everyone was just going to go out into one large room while naked anyway.

“You don’t have to get naked, but I’m going to. If you decide to, you can put your stuff in my locker,” I told him as I entered the code on my locker to get it to open.”

“These lockers are pretty big,” he remarked, looking inside mine as if he expected to see a collection of porn or something.

“Apparently that’s because a lot of members leave costumes in their lockers,” I explained.

“What kind of costumes?”

“Whatever makes them happy,” I answered with a shrug.

As I stripped, I wasn’t really surprised that Dimitri did too. After all, he and I had known each other since we were babies. We’d taken baths together in the past and spent the night at each other’s houses so much that we were practically brothers. I knew he wouldn’t be shy — at least not because of me. It might be different once we stepped into the main lounge and were swarmed by other members looking to play with the new guy.

After we were naked, I shut my locker and led him out to the main lounge. As usual, even on a weekday, there were a couple dozen members sitting around chatting like a group of old friends. I led Dimitri to the table where Jessica and Hannah were sitting with a few others.

“You’re back!” Jessica squealed happily. “And your cast is off. Can I please see your arm?”

I chuckled as I held out my arm for her. “Hi Jessica. This is Dimitri, my best friend. Dimitri, this is the woman I told you about who loves to beg.”

As if to emphasize my point, Jessica stood up (after pressing a few kisses to my arm) and pointed to her seat. “Please sit down and let me sit on your lap. Please?”

“Not just yet,” I denied her.

“Please? Pretty please? Oh! How about your friend? Hi Dimitri, nice to meet you, can I please sit on your lap?”

“Sure!” Dimitri agreed easily, sitting on the chair and pulling her onto his lap.

“Hi Hannah,” I greeted when she kissed me.

“Hi Benjamin, I’m glad you were able to get your cast off,” she greeted. The other women at the table took a moment to stand up and give me a kiss each while congratulating me.

Before the conversation could progress, one of the Dommes came up behind me. She was wearing red leather accented with black lace, and her outfit was designed in layers so that bits could be removed if desired. Her boots were a shiny black leather that covered her from her toes to her thighs.

“Hi Benjamin, I was wondering something,” she informed me.

“Oh?” I asked curiously.

“Since Kenneth isn’t here tonight, do you think you could tie someone up for me?”

“Only if it’s a basic harness. I haven’t learned anything else yet. Well, I suppose I know a couple of variations, but I haven’t practiced them much,” I answered, feeling slightly panicked to be asked to do a tie all on my own.

“That’s fine,” she assured me.

“Alright then,” I agreed.

“Ooo ooo! Me too!” Jessica begged. “Please tie me up Benjamin!”

I laughed and gave her an amused smile. “I knew you were going to ask me that.”

The Domme took the whip from her hip and cracked it in the direction of a woman I hadn’t noticed standing silently off to the side. “Rope!”

“Yes Mistress!” The woman promptly cried out. From behind her back, she revealed a bundle of thin pink rope that looked like it should be long enough. The club had a large variety of rope in stock that was perfect for Shibari, and so, I’d be surprised if the bundle she held wasn’t perfect for our needs. I took the rope from her and shook it out so that I could tie her up.

About half way through the harness, I laughed a bit wryly. “This is so much easier to do with both hands!”

Hannah laughed and ran her hands up and down my back. “I bet! So, are you and your friend going to do us together?”

“Probably not,” I said with a shake of my head. “I think I have other plans.”

“Oh?” Hannah asked with clear curiosity, but I didn’t answer her because I had to kneel down to finish working on the lower part of the harness.

As I neared the end, the Domme purred and praised me. “It’s looking good, you learned better than I expected since you were wearing a cast. Good job! How would you like my Sub to reward you?”

I smiled at her. “I don’t need a reward. I surprisingly like doing this.”

She smirked at me. “Still, a good job should always be rewarded. If you can’t decide, I’ll choose for you.”

