The Echo in the Dark

"Are you here to slap me around too?"

I smiled at her not answering. Waiting for her,

"Look, I don't have your money, I don't have their money, I don't have anybody's money. What the fuck are you going to do?"

I pulled a twenty out of my wallet and set it on the bar next to her.

"For the beer, keep the change."

I made it halfway to the door when I heard her heels clicking toward me.

"Keep your fucking money. You think you can just do whatever you want?"

She was mad, I remember this woman mad at everyone, mostly herself, wanting to take it out on me.

"I don't need your help. If you want to take a turn threatening me, go ahead."

I turned and pushed the crash bar letting the sunlight blind her. To my surprise she followed me out.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, look at me. I'm a mess."

I looked her up and down, pretty as ever. Her hair was disheveled, a red handprint on her cheek, her clothes halfway destroyed.

"Get in Katrina."

I didn't wait to see what she would do, instead I got in the driver's side of my car and waited. She sat next to me and put on her seatbelt.

On the ride to my house she tried to tell me who the men were, I listened but didn't really care. Men like that tended to avoid men like me, a man inside the system with money. There was nothing they could ever really do to me and it was much more productive to be on my good side.

She talked about how the bank had started foreclosure on her club, how every vendor and creditor had cut her off, and now she had nothing. I listened and nodded along. Her little crisis didn't mean much to me. I understood her words but was far more focused on her future.

At the house, I found her some painkillers and a bathrobe. She was too distracted to eat but drank liberally from a bottle of wine. Soon, between the pills and the booze she was ready to pass out. I carried her downstairs and put her to bed in a small room. I watched her sleep for a minute. Did I still love her? Maybe I did. I used to, I knew that, but this woman was so hardened, so distant. I guess I was too.

THE NEXT morning, I waited for her to wake. The door to her room had been left open. She staggered to it and to the washroom across the hall.

I waited for her to get in the shower, and then entered with some clothes.

"I brought you something to wear, when you're ready there is breakfast upstairs."

She was startled by my voice but only answered me meekly.

"Okay, thank you."

I left her and went upstairs to wait.

She came up about a half hour later, she wore the little white shift I had left for her. She sat down at the bar and I delivered her a plate of eggs and fruit. She began eating. I slid a glass of water across to her.

"How's your head?"

Between bites she spoke,

"Not as hungover as I should be."

She started telling me about the two men in her club, lies mostly some half truths, but mostly lies. I stopped her part way through her story.

"I'd prefer you not talk so much Girl."

That stopped her, she looked at me and crossed her brows.

"I'm sorry? Girl?"

I came around and stood next to her at the bar.

"Until I decide what to call you, I will call you Girl."

She stood up at that and poked a finger in my face.

"You will not call me girl, Who the fuck do you think you are?"

I reached out and grabbed her by her hair, pulling her down to the bar, her face in her eggs. Before she could react, I flipped up the hem of her dress, revealing the silky white thong I had provided her. I spanked her hard then. I landed five quick blows before she wriggled out of my grip.

"What the fuck?"

She shimmied her dress back down around her thighs backing away from me.

"Dude, what the fuck?"

I sat down and looked at her. Eggs in her hair.

"I will try to be very clear with you."

She got to the edge of the bar and stopped, I continued,

"You have nowhere to go. You don't have a business, you don't have an apartment, you have no friends. Dangerous men are looking to find you and hurt you, there are banks looking to start criminal proceedings against you."

She was catching her breath, I watched her chest heave up and down trying to draw in air.

"So?"

"So, you have a few options, you can go to prison, you can be killed for the drug money you owe, or, you can stay here."

She was regaining her composure.

"You just spanked me."

It was almost a question.

"I did, and I wasn't able to finish. What I am offering you is safety, and structure. I do require something from you though."

"What?"

I smiled at her. I tried to remember the girl I used to know.

"Obedience."

It took her a moment to respond. I could see the flight or fight impulse behind the cold crystal of her eyes. She clocked the hallway that led to the door, I waved my hand at her.

"Go ahead, the door is unlocked, I will open the gate. You are free to leave."

She stood up and started down the hall.

