The Stronger Sex? Ch. 06

"Strung up?" Evan asked for clarification.

"Yeah, ya know, hands tied over her head then tied to the Rack. A helpless punching bag? Ya' know, like I said. We call it getting strung up, they tell me one of the regulars said it once and that's what it's been called ever since." She paused, and looked at Evan.

"I see, please continue, if you don't mind."

"Sure. So, Harper gets strung up a few times a month and I'm usually one of her watchers, or body guards, like you said. It's kinda messed up the first time you see it, but she always walks away ok and agrees to do it again, so it can't be that bad on her. She only does it with a few regulars, she has some trust issues about being tied up and beat on."

"Will she take a face or head punch? How about bare fist punching?" Evan pressed.

"Yeah, both. Depending on the guy, she wears an open faced padded sparring helmet, the guys obviously like to see our faces. But for the smaller guys who can't hit very hard she just makes sure to tell them never hit her in the nose: cheeks or forehead only. That's a hard line for her, and no bare fists to the face or head. She will take bare fists to her abs, but nowhere else. Her belly doesn't bruise easy, which is good but the ribcage will bruise and hurt, so no punches to ribs or back, stomach only. I think she actually enjoys that part a little bit...."

Lexi trailed off with a smile as her mother rolled her eyes and fought back obvious fury at the idea of this girl Harper, or maybe any young girl, getting "strung up" and punched by men. Evan was surprised Ashley didn't say anything, but then he guessed that she had strenuously objected to this and she and Lexi had very likely argued about this before.

"Enjoys it? Why do you think she enjoys it?"

"It's kinda obvious when I watch for her and in the look on her face when it's over. The guys always get the hug when it's done, that's kind of a rule, but they don't always get the kiss on the cheek: Harper doesn't always give the kiss either. I've seen her awkwardly decline to do so, more than once. It's weird to see, doesn't happen often around here. But after being strung up she always initiates the kiss too, even grabs their head with both hands to bring them in for it."

Evan made a mental note of this, and after hearing it really wanted to talk with Harper. He didn't speak, so Lexi went on:

"She talks shit during the bare fisted ab punching, but not when they have gloves on and her face may be fair game. It's not fear either, she isn't scared to talk shit, ever, and she does a lot. It's different with the belly punching though: she challenges them, her other shit talk is demeaning them. Know what I mean?"

Evan did, or he thought he did, but he continued to play the naïve newcomer.

"Maybe... but can you give examples?"

"Yeah, sure, yeah..." she repeated herself again, paused to think, and continued, "... she likes to rub it in that she is winning when they competitively box or wrestle. Stuff like calling out the score when she is winning, which she usually is. Maybe playfully calling them a pussy, telling them what she is going to do next knowing they probably can't stop her. She never challenges them though, ever, unless she is strung up with the belly punching. When she gets strung up she says things like "I bet you are going to wear out before me!" or "Your kid hit me harder!" or "Can someone find a real man to do this?" or "How old are you grandpa!?" It's like she wants to get hit harder, and she takes them with a smile and giggles. I tried to stop a guy once when I thought he got too rough, but she waved me off and said some BS like "I know the safe word, I'm ok." Which is total BS because we don't have safe words around here: we say "grab this piece of shit" or something like that."

"I see, thank you for sharing that. Would it be ok if I bring this up with Harper, if I have the opportunity and she agrees to speak with me..." Evan reassured holding his hand out in a calming way.

"Sure, I'm sure she would be ok with it as long as you are clear it's all confidential. You are going to make up names for us, right?" she asked as Evan nodded that yes, he obviously would.

"Can I be Desiree? I love the name Desiree! So sultry and sexy!" She asked through an excited and anticipatory tone.

"Sure thing." Evan said as he waved his phone to her reminding her this was being recorded.

"Back to Harper, yeah, ask her. I know she likes it, she knows she likes it, I give her shit about liking it sometimes too!"

"May I ask a potentially awkward question?" Evan posed.

