How High A Price? A Step Further.

Early began to tire from his expense of tension. His muscles began to relax and would spasm only on certain words, John, for instance.

Susan steadily continued, "There was no structure to the day. A few of the guys decided to swim. A few decided to go inside and play pool on John's billiard table in the game room. Jennifer and I just lounged in the warm sun and watched the guys in the pool. Rita came over and the three of us talked. Around the pool were some chairs and tables. On one we were using, were the mosaics for a backgammon game. The maid would come by frequently asking if there was anything she could help us with. We asked for the backgammon pieces and played that for a few hours while we just relaxed. The morning turned to early afternoon. We girls changed into our suits. I wore my one piece blue one with white stripes on the sides. Jennifer, Debbie and Rita had bikini's on. I had the most modest of suits of the bunch of us girls. We enjoyed the pool and Jacuzzi for a while and then John announced lunch. There were salads and burgers and cold cuts. There were soda and beers and wine and Perrier. This was better than the Four Seasons so far! I had a very good small Greek salad and a water. A little later, we girls went back into the pool and Jacuzzi some more, and then played some cards at poolside. It was just hearts and busied our hands while we chit chatted away the time. I honestly felt like I was on a vacation. As the day wore on, John announced that dinner would be served inside the house in dining room one. That created a big stir because no one but John and Cindy had more than one dining room.

Early envisioned Susan in her swimsuit being checked out by John. His blood was about to boil! Her account was just as he had asked. It was specific with lots of detail. He could see how she had been impressed by everything that John had done both professionally and as her host at his home. He wondered how he seduced her.

Susan paused and said she needed some thing to eat. She slowly got up and went to the kitchen for a few minutes. She called out to Early, "I'm making a pb&j would you like something?"

Early was not about to call out to her or shout. If he started, he may not maintain control and her account of Thursday was nearing a very critical point. The point where John seduces Susan was at hand! Early got up and entered the kitchen. He had cooked a few chicken breasts the night before and took five minutes to make himself a chicken salad. Susan returned to the wing backed chair and waited patiently for Early to return.

When he returned, she began again to recount her day at John's home. "We all got dressed again into whatever we arrived in. The dinner was served in dining room one of their huge house. The chef personally took orders from the guests. As the meal was prepared, we sat and conversed. All thirteen of us were seated at the same long table. John was seated on one end. I was between Rita on my left, and Oscar on my right. Across from me were Jennifer, Victor, and Thomas. Renee and Debbie were closest to John. He scooted his chair back making a grating noise on the hardwood floor.

John stood and said, "Thank you all for coming to my home today. I was so pleased that you could each make time for this. If you'd care to, we have still another day for additional rest and each of you is invited to return tomorrow to do this again. After dinner there will be a movie played in the theatre for those of you not interested in the movie, there is always billiards, a swim in the pool, a soak in the Jacuzzi, or cards or such. Unfortunately, as big as this house is, it doesn't have guest rooms to accommodate everyone, so everyone must go home at some point tonight, and then return tomorrow."

Early was on pins and needles. Here it comes he thought, 'We talked evening time, so it was just a few minutes or hours after this great speech of his that he bedded my wife, the fucking bastard.'

"The dinner was served at 7pm. By then, I had had a single glass of wine and was talking to Oscar about his recent vacation to Destin, Florida. I had asked for some vegetable quiche. It was served in small portions and presented well with garnishment on fine china. This was definitely better than 'The Four Seasons' and I was so glad we chose to take our r& r here at John's home."

Early was going crazy. Susan was about to tell him about how she fucked this guy and she speaks of him as a respectable host. And says his first name with such ease. His knuckles were white as he opened and closed his fists in a slow, but steady rhythm.

Susan continued, "I honestly thought of you as dinner was presented. The atmosphere was relaxed, the company was good, and I imagined that the only thing that could make this evening better would be if you were here with me or I was where ever you were. I was missing you so much because I wanted to share my good fortune with you."

