Earning Forgiveness Ch. 01

Emma felt relieved. She had been dreading the punishments that they might have in mind for her. Her relief was short-lived though, when William told her to stand in front of the sofa, where they were sat. William toying with her earlier had felt like a warped introduction to her new life, and the whole cooking and eating humiliation was clearly going to be a regular thing. But Emma had a feeling this was going to be her first idea of what they were going to do to her for the rest of her time there. This was how they were going to have their fun.

"I was interested at how easily you were turned on by William earlier." Emma felt her face grow hot at the thought. "I was wondering if it's just me and William and your mystery affair man that get you going, or all men. What do you think, bitch?"

"I don't know, master," Emma managed to mutter.

"Oh well. We'll find out soon enough, I suppose." James didn't say anything more, leaving Emma to wonder what he meant by that. She had a sinking idea that she already knew, but she reassured herself that James would never be so cruel.

"It's getting late," William said softly. "I want to go out." Emma tried to subdue the feeling of dread that was rising in her. Surely James would never be so cruel? And yet he wasn't saying anything to stop his friend. "Go into the spare room," came William's voice again. "You'll find an outfit laid out on the bed; something fit for you to wear out. Put it on, and come back down immediately."

She managed to leave the room, her legs shaking slightly, and climbed the stairs to the spare room. She paled when she saw what lay on the bed. She eased her feet out of the uncomfortable heels and sat down miserably, staring at the clothes that she was expected to wear.

After a minute, James called up the stairs to hurry her up, and she quickly stood and started to dress. She pulled the black leather skirt on and could feel that it barely covered her arse. She said a silent prayer for the French-knickers: without them on she felt sure she would be displaying her pussy to everyone they passed. She looked at the other item that had been provided for her. It was a tight-fitting, backless halter-neck that pushed her tits up and stopped above her midriff. Finally, a glance at the foot of the bed told her that she wasn't going to be wearing the heels tonight. Instead, a pair of thigh-high black boots in her size was waiting for her. She pulled them on and zipped them up.

When she was dressed she sat on the edge of the bed, trying to get up the courage to look at herself in the mirror. When she finally did, all her worst fears were confirmed. She looked like a common prostitute, and she assumed that was the look they had intended. She descended and entered the living room again.

Both men laughed when they saw her, and James approached her slowly. "You always were a filthy little whore; you just covered it with pretty clothes and a dignified look," he said softly. "Now you finally look the part."Emma kept her eyes down and her mouth shut. "I can't wait to see what our friends think of you," he said. "What do reckon we'll get for her?" He looked over at William with a smile and then looked Emma up and down. "A couple of quid a go?"

William joined his friend and prodded Emma in the side, as if testing for firmness. He shrugged. "Let's not set our sights too high. Most men have a way of knowing when they're dealing with soiled goods." He leant in close to Emma's face and grinned cruelly. "I say we'll be lucky if we get anything for the little tramp."

Something inside Emma snapped. She'd been prodded and slapped, and leered over, and now this bastard was treating her like a prostitute. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked William in the eyes. With all the viciousness she could manage, she spat in his face.

In an instant James tugged on the lead still fastened to her collar, and she fell painfully to her knees. James held her in position with her arms tightly behind her, but she was still looking up at William with loathing, pleased to see that he looked faintly disgusted as he wiped her spit off his face. "If you do that again, you will sleep naked in the garden like the animals do," he said in a dangerously quiet tone.

"Fuck you," she said fiercely, struggling to get free of James.

Her boyfriend pulled her arms tighter still, and she had to either stop struggling or severely hurt her shoulders. She fell still but stared defiantly up at William as he approached her. "You will be punished for that."

James locked her arms in place with cuffs, and she could barely move her upper body without hurting herself. He pulled her roughly onto her feet and, without her arms to steady her, she stumbled. She instinctively looked to James for support but found none. He had moved to stand beside William, and now both of them were staring down at her.

She found her balance and stood, still staring rebelliously at them. She was angry, and prepared to fight if she had to.

After a moment of silence, the two men glanced at each other and then walked up the stairs, leaving her alone in the living room. She stared after them, wondering what was going to happen to her next. She wondered if she had ruined her chances of getting James back, and moments later asked herself why she would want to be with a man who would do this to her anyway. For an age she stood there waiting for them to return.

When they eventually came back, Emma dropped her gaze to the floor. As soon as she did so she flushed. Why had she dropped her gaze? She'd decided to leave, hadn't she?

"I knew she'd still be here," William said. "She loves being treated like this, deep down. She's just got to get used to it." He approached her from behind and forced a ball-gag into her mouth, fastening it tightly behind her head. "Can't run the risk of you spitting at me again," he said with a sneer.

