Why?

“Something bothering you, Babe?” Hetty asked. “You have been acting like a nervous cat on a hot tin roof for most of the day. Chill out; you knew they were going to collect Animal at some point. Surely you’re not all that attached to the ugly brute?”

Candi smiled at her lover. “Well, those weird sisters always make me feel a little uneasy, plus I would have liked a bit more time to break that big bastard of theirs completely!”

Hetty flashed her an indulgent smile and raised her wine glass in salute. “As I recall, he was crawling about and frantically slobbering all over your boots the other night on the end of a leash, Honey. I think if not completely broken, then you can congratulate yourself on handing him back well and truly bent!”

Candi took a sip from her glass and considered. True, she thought but only because of what she’d done to him on the whipping bench and the threat of what she’d do later. Fear and pain were very effective motivators, especially for recalcitrant, stubborn creatures like him. Big did not necessarily equate with brave or tough, not in her experience and not for those who’d felt the bite of her cane long term!  Pity though. Another couple of weeks, and she’d have had the colossal beast paying homage to her without all the chains, shackles and other restraints. Having that monster completely under her dainty thumb coming obediently to heel like a lap dog would have been very satisfying. Then another thought struck her. Maybe something could still be arranged. She looked at her watch.

Hetty sighed. “You’re doing it again!”

“What?”

Hetty pointed. “Looking at that oversized lump of technology you’ve got strapped around your wrist. It’s a wonder you don’t have one arm longer than the other with all that weight!”

“My whipping arm probably balances it out!” Candi laughed, pulling a face and then added, “Well, you won’t have to suffer for much longer; they should be here soon”. She picked up her glass and took another sip, thinking that such suffering would be insignificant compared to.... Her train of thought broken as Hetty stood up and walked over to stand closer to the marching figure of Tiptoe as he obediently high stepped his endless daily circles.

Hetty stood with a wine glass in one hand and the other on her hip, watching the pathetic figure who straightened up slightly under her close presence. Although Candi, also watching, noticed the barely imperceptible movement, nothing ever escaped her. Fucking slacker, she thought, there should have been no need for that. The lazy bastard needed to put in one hundred per cent with every step he took hour after hour; nothing less would suffice. Of course, he’d suffer for that lapse later!”

Hetty regarded the wretched man absently, for he’d become almost as much a permanent fixture in the room as the furniture and numerous assorted pot plants. Day after day, Candi had him tethered to the mechanical walker on his never-ending journey to nowhere. The heels on his boots had grown higher, the constricting corset about his waist tighter, the scars from whip and cane on his body more prolific, but his daily routine remained unchanged.

What, she wondered, did her young lover have in mind long term for her miserable toy. A question she had asked more than once and so far received no answer. Did Candi even know herself, she sometimes wondered? Did the little blonde sadist even have an end goal? Well, it was no use asking again. Indeed, probably no use asking anything for the little bitch had become very moody and uncommunicative in the past couple of weeks, tetchy, even sullen at times! Maybe she ought to give the sulky little bitch damn good hiding!

Tiptoe continued on his way, very conscious of the older woman’s nearness and her thoughtful gaze upon him. He wasn’t to know that her mind was primarily elsewhere as he strove to maintain the perfect posture and rhythm as he stepped and stepped, knee-high, leg raised and stepped again. He was not to know that although two sets of eyes were upon him that afternoon, neither was focused on him other than absently.

She was getting fat, Candi thought as she looked at Hetty. Well, not fat, but a discernible midriff bulge was developing on the old woman, for that was how she was beginning to regard her bedmate. There was something about her breasts, too, that she couldn’t quite define. Were they getting saggier, perhaps? Maybe, maybe not.  Whatever those luscious mature tits no longer held the appeal they once had. Likewise, the bitch had become far too passive in bed. Too indolent, too fucking lazy, and she yearned to romp regularly with someone younger, someone on a par with her energy levels, not some worn-out old hag! Well, hag was being more than a bit unfair, but she knew what she meant.

Yes, hag was definitely unfair and inaccurate, given that Hettty retained the looks that would make her stand out in most crowded rooms. Likewise, the worn-out bit was equally unjust, but that was the way she was feeling. A large part of it was undoubtedly guilt complex, Candi thought, looking at the Apple Watch on her slim wrist again. Maybe she was just bored with the woman? It would be fun, though, to share that enormous bed with someone around her own age, wouldn’t it? Someone capable of actually wrestling her into submission occasionally instead of having to play-act when she was in that sort of mood.

