The name didn't ring any of Abby's bells. "Who?"
"Seth hasn't told you? I guess he wouldn't have since he's only training you."
Lost at sea is exactly how Abby felt. "I'm confused. What does training me matter?"
Liz concentrated on the coffee mug in her hands. "Seth is a private person. He doesn't share himself easily. The story of Mara is his story to tell."
Her body language couldn't speak more plainly of a refusal to say anything more, so Abby didn't push. Instead, she glanced outside. It was a normal spring evening as far as she could tell. Budding trees nodded in the cool breeze; the steel gray sky was heavy with pregnant clouds that hung over the reddening west; people dressed in bright raincoats moved about their daily lives. She reviewed her first evening with Seth.
"I suppose that's why he looked like he was making a major decision before screwing me that first time."
"I was not happy to hear you two had done so. I worried about..."
"Complications?" she offered at Liz's hesitation.
Liz smiled. "Just so."
But something didn't add up. "Why does he bring condoms if he's not interested in sex?"
"He uses them for oral sex," Liz said on another shrug. "I'm told Seth prefers to be protected at all times when he's with a kennel slave. Rumor has it he does so because when he chooses a slave for his own, his preference is to go commando. Hence, Mara-- Oh! Um..."
Abby blinked in surprise. She and Seth had never used protection during oral sex, not that she recalled. They'd always been skin to skin--rather mouth to skin--since their first time together. A condom during oral sex would be annoying, sure, but with reality of mouth-to-genital transmissions of illnesses she could understand the need, unless both had clean bills of health and were exclusive. "Therefore keeping him at low-risk for what he calls unwelcome transmittables?"
"That would be my guess, but also as a way to enforce the barrier between a slave he's training and"--Liz's bright grin flashed--"complications."
Seth had broken that rule. In fact, Seth had broken a number of rules since she'd met him. She stared at her half-empty mug, trying to understand, but only one answer arrived: things were complicated.
She hoped that was a good sign.
Complicated was an understatement, she told herself as Seth and Mike loomed in her doorway. Her mind stalled for a moment before she remembered to invite them in. They crossed the threshold and closed the door behind them. They returned her wide-eyed stare with equal expressions of frigid neutrality.
Ice prickled down her spine. "Is something wrong?"
"Proper greeting," Seth barked.
Startled, she jumped what felt like a foot into the air. Once she landed, she dropped her dressing robe and knelt naked before them, per Seth's preference. A shiver rocked her body and she bit her lip as the chill marched down her spine. He hadn't sounded the least bit friendly.
"Nice," Mike said, after a moment spent gazing at her.
"She trains easily," said Seth.
Their stares didn't ease up. She flushed beneath their regard.
Seth crossed his arms over his chest. "Your disobedience costs you today's training session. Mike"--a nod to his right--"is here for his optioned punishment."
"But, Master, I've already been punished," she protested, confused.
"I punished you for your arrogant rejection of my wishes," said Seth. "However, your refusal to do as instructed also robbed Mike's slave of her ability to perform as she was ordered by her master. Thus, you didn't just spit in my face, but you also spat in Mike's."
Shock shuddered through her.
"This is not acceptable," Seth continued. "Punishment is due, but it is not my bailiwick. Mike was given an option to punish you himself or forgive." There was a cold pause. "He chose to punish."
"I--I didn't know... I didn't," she sputtered and blushed. "I'm sorry. I--"
Mike cut in. "The rules of our lifestyle differ from what you know from your previous life. I understand that, but you consented to be here now, as a slave, and this is what it is."
"Even in the vanilla world, it's unacceptable to blow off the expectations of your superior," Seth said with a knife-sharp edge to his voice.
"My...my 'superior'?"
"You are a slave," said Mike. "Seth is not. Therefore, he's your superior."
"You're property and have no voice in decision-making. My expectations, even with only the slightest hint of my interest, are to be your commandments." Seth paused. "As Mike's are for his slave."
Thus, my alleged spitting into Mike's face, she noted to herself. Shoulders slumped, the weight of defeat unbearable, she tried for a plausible excuse. "I'm still learning. I meant no harm."
"I see more than one man speaking to you, girl."
She flinched from Seth's scathing rebuke. What on earth was she supposed to say to them? "Masters?"