“Alright, that’s fine,” I agreed as I tucked the last few inches of rope into the harness so that they didn’t dangle and ruin the look. The moment I stood up, the Domme cracked her whip at her Sub again.

“Get on your knees and thank him properly!” She shouted rather harshly.

“Yes Mistress!” The Sub cried out as she complied.

“Don’t just dive in to swallow it whole!” Hannah protested. “Lick and tease it first!”

“And tickle his balls with your fingernails,” another woman added.

“Oh so lightly, like your nails are razor blades and you have to be careful not to cut him,” a third woman elaborated.

I gasped as the feeling of exactly that made a shiver run up my spine. “Hey, that tickles!”

“Yeah, but it also felt good, right?”

“A little,” I admitted. For a split second, I felt bad about doing something like this in front of my best friend, but a surreptitious glance in his direction proved that Jessica had already succeeded in begging him to let her blow him, so, he was preoccupied.

After a whole crowd of women came over to offer tips and advice, I could only conclude that this was a new Sub who hadn’t had much practice yet, thus I had been chosen as a practice dummy for some reason. Sheer luck probably.

When I felt myself getting close, I held up my hand to stop her, even lightly pushing oh her forehead. “That’s enough. I don’t want to go off yet.”

“Yes sir,” she murmured as she obediently backed off.

“My turn!” Jessica sang out, and judging by the way Dimitri was slumped backward over his chair, she had to have finished him off already. I could tell by the way she held herself that she was expecting to be tied up. I was confused for a moment and looked over to the Shibari classroom, then I noticed that Hannah was holding out a lovely lavender rope that looked beautiful on Jessica.

“Alright,” I said as I took the rope and prepared it for making a harness. Surprisingly, it didn’t take very long at all.

“Good job!” Kenneth praised, startling me. He must have literally just arrived. “Looks like you’re ready to learn a few other ties.”

“Thanks…” I murmured, fighting the urge to blush.

Meanwhile, Jessica was now on her hands and knees. “Please let me lick your feet! Can I? Can I please?”

Things like this always made me feel ambivalent. “Sure…” To my surprise, it didn’t tickle as much as I thought it would.

“I’ve got a lot of students now, but almost none of them can make it here at a specific time, so, I’m sort of perpetually teaching people as they pop in,” Kenneth informed me with a laugh. “That said, as my first student, I’ll be happy to drop everything and teach you anything you want.”

I grinned. “I know I’m not ready for tying someone to the ceiling yet, but I actually wouldn’t mind reviewing the elbow harness. When you taught it to me, I couldn’t really do it right because of my cast.”

“Yeah no problem. Just give me a couple of minutes to do a few things. Since I had to take some time off today, I still have to make sure my room is clean, and things like that.”

“Why did you have to take time off?” I wondered with a concerned frown.

“Personal reasons. Nothing to be worried about.”

“Okay.”

Kenneth took a step back so that he could turn around and go to his classroom, but he immediately paused to frown curiously at something behind me. A moment later, I was spun around and kissed very thoroughly. My mind immediately went blank and it felt like it took a few minutes for it to reboot.

“Hi…”

“Hi Xander,” I returned the greeting, my face feeling strange. I didn’t dare look around because there were mirrors everywhere and I didn’t want to see the stupid grin on my face.

“Oh, that must be the guy,” Dimitri said, bringing to my attention the fact that he must have come back to his senses at some point.

“The guy?” Xander asked with interest.

I would have blushed had my face not already been doing whatever embarrassing thing it was doing. “Um… I told him about you…”

Xander grinned at me happily. Then it must’ve occurred to him that this might not actually be a good thing and his face fell. “Oh? And what did you tell him about me?”

I sort of ignored his question as I turned to look at Dimitri, which was a bit awkward because I was still holding onto Xander. “Xander, this is Dimitri. He’s my best friend and we’ve been neighbors since before we were born.”

“Hi!” Dimitri greeted cheerfully, waving rather than trying to shake hands since Xander’s hands were resting on my back.

