Chapter 9 – Dan's New Position


Mistress Juliette's presence in the store caused a stunned silence for a moment.  Then, Amanda forcefully rose from her seat, pointed at the stranger and demanded "power down the restraint system."

"I already have, my dear," responded Juliette from across the store.  "Well, your portion of the system, anyway."

Turning to the dominatrix, Amanda nearly shouted "How did you get in here?"

"Calm down Amanda," said the mistress in a casual tone.  "I've come for my pet, and the restraints will come off on my orders, not yours.  Remember our little deal?"

"Oh, I remember the deal.  Dan had to model for you without condition, but you didn't restrain him.  I did with his help," Amanda countered as she pointed to the stranger in black.

"I see you've met my personal assistant, James," Juliette replied.  "What he does, he does for me.  So, in a sense, I actually restrained your friend."

As Mistress Juliette came closer to examine her prize, Amanda lunged at Juliette, her hands aimed at Juliette's slender throat.  But, before she was within two feet of her target, James had hit her with a dart from a small gun he had hidden in his belt.

Amanda crumbled to the floor unconscious next to Dan who was silently horrified.

"Nice work, James," smiled Juliette.  "Remind me to reevaluate your salary when we get back home."

Within minutes James and Juliette had restrained Amanda with a set of cuffs similar to those worn by Dan.  Amanda's wrists were secured together behind the back of her chair.  A longer belt was fastened around Amanda's waist and the chair back to force her to remain seated.  Each of her ankles was individually secured to the rear legs of the chair, forcing her legs to be spread awkwardly.  Although Amanda's ankles could just as easily have been secured to the front legs of the chair, Juliette used the rear legs to highlight her adversary's submission.

As Amanda began to regain consciousness, she attempted to move.  She quickly discovered her predicament, and struggled wildly.

"Let me out of these, you bitch!" Amanda spat.

"Now, now," said Juliette calmly.  "Please don't spoil the demonstration with any more outbursts.  I was just about to demonstrate some of my favorite pieces."

Juliette opened a second steel case containing electronic bondage gear.  She removed a rather ordinary looking device which Amanda had decided was some type of head piece based on the size and location of the attached straps.

"This is the most effective gag that has ever been devised," said Juliette in a matter of fact tone.

She forced Dan to accept a short rubberized tube between his teeth, and she arranged the straps in a fashion typical of a standard gag trainer.  As she worked, she explained that the gag was much more effective than it appeared.  Even as she spoke, Dan grunted a few semi-intelligible sentences that could be plainly heard by everyone in the room.

"Some gag," smirked Amanda.

Without acknowledging the remark, Juliette gave a sweet sounding instruction to Dan.  "Be a dear, and place your tongue inside the tube until it touches the front of the gag."

Dan, knowing that his fate would be easier if he simply accepted it, complied with the request.  Suddenly, he let out a yelp, his face contorted into an expression of surprise combined with fear.  The touching of his tongue to the front of the gag activated a small servo motor which could be heard operating within the gag, but only Dan could tell what was happening inside his mouth.

The small tube into which he had placed his tongue was actually a telescoping device which reached into his mouth, encircled his tongue and clamped onto it to hold it in place.  Although the tongue tube itself did very little to silence the wearer, it included an audio sensor that communicated with a shock unit embedded in the collar.  The slightest sound resulted in a painful shock from the collar.  Wearers often found themselves in a vicious cycle of shocks that caused involuntary, pain-induced screams that resulted in another shock, and so on.

Juliette fully explained the design and benefits of the gag as she began to remove a blindfold from the steel case.  The blindfold, unlike the other restraints, did not have a strap that encircled the wearer's head.  Instead, the blindfold had a metal box on each side that attached to corresponding metal boxes on the gag trainer straps.  "Click, click" and the blindfold was in place.

Juliette explained that the metal boxes on the blindfold had a dual purpose: first, they acted as an attachment mechanism, and second, they acted as shock units for delivering electric shocks to the wearer's temples.  The eye holes of the blindfold were actually round LCD screens that could be electrically controlled to be transparent, completely blacked out, or something in between.  Juliette further explained that the blindfold included embedded motion sensors which could detect the movement of the wearer's head.  In other words, the wearer could communicate with nods and shakes, and could be punished automatically for wrong answers.

"Let me show you how this works," Juliette said as looked down at the remote controller.  Juliette touched the screen several times and said "Now, Dan, using a nod or a shake of your head, tell me, do you want to stop working here and become my personal slave?"

