Chapter 11: Dinner, Dancing, Dominating

Evan had no problems with going out to dinner. In fact his midterm exams were finished and he was looking forward to getting out. The restaurant Cheri picked was reasonably upscale and required a coat and tie for him; Cheri wore the same dress she had for his birthday. She worried if maybe this would be a little too formal for Pam but she felt like dressing up a little. Okay, maybe a lot.

She needn't have worried about that. They were waiting for their table when Pam strolled through the door. Her hair was pulled back severely and rolled up on the top of her head accentuating her fine Nordic features. She had on a black sleeveless dress with a high neckline, high enough to cover her collar, yet tight enough to clearly show every curve on her body. It had a zipper in front running from about her navel up to her neck, zipped up all the way to the top. The hem came to about mid thigh with her long tapered legs covered in nylons atop a pair of four-inch spike heel CFM shoes. (CFM she had explained to Evan meant Come Fuck Me.) A smile lit up her face when she saw Cheri and she rushed over.

"Cheri! There you are! Oh you look gorgeous tonight! Well are you going to introduce me to this handsome man on your arm? I'm going to assume this is Evan."

"Of course it is. Pam this is Master Evan, Evan this is my friend Pam. My God I'm glad I tried to dress up tonight. You look stunning! What do you think, Evan?"

"I think," he said as her took her hand and bent down to kiss it, "that I will have to watch my back very carefully tonight. Every man here is going to be so jealous of me for having the two most beautiful women here with me that they might try something evil just to get me out of the way."

"Oh my," Pam blushed accepting his outrageous flattery, "Cheri, you weren't kidding. He could just sweep a girl off her feet, couldn't he?"

"Thank you, lovely lady. To sweep you off your feet would be an honor, I'm sure," he gave and exaggerated heavy sigh. "If only my heart weren't already lost to another..." Saying that he picked up Cheri's hand and also gave her a bow and a kiss. The maître d' arrived to show them their table. The girls and Evan followed him as they weaved their way through the tables.

Pam leaned over and whispered in Cheri's ear, "He's perfect! So young, but so masterful! Where did you find him? Did you grow him yourself?"

"Hmm, well, something like that. And yes, his body's young but as for the rest of him... Well he's every inch a man, let me tell you."

"Oh I can believe that, oh yes indeed. And just how many inches may I ask? Six, seven, maybe eight? Am I getting warm?"

"You're terrible!" Cheri giggled back at the younger woman. "And I'm not telling you! You already look like you're loaded for bear and I'm not giving you any more incentive to chase him, you Jezebel."

"Oh Cheri, believe me I would never do that to a friend but if you weren't, grrrr, he is something special! I can tell that even now. Thanks for letting me meet him."

When they got to their table they were seated with the women on either side of Evan. They ordered some wine to begin and soon ordered dinner. Talk jumped from topic to topic: from Evan and Cheri's classes (Pam was surprised that Evan approved of Cheri taking classes. "Why not?" he said. "She's as intelligent as she is beautiful and shouldn't be wasting her life just cleaning toilets at home."), to Pam working at a bookstore.

"You didn't tell him where I work, did you?" Pam asked Cheri, accusingly.

"Well I didn't think it was really relevant and..." she blushed, looked down at the table and bit her lip.

"No need to be ashamed, I'm not. Evan, we met while I was working at the Chained Love. It's a little boutique that specializes in, shall we say, love with restrictions and boundaries. In fact I don't just work there, I'm also the owner. Have been for the past two years. I think you might be familiar with a few of the lines of merchandise we carry, such as this one." With that she reached up and traced a finger along Cheri's collar to the cameo.

"Beautiful work, this. I can see you had it custom made. Cheri and I have been talking about these little symbols and exactly what they mean. I would assume you know a little about what they signify and the customs associated with them."

"I'm afraid I probably don't know as much as I should," he said seemingly unaffected by her blatant reference to the slave collar. "To be honest the symbolism was only between us." He clasped Cheri's free hand and brought it to his mouth for a kiss.

"I suppose I could have or maybe should have known there were wider meanings when I bought the necklace, but to tell the truth, I didn't care. The collar may be resting around her neck but it binds me just as much as it does her. I suppose it's a lot like a wedding ring only a little more extreme."