“Dimitri, this is Xander; the guy I told you that… I like…”

“Aww!” Xander purred, sort of melting all over me. “I like you too!” He proved it by kissing me and we both got lost in it for a long time. Suddenly, hands pulled us apart.

“Let’s take this to my room,” Master Richard ordered with a knowing look.

“Yes Master,” Xander agreed easily.

“Alright,” I murmured since I had already been wondering which room to use. “But first, Dimitri, are you going to be alright on your own?”

He laughed. “I’ve got seven women sitting around me discussing kinks and negotiating possible hookups. I think I’ll be just fine!”

“Alright then,” I acknowledged, turning to Hannah. “Since I didn’t have time to tell him all the rules, will you do that for me? And also, keep an eye on him?”

“No problem! You go on and have fun!” Hannah bade, gesturing as if shooing me away.

Once in Master Richard’s room, he sat back and ordered us to do things to each other for a long time. Things like lick each other’s bellybutton or lightly run our fingers down the other’s sternum. Little foreplay things that built up until I once again felt like I could cum without any direct stimulation to my shaft.

“Fuck…” I exhaled in awe as I buried my face in Xander’s neck.

“Give him a hickey,” Master Richard commanded.

Xander moaned as I latched onto his neck and gave it a good suck. After a long moment, the Master sounded a bit breathless.

“Alright, since I’m in an excellent mood, I’ll give you a choice; who wants to do who?”

“Me please!” We both blurted out without a second of thought.

Master laughed. “Yes, but that doesn’t really answer the question.”

“Let me be on bottom,” Xander clarified, which was perfect.

I laughed softly. “Good, because I was hoping to be on top.”

“Alright then, to start, Xander will be the bottom,” Master Richard announced. “But don’t think for one second that I won’t switch things around as the mood strikes.”

“Yes Master,” we both agreed obediently.

During the foreplay, we’d both prepared each other fairly well, so it didn’t take more than a moment to check Xander with my fingers. “Are you ready, or do you need more prep?” I asked, wiggling my fingers slightly.

“I’m ready,” he assured me.

Master handed me a condom which I put on so that I could sink into Xander as soon as possible. I went slow at first, but then I was as deep as I could go. An unexpected emotion hit me, making me sigh and snuggle him tight.

“This feels so good!”

“I think so too,” Xander agreed, rubbing my back and making soft noises that subtly begged me to get to it. I paused just long enough to kiss him before pulling back and starting the fun.

Master Richard didn’t touch either of us, but he still managed to make shivers of pleasure run up and down my spine by ordering me to change my pace and then praising me for it. He also complimented and praised Xander for taking me so well, making him shudder and moan in pleasure as well.

“I’m so close!” I announced a few minutes later.

“Sounds like time for a position change!” Master commanded, and we stopped to let him direct us.

For hours, the three of us tried every position conceivable. One of Master Richard’s kinks was denial, so the moment any of us felt close to finishing, he’d force us to stop and cool down slightly, until we were both begging him to let us cum already.

When that moment happened, I came so hard that I literally passed out. I also had the best sleep of my life, not that I usually had trouble sleeping. Still, I felt like I had somehow found the key to opening the door to a magical land where everyone was happy at all times.

In the morning, I woke up to find Xander grinning at me as he watched me sleep. We were wrapped around each other like mating snakes. He stole a kiss the moment he noticed my eyes were open.

“Morning…” He drawled in a sexy voice.

“Will you marry me?” I blurted out the first thing that crossed my mind without my normal filter to censor it.

“Whoa!” That surprised both of us because we hadn’t realized that anyone else was in the room with us. We turned to find Dimitri flopped over the plush armchair in a way that suggested he had slept on it, presumably after I’d passed out.

“Oh, good morning,” I greeted him a bit sheepishly.

“Are you serious?” Dimitri asked, sitting up to peer at me intently. “You’ve only just met him!”

