The Invisible Hand Pt. 04

Tears have finally found their way out her eyes and I instinctively hug her. I can't believe that Paul did this! Wait, Paul!

"Wait, wait, sweetie, not all is lost! Paul can put them down!"

Sadie won't listen though. She's shaking her head and mumbling:

"I thought I could trust him, he was so nice… Why did he do this?"

"Hey!" I shout, taking her shoulders in my hands and giving her a shake, "It doesn't matter, we are going to face him and force him to delete them!"

"What if he doesn't want to?" Sadie whines.

"Your dad has a gun and is a policeman, we'll use this to scare him!" I promptly reply.

So, I take her hand and I close the shop while she calls a cab.

"I don't understand…" my bestie compulsively repeats in the car, her voice broken and the makeup running on her full cheeks.

I don't either, because it doesn't make sense, so I cuddle her, while my insides burn with fury and I summon my demon:

"Demon mine, come to me, it's urgent!"

He answers after a few seconds:

"I'm so sorry, my love, I would have never dreamed that he…" he whispers.

"It's not important! He fooled us too. What I need is to take those videos down!" I interrupt him.

"I'm accessing your email right now."

While he studies a plan B, we reach Paul's residence: we can surprise him at home, because Sadie knows his schedule by heart now.

"I know a few of these websites… The videos are accessible only by paying users, which will slow down considerably their diffusion," my demon whispers, as we ride the elevator.

His caution is not a good sign, but I don't say anything, because Sadie is now shaking with rage, fear and shame.

"Hello, ladies, what–" Paul greets us.

He's cut off by a powerful and unexpected kick by Sadie, whose bulky platform shoe lands on his balls.

"How could you do this to me, you lying piece of shit!" she shrieks.

Paul stumbles backwards, bent over, and croaks:

"What are you talking about?"

"You put our videos on the internet for everybody to see!" my bestie continues, slapping him hard in the face.

This somehow wakes him up a little, because he now stands in all his height and he yells indignantly:

"I did no such thing!"

So I take out my tablet from the purse and show him. If he's acting, he deserves an Oscar, because he turns white and opens his eyes wide in horror.

"No no no!" he stammers, oddly echoing Sadie's first reaction, "I didn't shoot this video! The angle is wrong! Shit, this is going to be a PR nightmare!"

It's hard not to believe him, but my friend somehow still manages:

"Liar! You are ruining my life!" she howls and tries to attack him again, before I stop her by grabbing her shoulders.

"Wait, Sadie, whoever put the videos online is selling them, not giving them away for free!" I explain, my words somehow preceding my thoughts, "He surely doesn't need money!"

She frowns and then flops in my arms.

"So there goes my only chance to take them down!" she sobs.

I hug her, waiting for my demon's response, while Paul bolts to the playroom.

"It's going to be hard, my love. These websites don't give a shit about complaints and that's our only way to have the material removed."

"Can't you hack them?!" I complain, perfectly aware how bitchy and ungrateful I'm sounding, but this is Sadie we are talking about and what is happening to her is just unacceptable!

"No, and even if I could, it would take a lot of time," he replies, apologetically.

"He can't, can he?" Sadie mumbles, her tears wetting my chest.

Before I can answer, Paul comes back with a weird teddy bear that is dressed in leather and sports a huge dildo between its legs:

"Here, that's how they did it! I never bought this!" he says, somewhat triumphal, showing a nanny-cam hidden in the stuffed animal.

"Your friends then! It's got to be one of them!" Sadie exclaims, gaining some color.

"Precisely! I'm going to confront them: maybe I can convince them to delete the videos!"

"Maybe?" she shrieks, "Just maybe? It's my face! You should've protected me!"

"I'm sorry, dear, but it's not like I have much leverage!" he defends himself, putting some distance between himself and his raging girlfriend.

"You've got lawyers and money, don't you?" I provoke him.

His gaze plummets to the floor.

"My face is pixelated…" he stammers "If I use official channels I might just draw more attention to myself."

"When you might just get away with it!" it's my unsolicited and outraged conclusion.

My bestie escapes my arms and sprints forward. Paul hastily dodges her, fearing more retribution, but she just lopes to the kitchen.

We've had hardly enough time to wonder about that choice, when she comes back with a big knife.

"Wait, let's calm down," Paul murmurs, white as a sheet.