"If you stay I require obedience."

She turned to look at me, she was confused, angry. She thought I was the same man that she had so easily manipulated. She had used me over and over again to feed her own ego. I was nothing to her. Even with all my money and all my status she had refused to see me as I was. But, now she had no choice. I wasn't the same person she used to know, I was a stranger to her.

"Fuck this."

She walked down the hall and out the front door. I watched her on the monitor as she made it down the long drive, when she was in view of the gate, I pressed a button and it swung open. She stopped then, her fists balled up at her sides. She looked at the road outside the gate and then over her shoulder.

She jumped a little as the gate clanged shut behind her.

When she was back in the kitchen she looked at me and said,

"Okay. Can we talk about this?"

I shook my head slowly.

"No. There is nothing to talk about, you either go or stay. If you stay, it is on my terms."

She crossed her arms,

"What do you mean obedience? Like some kind of bondage thing?"

I smiled at that.

"If that helps you."

She looked almost thoughtful, I could see her doing the math. Looking at the house, the beautiful things I had collected and put on display. There was no doubt I could afford to change her life.

She put on her little girl pout,

"You'll help me, if I stay? If I let you... do this to me?"

I smiled,

"This is just the first step. If you agree."

She didn't let her puckered lips slip, but she sounded less confident.

"For, how long?"

I stood close to her.

"No more talking, come here, lift your dress and bend over the bar."

She took another look at the hallway leading to the outside.

"Just, let you..."

She said the words but didn't seem to believe them,

"...spank me?"

I nodded at her and motioned her to me.

"Lift your dress and bend over the bar."

She hesitated but complied slowly. Her fists tightly gripping the hem of her dress. I waited until her peach perfect ass was exposed to me fully. I spanked her again, five smart SWACKS on her perfect body. This time I was slow, listening to her suck in her breath each time my hand landed across her ass. When I was done I told her to stand and compose herself, she did.

I made no effort to hide my erection. She looked at it and I saw the hint of a smile on her lips. I'm sure a little bit of that overconfidence was coming back to her.

"Clean this kitchen. When you are done, come find me outside."

I watched her for a minute, she found supplies and started to work. Hard work was never her issue. She wasn't soft like that, never had been. If she'd been a little smarter, a little more lucky, she'd never have ended up here, cleaning food off my floor, her ass stinging from my hand.

Forty-five minutes later I was in the middle of a phone call when she appeared next to me on the stone patio. She waited until I had finished and put down the phone before speaking.

"I finished the kitchen."

I motioned her closer to me.

"There will be a few rules."

She nodded at me.

"You will only speak when spoken to."

She crossed her eyebrows again.

"You will obey me quickly and completely."

I waited for her to nod.

"You will accept punishment for breaking the rules."

This time it took longer for her to nod, but she did.

"I know you think you know me, I know you think you can somehow come out on top of this situation. Somehow you can get your life back and even succeed at it. You will learn to accept, you are my property. You will only ever be my property. I will care for you as I would anything else I own, and in return you will perform at a high level."

I paused, letting her absorb my words.

"Do you understand?"

She nodded her head again.

"Say it."

"Yes, I understand."

I waited another ten seconds. Watching her struggle with her own words.

"Good."

I took a long look at her. She was beautiful, not colored at all by my nostalgia. She was a good looking woman.

"How often do you work out?"

She liked this turn of the conversation, back to her, back to her looks.

"Whenever I can, I try to do yoga every day."

"There is a gym in the basement. You will use it every day."

She nodded.

"Show me your yoga routine."

"Right here?"

I stood next to her and layed a heavy palm across her ass.

"Sorry, sir. Yes sir."

I watched her stretch, upward dog, downward dog, sun salutations. After about a half hour she lay in child's pose, her little dress drenched in sweat. Buttons of perspiration covered her bare skin from head to toe.

When she was done I had her rise to her knees, her legs slightly apart. Her ass resting on her heels, Hands at her sides and head bowed.

"This is the pose you will use when you are waiting for me."

The woman nodded her head.

"Now wait like this."

She did.

