“You’re going to have to find her a boyfriend Sarge.” Mike as they looked out over the darknening valley.
“Noooo, I suck at putting lovers together.” Sarge said and took a swig of whisky.
“Why?” Wingnut asked.
Sarge handed handed the whisky to Mike who took a swig. Mike passed the bottle to Wingnut.
“Either she’s going to proposition one of us and be disappointed or she’d going to proposition one of our owners in which case we’re going to deal with the complications.” Mike said.
“Fuck.” Wingnut said passing the bottle back to Sarge.
“Who do you think she’ll proposition?” Sarge asked after taking a swig.
“Ma. Ma wants you to have kids Sarge.” Mike said taking the bottle from Sarge.
“Ah shit!” Sarge said.
“Yeah? Claire is busy scrubbing a nest.” Wingnut said reaching for the bottle that went back to Sarge.
“Renata is busy getting broody too. But she’s your ages and has a kid.” Sarge said passing the bottle to Wingnut.
“Don’t tell me…” Wingnut said passing the bottle to Sarge.
“Yeah first what makes you think she will?” Sarge asked.
“Her nipples popped the moment she realised she was safe and saw the three. She is blushing more that a virgin priest in a whorehouse.” Mike said.
Just then they heard who they were talking about coming. Nerinne, was eighteen, was built to push any libido into heart stopping overdrive, with a brain as sharp as any scalpel. She had guts too. All three men loved her, but at a safe distance if at all possible. She was the type to cause a headline making pileup in a parking lot because she picked a piece of paper up.
“Nerinne don’t ever try to sneak up on fighting men from behind.” Mike said gently.
“Don’t try to be quiet, you make a patch of silence we follow.” Sarge said.
“Fit into the noise of the area. There is always a sound, in cities watch reflections.” Wingnut added.
Nerinne stared at the three men. Not one had even looked around.
“How did you know it was me?”
“Your smell.” Sarge said.
“The patch was too small to be someone older.” Wingnut said.
“The other ladies know better. It’s why Claire wears heels when… never mind.” Mike said.
“Claire said we ladies are making supper. You can sit here and relax.” Nerinne said.
“Sounds like we are in the shit.” Wingnut said.
“Were those her words Nerinne?” Mike asked.
“No. She said that you are not to disturb. Mind you don’t get so drunk that you fall off the cliff.”
All three men relaxed.
“Cool. Thank you Nerinne. Could you get us another bottle of whisky please?” Sarge said.
“Sarge, you’re already drunk, talking nicely.” Wingnut said.
“He’s been taking bigger swigs. Comes from dealing with those boys.” Mike said.
“I don’t think there is another bottle.” Nerinne said.
“You’re worried because of your dad and brother on booze?” Mike asked.
Nerinne looked at the back of Mike’s head. He could read her mind, she was sure of it.
“Two things Nerinne, in that cabin I have several guns, Claire knows where they are, Ingrid knows how to use them and Renata will not hesitate.” Mike said.
“That’s three boytjie.” Sarge said.
“Do you see that rock? Where the helicopter blade is tied? Sarge prepped the are three bottles there.” Wingnut said.
Nerinne went to look. There were three bottles of whisky. She considered how much those men might put away. She took one bottle.
“Sit down here.” Sarge said patting the rock next to him.
She sat down. Mike cracked the bottle and offered her the first sip.
“Isn’t this some private guy time” she asked.
“Yes, but you qualify.” Mike said.
“I don’t have the tackle.”
Wingnut laughed.
“You have bigger balls than the fuckers down there.” Sarge said.
Hesitantly she took her first sip of the evil burning liquid. She coughed a little but sat. She listened as the men talked about rugby, Mistress Beira, cars, and boats. She found the bottle being given to her a few times and felt the burn less each time.
“I surprised Claire hasn’t come to find me.” Nerinne said at another swig.
“She was standing in the shadows when you brought the bottle. She left a few minutes ago.” Mike said.
“Do you read minds? Feel where people are by their heartbeats?” Nerinne asked.
“He can see the future sometimes too.” Wingnut said.
“Sarge why do you say I have balls?”
“It took guts, calling for help like you did. It took a fucking good head to not panic. You did good.” She heard the other two nod more than saw, it was getting quite dark.
There was more talk, she quietly sat listening and felt utterly safe for the first time since her breasts started growing. She understood that the men were teaching her as much as saying that they respected and accepted her.
