COMPLETED | Take Me Down The Rabbit Hole (BDSM | 18+)

XXVI

Aspen sighed as he got into his car, pressing go on the navigation system. Then, almost as if on cue, his phone beeped with an alarm labeled You are running extremely late. 
Aspen pressed the stop button on the screen, got his seat belt on, and started the engine, backing the car out of the parking lot. 
Thea's apartment was 15 minutes away, and Aspen usually didn't do tardiness - but he didn't speed either. 
New York streets were vicious, but if there was one thing that Aspen had learned in his years of living here, it was to never trust the subway. 
He pulled into the garage of Thea's garage with just two minutes to spare, and then he grabbed his bag and ran for his life. 
The tags on his stupid collar jingled against the hollow of his throat and he clenched his teeth at the noise - it was annoying. 
When he'd finally made it to Thea's front door, he felt like he'd run a marathon, and he was breathing like it, too. 
He leaned his forehead against the cool metal of the door for a second before he pressed the doorbell and straightened again.
The door opened, and the first thing Aspen saw was a dirty apron. "Pet," Thea greeted him, sounding a bit drained.  She hooked her finger into the o-ring on his collar and pulled him inside, making him stumble a little. 
"Mistress," Aspen returned breathlessly. 
"You are five minutes late."
Aspen inclined his head, inhaling sharply when Thea's hand landed on his ass. "Shoes off," she commanded. "Put your bags in the guest room and come to the kitchen so you can keep me company."
Aspen obliged quickly, kicking off his shoes and placing them next to Thea's under the coat hanger before he put his bags into the guest room and returned to the kitchen. He spotted the mat under the hook on the wall and exhaled softly.
Thea came over a tray with a carafe filled with water, a glass, and two cookies on a small plate in her hands. "A snack for you," she said, putting the tray down. "Kneel for me," she added, waiting until Aspen had gotten comfortable on his cushions before she hooked the leash into the o-ring on his collar. "If you can stay like this for thirty minutes, I'll let you change positions after." 
"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you for the snack," Aspen responded easily, looking around her kitchen. "You have a nice place." 
"Oh, why, thank you." Thea reached out to push his hair from his face a little. "Will you help me put up some holiday decor this weekend?" she asked.
"Sure," Aspen nodded. "Whatever you need."
Thea smiled at him and then left him alone, getting back to her cakes. Occasionally, she'd ask Aspen a question, but most of the time, the room was silent - except for the beeps of various timers Thea set throughout her tedious afternoon of baking. 
She'd kept her word, and after thirty minutes of kneeling, she let Aspen change the way he sat on the mat, and he found that the leash was long enough to allow him to lay on his back without being uncomfortable, so he stretched out on the mat and - with Thea's permission - took a long nap. 
After some time, Thea woke him up, and after telling him she'd go to her room to take a nap herself, told him to clean up the kitchen, change into more comfortable clothes and find the decor from her storage closet since they'd put it up the next day after breakfast. She left him with the promise of playtime once she woke up, smiling at him when she noticed how much Aspen was looking forward to that part particularly. 
On her way out, she unhooked the leash from his collar, and Aspen took that as the official permission to get up. 
Again, he looked around the kitchen and then spotted the cake Thea had been making. It looked like a big, round slab of polished marble, and he curiously wandered closer to have a look at it. 
from up close, he noticed that some of the lines on the marble texture were highlighted with gold, shining from under the glass cover that Thea had put over it. Taking a deep breath, Aspen lifted the cake stand with both hands, turned slowly, and put the cake down on the counter space next to the fridge, mentally congratulating himself for not dropping the masterpiece that Thea had worked on all afternoon. 
Then, he opened drawer after drawer and cupboard door after cupboard door until he'd taken full stock of her kitchen, folded the sleeves of his dress shirt, and began with the washing up. 
The apartment was dead silent, except for the water splashing from the faucet in the kitchen. 
Aspen didn't remember the last time he'd been alone like this. He liked the silence. 
He tried to work quickly, taking extra care to wipe down and disinfect the counter space, appreciating the fact that Thea had a step-by-step clean-up list pinned to the fridge door so he wouldn't miss a step. 
When he was done, the kitchen sparkled with cleanliness the way Alan's kitchen sparkled after the housekeeper had come by. 
But Aspen wasn't a housekeeper, so he was pretty damn proud of this cleaning job. 
He sauntered out of the kitchen space and across to the hall to the guest bedroom to put on a T-Shirt and some sweatpants or something of the sort since he assumed that the clothes wouldn't stay on that long anyway. 
Unlike the rest of the apartment, the guest room was not decorated in jewel tones or muted greys. 
It was bright, and there was nothing inside except for a metal frame bed, two nightstands, and the walk-in closet. Aspen liked that, too. 
There was a note on his pillow, telling him that he was free to bring in other furniture or decor to feel a little bit more at home in the room over the weekend, and it was then that Aspen fully understood how different Thea and Alan actually were.