‘Oh, no, it’s fine,’ I said. I was far too intrigued to play along with Peregrine’s little game. I wanted to know who she was.
‘I won’t divulge her identity just yet,’ said Peregrine. I could have slapped him, though it wouldn’t have given me the pleasure getting my hands on that backside in the corner could have. ‘But suffice to say that she is one of our esteemed friend Sofia’s submissives, brought down here for the weekend with a very specific purpose in mind.’
‘Sofia’s submissives?’
‘Yes, she and Sofia have a kind of relationship, I suppose. Sofia has clients and she has submissives. Her submissives are her lovers. She has four just now, I gather.’
‘Are they all women?’
‘No. One of them is Raf, whom you met earlier with our friend the director. She’s bisexual. Bi-sadistic. She doesn’t care if the bottoms she whips are hairy or smooth. In fact, I introduced our little friend here to Sofia at a backstage party. They are both indebted to me.’
‘You’re quite the fixer on the S&M scene.’
He didn’t disagree with me.
‘So, er …’
I looked over at the girl, as pointedly as I could.
‘Ah, yes, as I was saying. This little piece teamed up with Sofia and they’ve been happily in lust for a few months now. Sofia’s a marvellous trainer – she’s taught our friend well – but now she feels she’s ready to move to another level of submission.’
‘Another level?’
I felt a bit stupid, just echoing Peregrine, but I hadn’t the slightest idea what he was on about.
‘Sofia is a generous woman. She has a lot of toys, but she’s always happy to share them with her friends. Raf and this naughty little miss are to be this weekend’s common playthings. Raf’s done it before, but this one hasn’t. It’s her first time. A very special day for her. The day she learns what it truly means to belong to Sofia.’
All of this was accompanied by smacks and moans from upstairs, which added to the strange ambience of the place. It was as if power play and erotic discipline were in the air. I was well and truly hooked.
‘What does it mean? What sort of sharing?’
‘Anything and everything. Her arse is ours. And so is the rest of her. But not until Sofia gives us the nod – terrible manners to just set to with somebody else’s sub unless they’ve allowed it.’
‘I see,’ I said. I won’t deny, I was pretty excited by now. It was looking as if I might get to join in this party. That perfect peach of a bottom was going to feel the weight of my hand, and I was going to make sure I matched up to the more experienced players.
The moaning and smacking stopped, and stiletto heels clicked down the stairs towards us. I saw the girl in the corner straighten and compose herself into optimum position.
‘Hello, boys,’ said Sofia, entering purposefully. ‘Sorry you had to hear that. Julian’s been a very silly boy and he had to be chastised. He’s in the same position up there that a certain person is modelling so nicely down here. Has she been behaving herself?’
‘She’s been exceptionally good,’ said Peregrine, and I nodded along.
‘Well, that makes a change. I hope she’s resolved to turn over a new leaf and work on her unquestioning obedience. She still finds that difficult, you know, Peregrine, even after all these months of training.’
I wondered how she felt, standing there, listening to all of this, being spoken about as if she wasn’t in the room.
‘Nobody could train her better, darling,’ said Peregrine. ‘You know you’re the crème de la crème. The cream of the crop, one might say.’
Sofia laughed, loudly. ‘Yes, one might. Especially this one. Very well. I think she’s had long enough to reflect on her misdeeds. Richard, I understand you’re new to the delights of discipline?’
‘Well, yes, that’s right. I’ve thought about it often but I’ve never—’
‘What a treat you have in store. I think perhaps you should deliver the warm-up and Peregrine can follow up with the more advanced implements. I haven’t quite decided what we should use on her. Peregrine, do you have any thoughts?’
‘It needs to be a strong lesson, of course.’ Peregrine mused on this for a bit. ‘I’d say a touch of the strap, some strokes with a wooden paddle, and all rounded off with twelve good strokes of the rattan cane. We should intersperse each session with some additional punishment, too, perhaps a little humiliation or some sexual service.’
‘Yes, I’m with you. Four hard spankings with fun for us in between. You can do the caning, then. I’ll do the others.’
‘Splendid.’