“What kind of kind of guy should we find for you?” Wingnut asked.
“You cannot kidnap a boy and make him love me.”
“Watch us.” Sarge said.
Nerinne realised that they could and probably had done exactly that in the past at some point. She was a little shocked that they would consider her love life too. She sat looking into the night with her head starting to spin. The guys were off on a different subject again.
“Honestly I can’t say. I think some kinky things. I suppose I should get a shrink.” She said staring at the night.
“That depends, do you think of a feather or the chicken?” Sarge said.
“No not feathers, or birds, being told… Being punished if I get it wrong.”
“Nah! You’re fine. You should see some of the fuckers we’ve dealt with.” Sarge said.
The chat moved to fetish clubs and the fantasies they’d taken part in, stopped, prevented, or helped along. Her ears were on fire as they talked. Somehow another bottle had appeared. She took a swig and excused herself. She made it back to the camp somehow and sat down on the floor. She couldn’t miss it.
“They want to kidnap a boyfriend! For me!” She said and fell over.
It was much later and she saw Mike pick her up and carry her to a bed. Claire’s face was staring down at her, she heard snoring. Claire’s breast was right there. Nipple just showing over the nighty. Nerinne kissed it.
“Do you want a girlfriend instead?” Claire asked quietly.
“A mistress.” The girl whispered.
Claire slipped into bed beside Nerinne.
“You are to suck my girl until asleep.” Claire said pushing Nerinne’s head down to her breast.
The girl latched on and started sucking.
“We will work this out girl.” Claire said quietly.
Mike had told Claire when the apprenticeship contract was signed that the girl was having fantasies about her. He had been there, he had known. Claire had asked Mike under hypnosis about Nerinne. She lay in the dark with her husband asleep on the floor and another slave in the making latched to her breast thinking about her home.
They went exploring the next morning driving a convoy of three vehicles. The hung over men were not driving. Mike on the back of one VLUSV was merely pointing directions. Nerinne was in the seat next to Claire in no condition to drive either. She didn’t know where to put her head. She remembered kissing Claire’s breast. She had no idea if Claire was angry or not. She was less hung over than the men, having had more sleep and less whisky. It was still a fantastic hangover though.
“Uhm Claire about last night.”
“Hush girl. No need to be embarrassed. It’s better you got drunk with those three than with anybody else. Believe me, you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Uhm I remember…”
“That you were honest. It’s incredibly difficult to lie when you’re drunk. Something all three those men know very well. Just have a chat with me later on the quiet if you want.”
“Thank you.”
“We’ll deal with the men getting you drunk and embarrassed with them at home.”
“Why did they?”
“Get you drunk? Experience? Mike is supposed to teach you art. You cannot make art without experience. Respect possibly, they respect you a lot. Do you know that they have never invited Renata or my mother or me to drink with them? Possibly they recognise a fighter like they are?”
The first thing Mike showed them was a cave with bushman painting on the walls. They then went closer to the marshland and saw the incredibly rare sight of Egyptian geese on the water. They switched the engines off and were soon rewarded with the sight of a fish eagle swooping over the water and plucking a catfish up.
They drove further and stopped at a little graveyard, a Chappel, falling to ruin, and a mausoleum covered in debris from years of being under a tree. Mike led the group to from the Chappel to an old road and then they were looking down on the trees again.
“Let’s try alternate one. Sarge lost one vehicle to a stupid driver on the traverse, he doesn’t want to risk more. Game?” Mike asked.
Claire was. Mike wander over to the other two vehicles and asked. Both agreed. Ingrid was having a ball, she seldom got to actually use the platforms her company made and this was a rare treat. She wanted to see what these little jeeps could do.
Mike walked ahead and showed the cars when to turn on a narrow switchback track with a series of hairpin turns. As she watched Mike showing the way down it occurred to her that he was maybe not as hungover as he appeared.
“Uhm, would Mike be angry if…”
“He knows. He woke me up with coffee as he usually does. If he was angry you would know all about it.” Claire answered.
Nerinne thought of her father’s toes, her brother’s fingers, and she shuddered as she thought about Mike in the type of fury she had seen her father in.
“I’ve heard he calls you Mistress.”
“Yes he does.”
“And Sarge calls Mrs. Aethsdottir Your Grace.”
“Yes.”
