Max laughed. ‘I was bloody terrified and for some reason I kept thinking about Nola back at home, saving up for her bottom drawer. I didn’t know where to look. Some of the audience were watching the show, but everyone was treating it like a regular night out, drinking, eating and dancing, as if this sort of thing was perfectly normal, which for them of course it was.
‘There were a handful of people dressed in ordinary clothes, me among them, but the vast majority of them were dressed in costumes, fetish clothes, bondage gear, masks, rubber, leather corsets and waistcoats, breeches and boots, all-in-one latex body suits, some almost naked except for straps and buckles – and that included the staff. It certainly explained the coats and the holdalls. It was like Sodom and Gomorrah.
‘I looked across and Eva was watching me, probably I think now in case I made a run for it. She asked me if I was OK. I can’t remember what I said but I remember her saying, “You can close your mouth now.” Then we found a table and she waved the waitress over and ordered us a couple of beers. I just kept gawping. At a table just inside the door there were a man and woman eating, apparently completely oblivious to the man and naked woman kneeling at their feet. On the table next to us were two girls, one dressed as an angel, the other as a devil, who were kissing. I asked Eva if it was a brothel and she laughed and said no, it was a club.
‘“People like to come here to be who they are,” she said. “They like to get dressed like this and be like this. It’s like a playground for people with particular tastes.” Then she paused and there was a moment when she looked at me and I knew what was coming. “For people like me,” she said. And then – I’ll never forget it – she stood up and started to unbutton her coat. Underneath she was wearing a little dress that buttoned down the front. It was really short, so you could see her stocking tops and suspenders. She was also wearing boots – Eva liked boots.
‘And she said, “So you like my new outfit?” with a Cheshire cat grin on her face, and came dancing back towards me.
‘I said yes, I think, and then I said, “It’s short.”
‘And she said, “It’s meant to be. I have very good legs.” And with that she peeled off her coat and started to undo her dress.
I stared at Max. ‘And you let her?’ I asked.
Max laughed. ‘I didn’t have much choice. There was no way I could have stopped her. I kept thinking: this can’t be happening. I was horrified and shocked and turned on – and God knows what else. I jumped up and went to cover her up with her coat, but she shook her head and pushed me away.
‘There was an old guy a couple of tables away who was looking her up and down as she was peeling off her dress, and there was a part of me that wanted to punch him and another part that thought: look all you like – she’s mine.
‘Under the dress Eva was wearing a leather harness that came round over her breasts, round her waist and her hips. And there was a strap that came up between her legs, with a little padlock on it, like a chastity belt, locking it to a waistband. She looked amazing.
‘With a total lack of self-consciousness she rolled up her dress and dropped it into her bag, and at the same time pulled out a collar and lead.
‘“Do you want to play?” she whispered, holding the lead out towards me.
‘All sorts of things were falling into place: the way she liked to be held down; how physical she was; the way she liked me to fight with her for sex, to pin her to the bed; the way she was constantly pushing the boundaries, trying to provoke a reaction.
‘I didn’t know what you called what she was, but I could feel myself reacting to it. I kind of understood it and knew that I liked it, and that whatever she was I was the other half of it. If she was the question, then I was the answer.’
I stared at Max. ‘You knew?’
He nodded. ‘Just the same way that you know. So I sat back, crazily calm, watching this mad crazy girl, and she held the collar and lead out again and said, “You want to play?”
‘And this time I took it, because there was nothing else that I wanted more. I’d got a hard-on just looking at her. Then she leaned in close and said, “It will be all right. You and I can do anything you like: you can whip me, you can tie me up, you can make me do exactly what you want. I know that you would like to do that. I know that you want to. I can see it in your eyes. I saw it the first night we met. I will love every minute of it. And so will you. I promise …”
‘I was nervous, but she was right – I knew it. She knelt down in front of me, and I fastened the collar around her neck and snapped on the lead.
‘Then she told me that she had booked us a private playroom upstairs. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you everything you need to know,” she said. “You will be the best Master I have ever had.”
‘I had no idea what that meant, but then she reached up to pull me in close for a kiss.
‘I laughed and kissed her back, and as I did she pushed something hard and metallic between my lips. It was a padlock key.
‘“You’re going to need that,” Eva said.’
‘… the only way to a woman’s heart is along the path of torment. I know none other as sure.’
Marquis de Sade
‘So what happened next?’ I asked, completely caught up in Eva and Max’s story. I’m nosey, I’m a storyteller. I love the narrative of other people’s lives. I wanted to know how it turned out and what Eva taught him – although it did occur to me that the chances were I might find out anyway. My knees ached from kneeling on the floor beside him, and I had completely forgotten the rules about not speaking unless spoken to and calling Max ‘Sir’. A fact not lost on him. He offered me his hand.
‘What happens next? Next, Sarah, I punish you for breaking the rules. Stand up.’
I hesitated for an instant and then saw the look on Max’s face. He wasn’t joking.
‘Pain and pleasure’, he said, ‘are close companions. Like opposite sides of the same coin. I’ll make sure that when you’re with me you experience both, but sometimes there will be only pain – remember that. Now stand up and face the wall. Put your hands flat against the wall, level with your shoulders.’
I did as I was told. Max stood behind me, and with his foot eased my feet apart until they were at shoulder width. From the corner of my eye I could see him taking something from the leather holdall he had brought with him. Something with a handle, something around two feet long and topped with a head of long suede leather strips.
‘This is one of my favourite toys, thanks to Eva,’ Max said. ‘It’s a flogger. She loved being flogged. I have a man who makes them for me.’ As Max spoke he drew the narrow strips through his closed fingers and then swished them to and fro thoughtfully. ‘How many times do you think you’ve broken the rules today?’ he asked, before trailing the long strands of the flogger down over my shoulders and back, the leather thongs making my skin tingle.
‘I don’t know – a few …’ I grimaced and bit my lip. ‘Sir,’ I added as an afterthought.
‘You see, that’s another one. What do you think? Six, eight, maybe twelve times since I arrived?’
‘About six, I think, Sir,’ I said.
Max laughed. ‘Maybe I should add another stroke for lying? We both know that it’s closer to twelve. Let’s split the difference, shall we? Let’s call it ten. I’m going to flog you, Sarah. And I want you to the count the strokes for me.’
I stiffened, but managed to avoid the possibility of