Early began to breathe erratically, his teeth clenched as did his fists. Susan wants me and fucks this bastard and lies to me when I talk to her on the phone.

Susan continued, "Several of the people took leave right after dinner and simply went home to their spouses. After all, the spouse was not here to enjoy the sumptuous meal, the pleasant company, and the opulence of this home. I intended to leave too. But I hadn't talked to John alone all day and had wondered why I had not seen or heard from his wife, Cindy. I also wanted to say thanks, with words, for his profound assistance with Melrose. For a few minutes, he was busy with the departing guests. Only four of the twelve remained, Oscar, Victor, Debbie, and myself. Oscar and Victor wanted to play billiards and smoke a cigar. That idea was rather repulsive to both Debbie and I. I only wanted to talk for a few moments to John and then I was going to hit the road too. Debbie was single, attractive and a quite a bit drunk. She had drunk all afternoon and then drank to excess during the meal too. She had some romantic notions, but John was involved with Oscar and Victor discussing the merits and demerits of various cigars. He soon left them in their game after the initial break. Debbie and I were just looking at the art on the wall. Debbie soon had to relieve herself and as she made her exit I saw John approach me."

Early took deep, deep breathes now.

Susan continued, "I wanted to ask how Cindy was," I asked of John. He remarked that she and her sister were in Europe in Berlin for some training and some shopping and that he was flying to meet them on Sunday and they would spend the next eight days traveling in several countries."

"I was hoping to finally meet your wife. I don't think that I have ever even seen what she looks like," I explained.

John thought a moment and then ushered me into the library. There were a few photo albums out on the desks and then several more on shelves along with a multitude of books. He picked up a red leather jacketed album off a table and said that there were a number of pictures of he and Cindy in the book. He then took his leave saying he would return shortly. He was concerned about Debbie.

I began to leaf through the pages. The pictures were professionally done. They were also labeled with names, dates, and places. Cindy was in many of the pictures. It was clear that she was quite the sophisticated woman and was well traveled too. She had pictures form the Far East, Australia, South America, Europe, Africa, and more. Some people place the goal at visiting all fifty states. It appeared that Cindy was traveling to every major country on the earth! She looked young and by the dates really was. It made me wonder how she and John met and what circle of friends could match this pair.

John did come back, "I'm so sorry, but Debbie has taken ill. It looks like too much wine. The maid is with her now and I have called a limo to take her home when she's able to travel. There is no place like home if you are going to be sick, especially on wine."

"Your wife is very beautiful," I said.

"Yes, she is beautiful. I cherish her more than words can describe," John said with some emotion.

"She is lucky to have you as her husband. You make a nice couple," I said. I was trying to be complimentary without being too sugary.

"We are as perfect a compliment to each other as I can imagine," he added.

Frieda, the maid, came and asked for assistance in getting Debbie to the limo. John left and I resumed looking at the pictures in the album. I finished the red leather one and noticed a black leather album on a low bookcase shelf across the room from where I was sitting. I wandered over and pulled it from the shelf. I found a comfortable chair and sat down expecting some more exotic travel pictures.

Susan paused and took a drink of water. She looked up at Early for the first time and shared direct eye contact for the first time since their confrontational weeping. She put the glass down.

Susan continued her narrative, "I opened the album to the first page. Cindy was present in this picture. She was dressed in a black leather corset that laced up the front and sides. The cups to hold her breasts were quarter cups. They lifted her breasts up making them appear fuller, but exposed her areola and nipples. On her hands, and up her forearms, were black leather gloves. She was wearing thigh high vinyl boots with 5 or 6 inch heels. Her crotch was bare, her labia was all puffy and red, and there were rivulets of what looked like a man's ejaculate flowing from her shaved pussy down her left thigh. In her hand was a riding crop being swung towards its crimson target, John's bare ass. He was on his knees leaning over the footstool in this very room. His hands were manacled behind his back. His head was turned and a red ball gag was stuffed into his mouth. A leather string was tied to his scrotum and a weight was attached to the end. The picture was stunning for its professionalism, its clarity, and its subject matter. I stared and stared at the picture. It stunned me. I flipped the page over. In the next picture, John was laying on his back on the floor. An unknown nude female was sitting on his face facing his cock. It appeared that John was having trouble breathing, that this unknown nude woman was smothering him with her pussy and ass. Cindy, dressed in another outfit equally stunning, was placing what looked like alligator clips on the nude woman's nipples. I couldn't look away. I stared and felt the pain that she must be feeling. I know how sensitive my nipples are and could not imagine what it must feel like to experience those metal jaws clamped with strong springs pinching that most sensitive tissue. I shuddered.

