Better Ch. 01

"Please Master," Audrey begged, "no tests. Just let me enjoy this for a while."

Alex relented; he didn't even correct her when she called him "Master."

"It's been a long day," he said. "Let's try this out."

Master took Audrey's hand and led her upstairs. She could remember all the times Master had told her that he had not had sex with her—that he would not—but in that moment, with him leading her to the bed they would share from now on, she couldn't help but feel optimistic. He had once loved her body, had found his pleasure in her. That could happen again, if she was a very good girl.

"How do you sleep?" he asked. "I want you to feel comfortable."

Audrey wanted to lie to Master very badly, because she usually slept in cotton pajamas, and she wanted to sleep naked next to him. She tried thinking about what to say and found that she could remember things he said to her and things that made him smile. She didn't have to blurt out her instant emotional reaction anymore; she could reflect more now.

"Normally in some boring old pajamas, but I might get too hot with you next to me. May I sleep without pajamas, Alex?"

"I don't think—" Alex blurted out before stopping himself. "You know, I'm not your Master. Wear what you want."

Alex left the light on so Audrey could see. She slipped off her shirt and skirt with her back turned to him, hoping he was looking at her approvingly. When she turned around, Alex was only in his boxer shorts. He was already climbing into bed on the opposite side, clearly trying to avoid looking at her.

"Would you mind waiting for me to get in?" she asked. "Just so you can turn off the light."

Alex mumbled "yes" under his breath, and got back up, in time to see Audrey remove her black satin bra. Clad only in her matching black panties, Audrey sauntered over to the bed, hoping that Master might be aroused to take her. She could see Master's cock straining inside his shorts, and her own nipples began to harden in response, her desire to please Master almost overwhelming her resolve to follow his instructions.

Once she got into bed, Master turned off the lights and climbed in beside her. She nestled against him, her firm, full breasts pressed against his arm. She could hear him breathing heavily and knew he desired her, too. She thought about what terrible things she must have done to make him reject her like this and promised that she would one day win Master's love again.

For now, though, she felt as close to him as she had in a long time, though her extreme arousal made sleep seem far away. She nuzzled her head against his shoulder, her soft blonde hair tickling him slightly. He squirmed in bed a little.

"I...I don't sleep on my back. Sorry, could I roll over?"

"Anything you want Master," Audrey cooed, as she felt him turn on his side towards her.

It was clear that Master's long arms had nowhere to go, and neither of them were used to another body in their bed. Master's hand brushed seemingly by accident against her breasts, their legs against one another.

"Could you roll over?" he asked her. "I'll put my arm under your head."

Audrey obeyed Master, rolling over so that he could spoon her. Alex pulled her close to him, one arm across her waist and one below her, laid out under her slender, soft neck. All Audrey could think about was whether he would squeeze her tight in that position, holding her with both arms and touching her sensitive breasts. He hesitated.

Then she felt something altogether different: Master's hard cock jutting against the soft fabric of her panties. She had aroused him, and his manhood strained urgently against the barriers keeping them apart. She wiggled her backside against him, hoping to be subtle about stoking his lust. He let out a quiet moan and shuddered. She knew Master wanted her, even if he seemed incapable of admitting it. She reveled in the feeling of intimacy, the warmth of his body, and the way his throbbing cock proved that he wanted her body again.

"Please," Audrey whispered to Master, unable to face him but feeling like there was an opening for more than simply sleeping tonight. "Please give me another chance. I belong to you—let me make you feel good again."

This time, Master didn't lecture her about her memories, or command her to drop it. He sounded as conflicted as she was, but for a very different reason.

"I can't," he whispered. "This is as far as I can go...for now. It's...I want you too. Bad. Go to sleep Audrey."

She felt her body go limp in his arms, as he finally wrapped both of his arms around her.

She hadn't slept so well in years.

***

"You can do your laundry here, you know," she said as Alex rushed around collecting his stuff. "It's stupid to pay at a Laundromat."

Alex stopped the frantic pursuit of his last missing sock.

"I don't live here. And I have to get this stuff done on the weekends because I spend weeknights here after work."

