Ashley's spasms and aftershocks seemed to continue for a long time, then her body sagged down on top of Kara's, Ash's damp forehead resting on Kara's thigh. Kara continued to lick her slave's outer labia gently.
A quiet, shared euphoria settled in as Mistress and slave rode the post-orgasm endorphin high that flooded their bodies.
"Mistress...I think I'm in heaven," Ash panted.
"It felt incredible. Thank you, my slave girl."
"I love how that sounds. I love being yours."
"Good, because that collar is never coming off."
"Never. I'm yours forever. I love you more than you can imagine."
They didn't shower and slept naked, pressed tightly together, savouring the warmth, the strong scents, the sweaty, sticky dampness and the sound of laboured breathing that gradually became deep and steady.
**
Epilogue:
The paddle smacked into Ashley's defenseless bum. The thin, tight yoga pants she wore didn't provide much protection from an oak paddle. Especially without underwear.
Behind her, the crowd cheered.
Ashley did her breathing and felt the sting slowly dissolve into a pulsing warmth. It hadn't been a hard spank; more for effect than pain. And it had been one of the smaller butt paddles. Still, it carried a bit of a bite.
She was on her stomach, neck and wrists locked in the wooden stocks. Her bum was pointed towards the crowd so she didn't even know how many people were witnessing the spanking. Her face was red with embarrassment. Embarrassment...and a fair bit of lust. It was Saturday, after all, and after almost a full year as Mistress Kara's slave, her body and mind were primed for the orgasm that Saturdays usually delivered.
"Now that fellow was strictly a butt paddle," Mistress Kara said in a voice loud enough to rise over the noisy crowd. "You'd never use him on softer tissues like breasts or thighs. Even though the buttocks have more padding, that paddle delivers a pretty nice bite. Wiggle for me if you agree, Ash."
On cue, Ashley wagged her bum from side to side. The crowd roared its approval.
Her pussy was soaked.
Part of her wished her Mistress would yank down her yoga pants and give her overheated sex some attention, crowd or no crowd, but she knew it wasn't going to happen. The Masquerade was strict about the 'no genital exposure or contact' rule - it was even printed on the tickets. And besides, she and her Mistress were there on business, not pleasure - although somehow her pulsing pussy didn't know the difference.
Mistress Kara continued the presentation with the biggest paddle. "Now these 'big boys' are serious business. If you whack someone's ass with one of these, they're going to feel it for a few hours, and the bruising might last for a day or two. I'll demonstrate on my lovely assistant here. Ash, wiggle for me if you want a hard whack from the big boy."
Ashley held her hips still, as rehearsed. The crowd erupted into laughter, and there was even clapping. It made her chuckle despite her flushed cheeks.
"Come on, Ash, where's your sense of adventure? Just a little wiggle?" Mistress Kara pleaded, theatrically.
Ashley remained still. The crowd ate it up, clapping and cheering, and a male voice shouted 'Come on, Ash, take one for the team!'.
"Ah, well. Looks like Ash's cute, little bum has had enough," her owner said, raising her voice to the crowd. Ashley felt the latch on the stocks being released, and the top half lifted up, freeing her. Mistress Kara held her arm as she got up, ever watchful for light-headedness, even while playing to the audience.
"Let's give her a big hand!" her Mistress said. The crowd - maybe thirty people - broke into loud applause and whistles. Ashley and her Mistress took a bow, then spent the next forty-five minutes answering questions and ringing through credit card purchases from their little booth in the enormous pavilion where the Masquerade was held.
Mistress Kara was dressed the same way she'd been when she'd saved Ashley's life the previous year - a beautiful, white dress with a corset top, long, white gloves and a white, sequinned mask. She said she'd considered changing it up this year but decided to stick with the costume that had 'brought her luck' the previous year. Plus, it had been dry-cleaned and didn't smell like puke anymore.
Ashley was in black yoga pants and a tight, black crop top that left her bare from her lower rib cage down to below her navel. She wore her pant waistline low to display her flat stomach and abdomen, and wore her hair up to show off her shiny collar. Chad's tattoos had been removed, so she was comfortable showing a lot more skin, and Mistress Kara enjoyed dressing her a little sexy. Ashley had started the evening with a feathery, black mask but the feathers were tickling her so her face was bare now.