Candi took another sip. Only very occasionally, though. There would only be one ‘big boss’ in this household. New sleeping partners in part-time residence, but the old queen dead, long live the new queen! No, just the one boss and no repeat, no historical repeats! Perhaps someone even younger than she was? That would be tasty, wouldn’t it? Some cute sexy young innocent that she could corrupt, a virgin even! A nubile playmate alike in mind and body without having to worry about Hetty getting all jealous and worked up!

A sweet and yet not so sweet, eager young helpmate, she thought, letting the wine swirl around in her mouth before swallowing. An agreeable partner better by far than that ageing unambitious slag who turned down every new idea put to her without even giving it due consideration. It was as old, almost as time itself. A changing of the guard, dawn replacing dusk, youth retiring the aged, vigour against the worn-out, imagination challenging the uninspired!

A few yards away, Hetty was also thinking. Maybe their recent kiss and make-up hadn’t entirely made up after all. Did Candi still feel resentful, she wondered, because she refused to change the way she worked? It wasn’t about money, for they had that to spare. Hers was a highly lucrative business, and only a minimum number of transactions were needed each year to bring in far more than she would need, either of them needed. Or would probably ever need come to that!

No, it wasn’t about money but rather the number of reluctant playmates her house housed at any one time. Candi, the little sadist, was never satisfied with just the one or occasionally two plus her own  ‘Tiptoe’. The basement dungeon could easily accommodate more, she’d frequently argued, and there had been times before Tiptoe’s arrival when there wasn’t even a single reluctant guest housed downstairs.  A few changes could provide at least eight cells and retain the existing general and utility space. They could even add one or more house slaves above ground. The technology existed to ensure escape was impossible and that total control could be exercised at all times. So why not the silly girl kept arguing?

Hetty, however, remained adamant, and thus Candi had remained sulky, and that had been the background pattern now seemingly for a couple of months. Thus, the rhythm of their relationship remained unchanged in many aspects, yet both were conscious of a rift from which the dust wouldn’t quite settle! 

Candi wondered if she ought to fetch Animal upstairs and put him on the walker to be ready for inspection by his aged owners but decided against the idea. A week ago, she’d altered his chains to deny him the ability to walk upright. He’d spent the last seven days on the end of that leash learning to crawl to heel at her feet. That was how she would prevent him to his owners, a beaten crawling obedient cur—beaten certainly and regularly but not as yet quite as obedient as she would have liked. Another month and perhaps the chains wouldn’t have been needed, well maybe two to be on the safe side plus a shock collar!

Hetty watched a couple more revolutions and then returned to her seat, wondering when Candy would start to get bored with her toy? She was surprised that her interest had lasted as long as it had and with barely a change of routine for her high stepping victim. A tweak every so often to his constricting corset and an increase to the height of his heels.  Those were about the only changes the girl had made to him in all the months of his captivity. Did she have a long time goal other than such a monotonous and tedious existence? Her young lover had never been forthcoming and invariably shrugged the matter off when asked.

*****

Tiptoe was immensely relieved when the older bitch turned and walked away from him and returned to her seat. Her nearness had disturbed him, worried him, thoroughly frightened him! He could smell that perfume she always wore, could almost feel the warmth of her body, for the room was cold today. They must have turned the heating off, he guessed, although it was never overly warm, especially when those panels in the glass roof were wide open.

He’d become used to thinking and at the same time walking in the ridiculous high stepping way the evil young bitch insisted he perform. Legs raised high, knees up, thighs parallel to the floor, head up, back ramrod straight. All to be performed to perfection no matter what speed the little she-devil had set the fiendish machine to revolve around and around. 

There was a time when he’d had to concentrate at every step, for should he get a single thing wrong, her cane or whip would instantly crack upon his bruised flesh. The bitch had not changed one iota in all the months he’d been condemned to this daily torture. So he had by necessity learned to perform perfectly like any dumb animal driven under the lash to perform an endless repetitive task. 

