Alex placed a heavy hand on the top of her head. “Why was I forced to punish you, Mara?” he asked again.
Mara took a breath and blew it out. “Because I tried to use the phone, sir,” she made herself reply.
He lifted his hand. “That’s correct. Will you try to run away again, Mara?”
“No, sir,” Mara said with conviction. I won’t try. Next time I’ll fucking succeed.
“Good girl.” He pulled her to her feet and peered into her face. “Punishment is over. Sit on the couch. Would you like some water?”
“Yes, sir,” Mara replied.
Alex walked over to a small refrigerator set below a counter at the back of the room and returned with a bottle of water. Mara accepted it and drank deeply, grateful for this small gift. Alex sat again beside her and spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. “I am going to conduct an assessment of your penchant for erotic pain. A certain segment of our guest population enjoys indulging in the fine art of sadomasochism. We at Pirate Island take pride in the ability of our girls to handle whippings, bondage, erotic torture, humiliation play and whatever else pleases our guests with this particular predilection. Tell me,” he continued in a conversational tone, “do you have any experience with BDSM?”
Whippings, bondage, erotic torture…
The words whirled in Mara’s mind. This couldn’t be happening. She rocked back and forth on the couch, her fingers digging into her upper arms as she stared blankly at the ground. “No,” she moaned, not in direct answer to the man’s question, but because her mind refused to give his words credence. “No, no, no, no.”
“Sir.” Alex spat the word, making Mara jump. She looked at him without comprehension. He rose from the couch and stared down at her. With a disgusted shake of his head, he commanded, “Stand up.”
Slowly, Mara got to her feet.
“You’re still in denial,” he said. “You need a dose of reality.” He gripped her arm and pulled her toward a door set into the side wall. “Let’s go into the playroom.” Opening the door, he pushed her through. Stepping in behind her, he flicked on the lights.
Mara stared, open-mouthed, as she took in the equipment scattered through the room. A gynecological table had been placed perpendicular against one wall, chains and leather straps hanging from eyebolts along both sides. A large wooden structure in the shape of an X stood against one wall, cuffs hanging at the four corners, a leather strap at the center. On the wall just behind the cross hung a series of whips of varying sizes and shapes, as well as several riding crops and canes. There was a chair that resembled an old-fashioned barber chair, again with straps and chains attached strategically on the arms and legs. Another chair had a large hole in the seat, a porcelain bowl set on the ground beneath it. A large dog cage sat in the corner of the room, a thin blanket on the floor of the cage. The only piece in the room not designed to terrorize was a loveseat set against the wall opposite the X cross.
“Please,” Mara blurted involuntarily, trying to pull away from her captor, “don’t make me go in here.”
“It’s for your own good,” Alex purred, his voice deeper since they’d entered what could only be called a torture chamber. He pushed her forward into the room. “Bad girls like you, disobedient, willful girls, can only become good, proper submissives through extensive training. What kind of trainer would I be if I just threw you to the wolves, as it were—if I let those guests have their way with you without first preparing you, teaching you?”
Mara’s knees buckled and she sank to the ground. “Please,” she cried. “I’m so afraid. I can’t do this. I just can’t.”
Alex lifted her, forcing her back to her feet. “Calm yourself,” he said gently, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Your reaction is natural, but the sooner you accept your situation, the better off you’ll be.”
He forced her to the exam table and pushed at her shoulder. “Lie down and scoot forward so your butt is on the edge of the table. Put your feet in the stirrups.” His face implacable, he stared hard at her with those cold green eyes until she finally, reluctantly obeyed. She lay back against the padded cushion and closed her eyes, tears trickling into her hair on either side of her face.
“Good girl. All you have to do now is take what I give you, and thank me when I tell you. We’ll keep the session short, given it’s your first day.” Indifferent to her terror, Alex moved around the table, lifting and securing straps over her body, cuffing her wrists, strapping her ankles into the stirrups. He pulled her arms up and back over her head, securing her cuffs to the hook set in the wall behind her head.