“Neville calls Mrs Bothma Highness.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that is what we wish to be called in our relationships.”
“I don’t understand. I mean that’s like the kinky things the girls talk about that happen at Cuffs. In Nelspruit.”
“Cuffs is near where my mother lives. It is exactly that, but on longer terms than typical at Cuffs. And that game is deceptive. We are all somewhat nearer to the idea of that than the typical patron at Cuffs.”
“Oh, so Mike saying he belonged to you, he meant it?” Nerinne felt her ears burning at the thought.
“Yes. He is always honest. He sometimes doesn’t see though that I belong to him as much. Do you know that the whole idea for the gallery and everything that goes with it are his idea? And he came up with it in thirty minutes as we went home on the way home from a family lunch. This farm we are on does not belong to me, it’s his. The idea of why Sarge is having a ball running around in the valley is also his. I might be his Mistress, and he does everything he can for me, but I would just be a struggling psychologist without him.”
“But…”
“Mike might be submissive to me, he is not weak, cowardly, or sick. He is no less than I am Nerinne. Neither are the other two. Remember that. Consider that reality carefully, you are no less and no more than any of us. It’s the place you choose to be happy that counts.”
Nerinne was silent. She had seen the weird little rituals between the couple’s here, had seen that Ingrid was the voice of authority as a whole and that each woman subtly had and enforced a degree of power over her man, she had not thought that the men allowed it because they enjoyed it.
They got to the bottom of the twisting track and stopped at a level area. Ingrid was delighted with her company’s miniature Jeep. They were not comfortable but they were brilliant on challenging terrain. Renata stepped out of her vehicle and breathed in awe at the morning drive.
“The three men were walking around the area, Mike pointing to areas of interest to them. He reached into a creeper and slapped rock. The three men moved around the massive bulk of creeper and vine. The ladies joined them to find out what was so interesting.
“This is probably a building Your Grace.” Sarge said to Ingrid.
“This area is littered with old farm houses Frikkie. We have a wonderful potential in the valley.”
“It’s too big to be a farmhouse ma. It’s too solid to be an abandoned mine. It’s been abandoned for longer than the farmhouses too. I was thinking about the stables, what if this is a similar situation. We’re looking for a door or a window now.”
“Sarge we need Ricky!” Neville called out.
“Fuck!” Sarge responded.
“Who is Ricky?” Claire asked.
“The cop we call to avoid police complications.” Mike answered.
“You bribe a cop that often?” Renata was shocked.
“No bribing Ricky, don’t even try Renata.” Mike said.
“Yep, one corpse! We’ll need to make the call.” Sarge said after looking where Neville had indicated.
“Can I see?” Nerinne asked.
Mike looked around and nodded. He took her to the spot and picked her up to look through a grime encrusted window. It wasn’t what she had expected. No gore, no massive mess, just a skeleton with the fragments of clothing on it and around it. She saw the empty eye sockets turned in her direction in the dim light. A dying person had been looking at the last light of living through this window. Far from being revolting she felt sorrow, a person forgotten and alone left in a mansion. Nobody caring what happen to him.
“I’ll draw or paint that some day.” She said when Mike put her down.
“Sketch what it made you feel today.” He answered.
“Woman?” Sarge asked.
“Crossdresser is possible.” Neville said.
Sarge got onto his radio and gave an instruction. Nerinne and Mike moved around the building looking for more entrances. The found a large double door around the corner. Nerinne called everybody. The discussion was whether to go in or stay out.
“Ricky might be pissed if we go in.” Neville said.
“We cannot have the authorities angry at this stage.” Ingrid said.
“Can we explore the outside?” Nerinne asked.
Everybody looked at Mike who had found another window and was coming back with a smile.
“It was a whorehouse at one point.” He said.
Nerinne was shocked to hear that. Sarge and Neville smiled.
“That means money is here too. Coins?” Neville said.
“Let’s not tell Ricky that.” Sarge said.
“Can we look around?” Nerinne asked.
“There is a small dam in there, and possibly more structures there, there, and there. This terrace is artificial. There will probably be a delivery door in it somewhere. This was the main door… Mistress, this is going to be looked at very seriously in future, we cannot have a treasure hunt, there are very definately treasures here, but academic process will be crucial for Llarson and for us.” Mike said.