Again, their unison nods and twin frowns. Later she'd laugh at the spectacle. She didn't feel much like laughing now.
"That you're still learning is why leniency is offered," Seth pronounced. "However, correction will be made."
Into the silence, a gentle wind tugged at her wind chimes. The soft tones rang an odd contrast to the brittle atmosphere in the house.
Seth spoke again. "Unless you refuse the punishment, girl, which equates to calling full stop to your training and in that case, we'll depart."
She felt herself go white as her heart failed for what seemed to be an endless moment. She sucked in a huge gasp of shock and choked on the unexpected knot in her throat. Seth stared down at her, inflexible and resolute as he awaited a decision.
Her mind raced. Allow Mike to lay a hand on her? Crazy! She'd already been punished. It was so unfair to try to punish her again. What was he thinking? She hadn't signed up for this! Had she? If she didn't consent, then Seth would be gone. That thought broke her heart. But even property had a choice, right? There was consent involved here, yes?
Mike, a hint of softness in his voice, cut into the drama between her and Seth. "Every slave in our community has learned this lesson. I've been told it is a lesson easier done with someone the slave already knows."
Whoever told him that was a big, fat liar, but calling bullshit wouldn't do her any favors at this juncture. "Yes, Master," she mumbled.
"Do you accept punishment?" Seth asked.
Abby tried to speak, but humiliation clogged her voice. She was forced to clear her throat twice. She lowered her gaze to the floor. "Yes, Masters, I accept my punishment."
Mike surged forward. In three long strides, he'd crossed the distance and stood beside her. He plunged a hand into her hair and yanked her off balance before, literally, shoving her face-first onto the floor. Abby squealed and fought back.
Still standing in the entranceway, Seth hit the lights, leaving the room illuminated only by the lights shining in the kitchen area. Cloaked in darkness and silence, he leaned against the wall and watched as Mike tugged Abby onto her knees.
She scrambled for balance, struggling to find purchase on the carpet. Her stomach clenched and, in a moment, she was back in her childhood, fighting off her abusive stepfather.
No!
She was a grown woman! She would not quiver and cower.
She thrashed, making a hissing noise of rage, while trying to dislodge the hard hand from her hair. Mike released her hair, offering her a brief moment of victory. He swiveled on his feet and threw a leg over her back. There he kneeled, his weight pressing her downward and trapping her thighs beneath her own weight.
He tugged a wooden paddle from his boot and applied it vigorously to her buttocks.
Abby spat and thrashed. The paddling continued. She begged and pleaded, cried and cursed, and finally beseeched Seth to intercede. "Please, Master, make it stop!"
Seth stood motionless in the shadows of the doorway.
Mike laughed and it was a sound of no humor. "Your trainer is here to ensure I don't permanently damage the property. He's not here to tell me when I'm done. That's for me to decide." Slipping off her, he leaned over her body and said, "Besides, he likes to watch."
Mike tugged her up.
She stumbled, her legs feeling like Jell-O, but managed to find her footing. He steered her to the couch, before dropping like a felled tree onto the cushions. He draped his arms over the backrest and spread his knees. "Free my cock. It's time for my blowjob."
"B-b-b-but Liz..."
"Really?" Seth snapped from the doorway. "Even after punishment?"
She cringed from the snarl and looked into Mike's frowning face. "Please, I'm only trying to understand."
Mike relaxed and stroked her cheek with one finger. "My slave doesn't have a voice in my sexual choices, and right now, I'm all for getting oral sex from you."
Right and wrong are different here, Abby reminded herself. This was not her mother's reality.
Hesitant, but unwilling to disobey, she set her trembling hands to work against the buttons on Mike's jeans. In moments, his unleashed cock had sprung free and she was reaching for the shaft of man-meat. It pulsed in her hand, warm and soft, and hard and needy. She squeezed gently and stroked. Mike groaned his pleasure.
Seth's brogue-infused growl intruded. "Condom."
"Right here." Mike reached into his shirt's front pocked and extracted four brightly-colored foil packets. He fanned them like a hand of cards. "Grape, strawberry, banana and"--he gave her a grin--"chocolate. It's your choice, girl."
