“Hardly. Beth and I are not some great love story. We are more business associates than lovers. When I told the overseers I would be resigning my membership, they told me they were announcing a new game and suggested I uncollar Beth as part of it.”
James sighed. Plucking the envelope off the side table he took out a glossy photo of the submissive in question. Beth was striking rather than pretty, with brown hair cut in a ruler straight line just above her shoulders. Her eyes were equally brown, and seemed large in her fox-like face.
He recognized her, though they’d never played. Beth was one of those subs who was always around, an excellent and obedient assistant in scenes focused on others. She was most often seen playing with Doms who preferred a stricter version of BDSM play than James used. If he was remembering correctly, Cat’s favorite thing to do was to use her as a footstool, pushing Beth more into the realm of “slave” than “submissive.”
“If you must know, you’re not the Dom I would have picked for Beth.” Though Cat’s tone was neutral, James could detect the slight derision in her words, could tell that she thought his type of domination was too soft.
“And Beth is not the sub I would have picked for myself,” he responded curtly. But when James looked at Beth’s picture, all he could think about was what Master Mikael had said, his implication that while Beth was obedient, she was also “closed.”
One thing James couldn’t resist was a puzzle. It was why he was so good at figuring out people’s emotional states, at “fixing” subs—he liked taking clues and piecing them together into a complete picture.
“I have her waiting. I’m afraid I didn’t have time to tell her anything other than this weekend was for the checklist game.” Madame Cat rose. “Shall we?”
Tucking the photo back into the envelope, James stood and motioned for the Domme to precede him. “After you.”
*****
Beth lifted her head from her knee when the door opened, but kept her gaze down. There were two sets of footsteps, the click of heels which she recognized as Madame Cat’s, and then another set she thought sounded like a man’s. She closed her eyes when spotlights flicked on, the bright white beams focused on the cage.
Her eyes were still closed when the crop struck the bottom of her right foot. The blow was unexpected and painful. Beth sucked in a breath and jerked, then wiggled around until all her body parts were in the cage.
“You’re such fun, girlie.” Madame’s words were soft and regretful, at odds with the harsh blow.
Beth opened her eyes, focusing on the ground. She could see her Mistress’s feet. Madame Cat was wearing fashionable, shiny, cream colored stilettos and ankle length gray slacks, nothing like her normal wardrobe. Beth had noticed the clothes when her Mistress had locked her in her collar and placed her in the cage, but Beth had assumed that when she returned she’d have changed. The fact that she was still in street clothes had to mean something significant.
“You know how much I’ve enjoyed our time together.”
What was going on? Beth didn’t pause to try to figure it out, knowing waiting too long to reply was disrespectful. “Yes, Mistress.”
“I will miss our time together. I doubt I’ll have the opportunity to play with a sub again, let alone one as obedient as you.”
Questions were poised on the tip of Beth’s tongue, but she held them back.
“Lean forward so I can reach your collar.”
This time Beth was so startled by the command that she didn’t react in time.
“Beth.” Madame’s voice was sharp with warning.
Grabbing the bars, Beth struggled to shift her position to obey. She was finally able to get both legs under her so she was kneeling with her feet and ankles sticking out of the bars, her upper body bent forward slightly.
Madame Cat pulled a chain from around her neck, the small, shiny key to the padlock on Beth’s collar glinting in the light.
“I’m leaving Las Palmas, and can no longer be your Mistress. As of this moment I am removing my collar from you.”
Despite all her training she was so surprised she looked up, but the lights prevented her from seeing Madame Cat well. Now? It was all over now? She didn’t realize her Mistress was planning to move so soon.
Beth dropped her gaze, hoping her breach hadn’t been noticed. Plus it allowed her to hide her expression, which she feared would show something Beth herself didn’t understand yet.
She was…upset.
It wasn’t the loss of the collar, or of her Domme that upset her, but her Mistress’s departure meant the end of her time as a submissive, the end of yet another failed attempt to interact with other people in a meaningful way.
Madame Cat stuck her hands through the bars, stroking Beth’s cheek, then slapping it lightly. “I will miss you, girlie.”
Intellectually Beth knew that Madame Cat wouldn’t really miss her—she’d miss having a perfectly obedient sub, but still, those words, that hint of connection, were the one thing that had kept Beth coming back.