Bound Friends Pt. 09

Sophia entered the room beside his, as she had been taught to do. There she would always find instructions and an outfit. Today, Sophia saw an unusually ornate outfit. Black silk stockings, black and red matching panties, bra and garter belt set, 4 inch sandal heels and a long black evening dress that left strips of her back and side exposed. There was even a diamond necklace meant to complete the look. It was certainly sensual, but it was unquestionably the least overtly sexual thing that had ever been waiting for her. It actually filled Sophia with confidence as she gave herself a twirl in the full length mirror. She touched up her makeup, put her hair in a bun, and entered Carl's suite where she was directed to sit at the dining table. She sat there and waited, but made every effort not to look at the clock, she found that only made waiting worse.

"Hi there, you look lovely," Carl said as he finally entered the room alone.

"So what's the occasion?" Sophia asked, which Carl seemed to ignore as he sat down and instead asked when Sophia had last ate. After Sophia replied, Carl went on a long rant about this business problem or that as he often liked to do. Sophia patiently listened, it seemed to be half the reason he ever called her over was to have someone to unload everything onto. He talked about his new complex down the road and its never ending this or thats as he tried to get it up and running. This continued until two small plates were brought out with appetizers which seemed to take his attention away. But it was a small portion and soon the two were in silence with only a glass of mineral water by her and a glass of scotch by him.

"You know why I'm not married?" He asked with an unusual amount of candor before finishing the rest of his drink. "I got my first casino up and running when I was 23. I paid my parents back for the money they lent me to start it in just 7 months. By the time I was 26 I was opening my second casino and I was already worth millions. I've been driven to a point some might rightfully call obsessive, which gave me a short temper and made me often neglectful of anything and anyone that wasn't my business. I've never been a very likeable guy. I wasn't then, I'm not now and I'm just too damn old now to do anything about changing that."

Sophia had never heard him like this. He sounded reflective, self-deprecating and even mournful. He poured himself a refill before finishing that glass too and continuing.

"Maybe not as much at first, but at 63 about the only people who seem to go after me seem to only really want in for the money. Took me four ex-wives to figure that out, but there it is." He paused long enough to refill his glass and take a small sip.

"Alright, that's not fair that first one. I think she genuinely loved me, just not as much after years of late nights at the casino, long business trips and a kid I barely saw who ended up resenting me. With some good reason at least, I was never there for him then. I'm trying to make that up to him, I'm including him in the business and he ain't half bad at it. But way back when I treated him and his mother like crap, when I was there at all. That, and it ended for good when I got suckered away into an affair by eventual wife number two who, it turns out was just after my money." He paused for a moment to stare blankly ahead, deep in thought before continuing.

"But those kind of women, the ones who only see a bag of money, they aren't willing to put up with me or my antics very long after they put in enough time to get a something out of me. They always leave, and it always cost me a lot of money. So I figured a while ago that if women just want me for my money, why not just be upfront about it and pay them? Is that really so much worse than a divorce settlement?"

He paused for a moment looking at his glass, as if contemplating what was inside. "She's gone," he said before finally deciding to finish the glass.

Sophia finally understood. She thought it was strange for him to be in such a state especially without Elizabeth beside him, but it was clearly because Elizabeth wasn't beside him that he was in the state to begin with. "What happened?" She asked after giving enough time to make sure he wasn't about to start talking again.

"Term went up. She was on a 5 year contract. I'd been on the phone with her lawyer all day trying to offer an extension. I was willing to triple what I offered for the original contract, but she just wouldn't take it. Damn lawyer wouldn't even tell me why, leaving me to think all day about why she wouldn't take the deal. Sure she's got enough to be set for a decent life after those five years, but I mean I offered triple the payment for just another two years, that's seven times as much per year! But no. I even tried to convince her to come have this farewell dinner, but she wouldn't even do that. Only found out an hour ago she'd already hopped on a plane this morning back to Florida, or wherever it is she's going to be living now."