"Alex, seriously, this is dumb. I'm begging you to move in. It's different now."

Alex hesitated.

Is he actually thinking it over now?

"Look, Audrey, I've been thinking it over, and..."

"Say 'yes'—you know you want to!" she said giggling.

Alex looked worried.

"I've been thinking that I might stop sleeping here. You're getting better and—"

Audrey was crushed, and her lip began to quiver.

"No," she said, choking back a sob. "Please, no."

Master was going to leave her again, after she had been so good, never once trying to touch him or please him without his permission. Every night for a month she had to lie beside him, burning with desire for him. It didn't make any sense to her: it was obvious that he was masturbating before bed time, trying not to be aroused.

Why would he prefer his hand to me? What am I doing wrong?

"It's getting harder every night to be here," he said. "And you should be better enough now to be able to sleep on your own."

Once, Audrey would have shut down in the presence of this kind of stress. Her mind would go blank, she'd forget where she was, and then, as if in a dream, she'd look out the window, onto the snow-covered world of peace and blank, thoughtless serenity. Only part of what Alex said was true. She was better now, stronger, and she wasn't going to let Master go again without trying her damnedest to hold on to him.

"If it's getting harder," she said, more pointedly than Alex expected, "then you should let me take care of it. I know what you've told me: I'm brainwashed to want you, you're this bad, evil guy. But all I can remember are the times you took care of me, and all I feel is that I want you to...to make love to me. You don't even have to be my Master. You can pretend to be just Alex if you want, if it makes things better for you. Just don't pull away from me, that's all I'm asking."

Alex took a deep breath.

"Give me five minutes to think. Wait here."

He walked outside, mind reeling. Alex had to admit that he had gotten used to the damaged, fragile creature he'd found here months ago, and that Audrey had a point. Her desires for him might be mental conditioning, it was true, but she no longer seemed like a wounded bird. For someone without many memories before a couple of months ago, she was a surprisingly enjoyable conversation partner. He'd tried to keep her at arm's length, but for the second time, he'd failed.

He was reliving it again, how it went when he was a research assistant and she was supposed to be his subject. The protocol had been sensory deprivation, absence of human contact. He was to wear a facemask and coveralls and use a distinctive, harsh voice when speaking to her. The goal was to disconnect her from other people, to better be able to map the specific brain chemistry of her thoughts and emotions. With the other nine subjects, Alex had experienced no problems, but there had always been something different about Audrey.

It wasn't just that she was beautiful, but that she had something...familiar. She seemed sad inside, yet she fought against it. He felt an immediate connection with her, a connection that led him to break protocol, to speak to her in his real voice, to let her see his face. On the way out of the disciplinary hearing room, where the entire team had been banned from future scientific research and tossed out of the university, the research project director told Alex that his breach of protocol was responsible for Audrey's condition. No other subjects experienced anything like the catastrophic brain damage she suffered, and Alex was to blame for it.

Now he was getting too close to her again, unable to resist his feelings for her. He had come back to stop the destructive spiral she was in, because he felt responsible for ruining her life. Now, he had all but moved into her house, slept in her bed, felt her gorgeous body move against his in the night, and wished he could take her then and there.

It had been easy to maintain his composure when she was so clearly wounded, intermittently coherent and unable to piece together a sense of herself and her own life. She had been too damaged to see as anything but someone to care for and nurture.

With his help, though, she had changed. Her mind had healed: she knew who she was, where she was, how she had gotten to this point in her life. Each day was connected to the next; she could make plans, recall their conversations, learn knew things. She was getting better.

But there were limits: this conditioning to worship him, to see him as her Master, was permanent. Of that he was certain. Without him in her life, she would almost suddenly slowly regress; to leave her was to throw away all of the progress she had made. In a very real way, Alex realized, he could only leave her for good at the cost of her very identity.

He held onto the door knob for a moment before opening it. Could he really do what he knew he had to do?

"Audrey, baby?"

He hadn't meant that last part, but in a way he was glad it had slipped out. Her eyes lit up when he said it, and he knew that he had to commit to what he was about to do.

