Limits Ch. 01

Mel's obvious disdain didn't help Karen's growing nerves and she was tempted time and time again to make some excuse, to cry off. Indeed, her stomach was playing up, the effect of her nerves, no doubt, and she wouldn't have been telling more than the whitest of lies if she pleaded a stomach upset but then she remembered how kind Lucy had been; it would be a shame to let her down. Maybe she could just go for the meal and get out of going to the club, whatever that was. For the rest of the day, time seemed to both drag and race and Karen's attention was constantly wandering. Suddenly it was four fifty and she went to the restrooms to get ready only to disturb a group of her team who had slipped out for a quick cigarette before leaving. Rather flustered by this she returned to here desk where, on seeing her return, Mel came over and led her away. As they made their way down to the car park Mel was all forced joviality, which didn't help the tension. Together they squeezed into Mel's car and drove back to the little terraced house that she shared with Lucy.

The conversation over the meal, with its awkward pauses and embarrassed silences, hardly did Lucy's cooking justice. Apart from work Mel had little in common with Karen and every subject she started seemed to peter out. Karen, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves and too shy to give more than one word answers which left Lucy to make all the conversation. Furthermore Karen's anxiety had depressed her appetite and she hardly touched the salmon steaks that Lucy had spent so long preparing. When the meal was finally over as Lucy cleared away the dishes Mel followed her into the kitchen.

"That was fun," Mel said with heavy irony. "What's more we can't take her to the club looking like that. She'll never fit in."

"Yes we can. Anyway you promised," Lucy replied firmly.

"That was before I knew she would turn up looking like something out of the fifties. A retro look is all very well but she's just old fashioned. Anyway, it's Dommes and Subs night. What on earth will she make of that?"

"Don't you think I didn't know it was Dommes and Subs night before I arranged all this? Please, Mel, trust me on this. I've just got a feeling about her, a feeling that she might surprise you before the evening is out."

Mel gave Lucy a long hard look before deciding to trust her judgement. She had learnt over the years that Lucy was seldom wrong in these matters and, whilst it still looked like a crazy idea to her, Mel soon demurred.

"Well, she might get away with looking like a frump but you're certainly not. I sincerely hope that you're not expecting to go dressed like that. It's about time you remembered just who is in charge around here." Mel, feeling that she needed to reassert her authority, wagged her finger in mock anger.

"Of course, Mistress," Lucy gave a little bob of a curtsey, "I'll get changed as soon as I've dried and put away the dishes."

"Leaving me to look after old frigid knickers," Mel sneered.

"Please, try and get to know her. She's not that bad, honestly."

"If you insist. Now come along, we don't want to be late." And with that Mel returned to the living room whilst Lucy finished off in the kitchen.

When Lucy came back down from getting changed she found Mel and Karen sitting in silence, with a heavy, almost palpable, atmosphere in the room. Karen, glad that the wait was over, looked up to find that Lucy had changed out of her jeans and tee shirt and into a short white skirt and a matching frilly blouse with a deep, revealing cleavage. Indeed, the cleavage was so deep and revealing that it was all too obvious that Lucy was without a bra. Whereas Mel's masculine attire just made Karen feel different, Lucy's outfit made her feel out of date and frumpy. She would give anything if only she could look that good, or dress that daringly. Lucy gave Karen a big smile before going over to where Mel was sat and kneeling down on the floor in front of her. Bowing her head she held out her hands, offering up something to Mel who sat up, leant forward, and took whatever it was from her. They kissed briefly and then Mel took whatever it was she had taken from Lucy and fastened it around her neck.

"There, that's better, isn't it?"

"Yes, Mistress, thank you, Mistress," Lucy said, still knelt before her with her head bowed.

"Well, come along or we'll be late."

Lucy stood up and turned to the astonished Karen who could finally see what it was that Mel had put on Lucy. It was a choker which looked, as far as she could see, like a dog collar in white leather with silvery fittings. The front was not buckled but padlocked and a silver identity tag hung down from the lock. Karen didn't know what to do or say. Indeed, it wasn't just the collar; it was what had she just witnessed; had Lucy really knelt before Mel and called her 'Mistress'? It hardly seemed believable. However Lucy's big smile was irresistible and, not wishing to make a scene, Karen stifled her objections and got to her feet.

"Look," she said, "this club... I'm not sure it's me... I...."

"Come along, you'll enjoy it, really you will," Lucy urged.

"But I really don't think it's my sort of thing. I'm not dressed right for it," Karen protested.

"Don't be a silly," chided Lucy, "you'll be fine. Now come along or Mistress Mel will have to give you a spanking."

Again Karen was flabbergasted. This time there was no mistaking it; Lucy had just called Mel 'Mistress' quite openly and then talked about spankings as if it were perfectly normal. Karen felt the panic rising within her and she was on the verge of running away but Lucy's her mischievous smile really was infectious and Karen was fast finding out just how hard it was to say 'no' to her. Lucy held out her hand invitingly and Karen felt her resistance crumble. Reluctantly she allowed herself to be dragged along; maybe if she went for a few minutes she could slip away early without anyone noticing. For Lucy's sake she forced down her nervousness, picked up her handbag and the three women set off for the club.

