Mercedes Bends

Victoria stopped when she saw Mercedes shaking her head, "This is ridiculous."

"No, it's not, it's..."

"I don't understand what the problem is here, I really don't!" she snapped.

"The problem is that no one wants to just see edging and humiliation, they want to see..."

"They had plenty to see in that tape!"

"Mercedes, lower your voice," Victoria told her, "And again I am your..."

"I don't care what your title is Felicia," she pointed at her, "You have seniority in the Circle, but I have been breaking men and training women to break them far longer than you!"

"Within the Circle, I hold rank and that is all that matters here." Victoria said with an edge to her voice, "And I am here as your High Lady to tell you that your performance is lacking and..."

"How is it lacking?" Mercedes demanded, slapping her palm on the table, "Did you see it, or are you just going by Scarlett?"

"I saw it."

"Then what is the issue? I picked what I felt was a very attractive man and much younger than what I usually go for."

"That part was noted," Victoria sighed, "And appreciated. Damn, he was fine."

"I played my game and edged him until he was practically delirious, until he was all but crying."

"Again, we have no issue with that; it's what happens next, or more accurately what doesn't happen."

"I picked a man specifically with the group in mind, hell, I wore a ridiculous lingerie set that was more befitting of a young lover than a Dominatrix!"

"Again, nice touch and..."

"And when I came back in I didn't keep the pressure on him, instead I made myself look like a fool and started trying to please him!" She grunted disgustedly, "I stripped for him like I was there for his benefit!"

"That was for the groups benefit, not his." Victoria said putting her hands out in a placating gesture

"But he doesn't know that!" she hissed vehemently, "Then after that I played with his cock, did I not?"

"Yes, but..."

"For Christ's sake, I sucked his fucking cock! Not just sucked it, but acted like I loved it! Acted like a horny slut who gets wet at the sight of a hard on!"

"Mercedes, please calm down." Victoria put her hand over hers, "There's no..."

"Don't you dare patronize me!" she replied heatedly, "You sit and let me finish, then tell me what you came to tell me."

Victoria stared hard at her and Mercedes unflinchingly returned the gaze. After a moment, she nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"Thank you my lady." Mercedes said in a more even tone, "As I feigned interest in his cock I sat on his face and let him have the privilege of licking my pussy. He was about as good at it as any man who can only think of his own pleasure is, but I felt I put on a pretty good show of enjoying it."

"I could tell you were faking, but that wasn't the issue, I..." Victoria shrugged, "Mercedes all you had to do was ride him from there and it would have been fine."

"No it...", she began, but Victoria kept speaking.

"Really, my lady how long would he have lasted? You'd teased the shit out of him and he looked like he was straining not to cum in your mouth. You'd ride him hard and he'd go off in two minutes tops, you'd make him cum somewhere and then taunt him for getting off so quick and maybe make him lick his cum off you and that would have been all we needed." ." She spread her hands, "What's the problem?"

"The problem is he didn't deserve to fuck me!" she exclaimed in exasperation.

"So, you tell him that while you're fucking him, threaten to take it away if he..."

"That is not how it works!" she slapped the table again, "That's the problem with these damn tapes, you're all succumbing to..."

"We're all succumbing?" Victoria raised her eyebrows, "You're saying your sisters in the Circle are giving in to..."

"Yes! Look at my tape Felicia!" Mercedes was straining to keep her voice low and reign in her anger, "I played it straight and had him ready to beg for any release I would give him. Left to my devices I would have gotten him off with my hand or feet, perhaps even a tit fuck, but no, the rules," she sneered the word, "Say I have to let him fuck me. I..."

She paused as the waiter came over with two more drinks even though Mercedes was still close to full, "These are from the bartender, he..."

"Tell him he can still fuck a turkey and to leave us the hell alone." Mercedes snapped at him.

"I..."

"Hold on." Victoria, put her hand up, as she dug in her purse.

Pulling out her wallet she handed him a fifty dollar bill.

"I apologize for my friend, she has had a very trying day and not herself, this is for your trouble and tell the bartender, thank you very much."

"Thank you Miss Redding," the waiter said with a slight bow then without a glance at Mercedes walked away.

