Domination

They knew him as the good-natured old man on the corner, the one who greeted everyone and never raised his voice. One closed afternoon was enough to discover the man he really was.

She was the one who suggested it, in a whisper one random dawn: she wanted me to hold the camera while another man made her his. I said yes without knowing what I was becoming.

They thought they had everything under control until something broke. I was there, watching and taking part, learning where the line was that I wasn’t going to cross.

I only wanted to feel something new in bed. What I didn’t expect was to watch my own boyfriend surrender the same way I did to that huge man.

“Call her,” I said. “I want her to come, feel what she lost, and pay for last night’s message.” He swallowed and dialed her number without thinking twice.

I went up to her apartment convinced the most imposing woman I’d ever seen was waiting for me. I had no idea the night had only just begun—or who else was sleeping at the end of the hall.

I agreed to his fantasy thinking it was a gift for him. What neither of them imagined is that that night I’d discover exactly what I wanted... and stop settling.

I lit the fuse and shut them both inside an empty apartment. Now my husband begs to watch what comes next, while my brother-in-law has signed a blank check without knowing what awaits him.

I set just one rule: I decided what would happen and how far it would go. Neither of them had any idea how far I intended to take that night.

I had a secret date with the lover from that rooftop party. What I didn’t expect was for the other woman to show up behind the rock, determined not to just watch.

I thought it was just a routine cleaning. But when he summoned me to his house that night, I discovered he had a surprise waiting on the sofa.

“If you stay, you stay to play,” he said, looking at my friend. I only wanted him for myself, but a dark part of me wanted to see how far she’d go.

One of them pushed me against the wall while the other knelt without saying a word; I knew right away that I wasn’t leaving that apartment in one piece.

I always fell in love; she only wanted to have fun. But that night, behind a door at the club, I discovered something in myself I’d never imagined.

He told me I was free to leave when I paid my debt. There were no chains on that door, and yet my feet didn’t move.

The first time they called me a warrior, something inside me straightened. But it was her hand on my waist beside the fire that finally set me ablaze.

I watched her direct the move in that rough voice and knew I’d never get her out of my head. What I didn’t imagine was everything hidden under that corset.

When the cool air hit my naked skin, I understood we weren’t in the bedroom: he had taken me out to the garden, tied up and in the dark, where anyone could have seen me.

We agreed that whoever arrived first would wait in the car. I got there first. Fifteen minutes later, two taps on the window awakened every nerve I thought I had under control.

Each mark the ropes leave on my skin brings me a little closer to the abyss. But it’s the only thing that silences his voice... the voice of the man I let die.