“I know… but I think I am…” I murmured.

“Are you on drugs, Benjamin? Because you are NEVER this impulsive! Hell! You had to think about and discuss it with me for three weeks before asking Amanda out!”

I couldn’t blame him for being concerned. “I know… and no, I’m not on drugs.”

“Then why are you suddenly Mr. Too Stupid To Think?!”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. I just…” I looked in Xander’s eyes and my brain went completely blank.

Xander smiled at me and gave me a soft kiss. “Why don’t we try dating first?”

I shook my head. “No! I have to lock you up and make you completely mine before anyone else realizes how perfect you are.”

He laughed and kissed me again. “Alright, how about engaged with no set date yet?”

Dimitri was now rubbing his temples as if warding off a headache. “I know you’re overdue for your rebellious phase, but seriously! What are your parents going to think?!”

I sighed a bit morosely. “I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it… in about an hour since I don’t think I can wait any longer than that…”

Maybe it was because I had already mentioned getting married soon and having kids, but Dimitri seemed like he’d already put a lot of thought into planning things out. He was now tugging on his hair and looking at the ground at his feet.

“You’d probably have to move out, but you already said you could buy a house if you wanted, but then what? Get a job? You haven’t decided anything about your future, except that you’re not going to college.” He continued to mutter as I shifted to get comfortable while I looked at him.

“My dad told me to find a hobby and turn it into a business, so I could still do that,” I pointed out.

“True, but what hobby?” Dimitri wondered, then he huffed a laugh and gestured around. “There’s already a sex club!”

“Excellent hobby!” Xander chimed in with a smoky grin.

I kissed him just because he was so damn gorgeous.

“If we’re talking about the future, then wouldn’t I have a say in this, since we’re now engaged and all?” He asked, his eyes on my lips.

“Of course!” I exclaimed before kissing him again.

“I’ve had a dream for a couple of years now to open up my own Bed and Breakfast — but for gay people. Or well, I mean like here; all inclusive to the entire spectrum. The point is that it would only be advertised in places where homophobes wouldn’t see it in the first place.”

“I kinda like that,” I murmured in thought. I even pinched my chin as hundreds of thoughts suddenly filled my head. “Actually, this could be perfect! My mother was just telling me that grandma’s getting a little too senile and should be moved to a smaller home with a full-time caregiver, so we could probably use her house — as it would be mine eventually anyway.”

“How can you just assume that it’ll be yours?” Xander asked in amusement.

“Because my mother’s an only child, so she’d inherit it, but she doesn’t need it, so she’d probably either just give it to me or keep it in her name until I inherited it from her anyway,” I explained.

Dimitri hummed in thought. “That’s not a bad idea. Your grandma’s house is secluded, so if you turned it into a B and B, it’d probably appeal to a lot of guests.”

“I should talk to my mom about it when I get home, and actually, that’s a good reason to go visit grandma and ask her what she thinks.”

Xander chuckled nervously. “Maybe we should start with a simple introduction and see how they take the idea of us being in a relationship first?”

I was a little shocked. “You want to meet my parents already?”

“Uh… well… you just said you want to tell them that you’re getting married and want to turn your grandma’s house into a Bed and Breakfast. Don’t you think they should meet me before talking about any of that?”

“I actually thought you’d want to avoid meeting them until you were more certain they’d accept you — or am I wrong in thinking that a lot of people have to worry about how their parents react?” I questioned because it was practically written in stone that kids had to hide these things from their parents or risk getting kicked out and disowned.

Xander rubbed the back of his neck. “If we were talking about meeting my parents, I’d think two or three more times about doing it, but you’re sort of making it sound like you’re going to go settle all of this tonight and have us living together by this time next week.”

I smiled at him. “That’s one of the advantages of belonging to a rational family. So long as I present them with a solid and decently well thought out plan, they’ll accept anything.”

“Plus,” Dimitri added. “They really believe in letting him make his own choices since there’s not much point in life otherwise.”