Claire considered what Mike had said and how he had said it. The use of Mistress was not lost on her either. Ingrid also clearly understood that a very easy accusation to come from this was that Llarson Ordinance looted national treasures and moved them through the gallery. She was not blind to the advantages of this building either. It was more capable of holding sizable parties, the view once the trees were cut down would be incredible. She had heard Sarge saying words like defendable, covering fire from above, good road, clear coms lines.
“Frikkie, this place must remain low profile but priority. Clear the vegetation and supervise the study personally. What are the risks to looking around?” Ingrid said.
“Snakes mostly. Broken legs from treacherous ground conditions.” He answered.
“Don’t move around alone. Do not bring mementos back. Mike, you and Frikkie stay to help if somebody gets hurt.” Ingrid said.
“Mom, how about I stay with Sarge? That way Mike is available if things go wrong?” Claire said.
They split into two teams. Renata and Neville went around the terrace, Mike went with Ingrid and Nerinne to look for the dam and the other possible structures. The first they found was an old cold store. Mike showed them how it had worked using evaporation to cool an area down. He looked on the shelves for something rateable, found nothing. They pushed from there to find a generator room. Ingrid looked at the massive magneto and the reduction gearbox that had turned it.
Claire and Sarge had not settled down properly when the call came over the radio. He answered and settled down.
“They caused some massive shit in Sabie. Ricky is there cleaning up. We’ll get a visit tomorrow morning.” Sarge said.
“I suppose this Ricky will want to get a statement from Nerinne then.”
Sarge snorted.
“They already have Nerinne’s statement. She just needs to sign it. The same goes for those two.”
“What is going to happen then?”
“The cops will probably send the boy to prison for a few years and the rest will probably get lost. If they push on Boytjie and Wingnut they have to send the entire watch to prison too. Not going to happen.”
They heard a squeal and a splash. Then laughter. Sarge relaxed.
“Sarge, would you walk me down the isle?” Claire asked suddenly.
Sarge blinked a few times. He patted her shoulder.
“You barely know me.” He said.
“You’re honest, honourable; I won’t tell. It’s not about daddy who picked me up when I skinned my knee. It’s about having the guts to tell me when I’m out of line.” She said.
“My girl, you’ll get that from me. Might I say that Nerinne would not be out of line? Just let her make her mind up. She’s still rattled, unsure. Don’t push, but let her know what she’ll be in for.”
“Thanks.”
Renata returned, she and Neville had found five large doors around the terrace. Nerinne was wet, dirty, and she was furious because Mike had thrown her into the dam. Ingrid was laughing. They had found an old water wheel generator. Mike had been explaining how it had worked and caught her staring at his ass. He had led her out of the shed on the pretext of showing the water wheel and thrown her in. Ingrid thought it hilarious.
“Come to me for some self defence lessons.” Sarge said, no sympathy for the girl just a future remedy.
“Would it stop Mike in future?”
“A bit of a problem that…” Neville said.
“Ricky’s coming in the morning.” Sarge said.
“Flying or driving?” Mike asked.
“Flying. Apparently you hosted a dirty weekend once.” Sarge said.
“Let’s go back for lunch.” Ingrid said.
Nerinne got her first lesson in art while Neville prepared lunch and Sarge went swimming with the ladies. She was wringing her dirty clothes out when Mike put a canvas down in front of her. He handed her a selection box of charcoal then sat down beside her with a canvas of his own.
“Tell me how seeing that corpse made you feel.” He said and started sketching.
Nerinne looked at him. He was serious. He looked at what she was doing, said nothing and carried on sketching. Half an hour later he was having something to drink when Claire decided she was finished and showed him.
“Nice, but that doesn’t tell me what you felt, it tells me what you saw. So how did you feel?”
“Sorry actually. She died in the middle of a floor, staring at the last light she would ever see. Nobody cared enough to bury her or even miss her.”
“Good, you felt something now tell everybody. I’ll show you.”
Mike fetched another canvas and started again, he showed her how line and shade conveyed emotion. He watched as she tried on her own canvas. She started putting emotion into her sketch, Mike whispering approval, advise on where to fill, where to shade.
She stared at her sketch after awhile. She could think of nothing more to put into it.
“Now sign and date it.” Mike said.
“Pardon?”
“It yours, it’s you. Let the world know that on this day you saw your first corpse and felt something. Today you took your first step into art.”
