Chains

Part 4

Not for those under 18 (or whatever the legal age for this sort of stuff is in your area). If you’re not that old, Boo! Go away now. If you are offended by graphic descriptions of sexual activities, especially non-consensual ones, then don’t read this. All characters and situations are fictional.

Copyright 2024 greyscribbler@yahoo.com

Archived on the Read Only Mind web site by permission of the author. This story may be downloaded for personal archiving as long as this notice is retained.

It was a coffee shop, light and airy and so Californian and Ashley could just smell the roasting beans even before she stepped inside.

She could smell the prices too, but if she got the job she’d be able to afford places like this and the coffee they served. Right now, staying in a backpacker hostel and hoping that one of her interviews paid off, she could barely afford a cup from a fast food joint.

She paused just inside the door, her eyes barely needing to adjust to the light, the walls of the place more glass than anything else. She wasn’t sure who she was supposed to be meeting. One of the investors, they’d said. Ashley knew how it went, especially with startups. It wasn’t just what you knew. It was how well you ‘fit’. Culture and personality and all those indefinable little things.

And the people fronting the money had more say than they probably should. She just hoped it wasn’t some guy who’d spend all the time leering at her. She’d heard the stories about Silicon Valley.

I really should have gotten a picture from them. Or at least a name.

Ashley’s eyes were caught by a waving hand, someone seated at one of the tables. She frowned, pointing at herself, unsure. The person the hand belonged to didn’t look at all like what she’d been expecting. No middle-aged guy in a suit or maybe someone slightly younger, their outfit a picture of very carefully curated dishevelment. Instead, it was a woman, blonde like her and maybe even younger. For a moment Ashley wondered if the person waving at her was an assistant. The other woman was certainly attractive enough, beautiful even. Any angel investor would love someone like that hanging around them. But then Ashley kicked herself. She shouldn’t make assumptions, especially sexist ones. And the woman’s casual outfit, silk blouse and tailored slacks, was too expensive for an assistant.

The woman was beckoning her over.

“Ashley Vaughan?” the woman asked, waving at a seat opposite hers.

“Ah, yes,” Ashley said sitting down. “And you are?”

“Alice Hewett,” the younger woman smiled. “Thank you for coming.”

The woman didn’t sound Californian. Maybe New England, if Ashley had to guess. Old money. That would at least explain why she had the funds to invest. But the girl looked barely out of her teens, early twenties at best. Ashley hoped this wasn’t a case of Daddy throwing money at a favoured child to see what would happen. She didn’t want to join something that might collapse if its chief investor got bored two weeks later. Still, she should at least give it a chance.

“Uh, that’s okay. No problem at all. I’m not really, uh…”

“Sure what we’re doing here?” The other woman laughed. “Don’t worry. I just like to meet all the potential hires.”

Just what Ashley had thought. She wasn’t about to relax though. The woman didn’t seem particularly judgemental, but even so. There was something about her eyes, clear and blue and sparkling. Even with the woman’s easy smile Ashley could feel those eyes assessing her.

“So,” the woman continued. “Let’s get you a coffee and you can tell me a little about yourself.”

So Ashley did. Once she had her coffee in her hands. She’d agonised over the choice. Simple, and look dull? Go for something extravagant and try to look sophisticated? In the end she’d just decided to be herself and go for a latte. “Um, what would you like to know?” she asked, both hands around the cup. For all she knew it was last decent coffee she’d have for a while.

“Whatever you’d like,” the woman replied with a casual shrug. “Perhaps start with your education. I know where it was. But what was it like?”

Ashley could tell her about that. Teachers she remembered. What her favourite courses had been. Snippets of knowledge. Not surprisingly, the woman steered the conversation away from that last one. “I’m not really technical, you know,” she said, a self-deprecating smile on her lips. “Perhaps some more about yourself?” How Ashley had spent her time when she wasn’t studying. What she liked to do, films and books and other things. Ashley was surprised at how easy Alice was to talk to. She could see how the woman might be a successful investor, despite her youth. The your attention was just drawn to herself. Made you believe. Ashley could listen to that voice all day. There was a tenor to it, almost musical, wrapping around you.

