Asymmetry Ch. 11

"It sounds like you enjoyed that, Miss James."

I turned off the wand and ran my fingers over my mound, smiling as I enjoyed how sensitive it felt.

"I needed that so badly, Sir. Thank you."

"You earned it with your obedience, Miss James. I'm not going to be around tomorrow night, so I'm very pleased I've been able to enjoy you tonight."

"The memory of this will definitely keep me going tomorrow, Sir." I squeezed my nipple and gasped as it throbbed between my thumb and forefinger. "Are you doing anything nice?"

"I'm at dinner with a potential investor," Conrad replied. "If all goes well, it could be a very important evening for me. What about you, Miss James? Do you have any plans?"

Why did he have to make it so difficult for me to lie to him? His warning rang through my head again.

Once we are home, you are not to have any contact with Ruth. Do you understand?

"I'm going to go to the gym, Sir," I said, settling with an abbreviated version of the truth. "I want to try and get into a routine now I'm back at school."

"You should have said. I would've happily put together a programme for you." The innocence of his tone told me that my lie had slipped through undetected.

"I'd love that, Sir," I said, keen to stay positive. "I've seen you in the gym, so I know you could help me a lot."

"All in good time, Miss James," Conrad said. "Unfortunately, I need to go now as I still have some work to do, so I will say goodbye for now. Remember, you have certain tasks for me tomorrow morning."

I woke up the next morning with an unusual spring in my step. Mind blowing orgasms, it turned out, were the perfect antidote to the back to school blues. I revelled in my post orgasmic state as I showered.

Conrad's instructions gave me a sense of purpose, and being apart, I had an extra drive to satisfy his desires.

I took great pride dressing exactly to his specifications, picking out a white cotton blouse, grey pencil skirt and cream heels. His final instruction was more tricky. Taking the black marker pen he'd given me yesterday, I carefully traced over the faded writing on my mound.

Sir's

Being labelled as his property had to be the biggest mind fuck imaginable, but I couldn't deny feeling my pussy clench as I finished. Before I left the house, I sent him two pictures: The first a full mirror shot of my outfit; the second a close up of my handy work with the marker pen. It didn't take long for Conrad to respond.

I'm very impressed, Miss James. I glowed with pride as I read his reply. Have a good day at work, and enjoy the gym later. I'm afraid I won't be able to message during the day.

I yearned for his praise, and having gained it, exhibited a confidence that usually eluded me. To an outsider, it would make no sense, and I still found it difficult to fully comprehend, but being under his control gave me a sense of freedom I'd never found before.

However, I couldn't shift a nagging guilty feeling for agreeing to meet Ruth later. I assured myself that Conrad would never find out, but a foreboding feeling still hung from my conscience like a lead balloon as I entered the gym. My eyes scanned the foyer for a moment, before catching Ruth sitting on the other side.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, walking towards me. "For a while there, I didn't think you were going to show up."

Dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, her green eyes sparkled with excitement. Their resemblance to Conrad's was unmissable, and another jolt of guilt pulled at my insides.

"Sorry I'm late," I replied as we exchanged a warm embrace. "I got held up at school."

That's right. You were held up at school. Nothing at all to do with pacing up and down outside for ten minutes debating whether you should go in or not.

"No need to apologise. I'm just glad you could still make it."

She seemed just as bubbly as she had been in Portugal. What was Conrad's problem with her? We scanned our passes at reception, and were just about to walk through, when the receptionist stopped me.

"Carla James?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"This was left behind the front desk for you." She produced a large gym holdall. "There's a note that goes with it too."

I recognised the handwriting immediately.

I hope you enjoy your workout tonight, Miss James. I thought you could do with an update to those old workout clothes though.

We walked through to the changing rooms and I opened the holdall. Brand new gym gear lay inside: A lycra vest and matching leggings, along with a brand new pair of trainers. A huge upgrade on the t-shirt and jogging bottoms in my own gym bag for sure, but wearing them, I'd never felt more exposed. I'd never considered myself body conscious, but they clung so tightly to the contours of my frame, that I felt as naked as the day I was born.