Xander was clearly confused by that, but rather than try to explain, I simply kissed him.

“So… you want to go meet my parents?” I asked, trying not to show just how excited I was by the prospect.

“Yeah… I have to admit that I’m pretty curious about them now,” Xander said, kissing me several small times as he did so.

“Mmmm…” I hummed happily.

It took about a half an hour to order smoothies as a sort of late breakfast/lunch — since it was actually coming up on dinner time — and then get dressed and drive to my house. As we passed Dimitri’s house, he sat up abruptly and pressed his face to the window.

“Mom’s home!”

“That’s weird,” I murmured with a concerned frown.

“Normally you know that there’s nothing in the world that could make me miss dinner with your parents tonight, but if my mom’s home, something serious must be wrong,” Dimitri babbled, clearly worried.

“Good Luck! Say hi to Oksana for me,” I said as I stopped at the end of his driveway to let him out.

“I will! And I’ll text you later to let you know what’s going on.”

“Same,” I stated, certain that I’d have at least some sort of reaction from my parents to report.

Xander and I were both quiet as I finished driving to my house. Until I heard him muttering under his breath: “This must be an expensive apartment building. Even the parking garage is full of luxury cars.”

I chuckled softly and kissed his hand. One of the things I loved about him was that he had no idea I was a spoiled little rich kid, so he had agreed to my crazy proposal thinking that I was a normal guy like everyone else. However, before I could tell him that this was our house and not an apartment building, I noticed something that made me frown.

“What the…?” I got out of the car and walked over to the top-of-the-line transport van. “Why is this here?”

Xander slipped his hand in mine and gave me a concerned look. I gave him a kiss and led him out of the garage toward my house. Before we fully reached the front door, it opened and one of the maids gave me a reassuring smile.

“Your mother wanted you to know that your grandma is here. The entryway is a bit of a mess at the moment because all the necessary equipment is being stored there until it’s decided which room she’ll be staying in.”

“So grandma’s going to be living here?” I questioned in surprise.

“It seems she had a minor stroke last night and the doctor recommends putting her in a care facility, but your grandmother refused and your mother saw no reason to have her anywhere else when there’s plenty of room here.”

“Good point,” I agreed reasonably.

“And the cook is making a choice between maple glazed salmon and steak tartar for dinner with crème brûlée for dessert. Should I tell her to add your friend for dinner?”

“Yes please,” I answered politely. “And let her know I’ll have the steak tartar.”

“And you?” She asked Xander with a friendly smile.

“Uh… salmon?” Xander replied uncertainly.

“Great! I’ll let her know.”

“Any way you could persuade her to add some pâté to my plate?” I wondered.

“Of course! She knows how much you love it,” the maid answered. “And before I forget, I cleaned your bathroom today and noticed you were low on shampoo and conditioner, so I put them on the list.”

“Alright,” I replied with a shrug since it was something my mother bought and I never noticed when or if I was running low. It just always seemed to be there.

“Are you ever going to come say hi to me?” A gravelly yet stern voice demanded from the sitting room.

Chuckling softly, I led Xander to where my family was sitting in a circle around a table having tea. “Hi grandma. I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

“No thanks to the morons who work for me! If I didn’t have a cellphone to call for help, I might have actually died last night!”

“Mother, please. The doctor said it was just a minor stroke. You weren’t in any danger of dying,” my mother reminded her in a placating tone.

“That’s not the point!” Grandma exclaimed fervently, even pounding her fist on the arm of her motorized wheelchair. “I pay those idiots a LOT of money to take care of me, and do they? No! I should fire the lot of them!”

“Mother, they’re domestic help. Only your caregiver is technically supposed to look after you, and she goes home at night. But please try not to worry, while you live here, we’ll hire two more caregivers so that you have someone to help you out at all hours,” Mom promised in all sincerity.

“Good! They can start by getting me a hot chocolate!”

