Saturday morning dawned, and it was uncannily warm for what was only the last weekend in March. I drew back the curtains, no sunshine, yet the air was sticky and hot. A storm was coming.
I’d planned to spend that Saturday the same way I spent most others, at the local stables with my friends. It was where I kept my horse, Star, and where we always liked to hang out when we weren’t at school. I quickly pulled on some clothes, tight cream jodhpurs and a purple vest top. Subconsciously I was dressing to impress - and it was for the benefit of one person in particular. Sean.
I contemplated driving to the stables, but decided instead to run. I was a good runner, and was confident I could make the four mile distance in about half an hour without breaking a sweat, even in this heat. I set off, my feet thudding rhythmically against the pavement, my long, thick red hair pulled up into a bun. I cut across the fields, jumping the fences until I eventually arrived at the stables, in twenty nine minutes, no less.
The day was enjoyable. Sean and I even managed to sneak off for a ride without my friends tagging along. He was the new stable hand, a year or so older than me. He and I had been drawn to each other when he’d first arrived, his blue eyes catching mine as we’d been introduced – and it was the start of, well… whatever this now was. He’d spoken as we’d ridden along, but I hadn’t heard the words, just the soft, gentle sound of his voice. His baggy jeans were faded and ripped at the knees, held low on his hips by a leather belt. The sleeves of his white t-shirt were short enough to reveal firm, toned biceps, the left ringed with a simple black tattooed band. Leather bracelets were fastened loosely around his wrists, and around his neck a necklace made up of little wooden beads hung. They looked amazing on him.
We shared a kiss, just as we were about to return to the yard. His lips were soft, his breath tasting faintly of mint, his clothes smelling of hay. He’d smiled and ridden away, leaving me smiling too, as he got back to work.
I didn’t see him again till early that evening. My friends had left, but I’d hung around, hoping he would finish work early. The storm I’d predicted hit, rain hammering against the tin roof, and sure enough he arrived at the door.
I did a double take. Rain had plastered his long dark hair back from his face, exposing those piercing blue eyes. His t-shirt was transparent against his torso, toned and strong without being too bulky and over-muscled. Perfect.
I helped him bring in the horses from the fields, drying them in their stables. I was soaked through, but an excited warmth bubbled through me, and my only shivers were from anticipation, not cold. Something was going to happen, tonight. I could feel it.
The power eventually cut, the lights flickering on and off. I was with Star, reassuring her, when his torch lit up the stable.
“Can you help me check the other horses?” he asked.
I nodded, leaving Star and jogging up the aisle, using the light of my phone to check the other stables, making sure the ponies inside them were ok. I reached the final one, meeting Sean outside.
“Alright?” he asked. He was so close I could feel his warm breath against my face, and I wondered fleetingly if he was going to kiss me again. I hoped he would, my heart pounding in my chest. “Have you checked this stable?” he indicated the one behind us.
I frowned, “There’s no horse in there. It’s just a hay store.”
He kept his expression neutral, but I detected a glint in his eye as lightning forked outside of the barn, briefly lighting the aisle. “I think you should check it anyway,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows, I liked how his voice had sounded. Authoritative, controlling. Hot. I opened the stable door, hands fumbling with the latch, and stepped inside. The strong scent of fresh hay hit me, as the flashing lights completely cut out. I felt him follow me, heard over the thunder the sound of the door clicking shut. His hands were against my bare shoulders, pushing me against the hay bales. He braced his strong arms either side of my head, pressing me back, locking me in the space - his space. I had no intention of leaving.
His lips were hot as he kissed me again, the experience completely different to the first. This was frantic yet controlled, powerful. He demanded my submission and I had no choice but to kiss him back, desperate for his touch, for him.
I moved to coil my arms around his neck, pull him even closer, but he pushed them aside. To my dismay he drew back, turning away.
“Sean?” I tilted my head, confused. His taste still burnt on my lips.
“Don’t speak.” He turned back, lightning flashing again behind him, framing his silhouette. He caught both my wrists in one hand, and I flinched as the other started winding rope around my arms.
“What are you doing?” I spluttered in surprise. Even just the touch of his fingers against my skin was sending electric shocks through my muscles, tensed and ready to give themselves to him, whatever he said, whatever he wanted.