"Mistress, why don't I grab us some drinks? The line at the bar looks to be thinning out a bit," Ashley suggested when things had calmed down.
"Great idea - I'd love half a glass of white." Her owner removed her purse from the lockable compartment in the booth and fished out a few bills. "Make sure you get yourself something to eat, if you're hungry."
Mistress Kara had assumed control of Ashley's finances a month ago and it felt just perfect. Ashley didn't have to think about money or worry about expenses; she could focus all her attention on her Mistress and on whatever tasks had been assigned. Mistress Kara insisted that she was maintaining a separate bank account for her and depositing money every week, and while Ashley appreciated the fair-minded gesture, she was content to leave all that stuff up to her owner, just like they'd agreed in the Articles.
"Okay, I'll be back in a sec."
"No rush - it's quiet here right now. Why don't you wander around and have a look at the exhibits?"
"Thank you, Mistress. I think I might do that."
"And say 'hi' to Harold and Phil if you cross paths."
"Yes, Mistress."
Ashley popped into the washroom first to pee, and was washing her hands afterwards when the door flew open and a young woman stormed in, crying, with dark lines of mascara running down both cheeks. She was really pretty, dressed in pink and orange silks with her midriff bare - she looked like a belly dancer or something like that. Lots of folks at the Masquerade dressed up.
The woman slammed her purse onto the counter and began rooting around in it, sobbing.
"Um...are you okay?"
The woman seemed to notice Ashley for the first time, then shook her head and made a dismissive gesture with her hands. She found a tissue in her purse, wet it in the sink and began dabbing away the mascara on her cheeks
"This is such bullshit," the woman muttered, then sniffled. "Not what I wanted at all. It's just pain and frustration."
"Are you hurt?"
"I'm more stupid than hurt. Stupid for believing in all this 'submissive' stuff."
"You're a submissive too?"
The woman's eyes darted to take in Ashley's steel collar.
"Not any more. I'm done with this shit. It's just an excuse for guys to hit you and call it 'discipline', and make you do anal because that's what good slaves do, right?" The woman blushed when she realized she'd shared too much, then sobbed again and resumed cleaning up her face.
"It's pretty scary, if you get the wrong guy," Ashley conceded.
"They're ALL the wrong guy."
"The Dominant shouldn't hit you if you didn't agree to it. Or at least you should have a safeword."
"He says safewords are for posers. He doesn't want to do 'play-acting'."
"Well...maybe he's not the right guy. But there are some good Dominants out there. My slave sister has a Master who's a police officer. He's super-nice, and when he spanks her, it's because she's totally asking for it. She's sort of a brat."
"Slave sister?"
"Well, not 'officially'. But it's what we call each other. She's my best friend."
"Does you Master hit you?"
"Mistress. And yeah, sometimes. But not, like, randomly. Only if I break a rule. And we talk about it first, and I always have a safeword. Plus...I usually kind of like it," Ashley said, feeling a blush come on at her own intimate confession.
It felt weird to have a conversation like this with a stranger in a bathroom, of all places. But the other woman had stopped crying and seemed to be interested. Ashley knew it wasn't easy to be a submissive, and wanted to help if she could.
"You seem to know a lot about these things," the woman said.
"I mostly learned it from Mistress Kara. She's super-smart and she has tons of experience. Hey - why not come and meet her? She'll be able to help you, I'm sure of it."
The woman hesitated, and Ashley could see in her eyes the struggle inside her. Doubt fighting with hope. She knew how that felt.
"Well...we'd just be talking, right?"
"Yeah. We're vendors here at the Masquerade, so we can't leave for a few hours anyway."
The woman slowly nodded. "Sure. Why not? I mean, I already paid for my ticket. I'd hate for the whole evening to be a waste just because my stupid Master walked out on me."
"Cool. My name's Ashley, by the way."
"I'm Tanya."
"We have to stop by the bar first. Mistress Kara wanted a white wine..."
Tanya gathered her purse, and the two of them left the bathroom, Ashley leading the way...
