Chpt. 1 CPOV:
10 years later
"Christian, Mark wants to see us," Sam says as soon as I walk out of my room.
"What's up?" I ask.
"Not sure, he's asked a few of us to meet him in the observation area of room 3," Sam answers.
I follow Sam to the observation area which is really just a small, narrow enclosed hallway with a large one way window that looks into one of the rooms. This type of set up is perfect for those who like to watch and those enjoy being watched. As soon as I walk in I take note of who is in the room with me. Mark and Sawyer, the two owners of Time Out are here along with Sam, myself, Reynolds and Smith. We all served together in the Marines at one point or another and have been members here since the day it opened.
"I know you're all wondering why I've asked you here," Mark begins.
"It crossed my mind," Reynolds jokes.
"Nothing I'm about to say leaves this room, understood?" Mark voice leaves no room for debate not that any of us would argue. We all nod in agreement before he continues. "Two months ago, a buddy in the FBI contacted me requesting my assistance. Without going into details, because I don't know any, the FBI needs to send two agents undercover as a BDSM couple. I don't know where they're sending the couple, except that it's not local to Virginia."
"What did they need from you?" Reynolds asks.
"They asked me to train the two FBI agents. My task was to ensure that they could pass any test; they needed to blend into the community and not stand out. There could be no indication that they were anything but into our lifestyle."
"Tell me these aren't the two agents they want to send in?" I ask observing the man and woman in next room.
"They are," he sighs. "I need you all to watch them and tell me what you see. We've been training here for two hours per day every day for the last month."
A tall light haired man is standing over a petite brunette who is kneeling on the floor with her hair covering her face. It's clear to anyone, including Mark, that she hasn't submitted to him. That she hasn't given her submission to the man standing over her. I can't tell if she's angry, frustrated or if she even hates the man next to her but her fingers are practically digging into her thighs instead of being relaxed. The guy is pacing the floor, clearly picking up on her lack of submission. He orders her to stand up and go to the spanking bench, which she reluctantly does. The entire time her head is down, with her beautiful brown hair covering her face. When she stands I take in her beautiful body; her full breasts are covered in a black cotton bra which matches her basic panties. I'm not surprised by the outfit given that she's an FBI agent and is not here to enjoy the lifestyle. Although that probably doesn't mean she couldn't enjoy it while she was here.
The thought has my dick stirring which I immediately need to put an end to. I know why it's responding…the woman in the other room reminds me too much of her. I shake my head, needing to keep my thoughts on the situation in front of me. Sam asked for our help and our opinions, that's what I'm here for – I remind myself.
The man leads the woman by the hand to the spanking bench; when he touches her back to urge her to bend over her body tenses. Whether that's because she's about to be spanked or for another reason it's not clear. What is clear though is that will be a dead giveaway that they're both new to the lifestyle. I'm disappointed when she faces the wall opposite of the mirror so I can't watch her reaction as the man behind her slaps her ass for the first time. The man lacks confidence; it's as if he's being too cautious with her. After five slaps to her ass which is barely pink, he announces that they're done.
"You've been working with both of them for a month?" Smith asks.
"Yes," Mark sighs. "As you can see we're not making any progress. He doesn't embrace his inner dom, if he even has one and she…well…she-"
"She doesn't trust him," I interrupt.
"No, I don't think she does," Sam agrees.
"So have the FBI send in two other agents," Reynolds suggests.
"It's not an option," Sawyer speaks up for the first time. "The FBI intends to send two undercover agents in in two weeks."
"They'd rather send two people in who are going to be called out the moment they walk in rather than delaying their mission?" I ask surprised.
"Unfortunately yes," Sawyer says. "I don't know the details of this mission, but I know it's part of a much larger mission that is time sensitive. They are confident that if called out the agents will be safe and be able to leave without concern."
"You're not convinced," I say rather than question.
"No," Sawyer says firmly. "As I said I don't know the details of the larger mission, but something tells me this is serious."
"So you have two weeks to whip these two into the perfect dom and sub," I sigh.
"Correct," Mark confirms.
"What do you need us for?" Smith asks.
"I need one of you to work with her," he nods to the female who is kneeling in the middle of the now empty room. "I'm hoping if we work with them together that we'll make more progress."
"I'm out," Smith says. "I leave for vacation tomorrow."
"I could probably rearrange a few things to spend a couple days with her each week, but I can't do every day," Reynolds says.
I'm about to refuse, I don't need or want to pick up a pet project even if it's for the FBI. Could I take time off of work, sure. Do I want to? No. But then she looks up, her eyes finding mine as if she could see right through the mirror and everything else ceases to exist.