"Have I ever been strung up or been a punching bag?" Lexi said quickly, knowing immediately where he was going with his vague question.

"Since you mention it, yeah, I am curious to know. Ashley, I apologize for asking, I think I know how you feel about this aspect of what goes on in this club."

Ashley's face was still dark, obviously not enjoying this part of the club or even the discussion about it.

'It's so true that social taboos are very hard to shake....' Evan thought looking at Ashley expression that defined the term "if looks could kill" contrasting with Lexi's accepting attitude on the subject. '... even though a man today can hit a young woman and not really hurt her it's still so....wrong.... to so many out there while if Lexi hit Jake and broke his ribs there would be no social shame....'

'Hell even I feel this way and I was born when COVID hit! I never even lived in a preC world!' he continued to think before Lexi spoke:

"Mom, don't freak, ok, but yeah, I charged over the top money and I made a thousand dollars in 30 minutes the first time! That's almost 1/3 of my expenses for a month! And just 20 minutes of punches from boxing gloves, which don't really hurt anyway, and 10 minutes of bare fisting belly punching that ok, it hurt, but it wasn't bad. Sure, my abs were sore for a day or two but that's well worth 30% of my monthly living expenses in a half hour. Jake wanted it too! You should have seen Jaky's face too, he had the best time ever! Didn't you Jaky?" She teased as she wiggled her toes at him while his fingers were working her heel, ankle, and Achilles tendon. He blushed a bit, embarrassed that she outed him for using her as a punching bag.

"Jake don't blush, you're such a sweetheart" She said sweetly. "No one did anything wrong here, I agreed to be strung up for you, my choice, remember?"

They chatted for a few seconds about it, Jake apologetically and Lexi reassuringly. Evan guessed Jake's tone was due to Lexi's mom staring daggers through him at the idea he used her daughter as a punching bag. She didn't seem to care that Lexi volunteered and was ok with it, and Evan understood her point of view. She stayed silent, however, which surprised Evan.

"Lexi, may I ask if you enjoy getting "strung up", your words..., like you said Harper enjoys it?"

She blushed, once again, looked at her mom, and smiled.

"Mom you may have to leave for this.... but yeah, I kinda do. I don't know why, but I do. Especially the strung up belly punching, the bare fisted punches. I like that I can take it, I can take their punches, it makes me feel powerful. I like the power...." She looked away, but continued to open up "... that they can't really hurt me despite the fact they could if they really wanted to. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but it's how I feel. I feel like a superheroine, despite being strung up, that they can punch me over and over and I can take it. I like that feeling of power... of......" she paused, searching for the right word. It came quickly:

"Invulnerability! Yeah, that's it, invulnerability. I feel tough and, I know I said it like twice already, I feel powerful! I like that feeling!" Her voice elevated with excitement and she pulled her left foot from Jake massaging hands, put it on the floor, leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, and continued:

"And the guys love it! Well, some of them do anyway, but the ones that love it REALLY love it! They do! They REALLY DO!" she continued her theme of repeating her words for effect. "And I like providing that for them, I do. I like performing that kind of service, it's something they can't get anywhere else, nowhere, and they come to us to do it. They come here, and several of them, like Jaky here, request me by name. They want to experience this with me. Most of them don't come and just ask for some young enhanced girl to punch, it's not like that, its.... I don't know. It's a connection we have where they let themselves be vulnerable to me.... I don't know...." She trailed off.

Evan thought he knew exactly what she meant, but he wanted her to expand on her thought. So, he gave her a moment to collect her thoughts. While she did so, he had a few thoughts of his own:

'Is she is going to say it's a special connection? Does she feel a connection to these men? Society would call them "old perverts" or accuse them of a crime if they knew what happened here, and she feels a special connection to them. This is going to be a huge element of the story!' he thought as reactions to her words raced through his head.

'I have to find a way to capture this for my readers or they will never understand. She has a bond with these men, it's obvious, I have to express this for her... somehow. How to I explain a bond between a young fully enhanced women and the mostly older men who pay to have her "strung up" to use her as a punching bag?'