"What is wrong with you?" Victoria demanded, "Mercedes that was beyond rude, are you really that upset about this?"

"As I was saying," she continued, ignoring Victoria's question. "The rules say I have to fuck him, so I have to switch gears and he loses all respect and turns back into a cocky punk, and why shouldn't he? He was going to get what he wanted. So I still planned on playing along, as you said how long could it last? Then he became arrogant and I decided to give him what he deserved and that was certainly not my pussy."

"So you're saying you don't let them fuck you because they feel they got the better of you?" Victoria asked, "Is that it?"

"Yes."

Leaning across the table, Victoria said softly, "Who the fuck cares?"

"What?"

"You heard me, who cares?" Victoria's voice was strained as if it were now she trying not to let her anger get the better of her. "So this kid thinks you just had to have him. You know otherwise. On top of that you know that Mr. Stud is going to be watched by the group and every one of his whimpers are going to be mocked and laughed at. Everyone at that table knows why you let him fuck you, so why does it..."

"It matters!" Mercedes spoke through her teeth to avoid yelling, "No way will I let a man walk away thinking, oh, yeah I fucked her, she needed it she..."

"Are you serious?" Victoria asked, "Mercedes you should know just as all of us, including the men in the group that just because a man's inside us does not mean they are in control."

"They think it does."

"No, not all the time and again," she shrugged, "For the purpose of the videos let them."

"That's submitting, since when are we submissive?"

"Are you telling me that I'm submitting?" Victoria asked, her eyes wide "Are you saying our own Mistress is submitting?"

"Maybe not submitting, but selling out for..."

"Selling...?" Victoria's eyes flared, but she paused to take a breath before continuing, "I've had enough of this bullshit Mercedes. When I and the other ladies allow our pets to fuck us we are very much in control."

"Perhaps you feel..."

Victoria stopped her with a raised finger and went on, "I decide when they are going to fuck me, for how long and in what position. I can let them keep going or I can take it away. I can use my pussy to tease them the same way I can my mouth or hand. You've seen my videos my lady. These boys are whimpering and begging as they're fucking me! They're pleading for me to let them cum, to please not stop them again. I, not them, am in control."

Sitting back in her chair, she crossed her arms and asked, "Do you dispute that fact Mercedes? Do you want to continue this ridiculous debate?"

"Point taken, my sister." Mercedes said softly, "But why do we need to? I..."

"Need to?" Victoria rolled her eyes, "First of all it's the damn rule, second of all it's not about need to as wanting to."

Leaning forward again, Victoria looked around and Mercedes followed her gaze. Now that it was after one a fair amount of the crowd had dispersed and those remaining seemed to have lost interest in them. She looked back to see Victoria had slid her chair over so she was closer to her. Putting her hand on her shoulder, she began speaking quietly.

"Mercedes when I am controlling these men, it gets me hot, to hear them whimper to hold their trembling cocks in my hand or between my lips, to know they are at my mercy drives me wild. By the time I have them sufficiently broken I am dying to get fucked. Yes, they are getting pleasure out of it, but pleasure I control and I am getting what I need. All the other ladies feel the same way, believe it or not my lady, we enjoy being fucked."

"Well I don't!" Mercedes declared, slipping her arm out from beneath Victoria's hand. "At least not when I am made to perform like a..." she stopped before she said prostitute. Her conversation with Roger had opened up a lot of painful memories.

"Like what? A woman?" Victoria asked.

"Like a trick pony. I do not share your enjoyment of sex and my reasons are my own. Because of that I do not see the need for me to engage in it to give a cheap thrill to people who should be beyond that."

"No one is above the rules Mercedes and you used to do it, maybe never as enthusiastically as some of us, but you did."

"I said I am getting tired of games and have nothing to prove."

"Mercedes we cannot make exceptions."

"Yes you can!" she snapped, finally losing her temper. "I am an elite member of the Circle! Not just ours, but the entire group! My club has serviced every current member nationwide. I have flown my subs to other cities as gifts to masters and Mistresses alike. For the last three conferences Persephone has asked me to provide my best people as entertainment, including a young lady for her."

"I'm not saying we question your place at the table, my lady."