These days he could normally perform instinctively while his mind travelled to pleasanter pastures beyond the confines of this horrible room. Remembrances of happy times when he’d been a free man, his own person entirely in control of his own life, his own destiny and not been the bizarre toy of a teenage sadist!

The presence of both women his tormentors so close unnerved him. He dare not falter, not with two sets of malicious female eyes upon him and those terrible implements of pain readily to hand as always. Instinctive as his walking and rigid posture had become, he consciously kept a part of his mind on the monotonous, repetitive task. Step, step, step. At least this was manageable, unlike the fucking goose-step!

Christ, that was a nightmare. Goose-stepping like some bizarre nazi stormtrooper or one of those North Korean automatons he’d seen on YouTube videos. How would they have coped or, for that matter, looked, he wondered? His mind momentarily distracted by the thought of massed near-naked ranks parading in a leather harness, punishing corsets and high heel stiletto boots!  Yeah, the petite blonde sadist would have fitted right in with those hideous regimes, wouldn’t she? A job in a concentration camp or re-educational centre would have suited her alright! 

He completed another dozen or so circuits pondering on the evil that men do or, in this case, women. Was there any difference? He’d heard plenty of references to other perverts during his enforced stay, primarily women but some men. Even more terrifying were the references his captors had occasionally made regarding practices far more evil and perverted to anything he’d so far suffered. Practices that made his torment seem almost tame by comparison and worse to his thinking, the casual matter of fact way they mentioned or discussed such horrors!

That was one of the things that chilled him. That offhand way, they could discuss cruelty and horrors without a second thought and yet switch subjects in an instant. The other week they’d been discussing castration again and then a moment later changed to suitable birthday presents for the little daughter of one of the blonde bitches workmates! Not so much the sublime to the ridiculous as the utterly insane to the absolute ordinary!

He plodded on deep in thought and casting occasional surreptitious glances towards his two tormentors, both of whom seemed thankfully absorbed in their own private little worlds for once. Their eyes mostly distant rather than on him, thank goodness. If anything, both seemed distracted, he sensed, those senses he believed had become more developed the longer this absurd incarceration continued.

His ruminating was abruptly interrupted as he heard his young owner exclaim, “They’re here to collect. I’ll go and open the gates for them.” She jumped up and headed toward the door, pausing briefly as she passed him. “Carry on Tiptoe, nothing for you to worry about; you’re going nowhere other than round in circles!” She laughed maliciously and slapped him hard on the bottom as he stepped past her.

*****

“Tiresome, yes quite the right word Cissie, tiresome!” Daisy echoed from where she stood, watching Tiptoe with evident fascination. “Every day, every single day?” She quizzed, changing the subject.

“Every day since Hetty surprised me with him. Candi said. “Pity that Walker doesn’t have a measurement system built into it. It would be interesting to see just how far the bastard has travelled” she paused to laugh. “Travel in a rather limited sense seeing as how the fucker is going nowhere fast!”.

They all laughed with her. “I think it’s adorable,” Daisy said. “I wish we could have put that tiresome busybody of a woman on something like this for a good few hours every day. 

“Tiresome, I said, and tiresome I meant”, Cissie stated. “One of those wretched nuisances who can’t sit still for an instant. Always wanted to be up and about organising everybody's day for them. Almost spoilt the entire voyage out, didn’t she dear?”

“Hmm, yes”, her sister agreed, tearing herself away from the fascinating sight of Tiptoe walking his endless high stepping walk. “Always chasing you to join in with something. If it weren’t teams for deck tennis or a ping pong tournament, it would be for something else—bullying you to take part in a charity concert. Passengers performing for the crews benefit or some similar nonsense. Absolutely awful woman, and she sat at our table. I’m quite convinced that was why the poor captain avoided us every time he saw us. I mean, he was so charming at his welcome cocktail party, couldn’t get enough of us!”

“Probably”, Candi replied, smothering a giggle.

“The first week was wonderful, wasn’t it, Daisy. Then they moved everybody around, and we ended up with her and a few others that quite honestly weren't much better! I thought we’d have been on the captain's table, but apparently, they don’t do that anymore, so we got her instead!”

“Not everybody”, her sister corrected. “Just a few had to move tables. They told us it was necessary because of the new people joining at the next port of call. It was all worked out in advance or something at company headquarters. All very tiresome, and we complained of course, but nothing happened”.