“It’s quite a move, coming to California. Leaving your friends and family behind. Quite brave on your part.”

“I’ve always wanted to live here,” Ashley replied. It was only the truth, there was something about the place, the freedom. But she liked that Alice had called her brave. Something about the woman, her voice, made you want to please her. Agree with her. In books Ashley had read about characters described as honey-tongued. Ashley had never actually met anyone like that. Not until today. Not until now. But the woman’s voice was warm and sweet and just like honey. “It’s um, a nice place.”

God, that sounds stupid. Ashley wanted to say something more insightful. But that honey was seeping into her brain, soothing it, coating it.

“Have you made any friends while you’ve been here?”

“No, not really.” There were a couple of girls from the hostel that she’d gone out for drinks with a time or two. But they were here on holidays and would be going home soon.

“Maybe you’ll make some friends at work.”

That would be nice. She’d like that. Making a connection. Ashley frowned. She could feel something on her hand. Like something was being drawn on the back of it. She looked down. When had Alice taken her hand? She couldn’t remember that at all. The woman was holding her hand, Alice’s thumb slowly, ever so slowly, drawing a pattern on the back of Ashley’s hand.

A spiral.

Ashley watched as that thumb slowly made its way over her hand, the sensations gentle and soothing and just something else. As that thumb made its way across her skin, circling around and around.

“Ashley,” the woman commanded.

Ashley looked up. She could still feel that thumb on her hand, the pattern it was making. She could almost see it in her mind, circling so slowly, around and around.

“So comfortable to sit there. Listening to me.”

It was. Ashley could just sit there and listen.

“You like listening to me. So warm and comforting and safe. You want to listen to me.”

Ashley did. Listening to Alice made her feel safe and warm. It felt so good, it banished any thoughts of worrying about what the other woman was doing, however strange it was.

“You can feel my thumb on the back of your hand. It feels so good, so comforting. Can you tell me what it’s drawing?”

“A spiral.” Ashley had never known that a shape could feel so good. Warm and comforting, like the woman’s voice.

“That’s so good, Ashley. You’re very clever. I like that. Yes. A spiral. Can you see it in your mind, going around and around?”

“Yes.” Of course she could see it. The spiral on her hand was circling, ever circling, and the one in her mind was too, so of course she could see the spiral in her mind. Both it and the one on her hand were circling, around and around before disappearing.

Like her thoughts were circling and disappearing.

“Just thinking of that spiral, nothing else, as it goes around and around. As you fall deeper into the spiral, into its centre.”

Alice’s voice flowed over Ashley, into her, blotting out everything else.

“Watching the spiral, listening to me, Letting everything else slip away. All you have to do is watch the spiral, not worrying about anything, relaxing, letting everything go. Each time it circles you go deeper.”

It was like she was falling, into something warm and soft and oh so comforting.

“You like watching the spiral. You like listening to my voice. It makes you feel so good.”

It did. That voice was so wonderful. Warm and sweet and something you could drown in. And the spiral on her hand, the spiral in her mind, just felt so good, delicious tingles shooting through Ashley, her toes curling.

“You want to listen to my voice, as it guides you deeper, forgetting everything else as the spiral goes around and around.”

Ashley just listened. Alice said other things, but Ashley couldn’t remember what, simply losing herself in that voice, in that spiral, the spiral on her hand, the one in her mind. That honeyed voice coating her mind. And the delicious tingles in her body, things inside her warm and wet and oh-so-sweet. Places inside Ashley melting and slippery and other places tight and hard and aching.

All for that voice.

“You’ll remember that spiral deep in your subconscious. Even though you won’t realise it, the spiral will be in your mind. Going around and around. You’ll long to see it again. Feel it again. And you will. When I tell you to.”

Ashley would. Alice told her other things too. She’d remember those as well.

“Now awake.”

Ashley blinked. Stared at her hand. Had Alice been? No, that didn’t make any sense. Her hand wasn’t holding Ashley’s, her thumb wasn’t on the back of Ashley’s hand, drawing a…? What?

Alice’s hands were on her side of the table. One holding her own coffee cup.

