Laura's Choice Ch. 07

Dear readers, This is the final chapter in this story. I hope you enjoy it.

***

"Merci beaucoup," I thanked the cute server in the small cafe off the Champs Elysee. He placed my latte down beside a fresh croissant and stepped aside with a smile. I sipped the fragrant coffee and sighed as I stretched my weary legs under the table. It was a beautiful September day in Paris and I was enjoying the late afternoon sun warming the sidewalk cafe.

I had spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon at the Musee d'Orsay, It was everything I imagined it to be and much much more. There was a sense of unreality as I stood in front of some of the most celebrated paintings in the world. Since my art classes in high school I dreamed that one day I would see the Renoirs and Monets in real life. Standing in front of them was truly a dream come true.

Xavier, my master and owner, had manfully stayed with me for hours but in the end left for the hotel to catch up on some rest and also work, no doubt.

How strange this picture really was. In his estimation I was his property and I had essentially agreed to my circumstances. At one time, early in my captivity, I was kept locked in a room for most of the day. And now my master had left me to finish the museum tour by myself and had then instructed me to shop for some evening wear before I returned to the hotel. I had my own credit card linked to his account and my budget was to 'keep it within reason', whatever that meant to the criminal bigwig that he was. I did have a time line: be back for 5 pm.

Two men at the table along the cafe's outdoor railing were stealing glances my way. I think they liked what they saw as I arrived in my tight designer jeans, knee high boots and cute top and short leather jacket. I had added the scarf that all Parisian women consider mandatory fall fashion wear. However, what the local women didn't have was the fresh faced appearance that only someone living in the mountains could have. I smiled at one of the men as he looked at me, returning my smile. I was living a dream.

As I watched the lively street scene and ate my croissant while sipping my latte, I reflected back on the past weeks. Most striking of all was the realization that I was now modestly wealthy, thanks to the good fortune of my uncle and his will which left all his money to me, his only living relative. I really didn't fully believe that my inheritance was real until I took the advice of the private investigator and visited the Bank administering the estate. After a thorough check of my ID they closed the estate account and transferred 2.62 million into a new account under my name. Rather, several accounts, some being investment accounts and one cash account that I could draw on at any bank machine. I had done all this, the cover being my need to re-register for the next term allowing my trip to the University town. Xavier did not yet know of my inheritance.

At first I wasn't sure I would tell him. But another event or rather situation had arisen and I developed a plan for a significant portion of the money. He would have to know and agree, with the 'agree' part being the biggest hurdle to overcome. My plan concerned Arie, the recently acquired woman in my master's household. Dropping her off in Denver and seeing her walk away with Philip, hand in hand and a big smile on her face, started my thinking down the path to buying her freedom.

Philip was delightful and Arie had quickly taken to him. Xavier had more or less given her virginity to Philip to take if he wanted and they had spent the night together. I'm sure it would not have happened if Arie hadn't consented. Philip was an old school friend of Xavier's and not in any way part of the mindset that prevailed in Xavier's criminal organization, the mindset that keeping abducted women in sexual slavery was a way of life. I believe they had had consensual sex and seeing her greet him at the Denver airport confirmed her attraction to him. We had talked in the short time before the European trip and she was unsure where her future lay. She wanted to escape Xavier and having his friend in her life would be impossible if she ran. She did clearly like Philip but had no idea how to make it work. Xavier had bought her and that was her immediate future.

But not if I purchased her from Xavier and then either gifting her to Philip or setting her free, whatever she chose. How crazy was all this and here I was in the city of my dreams sipping a latte in a cute French cafe devising a plan to liberate Xavier's other captive woman. I resolved to talk to him as soon as possible.

Xavier's and my relationship was slowly evolving to a place that frankly left me a bit confused. He still punished me, however even that was changing. My latest faut pas, as the French would say, was oddly enough on the overnight flight. He was reading yet another book on economics and without leaving his book he slipped a hand under the blanket covering us and worked his fingers into my jeans and then my sex and began stroking me. Like the good little sex slave I was I opened the belt and zipper of my jeans under the cover of the blanket to give him more access. While trying to keep quiet I closed my eyes and absorbed the feeling of him expertly and knowingly driving me into a barely contained fit of lust, his fingers on my clit and opening. One thing was for sure: Xavier knew my body and my responses. I shuddered to a climax and sunk my teeth into his shoulder to stop myself from howling in pleasure.

