I waited for Patrice to pull her head up again, but she didn’t. Instead, she said, "Oy’m sowwy for beimg a buch all these yearms. Pwease forgim me."
Kristen smiled at me. I felt a bit weird, like this was one of Patty’s reenactments of Kristen’s humiliation. I didn’t need a translator to tell me what Patrice had said.
"I forgive you, Patrice," I said.
I felt a bit of a suck as Patrice nodded her head. "Thamk yoom, James."
Kristen smiled. "That’s so nice. And now we get to attend to Kristen’s punishment. I have given her two choices. The first is ten hits from the cane… a very painful punishment. The second is the orgasm torture. Vanessa has yet to choose."
"Cane?" I asked.
Kristen said, "A friend gave my dad a special cane like the ones they use in the Far East for people that due despicable crimes. The caning is public, like in a town square, and they use a rattan cane like the one my father has. I’ve heard that the punishment, when performed by somebody skilled in the practice, can cause permanent scars. Now, I have no desire to cause any real injury to Patrice, and I don’t intend to use my father’s cane. But I thought the idea was interesting."
Patrice actually shuddered at Kristen’s description.
"Wow," I said, also stunned at the ferocity of such a punishment.
Kristen said, "Vanessa. You may finish introducing yourself to James and then stand up."
Patrice moved her head up out of my lap, and looked at me in the eyes. "James. Please call me Vanessa."
I didn’t know exactly what to say. "OK, Vanessa," I finally managed to say.
Patrice smiled, and then gave me a quick kiss on the lips, whispering, "Thank you for forgiving me." She then stood up at attention, her whole body exposed to me.
"So, Vanessa," said Kristen. "Which shall it be? Caning, or orgasm torture?"
Patrice turned toward Kristen, and answered softly, "Um. The orgasm torture."
Kristen smiled. "Good! My favorite! I think orgasms are so much fun, right James?"
I had no idea what this other torture was about. Actually, the word scared me. And there was something about Kristen’s entire behavior — it was something that I had never really seen before, except maybe a bit before I had turned Kristen down when she had wanted to have intercourse. This behavior was scaring me.
I still had my attaché case, having taken it from the car. I quickly opened it and found my ticket roll, selecting one of the tickets. I tapped Patrice on the back of the leg closest to me to get her attention, and handed her the ticket, which she automatically accepted.
"You have one wish."
Kristen looked at me, confused.
I ignored Kristen for the moment, turned my attention to Patrice and said, "Patrice, I want you to answer my questions with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, until you hear me say, Truth Serum Off."
"Your wish is my command."
Kristen looked a bit less nervous, probably because my wish seemed to not have any serious consequences.
"Patrice," I asked. "How do you really feel about this whole Vanessa thing?"
Patrice thought. "I’m not too comfortable with this being a long term thing. But Kristen assured me that either of us could quit at any time."
I nodded. "Good thinking, Kristen."
Kristen nodded.
"Patrice, why do you seem to be so reluctant to be with me?"
There was no hesitation now. "I have had a bad feeling that something distasteful involving you has happened. I cannot quite think what it is, but I know it’s something to do with you, and that I have been feeling this way for the last couple of weeks."
I sighed. This seemed to be another side effect from the tickets. I had told Patrice to forget things. Apparently, they may forget, but I guess that there might be some traces of the memories that remain for some reason. I recalled that Patrice’s brother Jack had some similar problems for the same reason a while back.
"So how does this Vanessa thing fit in?"
Patrice answered, "I think that whatever it is that I feel about you has to do with the fact that I’ve been a real bitch over the last few years. I need to make it up to you. And if I do something to make it up, then I might not feel so bad. I mean, I’ll always remember how I turned my back on some friends, but it’s sort of like I have done some sort of sentence for it, and it maybe will remind me in the future."
Wow. I never knew such things could run so deep. I guess I could understand how a punishment could be seen as a final end to something, and maybe a new beginning of something else. About ten or twenty years later, most people would refer to this as "closure," although I don’t think any of us had heard of that term at the time.
I looked at Kristen. "I’m satisfied, Kris. Are you?"
Kristen said, quietly, "I admit that I was feeling a little uneasy about this, but I also remember how all the girls and you became friends with me after I was… humiliated… in front of them. And, as Patrice pointed out, she’s doing this of her own free will. I’m not blackmailing her, nor is anything else compelling her. Hearing her truthful feelings, I don’t have any doubts now."
I smiled. I hadn’t thought about Kristen’s humiliation, except partly when Patrice had my cock in her mouth and was forced to talk, but Kristen was right. It sort of had some kind of cleansing effect on the girls. It was quite possible that the girls had felt a bit of guilt at being part of my near devastation of Kristen. However, I also remembered that Camille had just told me earlier that day that she was still a little scared of me because of what she had seen me do to Kristen. I knew that I would have to work hard to make sure that all the girls never had reason to worry about me in the future.
I turned my attention back to Patrice, who was still standing at attention, nude. "Very well, Patrice. Truth serum off."
Patrice’s stature relaxed a bit, and she shook her head as she came out from under the spell of the ticket.
Kristen immediately took charge. "All right, Vanessa. Pick up your clothes and head for the main house."
"Kris! What about your parents?" I asked.
"Fund raiser until after midnight."
I sighed, and pulled up my pants. I wondered where Kristen’s torture chamber would be. I wouldn’t put it past Kristen to have a dungeon somewhere underneath her parents' house!
In addition, I was also starting to feel uneasy about Patrice’s punishment. For some reason, I kept seeing Patty’s disapproving face in my mind.
It didn’t take long to find out Kristen’s intentions. She led Patrice and me into the main house and into the Solarium, which is where the pool and spa were located. She headed for the spa, and flipped a switch that turned on the lights above it.
"Vanessa," Kristen said, pointing into the hot tub. "I think you know where I want you to sit for the orgasm torture!"
Patrice stared at the hot tub, and then looked up at Kristen. She nodded gingerly.
"Then get there. I want you to sit there through five orgasms. And they don’t count if you don’t have a dick in your mouth. Get going!"
My uneasiness finally got the best of me. "Wait!" I said, surprising both girls.
"What’s up, James?" Kristen asked.
"This is wrong. I can’t be a part of this."
I now knew what was bugging me.
Both Kristen and Patrice looked confused. "What’s wrong, James? You know for a fact that Vanessa has no problem with this."
"I have a problem with it."
I sighed, wondering how I’d be able to explain this to Patrice. I shook my head and found one of the deck chairs, and sat down, putting my head in my hands.