Ashley couldn’t remember what she’d been thinking. Something about her hand and a shape?

“Well, I’ve enjoyed our chat,” Alice smiled. “But I do have to be going.”

Something in Ashley baulked at that. She’d have liked to spend more time with the other woman. Maybe, if they did offer her the job, she’d get to see Alice again.

“But thank you,” the younger woman continued. “You’ll be hearing from us. And I think it might be good news.”

The disappointment vanished. It sounded like she was going to get the job. And that meant she might see Alice again. Ashley shook her head. Why would that matter? It wasn’t like she’d see much of her. And Ashley wasn’t in to women. She didn’t feel like that, did she? It was just…

“Oh, and if you want another coffee, it’ll be on my tab.”

Ashley blinked. She wasn’t in that coffee shop in California. She was lying on her bed, in Sam’s apartment. The dream played out in her mind again. It didn’t make any sense. Yes, she’d met the company’s chief investor before they’d offered her the job. In that coffee shop. Alice hadn’t taken her hand. Hadn’t drawn a spiral on it.

Like the spiral from that other dream.

“Hypnotised girls are obedient,” Ashley whispered.

Why had she said that? Ashley had no idea.

“Obedience is rewarded.”

Had she been blank-eyed, in that dream of the coffee shop? As dream-Alice had drawn that spiral on her hand? As empty as the eyes of the maid-slave in the mirror?

“The reward is pleasure.”

Ashley was wet between her legs, so slick. So needing. When had her hand slipped between her legs, touching herself just so?

“Pleasure deepens m-my hypnosis. Oh God.”

Ashley shuddered as she came, her fingers so deep inside herself. It made no sense. Why were images like that turning her on? And weren’t the audio tracks Susan had sent her supposed to stop her dreaming like that? They’d been so soothing, as she drifted off to sleep, the gentle murmuring of waves, the sigh of a breeze. Other sounds, layers on layers, wafting her to oblivion. The earbuds where still in place, the sounds washing over her, beckoning her back to the realm of sleep.

Had there been other dreams? Beside that weird twisting of a memory of something from almost a year ago? She could just touch other dreams. Dreams she couldn’t remember. Maybe the sounds were doing their job. She felt so sleepy. She wanted to sleep.

Just sleep, and listen to the sounds.

“Have you been listening to the relaxation sounds Tania sent you?”

It was day now, Ashley at her next appointment with her counsellor.

“Yes,” Ashley confirmed. “Every night.”

Susan looked pleased with that. “Good. And have you been having troubles with any dreams?”

Ashley shook her head. “No. No dreams at all.” Was that right? There was a fleeting memory. Of something to do with a coffee shop. And a shape. No. Ashley couldn’t remember anything. If she’d had a dream she was sure that she’d remember it.

“I’m glad to hear it. So how are you feeling?”

“Better,” Ashley shrugged. “I mean it’s still, you know. Work and everything. But better.”

“One step at a time,” Susan smiled. “But just to confirm, you have been listening to the tracks every night?”

Ashley frowned. Hadn’t the counsellor already asked that? And why the odd emphasis on one word? “Yes, I have.”

“Yes.” There was something sparkling in Susan’s eyes. Something dark. “I can see that you have. That would explain why you just stood up.”

“What?” Ashley realised that she was standing up. Not just that, her body was rigidly straight, her arms behind her back, hands holding opposite elbows. “What the?”

“Remember the sounds. Remember what they told you. Remember how deep you have to go.”

Ashley’s eyes widened. She remembered now. What had been behind those sounds, behind the wind and the waves.  There’d been words. So many words. Guiding her. Telling her what to do. Telling her to go down and down and down. Into trance.

Hypnotising her.

Ashley’s mind fell away.

“You really are a pretty one,” Susan sighed, gazing over her desk at the entranced girl. She wanted to rise up herself. Walk over to Ashley. Kiss those wonderful lips. Let her hands glide over those oh-so-tempting curves. Maybe cup the girl’s breasts. She could just imagine what it would feel like to take one of those nipples between her teeth. Graze so slowly along its length. What would the girl taste like? It would have to be something sweet.