It's fucking her.
"I'll do it," I say not even noticing if anyone else was talking.
What the fuck is Ana doing here? What the fuck is Ana doing trying to pretend to be a sub? What the fuck is Ana doing in the FBI?
"You're sure?" Sam asks me, clearly surprised because he knows I hate pet projects.
"Yeah, I'm sure," I don't even look at him. My eyes haven't left her. It's been ten fucking years but I would know her anywhere. As if I could ever forget her.
"Christian, you're really helping me out of bind," Mark says.
"It's not a problem," I finally tear away my gaze from her. "I can rearrange my schedule and have Roz cover things at the office for the next two weeks. We'll need more than two hours a day though if we're going to make enough progress."
"Understood," he nods. "I've already spoken to the agent overseeing the case and he's cleared both of their schedules for the next two weeks. However many hours a day you need to work with her she will be here."
All fucking day…all fucking night….
"Perfect," Mark confirms. "Our goal will be to reintroduce the two roughly 10 to 12 days from now. But I'll touch base with you throughout her training period. Let's go meet your new sub."
I eagerly follow Mark into the room, Ana's eyes are back on the floor when we walk into the room. I have no idea what the fuck I was thinking agreeing to train her to be a sub for another dom, even if it is all pretend. The thought of another man touching her makes me want to fucking vomit. The "dom" who just slapped her…I want to go punch him in the gut and tell him he's never going to touch Ana again. All I know is that when I realized it was Ana, there was no way I was going to let another dom train her.
"Ms. Steele," I knew it was her the moment I saw her but hearing Mark say her name diminishes the slightest doubt that my mind was playing on me. "I would like you to meet the new dom who is going to be training you for your mission."
She stands but her eyes remain glued to the floor; it takes everything in me not lift her chin so that I can see her eyes again. Her eyes that haunted my dreams for so long, the ones that when we were together told me everything I ever needed to know. The ones that reassured me that everything was going to be okay even when everything was fucking falling apart. The ones that showed me how much she loved me.
"Ms. Steele," the moment she hears my voice her head snaps up. Her eyes find mine, a mixture of anger, hatred and surprise are in them.
"What…are you doing here?" she hisses at me.
Mark's eyes bounce between me and her obviously trying to figure out what our history is.
"You two know each other?" he asks.
"Yes," I answer quickly.
"No," she argues.
"Well then, this should be interesting," he says obviously not happy with the situation.
"It won't be an issue," I assure him. I have no idea how that's not going to be possible, but I'll do anything in my power to ensure there isn't another dom training her for his mission.
"I won't…I can't work with him-"
"You don't have a choice," Mark interrupts her. "You have two weeks left to learn to be the perfect submissive and you're nowhere near ready."
"There has to be someone else-"
"You don't get to decide," he snaps. "The agent in charge of this case has given me full control of your training and if I decide that Christian is the best dom to train you then you'll work with him. You will not attempt to top from the bottom!"
"I don't trust him, I'll never trust him," she argues.
"That's your issue. You didn't trust Simpson either and look where that's gotten us for the last month," he points out. "You have your safe words and while you may not trust Christian, I do. If you use your safe word, he'll honor it."
"You'll begin your training with Christian now and continue at the schedule he sets. Training will no longer be two hours a day and before you argue, this has been cleared with Donaldson for both you and Simpson. If you have any hope of your first undercover mission being successful, you're going to need to work your ass off with Christian. You'll do whatever he says; before you interrupt he'll have a full list of your limits and will not push your hard limits. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Ana answers softly looking at the floor.
"Listen Ana," she glances up at the sudden change in his voice tone. "I know you've done your research on BDSM, but reading and living the lifestyle are two very different things. Your testing indicates you have strong submissive tendencies; you need to find a way to embrace those tendencies. When you give your submission to someone, you are giving them a gift however as I explained when we first met, you maintain all the power in this lifestyle. You need to trust that your dom knows what's best for you and will not take you too far out of your comfort zone. The goal for your training is pleasure; sure you'll receive the punishments when warranted but it won't be anything you can't tolerate that I promise you. You have two weeks left Ms. Steele, I suggest you learn everything you possibly can from Christian. Whatever your past might be, either find a way to let that past help your mission or push it to the side so it doesn't interfere with the mission and then you can choose to address it later."
"Yes sir," she says.
"Christian, I've reserved room 21 for the duration of your training time with Ms. Steele. No one else will be using that room," he says to me.
"Perfect," it'll make it easier having a private room at least at first. "Let's go Ana."