She grins briefly and brings the knife to her throat. Now it's my time to shriek:

"Sadie, no!"

But she never aimed for her own flesh: her collar is quickly cut open and thrown to a terrified Paul.

"I hope you remain alone for the rest of your days!" she growls, just before stabbing Paul's couch.

Then she takes my hand and we head out. Our adrenaline-fueled rage is slowly replaced by sorrow. We are sitting on a bench, hopelessly looking at the teddy bear. It won't help us, we both know it. My demon's silence contributes to the emptiness we feel in our hearts. I know he's not all-powerful, but he's always managed to pull little miracles for me and I kind of hoped for one this time too.

"It was all for nothing!" Sadie says dejectedly, after a while.

"It's not you fault," I remind her, "and your parents are way better than mine, maybe they will understand. And, you are an adult, for fucks sake, you're your own responsibility!"

"It's not about what I can and can't do!" she corrects me "It's about disappointing them. I've always been a disappointment to them, but with this… This is going to make them feel ashamed of me, of making me! I'm a disappointment for everyone!"

"Hey, not to me!" I reply, taking her chin in my hand and forcing her to look at me, "Whatever happens, I'm with you. If they kick you out, you stay with me!"

I was hoping for a weak smile, but all I get is a deluge of tears.

"No, boss, you're not disappointed just because you don't know! I did something bad, something disgusting only to avoid precisely this!" she objects, shaking her head, "The universe is punishing me for being a bad person!"

"What in the world are you talking about?" I ask, completely at a loss.

She just lowers her gaze and stays silent.

"The universe doesn't do shit! There's no higher power that punishes people, just other people and our own hearts!" I add, prodding her chest to stress my last words, "And I don't care if you made a mistake, I know that I will love you anyway! You are my little sister!"

She briefly looks at me, then down again and up again:

"Maybe this is my chance to make it right," she whispers, as if she had a sudden epiphany, "I'm screwed anyway, I might at least make amends."

"To whom?" I insist, still very much confused.

"Come with me, you and Eric should know anyway. I really hope you will forgive me," she just says. Then, she gets up and takes my hand.

Since it's clear that soon I'm going to know what this is all about anyway, I indulge her and follow her in a taxi, interrupting my questioning. We travel for a while, but I start to recognize the suburbs where we are.

"Wait, this is about Bryn?" I ask, remembering how weird she was after their second date.

Sadie just nods.

"I lied to you about them."

Before I can ask anything more, we stop and I rush to follow my bestie, who's surprisingly fast on her high heeled platform boots. I find her on her knees in front of Bryn's door, knocking. After a few minutes, the heavy front door opens. Bryn's look turns from welcoming to disdainful as their eyes glide from me to my friend.

"I know that this is unexpected, and I don't mean to disturb you, but I really need to apologize to you," Sadie blurts, blushing hard.

Bryn raises an eyebrow:

"You do?"

"Yes, I've been carrying this guilt for so long and now everything is going to shit and I can't keep going on like this. But this is not about me, it's about you. I'll explain later."

The witch frowns and I wonder if this has been all in Sadie's head. No, there was definitely contempt in their eyes when they saw my friend at their doorstep.

"Continue."

Sadie sighs.

"When I started this journey in search of a master, I was only looking for some fun and experience, I wasn't trying to find love or anything serious. Little did I know that I would end up in your clutches. I can't explain exactly why, but I immediately felt a deep connection with you, which I had the impression you reciprocated…"

"I did," they confirm, sounding a little sad. Sadie closes her eyes in shame.

"So I was the happiest woman in the world when you summoned me back," she continues with her voice broken, "When I met your emissary, at first I panicked, but then the fear of blowing this up ebbed as soon as I realized how lucky I was. Unworthy of such luck, because I would indeed blow my chance up after a few hours. I was here, getting off my taxi, when I saw two policemen at your door, undoubtedly called by your intolerant neighbors."

Oh, no! I think I know what she's going to say.

"I wasn't sure, from a distance, but one of them looked like a colleague of my dad. It was then that it occurred to me: police would often appear at your door, because of your neighbors, and one day a cop might recognize me and the kind of relationship I wanted to have with you, and tell my dad! I couldn't risk it, I didn't want my folks to be ashamed of me, even more disappointed that I'm not normal than they already are."

Sadie is now sobbing and I caress her back.