Almost as if he knew a distraction would be nice, it was at that moment that the server brought out two plates with the main course of a rather large serving of a rack of lamb. Sophia could barely get more than halfway through but Carl seemed determined to not let it go uneaten. He started prodding around his plate, moving the bones from one side to the other as he continued to search for a distraction.

"So now? Well now I got to either go find someone new or go back on my word to you. I don't wanna do that, but it's not quite as easy as you might think to find someone I might be interested in willing to sign the kind of deal I'd want them to sign," he said as he slowly got up from the table and walked over to Sophia with an extended hand. "But enough about all that, how'd you like a night out of this place?"

****

The air was cool as Andrea walked down Nebraska Avenue. She stuck close to Zainab, who more often than not had an arm draped around her as they walked closely together. Andrea was beginning to calm down, a chill still ran up her spine when a gust of wind would remind her how precariously her modesty was covered. But Zainab seemed to be making sure nothing crept too far up. Her diligence started to give Andrea peace of mind, enough to notice the trees changing color and that the weather was still quite nice.

"Um, Zainab, where are we going," Andrea asked as they began walking up Wisconsin. "We're not... are we?" she said as they were unquestionably heading in the general direction of the Metro elevator.

Zainab hugged her extra tight. "It'll be ok, I'll be here." she whispered into Andrea's ear in a reassuring tone.

Fear certainly returned to Andrea's forefront, but it was not as high as it was even in her room. She hadn't thought she would make it out of the dorm without something going terribly wrong or her collapsing out of sheer panic. But she had made it this far. She felt protected. She was shaking a bit but she didn't break stride as they headed for the elevator.

She didn't like taking the elevator. It was exceedingly long, very slow and not all that big. Just when it looked like they would at least have the elevator to themselves, out of nowhere a hand popped through the doors causing them to open again. In walked four large men, the shortest among them was still probably half a foot taller than Andrea and probably at least double Zainab's weight. Andrea cowered in the corner, she had no indication they wanted to do anything but get on a train, but the fact was they could do just about anything to her and she would be helpless to stop it.

Zainab saw the fear in Andrea's eyes. She stood beside Andrea and placed her hand around her waist. Andrea's mind was still going to horrible places as the elevator slowly descended. Zainab placed her other hand on Andrea's cheek and looked into her eyes to try to calm her. It wasn't enough, Andrea's mind wasn't being distracted. Zainab slid her hand on Andrea's cheek, stood up on her toes and went in for a kiss. Andrea closed her eyes and she suddenly wasn't in the elevator, she was somewhere else, the two of them alone, safe, embraced. When Zainab pulled back Andrea opened her eyes and the elevator was just landing. The four guys had all at some point, without any subtlety or shame, turned to watch. When the doors opened one of them simply said "nice..." before walking out so that the two girls could leave as well.

In a true miracle, the train was arriving just as the two passed the gates, and they managed to get two seats at the very front of the frontmost car on a surprisingly empty train for a Friday afternoon. As the train screeched and clattered to life, Andrea lay her head on Zainab's shoulders and whispered "thank you." Zainab only responded by fixing her sweater again and continuing to let Andrea lean against her.

The train began to fill up, more getting on than off at every stop. By Dupont it had become standing room only which is when Andrea began to get self-conscious again. She sat up straight, made sure not to fidget in any way that might affect her sweater's tenuous coverage. She was sure everyone was watching her, but aside from one guy in passing everyone was either on their phone or looking straight ahead. Andrea focused so intently on who might be watching her she had lost track of what station they were approaching when Zainab said their stop was coming up. She continued to focus more on the passengers and not tripping so she continued to miss where they were. All the stations still looked alike to her anyway. Aside from one hand to the ass, which may actually have been an accident, Andrea managed to make it to the escalator without incident.

The escalator opened up into a massive stone building with a high curved ceiling. It was almost as busy as the metro itself, packed with people many of them carrying luggage. She looked up and saw signs for Amtrak, she was at Union Station. "Why did you bring me here? I had been willing to just go with it but we aren't about to get on a real train while I'm still tied up am I, that's my line in the sand."