Mike showed her how to fix the charcoal in place and varnish. He had it standing on an easel in the camp when lunch was ready. Ingrid looked at the sketch and nodded in approval. Renata’s hand went to her mouth in empathy for how the woman had died. Claire hugged the girl as she stood beside her work looking embarrassed.
Nerinne was intensely aware of Claire’s breasts pressing into hers and fought down the feeling that she should be falling to her knees. She imagined Claire being happy and taking off her top for more freedom to swing a cane. She hugged back in delight and dread and prayed for the dampness in her panties to not show on her shorts.
Mike pulled out some footlockers and opened them. He brought two easels out, and returned for twenty paintbrushes. He put a sketchbook in front of everything as everybody watched.
“Make a list of everything here. This is yours from me. I’ll asked Claire to replace the list. It’s tradition that an apprentice is equipped by the teacher.” Mike said.
“Give me that list, I’ll get it.” Ingrid said.
“This is expensive stuff!” Nerinne said looking at the brand names.
“Don’t waste it then.” Ingrid replied.
Nerinne looked into a box.
“You have wax crayons?” She asked.
“Yes but be careful of the dirty khaki ones. They’re explosives.” Mike answered.
Everybody laughed.
“Is he joking?” Renata asked Neville laughing.
“Nope.” He answered.
Nerinne forgot about lunch as she looked through more materials than she had owned in her life. She had looked at prices on the internet before and she worked out that each box had twenty five thousand Rand in it. Everything was top brands, even the colouring pencils and crayons. The pastels were magnificent. The variety greater than she had ever known. She gave Mike a hug with tears in her eyes when she understood that he had given her more than paint, he had given her his approval.
“Sarge, can you teach Nirenne to shoot properly?” Mike asked.
“Sure. Let’s go little shit.” He said standing up.
Nerinne understood that was Sarge saying he hadn’t thought of a name for her yet. He walked to the waterfall and pulled a pack from behind a rock. And waved for her to come along. Nerinne looked at the others, they were telling her to go.
“You owe him a bottle Boet.” Neville said.
“I’ll give him the one you’re going to give me.” Mike replied.
“Why would I give you a bottle?”
“You’re sitting on your share of the sparklies.”
“I’m sitting on a rock asshole.” Neville said.
Mike took a box cutter from the box Nirenne had just checked and cut the rock under Neville. Gems and jewellery spilled out. Everybody stared in awe. Neville looked down then at Mike. He nodded soberly.
“Highness I need to give Mike a bottle of whisky. Could you please let Mistress Claire have it to let him drink at a time that suits her?”
Renata could only nod.
“Mike, how much of this canyon is real?” Ingrid asked.
“How did you do it?” Renata asked.
“I’d like to know, last time I saw this stuff a pirate in Bazarutti was sailing off with it.” Neville said.
“I meant the rock my squire.”
“That too…”
“Mike! Is this what you meant by sculptures?” Claire asked upset.
She had been waiting for him to show her statues and studies in something. Not a canvas that had been shaped and painted to be an unremarkable rock. In retrospect it was a fantastic sculpture.
“When we host an Oolos exhibit this needs to take a major space.” Claire said.
“There are three caves around us ma. In one is property of Sarge, it has a similar hoard, some other items of interest. One cave is full of things that have undefined ownership. One cave has other stuff of mine.”
Ingrid looked around wondering where the hidden caves could be.
“That pirate never got hold of the stuff Wingnut. He got a lot of crap that looked like the stuff until he tried to flog it. Renata, it’s all about understanding how rocks erode.”
“My highness, this is what I spoke about. What I would have loved to give you… It’s yours now, my gift, my request….”
“You need not have given this! Neville, damn it! A chocolate bar would have been enough! Not even that!”
“Mistress I do not want Nerinne to see this, it’s not her business.”
“Dead right. Into the helicopter?” Claire responded.
Everybody moved fast. Neville, Claire, Renata all helped to carry the treasure to the helicopter. Mike picked up another rock and carried it to the edge of the cliff and threw it over the edge. Camouflage he explained. Sarge would check that a rock had gone over. If anybody asked about the rock being missing, it had gone over the edge.
Ricky was surprising. Ricky was a woman, that was the first surprise. She flew a microlight into the camp at seven AM. The little aircraft handled the tricky landing beautifully and stopped just before bumping the first tent. She got out and took her helmet off as another woman got out of the passenger seat.