"So I did the cowardly thing and ran away! I became part of the mob that hates you so much and that I hate so much, part of the problem. I betrayed who I am, what I believe in, in a vain effort to conform to a crowd I can never fit in! But most importantly, I hurt your feelings, because I felt your eyes staring at my back! I made you feel wrong and unlovable, and I'm deeply sorry for that!"

"You did all those things," Bryn mercilessly confirms.

"The terrible guilt I felt, however, was only the beginning of the torture. I tried so many times to come here and apologize before, but I was never brave enough. So I started to read your blog and I realized that you are an awesome person, just like I suspected, and deep regret joined guilt. Then Eric and Nadia found me another dom, Paul. I desperately wanted to distract myself from my obsession with you, so I jumped into that relationship without a second thought. He's been my master ever since, but I never felt the deep connection I was told there would be with him."

I want to console her, somehow, but I know she has to go through this.

"It's been fun, but nothing more than a distraction from my loneliness. Perhaps he's just too old, or maybe we are not made for each other. So I ran away again, this time from the awareness that I was unhappy, and I pretended that everything was ok. I started to do crazier things with him, trying to fill the endless void between us, but truth is, I wanted you and yet I had made sure that it would never happen!"

"So, what brings you here?" Bryn asks coldly.

"It all came to bite me in the ass! I asked him to make videos, to invite his friends to play with me and one of them put everything online! So I hurt you for nothing, because I will be discovered anyway! The very least I can do now, is apologize from the bottom of my heart and give you the satisfaction of seeing me punished."

"How did you find out about the videos? One of your loved ones told you?" they ask.

"No, some customer sent us an email," I reply, because Sadie is now sobbing hard and can't catch her breath.

"I did," they reveal, "Perhaps you did not recognize me because my given name is Sabine. I go by Bryn because I prefer a unisex name."

"What?" I and Sadie squeal.

"Please, come in, there's something I want to show you," they continue.

I'm about to help my bestie up, when they stop me:

"If she wants to follow, she'll do it on her knees."

Sadie doesn't flinch and immediately begins crawling after the witch. We head to the stairs, but this time we go to the first floor. My friend encounters some difficulty with the steps, so I take the chance of bending over and whisper in her ear:

"I still love you, by the way, doll!"

She smiles a little for the first time in what feels like ages and awkwardly climbs the stairs with me. We arrive to a corridor with burgundy walls. Black closed doors alternate with a few reproductions of eerie expressionist paintings. Bryn opens one of them and we end up in a small study. On the desk there are a couple of computer screens, while one wall is entirely hidden by big buzzing boxes, that I assume constitute the server of their website. There are many prints of artistic photos depicting several BDSM scenes on the walls.

"You see, the thief tried to sell the videos in my website too," they explain, pointing at one of the monitors as they sit on a big chair, "and as much as I was hurt and angry, when I recognized Sadie and correctly deduced that she never gave consent to the publication, I felt compelled to warn her, because what they did is disgusting, besides criminal."

"Thank you," my friend says shyly, kneeling next to them.

"Then," Bryn continues sighing, "since I was feeling generous, I used the account in my website of the piece of shit who did this to you to communicate with him. Fortunately for you, I realized that it would be easy to hack his computer this way. So I did, I retrieved the passwords of his accounts and I used them to erase any trace of the videos."

I gasp immediately, but it takes a full second to Sadie to realize that Bryn solved all our problems.

"Wait… You just saved me?"

"Yes, I did."

At that my friend jumps on Bryn's lap to hug them, encountering some resistance:

"Uh huh, you don't deserve to hug me, Sadie," they scold her, putting a hand on her head and pushing her down to their flip-flops.

Sadie immediately takes the hint and begins to kiss Bryn's feet. The scene is curiously arousing.

"Thank you, thank you," she keeps repeating.

The witch looks particularly smug when she starts to passionately lick their feet. It's such a pity that their relationship was nipped in the bud…

"Give her a second chance, Bryn, she learned her lesson," I impulsively plead.

Sadie immediately raises her head:

"I won't disappoint you again, I promise!" she assures, looking Bryn in the eye very seriously.

They mull over the proposal for a long while.

"What about the risk of being discovered?" they inquire.

Sadie lowers her gaze:

"I'm willing to take it."

"That's not enough for me. I will give you a second chance, but you'll have to pass a test. Come up here."