He had looked at me disapprovingly and asked me why I was fidgeting so much to which I just rolled my eyes. That earned me the promise of punishment. It was delivered the first night in the hotel. Truth be told he spent more time caressing my naked ass while delivering half heart-ed smacks to my rear. Wow, in the early days my ass would be raw after a spanking or whipping with the crop. My discipline was now just a formality for minor transgressions. I still hoped he would stop making me stand naked in the corner, a humiliating punishment I hated the most. Thankfully, he hadn't done that in a while.

Later that first day, after my punishment, he left me in the room to work from the hotel lobby. Alone in the room I flipped the TV on and channel surfed through all the French programming until I found the BBC World Service. The subject of the documentary airing was the issue of trafficking of women from India and Eastern Europe for the purposes of unpaid work and sex slavery. My television privileges at the ranch were controlled by Xavier so this opportunity to view unrestricted was illuminating and unsettling. The internal debate I endlessly had with myself over the ethics of my acquiescence to Xavier's enslavement had quieted the last few months. The Arie situation had something to do with that. But now it all returned.

The documentary brought the basic evil of my captivity all crashing back. The fact that I was very well treated and given significant privileges including this trip to Europe did not change the basic fact that I was a captive of a man for the purpose of access to my body. In a part of my mind I knew I should be fighting back, never accepting the loss of freedom. Not doing so was to give in to the traffickers and en-slavers and the rapists who treated women as objects to be bought and sold. I accepted that my current situation was a truce between Xavier and myself and that one day I would escape. In the end I could not live a captive forever.

****

Returning to the hotel after a successful shopping trip I slipped into the beautiful room with a few of my accessory purchases. The dress was to follow the next day after minor alterations were completed. The bed was around a corner in the L shaped room and I called out to Xavier, "Sir, I'm back."

"Very good sweetheart, did you find a dress?" He had mentioned a surprise for tomorrow evening and that I needed formal wear for the event. I was excited to find out what he had planned. Rounding the corner I found him lying against the headboard, his hair wet from a recent shower, reading his tablet dressed only in a comfy looking pair of jeans. In my euphoric art inspired mood I smiled widely down at him as I leaned against the bed taking him in. Maybe it was the mood I was in but somehow he looked particularly delicious at that moment. His muscular upper body and handsome features made my stomach clench. I smiled wickedly at him and then moved on my knees until I straddled his hips. Bending down I reached over the tablet and brushed my lips over his.

Xavier slowly put his tablet down beside us on the bed and looked up questioningly into my eyes. I locked on to his and moved my hands to his chest, slowly massaging his pectorals and then up to his shoulders and neck. I had no plan and just went with my instincts. I almost never initiated sex with him. My master took what he wanted, when he wanted but today he just relaxed back into the pillows and half closed his eyes as I caressed his body.

I slowly dipped my head down and left a trail of kisses and nips of my teeth down to his nipples. I sucked and licked all around and on them and then moved down to his abdomen massaging and licking. He continued to lie there almost motionless but not quite. I could feel his manhood growing and his hips twitching under my rear. This really was novel for us. My role was almost always passive, doing what he wanted or requested. Today I felt this overwhelming urge to thank him for the magic day I had just experienced.

I sat back, shifting my rear down onto his legs and, still looking into his eyes for both approval and permission, I slowly undid the button and zipper of his jeans. He just stared neutrally into my eyes but I took the small smile at the corner of his mouth as permission. I pulled his jeans down further and finding no underwear I wrapped my hands gently and lovingly around his cock. As I sensually massaged his manhood a small hiss escaped his lips and his eyes slid closed.

