She gives me another taste, and I greedily suck it from her fingers. If this is the trade-off, I’ll never want to call out enough. The liquid provides a little more numbing from the aching, renewing my courage.

She moves back out of my line of sight.

I brace for another impact.

Nothing happens.

I strain to turn my head but can’t see behind me. I hold my breath and hear nothing. Has she left me here restrained?

I can just imagine Meisha’s shock if she were to come home and find me cuffed to a cross like this. How would I ever explain that?

The whip stings my exposed back again. I yelp. Mother moans.

I blink rapidly trying to hold back tears. The pain is sharp and biting.

Mother is once more at my side again, offering me more nectar from her fingers.

The cycle continues. I don’t know how long it goes on for. After each lash, Mother soothes me with her ambrosia. My addiction grows with each taste, and I realize that I might rather die before ever using my safe word.

Eventually, I’m hanging from my wrist straps, weak and exhausted.

“Very good, John. You did so well. Let Mother do something for you now.” She reclines the cross until my body weight rests comfortably against it. One by one, she releases the restraints. “Roll over.”

It takes everything I have to flip my body over. The hard surface is painful against my bruised back. I wonder what it looks like and how I will hide it from Meisha.

Mother once again cuffs me. Even while I wonder if I should be concerned, I’m too excited to be nervous. She stands over me in her boots and corset. I may be too exhausted to stand, but part of me is certainly standing at attention for Her.

Mother lowers herself onto me, and it’s my turn to gasp in pleasure. She rides me until I cry out with a mind-numbing orgasm.

“Good boy. Rest now, John.”

I close my eyes and quickly drift off.

* * *

“John.”

I wake up to Meisha calling out my name from down the hallway. With a grimace, I sit up and survey my surroundings. I’m lying naked on the bedroom floor, and my back burns like someone set it on fire.

“In here, hun.” I jump up and grab the first shirt and pants I can find and dash into the bathroom. Bracing myself for what I’ll see, I stand in front of the mirror and look over my shoulder. To be honest, I was partially expecting some blood, but there isn’t any. All across my back are raised red welts. No skin is broken.

With a little gasp of pain from moving my arms, I slip the shirt over my head and pull on my pants. Meisha comes into the doorway holding Johnny as I’m fastening my belt.

“How was your afternoon? You okay? You look pale.”

“Yeah. I’m good. A little drowsy. I just woke up from a nap.” I yawn to prove my point.

“Are you hungry? We ate at the zoo, but I can make you some lunch if you didn’t eat.”

“That would be great. Thanks, love.” The image of the basement flashes in my mind, and my eyes bug out from excitement. “Wait. I have something to show you first.”

“Okay.” Her tone betrays a little wariness or suspicion, but she follows me through the bedroom and out.

“You and Johnny are going to love this.” I speed walk down the hallway to the foyer and don’t slow until I’m standing in front of the door to the stairs, eagerly waiting with my hand on the knob.

Meisha frowns as she sees the opening. “Wait.” She swivels around confused like she doesn’t recognize where we are. “You showed us the house yesterday, John, and this door wasn’t here.”

“I know. I just discovered it today. Downstairs is truly amazing. You want to see it, don’t you, Johnny?” I ruffle my son’s hair, and he smiles at me.

“What do you mean you just discovered it?” She tilts her head and purses her mouth. “You grew up in this house. You didn’t know about it having a basement before?”

“It’s uh….” I look up and press my lips together thinking of how to explain it. “Complicated. And new.” I sigh before reanimating. “But you and Johnny will love it. Trust me.”

When she doesn’t turn away, I take it as a sign that she’ll come with me and start down the brightly lit steps.

She hesitates at the top, swiveling her head to look at the left wall and then the right one as if something is going to jump off the walls and attack her. “It’s a little dark isn’t it?” Finally, she starts descending after me.

“Dark?” Her complaint doesn’t make sense. The stairs and the room below is lit with such a warm light that leaves little room for shadows. “I mean, it’s bright enough.”

“Gross. All these cobwebs are really creepy.” Meisha keeps to the center of the steps, avoiding brushing against the walls. “This had better be worth it.”

I don’t know what cobwebs she’s referring to; this area of the house is the cleanest and free of dust and cobwebs. I have to chuckle though. This playroom is completely worth it. I would’ve loved to have a space like this when I was a child.

I stand in the middle of the room, waiting for her to join me, my arms outstretched in grandeur.

She peeks her head in as if unwilling to walk fully inside. “What am I looking at?”

I roll my eyes. How does she not see how awesome a space this is for Johnny to play in while we’re here? “This room. It’s amazing.”

Her eyes have that worried look now. She steps through the doorway, and something in the air shimmers slightly. Meisha touches the back of her hand to my forehead. “Are you okay? You’ve been off lately. Did you drink while we were gone?”

I groan in exasperation. “No, I didn’t drink! I was just thrilled to show you this room, and you aren’t even appreciating it.”

“All right. Tell me what I’m looking at.” She shifts Johnny to her other hip and reaches out to rub my shoulder.

I jerk away. “Ouch. Fuck.” I take a few dramatic, deep breaths until the pain calms again.

“What? What did I do?”

“I just uh, hurt my back while you were gone.” I’m going to need to sleep with my T-shirt on tonight to hide the marks on my body.

“What were you doing? Goodness. And please watch your language around Johnny. You know he’s at the age where he’s soaking things up. We don’t want that to be his first word.”

“Sorry,” I mumble. “But you really aren’t impressed with this room?” I turn in a circle, taking in the bright colors and myriad of toys.

Meisha sounds confused. “It’s just a dark, bare room.” She hugs babbling Johnny closer. “Can we go upstairs now? Maybe you hit your head when you injured your back.”

Dejected, I let my hands fall to my sides with a slapping sound. “Fine. I thought you would be more excited about it.”