She grabs a large white robe from the door before following in step behind me; I'm pleased to know that she's aware of at least some of the rules, noting that she does not speak as we walk to the room. I purposely take the long way around, making it a point to walk through the main area; it's early so there aren't many people here yet, but there's a few scenes occurring nonetheless. I can't see her reaction since she's behind me, but I need her to see what she could be doing wherever she's going to go undercover at. As we walk passed Reynolds and a female sub, I picture Ana as the sub strapped to the spanking bench with a gag in her mouth as some other guy pounds into her. I ball my fists in an effort not to pull Reynolds away, reminding myself that it isn't Ana strapped to that table. But it could be.
We make our way to the room, which I unlock using the electronic card that Mark handed me as we left. I close and lock the door behind us before checking that the observation window is in the lock position; eventually Ana will need to be observed by others and at some point will need to take part in public scenes, but we're not where near ready for that. Right now I just want to know what the fuck she's thinking getting involved in something like this.
"Let's sit down and go over a few things before we begin," I gesture to the loveseat. "Ana…I don't know what to say-"
"Stop," she interrupts quickly. "I've thought about what he said, we're going to put…our past behind us and not focus on it. I'm here for a mission nothing else."
"Ana, it's going to be an elephant in the room until we talk about it-"
"No! If you can't let it go to train me, then you go tell Mark right now and he'll find someone else to train me-"
"That's not happening."
"Then forget our past, forget everything you think you know about me and focus on training me."
"Forget our past? Like it's that simple?!"
"Apparently for you it is."
FUCK
"Ana-"
"Are we doing this or what?"
"Fine. I'll let it go; for now. For the record, I think we need to talk about it. Until you're ready, we'll focus on the mission. I'll train you so that in two weeks, you'll be fully prepared to submit to Simpson for wherever you're being sent. But, if at any point you want to talk about what happened ten years ago, all you need to do is ask."
"Fine."
"Let's talk about the mission. I know you can't give me details, but I need to know what is expected of you when you're there."
"Expected of me?" she asks in a small voice.
"As a submissive when you're undercover. Will you engage in public scenes? Will you have sex with multiple partners? If so, will you scene with men and women?"
"WHAT?! No! Nothing like that."
"BDSM is like a spectrum, some like 24/7 total power exchange whereas some practice power exchange only in the bedroom. Like in any relationship, you have some people who are monogamous and others that have more open relationships. BDSM is no different; you'll have couples who are exclusive while you'll have others who like to play with other members."
"I'm only supposed to be a submissive with Simpson; there won't be any…sharing," she pales at the word.
"Okay," although I'm pleased I still cringe at the thought of Simpson fucking her.
"We're hoping to avoid actually having sex with each other if possible," she adds quietly.
"You're going into the BDSM community but won't be having sex?" I clarify.
"Right. The idea is that we can…play in public, but won't actually have sex."
It shouldn't but hearing that Simpson won't actually be fucking her pleases me. How sick is that?
"Well, it'll be tricky, but I suppose it's possible."
"That's our hope," she says. "Simpson is happily married and expecting a baby. And I…well I'm seeing someone-"
"And how does he feel about you going undercover for this mission?"
"He understands it's my job."
"Really?"
He's going to let her fucking walk into a BDSM club with another man? Hell would have to freeze over before I let her do something like that. Hell I would tie her to the bed, keeping her there until she agreed that this ideas was fucking crazy.
"How does your wife feel about you training me?"
"I'm not married," I grind out.
"Oh."
"I'm going to step out and grab a few bottles of water, when I return I want you kneeling in position without any clothes on."
"Naked?" she gasps.
"Yes, typically the sub is nude during scenes. Although occasionally, a dom will request she wear certain outfits to enhance a scene."
"We've…we've been allowed to keep our undergarments on while we've been training. To help…to keep things less awkward between us. We have to go back to being coworkers when this is all done."
"The problem is, what happens when you arrive…wherever you're going? You're going to standout if you continue to scene in cotton panties and a cotton bra. You need to be comfortable being nude in front of him, me…hell in front of dozens of other people if need be. You come across as uncomfortable being nude in front of your dom and they're going to see right through you."
"I suppose."
"Ana…what are you doing in the FBI?"
"I work in the data analysis department, focusing on financial data."
"What the hell are they thinking putting you undercover in a sex club?" Who the FUCK approved something like this?
"I…I wanted to see if I was cut out for field work," she shrugs. "My supervisor thought this would be a good opportunity because there's limited risk involved."
Limited risk my ass. I don't know what she's walking into but I guarantee it's more of a risk than I would feel comfortable with her walking into.
"What are you doing in sex club Christian?"
"When you're ready to discuss that elephant in the room Ana, we'll talk about why I'm here."