“That looks painful,” Mikaela shuddered a minute into the first hot wax scene she witnessed. “Why do you attend these parties where people hurt each other?”
Her curiosity mixed with alarm was both refreshing and entertaining. Yet, I found myself wanting to explain everything to her.
“Sometimes, the only way you can escape the world that brings you pain is to create one where pain brings you pleasure, helping you overcome your fears. To understand you’re different and that you’d never fit into the world you live in.”
“Is that what all of this is?” she asked as we moved to a naked woman shackled to the ceiling by her hands and her partner whipping her.
Her fingers dug into my arm and understood her anxiety. Judging by the video I’d seen of that bastard torturing her, she had every right to fear it.
“Yes, love. The world of BDSM...” At her questioning frown, I added, “Bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism. It sounds like a mouthful, but to simplify. The desire of one person to control and the other to submit using pain to bring pleasure. It can offer you the escapism you crave while providing an earth-shattering experience you’d never turn away from once you step in.”
“But he’s hurting her.”
My smile was soft as I dragged two knuckles down her cheek. “Does she look like she’s in pain?”
She averted her gaze, watching the scene play out. I caught her slight flinch when the whip cracked through the air before landing on the woman’s back.
Mikaela’s gaze came back to me. “No. She looks...” her voice trailed off momentarily as her eyes flicked to the woman’s desperate moans before returning to me. “Like she’s enjoying it.”
“She is.”
Her grip on my arm tightened once more as another crack of the whip left the woman panting, her hips swaying toward her Dom, her legs widening, offering him her soaked pussy. I tried to move away, but Mikaela’s subtle resistance paused my feet. With her eyes on the couple, my gaze remained on her. I was surprised by her sudden interest and perplexed by the peak in my body’s response to her. None of these scenes aroused me much anymore. Watching her, I couldn’t understand the innate need to make her appreciate how my world worked. Or maybe, I desired the continuation of what began with a simple lesson in kissing.
She turned, and whether she noticed the heat spooling through my body or not, she said nothing. The hitch of her breath, though, told me otherwise.
“This world I live in isn’t for everyone, Ella.” I strove for calm, seeking conversation instead. The people you see here don’t speak of their desires to anyone for fear of being judged.” I turned fully to face her, gently cupping her face. “When you’re different, you can either be lonely or seek like-minded people.”
“I am different.”
I smiled. “You are, but only because of your circumstances. You weren’t offered a choice. You were given one. The pain he inflicted on you was out of sheer perversion. What you see here is an agreement of consent between a Dom and his sub.” I jerked my chin at the woman. “Even in her position, she has more control over him than he does over her. Only you won’t see it. What you’re seeing on the outside is merely her reaction. What she’s feeling on the inside is something you must experience for yourself.”
“How does a blindfolded, hands tied behind her back woman, have more control than the man hitting her.” Undisguised doubt laced her voice. I didn’t blame her. Her traumatic life had made her vigilant and wary.
“Because in our world, these relationships are built solely on trust. A submissive must trust her dominant to use her desire for pain for their pleasure. A dominant must trust his submissive to tell him when she’s had enough. He will never push her any further than she wants to go. Needs to go. In essence, she controls him without the use of her power over him. The power to deny him his needs, even as her Dom.”
“How would she stop him, being tied up and blindfolded.” She lifted confused eyes to mine.
“We use safe words.”
She frowned. “Safe words?” I nodded. “Like stop?”
My chuckle was soft, her innocence stimulating, her curiosity even more so. “When a sub and Dom begin a relationship, they establish certain rules, an agreement. They discuss her desires, her willingness to surrender her control. In turn, he provides her with words that will either tell him she’s all right or to stop. Sometimes it’s as simple as red, green, and yellow. Other times, a little more fanciful depending on their play.”
That rare smile I’d grown impatient to see slid over her lips, lighting up her bi-colored eyes. Unconsciously my chest tightened, my skin burning with the thrill of seeing her respond to me.
“Come.” I walked her down the passage as it gave way to another hall. Podiums set up with different variants of power play littered the polished tile floors, more extreme than the first hall. I brought her to a stop in front of a couple indulging in a flogging scene and felt her stiffen, her horrified expression speaking to a harrowing experience.
“That looks painful,” she gasped, hiding her face behind my shoulder. She referred to the Dom’s consistent yet rapid strokes of the leather flogger over his sub’s back.
Instead of walking her away, I slid a finger under her chin, drawing her face back to me. “Flogging is harmful only if the Dom is inexperienced. Only certain areas of the body can be flogged without causing damage. If done correctly, the results can take you into an unequaled subspace.”
“Subspace?”
My chuckle low, I was glad she chose not to remain in her past. “You have much to learn about my world, Ella.” I dropped a soft kiss on her brow. “Only if you’re willing to step into it of your own accord.” Her eyes widened with interest, bringing a surprising tingle to my skin. Was it wrong that her response turned me on? That I wanted to take her on this journey with me? Take her on an orgasmic phenomenon just once? I cleared my throat to redirect my thoughts. “Subspace is when your body succumbs to a happy or erotic rush that is almost trancelike, a state of lightness that some submissives call an out-of-body experience. Almost like being drunk for the first time.”
Mikaela listened attentively. “Sounds like a nice place to lose yourself.”
“Probably.”