Emboldened by the pleasure I was clearly delivering I moved my lips down to kiss and lick his shaft. I giggled with a thought that flicked through my mind as I pleasured this man. The though was that our entire relationship and in fact my whole existence was centred and driven by the needs and wants of the cock in my hands and in my mouth. While it was true the master/slave relationship was maybe morphing into something else, something more substantial it was this cock that was now deep into my mouth that inspired his need to own me.

And after many minutes of my enthusiastic devotion to his manhood, my lips and tongue and throat giving as much pleasure as I could provide I suddenly wanted him inside me. I pulled back, not sure if he wanted to come in my mouth. I asked, "Sir, may I put you inside me?"

Opening his eyes and smiling at me he said, "You decide Pet. Whatever you want."

Oh my, he had never given me a choice before as to how we fucked. I quickly pulled off my pants and panties and straddled his thighs. Moving the head of his cock through my slit I positioned it at my vagina and slowly sank down, holding his eyes to mine all the while. Maybe it was the beautiful day I just had, the fabulous coffee and croissant, the sense of gratitude I had or maybe something else but the feel of him buried deeply into me was beyond delightful. For a moment in time I forgot all the realities of abduction and sexual slavery and lived for the pleasure.

****

In the low, intimate light of the small cafe, I spread the fruit sauce on my crepes. They looked delicious. Xavier had asked me what I wanted for dinner and I asked for crepes. The hotel staff recommended a lovely place a short walk away. We sipped red wine with the delicious dinner.

My master was smiling at me but I was fidgeting slightly and he picked up on it. He knew me well.

"Pet, is something bothering you? You seem a bit distracted." In truth I wanted to have the conversation about buying Arie from him and setting her free or gifting her to Philip if she wanted that.

My fear was not for that request but the fact I had to tell him about my inheritance. I had delayed too long in telling him. I was afraid of how he would react to me holding this secret. I decided to launch into it and suffer the consequences.

"Sir, there is something I have to ask of you."

"Okay. Go ahead and ask?" I was hoping the quiet ambience of the lovely French restaurant would soften him.

"Sir, If you decided that Arie was not working out in our household would you let me buy her from you?"

His head snapped back in mild shock. He stared at me hard and then said slowly and firmly, "Laura, even if I did decide to find a new owner for Arie how would you possibly afford to buy her. The only thing you had when you came to my home were student debts, that I paid off as part of your purchase. You had nothing." He was right about that. The traffickers had demanded Xavier pay off the debts to forestall creditors searching for me. I came to him penniless but debt free.

"There is something I need to tell you. I wasn't sure how to break this news but please don't be upset with me because I planned to tell you all along."

"Laura, you know that you are not allowed to keep secrets from me. I own you and everything about you is mine. What have you not told me?"

"I'm sorry for not telling you right away but I didn't really think it was true until just before we left for Denver. I have an inheritance."

"A what? How?" I really had his attention now.

"On my last day at school a man came up to me while walking to the SUV. To make a long story short he represented a law firm and the Bank that was looking for me to inform me that my uncle Gus - my mother's mostly good for nothing brother - had come into some money when he sold his property to a major IT firm. He died some months after and I was named the beneficiary in his will. I didn't really believe a word of it but did contact the bank and it was true. He left me a lot of money."

Xavier looked at me for some time without speaking. His face was a mask and I was frightened by what he might be thinking. Finally he simply asked, "How much?"

"Roughly two and a half million plus a bit more. Most of it is in investments that the Bank advised I should make. There is a hundred thousand in a cash account I can access when I want."

"What did you say to the Bank about our situation."

"Xavier, I said I lived with my boyfriend and that's all. Please, please don't be upset. I am yours and nothing has changed. I just thought that maybe we could solve the Arie situation with some of the money," I pleaded with him. In the back of my mind I imagined solving my situation with the money as well but that would be down the road. I needed him to go easy on me right now. I was scared of his reaction.

"Laura, finish your dinner. We're going back to the hotel." I quickly gulped down some of my crepes but I had lost my appetite. He paid the bill and hustled me back to the room.

****

"STRIP, NOW!"