Sadie immediately complies and gets up, while Bryn quickly types commands on the keyboard, making a black window open up.

"Here. I set up your videos to be deleted on my server. If you press 'Y' now, they will disappear forever and so will I from your life. If you press 'N', I will assume that I have complete freedom to do with them, and with you, whatever I like, now and in the future."

"What?" I squeak.

Sadie is agape and just stares at the witch.

"If you want to be with me, you have to embrace risk by complete trust," they explain, unfazed.

"NO!" I shout, "Absolutely not! What kind of fucked up deal is it?"

But Sadie, apparently in a trance, presses her trembling finger on 'N' and Bryn smiles triumphantly.

"Good, dear, now kneel before your witch," they command, and my bestie complies, moving like a robot, her eyes set far away, probably looking at her future, now in the witch's hands.

"You erase them, now!" I protest, but Sadie comes back on earth just to stop me with a shy smile:

"No, boss, they stay. They are the truth. You can't erase what's true and real, the universe is not a computer. This, me kneeling at Bryn's feet is who I am, I can't escape it and if people are going to find out, it won't be because they see some videos, it's because they see me. I think I finally understood it today."

"Well phrased, dear," Bryn approves, caressing her hair with a touch so electric that makes her shiver.

Then, addressing me with a defiant and smug smile, they add:

"She's mine now."

I know I should understand this and hell, I'm a little aroused by the witch's effortless dominance: whereas Paul had to ask for permission to own Sadie, Bryn had to be begged to take her back. Still, I can't help but being worried. My eyes wander on hers, now shiny with fresh tears. I wonder what they are for: plea, relief, regret, joy? No, it's strain, because they had the hard job of conveying the depth of her need, of convincing me to let her go, to trust her. Of pushing my hand towards Bryn, so that I can shake it while I say:

"Yes, she is yours."

"Yay!" Sadie squeaks, with a huge grin, bobbing up and down on her knees while she claps her small and dainty hands.

"But you are not off the hook, girl," Bryn good-naturedly scolds her, taking her chin on their hand, "You are going to pay dearly for hurting my feelings like that and not finding the courage of facing me until you had nothing to lose."

"Whatever it takes," is her prompt and embarrassed response.

"Eric!" Bryn then calls, "I'm going to need you to build another chastity belt like Nadia's for Sadie. In the following weeks I'll use all my skills to make her reach the highest of the pleasures, so that I can later punish her with three months of chastity!"

My bestie audibly gulps, while Bryn smiles deviously but somehow also fondly at her.

"Now leave us, please, Nadia. I wanna start her slow torture immediately."

I exchange a look with my friend, who reassures me with hers, and then take my leave.

What a day! With the taxi I go back to "Lace is more" and reopen it until closure time, my body in my shop, my mind miles away. My demon stays unusually silent all the time. I wonder what's in his evil mind right now. Coming back home, I keep checking my phone for Sadie's texts, finding none. Worry finds me at my front door, while I open it, despite all my attempts at being trusting. I mean, how can I be sure that Bryn is not toying with her, biding their time for a cold vengeance? No, if they wanted that, they could have just published the videos in a free porn website, right? Doing that after convincing us that Sadie is safe and after enjoying her body would be more cruel and perhaps satisfying, though…

A hand grabs my neck and shoves me against the wall. The door closes. Darkness engulfs me. With a gasp, I obediently spread my legs, because I know what this hand wants. His tongue licks the length of my neck, his breath caresses it, his warmth a soothing balm. My flesh is lulled in a false sense of safety and relaxes: he likes it tender. The moment doesn't last long: his expected bite somehow still surprises me.

"Yes, demon mine, take me!" I moan, feeling now his hands slithering in my dress.

"I'm here to do just that, for tonight your sex shall join mine," he whispers, his words hovering on my burning red skin.

Clack!

It's hard to convey how much sense of anticipation and joy this sound evokes in me. I barely even hear the chastity belt falling on the ground, too concentrated on freeing his sex from its softer, silky prison, which must be a terrible prison nonetheless. He grabs my buttocks. My back is pressed on the wall, trapped by his stronger physical presence, but I use this powerlessness as a support, to raise my legs and hug his hips with them and his shoulders with my arms. There, I sense his warm rod caressing my lips, teasing them. His fingers spread my ass and join the party, playing with my butt plug.