Hetty and Candi shared a long look before Hetty broke the moment. “Shall we bring Animal up for you, or would you prefer to go downstairs and reintroduce yourselves to him. He’s all ready to go, but naturally, we haven’t said anything to him. Yes?” she questioned as Candi and her two guests shared a long look. Unfortunately, a buzzer sounded at that exact instant to divert her attention.

“Front gate”, Candi muttered quickly and moved to the monitor above her desk and pointed to the upper right image of the quadruple display at a plain white transit van.

“Now, who the hell can that be?” Hetty asked, joining her. “I’m not expecting anything or anyone, not today anyway!”

“Oh, you must blame us, dear!” Cissie exclaimed, looking at her watch. “I expect that will be darling Susan. We asked her to meet us here. We should have told you as soon as we arrived, but I forgot about it with all the excitement and everything. I’m so sorry, dear!”

Hetty turned sharply, looking quizically at the older woman. She didn’t sound very much like she was sorry, although her apologetic smile seemed genuine enough.  “I don't care for such surprises nor uninvited visitors no matter who they are”, she stated flatly, flashing an angry look at the two elderly sisters.

“Shall I let them in?” Candi asked from behind her.

“Them?”

“It looks like she’s brought a couple of her stable girls over with her as well”.

“What!” Hetty exclaimed and then swore quietly to herself before she stormed back to the monitor with a black scowl on her face. “Fucking idiot!” she shouted angrily. “What does she think this is, bloody open day for every Tom, Dick and Harriet she wants to bring along! So much for me trying to remain secluded! Yes, release the bloody gate catch before the whole damned world knows about this place!”

Candi grinned at the outburst as she tapped on the monitor touch screen; then, they both watched the gate swing slowly open, one of the figures in the van waving casually to the camera as they drove into the compound and swung around to pull up by the front door.

“I’ll go open the door”, Candi offered.

Hetty shook her head. “No, stay here. Pet. I’ll go and see what Madam stable mistress wants, and she'd better have one hell of a good reason especially bringing those two fucking Amazons of hers as well! You keep our other guest's company. The ones we do know about!” She stalked out of the room, leaving the other three looking at each other. Daisy was the first to respond, putting her hand to her mouth and giving a little giggle.

Hetty, muttering angrily to herself, threw open the front door, and it was only then as she did so that Cissie's remark registered with her. Invited them, why?

*****

“Sweet little Candi, so very clever and now all settled, signed sealed and delivered, almost! Daisy cried gleefully, clapping her aged hands together in almost girlish excitement.

“Almost, being the operative word, Daisy”, the small attractive but severe-looking woman called Susan cautioned. “Delivery still pending” she paused to glance across at the struggling, mutely protesting figure of Hetty, sitting bound and gaged between the two tall, muscular girls who’d accompanied her. “Oh, for heaven's sake, Hetty, can it will you.” You know you can’t escape; you know that no one here will help you, so stop being so foolish! Quit your pathetic yapping; otherwise, I’ll ask Imogen here to use that cane over there on you, and you can get a taste of the stable cane early!”

“Oh, don't be such a mork, Susan. You know very well what I mean,” Daisy grumbled, “doesn’t she, Cissie?”

“I think you will find that everything is a little more complicated, dear, even though everything seems to have gone so splendidly,” Cissie told her sister before turning to Susan. “ Your legal friend has started all the relevant papers; I take it?”

 “I’ll get Charlotte to pop over tomorrow and start dotting all the I’s and crossing the T’s so far as tidying up the legal aspects of your little coup. She’s excellent, a senior partner in one of the cities top legal firms”.

“Discrete, I trust?” Cissie enquired.

Susan laughed. “Very, she has two ponies of her own stalled at my place. One youngish gelding being the junior partner she replaced when his convenient disappearance created the vacancy. The other being one of the secretaries she took a fancy to. Lovely young filly but such is fate. So Charlotte will do the necessary. There might be a few papers that need personal signatures rather than things being done electronically, however!”

Cissie laughed. “I have every confidence in you, my dear. I’m sure that between yourself and your lovely helpers, dear Hetty will sign on any dotted line presented to her, eventually!” she drew that last word out rather ominously.