Changing was also a far from straight forward process. As I pulled down my skirt, I remembered that my buttocks remained rosy red from my time with Conrad in Portugal when I saw them in the mirror.

Our last night at the villa embodied our time there. Conrad had roped my wrists together above my head, attached to a hook in his bedroom ceiling. He'd then administered the flogger on my bottom with a surgical precision. Fast, soft blows tickled my backside at first, slowly evolving into much harder swings that jolted my entire body when they landed.

Every time I'd sat down since, the stinging sensation acted as a reminder, but I'd never considered the scenario of my buttocks being visible in public.I took great care to keep them out of Ruth's eye line as I finished dressing.

She of course, had no such hold ups about her own workout gear. A purple sports bra flouted her toned stomach with no decency at all, while also revealing a jewelled belly button piercing.

"So, what sort of workout do you usually do?" she asked as we left the changing room, coolly tying her hair into a ponytail.

I had no choice but to try and bluff my way through here. Although I now looked the part, that would only paper over the cracks for so long.

"Well," I paused, trying to buy myself more time, "I normally just use the treadmill. I like to see how far I can go."

"That's fine," Ruth replied. "But do you not even warm up at all?"

How long did it take you to make a fool of yourself? Twenty seconds?

"Not usually, why?"

"Personally, I prefer to stretch and gradually increase my heart rate before I start working really hard," Ruth said. "It helps with recovery and injury prevention. Come on, I'll show you a stretching routine that's super easy."

She led me over to a matted area at the side of the gym. I couldn't help but notice the number of eyes following us across the gym floor.

"Here," Ruth sat down on the mat, and at this point, I knew that my charade as a fitness expert had been completely shattered. "Let's start with some simple stretching."

She stretched out her leg in front of her, and reached forward to grab the end of her shoe.

"You should've seen this before," she looked up at me. "You can feel the stretch right down the back of your hamstring."

With the grace of an elephant getting down onto its hind legs, I sat down next to her. While she made it look effortless, the stretch felt impossibly difficult to me. No matter how hard I strained, my hand fell way short of the position Ruth was able to manage.

"Try and control your breathing," Ruth said. She placed a calm hand into the small of my back. "You're so tense. Relax your muscles a little and you'll find it so much easier."

Her warm, comforting fingers added a little pressure, and as my breathing softened, guided me forward, well past what I deemed possible with my level of dexterity.

"Thank you," I gasped as her hand released me, and I immediately slumped back onto the floor. "I have to be honest with you, Ruth. I'm actually pretty new to all this."

"You think I couldn't tell," she grinned back at me. "It's ok. I did three years of lacrosse at university; I should know what I'm doing! Come on, I'll help you through a routine."

Without the slightest hint of impatience, Ruth guided me through a series of stretches. Her manner never changed, always calm, always encouraging as she explained the reasoning for each one.

"You know, you're an excellent coach." I said, as we took a drinks break. "You'd make an excellent personal trainer."

"Oh, I only know the basics, you'd have to go to my brother for proper training!" Ruth exclaimed. "I'm more than happy to help though. You're part of the family now after all."

I'd really hoped she wouldn't bring up Conrad tonight. I didn't need reminding that I was disobeying a direct instruction tonight. He said he was out for dinner. I wondered with whom? Wherever he was, I just prayed he didn't have CCTV connection to this gym to hand.

"Now then," Ruth continued. "You said you normally use the treadmill, right? I'd actually recommend using the cross trainer. It'll put a lot less stress on your knees and ankles. I'll help you get started."

We chose two cross trainers next to each other, and Ruth set mine to a gentle intensity. The more I got to know her, the more Conrad's attitude confused me. Tonight, she'd been so kind and supportive; the polar opposite of the menace Conrad portrayed her to be.

"So, how are you feeling about your sister's wedding?" Ruth asked with a lack of breathlessness that sickened me. "There's not long to go now!"

God. Why did she have to bring that up? Tanya's wedding was my kryptonite, and for the last few days, I'd successfully eradicated any thought of it from my brain. I knew I shouldn't have brought it up with her in Portugal.