Renata saw a woman in her early thirties, without makeup. She was not a model class beauty, but would get her share of attention in any room full of men. She looked around the camp, missing very little and lingered a look at Renata. Renata was a little flattered to see romantic interest in Ricky’s eyes. She held out her badge and identified herself.
“We know who you are.” Neville said.
“I have to, it’s procedure.”
“Ok, procedure satisfied who is this?” He asked.
“Nicolene my cousin, just finished anthropology at WITS, is looking for- No Mike!” Ricky said.
“What?”
“Your fucking clairvoyance has already picked up rebound sex! No, not my cousin.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, this is Claire, my wife.”
Ricky blinked a few times in surprise.
“You’re probably Nerinne Linde, no you won’t be asked to make a statement I have it already you just need to read and sign.” She carried on.
The introductions were completed and Ricky deal with Nerinne and statements first. She read each aloud and asked the three involved to sign a version of events that almost pure fantasy involving drug dealers and human trafficking. Nerinne watched as Neville and Mike signed and did the same.
Then it was a matter of getting to the body. Ricky did not officially see an illegal firearm in the camp kitchen. If these guys only had an assault rifle it was a relief, and something to be encouraged.
“So where’s the body?” She asked and everybody went to the place.
“Ok, you guys didn’t do it. Is there a way in?”
Ingrid was listening to Doctor Nicolene DE Wet on the way. She was an anthropologist who had studied German colonial movement. She was at a lose end, nobody wanted to know about what her PHD had been in. She had archeological experience having dug in Wolwe Kloof, and a few other places. Ingrid thought about academic protocols.
They went to where the main doors were. No other way in had present itself as being easier. It took two kicks from Mike to hear the wood splinter. Ricky wriggled her way in. She was inside for a few minutes and came out.
“Ok, I can accept that there is no reason for a police investigation, the death happened so long ago, it’s hard to tell if a crime got committed. I’ll sign off and get the death certificate ready any idea where she was from or what happened to her family?”
“The building is German originally.” Mike said.
“How do you know that?” Nicolene asked.
“The Adelaar over the door, there.” Mike pointed.
Nicolene’s eyes lit up.
“Mike! Your wife is right there!” Ricky said.
“Oh piss off Ricky, Ingrid is more my interest, and her guy. Besides I’m so over the Ferreiras.” Nicolene said.
There was a lot of throat clearing quickly.
“We have an abandoned farmhouse with an Adelaar too. Would you be prepared to investigate Dr. De Wet?” Ingrid asked sweetly.
“Cool! When do I start?”
“Uhm, funding or academic body you’ll want to work with?” Ingrid asked.
“Yes that. I’m accredited at the Leipzig university. Salary, ah fuckit, can I get busy?”
Nerinne went home with Claire, watching the road and keeping puppies busy. Furniture would arrive through the day as Ingrid cleared a few rooms at her home. The bottom floor was nearly finished, Mike had done fantastically in hiding the sewerage pipe, panelling the walls, and hiding the infrastructure. He had created a one bedroom flat with a good door and a studio space with a skylight that he had fitted into an old chute.
Nerinne was in her seventh heaven at having her own flat and her car was waiting for her too. She danced around the main room in delight. Nerinne noticed spaces in the kitchen left open for a dishwasher and a washing machine. She asked and stretched eyes at the thought of having a dishwasher.
“We’ll go shopping for what my mother doesn’t send later. For now, just consider how the walls should be painted, and direct where the furniture should go.” Claire said.
“I can pick the colours?” Nerinne was surprised.
“Yes, within reason.”
They went to the kitchen after a tour around the house and the property. The puppies running and playing as they went. Claire told Nerinne to remind her that Mike was to make more parking as four vehicles were too many for the carport and available flat space.
“Mike enjoys it doesn’t he? What him and you have.” Nerinne asked as they were drinking coffee.
“Not everything. He hates being disciplined or punished. He knows it’s needed though he would rather have discipline in our way than silence and resentment and not knowing why I’m upset. It’s much healthier for us to work an issue out, discipline or punish and it’s done.”
“How do you?”
“I prefer whipping or spanking. It’s direct, it’s fast, I don’t need to spend hours supervising.”
“Would you whip me if I screwed up?”