I quickly leafed through the rest of the album and saw horrific sexual scenes. John was in every one. He was always tortured, smothered, walked on, peed on, whipped, caned, subdued, manacled and restrained. He licked boots, he drank liquid from a saucer, he ate food from a dish on the floor like a dog. He often wore a leash. In some pictures, he was made to suck a rubber cock. In some, he had something black protruding from his asshole. In several pictures, he had his face buried between a variety of women's crotches. Many of these women were not beautiful. They were often average and a few were large and overweight by 50 to 100 pounds. They stuffed panties in his mouth. He was shown attached with restraints to a wooden X shaped frame. He was sucking on real men's cocks. Men and women were fucking him in his ass. Another constant in all of these pictures was a dominant female. In most cases it was Cindy. When it wasn't her it was a female, always. I could only stare incredulously trying to reconcile the pictures I saw before me with the man I have known casually for a few years and who had recently used some brilliant legal maneuvers in the Spires case and suggested logically complex means to save Melrose.

Susan paused again and looked up at Early's eyes again. He looked like he had been hit in the stomach.

John came through the library door and stopped while yet 15 feet away. He understood the color of the album cover and was well aware of the contents. He excused himself again and departed from the room. He sent Oscar and Victor home. They had just finished a set and were about to rack up again when John asked politely if they might go and return again tomorrow for brunch. The boys left with great expectations for the next day.

While John was gone, Susan put the black album back and noticed that there were five more black albums. She picked up the one on the opposite end of the section of albums. It was filled with 75 pictures of John and Cindy and others. In each picture, there was a domineering woman and some painful or humiliating task for John to do or endure. Again, something in the pictures fascinated her as she stared at them in turn. It seemed that when she thought that she had seen it all, the next picture took her to new depths of surprised wonder. How on earth could John do this stuff and apparently like it?

John spoke first saying, "You find something fascinating about my behavior in the bedroom. You find it a puzzle to see me in these situations while at work I am a master logician and barrister."

Susan stared at him and nodded finally saying, "Your choice of sexual stimulation is unique and I don't understand it."

No one from the firm had ever caught John or Cindy exposing their sexual lifestyle. This was new ground to be tread. John was not angry. Instead he felt challenged. He respected Susan's keen mind and here was a chance to use his own wits to shore up a breach to his secret life.

John began a narrative of his own, "Cindy inherited a great deal of money. She is independently wealthy. This home is hers, she bought her own cars, and she pays for her own parties and travel. She's allotted $30,000 a month from her trust for expenses and can get more for major purchases. I could quit tomorrow and she could support me from her fun money that she simply loses to gambling. I do well for myself and bring in $500,000 a year on my own. I'm telling you this because money didn't link us in any way. We are both paid well independent of one another.

Susan asked, "Why do you work?"

"I enjoy the mental challenge, and I am compensated by a market that can ascribe a value to my efforts," John replied. "Cindy is a lifestyle dominatrix and doesn't officially work. She does interact with a few very select people, some you have seen in the pictures, but she takes no fee for her efforts. She does it for enjoyment and mental and sexual stimulation. She is a very highly sexual being. She is also a very demanding woman. I love her dearly."

Susan understood what was said, but this was so new to her that the reasoning of how a person could enjoy what John seemed to enjoy was beyond her mental grasp. Just then an antique clock chimed. Susan was shook from her questions with a task to do. "John I'm due to call my husband, Early. He's out of town on business. Is there a phone that I might use?"