Mom sighed and rubbed her forehead. “You’re not supposed to have any sweets for the next few days in case that was a contributing trigger for your stroke.”

“Don’t you dare try to treat me like a child! If I want hot chocolate, I’d better well get hot chocolate!”

Clearly tempted to growl from frustration, my mother turned to look at me. “Sorry for being so rude. Benjamin, please introduce your guest to us.

I kissed grandma on the cheek and whispered a promise to slip her some chocolate later on, which made her grin happily and pat my cheek. “You always were my favorite grandchild,” she murmured as I straightened up, apparently forgetting that I’m her only grandchild.

“Mom, dad, grandma, this is Xander… We’re getting married.”

“What???” All three asked in surprise.

My grandma smiled and squeezed my hand. “I was only 16 when I married your grandfather, you know. I’m sure you’ll have a long and happy marriage… but who are your brides?”

I chuckled nervously. “Grandma, remember how they made it legal for gay people to get married?”

“Well yeah, but what does that have to do with your brides? Oh! You mean YOU are marrying HIM… Whatever makes you happy, I guess, but really! I just don’t understand you young people these days!”

“Thanks grandma,” I murmured, kissing her on the cheek again.

“For the love of Einstein and Tesla!” My dad burst out. “Didn’t I tell you NOT to make any decisions regarding marriage until AFTER your arm healed?!”

I held up my arm to remind him that my cast was off. “My arm is healed.”

“He gets this from your mother,” dad grumbled at my mom.

“He probably does,” my mom lamented in agreement. “Honey… this seems rather extreme. You’ve only been broken up with Amanda for less than two months.”

I held up a hand to stop her from making a list of everything that has changed recently. “Listen, I know this is sudden, but I have actually given this serious thought. We decided to be engaged with no set date for now — to make sure that we’re able to get along should we get married. Also, Xander wants to open a Bed and Breakfast, and I was going to ask if we could use grandma’s house –”

“Good riddance! That house stopped making me happy when your grandfather died! I was thinking about burning it down!”

“MOTHER! I grew up in that house!”

“Then YOU can burn it down!”

“No, how about rather than burning it down, I turn it into a Bed and Breakfast?” I suggested even though I was fairly sure it was a done deal already.

“Whatever makes you happy,” she granted with a huff.

Despite clearly looking upset, my dad stroked his chin in thought. “I suppose that renovations wouldn’t cost too much. The house is in excellent shape. I could call Joseph and ask him to take a look and submit a bid. Provided nothing unexpected is wrong, I could have a construction expense account opened by Monday.”

“Oh… and I’ve always wanted to remodel the entryway,” my mother added. “It’s the dreariest place in the whole house.” She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through her contact list. “In fact, I could see to it that the woman I used when redoing my bedroom takes the job. She has excellent taste — which would be perfect for your needs.”

“Thanks mom,” I murmured, genuinely touched.

“So then, do you plan to take a business class at the local college?” Dad asked.

“Wouldn’t it be a management class?” Mom wondered.

“Do I need to?” I questioned. “Seems like it should be easy enough to run. And besides, couldn’t I just hire a manager?”

Xander laughed. “That’s actually where I come in. I HAVE taken business and management classes.”

“Oh…” mother stated, not quite sure what to make of the idea that I wanted to marry a man I’d never even mentioned before.

“Oh my! I just took a good look at you and realized how handsome you are,” grandma said, taking one of Xander’s hands in hers. “I always wanted another grandson.”

“Thanks, um…”

“My name is Lydia, but you can just call me grandma.”

Xander chuckled, not quite sure if it was really okay to do so.

Mom sighed, sounding a little defeated. “Well, I suppose that if things go well with the Bed and Breakfast, then it would be the perfect place to hold a wedding come next… summer?”

“Probably not,” dad interjected. “If it really does go well, they’ll be booked during the summer. In which case, it would probably be better to hold the wedding in late fall or winter, when not many people are traveling.”