“No you’re not in our relationship. Understand that Mike and I played scenes that you find on some internet sites and such for eighteen months before we came to this. We talked and tried, I learned a lot about him and myself in that time. In every play that I was the Domme he was the focus of everything that happened. In every play where he dominated I was the entire focus. We recognised strengths and weaknesses in ourselves not only sexually, that was a minor in the end, we recognised that he wanted me to be the one to dominate our relationship, I realised that I liked being in charge. And that is how we get here.”
“How did you decide all that?”
“We negotiated an agreement, like a contract, signed it and from that day we have lived according to our agreement.”
“Would you mind if I go to Cuffs?”
“Best not to go alone until you know the place, the rules, and the people to trust.”
“Oh, it’s dangerous?”
“It can be. Any club can be dangerous but the kind of lifestyle it caters to is wide open to abuse and abusers.”
The removals truck arrived and Nerinne got busy sorting furniture out. Claire’s mother had done a great job of sending things that fit together and at sending items like curtains, a few rugs and carpets, and decorations.
Claire spent the time working through what the gallery required. Tenders were looked through and compared, Neville called a few times about complications with the work already being done, new assesments were made about damages and the additional work required to bring the new spaces up to standard.
Nerinne walked into the office while Claire was on the phone. The workers were having lunch and she wanted to ask if Claire wanted lunch. Claire was speaking on the phone, leaning back in her chair, her free hand was at her forehead as she thought and spoke. Nerinne had a view of Claire’s silhouette profile as the top pulled taught. It showed a firm body without much excess fat, and of course it profiled those breasts. Nerinne instantly had a fantasy of Claire standing ready with a cane.
She went to the kitchen and made sandwiches and coffee rather than wait for Claire to finish. Claire had just rung off when Nerinne brought the sandwiches in. They ate in silence for awhile.
“What is it like being whipped?” Nerinne asked.
“No idea, it must hurt like hell though. I’ve never been whipped.”
Nerinne was quiet in thought.
“Are you going to do anything to Mike when he gets home?”
“Yes.” Claire answered decisively.
“What for?”
” Because he feels horrible about what he did in Sabie. Because he got you drunk and embarrassed. He did a few other things wrong.”
“Is that why you made a flat for me?”
“No. We did that for you to have space to grow.”
“Will you whip me? I feel horrible for what I caused.”
Claire looked at the girl. This was not only a sexual fantasy to fill, she needed to close an old life and begin a new one. She wanted to start on a clean slate.
“Very well. When you have what you need in your flat.”
They could hear the workers getting back to work. It was time for Nerinne to go.
“Thank you… Mistress.” She said at the door.
Claire sat back in thought. The telephone rang, she ignored it for awhile. She finally picked up and got the news that packing the cabin was taking longer than expected. Mike would only be able to leave the next day. She thanked the security clerk manning the signals and went to see the progress. To her surprise the moving was finished, the workers were getting blankets and cargo straps sorted out before leaving.
Nerinne had done a very good job. Claire wandered through, listening as the girl described a colour scheme that suited the furniture. Just before the workers left Nerinne remembered the footlockers. She asked two workers for help and the boxes were put in the studio. Claire looked through and compiled a list of household items needed then there was the issue of clothes.
As soon as the truck was gone the two went shopping. The brief was that they needed to kit her flat out and she needed clothes for ten days. Nothing smart, just clothes to do some hard work in. They went through the local shopping mall in four hours. The puppies were just starting to worry about supper when they two returned.
“You still need groceries. We’ll get that later. Put your things away and come to me for supper. Mike is stuck in the mountains so we are not going to wait.”
They ate supper together talking easily until supper was over. Claire asked Claire to pack the dishwasher while she went to her room. Nerinne heard the footsteps coming down the passage and didn’t think much of it until she stood up from putting a bowl in the machine and saw Claire at the door.
This was a different Claire, she was dressed in a leather skirt, blue silk blouse, and knee high boots. Nerinne instantly knew what this meant. She also nearly had an orgasm at the sight. Her mouth felt dry, her panties wet, and she was shivering slightly. Only one word was needed.
“Come.” Claire said and stepped out of the doorway to let the girl pass.
Nerinne knew that she could back out and nothing would ever come of it. She knew this was going to hurt. She didn’t think of those as she walked out of the kitchen to the one room in the house that was locked.
“This room has strict rules. The only person who comes in here wearing clothes is me. The only person who walks in here is me. Before this door opens the reason for it opening is made clear. Before this door opens the other person agrees to being punished. Strip all your clothes off and put them neatly here.” Claire pointed next to the door.
