That got a smile out of her. “Sadistic drumming, huh?”
“The best kind.” He laid those aside and picked up another matched pair of items.
“And what the heck are those?” she asked as he handed the metal objects to her. A little less than a foot long each, the handles branched out into lots of wire arms topped with metal balls on the ends.
“Cooking whisks. You know.” He mimed mixing something in a bowl.
She tested them in the air, a look of doubt on her face.
“Go ahead and try them on your leg.”
She did. “Doesn’t seem like they would hurt very much.”
“They won’t. Unless you hit someone wrong with them, like smack them on the nose or poke them in the eye or something. Not every implement is meant to inflict pain. Some of them are meant to create a certain sensation. These are great along the back and shoulders, or along the arms. Because they are so light, you don’t have to worry about damaging someone’s spine or shoulder blades. And if they’re cold, it’s another sensation. Or they can be used in a transition phase of play, either stepping up or down the intensity. Or even just as a massage.” He took them back, stood, and stepped behind her. “May I?”
“Okay.” She turned a little in her seat to give him access to her back and shoulders.
He gently drummed up and down her back and across her shoulders. He stopped when he noticed her eyelids slowly dropping shut. When he stepped away, she reacted almost startled, as if she’d really been enjoying it. “Like that.”
She blinked, looking up at him. “That felt pretty good.”
He put them away and noted how she looked moderately disappointed. “Like I said, not everything is meant to induce pain. There are plenty of implements that, depending on how they’re used, can bring pleasure or pain. That’s another common misconception, that all Tops are heavy sadists, and all bottoms are masochists.”
“So you’re not a sadist?”
“Oh, I’m absolutely a sadist. But the person I’m playing with has to want that kind of play. Or want to take it to please me when I’m topping them. I have no desire to force someone to do something against their will. That’s sociopathic behavior, not sadism. I can grab a cane and the heaviest pain slut in the room and probably have them code after three hits. Is that a good thing? No. But I can just as easily get my sadistic jollies by making someone dress up in something they hate to wear as I can by topping them in a scene. A scene is like a dance. There are many different steps, many stages. Everyone has their own way of playing. What might look like a vicious beating to the uneducated is most likely a carefully choreographed routine on the part of the Top.”
“That makes sense.”
“A good example is Landry over there. When he plays with Cris, he beats the ever-loving crap out of him. And it’s not that Cris is a masochist, either. But Landry is a heavy sadist. Cris derives satisfaction out of pleasing Landry. He also takes pride in pushing himself physically to the limits of his endurance. So while he doesn’t enjoy the pain, he enjoys the act of taking it.
“Now Tilly, when she’s in her Domme mode, watch out. She’s pretty sadistic herself. On the other hand she’s not a masochist, but she will sometimes switch with Landry and let him top her. When Landry plays with her, which they don’t do a lot of in public, you’ll see a completely different side of Landry. The tender Dominant topping his wife with a lot of sensual and sensation play as opposed to sadism.”
“I guess that’s a good thing for Valerie’s sake if she’s going to play with him, huh?”
Tony nodded. “Landry is one of those people who enjoys being a service Top. He won’t play with everyone, but he can play with someone with far less of an emotional or mental connection than some Tops can. He’ll also play with men or women.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you a service Top?”
“Not really. I prefer a much deeper connection with a person. If I’m not in a dynamic with someone or know them very well, the first couple of times I play with them I’m really holding back and making sure I’m not going too far.”
“I thought Doms liked to push their subs.”
“True, but if someone is just bottoming to me and they’re not my submissive, I don’t feel I have a right to push them unless they’ve specifically told me what they want done.”
“That’s confusing. I thought you said the Dominants made the rules.”
He laughed. “Welcome to the irony inherent in the lifestyle.”
Chapter Seven
More people began playing. With Tony as her personal guide, Shayla got to witness impact play of various styles and severities, wax play, a violet wand session, knife play, fire play, and forced orgasm play.
And that was within the first hour.
When Landry began playing with Valerie, Tony led Shayla to a vantage point near the spanking bench Landry had bound Valerie to with rope. They stopped a respectable distance away, along the fringes with other observers, to watch the play.
He leaned in, his breath warm in her ear. “Watch how he plays with her, and then compare that later to how he plays with Cris.”
“How do you know he’ll play with Cris later?”
“He made him dress out.” He tipped his head toward where the other man now knelt on the far side of the spanking bench. He’d changed and now wore a leather collar and cuffs, as well as a leather jock. And nothing else.
Shayla glanced around and found Leah, Clarisse, Tilly, and Loren talking with another woman Shayla hadn’t met yet. She returned her attention to the scene before her where Landry was running his hands up and down Valerie’s back. She was naked, except for a black thong, and had a towel under her.
Shayla tilted her head toward Tony again so she could whisper and be heard. “That would make me jealous.”
“What?”
“That. I don’t think I could let my husband do that to another woman.”
“You have to remember, Tilly was a pro Domme for several years. And she doesn’t let Landry just play with any woman. She has to know the woman, or the woman has to be known and approved of by one of her close friends. Tilly still tops other men, too. Sometimes she co-tops them with Landry.”
A loud smack broke over the music as Landry slapped both of Valerie’s ass cheeks at the same time, leaving red handprints on her flesh. Valerie let out a squeal and struggled against the ropes binding her to the padded wooden bench, but Landry had securely tied her. He continued spanking her with his bare hands as the woman twisted and struggled and cried out.
Just when Shayla thought the woman appeared at the end of her endurance, Landry stopped and grabbed a handful of Valerie’s hair. He yanked her head up and back, looking into her eyes.
“Are you coding?” he demanded.
Despite the tight grip on her hair, she shook her head. “No, Sir!”
“Where are you?”
“Green!” she gasped.
“Good girl.” An evil smile filled his face as he released her hair and went back to spanking her with his bare hands.
After a few minutes of that, he bent over a toybag, a black rolling suitcase much like Tony’s, which lay open on the floor. He removed two leather floggers and started rhythmically working his way up and down her shoulders, back, ass, and legs with them.
Tony leaned in again. “Those give a thuddy sensation, but they’re made out of very soft suede. Unless you poke the bottom in the eye with a handle or a fall, or snag a piercing with them, you can’t hurt someone with them.”
Shayla only had pierced ears, but she winced at the mental picture that invoked. “Yowch.”
“Yeah. I once saw a guy lose a nipple piercing to a singletail that wrapped around him from behind.”