"Every man and woman that work in the club have been handpicked and trained by me personally. They are the best money can buy and I provide them freely as gifts to my brothers and sisters. I am highly regarded and have given the Eastern Circle a strong reputation. Yet apparently that means nothing and I am not allowed even a partial concession to a rule that flies in the face of what I am."

"You're a woman and part of being a woman is enjoying..."

"I enjoy at my leisure, not others." She retorted, "And it is not all about sex, I have several clients who pay me to put them in their place. Many times I leave them unsatisfied and that is part of the game. The Circle has taken true mastery and turned us into porn stars."

"Oh, knock it off." Victoria started to laugh, but stopped when Mercedes glared at her.

"I will not make another video, my mistress can play that one and it will be..."

"Scarlett, not you, runs the Circle Mercedes and she sent me to tell you that you will indeed do what you need to or..."

"Or I am to be punished correct?" Mercedes asked.

"Yes and..."

"You don't need to continue." Mercedes waved her hand disgustedly. "I know Scarlett and how she does things. If I do not obey then at the next meeting my entertainment will be a live performance where I will be forced to bend over the table or lie on my back and let one of the men fuck me." She snorted derisively, "Am I right?"

"It may..."

"And I can hear Scarlett now, 'and if you don't look like you're enjoying the privilege of your brother's cock, then you will fuck the next one then the next one and we will continue until you show how much they are pleasing you, in fact maybe you would like it in the ass more than the pussy?" she laughed without humor, "Won't the group enjoy that?"

"Mercedes, what's wrong? It has to be more than this." Victoria said quietly. "If there's a problem I can go to Scarlett and discuss it, but I need to have a reason."

Mercedes sat back and staring down at the table, again had the urge to tell Victoria the truth. They'd been friends for years and fact was Victoria as well as the rest of the group was more of a family to her than the one that had disowned her for...unbidden an image leaped into her mind. She was in a back room kneeling between two men who were sitting on the couch. She was holding both their cocks and sucking first one then the other. The door had opened and...

"My reasons are my own." She said.

Her words had come out in a hoarse whisper as her emotions began getting the better of her. Victoria looked closely at her and seemed to be wavering. She then turned her head and took a deep breath, when she again faced Mercedes she said,

"My lady if you will not explain why you can't do this, then you will do it or..." she nodded, "Be placed at the mercy of Scarlett and you're correct about the punishment. Our enforcer Lovecraft will be the first to take you and he will be instructed to not be gentle."

"What have you done for me lately, is that it my lady? I could be allowed to be different in my videos as a concession for my good work, yet instead I am to be taken like a common whore by a man who is supposed to be a brother to me?"

"You have punished others when instructed to do so Mercedes." Victoria smirked, "And had no issue doing so if I recall. Fair is fair my lady." She sighed, "Now what will I be telling our Mistress, is she to expect a better performance from you or will it be a live one?"

"Fair" Mercedes repeated, placing her hands on the table in front of her. As she did, she hit her phone and it lit up, displaying the picture of Jennifer. Her inability to see her niece had been the result of her doing what she had felt she had no choice but to do.

Today things were far different and Mercedes had more than enough money to ensure she no longer had to do anything she didn't choose to. Picking up the phone and looking into Jennifer's smiling face she felt the tears she'd fought back before overwhelm her and begin to flow down her face, "There is no such thing as fair." She whispered.

*****

Mercedes sat in the corner of the booth and stared down at the cup of tea the waiter had just left for her. She felt like a complete fool losing control in front of Victoria. She picked up the tea and after taking a sip looked around the restaurant. As soon as she'd begun crying, Victoria had come over to her side of the table and put her arm around her.

They'd remained like that for a couple of minutes, neither saying a word. Mercedes because she was afraid she'd start sobbing like an idiot. On Victoria's end she seemed to sense Mercedes was already embarrassed enough and didn't push the issue, just sat there silently, gently rubbing her back.

Mercedes appreciated the silence and when she'd managed to push back the tears, said quietly, "Thank you, Felicia, but I don't need to be coddled like a child."

"Not a child, but a sister." Victoria replied softly in her ear. "Being high lady is not just about rules and games, but being a big sister to the Ladies of my group and I'm getting the feeling the most stubborn of my little sisters needs me."