Nerinne noticed that the puppies had fled to the veranda. She undressed without show or shame. She put her clothes down as told then kneeled. She acutely aware of the droplets cooling in her pubic hair, her erect nipples, and that Claire could see it all.
“You caused My husband and his friend to hurt people in your defense, had you called earlier that pain might have been averted. Do you agree?” Claire asked.
“Yes Mistress.” Nerinne said in a little voice.
“For this reason you will be punished. Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress.”
“Do you agree to being punished by me to the extent I deem fit?”
“Yes Mistress.”
Claire unlocked the door and opened it. The light was movement activated and switched on as the door opened. Nerinne crawled inside an had a vision of a cross against one wall, a whipping post at another with a mirror mounted to the wall. A shackle in the middle of the floor probably had another painful purpose.
“Go to the whipping post. Kneel at it, knees either side and hug it.” Claire instructed.
While the girl obeyed Claire took restraints from the cupboard. She first secured Nerinne’s feet into a shackle set into the post. Then she secured hands, through a ring on the opposite side of the post to he body. Then Claire brought out a gag and a gumguard, she pushed Nerinne’s mouth open and inserted the guard. Then put the gag over her mouth. Nerinne watched as Claire pinned her hair up to leave her back bare. Then a flag was placed in her hand. Nerinne was breathing fast, watching in the mirror. Then she saw the whip and felt her stomach turn it was clearly well made and designed to hurt.
“Your brother had ten broken fingers, he will never recover full dexterity. Two lashes per finger that is twenty lashes. Your father lost four toes, he will limp for the rest of his life. Two lashes each, that is twenty eight. The man who wanted to use you has a broken arm and a dislocated kneecap, both injuries will recover one lash each. That makes thirty lashes. My husband is in pain because he needed to do these thing to protect you. Ten lashes. That is forty lashes. Do you accept?”
Nerinne wondered if that was a lot, she nodded. She watched in the mirror as Claire loosened up. The whip whistled as it went where she directed. Oddly Nerinne didn’t hear any snap she thought whips made.
“The flag is there for you. If you cannot stand it, drop the flag and the punishment will be changed or commuted to another day. This punishment will be completed either way. Do you understand?”
Nerinne considered, and nodded.
“Remember the flag is for your safety.”
And then Claire struck. Nerinne didn’t see it coming, Claire’s arm barely moved. She heard the snap alright, she felt a line of fire erupt at the top of her ass just where her butt crack started. Nerinne’s first reaction was disbelief. She couldn’t believe that she had agreed to this, she couldn’t believe that beautiful Claire could do this so calmly, most of all she couldn’t believe the pain.
She was just realising how much it hurt when the second struck just above her kidneys. She screamed and heard Claire counting, then another stroke wrapped around her chest and flicted the side of her breast. She tried getting away, the restraints held her. She knew she was peeing, she couldn’t help it. Her whole back felt on fire and yet every lash found a spot not burning and set it on fire. She stopped trying to get away, and started crying as the strokes kept coming. She considered her life until now, a constant barrage of threats, insults and comments about her only being good to suck dick or work on her back. She wanted it away from her, she remembered the dining area in every detail and felt sorry for her stupid father and blind brother because they had lost her. She sobbed and thought of the life she was coming to, her thoughts were listened to, she was not insulted except for Sarge but he used them as a compliment. She thought of how her questions were considered without dismissal. She understood in the lashes coming at her that her new life would have pain. But it was pain she asked for.
Then the whipping stopped. Nerinne lifted her head and was puzzled that the flag was still in her hand. She had not thought of it until now. She felt her gag lifting, the gumguard being taken out. Then Mistress was untying her hands. Saying it was over, her slate was clean.
She hugged Claire as soon as she could.
“Thank you Mistress. I will be better.” Nerinne breathed.
In a short while she was led crawling from that room, Mistress leading with a hand in a hand in her hair. Nirenne collapsed on a yoga mat beside Claire’s bed she saw the boots come off. Then Mistress disappeared, and then cool oil fell on her back and Mistress was whispering. The pain didn’t stop, it got worse. Nerinne went to sleep in the knowledge that she had more love here than she had known in her old life.
Source: reddit.com/r/Erotica/comments/10a3tjv/the_contract_cleaning_slate_femdom_flr_punishment