Page 187 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“Inthissituation... you have no say. The Weston House is my organization and isn’t part of our dynamic. It’s myjob. I wouldn’t take you to my restaurant to help me cook, and I’m not going to take you to the center until I have a concrete role for you to fill.”

“Okay! But knowingwhyhelps me not hate you! I want you to explain this stuff to me, not just throw it at me!”

“I don’t care if you hate me. Hate me, love me, it doesn’t matter. You still need to learn totrust.

“Let me tell you a story my father told me. A boy and his father were walking in the woods together. One day, completely out of the blue, the father told the son to freeze. The son did as he was told, and didn’t take another step. The father approached and used a stick to brush the leaves out of the way, and in front of his son was bear trap that would have snapped his ankle in two. Had the son continued walking and asked, ‘Why?’ he would have been hurt.

“One day, sweetheart, I’m going to ask you, ortell you, to do something, or make a decision for us, and you may not understand it. It will probably be for your safety. When that day comes, I need you to obey even when you don’t understand it. I don’t expect that to happen right away, but I do expect you toworkat it.Practiceit. Think about it consciously and decide to trust me. I’ll continue to talk about it with you if that’s what you need, but you need to practice the other side, andpracticethe trust so that when that day comes, you’re confident in your submission, not terrified, and you give me a chance to protect you.”

She looked suspicious, but really, I couldn’t blame her. “I know I’m asking a lot... come here. Come up here.” I leaned back on the couch and motioned for her to join me. She scrambled up into my lap. I repositioned her so she was kneeling with one leg on either side of mine, just how I liked. I withdrew the key to the chastity belt from my pocket and unlocked it, setting it aside. She sighed at the relief of her freedom.

“It has happened before, and I worry about you getting hurt, especially with your tendency to argue and push back. I don’t have a problem with you playing and bratting me, but I need to know that if a situation ever comes up, I can trust you will turn that off and obey.

“Over time, I’m going to prove to you that the decisions I make for you are in your best interest. I want you to learn that submission is always going to pay off for you, because it will lead to good things. And you haven’t been mine long enough to learn that lesson yet. You still think of submission as losing. It’s not... it’s winning.”

She looked at me like she didn’t believe me.

“I’ll teach you, little goblin.”

“If you say so, old man.”

“What do I need to do about that attitude?”

“Probably...” she put her finger up on her lips like she was thinking hard. “Ice cream.”

“Ice cream? You barely ate your dinner!”

“Yeah well I hate peppers. And ice cream is a good attitude adjuster.”

“Hm. Somehow I doubt that will have the desired effect.”

“You could try giving me a few orgasms. That would probably do it.”

“Good girls get orgasms. Bad girls with attitude get punished.”

“Well, you could spank me. That usually works.”

“You’re still too bruised from Sunday. You need to heal. How are those bruises?”

She wiggled in my lap. “Yummy.”

“Little weirdo.”

“Old man.”

“Okay, I’m really notthat old.”

She reached up and brushed my beard with her fingertips. “Hmmm,” she leaned forward, as if inspecting. “Beard turning grey. Over forty. Nope, you’re an old man.”

“This old man is going to put you in your place if you’re not careful.”

She bit her lip and grinned. “How old are you, anyway?”

“I’ll be forty-one in August.”

“Wow...” she pursed her lips and looked away as if confronted with an ugly truth.

“What!”

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