Page 117 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“I have some people coming up to visit me this weekend. If you’re okay with it, I’d like you to give them a tour of the Valley House.”

“Okay,” I said, assuming it was probably more girls who wanted to come stay with us. Everly had moved in after the tour on Sunday and was settling in well. She was supposed to start school at the community college in August.

“After the tour you’re welcome to come back here. My colleagues will meet me here to discuss a project I have planned. Becca and Mike will be here too, as well as a few others. If you’d like to see them again...”

“I’d like that,” I smiled. I did miss Becca. She hadn’t been my Domme for very long, but she was the best therapist I’d ever had, and I considered her a friend. I didn’t know Mike Black very well; the only time I’d really met him, he’d seemed cold.

“Will Simon come up too?”

“I don’t think he’s planning on it... but I can ask.”

Reuben gave me thetour of his house that he hadn’t given me before. He showed me the guest rooms, the den, and his office, which looked a lot like a library the way it was set up. He had turned his sunroom into a small home-gym. There was a second living room with a bunch of couches, chairs, beanbags, and floor cushions, and a giant tv on one wall. It looked perfect for entertaining groups of people. He skipped over the master bedroom awkwardly, and I didn’t push. Then he took me downstairs towards the basement.

“You don’t have to show me your laundry room and garage,” I laughed as he opened the door at the bottom of the hall. But he just looked back over his shoulder at me with a raised eyebrow, and gestured for me to follow him.

Oh. This was not a garage.

He had converted the basement into a playroom. It was sparsely furnished, but it had potential. The walls were a dark blood red, and the ceiling was pitch black. On one wall was a series of metal bars and hooks, a Saint Andrews, and a few slabs of wood mounted to the wall that were obviously for bondage, though I wasn’t sure of the use. On the other wall was a peg board filled with all kinds of fun contraptions and toys. Whips, floggers, a tawse, canes and riding crops, and a few paddles. There were a few plastic tubs in the corner of the room as well.

“What’s in there?” I asked.

“Some toys I have yet to organize. Companies like to send them to me in hopes I’ll promote them. I’ve been tossing them in here for the past few years since I don’t have anyone to play with.”

Boxes and boxes of toys in need of being tested out on a willing subject.I shivered in excitement.

“This is almost as good as The Underground,” I grinned, already feeling myself tingle with anticipation. I desperately wanted to grab one of the paddles off the peg board and smack him in the butt, just to see what he would do, but I had promised to be good, so I tucked that idea away for later.

“You should see the one at my other home.”

“It’s better?” I asked in disbelief. I opened one of the drawers of the shelf in the corner, my eyes falling on a huge collection of multicolored silk ropes, carefully wrapped in bundles and organized by color. I trailed a finger down one bundle, enjoying the texture.

“I spend more time there than I do here. Or... I used to. So yes, more of my equipment is there, more furniture.”

“Will you bring me up there sometime?”

“Oh yes. Hopefully very soon. Though I need to make sure I deal with Woodrow first, and we need to figure out what your days are going to look like. I don’t mind you spending time by yourself, but I don’t want you running into him. And from what you told me, you like to stay busy. I don’t want to bring you up there and keep you locked away in my house all day... you’ll just get yourself into more trouble than you can handle.”

I slid the drawer shut. He was probably right. I didn’t want to deal with running into Woodrow and having him try to kidnap me or some shit. “You like bondage,” I said, trying to change the subject.

“I do,” he said, letting me walk through the dungeon and explore the rest of his collection. “Leather, chains, ropes... and I like predicaments.”

“What’s that?”

When he didn’t answer right away, I turned to face him. He’d opened a drawer and withdrawn an anal hook.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Yes,” I smiled. I had quite a bit of experience with that particular torture device.

“A predicament setup forces you to make a decision on how you will be hurt. One way or another, you will be hurt. But it’s on you.

“If for example, I was to cuff you to the ceiling with this hook tied into your hair, what would happen if you dropped your chin?”

“The hook would push deeper,” I said, my body warming at the idea. “So I’d have no choice but to keep my chin up.”

“Right.” He set the hook down and approached me with measured steps. “And what if I also put clover clamps on your nipples, and set a chain between them and made you hold it with your mouth? What would happen if you lifted your chin?”

“I would pull on the chain...” my voice trailed off as I realized where this was going.

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