"Oh, no, nothing like that. Come on, you've come a little far to start to not to trust me now," Zainab said as she started walking with her hand around Andrea's waist towards some shops. She walked into a lingerie shop, heading right to the counter, saying she had a pickup order. She handed over a card and came walking back to Andrea with a large pink bag around her arms. As they began to walk some more Andrea felt her chip turn on but held her tongue. She didn't want any more attention drawn to it as she looked over and saw Zainab smiling with Andrea's phone in her hand. As they continued walking Zainab continued to turn it up until by the time they reached the archway to the main concourse it was all Andrea could do to not topple over as she leaned against one of pillars immediately beside the gateway.

Zainab leaned in close as Andrea's restrained hands were leaning against the stone. "See all these people?" Zainab said, allowing Andrea to get a look around. "It's a Friday of a long weekend. There are probably thousands of people just in eyesight." She dropped the pink shopping bag by their feet and held up Andrea's phone. Her thumb hovered right over the large button that would send out the signal to cum, something Andrea had no doubt she was worked up enough to achieve. "Come here," she said which was really a misnomer as it was Zainab that moved towards Andrea and not the other way around. Just before their lips made contact, she leaned in to one ear and began to whisper a countdown. "Five... Four... Three.." Before she could utter two. their lips were interlocked as Andrea braced herself for what she knew was coming.

When the orgasm hit , even though she knew it was coming, it caught Andrea seriously off guard. On instinct she tried yanking her hands away, but all that did was raise her hemline up to where she could feel the cold stone against her now unprotected ass. Zainab held her head firm with one hand, forcing her to stay locked in a kiss and not giving her the option to shout out like she desperately wanted to even if it would make everyone look at her. She almost felt like she was losing her footing but Zainab quickly pocketed the phone and used her other hand to help stabilize Andrea. A few people stopped to look, she was being a little louder and going for a little longer than a kiss normally took, but from what everyone could see there was nothing beyond some very serious kissing.

Once she felt Andrea was stable, she quickly reached back for the phone and turned everything off. Andrea gasped, quietly, for air. Her eyes were wide, scanning the massive hallway for any sign that they had been noticed, and it seemed like she got away with it. Even as Zainab was pulling away to go straighten the sweater, Andrea bent down and kissed the top of her head, it was the only gesture she had to show at the moment how incredible that had just been. "Let's go get you changed, I got a whole new outfit in here for you," Zainab said as she picked the pink bag back up and began walking with Andrea for the nearest ladies room.

When Andrea and Zainab ducked into a stall, Andrea realized that to get out of the leather, she would first need to lose the only article of clothing she had on. In the middle of a public bathroom. She began to tremble as she became completely undressed. She could hear a few more women coming in and talking just outside their stall. Zainab saw this and after putting the sweater in the bag went in close to hold Andrea. "Are you alright?" she whispered softly in Andrea's ear.

The embrace felt good, it felt reassuring. As if the women were only conjured up to frighten her, once Andrea began to calm down the chatting ladies dispersed. Things were quiet again. Zainab began to unfasten the belts, giving Andrea pins and needles in her right arm. Once they were safely folded away, Zainab began handing Andrea clothes to put on. It was much more decorative underwear than Andrea normally wore, a dark purple with a black lace trim. Thankfully she had more than just fancy underwear, giving Andrea a burgundy long sleeve t shirt and a pair of white cotton shorts. Once Andrea was dressed, they checked to see if it was clear before both of them emerged from the same stall and casually strolled out.

Andrea put her arm around Zainab, noticing the wisdom of a sleeve long enough to cover her marks. "You had all this prepared?" Andrea asked.

"Well it was just 'add to cart, pickup in-store,' not exactly planning a parade," Zainab said, showing perhaps the first shreds of modesty and limit to her resolute confidence. "I had a feeling you'd come around."

"Yeah, I'm really glad now I didn't just choose fucking in bed over this," she said, lowering her voice to preserve some sense of privacy as they made their way out of the building through a sea of people.