“If not, I can “, Candi interrupted. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve forged her lazy scrawl on something. Damn sight easier than trying to guess a password or pin number! But, hey, leave off; he’s mine, remember!”

Daisy reluctantly withdrew her hand from Tiptoes rump as he marched past. “But I like him”, she complained petulantly. 

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to see him now”, Candi reminded her. “When do you two intend moving in for your first stay anyway?”

“Soon, very soon, dear!” Daisy skipped up and down like an excited child.”We’ve had an offer for our place, a very good one, haven’t we, Cissie?”

“We certainly have. We’ll accept it, providing they can agree to our time scale. Certain changes will have to be made to the property before it can change hands, you know darling Roddy, of course?”

Susan nodded. “Ah yes, I’ve used him myself more than once. So useful knowing a builder like that! But satisfy my curiosity. When did you three decide that our bitchy ex-associate here needed a change of scene and her business placed under new management?”

Daisy cast a last lingering look at Tiptoe and then plopped herself down on a comfortable armchair just a few feet away from the object of her fascination and addressed herself to the question.

“Last year, we came down to London to see ‘Les Miserables’, oh such a lovely show. Oh, it was wonderful, absolutely….”

“Do stick to the point, Daisy, dear her older sister, interrupted impatiently.

Daisy glared at her. “Well, it was wonderful”, she muttered through pursed lips. “Anyway. “ she paused to glare defiantly at Cissie. “They told us tickets were hard to get, so Cissie sent an email to Candi, and the lovely girl managed to obtain two for us, some, best seats too and at a cut-price. So we had a lovely view of the stage and….”

“Daisy!”

“Oh, bother! You tell them if that’s what you want!” Daisy sat back in a sulk folding her arms and looking at the ceiling. “See if I care then!”

Cissie sighed. “To cut a long, a very long story short, we met Candi for lunch to collect the tickets when we came down for a couple of days. We happened to mention that we were getting fed up with life out in the country and so far from civilisation. Real civilisation, if you know what I mean. We both grew up in London, and we have missed the theatres, museums and restaurants and all.”

“Missed!” her sister added, unable to maintain her aloof pose.

“I think we caught poor dear Candi here at the wrong moment or perhaps the right moment. Anyway, keeping it short, we had a good heart to heart chat about things and then kept in touch. We wanted to move back to London, which was one of the reasons we’d cleared all our toys out of our place….”

“The cruise was an extra although it was so….”

“Daisy, sush yourself, dear, and please do stop interrupting me“, Cissie admonished, waving a bony finger threateningly in her sister's direction. “As it turned out, Candi here was also feeling very frustrated with the way things were being run here and had her specific ambitions. Likewise, as we all know, our hostess, your lovely girls, so efficiently dealt with has not overly endeared herself to certain people. A few questions about non-delivery or sub-standard overpriced products and the like!” Cissie paused and shrugged her shoulders dismissively 

“ Not to mention it simply being convenient to everyone bar her that a few changes would be decidedly advantageous all round! After that, as I said, we kept in touch and had another couple of meetings. No Daisy, dear. They don’t want to know about the shows we saw on those occasions either!” The bony finger wagged again, and Daisy refolded her arms, collapsing back into her seat, glaring balefully at her sister and muttering under her breath once again.

Susan laughed “ Well, for the percentage share you offered me, I’m happy. This bitch has overcharged me on virtually every animal I ever bought off her, and right now, she’s an absolute godsend, couldn’t have worked out better for me!”

“How so?”

Susan looked at the captive bound and gagged figure of Hetty and smiled. “You know Monique Dupont in France, of course, I assume?”

The two sisters nodded, and Candi laughed out loud, adding. “That old witch, Hetty, told me about her, even showed me a picture once. She and Hetty have hated each other for years; she ran a similar operation in where was it….?”

“Rouen”, Susan supplied. “She’s retired now to a quiet little farmstead, well perhaps not so little. Her speciality was always entirely domestic slaves, house servants or those destined for more intimate tasks! She’s got some old stables, so she’s finally getting into my scene as a new interest. She sent me a couple of mares fresh from the wild over recently to be broken and trained. But, unfortunately, one of them must have had a heart defect. It happens sometimes, I guess.” She shrugged indifferently. “I would have compensated her, of course, but now, well, a little change of plans to what you three suggested?” she stood up and walked over to Hetty.