'I have to do this justice or risk misrepresenting her story! I need more! This is gonna be huge if I can tell the story!!'

He offered encouragement:

"I think I may know what you are saying, but I would like you to continue, if that is ok. I have to find a way to capture your feelings for my readers or I fear I may risk misrepresenting your feelings on this activity. I would leave this out if I didn't feel I could do it justice."

"It's ok, I can say more. I feel special when they ask for me, I know that sounds childish, but it's true. They are putting themselves out there and they want this experience with me. Not Cassie who is so pretty and strong, not Evelyn the super pretty cheerleader, not the blonde haired Olivea, but me. When I see their face light up when their punches make that slapping sound on my abs it's a special moment...." She trailed off, then changed her tone and continued:

"That's stupid! Please don't print that! They are using me as a punching bag, I can't call that special....."

"Wait, wait please Lexi I have to cut in here." he said in a louder voice than she had been using.

She stopped, and along with Jake and Ashely, stared at Evan.

"If I may, and please stop me if I overstep my bounds, I don't think you feel that was a stupid comment. I think you were being honest, and you stopped because you feel you are on the wrong side of a social taboo. You are not on the wrong side of anything, you are a consenting adult, a woman grown, as long as you are not causing anyone any harm you have the right to do as you choose."

He paused to let that sink in, then continued and prayed she continued to talk and picked up where she left off:

"Now, if you don't want me to publish that I won't, you have my word. You will also have the chance to review the article before I publish and offer your input, you have my word. Nothing will get published without your approval, again, you have my word. Now, if possible, I would like you to elaborate on your previous thought in an honest way but," he paused, "if you would like to move on, we can. How would you like to proceed?"

"Ok, I'm ok... I just... it feels weird to say I have a special connection to men who want to tie me up and punch me, ya know? But it's real. It is. They obviously have some inner desires they could never act on when they were younger, preC, before the Event, and now they can. I have a regular who requests me specifically to be strung up on the Rack and he is almost 70 years old. He was in his 40's and married with kids when the Event hit and in his 60's before fully enhanced girls started turning 18. Picture a lifelong fantasy, a fantasy he has had for 50 years, but never being able to act on or even mention out loud that you fantasize about it. That sounds hard, but he lived it."

"Now, afterC with fully enhanced girls like me, he can live it. I can make that happen for him. I like that I can do that for him. It gives me a satisfying feeling to help him have that moment. He opens up to me about things after it's over, he says things he says he has never told his wife of 45 years, things that seem a bit messed up when I hear them before I remind myself I just spent 30 minutes as his punching bag. It's more than the wrestling too. Sure, they talk after that but it's different. It's just as genuine, and I feel it's always genuine here, but they open up more. "

She paused, but seemed to gain more confidence in her words as he mother's face seemed to lighten a bit. Evan felt she had never had this conversation out loud with her mother, that she had never showed her true feelings with Ashley. It was obvious Ashley didn't like what she was hearing, but her look could no longer kill like it could have earlier. Lexi continued:

"So yeah, it is a special connection. I feel very close to them after I'm strung up, and I think they feel very close to me. I like it. Maybe that's a little screwed up, but I like it, or I wouldn't do it. If I didn't need the money, and I really need the money right now, I might even do it for nothing. It's weird to say it, and I'm sure it is weird to hear it, but I find this part very satisfying."

There was a pause, then Ashley confirmed what Evan has suspected:

"Lexi, sweetie, you never told me that. You never told me you felt that way about this. Baby girl I didn't realize it was like that for you..." she trailed off, but her voice was filled with emotion.

The mood changed again. Evan had a hard time describing it, but it was obvious to all that Lexi had articulated a point her mother had never considered about an issue that Ashley clearly had problems with.

"Well, yeah, I guess yeah..." Lexi said, "Maybe I didn't know how to say that.... Evan how did you do that?"