Later that morning, Alison, my housekeeper, walked out of the back of the house and presented herself. She was small and tough looking, somewhere between thirty and forty with sparkling dark eyes and jet hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her muscular body was packed into a short black dress and opaque black tights. She wore sensible tennis shoes, everything about her was no-nonsense.

"Alison, this is my new girl. Please keep her busy today."

Katrina rose from her knees next to me and put her hand out to shake,

"Hi Alison, my name is Katrina."

Alison gave her a wicked slap across her cheek.

"You will call me Miss."

Katrina reeled back, maybe more from surprise than pain. Tears appeared at the corners of her eyes. When she didn't respond immediately, Alison pulled her arm back for a second slap. Katrina put up a defensive hand and managed to speak.

"Yes, Miss. Sorry Miss."

Alison lowered her hand and gestured Katrina to follow her back into the house. I watched the pair go. As much as I would've liked to watch that dynamic all day, I really did have a lot of work to do.

THAT EVENING I was able to return to the house. Inside I was greeted with the familiar smell of home cooked food. One of Alison's less painful talents. The dark little woman greeted me in the entry with Katrina behind her. I took off my suit jacket and handed it to Alison who folded it over her arm. Gently she pushed Katrina forward,

"His shoes."

Without hesitation Katrina bent down and helped me out of my shoes. She rose with them in her hand and waited, Alison spoke to her,

"Come, I will show you."

The two headed down a side hallway to a closet. Alison called back to me.

"Dinner is almost ready sir, can I bring you a drink?"

"She knows what I drink, thank you Alison."

I responded.

Katrina re-appeared and headed toward the bar in the kitchen. I could hear her mixing my martini when Alison returned.

"She did well today sir, I only had to correct her a few times."

I nodded,

"Be careful not to bruise her Alison, you sometimes forget how strong you are."

She smiled at that,

"It would be helpful if maybe I could use a strap with her."

I thought about it.

"Not yet."

She bowed her head,

"Of course sir, how many for dinner?"

I appreciate the candor.

"Just me tonight, Alison, but do set a small bowl of rice aside. Have you fed her anything else today?"

"No sir."

"That's fine."

Alison disappeared into the kitchen passing Katrina on her way with my drink. Katrina smiled at me and offered me the glass. I pointed her towards the lounge just off the kitchen. She nodded and took my glass in there.

I followed her and sat down in one of the big chairs. I gestured for her to sit on the floor in front of me. When she was kneeling I took the glass from her hand.

"I do like how you mix a drink."

Again she smiled at me. This was a new tack for her, to be pleasant. I let a finger brush her cheek.

"How was your day?"

She looked at me thoughtfully before responding carefully.

"I learned alot from Miss."

"She told me you did very well today."

She almost seemed genuinely pleased with herself.

"Tell me what you are thinking after your day, do you still want to stay?"

She nodded slowly.

"Tell me."

"I want to stay."

I let her know I was pleased and then turned my attention to the drink and my phone. I hoped she would move or try to continue talking. I should've known she could read me better than that. She could read me better than anyone. I thought it was a pity I had to wait for the dissolution of her world for her to be here.

When Alison had finished setting the table, she appeared at my elbow to let me know she would be leaving for the night. On her way out she patted Katrina on the head and told her she looked forward to working with her again in the morning. Katrina just nodded and said,

"Yes Miss."

When I was sat at the table I ordered Katrina to pour two glasses of wine and to sit on a chair in the corner. She drank her wine and ate her little bowl of rice quietly while I used the time to eat and go over some contracts on my laptop. By the time I had finished I looked up to see her sitting upright, dead asleep.

She roused and apologized when I picked her up. I told her to be quiet and carried her down the stairs to her little room. Holding her that close, I could smell the familiar scent of her body and sweat, a sweet and dark aroma like honey and coffee. It sent me back to a better time when we had been together. Before she had 'outgrown' our relationship. I resisted the urge to watch her strip and left her there on her bed.

MORNING CAME blue and hazy with goldfinches playing outside my bedroom window. I rose early and went out to swim laps in the pool. I was deep in the hypnosis of rhythmic exertion when I saw her standing at the edge of the pool in her little kimono bathrobe. I stopped and swam to the edge near her.