Candi giggled, remembering a thought she’d once had along the very same lines she knew already what Susan was going to propose.

Susan bent down and cupped Hetty’s chin staring into the bulging disbelieving horrified eyes that stared franticly back, and then a torrent of muted words exploded from behind that gagged mouth. Susan yawned, then rapidly bitch slapped Hetty three times. “I never liked you nor your fucking prices!” she turned and walked back to her chair, saying, “Do tighten that gag, please, Imogen.”

“Well,” Cissie said, “We thought that you would appreciate the stock addition as well as providing a secure place; I mean, one would hate to waste such a piece of valuable merchandise. We could have found a suitable buyer, of course, but we wanted to be quite sure there would be no future awkward comebacks, so to speak.”

“Oh, there won’t be any awkward comebacks. I think you can rely on Monique’s security for that. She’s no amateur after all. As Candi just said, those two bitches have hated each other for years. I might even make a profit on the entire transaction” Susan chuckled after all once she knows just who she’s getting.

Cissie nodded approvingly. “I am sure you will. Anyway, we finalised things shortly before we brought down our colossal new friend to be housed in the basement here; he was an unexpected bonus, as you might say. Not only did we require a superb specimen we couldn’t possibly ignore, but it also gave us an excellent excuse to be here now. Well, that’s the simple version anyway.”

Candi giggled and swivelled on her computer chair. “Very simple, but it wasn’t all that complicated for me either once I’d persuaded the silly bitch to let me computerise everything and do all the finances online”. She paused to laugh. “It wasn’t just the bills I was paying, either! I’ve been sort of running things for a while anyway, certain things, so it's no big deal to take everything on board.”

“Oh, your such a clever girl”, Daisy lent forward to clasp her knees, then rocked back and forth in her chair, giggling with excitement. “Such a clever girl, isn’t she. Not just a sweet pretty face, but so talented. I’m hopeless with computers and phones; even the electric toaster confuses me, but I know Cissie is looking forward to seeing how it all works, aren't you, dear?”

Her sister smiled and shrugged. “Part of the deal, of course”.

“Oh my”, Daisy continued. “it's going to be so much fun living here, I mean living in London again.” She quickly corrected herself. “We can find all sorts of new playmates from poor Hetty’s contacts, or rather they can find them for us. We can play all day and then” she paused to clap her hands excitedly. “Then we can go to the theatre every night, every night and concerts and museums and art galleries and, and things just like when we were young. Oh, such jolly good fun!”

Her older sister stood up, smoothing down her skirt. “ Hush, I said, dear. Also, it’s a  business. Remember, some of our new playmates will only be here for a short while, keep in mind. Still, that will add to the fun as you put it, I think” She crossed over to stand where Daisy had stood and watched Tiptoe perform several revolutions. He was clearly very nervous, having heard every word that the new arrivals had spoken.

Daisy scowled and looked across to where Hetty sat squirming between the two young amazons who’d made short work of overpowering and binding her. Both were only half-listening to the conversation, being otherwise preoccupied exploring the latest wriggling unwilling addition to their employers stable, albeit only temporary.

Cissie was still looking at Tiptoe,  then up to the silently rotating metal arm and then back to the man,  naked other than his tight corset, posture collar, harnessed arms and six-inch stiletto-heeled boots. Her head turned to the young blonde girl. “One question, my dear, one wonders why?”

Candi, who’d walked over to watch as Imogen started pawing Hetty’s breasts, bent down and whispered, “I will miss you though, Big Mama. I might even come and visit you one day. Maybe bring you a nice apple, eh?” She finished with a chuckle and fondly patted her ex-lover gently on the top of her head. “Still, like you always told me, business before pleasure, always!”

Tears were now running from Hetty’s eyes as Candi straightened up and crossed the floor to join Cissie. Tears of rage or something else. Only Hetty knew the answer to that question, and none of the others present were of a mind or even interested enough to remove her gag to find out. 

“Why?” Candi repeated, looking at Tiptoe as he marched past them. “Why indeed?”