"To be honest," I croked, sweat trickling down my forehead. "I try not to think about it. I told you before that me and my sister don't get along, didn't I?"

"It'll creep up on you much quicker than you expect," Ruth smiled. "You shouldn't be so negative though. Go in with a positive mindset and you'll enjoy it a lot more."

"Trust me, it doesn't matter what happens," I spluttered. "There's nothing on earth that would help me enjoy it."

"Here, try this." Ruth leaned over and reduced the resistance on my cross trainer. "You can't say that about your own sister. You're the maid of honour, remember! Have you started to arrange the hen party yet?"

The more she talked about the wedding, the more I just wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

"Of course I haven't," I replied, desperate to change the subject. "I haven't got a clue what Tanya would want."

"Well, it's not just about what Tanya wants for a start," Ruth said. "You've got to make sure it's fun for everyone, but that shouldn't be difficult to arrange in London."

I gritted my teeth and focused on the cross trainer, hoping my silence would force an end to the conversation.

"Look, it's pretty simple," Ruth smiled, determined not to change the subject. "All you need to do is arrange an activity for the afternoon, then somewhere for plenty of drinks in the evening. Alcohol is your friend!"

We both burst out laughing.

"Okay, I can see you don't want to talk about it," Ruth continued, "so how about I make you a deal?"

"Go on then."

"Here it is. I'll help you organise something, and I'll even promise not to mention the wedding again."

"That sounds great," I grinned. "What's the catch?"

"It's not a catch at all," Ruth replied, "but I want to know more about my brother. He's always so secretive."

Christ. The nerves that had been floating around my midriff all evening crash landed at the bottom of my stomach. What was he hiding from her? Did she have suspicions that he was a deviant, dominant mastermind?

"Why, what do you want to know about him?" I asked

"Everything you do in bed. Is he kinky?"

"What!?"

"I'm joking, silly!" Ruth laughed. "Look, he's always kept himself at arms length and I don't really know why. I just want to know a little bit more about the real him I guess."

If only you knew. My stomach churned. Was I really about to do this?

"Okay, deal," I said, after a long pause. "Thank you for your help."

"That's great!" Ruth exclaimed. "And there's no need to thank me. Like I said, you're part of the family now." She reached over and switched off my cross trainer. "Time for a break. Let's have a drink and decide what we'll do next."

I prayed I hadn't just made a catastrophic deal as I stepped down from the machine.

"You know, I'm delighted my brother is finally dating someone a bit more normal," Ruth said as we walked. Unlike me, she had barely broken a sweat, and strided with an elegance that suggested she'd hardly worked out at all.

"What do you mean?" I asked. My body, on the other hand, was now coated in a thick sheen of sweat, and I staggered like someone on the verge of a heart attack. We stopped at the water fountain, and Ruth unscrewed the lid to her water bottle.

"Well," she said. "I've barely met any of my brother's previous partners, but they've never been the kind of women you'd expect a footballer to typically date."

"What are you trying to say about me?" I grinned through my discomfort, thinking of the type of woman you'd typically see dangling off the arm of ex-Premier League footballers - usually far too much fake tan and silicone to be considered normal human beings.

"Don't be silly, you're perfect!" Ruth exclaimed. "Well, the women I've seen him with previously have been, I'm not sure exactly the best way to put it, alternative I suppose. Before I met you, I actually thought he was dating an older woman. I'm so glad I was wrong!"

"Did you say an older woman?" The images Suzanne kept showing me; the photo in Conrad's lounge; they all came flooding back to me.

"That's right," Ruth said. "I know it sounds crazy now! But it was definitely an older woman I saw him photographed with. She had blonde hair like you, but was at least ten years older than him, maybe fifteen. Clearly I'd got it wrong!"

I needed to refill my water bottle, but I couldn't move. So Ruth knew about Erin too? The last thing I needed was her backing up Suzanne. Why did it always feel like one step forward, then two steps back with this relationship? I hadn't a clue what to think now. The idea that Suzanne had been right all along seemed preposterous, but now I was certain of one thing.

I need to speak to Conrad. Now.