“Wow!” Xander was clearly taken aback by how quickly my parents had gotten on board with these plans. He turned and gave me a serious look. “I’m warning you now, meeting MY parents will not go this well! We might both have to brush up on our fighting skills, and I’ll probably have to call my sister and have her hide all the guns and ammo before we show up. I can already tell you that my dad’s going to be drunk. My mom will be high; hopefully passed out, which’ll actually be for the best because while my dad can be a mean sonovabitch, my mom tends to be sweet as pie until she just snaps for no reason and tries to murder everyone in sight. I think the first meeting should really just be the two of us waving from inside my locked car before driving away. And actually, maybe it’d be even safer to just Facetime with them.”

“Uh…” I droned, wondering if he was being serious.

“But at least my sister will be happy for us,” Xander finished with a smile that made my head spin for a few seconds.

It was a struggle to keep my composure, but I didn’t want to act like a lovestruck dumbass in front of my parents. After clearing my throat, I managed to sound more or less normal as I asked: “Would you like me to show you around?” Which was code for: Let’s get to my bedroom right away so I can kiss the fuck out of you!

“Sure,” Xander murmured, probably relieved to have an excuse to get away from my parents for a few minutes. Sure enough, the moment we were out of the sitting room, he muttered in my ear: “I didn’t expect them to accept things so quickly. I really thought they’d argue…”

“I was actually expecting them to wonder when I turned gay, but I’m glad they didn’t because I have no idea how to answer that question,” I confessed as I led him up the stairs.

“Yeah, I’m not sure I’d call myself gay either,” Xander agreed. “I mean, my kink is serving my Master, and gender doesn’t really matter. Does that make me Bi?”

I shrugged. “If you are, then I probably am too since I still like women.”

“I have no problem with that,” Xander said with a smile. “Just… do you think you could promise me not to play around with anyone not part of the club?”

“I can absolutely promise that,” I vowed. “I’m not actually the type to play around, I just… feel safe at the club, if that makes sense.”

“Completely,” Xander agreed, squeezing my hand. “And I’ll promise the same.”

We were finally in my room and I practically slammed the door shut in my eagerness to kiss him. Our kissing got so hot and heavy that we didn’t have time or the strength to move from the door to the bed. He tugged my shirt off while I focused on unbuttoning his pants.

“So sorry to interrupt you,” my mother’s voice called out from the intercom, making me feel like a bucket of cold water had just been dumped over my head. “But one of your friends just arrived.”

“That’s weird,” I murmured with a puzzled frown. “Dimitri is practically my only friend, and if he’d come over, he’d have just walked into my room.”

“Good thing I get along with him then,” Xander said with a soft chuckle. “Since if he does that a lot, he’s probably going to see us having sex quite a bit.”

“Should I send him to you or have him wait in the parlor?” Mom’s voice interrupted us again.

I turned and pushed the button on the intercom next to the door. “Yeah, send him here.”

Thankfully, the time it took to get here would be enough to put my shirt back on. And help Xander fix his pants. And give him another quick kiss or ten.

“Benjamin?” A maid called out after knocking on the door. “Your mother asked me to bring your guest here.”

“Thank you,” I replied as I opened my door to find Joel standing there behind her. “Why are you here?”

“You haven’t called me,” he stated.

“That’s because I didn’t want to talk to you,” I informed him in no uncertain terms. Then I sighed and stepped back to let him in my room.

He watched the maid walk away until I shut the door again. “She’s pretty. I wonder if we can poach her — at least for a week or two.”

“That’s pretty shitty of you,” I remarked dryly.

“What, you never sleep with your maids?” Joel asked in a tone that made it clear he thought this was a normal thing to do.

“Why would I? I had a girlfriend for three years,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, I heard you broke up with her. She’s friends with my girlfriend and won’t stop bitching about it.”

“Why are you here?” I demanded grumpily.

“Right. Sorry. I mean that; I came to apologize. I feel really bad about fucking around with the bat and breaking your arm. Is there anything I can do? Want a new car or something?”