"Ah, but the night is still young, we certainly still have time to do that as well," She said with a grin, sounding a little more like herself. "But first some food, I know a place just up the road."

****

Sophia couldn't help but grin. The air was nice, it was approaching cold with the wind but it wasn't quite there yet. Her second storey room did have a balcony, but it faced an alley by the parking garage and had no cross breeze of any kind. Now she was out on the boardwalk on a busy Friday night not watching delivery trucks.

She couldn't help but notice stares as she walked arm in arm with Carl. She wasn't sure if it was her, her outfit, or their age difference but there were certainly more than a few looks. She just hoped they weren't because they recognized her from the internet videos. She had more than a few guests recognize her, but so far she had been lucky enough for none of them to be very loud about it. But she tried to push that from her mind. She was out, she was listening to the ocean surf, there was no need to bring herself down with useless speculation.

The two moved inside, ducking into a Latin dance club where they danced for some time. Despite his age, Carl was surprisingly quick and nimble on his feet. Sophia almost felt at times she had to work hard to keep up as he spun her and led her around. When they left it had started to get cool which was refreshing after so long in the hot club. By the time they got back to his room, Sophia was feeling energetic and renewed like she hadn't felt in weeks.

He retired to the bedroom where he told Sophia to lose the dress, necklace and shoes while he quickly showered. He lay down and beckoned for Sophia to lay beside him. He simply lay there with his arm around her, lost deep in thought. His face looked troubled, much sadder than it had been before he showered.

"You miss her don't you?" Sophia asked as she turned over to face him. He didn't respond he simply held her tighter and gritted his teeth like someone trying to hold off the possibility of crying. "I'm sorry."

"No, this isn't you, you don't need to feel sorry," he said calmly in a tone that had been very unique to this particular night. "There's nothing more you can do."

"Well," Sophia started, against some of her better judgement, "that's not entirely true. There is some more I can do," she said as she rubbed her hand over his chest.

His dick began rather immediately responding before his voice could catch up. "Only if you want to," he said hesitantly.

Sophia still wasn't absolutely sure, but she nodded her head anyway. "Just for tonight, I want to do this for you."

He immediately grinned and flipped over on top of her. "So if you change your mind tonight, say or hum clementine. Otherwise you will be my slave tonight as if I never made you that promise. Do you understand?" Sophia nodded her head. "Go use the bathroom, clean up if you need, then get the stockade and bring it here," he said as he got up to search his drawers for what he wanted to use.

Sophia went to the bathroom, deciding she'd rather keep on what she was wearing, it felt decadent. She went to get the stockade that seemed to be one of his favorites to put Elizabeth in. It was metal with padded cuffs that held the occupant bent on their hands and knees in a doggie position. The cuffs click close and all open at once with a pinch of two pairs of metal knobs at opposite ends of the contraption. It meant that without a key, a slave could open all the restraints and bind themselves. But the two notches could only both be reached by the same person when they were fully outside the contraption and standing beside it.

Sophia pinched at the two edges, causing everything to spring open. There were padded cuffs at the ankles and just below the knees, one at the lower torso, one at the neck and two for each arm. Sophia stepped her feet into position, still wearing the lingerie, and locked them ever so slightly spread before locking her lower torso in as well. At the head there was the metal barred outline of a face. In order to fit your neck into place you must push your head inside the outline, locking your mouth open with a ring and keeping the head held upright. After the head and neck were secure, Sophia secured one arm at the wrist and just below the elbow before setting her other arm in place waiting for her master to finish the final two cuffs.

Carl walked into view carrying a half hood, it fit over the eyes but stopped at the base of the nose, held in place by clips on the metal head harness. She could look immediately down, but everything else was blinded to her. She felt the final two cuffs secured as she started to have doubts if this was a smart idea.

Sophia cried out as she felt a heavy paddle strike her ass. There was no warning, which was perhaps the worst part of it. She could slightly hear him mumbling something before she felt a flogger strike her ass. That hurt too but she did not cry out nearly as much as with the first hit.