Chapter 16: Pain For Pleasure

Allison had told Lionel he could visit her again. From her point of view, she still felt that there were things to explore and he had seemed as keen as ever when she had rasied the idea. They had agreed a time but now Allison was worried.

Lionel was over two hours late for their appointment and she had heard nothing from him. She knew he had left the office before her and there wasn’t - as far as she knew - any reason why he should have arrived at her flat yet.

She wondered if he had had cold feet about the meeting. Perhaps their first encounter hadn’t been what he was expecting? He’d seemed enthusiastic enough when the two of them had been alone together, sharing the same elevator, earlier that day and she had said, “This evening, come at eight as before.” He had nodded in acquiescence, unable to say anything to her before she had got out one floor before his. She hadn’t misunderstood his nod, she was sure of that.

She had changed out of her work clothes into a sweater and jeans – Lionel didn’t seem to mind what she wore (unlike most of the submissives she read about on-line who seemed to have very specific tastes) and she had thought that she might as well be comfortable.

She paced the living room anxiously, worrying that he might have had an accident. She turned on the TV and flipped from channel to channel trying to find if there had been a breakdown on the Underground or a sudden transport strike and then did the same with her phone. She couldn’t find any reason for his lateness and that made her even more worried.

Finally there was a ring on the bell. Allison opened the door to see a sheepish Lionel.

“Where on earth of you been? Do you know what the time is?” Although she was furious, Allison suddenly felt she was channelling the spirit of her father who used to scold her if she got in late from dates when she was living at home. Equally, she knew that some of her anger was the result of the number of times she’d been stood up or left waiting for dates down the years. This was going to be different, she told herself. “It’s really not good enough.”

“I’m sorry Mistress, but you know how things can be in the office. I needed to...”

“I know exactly how things can be. And I know exactly when you left the office. You had plenty of time to get here. I didn’t leave until a good half hour after you did. What were you doing?”

“I...” Lionel hesitated for a moment. The two of them were standing in the hallway of Allison’s flat. Allison, arms folded and obviously angry, had been worried about where Lionel might possibly have got to and now stood confronting her slave. Lionel hung his head, apologetic. “I can see I’ve upset you. I apologise. It won’t happen again.”

Relieved that Lionel had not fallen under a lorry, become trapped on the Underground or suffered a heart attack or any of the other myriad scenarios her imagination had conjured over the last two hours, Allison became calmer. As she did so, she realised that she didn’t care why he was late. She was also determined to have Lionel understand the worry he had caused her. And since, she reasoned, a dominatrix could punish her slave if she so chose, the remedy was in her own hands.

“No,” she said with a determined tone, “you are right. It certainly won’t and I don’t want to hear any excuses. Go through into the living room. Strip to your pants and kneel facing the wall.” She turned on her heel and left Lionel, now in no doubt as to his Mistress’s state of mind, in the hall.

Lionel was surprised by Allison’s curtness. It was such a change from her normal sociable manner. He watched as she disappeared into the kitchen. From their discussions before he hadn’t expected that she would react like this but not wishing to anger her further, he did as he had been told.

The combination of relief at Lionel’s arrival and anger at his behaviour, coupled with anger for allowing herself to be so worried by his lateness, left Allison determined to punish Lionel. He could have called, she thought. He could have been on time.

Well, she finally said to herself, you may not like the idea of punishment, and I may not like the idea of inflicting pain but I’m afraid this has to be done.

On the work top in the kitchen was a wooden spatula. Allison was pretty sure it would inflict some painful blows without causing too much damage. She picked it up, took a deep breath and headed back towards the living room.