“I can buy my own cars,” I stated coldly.

He sighed and shifted awkwardly. “My parents think I should give you one of my trust funds, and I sort of agree. After all, I ruined your future.”

“I have enough money, so if that’s all, you can just go,” I suggested.

“Wow man, you were never exactly the friendliest guy, but now you seem to be a downright asshole,” Joel remarked, but not like this information upset him. If anything, he seemed relieved that I was more like the rest of his friends than he thought.

I sighed in defeat and decided it would be quickest and easiest to just accept his apology. “Look, I don’t need anything, but I believe you’re sorry.”

“Just let me get this off my chest…” Joel continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “When word got around that you were scouted by all the best college baseball teams, I did feel jealous for about a second. But you have to understand that playing ball was never my passion, I just do it for fun. If I go to college, it’ll probably be the same one my dad went to, which is the same one his dad went to. All they care about is how much money we can pay them, and it won’t even matter if I slack off and spend all my time at frat parties.”

“Do you have a point with this?” I wondered, a little curious despite myself.

“My point is that I hope you don’t think I did it on purpose. I really didn’t because I don’t want to play college baseball, so why would I want to ruin it for you?”

I nodded in understanding. “I know it was an accident.”

“Then why are you so pissed off at me?” Joel wondered, sounding surprisingly anguished by this.

“Because you weren’t paying any attention to your surroundings. It wouldn’t have happened if you’d just looked around and noticed that there were people around who could get hurt.”

He huffed a small laugh. “You mean that you’re mad because I wasn’t acting as cautiously and rationally as you always do. I could never understand why you even wanted to play baseball, considering you never seemed to have any fun with it. You never seemed happy, except for when you managed to perfect a skill and amaze us all with it. Then you’d crack the tiniest sad little smile you ever saw.”

“Just because I didn’t go around dancing and shouting like a moron, doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy,” I nearly snarled at him.

“Can you dance?” Xander asked, his eyes on fire with curiosity over this entire conversation.

I turned to smile at him. “Of course. It’s part of the curriculum at the school I attended.”

“Which means that it was probably some fancy private school,” Xander murmured with a soft smile at me.

“Yeah,” I admitted, feeling strangely shy for some reason.

“And is playing baseball the reason you’re in such good shape?” He asked with a leer that looked me up and down and nearly made me blush.

“More or less,” I answered. “Part of the training included things like running and lifting weights. We had a former pro baseball player as our training coach.”

“Lucky!” Xander exclaimed with the slightest hint of jealousy. “Anyone I’ve heard of?”

“Probably, if you follow baseball at all,” I said with a shrug.

“Any chance you plan to invite him to our wedding?”

I pinched my chin in thought. “I wonder if he’d even consider coming. I suppose I could send him an invite.”

“I know we have more than a year before we have to decide on anything, but I have to admit, hearing your mom and dad talk about when would be the best time to have it, well, I got excited…”

“Me too,” I admitted with a grin at him.

“You’re getting married?!” Joel burst out incredulously. “TO HIM?!?!”

“I am,” I confirmed with a soft smile. “Or at least I plan to. We’ve got a few other things to do first.”

“Such as taking self defense lessons so that we can punch my dad out when he tries to strangle us,” Xander said.

“You really think he’ll try to strangle us?” I asked curiously.

“Honestly, it’ll be about a fifty fifty chance between strangling us and just straight up shooting us with his favorite shotgun,” Xander admitted a bit sheepishly.

“I’m sorry your family’s so messed up,” I murmured, running my right hand along his cheek. “But actually, I was thinking that the most important first thing we absolutely have to do is go shopping for a ring so that you can show it to anyone who hits on you.”

He laughed and made a gesture like he was preening. “You think a ring will stop people from hitting on me? And besides, it’s YOU that I have to worry about being hit on.”

“I think I should add taking you to an eye doctor to the list of things to do, because you clearly need to have your eyes checked.”