"Would you like to know what we're going to do with you, whore?" Emma was silenced by the gag, so she could only nod. "We thought you'd learned your place in this world, but obviously you haven't. We can't take you out in public if you're going to embarrass us, so you will have to stay here until you learn to behave," said James. He slipped her clothes off, her hands still cuffed, but left the boots on. Taking hold of the lead, he pulled her into the dining room.

Now she understood why they had eaten dinner at the smaller table in the kitchen. The dining table was gone from the dining room. In its place was a hard bench, with small rings attached to either end. A table in the corner held an assortment of chains and paddles. Emma's skin prickled at the sight of it. She had never thought they would do something like this to her.

"Look up." She obeyed William's command, and saw him looking carefully at the implements. "Which one do you think I should use?" She couldn't speak with the ball-gag in, and she knew he didn't expect her to answer anyway, so she remained silent. Eventually he picked up a large paddle, drilled with holes. "We'll go easy on you, since it's your first day."

James pulled at her lead again, forcing her down onto her knees. He pushed her over the bench and removed the lead so he could fasten her collar to one of the rings set into the bench. Finally, he chained her ankles to rings in the floor that she hadn't noticed before, and she was firmly in place, her arse and pussy displayed, unable to move. He picked up a chair and sat down in front of her. When he spoke, he spoke kindly. "I'm going to remove your gag now, and I don't want you to make a sound. If you spit at me or William your punishment will be worse. Do you understand?"

Emma nodded as best she could with her chin on the bench, and James undid the gag and threw it to one side. He stood up for William to take his seat. "You're going to be punished because you showed a great deal of disrespect by spitting at me," William said. He was also speaking in a gentle voice, and Emma felt thoroughly confused. "We won't punish you more than we think is necessary, but you must learn to show us more respect. You will begin now, by thanking us for taking time to punish you."

He stared at her and waited patiently for her to speak. In her confusion, and lulled by his kind voice, she did as he said. "Thank you for punishing me, master."

William smiled and stood up, pushing the chair away. "You're most welcome. Now I'm going to strike you with the paddle you saw a few minutes ago. You will thank me every time I strike you with it. Do you understand?"

Despite his words, his tone was soft and relaxing, and she said she understood. Before she had time to prepare, he had hit her with the paddle. Her arse-cheeks burned immediately, and tears stung her eyes. But she managed to stammer out, "Thank you, master."

He rained blow after blow down on her arse, until she thought she might pass out with the pain of it. But still she managed a thank you every time he struck her. Finally he stopped, and she heard the sound of the paddle being hung back on the wall.

Her knees were stiff, her back was aching, and her arse was throbbing. James let her loose from the rings in the bench and on the floor, and gently helped her to her feet. William, equally gently, unfastened her arms. "Rub your arms if it will ease them," he suggested quietly.

With relief, Emma flexed her arms and rubbed them to get her blood going again. She tried to ignore the pain in the rest of her body, and felt grateful for the small allowance they had given her.

"Do you understand why we had to punish you?"

"Yes master," she said quietly.

"Why did we have to punish you?"

"It was wrong of me to spit at my master."

"Why was it wrong?"

"I'm not a person, and I'm not allowed to do anything unless I'm given permission." They were silent. "And because it was disrespectful, master."

"What should you have done?"

"Nothing, master. I should have done what I was told." She was exhausted and all the fight had left her. She felt relieved that they were speaking kindly to her, and grateful that the punishment was over. She would have done anything they had told her to at that point.

William fastened the lead back onto her collar and led her up the stairs. She was expecting to be taken to the spare bedroom, but instead she saw a small cage waiting in the hallway. "Take off your boots," James ordered.

She did as he said, and then stood naked and waiting for the next command.

"If you are particularly good we may allow you to sleep in a bed," William said. "But you must remember that you are nothing but an object, and so sleeping in a bed will be a privilege – a special reward for good behaviour. Otherwise this will be where you sleep." He pressed a button and the cage door unlocked. James pushed her gently towards it and she dutifully crawled in.

They had done nothing to make the cage comfortable for her, Emma discovered. The floor was hard plastic, and she was cramped. She couldn't stretch out without the metal bars pressing against her, and when they shut the door the space was even less.

"The door will unlock automatically at eight am," James told her. "A buzzer in your collar will wake you up. The list of meals will be in the kitchen when you go downstairs."

They walked away and left her alone to think about the day. She had been molested by James' house-mate, a man she had always detested; she had been dressed up like a whore and mocked; she had been forced to eat out of a dog bowl; and she had been locked to a bench and beaten. Briefly, she wondered why she was letting them do this to her; if getting back together with James was really worth all this humiliation; but pain and exhaustion soon stopped her mind from working and, despite the uncomfortable surroundings, she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.