As she and Mel made their way hand in hand towards the town centre Lucy made no move to hide the collar; indeed she seemed to almost want to flaunt it, shaking her head from time to time so that the name tag tinkled against the padlock. They obviously knew the way well; there was a familiarity about their movements and Karen guessed that this was what they did every Friday. As they approached the town they made their way down some of the narrower back streets to a club which, despite the rainbow flag hanging outside, was otherwise pretty inconspicuous. Mel marched up to the closed door and knocked. A CCTV camera blinked red for a second or two and then a buzzer sounded and Mel pushed the door open.

Just inside the door was a reception desk with the woman who had just buzzed them in sitting behind it. She wore a top of flimsy, see-through material and Karen couldn't help but stare at the obvious darker circles of the woman's nipples plainly visible through the wispy material. Like Lucy, she wore a collar around her neck but, unlike Lucy's, this collar was a far more serious affair in dark leather and maybe four centimetres wide.

"Good evening, Mistress Mel," the woman said. "Who's your friend?"

"Hi Jane, this is Karen," Mel replied. "Pass me the book and I'll sign her in."

Jane reached for a ledger and passed it over, along with a pen. As she did so Karen noticed that Jane was wearing leather cuffs as dark and as heavy as her collar.

"What is this place?" she asked Lucy in a whisper. "Why is she dressed so... so...." Karen wasn't sure how to finish the sentence.

"It's a place where we can relax together, where we can be who we are without anybody making a fuss. Now shh! We subs aren't supposed to talk without permission."

"Subs? What's a sub?" Karen whispered urgently. What had she got herself into? She glanced towards the door, looking to escape; but it had shut automatically and the locking mechanism looked solid. She'd only make more of a fool of herself if she tried to run away, First Lucy and now this Jane, dressed in these awful revealing outfits. However could they, why didn't they just die of shame? Lucy noticed her discomfort and put her arm around her, both comforting her and, ironically, trapping her.

Mel finished signing Karen in, turned to Lucy and Karen and, after giving them an admonishing look, led them into the body of the club. The main room wasn't that big, maybe a half a dozen tables in the centre and booths surrounding three of the sides. Each booth was a deep horseshoe of padded seating with a table in the middle. The fourth wall consisted solely of the bar and a small stage. It looked for all the world like any other small private club. On the other hand the clientèle were far from normal, at least in Karen's eyes. The club was already about half full and Karen could see that that all the customers were women, in some cases very obviously so, but in others you had to look twice. Each couple, and it was almost entirely couples, consisted of one woman whose dress, indeed whose whole demeanour, marked her out as the dominant partner. As for the other half of the couple, it didn't take much to see that 'sub' was short for submissive. Lucy's attire was pretty conservative when compared to many and fantasies in leather or latex were quite common. Many of the subs were even more scantily dressed than Jane, the doorkeeper, their leather or latex costumes designed to emphasise, for example, their bare breasts. However, whatever the theme of the sub's outfit there was one common item: each and every one of them was wearing a collar, in many cases along with an attached leash.

"I... I... I...." Karen stuttered but Mel just turned and wagged a finger at her and, feeling completely out of her depth, she had no choice but to stay quiet and meekly follow Mel and Lucy over to a booth where they were evidently expected. As she made her way between the tables Karen was all too aware of the stares she was getting, of how her 'normal' attire was, in this bizarre place, the abnormal, that somehow she was the freak, the outsider, the stranger. Her cheeks glowed with her growing embarrassment.

As they settled down Lucy was despatched to get a round of drinks, Mel ordering for them all without consulting Karen. As she looked around Karen noticed that whereas the dominant partners were all seated on the benches many of the subs were knelt or sitting on the floor. For a moment she wondered if this was where she should be sitting, as she would surely be assumed to be a sub, but Mel patted the seat beside her as an invitation and squeezed in beside her. And then, despite the rather bizarre clothing, it was suddenly all very normal. Sure there were plenty of overtones and the subs were always very respectful, referring to their dominant partners as Mistress and never talking unless told to, but, apart from that, it was any group of women relaxing together, catching up on the gossip, sharing the news. Karen, shy as ever, held herself back but, as she sat and listened, she didn't feel excluded, far from, the group seemed to accept her readily and were even keen to get to know her.

"White wine, OK?" Lucy said as she returned with the drinks and put the full glass down on the table in front of Karen.

"Oh, I don't normally drink," Karen replied rather ungraciously.

"Oh, are you teetotal?" Lucy asked.

"No, nothing like that, I just don't usually...." Once again Karen tailed off. She normally didn't drink because she normally didn't have anyone to drink with, but she wasn't going to admit that.

"Well then, one glass of wine won't hurt, will it?" Lucy replied as she knelt down on the floor next to Mel. As soon as she had done so than Mel reached into her pocket and produced a leash in white leather, perfectly matching Lucy's collar. As she made it fast Karen could see the bond between the two women; this act, which should have been so degrading, was quite evidently an act of love, a deep symbol of their relationship. With the leash fastened Lucy leant against Mel's legs and rested her head on her lap.

Tucked away at the back of the booth, Karen sipped her wine and listened to the conversations. She really wasn't used to drinking and even this small amount of alcohol was making her head swim. Add to that the way the club was well heated in deference to the clothing, or lack of it, worn by many of the customers and she was feeling uncomfortably hot. Perhaps she needn't have worn the cardy after all but she didn't want to disturb people by taking it off. She was listening intently to one of the Dommes who was telling an amusing tale when....

"Hello. Who have we got here? I haven't seen you before."

Karen looked up and her heart seemed to skip a beat; there, standing before the group, was the most extraordinary woman she had ever seen.