Dan didn't move a muscle.  His mind was racing to figure out what he should do.  His eyes darted from Amanda to Juliette.  After a moment, Juliette spoke again.

"Tsk, tsk, Dan, your Mistress doesn't like to be ignored.  Under other circumstances you would be punished severely for such insolence, but since you're new to this, I'll give you another chance.  Search you heart and answer honestly.  Do you want to come home with me to become my personal slave?"

Slowly and tentatively, Dan nodded his head to answer "yes."  But before his head had reached the pinnacle of its upward movement, he stiffened as a surge of electricity flowed through his body.  He grunted from the pain, and the event replayed.  This happened four times before Dan could find the self control to refrain from vocalizing the pain.  Instead of using his throat, Dan focused on breathing through his nose.  When the vicious cycle stopped, Dan was silently crying and heavily breathing through his nose.

Dan stared at Juliette as she approached him.  She ran her fingers through his hair like a pet and sweetly said "There, there.  Now that little lesson wasn't so bad, was it?  Next time I tell you to answer honestly, you would be wise to do so.  Seriously, we all know you don't actually want to become my slave.  That's what makes this all so delicious."

Juliette turned to Amanda who was staring at Dan in sympathetic disbelief.

"Here's the way this is going to work.  James is going to load my prize into my car through the back door."  Juliette nodded in James direction, and he began strapping Dan to a dolly for easy transport.  "He is also going to pack up our gear – except, of course, the few pieces that we are leaving with you," Juliette said smiling.  "Your restraints are timed for release shortly after our departure.  I know that tomorrow is your day off.  Wednesday morning, you will tell your manager that your friend has found a new position, which is technically true.  Just say that he left early to start his new career."

"No.  I won't do it!"  Amanda said nearly crying.  "Clearly, I can't stop you, but I'll never help you!"

"Oh, yes you will, or I'll tell your boss about your extracurricular activities with Dan." Juliette replied sternly.

"Don't threaten me.  My boss already knows all about us," Amanda shot back.

There was a brief silence as Juliette appeared to contemplate the alternatives, and a smile slowly snaked its way across Juliette's face.

"Do your parents know?"  Juliette asked letting the question hang in the air.  "And do they know what kind of a place you work at?"  Again, Juliette paused for effect.  "Do they know that you let people, complete strangers, tie you up so that you can model perverse bondage gear?"

Juliette reached into her case to remove a manila envelope.  She removed three black and white 8 x 10 photographs of Amanda in bondage in the shop.  Amanda immediately recognized the photographs as having been taken during her bondage orgasm a few weeks earlier.  Juliette had set Amanda up and Dan was too naïve to stop it.

Amanda silently looked away to the floor.

"No.  They don't know," she said quietly.

"Look, Amanda.  You know that I kind of like you.  I always come into this store asking for you to assist me.  I don't want to hurt you, really."

Juliette walked over to the counter with the envelope of photographs.

"I'm going to leave this envelope here on the counter for you.  Once you get loose, you can destroy the prints inside, and I promise to permanently delete the files from my computer.  I am also leaving a second envelope on the counter.  Before you do anything you'll regret, check out the second envelope.  I've left you enough information to decide your future and the future of your friend.  Review it and follow your heart."

With that, Juliette turned toward the back door where James had just finished loading the car.  As Amanda heard the back door close, she broke down crying.

"No!  No!  Please let me go!  Please don't take Dan!  I'll do anything!  Please take me instead!"

Her cries fell on an empty store.  Over the next ten minutes, she struggled ferociously to free herself, but the high-tech restraints were unyielding.

Exactly five minutes after Juliette left the shop, Amanda's restraints silently and suddenly fell to the floor – exactly as James described in his sales presentation.

Amanda bolted to the counter to open the second envelope.  Inside, she found $100,000 cash in a bank envelope and a typewritten note.

Amanda,

I have been frequenting "Leather or Knot" for quite some time, and I have had the great pleasure of watching you develop.  The first time that you assisted me, you were wearing conservative street clothes, and now not only do you wear fetish clothing for your job, you have incorporated bondage into you personal relationships.  You have come a long way, but I am most impressed by your character which started strong and remains so.

I am certain that this is a difficult situation for you, but I believe that it is the best for all concerned, including Dan.  I know that you care about him and that you are concerned for his well-being.  I assure you that I will take excellent care of him.  He will want for nothing – except his freedom.