John responded, "Of course, I will leave you here to call him. I ask only that you don't mention your discovery to him, or anybody else for that matter. I didn't mean for you to find out, but you did."

Susan replied, "I'll keep your secret, I promise."

Susan called Early at his hotel, " Are you sure he's checked out?"

She next tried his cell phone and she got through to him. In light of the excitement aroused in her by the pictures, Susan was a bit horny and sincerely missed Early. Had she been with him right now, she would have attempted to make passionate love to him. The spirit of her words saying that she missed him and that their big bed would be lonely was genuine. The facts were obviously a lie. The hurdle to step over to lie was very low. Susan assumed Early was still out of town. Only minutes ago she promised not to tell Early about John and Cindy. She was anxious to talk further with John about his chosen lifestyle and wasn't about to tell Early that she was at John's $2,500,000 home, alone with him after spending a glorious day of r&r.

After hanging up with Early, Susan went to get John. She had a million questions to ask him. She also wondered why a part of her was not grossed out with these strange concepts and instead she felt an odd and exciting fascination bordering on arousal.

John was waiting patiently in the hallway for her.

He spoke first, "I trust you met success locating your husband and that all is well."

Susan was quick to answer, "I did locate him and everything is fine. He will be home on Sunday and I can't wait to be with him again."

John smiled, "I will reunite with Cindy and JoAnn in Berlin on Sunday. She has been in four days of study into her Dominatrix lifestyle with a German Dominatrix. I can hardly wait to see what she has in store for me. I miss her immensely."

Early's tension eased a little. He was tiring. Susan's narrative was long and very hard for him to listen too. He was bewildered why Susan just didn't get out of John's house. This man was so clearly sick in his mind. Why didn't she just get out of there? Everyone else had been sent home. She was alone with this crazy bastard. Why didn't she see the danger?

John was reasonably confident that Susan would keep her word to keep his sexual preferences a secret. "You might want to leave and get yourself a good nights sleep. Tomorrows weather promises to be just like it was today, which was perfect. The brunch starts at 9am," John said.

"I can't leave until I have said thanks for the help on the Melrose deal," Susan said.

"Susan, it is I who should be thanking you. While I was in Australia working on the Perkins acquisition, I had caught hearsay in some telephone conversations that Melrose was turning sour. I feared that I would get assigned the case when I got back from Perkins. The senior partners test the new partners such as myself, and sometimes associate attorneys like you, with these terribly challenging cases. I had turned my subconscious mind on to look for possible solutions on Melrose even while I was away, dealing Perkins because I was convinced that I would get it upon my return. When I did get back, I was told that you had been assigned the case. I couldn't think of a more difficult challenge for anyone to take on. Since I had thought out some strategies anyhow, I wanted to share those thoughts with you. So you see, you had taken the pressure off of me and I could look unofficially and offer suggestions unofficially. I was less under the gun and I hoped to offer a fresh perspective. You did a great job on it. I have enjoyed seeing the results of your keen thinking. It was like a breath of fresh air compared to the usual thought most attorneys put into a case," John explained.

"Your advice was very, very much appreciated," Susan said taking the compliment to heart.

"Your welcome, Susan, it was my pleasure to help," John said with a smile. "Perhaps it's now time that you should go home. Although it's not late, that sun can drain a person's energy," John said.

"I know that this is none of my business but, I wonder if you could spare some time and explain to me how you derive pleasure from those things that you do. For the life of me, I can't imagine how these things could be that exciting. Yet, when I look at the pictures, I confess that I am not repulsed. Rather, I'm fascinated and then bewildered. I just don't understand it. Could you possibly enlighten me a little," Susan asked?

John had never, as a sub married to a lifestyle Dom, shared his sexuality with anyone. Cindy had brought any others into their relationship. He had never been caught before. He decided that perhaps some discussion could better convince Susan for the need for his privacy and the understanding would help her maintain his secret.