present. The blond man held a riding crop in his hand, and Kara sported a fresh red mark on her ass cheek. He raised his arm again.
“Your. Fault.” Each word was punctuated with a hit. “Oh God, I’m sorry, baby. You just make me so angry. Why do you have to be so pretty? The other girls weren’t as pretty as you. Nobody’s as pretty as you. You bitch!” His hand rose again.
Moira spun away, her whole body shaking.
She couldn’t do this again. Not again. She was supposed to be past the flashbacks. They were over, done in by years of therapy and determination.
Broken. You’re broken.
“Moira, ma chère.” Adrian’s voice came a moment before she felt his hands settle gently on her shoulders. She still flinched. “You’re in New Orleans, not Virginia. No one here is gonna harm you.”
She shook her head and stifled a sob, trying to drown out the memories.
“Listen to your friend. She’s in no danger.”
Moira made herself listen. The truth of his words pushed through her haze as Kara moaned loudly.
Get a grip on yourself.
She took a shuddering breath and turned around.
“That.” She pointed to what she realized was a two-way mirror and glared at Adrian, even though she could feel her face paling. “You want me to do that. Beat people. There is no fucking way!”
“Non, I wouldn’t necessarily say that.”
“Then what do you call it?” Moira twitched as the riding crop hit her friend again. It’s okay. It’s okay.
“Control. Trust. The things you want.” Adrian stepped closer and pointed her to the mirror again. “Regardez. Kara trusts that Ian knows exactly how hard to hit her, how far he’ll push her, and she has total trust that if she uses her safe word, Ian’ll stop completely and instantly. She has total control over everything that happens in that room. Ian, on the other hand, trusts that Kara won’t let him push her where she doesn’t want to go. As the Dom, or the Dominant, he has to trust her as much as she trusts him. They trust each other, and give each other control.” He stepped even closer and smiled. “In exchange, they each get something they can’t get outside this world.”
Moira shook her head, not wanting to admit she was finding this conversation more fascinating than she would ever have thought. “What? Because I can get bruises easily enough by walking around my apartment.”
Adrian laughed. “La joie. Fulfillment. They get to be themselves, among people who understand them. Mais, they also get very, very good sex.”
Moira shook her head, suddenly unable to stop watching as Ian grabbed Kara’s long auburn hair and fucked her from behind. The pair’s grunts and moans filled the small, dark room, testament to Adrian’s words.
“God. She looks… I don’t…”
“Like she’s enjoying herself? Trust me, ma chère. Trust her. She is very much enjoying herself.” Adrian smiled. “Viens. I do believe they won’t be done for some time.”
She let him pull her away as the sounds stopped and the blinds moved back over the mirror. Out the door, and farther down the hall and into yet another room. She balked at the bed, and again at the other contents, but stood her ground.
Adrian simply shut the door and removed his suit jacket, tossing it to the bed. His tie followed. “The primary rule of a Dominant/submissive relationship is to hurt, not harm.” He rolled his sleeves up and picked up a black leather crop with a blue handle. “What do you think I mean by that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
He smiled. “Come now, Moira. You’re an intelligent woman. Move past the preconceptions and your personal history, and think.”
Moira stared at him, beginning to feel annoyed.
Still grinning, he circled her. “We just watched your best and oldest friend be tied up, beaten and repeatedly fucked. You and I both know she enjoyed it. Stop thinking about your own experiences or what the world tells you, and use your head.”
“Fine,”