"I...don't need to tell anyone of my baggage."

"Just you saying that is the first hint I've gotten that you have any, my lady" Victoria laughed, "You, my dear have been a closed book since day one."

"You mean Loki doesn't have my biography already written?" Mercedes asked, picking up a napkin and dabbing at her eyes.

"We only discover what we need to in the beginning and that is criminal record and some basics information, if we don't need to know, than we don't know."

"Then we shall keep it..."

"No," Victoria told her, "You and I are going to speak of what is bothering you my sister, I think it will be good for you and maybe it will make me understand your issue with the rules as obviously something about that set you off."

"I'm fine Felicia," Mercedes protested, "I..."

"Will wait here for a minute."

Before she could reply, Victoria had slipped her arm from around her and left the table, heading for the entrance to the restaurant. Mercedes had looked around and saw several people look away. Feeling like even more of a fool she thought about just getting up and leaving, but knew Victoria would just hunt her down.

A moment later, Victoria had returned and told her she had secured a booth in the back of the restaurant where they could speak much more privately. Feeling like a child being brought into the living room for a discussion with her parents, Mercedes reluctantly rose and followed her through the restaurant.

They passed Jack on the way through the entrance and out of the corner of her eye, Mercedes saw him staring at her. The look he was giving her was not the contemptuous one she deserved from him at this point, but he looked as if he was trying not to say anything to her.

Mercedes turned her attention to the customers within the restaurant who were all turning their heads as Victoria passed them. She doubted everyone knew who she was, but just her beauty alone made it impossible for her not to be noticed.

Unlike her arrival however, Victoria didn't acknowledge the attention and followed a man in an Armani suit Mercedes assumed was the manager to a booth in a secluded corner of the restaurant. Once she'd been seated, Victoria told her she was going to make a quick call to rearrange her schedule for the afternoon and wandered off. The tea had come a moment later and now she sat there, sipping at it and wondering if she really wanted to go down this path.

Mercedes never discussed Tonya Cooper. To her, Tonya ceased to exist the day she had begun her training as a dominatrix. Tonya was a determined young girl who decided as a child she would not spend her life rotting in a backwoods town. Determined enough to get into a major college and once there, willing to do anything she needed to stay. Those decisions had cost her family and led to the birth of the Mistress Mercedes, who she felt she had now truly become.

Victoria, nor anyone for that matter, needed to know that. On the other hand it might help ease her pain and she had complete faith in Victoria not to repeat anything. It could also help her with the ridiculous video rule within the group. Perhaps if Victoria understood everything she could speak to Scarlett on her behalf. If she couldn't, then perhaps it would be time to consider leaving because there was no way in hell The Lady Mercedes would allow herself to be taken like a common whore.

"Sorry. that took longer than I thought."

Mercedes looked up to see Victoria slide into the booth across from her.

"Busy my lady?"

"Always." She smiled, "But this is big! Big Apple fashion magazine is about to go under and I'm trying to acquire it."

"You want to own a magazine?"

"I do." She laughed and tossing her hair and widening her blue eyes she said in a little girl voice, "I want everyone to know I'm not just a pretty face!"

"No, you have a nice body as well." Mercedes told her, "So when do..."

"Nice try, but you're not getting off the hook my sister, what's wrong?"

"It's a long story."

"I cleared my afternoon." Victoria pointed at her, "Try again."

When she didn't answer right away, Victoria asked, "So who's the little cutie on your cell phone?"

Mercedes looked down at the phone, "She's my niece, her names Jennifer."

"I didn't know you had a niece." Victoria said, "I didn't even know you had siblings."

"Because for all intensive purposes I no longer have a family, but by blood I have a twin brother named Roger I haven't seen in over a decade. If I didn't grow up with his wife I would never have known about Jennifer."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Victoria frowned, "So do you visit when he's not around?"

"He's always around. He's an unemployed deadbeat with no desire to go to the next block never mind travel."

"So you..."

"I have never seen her in person." Mercedes picked up the phone and stared at the picture, "I...Michelle used to put her on the phone with me when she was a baby, but today said she can't do that anymore because she'll let it slip to her father. That's why I was upset; I made the mistake of calling just before you arrived."