I have enclosed $100,000 for your cooperation.  If you refrain from discussing Dan's new situation with anyone for the next 24 hours, you may keep the money, and your parents will not find out about what you do for a living.  Of course, if you choose to be troublesome, I will see to it that you return the $100,000 and that you are properly punished for your poor judgment.

Mistress Juliette

Amanda was scared, stunned and offended.  Juliette expected her to look the other way for $100,000!

With purposeful deliberation, Amanda crumbled up the letter, placed the letter and cash in her purse, and walked to the back office.  Running her finger down the list of emergency numbers posted on the wall, Amanda stopped at the emergency number for the owner.

To Amanda's knowledge, no employee had ever used the owner's emergency number.  There had never been a situation so significant that it warranted contacting the owner in real-time – until now.  Amanda followed the instructions on the emergency contact list.  She dialed the number on her mobile phone and left a text message describing her situation.  Her message was succinct: "Dan has been kidnapped by a client."

Pressing the "send" button was anticlimactic for Amanda.  There was no telling how soon the owner would check for text messages.  There was no telling whether the owner could do anything to help.  Amanda, adrenaline flowing, reached for the back office telephone to call 911 when her mobile phone signaled that an incoming text message had been received.

Amanda quickly looked at her phone to read "W8 4  me.  Do nothing.  Will contact U shortly."

Amanda could hardly contain herself.  She felt like she should be doing something to help Dan before it was too late, but she controlled her impulse and waited to hear from the owner.  Maybe there was a protocol for dealing with the situation of which Amanda was unaware.

Five minutes after Amanda placed her emergency text message, the front door to the shop swung open.  Amanda ran from the back room to see Mistress Juliette striding toward her.  Through the glass storefront, Amanda could see a black van waiting at the curb.

"You rang?"  Juliette said with a smile.

"What?  How did you get in here?"

"When there is an emergency at my store, I investigate it in person," replied Juliette still smiling.

"You're the owner?" asked Amanda in shock.  "What are you going to do with Dan?"

"Well, I had planned on keeping him as my personal assistant before you passed my little character test."

"What do you mean?"

Juliette explained that the money and the letter were designed to assess Amanda's strength of character.  If Amanda had chosen to remain silent, she would have been $100,000 wealthier, but she would have failed the test.  She also would have lost her job shortly thereafter.

"But what happens to Dan now?"  Amanda asked, without fully considering all of the implications of her present situation.

"As I see it, whatever happens to Dan is his own doing," replied Juliette without emotion.  "Dan has made a number of poor judgments.  Really, the only good judgment he has made recently is his trust in you."

A few short weeks ago, Dan allowed me to bind him, in this very spot, without adequate precautions.  Frankly, that was not your finest moment either.  Then, he foolishly made the deal with me for subsequent binding.  What was he thinking?"  Juliette asked rhetorically.

She continued.  "Further, he disobeyed the rules about dating co-workers, as did you.  He is lucky that his errors in judgment landed him in my hands."

"But you didn't answer my question.  What now?"  Amanda said with a hint of pleading in her voice.

"Well," Juliette said with an expression of mock consideration, "I think that depends on you.  I have decided that his fate is in your hands.  You do seem to love him."

After a pause, Juliette laid out Amanda's options.  Amanda could allow Dan to become Juliette's slave; Amanda could keep Dan as her own slave; she could allow him to keep his current job and continue as before; she could give him a job as a web developer for the store; or she could allow him to find another job entirely.  Regardless of her decision, Juliette told Amanda that the $100,000 was hers to keep.

Handing Amanda a folded piece of paper, Juliette said "Here are directions to my estate.  Take the rest of the evening to consider your decision.  Tomorrow at 9:00 am, come to my estate.  We will have breakfast together, and you can tell me your decision at that time."

Without waiting for Amanda's reaction, Juliette turned toward the front door and her awaiting van.

"Don't forget to lock up the store before you leave."

* * * * *

Links to Leather or Knot Chapters 1-20:
1.   First Impressions
2.   The Job Interview
3.   Dan's First Modeling Session
4.   Things Get Personal
5.   Amanda’s in a Bind
6.   Dan’s Private Modeling Session
7.   A Lapse in Judgment
8.   Honesty is the Best Policy
9.   Dan’s New Position
10.  The Employment Agreement
11.  Juliette’s Domain
12.  Dan’s Preparation
13.  Amanda’s Decision
14.  The J-2010 Training Harness
15.  Amanda’s Mistake
16.  Linda’s New Job
17.  On The Job Training
18.  The Final Tests
19.  Test Results
20.  Epilogue