Page 31 of Be Careful What You Wish For

The times when he shared breakfast with her almost drove him crazy, not reaching out to touch, not drawing her in, having to remain separate, aloof, detached, as if his emotions weren’t really a part of him. And all the time churning, aching, erect... admiring from afar...

He was a man obsessed.

Finally, finally he had a slave within his grasp, it was a lifetime ambition - well almost - and he was keen to embellish the experience. The more he watched her through the screen the more he wanted her; to touch, to taste, to feel, to know everything there was to know, and more, much much more, to see how far the experience might go.

Business was good, the Christmas party season well underway. There were persistent rumours he was picking up of foreign investors looking for a restaurant chain, and it had been alluded to, it was his chain that was being targeted. Perhaps they were false, but if they were or not he may have to reassure his investors of any situation affecting the share price. Whatever the reason it meant he may have to be away from the island to visit his chief exec and the city. He had no option. Profitability was good. He was making money hand over fist. He didn’t like rumours, and he didn’t want the business threatened in any way. He didn’t like to compromise. He could put off the time of his departure until after the Ceremony, but no later. Meanwhile, the aching need within him was growing daily. It was driving him to distraction, so much so that perhaps he had taken his eye off the ball.

He glanced at his desk. Usually he was organised, and yet his in-tray was unusually full. Something had to be done - and soon.

And where was Shadow? He should at least have been keeping papers in check, putting the most urgent in a separate pile for his attention. He checked the CCTV images being relayed to his computer. The camera displays in front of him showed his manservant in turn gazing down at a screen. Shadow’s back was towards him.

What the fuck was Shadow looking at?

He watched with concern, and then a growing sense of envy as Shadow’s unseen hand obviously slipped between his legs to stroke his cock slowly up and down, becoming more and more urgent, his body carrying through the rhythm. It co

uld almost be termed a dance. He was monitoring Pandora, but what was Pandora doing to generate such lust? Not for the first time he wished he had more time to train her himself, rather than have his trusted sub do it.

But what was Shadow seeing on his screen? It reminded him of when a boy at the fair watching his friends being titivated by peep shows. He’d listen enviously to their excited chatter about what they’d seen, how they felt, what they wanted to do after. Why hadn’t his father allowed him the experience? What could be so bad? After all, wasn’t it part of a growing boy’s education, part of his carnal knowledge, to know such things? Shame he’d had to wait so long for the answers...

He clicked on the screen to maximise the camera watching Pandora. She lay naked on the bed. One hand was wrapped around the head of a hairbrush, while the handle disappeared between her legs. Her other hand pinched the shy left nipple, and even he could see it was round and ripe, and obviously the instrument of an arousing pleasure-pain experience. Pandora looked achingly beautiful. Her eyes were closed. Her lips parted. Hair fanned around her head on the pillow, and she snaked across the bed, caught in self-induced abandon. No wonder Shadow was so excited.

But now what was he to do? Between them they had just exacerbated his problem. While his manservant was fixating on his slave and in no way attempting to castigate her, she was breaking all the rules and masturbating. Both should be punished, but was that necessarily the right action to take?

Angered and even slightly jealous by the images on the CCTV, he pressed the pager button to summon Shadow. But the figure on the screen didn’t move. He pressed the button again... and then again. Still he seemed oblivious to the pager. All his attention was focused on the ‘peep show’.

It wasn’t the first time Richard’s commands had gone unheeded. His reactions were getting slower. For a period of time he had known Shadow was following his own agenda, and he’d let it go unchecked. That had been careless of him. But then his own mind had been distracted. It was also apparent that, since introducing Pandora into the household, Shadow was getting above his station. He would think nothing of questioning a command when his immediate response should be to act without thinking. He knew well enough the first rule of a slave: to act immediately a command is given.

But what was he doing now? He’d moved out of the line of vision. Deliberate? Was he daring to play with him? Had he learned the trick of where he could be just out of sight of a camera? For a long while he’d been thinking of installing additional cameras, but with Shadow present all the time on the island how could he? Perhaps this was the time and he should create a window of opportunity by making Shadow ‘absent’ for a while.

He mused on the idea while his fingers tapped the keys irritably, trying to locate his missing servant. This would need to be played carefully. Shadow wasn’t stupid. Shadow must have a hideaway, created when he set the cameras up, a place out of reach, out of sight. Clever. He knew he wasn’t going to find that place now; his mind was still too full of the girl. But soon, Shadow, and in the meantime a plan had begun to form.

‘You called?’

He whirled around, knowing he should have pre-empted that. Shadow stood in the doorway, appearing as if out of nowhere.

‘Master?’

He had adopted the demeanour of a servant who expected to be punished. His manner was subservient, almost obsequious. With head bowed low he appeared humbled, but Richard was not easily fooled.

‘Why did you not come the moment I called you?’

‘I came as soon as I heard.’

‘Now you are arguing, and that I will not tolerate!’

‘Yes, Master... I mean, no... I mean...’

‘You are blustering, man. You don’t have to think. Your place is simply to do. Is that clear?’

He knew Shadow hated to be put in his place, to be reminded of his position. And now he was doing it deliberately, pushing the boundaries of their relationship, aware that he had been deceived at least on this occasion. He wondered how many other times it had happened. It brought in doubt and called into question trust and loyalties and commitment. How far could he rely on his man?

‘I’d like a glass of whisky.’

‘Yes, Master.’ Shadow retreated from the room. In his absence Richard paced, occasionally rubbing his fingers lovingly down the spine of one of the many books lining the oak-panelled walls. This was his inner sanctum. A place where he could think, where he relaxed and dreamed dreams. Occasionally he would have Shadow read to him. It was soothing. But not now. Not this evening. This night was meant for better things, and for Shadow had come the reckoning long deserved.

A gentle rap of knuckles on the door heralded his return.

‘Enter.’ Shadow took three steps into the room and stood, head bowed, glass sitting on a tray, waiting. ‘Come.’

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