"Yes, Alex?"

He knew using his real name was probably hard for her. Somewhere along the line, she'd built this Master identity for him in her mind; he certainly hadn't done it. In all likelihood, she simply slotted him into a role she had always wanted and needed for someone to play. Her submissiveness wasn't their creation, only something they'd stumbled upon by accident.

"I was wrong to talk about leaving. I'll move in with you. And...you can...ummm...'please' me. Or, I guess, we can 'please' each other...as long as we don't call it 'please' any more, because that actually is way too weird for me. So, let's say that when you feel like...Christ this is awkward."

Audrey had an irrepressible smile on her face. The day she had waited for so long to come had finally arrived.

"When can I start?" she asked. "I've already had to wait so long."

Alex was flustered.

"Do you...you know...need me to tell you what to do?"

"You mean command me?" Audrey replied with a wicked grin, "That would be nice—"

"No," Alex said. "I mean, I don't know if you've done any of this before; I guess you don't either."

Audrey sauntered over towards Alex, taking hold of his waist.

"I've done everything for you, Master," she said with glee, momentarily forgetting how many times Alex had explained to her that those memories weren't real.

Alex almost stopped everything at that point, before he felt Audrey lean in to him softly, gripping him and cradling her head into his chest.

"I'm...I'm sorry," she whispered. "It feels so real. I...I know I'm not a virgin."

Alex flashed back in his mind to the horrible things he'd heard, about Audrey wandering around campus at night, disheveled and confused. Awful things had happened to her, though neither one of them knew enough to be specific as to what. He felt a sudden protective feeling surge through him, and for the first time, he thought about making her feel good, and not just "better."

"Don't be sad, baby," he said, feeling like he was talking to a lover and not a patient, "it's OK. We'll go slow together."

Alex pulled Audrey into a kiss, the first time he had taken the lead. Though she had loved the time she stole a kiss from him, it felt so much more fulfilling to know he was taking her, and she simply submitted to his invading tongue, his kiss passionate and fierce. They were through over-thinking things; finally, he was going to take her and she could simply give in and enjoy it.

Master's hands were all over her, frantically stripping her. Audrey let him explore her body, touching her all over. The build-up of months had made her more ready than this moment than she could imagine. She didn't try to take off Master's clothes; being naked while he was still clothed was strangely arousing to her, and Master had yet to even unbutton his shirt when she stood before him completely naked, her pussy already beginning to drip its juices down her thigh. Their eyes met, and she silently begged Master for him to command her, knowing that hearing his voice, that voice, would take her to the next level.

Alex's eyes look wild, desperate, and out of control. A battle raged inside him, the fire inside reflected in the intense abandon of his gaze. They both knew what he had to do; in their own way, they both wanted it. All that remained was for Alex to shatter the chains of guilt that held him in check.

"Suck my cock, slave"

Audrey barely had time to register what had just happened when she felt her pussy clench and spasm, the orgasm wracking her body and bringing her, appropriately enough, to her knees.

He called me "slave."

She knew he'd finally come back to her, finally taken her back to be his again.

"Yes, Master," she said breathlessly, still recovering from her control-induced orgasm.

She unzipped his pants and pulled out his stiff member, before feathering it with soft kisses. She could barely focus on serving him, as she felt such intense emotion and gratitude at the moment, that she simply wished to show him how much she loved him. There would be time in a moment to perform for him, to bring him to his climax, but now she simply wished to worship him, so that he'd never forget her love for him. She kissed and licked him, babbling "thank yous" and "I love yous" between her oral ministrations.

Alex stood above her, stroking her tangled blonde curls and pulling her hair, causing spikes of intensely satisfying pain in her head. He stroked her cheek, telling her how good she's been, how much he loved her, and how long he'd waited for this moment.

Audrey took him into her mouth for the first time. The warmth of his aching hard cock excited her; it was like she could feel his heartbeat. She was connected to him again, and for a moment, Audrey simply let his manhood slide into her mouth and against the passage of her throat, hoping perhaps that she could take all of him in.