My knees were shaking and tears were forming at the corner of my eyes. I quickly shed my clothes and stood in the middle of the room, trying not to not fall over in fear. He was livid with anger.

"Please sir. I'm so sorry. I should have told you right away."

"SHUT UP Laura. Don't dig yourself in deeper." I just stared at the wall as he walked back and forth in the room. I think he was trying to calm down and I didn't want to do anything to disrupt that process so I just stayed as still as possible. Ten minutes passed this way.

Finally he stopped in front of me and stared into my eyes and then began to speak slowly and calmly but there was fire in his eyes. "Laura, I don't care about the inheritance or the money or what you will do with it. What I care about is that you didn't tell me immediately when you first heard about this. You are my property and everything that happens to you I should know about. Your health, your feelings, your needs, your desires, everything must be told to me. You broke my trust by not telling me this as soon as you had the chance."

I was blubbering and tears were running down my face, partially from fear but also from regret that I had damaged a relationship that had been moving in the right direction. And I knew I was about to pay for it.

He walked back and forth shaking his head and muttering and then he came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. He rubbed them and then ran his hands down my naked body until he gripped my ass tightly in his hands. He sighed deeply and then ran his hands back up to my shoulders.

"Laura, I want to put this behind us quickly. I am going to punish you now so that we can move on. I don't want our vacation ruined by this. I want you to put on your black yoga tights, the very thin ones and then lean over the bed."

"Sir?" I said in a shaky breath. His request seemed bizarre.

"Laura, do as I say. NOW!" I quickly pulled out my yoga pants from my suitcase and leaned over the bed with them pulled up to my waist. He then explained why. First, he pulled his belt off and my heart jumped. I now knew how angry he was.

He sat down on the edge but held the doubled over belt in his hand so I could see. "Laura do you know how disappointed I am in you right now?"

"Sir, I am so so sorry."

"Don't ever hold anything back from me and I will never have to do this again. Do. You. Understand?"

"Yes sir. Never again." I tensed for the pain to come.

"Laura, I think you deserve more but I'm only going to give you ten strokes with the belt. I wont beat you on bare skin to soften the markings. Don't move or I will tie you. Hold your hands above your head and count the strokes." I did so shaking at what was to come.

Standing up he whipped the belt into my ass which exploded in pain at the first strike. "One," I howled out. Oh God! I hadn't been whipped with a belt in ages. I had forgotten how much it hurt.

"Two," I shrieked as the belt snapped into my other ass cheeks. By five I was sobbing into the bed.

The tenth stroke was delivered with all his frustration poured into the hit. I screamed out ten and then curled into a sobbing ball on the bed, my ass on fire.

He let me lie there shaking and crying until my sobs turned to sniffles. I caught the look on his face out of the corner of my eye. It was a defeated look and I didn't understand why. He went into the bathroom and then knelt on the bed beside me. I hid my face in my arms. I really didn't want to look at him.

He gently straightened my legs while rolling me onto my tummy. "Lift," he said as he pulled the yoga pants down and off my legs. He had retrieved a jar of aloe E cream and began gently massaging my battered rear. Leaning down, he blew air onto my skin and left little licks and kisses where he had belted me. It all seemed so crazy and unnecessary. One moment he was beating me mercilessly and the next he was cuddling my ass. It seemed so stupid. I shook my head into the bedding and emitted an exasperated groan. He picked up on it.

"Pet, talk to me. Why are you so upset?"

I saw red and spun around and almost shouted at him, "Xavier, I'm not an animal. I'm a thinking breathing human who you can talk to and reason with. You don't have to do what you just did." I was really angry and frustrated. I really thought we were moving beyond the beatings and casual humiliations to somewhere that was more like a normal man woman relationship, regardless of how fucked up the basic nature of my captivity was. I was trying to make some sense out of a senseless situation and I thought we were getting somewhere.

He gathered me in his arms and held my head to his chest and nuzzled my hair. I was still seething but the feel of his heartbeat was calming me down from red hot rage. He softly asked, "Laura, did the belt hurt that much?"