"Yes, there is some truth to what you say." Pam looked at the boy thoughtfully. "The bond between dominant and submissive, or Master and Slave as we truly call it, isn't a one-way street. A slave needs to be controlled, needs the domination, but without the slave a Master is not a Master. Each has his or her own role to play and each is as important as the other. I like the way you look at it. In fact I wish more did; maybe there would be more long-term stable relationships out there. We don't tend to see that, I'm afraid."

"You said 'we'." Evan leaned forward looking exceptionally curious. "Do you mean 'we' as in the business or 'we' as in you've had experience with this before?"

"Evan! That may be too personnel! I may have to answer your embarrassing questions but Pam doesn't!" Cheri glanced at him, imploring with her eyes.

"Of course she doesn't! I'm sorry Pam. Please forgive me, but I'm fascinated by this whole culture. I don't know much about it -- that's obvious -- but I'd like to learn if for no other reason than I don't want to make stupid mistakes. But you certainly don't have to answer to me or anyone."

Pam laughed lightly and reached over to grab each of their hands in hers. "I don't mind talking about it, really I don't. I've never been what you call shy and this is a subject I really can get into. To answer your question: it's both. As proprietor of a shop that deals in the subject, I need to know everything I can about it. But the reason I'm in the business is that I'm also personally involved. Maybe this will explain."

Reaching for her throat Pam clasped the zipper of her dress and pulled it down to where it was almost below her breasts. She then folded the dress' neckline back until her throat and a tremendous amount of cleavage was exposed. Standing out starkly on her bared neck was the dark shape of her collar. Clearly visible was the empty ring hanging down in the center.

"Oh, I think I see," said Evan. "That is quite beautiful on you, your, ah, Master must be very proud of you."

"That shows what you don't know." Pam reached up and flicked the empty ring with a fingernail. "I don't have a tag. That means I don't have a master now."

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't be. It's not your fault and besides you didn't know. Well we can talk about this a little later but right now I need to go to the little girls' room."

"Oh," Cheri exclaimed, "so do I. Here, I'll go with you."

Both women stood up and made their way to the restroom. It wasn't surprising that every male head in the place practically swiveled off their necks trying to follow them as they went. One in particular watched with something more than male lustfulness and fantasy.

"Oh my god he's a doll, Cheri!" Pam gushed to her friend as they primped in the mirror next to each other. "He doesn't have a brother, does he?"

"I think I can safely say I'm sure he doesn't have a brother." Cheri grinned. "He is something special and I'm glad you like him. He sure seems to like you. I'm wondering if I should be getting jealous or not."

"Oh I think it would safe to say he's interested. I thought his eyes were going to pop out when I unzipped my top, but he was such a perfect gentleman even then. But even if I could get him interested I think that's all I would be able to do. I can tell he would never do anything to hurt you so, unless you wanted to share him, I don't think I would ever stand a chance.

"You wouldn't, would you?" Pam looked at Cheri out to the corner of her eye.

"I wouldn't want to what?"

"Share him with me, or maybe with us. Please don't be offended and certainly don't feel badly about saying no, but I want to be honest. I find you both very attractive, very exciting. The thought of being in bed with the two of you really turns me on."

"Ah, well, hmm, that's to say, I've never, ah..." Cheri was flabbergasted, unable to string together a coherent sentence. She knew she should come out and flat out say no, but that was the old Cheri talking. If she looked deep enough inside herself she had to admit the thought was very arousing.

"Oh don't say anything now. Like I said, you can say no and not hurt my feelings. In fact I hope we can still be friends no matter what you decide. But if sometime you want to try it... Well, I'll be here."

"I can't say what I feel right now, Pam," Cheri whispered to her. "I really like you and, well yes, I'm attracted to you also. But you know it's not up to me. For me Evan is the boss. I can ask but that doesn't mean he'll do it. I don't know what to say right now. Can we just leave it that I'll be thinking about it?"

"Oh course we can!" Pam leaned over and gave Cheri a quick kiss on the lips, nothing overtly sexual but firm enough to let her know the younger woman meant business. "Now don't you think we've left our precious escort alone long enough? You'd better watch it or some little bitch will come along and try to snap him up!"

Giggling Cheri said, "I think you're right!"

The ladies exited the restroom and made their way slowly back to the table. Soon after they left a figure put down a phone he had been holding to his ear and followed.