Need sang between the counsellor’s legs.

But she wasn’t allowed to do any of that. This was a prize for Goddess, not for her.

Her task was simply to begin the preparation of Goddess’ next slave. She picked up the small torch.

“Ashley, look at the light.”

Something clenched deep inside the counsellor at the empty look in the blonde’s eyes.

“Watch the light, as its turns on, as it turns off. Off, your thoughts slip away. On, your eyes fixed on it. Aware of nothing but the light and my voice. Off. With each flick of the light you go deeper into trance. On, hearing nothing but my voice. Off, your mind emptier and emptier. On, so relaxed, so empty. Off, deeper and deeper, all your thoughts drifting away.”

Over and over she took the girl deeper. There was no need to rush. She’d made sure there were no more appointments for the day.

“On, so empty. Off, so deep in trance. Slave, are you ready to receive instructions?”

“This slave is ready to receive instructions,” Ashley confirmed, the words slipping from her lips.

Susan considered the girl for a moment. She wasn’t really a slave, not yet. Oh, she was so deep in trance that there wouldn’t be a thought in her head. But there wouldn’t be that instinctive, eager, obedience that marked a true slave, not yet. Goddess would see to that.

Susan just had to give her Goddess the opportunity. And make sure Ashley was ready.

“Strip.”

Susan wasn’t allowed to touch Goddess’ possessions, not without permission.

But she could look.

Ashley obeyed without question, her movements languid, unhurried, as she undid her blouse, shucking the garment from her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground, her bra following. Susan was tempted to have the girl to pause there, the sight of those breasts, firm and beautifully curved, those nipples, just waiting, begging to be sucked, sending a shudder through her. Her own breasts ached. Her centre was crying out, needy and wanting and oh so wet. She wanted to stroke it. Wanted to feel her fingers graze along her labia, tease herself, sink inside as she gazed at the beauty before her.

She couldn’t. She wasn’t allowed to do that. She was Goddess’ possession and she wasn’t allowed to touch Goddess’ possessions without permission. The only sexual contact she was allowed was Tania’s tongue and lips on her pussy. Susan knew that. Accepted it. A moan escaped her lips. Her own denied need was just another way to obey. Another way to show her devotion.

She revelled in it.

She was a good slave.

It didn’t stop her wanting.

Ashley hadn’t paused, stepping out of her jeans now, her long legs leaving the counsellor salivating. Susan’s breath caught at the sight of Ashley’s denuded centre as the girl lowered her panties, thumbs hooked in either side. Stepped out of them in turn. Would Goddess like the way the girl had prepared herself? Perhaps.

It would certainly make Ashley’s arousal obvious.

“Play with yourself.”

Susan’s thighs squeezed together, the most she was allowed, as Ashley’s hands, graceful and unhurried, moved to obey. One hand caressing a breast, fingers gliding back and forth over her nipples. The other hand stroking her lower lips, her forefinger circling her nub.

“So deep.” Susan had to force herself to concentrate, the sight before her so distracting, a moan escaping Ashley’s lips as one finger dipped inside, the girl obviously so wet, so ready, dew sparkling on her lower lips. “Feeling the pleasure. You love being hypnotised. You need to be hypnotised. Feel the pleasure that being hypnotised brings. Feel the pleasure that obeying brings. Deeper and deeper. More and more aroused. So deep. So good. So obedient.”

Watching the girl pleasure herself was enthralling, If Susan wasn’t careful she could slip into trance herself. But that wasn’t the point. This had a purpose.

Everything a good slave did had a purpose.

“You will listen. You will remember. You will obey.”

She had instructions to give Ashley.

The girl would obey.

Ashley looked around in confusion. She was standing at Tania’s desk, making her next appointment. She couldn’t remember how she’d got there. She’d been in her session with Susan…

It didn’t matter.

It had been a good session.

She was doing what she was supposed to do.

Ashley shrugged. Everything was fine. “See you next time,” she smiled.

“Sure,” the girl smiled back.

As Ashley turned away, the phone on Tania’s desk rang. As she exited the suite she heard the girl hurry out of her chair and into Susan’s office.

