The Red Market (mxmxm)

-Ch. 25-

As I lie on the bench, I hear someone fiddle around with something but I can't make out what it is exactly. I wait as my mind rushes with anticipation of what's going to happen. I hear foot steps reach my side and without hesitation I feel something freezing on my chest. I protest in surprise through the gag but I'm sure that just provokes them. It doesn't take long for me to realize that it is in fact an ice cube that is being traced along my chest. The ice slowly melts with the heat of my body leaving cold water trails to run along my sides and down my back. The ice travels up to my nipple, making them even harder than they already are, and cooling down the warmed metal of the clamps. My breath continues to hitch from the cold until its taken away suddenly.

The next thing I feel is a hot drip hit my stomach. I let out a sound at the sudden change. Its hot but not quite burning, I don't catch it at first, but by the third drip I realize that its melted wax. By the fifth drip the heat catches up to me and I let out small yelps with the following drips. As the candle continues, the ice cube makes contact again and runs over the hardening bits of wax, cooling down my skin in the process. It doesn't take long for the two opposite sensations to become overwhelming. I whine out and start to turn in my restraints. I suddenly feel a slap across my stomach. I quickly realize the familiar sensation as a riding crop as it comes down for a second blow. I feel a hot tear run down my temple as I get even more overwhelmed with the sensations. Sir and Master continue and I can't help but muffle out the safe word. Everything stops and I feel the gag being removed.

"What was that?" I hear Master ask.

"Red," I manage out.

My blindfold is immediately taken off and I'm sat up on the ottoman. Sir unstraps my feet and Master unlocks the handcuffs. Even though everything has stopped the tears continue to flow. Master rubs my back and I recoil from the touch. Everything is just too much and I can't stand it. I kick off the shorts around my ankles and leave the office. I wrap my arms around myself as I try to calm down. My skin is burning and my head is spinning. The florescent lights make the room spin and my head hurts. I feel my feet moving but can't focus on where I'm going. I soon find myself in the shower without even really noticing that I went in the bathroom. I manage to stop the tears flowing as the water envelops me. I take deep calming breaths as I try to focus only on the water hitting me. I let the water run down my face, rinsing away any remaining tears and run my hands down my face and neck. As my hands reach my chest I catch on a piece of dried wax and am startled, momentarily forgetting what caused the panic. I spend the rest of the shower picking off pieces of wax and placing them on the shower shelves. I run my hands across my front making sure I picked off everything, and stare mindlessly at the slightly reddened skin where the wax was and where the crop had hit.

I manage to snap out of it and shut the shower off. I grab one of the towels from the stack and dry off, wrapping myself in the housecoat that hangs on the back of the door. I don't really care who's it is, the softness is too mesmerizing right now. I leave the bathroom and the bedroom is empty. I rummage through the drawers and find a pair of briefs and one of Master's t-shirts that I change into. I look out into the hallway and see the office door closed slightly. As I reach for the door knob I hear Master and Sir on the other side.

"-said it, that means everything stops," Sir says.

"I know what it means Conner, its just annoying," Master says.

"I get that, but he's just not ready yet."

"It's been months already! Like, fuck, its not even that advanced! It's wax for godsake!" Master says, exasperated.

"Sure, but, the safe word is the safe word and we have to respect that."

"I know that," Master sighs, irritated. "I just thought he would be better, I mean its not like he's new to this! The company said themselves that he's been in the market for years already."

As Master's words ring through my ears I start to feel queasy. I can't really process everything I heard before I feel my legs start running under me. I find myself running down the stairwell beside the elevator to the main floor. As I open the door I realize that I have no where to go. That, however, doesn't stop my legs from moving towards the bar. I burst through the break room door to find Cherise sitting at the table eating.

She looks up confused and my legs finally stop. My legs give way and I finally notice the tears falling down my face. Cherise springs up from her chair and rushes over to me. She pulls me into a hug and I start to sob. Everything hits me at once and I can't stop any of it. After a minute, maybe two, I manage to stop the sobs and my tears dry up. I feel like shit and want to cry more but my body just won't let me.

"What happened?" Cherise asks confusion written across her face.

"They're going to give me up," I manage out, barely above a whisper.

"What?!"

"I heard them talking. They're disappointed in me. I gave up. I couldn't handle it. I said the safe word, and now they hate me," I choke out.

"Okay, hold up. Did they say that they hate you and they're going to give you up?" She asks wiping away some tears from my face.

"No, but they said they were annoyed that I couldn't take it."

"Okay, that's a dick move of them. They should never had said that, but I don't think they're going to give you up," Cherise says, rubbing my shoulder. All I can manage is nodding my head, and she pulls me into another hug. She rubs my back and we just sit there. "Do you wanna stay down here?" She asks and I nod, "Okay."

Cherise sits with me for a bit longer until she finally pulls me up from the ground. She sits me down at the table and we stay in silence for a bit longer. An alarm breaks the silence and she stops it before turning to me, "I gotta go back to my shift, if you need anything just let me know okay?" She tells me.

"Thank you," I say, my voice rough and shaky.

"Of course," she says rubbing my shoulder before leaving the room. I sit in the empty room for a while, folding myself into a little ball in the chair to try to ground myself. I try to go through some breathing exercises Dr. Shana taught me and they help a little bit. The door opens and I look up to see Sir standing there. My heart leaps to my throat and I feel tears prickling the back of my eyes. I don't move or say anything as Sir walks up to me. Master follows behind him as the door closes again. Sir kneels down beside me and reaches out.

"Are you okay? We didn't mean to go that far, " Sir says.

"I'm fine," I manage to say.

Sir rubs my back and I just let it as feeling leaves me and I go numb.

"Come on, lets go back upstairs," Master says and I nod absent mindedly.

We make it back up stairs and we immediately go into the bedroom. I don't say another word the rest of the night and Master and Sir act like nothing happened.