"I'm allergic to chocolate," she said, then flushed hotly as her automatic answer arrived into the discussion.
As if the condom contains any actual chocolate. Please.
"We'll go chocolate-free then," said Mike and tossed the unwanted condom at Seth. It soundlessly landed on the carpet at his feet. He offered the remaining condoms to Abby. "It's still your choice, girl. What will you have?"
Abby pulled the yellow packet from the group.
"Banana. Good choice."
Turning it over in her hand, she located the nicked edge and tore it open. She then strove to sheathe Mike's penis. She gave it a glare and a frown, but the sheath refused to cooperate. Undaunted, she tried again.
"You've got it backward. The roll is on the outside."
She tried again, unsuccessfully, causing Mike to take over the task himself.
"Seth hasn't taught you how to handle a condom yet?"
She felt a wash of warmth flood her skin. "I'm sorry, Master."
Quickly finished, Mike cast Seth a glance before relaxing back into his seat. His condom-covered cock bobbed in the air between them. He nodded at it. "Make him proud, girl."
She touched his dick with her tongue tip. A burst of banana-flavor exploded onto her taste buds. An unusual taste considering the circumstances, she thought, but not unpleasant. Curiosity caused her to ease her lips along the condom-covered shaft, sampling the micro-ridges created by the manufacturer. Still unusual, but not unpleasant, and probably would be an interesting feel inside her.
"Ribbed for everyone's pleasure." Mike laughed.
Abby chuckled softly, causing Mike's dick to give an interesting twitch against her lips. His breath hitched. She reached up and cupped him mid-shaft, squeezing gently. He swallowed and hummed his encouragement.
Hell, why not?
She took him into her mouth.
"Good girl," Seth said from the doorway, the ripple of Scotland teasing his voice.
The praise gave her the needed encouragement. She applied herself to Mike's dick, hearing him murmur his enjoyment from deep within his chest.
The fact of Mike's circumcision lent her awareness that his cocktip wouldn't be as sensitive as Seth's. Therefore, she applied herself to his glans. She enclosed his cocktip with her mouth and suckled briefly before lowering her mouth along his shaft with a determined draw.
Mike's sigh of satisfaction was her reward.
She lifted her mouth from him and sent a path of kisses down to his balls. There she licked and lapped at the sacs, using her hand to pump his cock. Mike's hips twitched, making small forays from the couch.His hand moved from the couch to the back of her head, pushing both with care and an unmistakable demand.
She chuckled, even as she enclosed him with her mouth. Using a firm suction that hollowed her cheeks, she inched her way down toward the base of his shaft, each sortie a test of his control.
"Ah, Christ Almighty," said Mike on a groan.
Mike lay with his head on the sofa's back. She couldn't see his expression, but she could see his throat as he swallowed. Hard. She rolled his balls in her warm palm.
He raised his head and fixed his gaze on Seth. "Where did you find this fantastic cock-sucking bitch?"
"Sitting at your table, dipshit."
Seth's brogue-laden voice came with an obvious effort. Mike pulled her from his cock to wink into her face. In the next second, he was guiding her back down his dick...deep...deep, until she gave a small choke, his cocktip brushing the back of her throat.
He caught his breath before rasping a question. "Where's my 'thank you'?"
"Jackass."
Seth sounded closer. He
was
closer. She realized he'd crossed the room when he put a hand onto the small of her back and knelt behind her. Startled, she glanced up. Mike's face had darkened into a feral mask. His cock throbbed against her palm; his thigh muscles hardened.
"Pay attention, girl."
He wasn't amused to have his blow job interrupted.
"Sorry." She returned her attention to the task.
Seth moved against her body, his legs brushing the back of her thighs. Then he was there--inside her--and that fast, her awareness tipped into somewhere else.
Seth pushed into her, causing Abby to take Mike deep as her body rocked forward. She suckled Mike's cock, licking and nibbling, sucking hard as she went down on him in conjunction with Seth's penetration of her. When Seth withdrew from her body, his cock a long slide of heat, she mirrored that act with her mouth.
Mike used soft pressure and gentle tugs to ensure her mouth's placement was to liking. Behind her, Seth fucked with slow, firm strokes. He cupped her hips, holding her in his preferred position.