“I said, don’t speak!” he pushed me back against the hay again, eyes gleaming, tying the rope off with a knot. He jumped onto the bales, the other end of the rope still in his hand. It felt… foreign. But the tingling in my arms never faded, and I didn’t want it to. I twisted my hands, pressed together before me, trapped.
He tightened the rope, winding it around one of the thick beams that ran along the roof, and I felt my arms being drawn above my head. I stretched, almost on tiptoes as he tied it off into a thick knot. I felt him jump back down to the ground, surveying his handiwork. His fingers reached for the seam of my vest, tearing the thin wet fabric easily until he tugged it off in two pieces. I stood in just my jodhpurs and bra, body stretched up, back arched and shoulders pulled back so my breasts were pushed forwards.
I felt vulnerable, and it was the most beautiful feeling in the world. I was lucky, my body had always been a toned, curvy hourglass shape, the result of running miles and miles on a daily basis. His hands stroked the muscles of my abdomen and I squirmed, loved that I was powerless to stop him. His fingers slid upwards, beneath the fabric of my bra, cupping my breasts. My nipples stood on end, pointed as his fingers glided softly over them. He pressed his face to my chest, ripping off my bra with one strong hand and finding my nipples with his tongue.
They tingled, as he kissed and licked and sucked. Everywhere tingled, the tips of my fingers, my wrists restrained expertly above me. They were desperate to reach out, touch him, pull that t-shirt off him and fully admire the soft, perfectly sculpted planes of his chest, the hard tense muscles of his stomach.
I moaned, body sagging against the bales as his mouth moved to my neck, fingers still massaging my breasts, always on that perfect line drawn between pleasure and pain. That line was becoming increasingly blurred. He pressed himself against me, both of us wet with rain and sweat, letting our bodies glide against each other effortlessly. Every nerve stood on end, paralysed by him.
He undid the zip of my jodhpurs, rolling the waistband down. His fingers slid slowly from my breasts, so slowly I couldn’t help but moan impatiently, body tingling desperately.
He stopped, “How dare you rush me?” His eyes blazed, cold and expressionless.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“And now you’re speaking,” he unbuckled his belt, “I warned you not to speak.” My eyes widened, as he pulled it off. Wordlessly, he spun me around, my face pressed against the hay. I clenched my jaw, waiting for the hit.
It came. An overwhelming explosion of pleasure and pain. I cried out, my whole body limp against the hay, hanging from my arms. It came again, and again, and I cried, the sound ringing in my ears, over the sound of the storm outside.
“You’re enjoying that too much,” he spun me back around, so our faces were just inches apart. The lights came back on, suddenly leaving me feeling vulnerable and exposed to him. Powerless. And so very, wonderfully desperate. He’d trapped me, but untying me wouldn’t free, in fact that would do the opposite. Only one thing would free me, and from the angry look in his eyes I wasn’t about to get it.
He picked up my discarded vest and ripped it into pieces, stuffing it in my mouth. I didn’t spit it out, standing obediently with the fabric hanging from my lips. He turned away, bending and retrieving a dusty roll of duct tape from the corner of the stable. I heard a ripping sound, and he pressed it over the lower part of my face. Three layers for good measure. I tried to say his name, tried to plead but nothing but a muffled mumble escaped my mouth, completely drowned out by the rain. My saliva soaked the fabric lodged between my teeth and I bit down on it, desperately trying to stop the overpowering electricity coursing through my body.
“I’ve still got work to do,” Sean told me, kissing each of my breasts, then the tip of my nose softly. “Think about your behaviour whilst I’m gone.”
I moaned against the gag, pulling forwards against my bonds. Where are you going? How long will you be? What if someone finds me? The gag meant I couldn’t ask the questions I was desperate to know the answers to, and it was just as well, the belt still laid on the floor. He followed my eyes and noticed it, stooping and picking it up.
I tensed, and he laughed, at the fear and anticipation in my eyes. He looped his belt around my ankles and tightened it, forcing my legs together. “Be good,” he told me, leaving the stable and bolting the door behind him. I tried one final muffled protest, but if he heard he didn’t flinch, not turning as he walked to the door. The stable fell into darkness again, this time from his finger against the light switch, and he left the barn.