viii
I woke the next morning to a brightly sunlit room. A pale yellow glow shone in from the wall of windows, painting a faded, impressionistic image of the web-draped bed against the far wall.
I propped myself up and saw that my wrists and ankles were still tightly bound in last night’s silk ties. The ties themselves, however, dangled loosely and were only restrained by their overnight twisting in the sheets.
A solid-sounding click came from the corner of the room. I sat up to see Jane had just emerged from her dark wooden doors. She wore grey sweats, a loose t-shirt, and fuzzy slippers, and she walked with her head cocked over her shoulder while she wrapped a towel around her hair.
“Oh-” She spotted me watching her and angled toward me. She tucked the towel up into a makeshift turban as she descended to the bed and sat beside me. “I didn’t think you’d be up so early. Not after last night.”
Last night: it was… it was a swirl of images now, and I remembered we… we did everything. Or rather she did everything, and I was her toy – her very pleased, satisfied toy. It was all part of a story, a game, where she played the spider and I her midnight snack, but I don’t think even the black widow’s mate receives the treatment I got before he’s devoured.
No one memory would stick in my mind long enough to relive. The images kept fading and blurring, but the whole experience was steeped in a euphoria – a sort of golden, overwhelming bliss, like the afterglow the first time I’d had sex. I looked at her now, without any make up, dressed like a stay-at-home, and saw that she was beautiful. She had a very pretty face – wide, knowing green eyes with dark lashes, lips just full enough to frown, smile, or pout, and naturally arched brows. Her body… well, a modeling agency might ask her to shed a few pounds, but there were no folds or sags in her curves, and she knew how to work them. She had this quality, though – the same confidence I saw yesterday – that could display serenity, light a fire of passion in her eyes, and declare her superiority all at the same time. That was what defined her.
I remembered her question and I shrugged dumbly; “I wake with the Sun”.
I think she caught the quote from the song – it was the title of a track on that Refinery album she had taken from my apartment – because she gave me a funny sort of smile and watched me a moment. “Well, feel free to lie in if you’d like, and I will bring you breakfast. Or you can get up and take a bath, and then we’ll go for breakfast together. But either way, you’re having a solid breakfast. I’ve got to keep you well-fed if you’re going to last the three days. Last night was barely foreplay.” Her grin overran with mischief.
I stood, and I remembered the bindings as they came with me. Even though the knots had been carefully tied not to cut the circulation in my wrists, they were not so loose that I could slip free. I started picking at the knots, but soon realized that they were too tight for my stubby fingers and nails. Scissors were the only way I would escape them.
“Leave them.” Jane caught one of the free ends of the straps as it fluttered before her. “I like you with handles.” She gave a thoughtful little tug on the length of silk. “I’ll cut them down after your shower, though, so you don’t trip.” She gave me a loud slap on the ass, starting me off at a quickly-suppressed gallop toward the shower.