"Ah, my ladies have returned." Evan stood up as soon as he saw them coming back and held out a chair for Pam and after seating her, pulled out the other for Cheri.

"My ears were burning while you were gone. You girls weren't talking about me, now were you?"

"Oh my! You certainly have a Master's ego, that's for sure!" Pam laughed. "If you must know we were comparing the size of the cocks of our latest lovers."

"Pam!" Cheri had been about to take a sip of wine and almost choked. "We were not!"

"Well, then maybe we should," she said raising her eyebrows and looking at Evan expectantly.

"You women!" Evan tried to sound disgusted. "All you can think about is size. Don't you know it's not how deep the cut but how the tool is used that matters?" All three of them started laughing.

"You!" A deep voice resonated over Evan's shoulder.

Turning around Evan saw a man standing behind them, obviously looking directly at Pam.

"May I help you?" Evan inquired.

"Shut up you, little shit. I'm talking to the blonde bitch!" Glancing over at Pam he saw she was biting her lip and looking almost scared. Her hand went to her throat trying vainly to cover her collar. Smoothly Evan pushed his chair out and stood up, placing himself directly between Pam and this disagreeable stranger. He was slightly taller than Evan and a little broader in the shoulders, mid-twenties with long greasy looking hair and dressed in black leather from head to toe.

"Oh I don't think I'll do that. Now as you can see we are having dinner and we really wish to be left alone. So why don't you just go back to your own table and we can all get on with having a very nice evening."

"I said shut up, you little fuck. I'm claiming the bitch and she's coming with me!"

"Is there something I can help with, sirs?" The maître d' seemed to materialize at Evan's side.

"Why I do believe there is." Without taking his eyes off the stranger he reached in his pocket and then seeming to shake the maître d's hand whispered into his ear. The maître d's eyebrows elevated slightly and with a slight smile he raised his hand and sort of flicked his wrist.

"Sir," he said softly taking a step towards the interloper, "I believe it would be better if you just sat down. If not, then I'll have to ask you to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere without this little slit, pipsqueak. Now get your ass moving!"

"She's staying here with me." Evan said calmly. "Now please leave us alone."

"Yes, I'm afraid I must now insist you leave, sir," the maître d' said, calmly inserting himself in between the two men.

"And just who the hell do you think is going to make me? You? Don't make me laugh!"

"Me? Oh, I don't think that will be necessary. Ralph, will you escort our guest to the door?"

"Certainly, Mr. Martin." Materializing almost out of thin air was one of the largest men Evan had ever seen. Placing his hand on the stranger's[0] arm and squeezing, one could hear the leather squeal, a sure sign an immense amount of pressure was being applied. "Now if the gentleman will come with me."

Mr. Leather looked at Pam with what had to be a great deal of shock and blurted, "You're choosing him over me? I can't believe it."

Seeming to have regained her composure, Pam smiled thinly at him and said, "I accept his claim and submit willingly." Looking like a poleaxed steer, the intruder was hustled off by the man-mountain towards the exit.

"I am truly sorry for this interruption, sir and madams. We generally don't have problems with the, ah, coarser types, but we are a public establishment, you know, and regrettably it does happen sometimes."

"It's not your fault nor the establishment's. The fault is entirely that of one very rude individual. Thank you for your assistance, and please give my regards to Mr. Ralph."

"Oh I will, sir, and thank you for your understanding. Please enjoy your meal and please accept a dessert on the house for your troubles."

"Thank you, ah Mr. Martin? I think we will accept your kind offer."

After they sat down Pam turned to them and almost crying said, "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. I should have never exposed my collar in public. It's just I didn't expect anyone to be here that would do such a thing!"

"Of course it's not your fault! Don't be silly. It's just some asshole, maybe drunk, who created a scene."

"No, really it is my fault! You see by showing my collar without a tag it's like I asked for him to come over and claim me. I just didn't think about it since I was here with you two."

"So not having a tag is the problem?"

"Yes."

"Here," Evan worked at the cuff of his shirt and pulled off one of his cufflinks. It was a beautiful gold oval with as embossed 'E' in the middle. "This should hang on you ring fairly easily and now you can be tagged and hopefully prevent this nonsense from happening again. I suppose you could just cover it up again but it is so beautiful on you and the dress flatters you so much more when it's open. Here, will you allow me?"