The Prey

Lucas sat on the bed, Joanie kneeling in front of him, the two of them in profile to the two-way mirror. Joanie was naked, the lacy dress she’d worn in a heap on the floor beside her. She was in the process of removing one of the man’s black cowboy boots. The other boot was already off, as was his shirt. Probably in his late forties, Lucas was still broad-shouldered, his chest covered in auburn curls graced with silver.

When the second boot was off, Lucas stood and yanked open the fly of his pressed jeans. He pushed them, along with his boxer shorts, to his knees and sat back on the bed. Joanie carefully removed the jeans and underwear, a serene, if vacant, smile on her face.

Standing once more, his cock at full attention, Lucas grabbed the back of Joanie’s head and pulled her roughly forward. He rammed his cock into her mouth, his fingers tangled in a tight grip of her dark hair as he thrust forward.

Joanie made choking sounds at first as Lucas thrust and grunted. Eventually she quieted, the only evidence of her discomfort the clench of her hands behind her back.

“Watch,” Alex instructed. “Imagine yourself in Joanie’s position.”

Mara didn’t want to imagine herself there, as Lucas jerked in a sudden thrust and threw back his head, the tendons taut on his reddening neck. “Yeah,” he groaned. He let go of Joanie’s hair and stepped back, his shaft shiny with saliva.

“That’s the ticket,” Lucas said with a satisfied grin, stroking his flagging penis as he stared down at the silent, kneeling girl. “Now I can concentrate.” Stepping around Joanie, he walked toward the mahogany counter and, bending down, opened a small refrigerator in one of the cabinets beneath it and retrieved a can of beer. He popped the top and took a long swig.

Joanie, meanwhile, hadn’t moved from where she knelt, her hands still behind her back, her head bowed.

Lucas reached for something on the bureau, and when he turned to face the room, he held a thick-handled whip, the tail a long, cruel coil of leather.

“Oh my god,” Mara blurted, without meaning to speak.

Behind her, Alex chuckled. “Lucas does love his toys.”

Lucas uncoiled the whip and ran his hand along the tail as he lifted it to his nose, inhaling the scent of the leather as if it were a fine wine or a bouquet of flowers. “I’ve been waiting all month for this,” he said in a voice hoarse with lust. He snapped his wrist and the whip cracked like thunder.

Joanie jerked her head up at the sound. Mara could see the fear in Joanie’s face, the serene smile wiped away. A shot of pure adrenaline gushed through Mara’s veins, as if she could somehow break free of her metal binds and leap through the glass to save Joanie.

Mara tried to twist back to meet Alex’s eye. “Please,” Mara dared. “You aren’t going to let him whip her with that thing, are you?”

“Don’t worry,” Alex said calmly, “Lucas knows his way around a bullwhip.”

“Stand up,” Lucas said as he approached Joanie. “Hands behind your head, legs shoulder-width apart. You know the drill.”

Joanie rose gracefully from her knees. Mara’s heart ached for the girl, who was trembling as she lifted her arms and laced her fingers behind her head.

“Practice your breathing,” Alex murmured. “Open yourself to the pain. You know what to do. Breathe. Breathe.”

Mara realized he was speaking to Joanie, though of course she couldn’t hear him. But somehow his words reached her, or at least the memory of his lessons, because Joanie drew in a deep breath, her high breasts rising as her lungs filled with air. After a moment she let it slowly out.

“Good girl,” Alex whispered, adding in a louder voice to Mara, “Breath control is key in handling erotic pain. You’ll see.”

No! I don’t want to see! Mara bit her lip to keep from screaming her protest. She watched as Joanie repeated the breathing exercise several times while Lucas danced around her, snapping the whip in the air. Mara, safe on the other side of the glass, flinched with each sonic crack, while Joanie showed no reaction.

“Let’s see how many you can take this time, baby,” Lucas said to the slender, naked woman who stood waiting in mute anticipation of his lash. The man’s eyes glittered with wolfish lust, his cock once more fully erect.

Lucas stepped back and to the side just behind Joanie. His wrist snapped and the whip coiled and struck her ass with a sharp crack of leather against flesh. Mara yelped, while Joanie remained stoically silent. The dildos still embedded inside Mara suddenly hummed back to life, stimulating her already sensitized sex.

Alex reached over her shoulders from behind. He rolled and teased her tender nipples until they stiffened and engorged beneath his touch. The whip snapped again in the other room, each lick of leather leaving a small, dark red welt on Joanie’s ass.