Cissie turned to look questioningly at the young girl, and her sister arose from her seat and joined them. A muted exclamation came from behind them as Imogen's companion growing a little bored, produced a wicked-looking knife. Time she had decided that the new pony shed its unnecessary outer coverings and displayed its primary assets before she fetched its new harness from the van.

Briefly distracted, Candi turned and, then smiling, returned to the question looking at Cissie.“Why?” Candi pursed her lips for a moment, pondered and then shrugged her shoulders and smiled again. “Why? Because he’s here and because I can. That’s why!”

*****

Epilogue - Six weeks later

“Oh, we are going to have so much fun together, my pet, so much fun. I couldn’t believe it when they contacted me, just couldn’t believe it. Completely out of the blue, so unexpected! I was so disappointed originally when I heard when she suddenly said no. I mean, I was so disappointed, so very disappointed and after everything was virtually settled.  Not just disappointed either; I was livid. Oh, you wouldn’t believe how angry I was. That picture she sent, the one she’d snapped surreptitiously on her phone. Not the best quality, of course, but you looked so sweet, so sexy. I could hardly contain myself waiting, and then, poof,  it was all off!”

The voice changed tone as hands began to loosen the fastenings of the lightweight metal cage. “I was so angry, so angry. Oh boy, was I angry, especially as the supplied replacement was hardly in the same class, was she? Cheaper but hardly in your class, was she pet? Oh, don’t get me wrong,  she was fun especially being a virgin, all ends up, but she wasn’t you was she pet? Let's get you out of this uncomfortable thing and get you cleaned up a little. You’ve had a long journey, and I’m sure that you don’t like being all smelly covered with nasty pet poopy bits and pissy liquid; I know I don’t like it either!”

“I even got you cheap pet, rock bottom bargain price. Cheapest little whore I’ve ever purchased, and you being such a lovely little cutie and so young! Aren't I the lucky one? Just for practice, they said, just to get a feel for how things go in the business plus, of course, they are both old friends, and they knew how cross I was when that bitch went and changed her mind!”

There was a pause before the voice continued and now sounded a little regretful. “perhaps I should leave you right where you are pet, I mean, you’ll only have to go back in your cage when Ruthie collects you. I’ve waited a long time to play with you, so another day or two won’t matter, will it? Ruthie’s a vet, but she does other little things for her friends, even those that don’t have special doggies or ponies. So it won’t hurt much. I promise she’ll use an anaesthetic when she cuts it out and makes the area nice and sore.”

The voice changed again, this time harsher, cruel sounding. “The hurt will come later, pet. I prefer virgins, my, but for one, so young you’ve been a randy little bitch, haven't you? I don’t think you’re going to wriggle and scream on the end of my big toys are you without a minor bodily adjustment? Hell, an experienced slut like you might even have enjoyed it, and where would be the fun for me in that, eh? Not like your original replacement, plain-faced chubby Mary did and indeed still hates it. No point in having Ruthie remove her little love bud, eh pet? Mary will never enjoy squirming on the end of one of my giant strapon’s, not in a million years no matter how stimulated.” 

The voice paused and then chuckled wickedly as a tanned hand with parchment-like skin splattered with age spots reached between the wide steel mesh to stroke the cramped occupant. Long bony fingers laden with expensive heavy rings gently caressed then began to pinch lightly.

“You will wriggle for me though, pet”, the voice cackled gleefully. “You’ll wriggle and scream a lot once Ruthie has removed your little love bud and made you oh so sensitive. Pain without pleasure, my pet.  I don’t think you’ll enjoy our nice love sessions any more than Mary or the others do!” the voice paused and then chuckled. “One thing though, pet. I’ll bet you can take the biggies right from the start, eh?”

The female face that looked into the cage was heavily wrinkled and tanned by years of daily exposure to the fierce Orlando Florida sun. A face once beautiful, but now not even the heavy makeup could disguise either age or the slightly grotesque results of numerous plastic surgeries. The glittering eyes, though, had not changed over many years and were alight with the same cruel anticipation they’d shown their first victim half a century earlier as they savoured that same terror in the eyes of this latest victim.

Inside that metal transport cage, bound, gagged and cushioned against the buffets of the journey but soiled with the stinking outpourings of her own body, Candi could only stare back into that distorted cruel face and ask herself just the one important question. A pointless question because she already knew the answer. WHY?