Evan was confused at first, but then knew exactly what she meant:

"I didn't do anything, I simply listened while you told your story. Sure, I did prod you to continue earlier, but this is your story, I'm just trying to capture it for you. If it ends up being ok with you, I think my readers are going to go wild when they read about Desiree's story." He finished with a smile.

"Thank you!!" she said excitedly. "I guess Desiree does have a story to tell!"

"Thank you very much for sharing that with me, Lexi. You are a very honest person and any writer's dream interview." He said directly.

"You don't need to flatter me, Evan!" she said sarcastically with a huge smile, "I'm already talking to you!"

"I was not flattering you." Evan said frankly. "That was my honest opinion. So many people hold back on the emotional element of a story and just tell the facts and details. They tend to leave out their emotions associated with those facts and details and that takes a huge element from the story. Conversely, they embellish the details or outright lie about the specifics. When I say that, I am aware that remembering and recalling an event or story with 100% accuracy is very difficult and I'm not referring to an innocent mistake. Many people lie or exaggerate, and I fact check and find others to corroborate stories so I find out later when people lie to me. I like to think it has made me good at seeing lies in real time."

"I don't think you have said anything disingenuous, and I don't think you have held back your emotions. So, like I said, you are an interviewer's and writer's dream. If you did lie to me this whole time, then congrats on being an excellent liar!" he joked.

"Thanks... I think..." she joked back.

"Can we move on? I would like to know more about the boxing. I hope I recall your words correctly, but there is "super competitive boxing" and "playful and foxy boxing. Do you participate in either?"

"Yeah, I do, yeah, but it's usually just the play boxing where we go back and forth and it's semi-competitive at the very most. Usually I punch him a few, he punches me a few, and nothing really hurts at all. I don't really to the super competitive, its hard as I'm so much shorter than the men. Should I ever go fully competitive I would be taking all the punches to my head and shoulders, which opens me to injury, instead of my body which can take the blows pretty well. Usually it's the taller girls who are good for the competitive boxing. They can look the guys eye to eye and make more of them a target. Being only 5' 5" most all the guys would be punching down at me."

She stopped, then her face lit up when she remembered something else.

"Sometimes I get to dominate, that's super fun with the right guy. That's when I get to box the shit out of them! I can't go 100%, but I usually go 50 or sometimes 75%, depending on the guy. It's best when I can punch them into a corner and then really let them have it. It's not like wrestling, they can't tap out, so they have to say "MERCY" in front of whoever is watching. They have to ask for my mercy, I have all the power. Like I said before, I guess I like having the power over them men."

She continued, seemingly without taking a breath. She was obviously excited just to talk about this:

"It's so much better when it's the bigger men too. There is a regular who says he is six foot five, and he towers over me. He likes to get the shit boxed out of him, and he always requests the shorter girls to do it. I think he likes shorter girls... but either way I got to beat on him once and it was sooo fun!"

At this point Lexi stood up and looked past Evan, and as Evan turned around he saw a young woman walking over and waving at Lexi. She was wearing a red bikini tied together at the hips with white strings and there were strings wrapping around her ribs and behind her neck. Evan noticed several $100 bills in each of the cups of her bikini top, almost as if she were flaunting the money. It was a trick that he had seen strippers do, and he had to admit it was a very sexy power more. It was even more sexy as she was tremendously beautiful and smiling warmly at Lexi.

She walked by Evan without really noticing him and gave Lexi a bit hug. As Evan was still sitting and Lexi hadn't moved, this girl's perfect ass may have only been a foot away. The bikini bottom didn't cover much, but it wasn't quite a full thong while the top was indeed held up by only strings. He tried hard not to stare at her ass, which was difficult as the ass was just about eye level. He looked up at her and the hug with Lexi and realized she was probably seven or eight inches taller than she was, easily 6' 1" or 6' 2". He then looked at Jake and saw he was making no effort not to stare at this girl's amazing butt.

The hug ended and the girl turned around and looked down at Vic, Jake, and Evan. As she did so, Evan stood up while Jake and Vic followed suit. He held out his hand and tried his best to sound professional:

"Evan." he said.