When her throat muscles resisted, Audrey felt a sting of guilt and shame. She knew that pleasing Master now was all that mattered. She bobbed her head up and down, allowing her fingers to trace over his weighty balls and below. Master simply groaned, and Audrey looked up at him, doe-eyed.

Master gave her a glare of possession. In that moment, she felt a vicarious thrill of power. Master owned her then, and he held absolute power. But Master's cock, the source of his strength, was sliding between her pouty lips. She was worshiping him, serving him, pleasing him—and that was its own kind of power. She remembered how it used to feel, when Master would spank her bare ass and force feed his stiff rod into her warm, wet mouth.

Who cares if it's a delusion? It makes me hot just thinking about it.

Alex's self-imposed celibacy meant that he had no chance of holding out for long. Audrey's oral devotion was far too pleasurable, and soon, Master could barely muster the wherewithal to remember the command voice.

"Swallow my sperm, slave."

Audrey thought about how excited she had been for the grapes that first night. Their sweet flavor, though, could not compare to the taste of Master's semen. Though it was salty and unusual, it was also the most delectable thing she could ever imagine, and she felt a thrill with each powerful spurt into her inviting mouth. So enamored of its taste was she, that she almost wanted to disobey Master, if only for a moment, and hold it with her for just a bit longer.

Then she thought about what it would mean to swallow Master's seed, to carry a little bit of him inside her. It was an act of utter devotion to him, and swallowing demonstratively, she opened her mouth wide to prove her obedience.

Master kissed her on the forehead.

"Are you good?" he asked her, his voice more tentative than before.

"Better than good," she purred. "Perfect."

"We're just getting started," he said, his wits returning to him.

Alex didn't need much time to recover, in part because his erection never went away. He guided Audrey over to the couch, laying her down gently. The imperious, dominant figure who'd ordered her to blow him had given way to the kind, loving Master as concerned about her pleasure as his own.

"Lay back, baby," he said solicitously, "and let me do this."

Audrey reclined her body against the sofa, as Alex knelt between her legs. He wasted no time before kissing the inside of her left thigh, making his way ever closer to her sensitive core. She felt his tongue make contact with her labia, spreading her open to lap at the slickened opening of her sex, and she felt herself thoughtlessly take hold of his head. She felt something wrong: why was he doing this? Did she do something wrong, to make him do it? She had held his head, like she could control him—would he be angry?

"What's wrong, baby?" he asked, looking up at her with his chin glistening with her feminine juices.

"You don't have to—I can do it for you. You don't have to—"

"Lay back so I can eat your pussy, slave."

Holy shit, that feels good.

Her mind at rest, Audrey was able to fully enjoy what Master and his wonderful tongue were doing to her. Her anxieties were gone; knowing she was doing what her Master wanted only served to reinforce the physical pleasure she was experiencing.

"I love you Master," she said between moans. "I want to feel you inside me."

Master looked up at Audrey for a moment. He seemed as if he wanted to speak, only to return to licking and sucking at Audrey's pussy. As his fingers danced across her clit, she lunged forward, as if to bury his face into her, and came all over his face. She could smell the musky scent of her sex and prayed that Master would be happy with her.

Master didn't speak, but instead collapsed beside her, his cock still undiminished in hardness. Audrey reached for it, tentatively at first, before stroking it softly.

"Is something wrong, Master?"

"I almost said something I shouldn't," he said, groaning from the pleasure of Audrey's soft hands on his tool. "It's not your fault."

Audrey looked at Master, whose face couldn't help but betray the constant war that seemed to go on in his mind. His eyes rolled backed a little, and Audrey sensed that talking was a bad idea now. She threw one leg over him, straddling his body and lining up his cock with her pussy.

"Master, please do it again," she begged. "Use the voice."

Alex looked deeply into her crystalline blue eyes. He felt her sink slowly onto his cock, her arms around him and her gorgeous tits pressed against his own chest. His hands moved to her firm, full ass, and he thought about how frail and underfed she looked just two months ago. Her body definitely looked—and felt—better, now that she was healthy again. He squeezed her ass and she squealed a little. He couldn't resist her.