She had showered and put on make-up. Her hair hung down around her shoulders. She had taken her time preparing herself for me this morning. She let her lips pout out and gave me a playful shrug of the shoulders,

"I didn't know what to wear."

I knew this was a trap. One that I wasn't sure I could get out of so easily. I would tell her to join me in the pool, she would reluctantly drop the robe letting the neck open and revealing her perfect pink nipples. Then the robe would fall to her elbows and then reveal the incredible body underneath. By the time the silky garment was on the deck I would be fully aroused and straining to relieve the pressure of my dick against the tight neoprene of my swim trunks. I would stare at her and she would lower herself into the water. I would kiss her then, she would resist. I would part her thighs with my own and force my cock against her sex. She might tear up as I had my way with her body. I would thrust at her repeatedly and eventually her body would respond. She would gasp and cling to me, pushing her rounded breasts against my chest. She might orgasm or might not, but I would. Hard and powerfully I would cum inside of her writhing body. Breathing raggedly and crushing her trying to milk every ounce of desperate pleasure from our union.

And when I was done, she would hold onto me tightly. She would tell me she loved me, that she had missed me. By the end of the week she would be out the door with another large check in her hand.

"Make me two eggs over medium and buttered toast. If you know how to operate the machine, I'll take an americano."

That surprised her. She almost dropped the mask of innocence and obedience she had found yesterday. I went back to swimming, I did laps until the urge to fuck her silly had subsided to a dull background of pink static.

Inside the house she had done a passable job at breakfast, and the machine had not been too much for her, a perfect coffee sat at the table. She waited by my side until I was eating, then seemed to relax a little.

"You really should wear an apron while you're cooking."

She looked at me, not daring to ask a question.

"You'll find a couple in the cabinet there, put one on."

She opened the skinny little door and pulled out a light blue kitchen apron. She hesitated for a moment, but then dropped her robe to the floor and put the apron over her neck. I took in the view of her perfect ass and lithe back as she tied a neat bow behind her and turned to me. The thing didn't do much to cover her. A little movement to one side or the other and her breasts would fall out. She did her best to hold still.

"There should be a can of pears in the pantry. Go ahead and eat them."

She turned to retrieve the fruit, but stopped herself.

"Thank you."

It was quiet but sounded sincere.

I watched her eat from the can with a fork, sitting in her chair in the corner. When she was done, she rose and took the plate and fork from in front of me and began to clean. I watched her tits sway back and forth and her trying hard to keep her body contained. When she was done, I was tempted to command her for something more personal, something on her knees. Alison came through the door at that moment, a box in her arm.

"Girl, there are more supplies in my car, retrieve them."

Katrina nodded,

"Yes Miss."

She scurried out of the room.

Alison watched Katrina's buttocks as she left, and then looked back at me. There was no denying the flush on my cheeks.

"You have had a hundred women here, why does this one bother you so much?"

She knew the answer to her question, but I was thankful to her for reminding me of it. Because deep down I knew I couldn't have her. I could possess her body, her time, her life, but I would never have her. To make things worse, I knew at the same time that she already had me. I tried my best not to stare at her as she came back into the kitchen carrying a box, her apron pulled to one side, revealing her rounded tits, her firm belly and the shortly trimmed thatch of honey colored hair covering her vulva.

She set the box down and pretended to straighten the apron. We both knew that this was a torture that I had created for myself. I turned my attention to the calendar on my phone and tried to ignore her as she spun around to retrieve another box.

"I'm going into the office Alison."

"And the strap sir?"

"Okay, but no permanent marks, just to teach her, her place."

Alison bowed her head,

"Of course sir, I take care of all your things."

I left to change and get to the office, before my resolve left me.

Early in the evening. I pulled off the main road and onto the side road that fed a handful of private residences. Late sun filtered through leaves creating a sea of moving shadows and highlights on the simple drive.

At the gateway to my own property I spied Katrina hanging onto the wrought iron and crying. She still wore the apron from the morning. I motioned her back as I opened the gate and then rolled down the passenger windows.