Beth stuck her head around the bedroom door. "Lonnie? Can I talk to you a moment?"
"Sure…" Lon shifted his attention from Teela and headed for the door, passing Sally, who smiled shyly at him as he passed. "What’s up?" he asked when Beth turned to face him in the living room.
"Lonnie, I had a talk with Sally, and I’m pretty sure I understand where she’s coming from," Beth replied. "But she doesn’t have the concepts, so I figured I’d better butt in and try to explain."
"Okay…" Lon tossed his hair back. What the fuck? he wondered.
Beth sucked in a breath. "Sally has probably told you this, but it hasn’t really sunk in. She wants you to run things — more or less completely."
"Huh?"
"There is a term for it — it’s kind of a lifestyle choice," Beth amplified. "Girls like us — the low self-esteem set, in particular — can drift toward it, but Sally isn’t drifting, really — she’s made up her mind. She wants you to control your relationship — totally, basically."
Lon frowned. "What about crap like this? What if I tell her she should suck Terence’s dick and she doesn’t want to?"
"Well, that’s it, in a nutshell," Beth explained. "It’s irrelevant whether she wants to or not — she’s gonna do it. In fact, she wants you to tell her to!"
"What?"
"It’s a test, sort of," Beth explained. "She wants to prove her obedience --her commitment. You can tell her not to, and she’ll obey — but it won’t be much of a test. Or you can tell her to go do it, and she can prove that she’s obedient to you by blowing him — which IS a test…"
"Wow…" Lon mused, "That’s … something…"
"Yeah," Beth agreed, "It is. Like I said, it’s a lifestyle choice. She wants to put herself in your hands to do — literally — whatever you want with her. The flip side is responsibility — if you tell her to do something, and then you find out you don’t like it, you can’t blame HER, because it’s YOUR FAULT! You understand?"
"Well, sort of," Lon stewed. "What if I want to do a lot of stuff she doesn’t like?"
Beth sighed. "I really don’t know much of a discussion we can get into about this — it’s a VERY deep subject — but unless you two agree that certain things are taboo, she has two options — she can do those things, thereby proving her commitment to you and the relationship, or she can bail." She locked eyes with her favorite young man in the world with the exception of her son, and added, "If I were you, I wouldn’t make too many things taboo, either — it weakens your position, something NEITHER of you wants."
"I don’t understand."
"Sweetie, she wants you to be in charge. That’s BE in charge, not ACT LIKE you’re in charge. That means that she EXPECTS you to do what YOU want, not ask her what SHE wants!" Beth explained. "I know it’s weird, but trust me, she is going to WANT you to push her around some. In fact, she may act up, occasionally — maybe MORE than occasionally — and when she does, she’ll be testing YOU to see if you’re strong enough to put her in her place!"
"It’s all real confusing," Lon mused.
"You may not be able to do it," Beth counseled. "A lot of guys can’t. You’re gonna have to be hard sometimes — set standards and enforce them, without exception. Can you hit her?"
"WHAT?"
"Can you hit her — knowing she WANTS you to, and that you’re perfectly safe from the cops BECAUSE she wants you to? Spankings, say — something structured, not just displays of temper," Beth amplified. "For instance, you set a rule that she washes the dishes, for example, every night. One night, she doesn’t do it, and she gives you a load of crap over it when you press her on it. Can you punish her? Can you put her over your knee and spank her?" Beth cocked her head. "There’s a joker in the deck, here. She may find spankings to be erotic — and you may, too!"
"Jeez, I dunno, Beth," Lon replied, worried. "She’s as big as I am…"
Beth grinned from ear to ear. "That’s the beauty of it! You’ll know you’re doing right when she puts up little or nothing in the way of resistance. If she fights like a demon, you have a problem on your hands, but if she farts around and does everything half-assed and begs and pleads, you’re on firm ground … All YOU have to do is be firm! VERY firm! Can you be firm with her?"
"This sounds — I dunno — too good to be true! Are you sure?" Lon asked.
"Pretty sure," Beth agreed. "Think about that look she gets on her face when she’s waiting for you to make a decision. That’s what made me suspect…"
"I’m gonna flop around a lot…"
"Both of you can come to me for a perspective," Beth offered. "I’ve been there. Sally doesn’t appear to want to get into the deep end of things, but they tend to escalate. One of the weird things about this kind of lifestyle is the contradictions — she won’t like being beaten, but she’ll want it, anyway … Humiliation is big, too — it’s a tool that leaves no visible marks, but…"
Lon frowned. "If I have her suck Terence, that’s probably humiliating…"
"Uh huh. Probably is," Beth agreed. She eyed Lon, "So?"
"Yeah, I get it." Lon nodded.
"Now, there are probably things you can do that WILL drive her away — but they’re gonna be tough to find. One thing YOU need to do is realize that control is in YOUR hands — if you go wild, you may not like the results! These things tend to escalate over time, anyway — what was a challenge to her last week isn’t this week, you know? But if you go nuts right away, the top end is tough to work in. You need to control YOURSELF or you won’t be able to control HER properly!" Beth advised.
"What’s next?" Lon asked.
"You two need to talk. YOU need to be firm — more or less tell her — not ask her — what she wants. If she can surface any boundaries, take a look at them — but don’t roll over right away. I know this sounds weird, but a lot of times a submissive will TELL you she wants nothing to do with what is actually a favorite fantasy…"
Lon rubbed his face. "This is gonna be pretty damned weird…"
"Maybe, but you get your own little sex toy out of the deal…" Beth pointed out.
"There is that…" Lon agreed. The situation was a dream come true — but he might end up wishing he’d been careful what he wished for…
"I’ll go get her," Beth offered, and headed out.
In the meantime, Teela was facing heavy going with Rick. There were too many embarrassments, too many distractions, and Rick had cum too recently … All of these things could have been contributors — all Rick knew was that Teela’s efforts were wonderful — but not enough. That made him feel bad, which didn’t help his ability to enjoy what she was doing…
Teela’s jaw ached. Her throat hurt. She’d backed off the deep-throat thing after proving to Beth that she could, but then resumed when Rick started showing signs of lasting forever. Now she backed off and croaked, "What am I doing wrong?"
"I … dunno…" Rick sighed. "Maybe it’s the audience, or the fact I came just a little while back…" He knew better than THAT — he could jerk off three times running, given the proper stimulus…
"Want help?" Sally offered. Teela eyed her dubiously. "Just suggestions…"
"Okay."
"Forget the deep stuff and work on what worked before. This isn’t a contest. Rick’s probably freaked. Try to get his full attention."
"How?"
"Lock eyes with him. Be there for him. What you’re doing is the most important thing you’ve ever done — and it’s all for him!"