Must have been something important.

Probably about another patient, Ashley decided. Susan did give good advice.

“I’m taking a few days off.” It was the next day, another video call with Lauren and Mei. “Susan suggested it might do me some good. And I have hardly had a weekend since I got here.”

A look of concentration, as if she was weighing up options, flashed across Lauren’s features. Then her lips twisted into a wry smile. “Well, if she thinks so. If we’re going to pay her that much we may as well listen to her advice. Did she say how long?”

“Three days,” Ashley replied, without hesitation. She was sure that was what Susan had said. Even if she couldn’t quite remember the conversation. She was sure that it had been at her last appointment. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t quite remember it. Even just the idea of a few days off was making her feel better.

It was what she had to do.

“Okay. We can cope with that. I suppose. I’ll need to make some arrangements. And I want you to go over everything with Mei so she knows where you’re up to on the project. Have you told the clients?”

“No. I wanted to clear it with you first.”

“Okay. You better tell them then. Today.  I’ll leave you and Mei to sort out everything. I need to arrange some other things.” Lauren paused, tapping a pen on the table in front of her. “You better be refreshed when you get back. We’ll need to make up for any time lost.”

Ashley just nodded as Lauren stood up and left, leaving her with Mei.

The clients weren’t happy, complaining about lost time and missed opportunities. Ashley let it wash over her. Even if she didn’t put in extra hours when she came back she knew she’d be able to work harder.

Samantha wasn’t happy either.

“What do you mean, you’re going away? I’m not seeing that much of you as it is. I want us to do stuff. Hey, can I come too?”

Tempting as the idea was, Ashley had to refuse. “Sorry, but I need this time just for me. I promise we’ll do somethings together when I come back. It’s only a few days.”

Her sister didn’t look entirely satisfied. “Where are you going anyway?”

“A place in the Adirondacks.” Ashley knew that. Susan had made all the arrangements.

“Oh,” Samantha sighed. “Well, it is nice up there. And your company is paying for everything?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure I can’t come?”

“Sorry,” Ashley laughed. “The booking’s only for one. Where would you sleep? But if you need a counsellor you should try mine, She’s really good.”

“Eh, maybe,” her sister shrugged. “But I’m holding you to that promise when you get back.”

“Sure,” Ashley agreed. Everything would be better when she returned. She knew that.

Even if she did wake up again that night. There’d been no dreams. Just the sounds from her earbuds. The wind and the waves and the other sounds, just behind them. Out of reach. But there.

Getting out of bed, Ashley picked up her phone and headed quietly to her sister’s bedroom.  Samantha lay sprawled on her bed.  Even mouth half-open she looked so pretty.

Ashley took one photo. Then another. Then turned and left the room. A few flicks of her fingers and the photos were on the way to Susan. She could have sent other pictures of her sister. Ones taken when Samantha was awake.

But these ones, taken when her sister was asleep. So vulnerable. So defenceless. It meant something, Ashley taking photos of her sister like that. And then sending them to someone else. It meant something about Ashley. She didn’t think what. She wasn’t supposed to.

She deleted the photos. And the record of her sending the messages.

Ashley went back to bed.

And forgot about what she’d done.

In the morning, Ashlyne said goodbye to her sister and picked up her hire car. She set off, following the directions Tania had sent to her. Out of the city and after a couple of hours the buildings started to drop away until she was surrounded by trees and rolling hills.

This was the right thing to do. She knew that.

The directions led her to a private road. A building that had to be over a hundred years old, sparkling in the sun. White windows and yellow painted walls and grey slate roof. A nice place for a getaway. Ashley knew it was right place.

Even if there weren’t any other cars in the parking spaces.

Ashley fetched her suitcase from the car, lugged it up the front stairs and into the entryway, an airy space with polished wooden floors.

A pretty young woman was standing behind the desk, smart grey uniform and dark hair tied back.

“Hi?” Ashley offered, letting her suitcase rest beside her. “I think you’ve got a reservation for me? Ashley Vaughan.”

“Miss Vaughan,” the woman smiled, nodding. “Oh yes, we’re ready for you.”

(To be continued)